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There may be existing tools that are foolproof that can provide an immutable ledger, I'm unsure if that's fully possible otherwise, however having all transacti

by loceng 6y ago

There may be existing tools that are foolproof that can provide an immutable ledger, I'm unsure if that's fully possible otherwise, however having all transactions and changes to said system being public would prevent things like nations printing money without reporting it accurately - helping to make sure everyone's playing a fair game; using such a ledger would have to be voluntary, with nations who are aligned with similar values. Edit to add: This may in fact be the only important use case for blockchain, where nations under different groups of democratic-based control, agree to use the same blockchain - so they can all know no one else is cheating the system. The transparency could allow public, peer analysis of transactions as well - and who knows what insights or protections-security could come from having that crowdsourced witnessing occurring; perhaps distributing the mining amongst the citizens of each nation as well, if deemed necessary as a safeguard. Serendipitously, this was just posted to HN: "Data Immutability, Verifiability and Integrity Without the Blockchain Overhead" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26221324 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26221324

louwrentius 6y ago
You are trying to solve a problem that is a feature. Printing money is a feature to keep our societies afloat during dark times. It is one of the tools to keep a currency stable. Not to say that there aren't serious problems in the fin-tech world, but immutable ledgers and rigid currencies aren't going to solve those. The key problem - and your post is yet another example - is that you can't replace trust with an immutable ledger. https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2019/02/theres_no_good_reaso.html https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2019/02/theres_no_g... The real problem - in my view - is that people don't understand the foundations of a society anymore, how to live together.
- loceng 6y ago
  You're misunderstanding what I'm saying. "... is that you can't replace trust with an immutable ledger." "The real problem - in my view - is that people don't understand the foundations of a society anymore, how to live together." I agree with you 100%. Also, I never said we should prevent printing money with blockchain - the purpose and value is so that if a nation does print money, they're open and honest about it. It would be their own democratic decision to do so, likewise in the blockchain system I envision - it would be that same democratic process, decision making, that they would want to join such a managed system that other trusted-democratic nations are part of - where they believe in the transparency of it all. And I never even alluded to replacing trust with an immutable ledger, just that an immutable ledger becomes a witness that each nation would decide to be witnessed by by their peers. All of my projects are health-wellness focused, in part to help people develop their self-awareness, to gain and maintain their health, and in part that is healing through community - building real community.

by loceng 6y ago

louwrentius 6y ago

You are trying to solve a problem that is a feature. Printing money is a feature to keep our societies afloat during dark times. It is one of the tools to keep a currency stable. Not to say that there aren't serious problems in the fin-tech world, but immutable ledgers and rigid currencies aren't going to solve those. The key problem - and your post is yet another example - is that you can't replace trust with an immutable ledger. https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2019/02/theres_no_good_reaso.html https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2019/02/theres_no_g... The real problem - in my view - is that people don't understand the foundations of a society anymore, how to live together.

loceng 6y ago
You're misunderstanding what I'm saying. "... is that you can't replace trust with an immutable ledger." "The real problem - in my view - is that people don't understand the foundations of a society anymore, how to live together." I agree with you 100%. Also, I never said we should prevent printing money with blockchain - the purpose and value is so that if a nation does print money, they're open and honest about it. It would be their own democratic decision to do so, likewise in the blockchain system I envision - it would be that same democratic process, decision making, that they would want to join such a managed system that other trusted-democratic nations are part of - where they believe in the transparency of it all. And I never even alluded to replacing trust with an immutable ledger, just that an immutable ledger becomes a witness that each nation would decide to be witnessed by by their peers. All of my projects are health-wellness focused, in part to help people develop their self-awareness, to gain and maintain their health, and in part that is healing through community - building real community.