4 ms·

> I look at how blockchain don't solve a single problem that hasn't already been solved more efficiently on much grander scales, and I call them out as such. T

by jMyles 9y ago

> I look at how blockchain don't solve a single problem that hasn't already been solved more efficiently on much grander scales, and I call them out as such. This position is the most confusing of all the blockchain FUD out there. It's easy to show that it's false: today, people are able to purchase proscribed plants and medicines in a way that completely subverts the efforts of state to prevent that. Now, I'm not saying that's sufficient to prove the kind of meaning you're looking for, but doesn't it give you the slightest bit of pause? Doesn't it make you say, "Wow - that's something people have been trying to do since the garden of eden and nothing has ever done it so successfully. I wonder what else this thing can do?" I think that for most open-minded observers, something like this thought process is what keeps our attention. I think that undermining drug prohibition is a wonderful thing and an obvious net good for the world. But I also think that it's a sign that there are more mundane / lawful-good elements that will arise in time. Porn has largely driven the internet forward at various critical junctures. But if we had stopped and said, "oh, is this thing just about porn? How useless," then we'd be in a much worse place. Give it some time and an open mind.

Sangermaine 9y ago
>people are able to purchase proscribed plants and medicines in a way that completely subverts the efforts of state to prevent that. No it doesn't. This is the kind of absurd nonsense that earns blockchain proponents this level of scorn. People could buy drugs before. Sure they can use cryptocurrency instead of cash, but the old problems remain: getting the product from the buyer to the seller. The state can, and sometimes does, prevent that because until teleportation is invented getting the drugs you bought online into your hands opens you to risk. Buying drugs is certainly easier, but it doesn't help to talk in these ridiculous terms. I bought pot in college just fine. If I buy drugs and have it shipped to me I'm at the same risk whether I used cash or Bitcoin. >"Wow - that's something people have been trying to do since the garden of eden and nothing has ever done it so successfully. I wonder what else this thing can do?" You've got this backwards. It's been 10 years. People have been asking all that time "so what else can you do", and the answer so far is...nothing, really. This despite the relentless, utopian hype all during that time. If proponents want people to keep an open mind and not be so cynical, maybe they shouldn't have spent years promising that blockchain technology is the digital coming of Jesus that will completely change everything in every way and usher in an endless golden age of peace and prosperity.
- jMyles 9y ago
  > People could buy drugs before. Sure they can use cryptocurrency instead of cash, but the old problems remain: getting the product from the buyer to the seller. The state can, and sometimes does, prevent that because until teleportation is invented getting the drugs you bought online into your hands opens you to risk. Buying drugs is certainly easier, but it doesn't help to talk in these ridiculous terms. I bought pot in college just fine. If I buy drugs and have it shipped to me I'm at the same risk whether I used cash or Bitcoin. This is an astonishing and vulgar display of privilege. The next time you meet an older MS patient with far less mobility and social connections than you, I dare you to tell them "I bought pot in college just fine." I'm astounded that this is your best response. If this is the position of blockchain bears, the bullish position seems downright rational by contrast. It's not just access to cannabis, either. Many people had no idea where to procure LSD or MDMA before Silk Road. I think you dramatically underestimate the number of lives changed here. > If proponents want people to keep an open mind and not be so cynical, maybe they shouldn't have spent years promising that blockchain technology is the digital coming of Jesus that will completely change everything in every way and usher in an endless golden age of peace and prosperity. It seems like you've judged far too large a segment of innovation based on a sample of far too few voices. Your error here is obvious.
  - s73v3r_ 9y ago
    Medical patients are NOT the ones using Silk Road to buy pot. You're just demonstrating a level of out of touch that earns the Crypto sphere it's scorn.
    - jMyles 9y ago
      ... umm... ...haha, what? Are you serious right now? Obviously this is a difficult thing to study / track / quantify, but you are just absolutely, positively incorrect. It has been a life changing development for several patients whom I know personally. It has also allowed easier access to Charlotte's Web in states other than Colorado. This is not a secret. 30 seconds of googling was all you needed to correct yourself. Or, you know, ask older relatives if their friends have mentioned it. Have you never heard of medibuds? It's not a small thing - this is a big phenomenon in states that don't have medical yet. ..and it's not just cannabis either. People all over the USA and beyond are buying all sorts of medicines this way. I don't mean to sound like a gatekeeper here, but if you are genuinely unaware of this, I don't really understand why you are even jumping into this conversation. Seriously, read up: * http://reason.com/archives/2014/11/11/how-buying-drugs-online-became/3 http://reason.com/archives/2014/11/11/how-buying-drugs-onlin... * https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qkvqbb/why-i-had-to-buy-my-wifes-inhaler-on-the-dark-web https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qkvqbb/why-i-had-... * https://alphabaymarket.com/are-prescription-meds-cheaper-on-alphabay-market/ https://alphabaymarket.com/are-prescription-meds-cheaper-on-... The matter is serious enough that mainstream pharma has noticed and is trying now to stifle the competition: * https://safemedsonline.org/2013/11/black-market-site-silk-road-re-emerges/ https://safemedsonline.org/2013/11/black-market-site-silk-ro...
dmitriid 9y ago
Wow. I write: blockchain doesn't solve a single problem that hasn't been solved. You: But you can buy drugs! Be open-minded! So yes, ten years in, nobody has come up with a use for blockchain: https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-a-use-case-for-blockchain-ee98c180100 https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-... Oh, and yes, porn has advanced the internet. Please show me how blockchain "has driven the internet forward at critical junctures". No, buying drugs isn't it.
- jMyles 9y ago
  I really don't understand what you're talking about. Firstly: yeah, can you squarely address the simple fact that blockchain tech has helped people acquire prohibited plants and compounds? People who previously didn't have access? That alone is enough to prove that the vehicle is not in neutral - it hasn't achieved literally nothing. And second, you seem to have entirely whooshed over the point about porn and the internet - and to be clear, I didn't make this point up, but you seem not to have ever heard of it? Or something? It's simple: porn pushed the internet forward. That doens't prove that the internet is worthless (or that it is worth only as much as the porn it can carry). Drug sales have pushed blockchain tech forward. That doesn't prove that blockchain tech is only as interesting as the drug commerce it can facilitate. I'm just saying: be patient. Ten years isn't a very long time in this context. Well-intentioned, thoughtful people are working on it. The fact that it can seemingly overcome a long-time and entrenched evil in the world says that there's something there. Let's work out what it is. Why so quick to judge?
  - dmitriid 9y ago
    First. Any other use cases than buying illegal drugs? Second. What whooshed is your understanding of what I wrote. I know that porn had advanced the internet. What I asked is for you to provide examples how blockchain has advanced the internet the same way porn has. Ten years is eternity in IT. For a much better overview I refer you to the aforementioned article, https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-a-use-case-for-blockchain-ee98c180100 https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-... and its second part, "Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future", https://medium.com/@kaistinchcombe/decentralized-and-trustless-crypto-paradise-is-actually-a-medieval-hellhole-c1ca122efdec https://medium.com/@kaistinchcombe/decentralized-and-trustle... The second part talks about drugs as well.

by jMyles 9y ago

Sangermaine 9y ago

>people are able to purchase proscribed plants and medicines in a way that completely subverts the efforts of state to prevent that. No it doesn't. This is the kind of absurd nonsense that earns blockchain proponents this level of scorn. People could buy drugs before. Sure they can use cryptocurrency instead of cash, but the old problems remain: getting the product from the buyer to the seller. The state can, and sometimes does, prevent that because until teleportation is invented getting the drugs you bought online into your hands opens you to risk. Buying drugs is certainly easier, but it doesn't help to talk in these ridiculous terms. I bought pot in college just fine. If I buy drugs and have it shipped to me I'm at the same risk whether I used cash or Bitcoin. >"Wow - that's something people have been trying to do since the garden of eden and nothing has ever done it so successfully. I wonder what else this thing can do?" You've got this backwards. It's been 10 years. People have been asking all that time "so what else can you do", and the answer so far is...nothing, really. This despite the relentless, utopian hype all during that time. If proponents want people to keep an open mind and not be so cynical, maybe they shouldn't have spent years promising that blockchain technology is the digital coming of Jesus that will completely change everything in every way and usher in an endless golden age of peace and prosperity.

jMyles 9y ago
> People could buy drugs before. Sure they can use cryptocurrency instead of cash, but the old problems remain: getting the product from the buyer to the seller. The state can, and sometimes does, prevent that because until teleportation is invented getting the drugs you bought online into your hands opens you to risk. Buying drugs is certainly easier, but it doesn't help to talk in these ridiculous terms. I bought pot in college just fine. If I buy drugs and have it shipped to me I'm at the same risk whether I used cash or Bitcoin. This is an astonishing and vulgar display of privilege. The next time you meet an older MS patient with far less mobility and social connections than you, I dare you to tell them "I bought pot in college just fine." I'm astounded that this is your best response. If this is the position of blockchain bears, the bullish position seems downright rational by contrast. It's not just access to cannabis, either. Many people had no idea where to procure LSD or MDMA before Silk Road. I think you dramatically underestimate the number of lives changed here. > If proponents want people to keep an open mind and not be so cynical, maybe they shouldn't have spent years promising that blockchain technology is the digital coming of Jesus that will completely change everything in every way and usher in an endless golden age of peace and prosperity. It seems like you've judged far too large a segment of innovation based on a sample of far too few voices. Your error here is obvious.
- s73v3r_ 9y ago
  Medical patients are NOT the ones using Silk Road to buy pot. You're just demonstrating a level of out of touch that earns the Crypto sphere it's scorn.
  - jMyles 9y ago
    ... umm... ...haha, what? Are you serious right now? Obviously this is a difficult thing to study / track / quantify, but you are just absolutely, positively incorrect. It has been a life changing development for several patients whom I know personally. It has also allowed easier access to Charlotte's Web in states other than Colorado. This is not a secret. 30 seconds of googling was all you needed to correct yourself. Or, you know, ask older relatives if their friends have mentioned it. Have you never heard of medibuds? It's not a small thing - this is a big phenomenon in states that don't have medical yet. ..and it's not just cannabis either. People all over the USA and beyond are buying all sorts of medicines this way. I don't mean to sound like a gatekeeper here, but if you are genuinely unaware of this, I don't really understand why you are even jumping into this conversation. Seriously, read up: * http://reason.com/archives/2014/11/11/how-buying-drugs-online-became/3 http://reason.com/archives/2014/11/11/how-buying-drugs-onlin... * https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qkvqbb/why-i-had-to-buy-my-wifes-inhaler-on-the-dark-web https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qkvqbb/why-i-had-... * https://alphabaymarket.com/are-prescription-meds-cheaper-on-alphabay-market/ https://alphabaymarket.com/are-prescription-meds-cheaper-on-... The matter is serious enough that mainstream pharma has noticed and is trying now to stifle the competition: * https://safemedsonline.org/2013/11/black-market-site-silk-road-re-emerges/ https://safemedsonline.org/2013/11/black-market-site-silk-ro...

dmitriid 9y ago

Wow. I write: blockchain doesn't solve a single problem that hasn't been solved. You: But you can buy drugs! Be open-minded! So yes, ten years in, nobody has come up with a use for blockchain: https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-a-use-case-for-blockchain-ee98c180100 https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-... Oh, and yes, porn has advanced the internet. Please show me how blockchain "has driven the internet forward at critical junctures". No, buying drugs isn't it.

jMyles 9y ago
I really don't understand what you're talking about. Firstly: yeah, can you squarely address the simple fact that blockchain tech has helped people acquire prohibited plants and compounds? People who previously didn't have access? That alone is enough to prove that the vehicle is not in neutral - it hasn't achieved literally nothing. And second, you seem to have entirely whooshed over the point about porn and the internet - and to be clear, I didn't make this point up, but you seem not to have ever heard of it? Or something? It's simple: porn pushed the internet forward. That doens't prove that the internet is worthless (or that it is worth only as much as the porn it can carry). Drug sales have pushed blockchain tech forward. That doesn't prove that blockchain tech is only as interesting as the drug commerce it can facilitate. I'm just saying: be patient. Ten years isn't a very long time in this context. Well-intentioned, thoughtful people are working on it. The fact that it can seemingly overcome a long-time and entrenched evil in the world says that there's something there. Let's work out what it is. Why so quick to judge?
- dmitriid 9y ago
  First. Any other use cases than buying illegal drugs? Second. What whooshed is your understanding of what I wrote. I know that porn had advanced the internet. What I asked is for you to provide examples how blockchain has advanced the internet the same way porn has. Ten years is eternity in IT. For a much better overview I refer you to the aforementioned article, https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-a-use-case-for-blockchain-ee98c180100 https://hackernoon.com/ten-years-in-nobody-has-come-up-with-... and its second part, "Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future", https://medium.com/@kaistinchcombe/decentralized-and-trustless-crypto-paradise-is-actually-a-medieval-hellhole-c1ca122efdec https://medium.com/@kaistinchcombe/decentralized-and-trustle... The second part talks about drugs as well.