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Don't generalize from such a sample please. BSV is a cryptocurrency forked from Bitcoin by supporters of a businessman called Craig Wright[1] who is widely cons

by leppr 7y ago

Don't generalize from such a sample please. BSV is a cryptocurrency forked from Bitcoin by supporters of a businessman called Craig Wright[1] who is widely considered as a fraud, even within crypto. Just like with any nascent, hyped-up field, you will have people who are in it purely for the money. The fact that cryptocurrency makes it trivial to operate and participate in Ponzis exacerbates the issue, but if you went to a random ML/AI conference a few years ago you'd also have been pitched dozens of Ponzis (in the form of nonsensical startups) by opportunists who understand nothing about the technology. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Steven_Wright https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Steven_Wright

acdha 7y ago
There’s a key difference: ML was solving real problems from day one - not everything, not as well as some boosters claimed but real products did useful work. Bitcoin a decade in has … ?
- rjmunro 7y ago
  Ransomware? That's been quite successful, and mostly enabled by Bitcoin. :-)
  - azinman2 7y ago
    Don’t forget drugs and guns!
- leppr 7y ago
  What are you implying exactly: that there are no problems with present day currencies, or that Bitcoin doesn't solve any of those problems? > ML was solving real problems from day one No, machine learning developped slowly over decades before it could be fit into practical applications. Bitcoin's launch was more than the launch of a product, it was the first time the ideas in its paper were actually put together. If we put cryptocurrency on the ML R&D timeline, we'd be in 1970 right now. Of course, in the present day it solves more niche problems than ML which everybody uses through Google, but the fact that it's already used by real people at all is remarkable.
  - acdha 7y ago
    My point was that Bitcoin could disappear tomorrow and nobody other than speculators would have any impact on their lives. Note that the ML comparison was specific to the last decade mentioned by the person I replied to, not a history of the field. It’s possible that in the future we’ll look back at this period similarly to the first AI winter but I think even that would be disappointing to most participants because whatever succeeds won’t make them rich the way everyone in the space is hoping.

by leppr 7y ago

acdha 7y ago

There’s a key difference: ML was solving real problems from day one - not everything, not as well as some boosters claimed but real products did useful work. Bitcoin a decade in has … ?

rjmunro 7y ago
Ransomware? That's been quite successful, and mostly enabled by Bitcoin. :-)
- azinman2 7y ago
  Don’t forget drugs and guns!
leppr 7y ago
What are you implying exactly: that there are no problems with present day currencies, or that Bitcoin doesn't solve any of those problems? > ML was solving real problems from day one No, machine learning developped slowly over decades before it could be fit into practical applications. Bitcoin's launch was more than the launch of a product, it was the first time the ideas in its paper were actually put together. If we put cryptocurrency on the ML R&D timeline, we'd be in 1970 right now. Of course, in the present day it solves more niche problems than ML which everybody uses through Google, but the fact that it's already used by real people at all is remarkable.
- acdha 7y ago
  My point was that Bitcoin could disappear tomorrow and nobody other than speculators would have any impact on their lives. Note that the ML comparison was specific to the last decade mentioned by the person I replied to, not a history of the field. It’s possible that in the future we’ll look back at this period similarly to the first AI winter but I think even that would be disappointing to most participants because whatever succeeds won’t make them rich the way everyone in the space is hoping.