3 ms·

The great irony is that often technological innovations are believed to be liberating and done with the motivation of improving the common lot of humanity. Two

The great irony is that often technological innovations are believed to be liberating and done with the motivation of improving the common lot of humanity. Two examples: Social networking - Enabling more meaningful and greater connection between people, leading to greater happiness and fulfillment? Or, fostering more divisions, balkanization into "like" echo chambers, promulgating fear and prejudice, leading to greater depression and mass manipulation? Cryptocurrencies - Disintermediation! need I say more ;) All kinds of utopian views of how this is supposed to promote freedom, security and efficiency. But top of the wish-list for the most paranoid and repressive authoritarian tyrant would have to be a magical way to fully control and monitor all economic activity: A cash-less society where every single transaction is done with the government controlled digital currency, recorded on the government controlled blockchain.

bringtheaction 9y ago
But why would I want to use a government controlled blockchain? For me the concept of decentralization is essential to cryptocurrency.
- gricardo99 9y ago
  Decentralization is not essential to cryptocurrency as a technology. It's essential to a view of how it could be used for the betterment of many. The technology can just as easily be applied for other purposes, mandated by an authoritarian government to be the only legal way to conduct commerce. You'd use it not because you want to, but because you want to avoid their ire.
  - Klathmon 9y ago
    With a single trusted party, a blockchain is just a wildly inefficient database. There's literally no reason to use it at that point, just make a simple db of account numbers and balances.
    - candiodari 9y ago
      Actually there is. 21st century money. It would be actually possible to use a government's money in various new ways. Think of what could happen in the economy if the government provided flexible and free payment services. (Which is exactly why they'll never do it, but just pointing out that a government-controlled blockchain for normal people would have a LOT of applications)
      - daveFNbuck 9y ago
        Why do you need blockchain for that if it's centralized and controlled by the government?
      - Feniks 9y ago
        "flexible and free payment services" Actually my government already has rules on that. Using my debetcard at a store, withdrawing money from an ATM or transferring money between bankaccounts is free. Its almost as if we live in 21st century already!
        candiodari 9y ago
        Okay, try to use your card to pay your neighbor or babysit, and tell me again how convenient it is. Second, go to your nearest store, bakery or whatever, and ask them just how free debit cards are.
    - gricardo99 9y ago
      I think we're mixing terminology. There's a difference between distributed and decentralized. You can have a distributed blockchain, while still being controlled by a central authority (i.e. not decentralized). That's pretty much Ripple, and it still has many of the advantages of blockchain technology: distributed/quick settlement, highly secure, highly available, etc...
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
desireco42 9y ago
Monero, ZCash :)
politician 9y ago
> Social networking - Enabling more meaningful and greater connection between people, leading to greater happiness and fulfillment? I don't believe that this was a serious motivation for any of these companies for a second. That might have been in the press release, but most of these social networks were either born from Geocities-begets-Myspace incrementalism, or "watch these idiots give away their personal data" egocentrism. An abridged survey of recent history: Snapchat: it'd sure be easier to sext if these pictures disappeared Instagram: it's easier to take a pic than write something Twitter: pivot from failing product to internal tool Facebook: privacy invasion as a service Myspace 2.0: maybe we can make money off napster? Myspace: Geocities clone Geocities: AOL clone for the World Wide Web AOL: Prodigy clone Prodigy: Walled garden for selling Usenet access Napster: OK, this one was probably the only one motivated to enable more meaningful and greater connections between people, leading to greater happiness and fulfillment
- driedUp 9y ago
  I once quit a valuable job, because my desk was situated in an open office floor plan, in front of a smart TV with an attached webcam for video chat meetings. I was a person with a job title in control of passwords and two-factor auth routines that served as a potential gateway to millions of credit card numbers. It pissed me off that these people needed us to have our daily morning stand-up right next to my desk, but it pissed me off even more, that I had a camera over my shoulder, running an operating system that I couldn’t audit with an admin account. Rather than rocking the boat, and coming across as a paranoid obsessive control freak security goon, I drafted my resume, and who knows what’s going on at that place by now. To anybody out there, dreaming up bullshit concepts and investing your youth in retarded start up ideas, when everything goes to shit and you’re left high and dry, it will be people like me who turned our collective backs on you, because of shit decision making like this.
jancsika 9y ago
> Social networking - Enabling more meaningful and greater connection between people, leading to greater happiness and fulfillment? That wasn't the motivation-- it was instead to make identities discoverable online. And-- with Facebook-- to make it easier for college students to get laid. Both were liberating.

bringtheaction 9y ago

But why would I want to use a government controlled blockchain? For me the concept of decentralization is essential to cryptocurrency.

gricardo99 9y ago
Decentralization is not essential to cryptocurrency as a technology. It's essential to a view of how it could be used for the betterment of many. The technology can just as easily be applied for other purposes, mandated by an authoritarian government to be the only legal way to conduct commerce. You'd use it not because you want to, but because you want to avoid their ire.
- Klathmon 9y ago
  With a single trusted party, a blockchain is just a wildly inefficient database. There's literally no reason to use it at that point, just make a simple db of account numbers and balances.
  - candiodari 9y ago
    Actually there is. 21st century money. It would be actually possible to use a government's money in various new ways. Think of what could happen in the economy if the government provided flexible and free payment services. (Which is exactly why they'll never do it, but just pointing out that a government-controlled blockchain for normal people would have a LOT of applications)
    - daveFNbuck 9y ago
      Why do you need blockchain for that if it's centralized and controlled by the government?
    - Feniks 9y ago
      "flexible and free payment services" Actually my government already has rules on that. Using my debetcard at a store, withdrawing money from an ATM or transferring money between bankaccounts is free. Its almost as if we live in 21st century already!
      - candiodari 9y ago
        Okay, try to use your card to pay your neighbor or babysit, and tell me again how convenient it is. Second, go to your nearest store, bakery or whatever, and ask them just how free debit cards are.
  - gricardo99 9y ago
    I think we're mixing terminology. There's a difference between distributed and decentralized. You can have a distributed blockchain, while still being controlled by a central authority (i.e. not decentralized). That's pretty much Ripple, and it still has many of the advantages of blockchain technology: distributed/quick settlement, highly secure, highly available, etc...

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

desireco42 9y ago

Monero, ZCash :)

politician 9y ago

> Social networking - Enabling more meaningful and greater connection between people, leading to greater happiness and fulfillment? I don't believe that this was a serious motivation for any of these companies for a second. That might have been in the press release, but most of these social networks were either born from Geocities-begets-Myspace incrementalism, or "watch these idiots give away their personal data" egocentrism. An abridged survey of recent history: Snapchat: it'd sure be easier to sext if these pictures disappeared Instagram: it's easier to take a pic than write something Twitter: pivot from failing product to internal tool Facebook: privacy invasion as a service Myspace 2.0: maybe we can make money off napster? Myspace: Geocities clone Geocities: AOL clone for the World Wide Web AOL: Prodigy clone Prodigy: Walled garden for selling Usenet access Napster: OK, this one was probably the only one motivated to enable more meaningful and greater connections between people, leading to greater happiness and fulfillment

driedUp 9y ago
I once quit a valuable job, because my desk was situated in an open office floor plan, in front of a smart TV with an attached webcam for video chat meetings. I was a person with a job title in control of passwords and two-factor auth routines that served as a potential gateway to millions of credit card numbers. It pissed me off that these people needed us to have our daily morning stand-up right next to my desk, but it pissed me off even more, that I had a camera over my shoulder, running an operating system that I couldn’t audit with an admin account. Rather than rocking the boat, and coming across as a paranoid obsessive control freak security goon, I drafted my resume, and who knows what’s going on at that place by now. To anybody out there, dreaming up bullshit concepts and investing your youth in retarded start up ideas, when everything goes to shit and you’re left high and dry, it will be people like me who turned our collective backs on you, because of shit decision making like this.

jancsika 9y ago

> Social networking - Enabling more meaningful and greater connection between people, leading to greater happiness and fulfillment? That wasn't the motivation-- it was instead to make identities discoverable online. And-- with Facebook-- to make it easier for college students to get laid. Both were liberating.