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I'm not sure why blockchain has become a perennial 'love to hate' favorite on a forum dedicated to 'disruptive' startups. The cynic in me would say the people c

I'm not sure why blockchain has become a perennial 'love to hate' favorite on a forum dedicated to 'disruptive' startups. The cynic in me would say the people complaining are the ones who sold their bitcoin for $100 back in the day and cannot stand the fact that they're out millions for not being forward-looking enough. If that describes you, go invest in a new blockchain tech. There aren't actually that many -- most of the ICOs of the last year were for stuff built on the Ethereum network. Sort through that a bit and you'll find companies building entirely new blockchains, some of them incorporating very good, forward looking ideas. Blockchain is still very young. You haven't missed out on anything. Do some homework. Invest. But nothing useful has been built on a blockchain! Go make something. You're smart. In the best traditions of the software industry it's almost entirely FOSS. Absolutely nothing stopping you from building something useful. And there's lots of funding available for those that do. Saying blockchain is worthless is like saying public key cryptography is worthless. Before e-commerce it was sort of a novelty (the need for security was always there, sure). Now it's ubiquitous, as is e-commerce. The latter would not be possible without the former. Even if the development is / remains purely driven by greed, the introduction of new financial markets and new investment vehicles means it's here to stay. There is zero chance this genie is going back in the bottle. Every day there are announcements about uptake by the finance industry and by governments. But that's a shallow view of the possibilities. How about tamper-proof voting for governments? Nearly fee-less remittances? Un-censorable communication? Completely transparent non-profits? Trust-less provenance / chain of custody? Let's be real. Humans are terrible to each other. Being to able to fight greed and corruption with a little math -- in a trust-less, incorruptible, self-sustaining way -- is potentially history changing.

Nursie 8y ago
Blockchain tech has yet to deliver on any of these promises. Instead we have a mass of people speculating that it might, someday, in future, do a load of stuff that will make it more valuable than it is today. It's only like saying "cryptography is worthless" if it turns out actually to have worth in the long term. It could be a lot like saying the Sinclair C5 is worthless. I don't see that the introduction of new financial products based purely on artificial scarcity does mean that it's here to stay. There are indeed announcements quite frequently - most of them turn out to be pretty meaningless, often overhyped by parties with a vested interest. > How about tamper-proof voting for governments? Any scheme that allows votes to be verified, allows people to subvert the process by demanding verification. > Nearly fee-less remittances? We have those. Cryptocurrencies make these worse, irreversible, uninsured etc. I'm not going to address everything point by point, but your post exemplifies the hype perfectly - it's a big cry to imagine possibilities, but unable to point to any real success
blindwatchmaker 8y ago
> I'm not sure why blockchain has become a perennial 'love to hate' favorite on a forum dedicated to 'disruptive' startups. The cynic in me would say the people complaining are the ones who sold their bitcoin for $100 back in the day and cannot stand the fact that they're out millions for not being forward-looking enough. I would say this attitude says more about you, and many others, in that you view bitcoin as a speculative asset rather than a stable currency to be used for the exchange of goods and services as initially advertised. This is not a positive argument for cryptocurrencies.
fulafel 8y ago
> Humans are terrible to each other. Being to able to fight greed and corruption with a little math -- in a trust-less, incorruptible, self-sustaining way -- is potentially history changing. But trade is a motivation to build trust and cooperate - to not be terrible. Blockchain weakens this glue effect.

Nursie 8y ago

Blockchain tech has yet to deliver on any of these promises. Instead we have a mass of people speculating that it might, someday, in future, do a load of stuff that will make it more valuable than it is today. It's only like saying "cryptography is worthless" if it turns out actually to have worth in the long term. It could be a lot like saying the Sinclair C5 is worthless. I don't see that the introduction of new financial products based purely on artificial scarcity does mean that it's here to stay. There are indeed announcements quite frequently - most of them turn out to be pretty meaningless, often overhyped by parties with a vested interest. > How about tamper-proof voting for governments? Any scheme that allows votes to be verified, allows people to subvert the process by demanding verification. > Nearly fee-less remittances? We have those. Cryptocurrencies make these worse, irreversible, uninsured etc. I'm not going to address everything point by point, but your post exemplifies the hype perfectly - it's a big cry to imagine possibilities, but unable to point to any real success

blindwatchmaker 8y ago

> I'm not sure why blockchain has become a perennial 'love to hate' favorite on a forum dedicated to 'disruptive' startups. The cynic in me would say the people complaining are the ones who sold their bitcoin for $100 back in the day and cannot stand the fact that they're out millions for not being forward-looking enough. I would say this attitude says more about you, and many others, in that you view bitcoin as a speculative asset rather than a stable currency to be used for the exchange of goods and services as initially advertised. This is not a positive argument for cryptocurrencies.

fulafel 8y ago

> Humans are terrible to each other. Being to able to fight greed and corruption with a little math -- in a trust-less, incorruptible, self-sustaining way -- is potentially history changing. But trade is a motivation to build trust and cooperate - to not be terrible. Blockchain weakens this glue effect.