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A new medium requires reinventing and making explicit "real world" constructs. The article rejects anything worse than the best part of current systems without

by qqii 6y ago

A new medium requires reinventing and making explicit "real world" constructs. The article rejects anything worse than the best part of current systems without making clear the explicit tradeoffs. I could retort and point to companies actually using blockchain but you can easily argue flaws in their implementation. A "real world use case" is not well defined.

dmitriid 6y ago
> The article rejects anything worse than the best part of current systems For a technology that's frequently hailed as the best new thing since sliced bread, it's quite telling that it can't exhibit a single of the best parts of current systems. And it's replete with parts that are worse than even the worst parts of the current systems. > I could retort and point to companies actually using blockchain but you can easily argue flaws in their implementation. Of course I would. And the articles argues as well, successfully. Because for the absolute vast majority of these real-world companies anything they do can be done better, faster, and more efficiently without the use of blockchain. And if the are not busy scamming people, they are busy re-implementing, often poorly, those "best parts of current systems" that you're so quick to dismiss.
- qqii 6y ago
  Blockchains are definitely oversold and overhyped but they do make improvements in certain areas. It's like discounting TOR just because steaming youtube is a lesser experience. Their use of consensus mechanisms make what was implicit explicit. Their global nature is truly without borders. Specific cryptocurrencies are mathematically private and more censorship resistant. Blockchain for the most part isn't ready for the vast majority of people, but discounting it entirely seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Not everything needs blockchain but for the things that do they really do. Real world companies also make tradeoffs, often a single point of trust (the company) and implicit assumptions or state. The current systems that work are great and I don't want to dismiss them at all, but there are specific cryptocurrencies that currently serve some specific needs better. In future I'd imagine there are other ways to take advantage of DHT to serve even more needs better.

by qqii 6y ago

dmitriid 6y ago

> The article rejects anything worse than the best part of current systems For a technology that's frequently hailed as the best new thing since sliced bread, it's quite telling that it can't exhibit a single of the best parts of current systems. And it's replete with parts that are worse than even the worst parts of the current systems. > I could retort and point to companies actually using blockchain but you can easily argue flaws in their implementation. Of course I would. And the articles argues as well, successfully. Because for the absolute vast majority of these real-world companies anything they do can be done better, faster, and more efficiently without the use of blockchain. And if the are not busy scamming people, they are busy re-implementing, often poorly, those "best parts of current systems" that you're so quick to dismiss.

qqii 6y ago
Blockchains are definitely oversold and overhyped but they do make improvements in certain areas. It's like discounting TOR just because steaming youtube is a lesser experience. Their use of consensus mechanisms make what was implicit explicit. Their global nature is truly without borders. Specific cryptocurrencies are mathematically private and more censorship resistant. Blockchain for the most part isn't ready for the vast majority of people, but discounting it entirely seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Not everything needs blockchain but for the things that do they really do. Real world companies also make tradeoffs, often a single point of trust (the company) and implicit assumptions or state. The current systems that work are great and I don't want to dismiss them at all, but there are specific cryptocurrencies that currently serve some specific needs better. In future I'd imagine there are other ways to take advantage of DHT to serve even more needs better.