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Personally I see a lot of different areas where the blockchain will be extremely useful. The reason I think that is very simple. The blockchain allows us to c
by ThomPete 9y ago
Personally I see a lot of different areas where the blockchain will be extremely useful.
The reason I think that is very simple.
The blockchain allows us to create scarcity in an otherwise abundant medium.
This means that potentially (and yes it will take time) we will see be able to mimic the physical space and create items that are to some extent unique (even though the can be copied. The art market is based on exactly this principle)
It's extremely interesting when it comes to things like secondhand markets where we can buy and resell assets without having to deal with licensing issues from some central owner.
Things like ebooks that can increase in value because of the people who owned them, digital "Pokemon cards" to create unique digital assets, virtual goods without the need for the original creator of the game to be up and running.
In other words, it allow us to have a digital world where what we do creates a unique footprint and doesn't just get's obsolete and where the end user gets to tap into the value chain of technology even if they are not able to work in the technology space.
These are some of the things I believe is interesting. I am not anarco-capitalist or libertarian and I don't care if it was pushed primarily by them just like I don't care that my country was based on wars and slavery and killing other people.
The blockchain, the way I look at it at least, is a "protocol" like TCP-IP.
- snitko 9y agoBlockchain is not a protocol. It's a concept because there are many different blockchains. Bitcoin on the other hand is a protocol.
- ThomPete 9y agoYup, you are of course 100% technically correct. But conceptually it helps me think about it like that (as the purpose overall regardless of how the blockchain is expressed is the immutable ledger)
- joosters 9y agoBut all your examples are possible (and have been successfully implemented) without a blockchain. So what does the chain add? Besides which, when is turning abundance into scarcity a good thing?
- ThomPete 9y agoA secondhand market no relying on a centralized player is the goal, someone who cant control what can be sold and resold. That cannot be done without de-centealized network.
- joosters 9y agoThe only project that comes somewhat close to that is OpenBazaar, and that is buggy and unwieldy, despite four years of development and millions in funding. The implementation requires a complex mess of software installs (even for potential buyers!), trusted moderators (how exactly do you trust a random unknown username on a pseudo-anonymous market anyway?) and an appalling user experience. The installation page tells me that I shouldn't risk large amounts of money, so even the developers aren't confident in their system. On top of all that, the 'decentralized' part is a pipedream anyway, there's no other implementation of the marketplace and everyone ends up having to trust thousands of lines of code. Under the hood, there's likely to be some centralized control, since the OpenBazaar investors most likely want to earn some money, which is through commission on sales. If it was actually decentralized, then everyone would be able to run their own version and avoid paying the commission in the first place.
- ThomPete 9y agoYou are proving my point. It should not be in control at any one company specifically.
- sah2ed 9y ago> Besides which, when is turning abundance into scarcity a good thing? To limit the illegal reproduction of information goods (movies, TV shows, ebooks) which have zero marginal costs. This is why DRM was invented -- to offer control to copyright holders by creating the illusion of scarcity of information goods which are costly to produce but can be reproduced by anyone at zero cost.
- krrrh 9y ago