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The web was nearly useless and mainly business card style web pages from 94-98 even though the building blocks were available.

by ericb 8y ago

Sangermaine 8y ago
1. The web was already used for all sorts of things in that period. Geocities was a wonderful open world; I have fond memories of Simpsons and X-Files fan webrings. Not to mention services like ebay, Amazon, or Craigslist arose during that period. 2. Even if we accept your statement as true, the world wide web became generally available in 1991. Blockchain technology has now been around for a decade. The web certainly showed its practical usefulness in its first 10 years, yet blockchain remains largely in the realm of hype.
- fastball 8y ago
  "Blockchain technology" is a misnomer because different projects require different technologies and concepts. Ethereum was the first blockchain with smart contracts and it only went live in July 2015...
  - Sangermaine 8y ago
    And was immediately and irredeemably invalidated in May 2016 with the DAO fiasco, yes.
    - kirillseva 8y ago
      Ethereum Classic lives on, feel free to support it with money/code if you feel so strongly about immutability at all costs
- nrhk 8y ago
  Yea but where was the web in 1981 or Arpanet in 1969. Bitcoin was just an idea in 2008, didn't gain any real significance until 2013 where it really started to enter mainstream consciousness. If we want to compare it to the web we're still far away from 1991 in terms of tech.
pavlov 8y ago
That's just not true. The 1996 web already had news, porn, and forums — the same things people use it for today. Those things were a bit slow to access over dial-up (porn in particular), but millions of people were using the web daily by the time Netscape IPO'ed. There's no similar moment in sight for Ethereum's hypothetical "Web 3.0".
- ericb 8y ago
  I'm claiming that the realized potential was maybe 1/100th of what we have today. Perhaps I should have left 98 out, but the idea stands. And that's after the component parts had been around for years: https://www.livescience.com/20727-internet-history.html https://www.livescience.com/20727-internet-history.html

The web was nearly useless and mainly business card style web pages from 94-98 even though the building blocks were available.

by ericb 8y ago

The web was nearly useless and mainly business card style web pages from 94-98 even though the building blocks were available.

Sangermaine 8y ago

1. The web was already used for all sorts of things in that period. Geocities was a wonderful open world; I have fond memories of Simpsons and X-Files fan webrings. Not to mention services like ebay, Amazon, or Craigslist arose during that period. 2. Even if we accept your statement as true, the world wide web became generally available in 1991. Blockchain technology has now been around for a decade. The web certainly showed its practical usefulness in its first 10 years, yet blockchain remains largely in the realm of hype.

fastball 8y ago
"Blockchain technology" is a misnomer because different projects require different technologies and concepts. Ethereum was the first blockchain with smart contracts and it only went live in July 2015...
- Sangermaine 8y ago
  And was immediately and irredeemably invalidated in May 2016 with the DAO fiasco, yes.
  - kirillseva 8y ago
    Ethereum Classic lives on, feel free to support it with money/code if you feel so strongly about immutability at all costs
nrhk 8y ago
Yea but where was the web in 1981 or Arpanet in 1969. Bitcoin was just an idea in 2008, didn't gain any real significance until 2013 where it really started to enter mainstream consciousness. If we want to compare it to the web we're still far away from 1991 in terms of tech.

pavlov 8y ago

That's just not true. The 1996 web already had news, porn, and forums — the same things people use it for today. Those things were a bit slow to access over dial-up (porn in particular), but millions of people were using the web daily by the time Netscape IPO'ed. There's no similar moment in sight for Ethereum's hypothetical "Web 3.0".

ericb 8y ago
I'm claiming that the realized potential was maybe 1/100th of what we have today. Perhaps I should have left 98 out, but the idea stands. And that's after the component parts had been around for years: https://www.livescience.com/20727-internet-history.html https://www.livescience.com/20727-internet-history.html