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What purpose does a company with a centralized service have for "blockchain". Apparently even tech leaders have no idea what they're talking about.

by deft 8y ago

matchagaucho 8y ago
Apparently blockchain related job titles are the modern day equivalent of "Special Projects"... a vesting, semi-working responsibility. </sarcasm>
gremlinsinc 8y ago
Mark pegs himself as altruistic and wants to 'change the world', he's also a proponent of guaranteed basic income... I'd like to see blockchain used as a sort of gbi dole system, but it'd need to use reputation / social network effects in order to block 'sybil attacks', ie the bigger your score the more people have 'vouched' you're a real person not a bot or spammer, the more you get out of the daily dole. They also have marketplaces/ads/etc that they could make required to use fbcoin, in order to prop up the currencies prices... Just speculation obviously, lots of others are trying to figure out a way to do this, but the imposter thing is very real and hard to stop obviously in crypto.
kd5bjo 8y ago
Using a CA instead of proof-of-work, I could see the underlying concept being useful in chain-of-custody type applications or limiting the attack surface of a compromised server.
- throwawayjava 8y ago
  Right. When "Enterprise" says "blockchain", what they mean is some combination of cryptography, an immutable database, and data/control/access/ownership flow logging. Sometimes also a financial product. I think this word is now like "hacker" or "AI". It's not completely meaningless -- it does have a kinda-sorta fuzzy meaning. But that meaning is different from what techincal experts mean when using the term and is very much audience dependent.
- MichaelGG 8y ago
  That's just misusing the word blockchain. Like saying "cloud server" for "hosting" when there is nothing cloud about it. Using digital signatures in a chain is not a novel idea. Without PoW you do not need the block part, just records.
JumpCrisscross 8y ago
> What purpose does a company with a centralized service have for "blockchain" Platform was marketed as an open marketplace. Once it was sufficiently powerful, Facebook showed its proprietary intent and closed the gates. Same happened with Microsoft. And Twitter. And countless others. Blockchain is just the newest tool for selling proprietary systems as open utopias.
at-fates-hands 8y ago
They have a lot of things they can do 1. crypto currencies and P2P payments 2. Take clues from Steemit (a decentralized social platform that runs on blockchain) and how they utilize blockchain 3. Use to combat censorship in countries that are not favorable to Facebook 4. Use BC to combat fake news 5. AI platforms 6. Streaming services Just because they have a centralized service doesn't mean they can use some of their considerable capital and branch out into other areas and offerings. To think FB will always be a social media platform is kind of. . .myopic wouldn't you say?
- hk__2 8y ago
  > 4. Use BC to combat fake news > 5. AI platforms > 6. Streaming services I fail to see how any of those has anything to do with the blockchain.
  - Mithorium 8y ago
    This reminds me of "lets do x, except in THE CLOUD" all over again. fight censorship by putting things in THE CLOUD where it can't easily be blocked, stream video from THE CLOUD wasn't "the cloud" supposed to do decentralization too? hmm
    - bduerst 8y ago
      The "Cloud" was at least about economies of scale (switching on-prem -> cloud has some potential cost savings). I'm not sure re-implementing on a blockchain has the same effect, unless they're farming processing out to third-party actors at no cost somehow.
  - asdsa5325 8y ago
    They don't have anything to do with it. He's just throwing out buzzwords, no clue what he's saying.
  - vertexFarm 8y ago
    You're not allowed to mention blockchain without tying in AI, possibly VR or AR as well. It's the law.
product50 8y ago
This is what you think today. Tomorrow, when new apps are developed by FB via blockchain, you'd be like that seemed so obvious in the hindsight. We are early on blockchain - there are a lot of hidden use cases and apps waiting to be built.
- jonny_eh 8y ago
  > there are a lot of hidden use cases Not much different from no use cases, at least from where I'm standing. People compare this to the early 90s of the internet, except even then early internet was EXTREMELY useful, even with the limited access and content.
  - ShabbosGoy 8y ago
    The early internet was extremely useful for getting credit card numbers and warez/serials/cracking tools. It would seem we have come full circle.
  - product50 8y ago
    Wait and watch. You will most likely have to eat your words. Most people are like you - they think they know a lot and are not open to the possibility how technology can evolve and new use cases can emerge.
- Trundle 8y ago
  If theyre hidden, how do you know they're there?
- kamaal 8y ago
  Not sure your what use cases you claim that we haven't discovered yet. Lists/Linked-Lists data structures with locks and priorities go back to the dawn of computing.
  - product50 8y ago
    Wait and watch. You will most likely have to eat your words. Most people are like you - they think they know a lot and are not open to the possibility how technology can evolve and new use cases can emerge.
bigiain 8y ago
You're assuming that "a new effort to tackle blockchain technology" (from the recode article) means "use a blockchain" rather than "surveil and monetize The Blockchain"... How much would you bet against Facebook attempting to link Bitcoin/BitcoinCash/Etherium wallet addresses to individuals and tracking cryptocurrenct transactions as part of your profile? https://www.recode.net/2018/5/8/17330226/facebook-reorg-mark-zuckerberg-whatsapp-messenger-ceo-blockchain https://www.recode.net/2018/5/8/17330226/facebook-reorg-mark...

What purpose does a company with a centralized service have for "blockchain". Apparently even tech leaders have no idea what they're talking about.

by deft 8y ago

What purpose does a company with a centralized service have for "blockchain". Apparently even tech leaders have no idea what they're talking about.

matchagaucho 8y ago

Apparently blockchain related job titles are the modern day equivalent of "Special Projects"... a vesting, semi-working responsibility. </sarcasm>

gremlinsinc 8y ago

Mark pegs himself as altruistic and wants to 'change the world', he's also a proponent of guaranteed basic income... I'd like to see blockchain used as a sort of gbi dole system, but it'd need to use reputation / social network effects in order to block 'sybil attacks', ie the bigger your score the more people have 'vouched' you're a real person not a bot or spammer, the more you get out of the daily dole. They also have marketplaces/ads/etc that they could make required to use fbcoin, in order to prop up the currencies prices... Just speculation obviously, lots of others are trying to figure out a way to do this, but the imposter thing is very real and hard to stop obviously in crypto.

kd5bjo 8y ago

Using a CA instead of proof-of-work, I could see the underlying concept being useful in chain-of-custody type applications or limiting the attack surface of a compromised server.

throwawayjava 8y ago
Right. When "Enterprise" says "blockchain", what they mean is some combination of cryptography, an immutable database, and data/control/access/ownership flow logging. Sometimes also a financial product. I think this word is now like "hacker" or "AI". It's not completely meaningless -- it does have a kinda-sorta fuzzy meaning. But that meaning is different from what techincal experts mean when using the term and is very much audience dependent.
MichaelGG 8y ago
That's just misusing the word blockchain. Like saying "cloud server" for "hosting" when there is nothing cloud about it. Using digital signatures in a chain is not a novel idea. Without PoW you do not need the block part, just records.

JumpCrisscross 8y ago

> What purpose does a company with a centralized service have for "blockchain" Platform was marketed as an open marketplace. Once it was sufficiently powerful, Facebook showed its proprietary intent and closed the gates. Same happened with Microsoft. And Twitter. And countless others. Blockchain is just the newest tool for selling proprietary systems as open utopias.

at-fates-hands 8y ago

They have a lot of things they can do 1. crypto currencies and P2P payments 2. Take clues from Steemit (a decentralized social platform that runs on blockchain) and how they utilize blockchain 3. Use to combat censorship in countries that are not favorable to Facebook 4. Use BC to combat fake news 5. AI platforms 6. Streaming services Just because they have a centralized service doesn't mean they can use some of their considerable capital and branch out into other areas and offerings. To think FB will always be a social media platform is kind of. . .myopic wouldn't you say?

hk__2 8y ago
> 4. Use BC to combat fake news > 5. AI platforms > 6. Streaming services I fail to see how any of those has anything to do with the blockchain.
- Mithorium 8y ago
  This reminds me of "lets do x, except in THE CLOUD" all over again. fight censorship by putting things in THE CLOUD where it can't easily be blocked, stream video from THE CLOUD wasn't "the cloud" supposed to do decentralization too? hmm
  - bduerst 8y ago
    The "Cloud" was at least about economies of scale (switching on-prem -> cloud has some potential cost savings). I'm not sure re-implementing on a blockchain has the same effect, unless they're farming processing out to third-party actors at no cost somehow.
- asdsa5325 8y ago
  They don't have anything to do with it. He's just throwing out buzzwords, no clue what he's saying.
- vertexFarm 8y ago
  You're not allowed to mention blockchain without tying in AI, possibly VR or AR as well. It's the law.

product50 8y ago

This is what you think today. Tomorrow, when new apps are developed by FB via blockchain, you'd be like that seemed so obvious in the hindsight. We are early on blockchain - there are a lot of hidden use cases and apps waiting to be built.

jonny_eh 8y ago
> there are a lot of hidden use cases Not much different from no use cases, at least from where I'm standing. People compare this to the early 90s of the internet, except even then early internet was EXTREMELY useful, even with the limited access and content.
- ShabbosGoy 8y ago
  The early internet was extremely useful for getting credit card numbers and warez/serials/cracking tools. It would seem we have come full circle.
- product50 8y ago
  Wait and watch. You will most likely have to eat your words. Most people are like you - they think they know a lot and are not open to the possibility how technology can evolve and new use cases can emerge.
Trundle 8y ago
If theyre hidden, how do you know they're there?
kamaal 8y ago
Not sure your what use cases you claim that we haven't discovered yet. Lists/Linked-Lists data structures with locks and priorities go back to the dawn of computing.
- product50 8y ago
  Wait and watch. You will most likely have to eat your words. Most people are like you - they think they know a lot and are not open to the possibility how technology can evolve and new use cases can emerge.

bigiain 8y ago

You're assuming that "a new effort to tackle blockchain technology" (from the recode article) means "use a blockchain" rather than "surveil and monetize The Blockchain"... How much would you bet against Facebook attempting to link Bitcoin/BitcoinCash/Etherium wallet addresses to individuals and tracking cryptocurrenct transactions as part of your profile? https://www.recode.net/2018/5/8/17330226/facebook-reorg-mark-zuckerberg-whatsapp-messenger-ceo-blockchain https://www.recode.net/2018/5/8/17330226/facebook-reorg-mark...