3 ms·

Absolutely agree; having spent the better part of 2 decades imagining, architecting and testing alternative solutions to global-scale monetary system problems -

Absolutely agree; having spent the better part of 2 decades imagining, architecting and testing alternative solutions to global-scale monetary system problems -- the operation of central-bank money is essentially incomprehensible to most people. Including most "nerds". This appears to be, unfortunately, by design. The blaring fire-alarm klaxons are going off, all over the system. "Whistling past the graveyard" is only going to serve us for so long. It will be considered sad, I think, that so many smart "nerds" spent their lives optimizing click-through rates, instead of helping empower the world to have reliable, globally available solid money.

ChrisLomont 7y ago
>This appears to be, unfortunately, by design. No, it's the result of learned lessons that the simple solutions run afoul of problems. That the resulting system is complex is not the result of adversarial behavior - it's the result of handling many complex interacting pieces in a decently robust and predictable manner compared to anything tried previously. Cryptocurrencies and proponents tend to ignore centuries of reasons why currencies and monetary systems are what they are now. A simple example is the benefits of a central bank to smooth inflation compared to previous systems, which no cryptocurrency can do. (Notice how volatile crypto prices are compared to say USD or any first world currency).
- pjkundert 7y ago
  When I downloaded the original Satoshi paper and reference implementation, I recognized most of the deficiencies you relate, here and elsewhere. Tragically, that is why I never bothered to install and run it... Oops. "The best is the enemy of the good". The problems with global-consensus cryptocurrencies run much deeper, and you are correct that they will never be a money substitute. It is surprising, however, that so few technical people bothered to ask "why", and look for the solution. Perhaps it was my decade of work prior, wrestling with distributed monitoring and control systems, that made me inquisitive about general solutions in this class of problems. One class of solutions broke quite recently, and has received little recognition. I dropped everything, and went all-in, and have been developing with the team since. As the parent has observed -- I see very little substantive discussion, and plenty of unfortunately cringe-inducing dismissive "aktualy, ..." statements, paroting trivial and obvious "deficiencies" as proof that cryptocurrencies are a dead-end. You seem quite interested, though. Reach out, if so.
  - 1996 7y ago
    Which class of solution?
    - pjkundert 7y ago
      A combination of two; 1) A consistent global ledger balance doesn't require global consensus; only local agreement, with global enforcement of rules. See: holo.host. Result: linear scalability (think: billions of agregate transactions per second), and CaP (Consistency and Partition-tolerance, with limited availability: any node you can see, you can transact with). Non-repudiable instantly, and finality as soon as one participant node in any transaction rejoins the larger network. 2) Direct monetization of assets with a market price; Dynamic issuance of credit based on price of monetary units vs. a basket of commodities. Sorry, word salad: your money maintains a perpetual, immutable value relationship to a large basket of commodities. No uncorrected inflation/deflation. Dynamic issuance/withdrawal is automatic and system-wide; no "first spender" pissing in the punch.
1996 7y ago
I so 100% agree!! I need more friends like you :-) I want to help people become more independent from control systems using technology to empower them. Increasing click-through rates for advertising behemoth like google or facebook? Just no. I like money on the table but I would rather starve than do that. It is the polar opposite of all my beliefs. Nerds used to be pro freedom. Unfortunately at some point we became the minority.

ChrisLomont 7y ago

>This appears to be, unfortunately, by design. No, it's the result of learned lessons that the simple solutions run afoul of problems. That the resulting system is complex is not the result of adversarial behavior - it's the result of handling many complex interacting pieces in a decently robust and predictable manner compared to anything tried previously. Cryptocurrencies and proponents tend to ignore centuries of reasons why currencies and monetary systems are what they are now. A simple example is the benefits of a central bank to smooth inflation compared to previous systems, which no cryptocurrency can do. (Notice how volatile crypto prices are compared to say USD or any first world currency).

pjkundert 7y ago
When I downloaded the original Satoshi paper and reference implementation, I recognized most of the deficiencies you relate, here and elsewhere. Tragically, that is why I never bothered to install and run it... Oops. "The best is the enemy of the good". The problems with global-consensus cryptocurrencies run much deeper, and you are correct that they will never be a money substitute. It is surprising, however, that so few technical people bothered to ask "why", and look for the solution. Perhaps it was my decade of work prior, wrestling with distributed monitoring and control systems, that made me inquisitive about general solutions in this class of problems. One class of solutions broke quite recently, and has received little recognition. I dropped everything, and went all-in, and have been developing with the team since. As the parent has observed -- I see very little substantive discussion, and plenty of unfortunately cringe-inducing dismissive "aktualy, ..." statements, paroting trivial and obvious "deficiencies" as proof that cryptocurrencies are a dead-end. You seem quite interested, though. Reach out, if so.
- 1996 7y ago
  Which class of solution?
  - pjkundert 7y ago
    A combination of two; 1) A consistent global ledger balance doesn't require global consensus; only local agreement, with global enforcement of rules. See: holo.host. Result: linear scalability (think: billions of agregate transactions per second), and CaP (Consistency and Partition-tolerance, with limited availability: any node you can see, you can transact with). Non-repudiable instantly, and finality as soon as one participant node in any transaction rejoins the larger network. 2) Direct monetization of assets with a market price; Dynamic issuance of credit based on price of monetary units vs. a basket of commodities. Sorry, word salad: your money maintains a perpetual, immutable value relationship to a large basket of commodities. No uncorrected inflation/deflation. Dynamic issuance/withdrawal is automatic and system-wide; no "first spender" pissing in the punch.

1996 7y ago

I so 100% agree!! I need more friends like you :-) I want to help people become more independent from control systems using technology to empower them. Increasing click-through rates for advertising behemoth like google or facebook? Just no. I like money on the table but I would rather starve than do that. It is the polar opposite of all my beliefs. Nerds used to be pro freedom. Unfortunately at some point we became the minority.