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I don't understand how a forum called Hacker News is so dismissive of an invention that should be right up a hacker's alley. Innovative, technical, cryptographi

by Kiro 6y ago

I don't understand how a forum called Hacker News is so dismissive of an invention that should be right up a hacker's alley. Innovative, technical, cryptographic and decentralized. Cryptocurrencies feel like something straight out of a cyberpunk novel.

matkoniecz 6y ago
> Cryptocurrencies feel like something straight out of a cyberpunk novel. And that is exactly why I dislike it. At least among ones that I encountered cyberpunk is strongly dystopian. > I don't understand how a forum called Hacker News is so dismissive of an invention that should be right up a hacker's alley I hope that Chia dies and falls on its face before SSD and HDD will repeat story of GPU. I like to use this resources for actually useful things, not gambling. > decentralized So far BTC-like stuff is centralized, just in a novel toxic way.
- Kiro 6y ago
  > At least among ones that I encountered cyberpunk is strongly dystopian. Back in the day when we were sitting in dark basements with big Unix beards drinking Jolt cola, we all dreamed of living in a crypto-anarchy, becoming cyborgs with chip implants and fully submerge in the Metaverse. I guess times have changed.
  - celticninja 6y ago
    As someone who started reading cyberpunk as a young teenager this is definitely the future I imagined, just with different names. Cryptocurrency, the internet, mobile devices, huge powerful corporations, Anonymous, black hat hackers, hi tech protests like DDoS, electric vehicles, shady IT security companies, Moxie Marlinspike, billionaires going into space...
  - croes 6y ago
    Cyberpunk is corporate oligarchy, and we are getting there.
  - matkoniecz 6y ago
    Glasses is as far as I am happy to go with cyborgization. Maybe implant in case of total hearing/eyesight loss. I know how buggy software is, I would not feel safe with it directly coupled to myself. > living in a crypto-anarchy I know how well communism went, I hope that next radical society reengineering will happen sufficiently far away to not impact me.
cwyers 6y ago
Because it doesn't work. I wish it worked! It does feel like something out of a cyberpunk novel. I loved "Crypronomicon." There's nothing punk about Bitcoin anymore, though. IBM, the least punk organization in the history of mankind, wants to sell you a blockchain. The promise of Bitcoin is the idea that individuals, not large financial concerns, have the power. Coinbase just IPO'd for an eye watering amount of money on the premise that people who want to buy and sell Bitcoin are probably going to have to do it through them. What's less punk than an IPO?
- baby 6y ago
  That’s a weird argument, because the big guys are trying to get into cryptocurrencies doesn’t make it less punk.
  - httpsterio 6y ago
    it literally does mean that. Punk is a rebellion against the system, which is made out of the big guys.
    - random_kris 6y ago
      Maybe the rebellion is happening and Bitcoin&friends are slowly winning
      - realce 6y ago
        Oh - just like punk did?
- ccortes 6y ago
  > The promise of Bitcoin is the idea that individuals, not large financial concerns, have the power. Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency out there. Besides, the fact that coinbase just had an IPO doesn't mean they control bitcoin, I don't need them or anyone else to move around cryptocurrencies however I want.
- wsc981 6y ago
larzang 6y ago
Wasting massive amounts of mostly carbon-producing electricity as the planet dies to do absolutely nothing productive is a pretty cyberpunk evil megacorp thing to do, agreed.

by Kiro 6y ago

matkoniecz 6y ago

> Cryptocurrencies feel like something straight out of a cyberpunk novel. And that is exactly why I dislike it. At least among ones that I encountered cyberpunk is strongly dystopian. > I don't understand how a forum called Hacker News is so dismissive of an invention that should be right up a hacker's alley I hope that Chia dies and falls on its face before SSD and HDD will repeat story of GPU. I like to use this resources for actually useful things, not gambling. > decentralized So far BTC-like stuff is centralized, just in a novel toxic way.

Kiro 6y ago
> At least among ones that I encountered cyberpunk is strongly dystopian. Back in the day when we were sitting in dark basements with big Unix beards drinking Jolt cola, we all dreamed of living in a crypto-anarchy, becoming cyborgs with chip implants and fully submerge in the Metaverse. I guess times have changed.
- celticninja 6y ago
  As someone who started reading cyberpunk as a young teenager this is definitely the future I imagined, just with different names. Cryptocurrency, the internet, mobile devices, huge powerful corporations, Anonymous, black hat hackers, hi tech protests like DDoS, electric vehicles, shady IT security companies, Moxie Marlinspike, billionaires going into space...
- croes 6y ago
  Cyberpunk is corporate oligarchy, and we are getting there.
- matkoniecz 6y ago
  Glasses is as far as I am happy to go with cyborgization. Maybe implant in case of total hearing/eyesight loss. I know how buggy software is, I would not feel safe with it directly coupled to myself. > living in a crypto-anarchy I know how well communism went, I hope that next radical society reengineering will happen sufficiently far away to not impact me.

cwyers 6y ago

Because it doesn't work. I wish it worked! It does feel like something out of a cyberpunk novel. I loved "Crypronomicon." There's nothing punk about Bitcoin anymore, though. IBM, the least punk organization in the history of mankind, wants to sell you a blockchain. The promise of Bitcoin is the idea that individuals, not large financial concerns, have the power. Coinbase just IPO'd for an eye watering amount of money on the premise that people who want to buy and sell Bitcoin are probably going to have to do it through them. What's less punk than an IPO?

baby 6y ago
That’s a weird argument, because the big guys are trying to get into cryptocurrencies doesn’t make it less punk.
- httpsterio 6y ago
  it literally does mean that. Punk is a rebellion against the system, which is made out of the big guys.
  - random_kris 6y ago
    Maybe the rebellion is happening and Bitcoin&friends are slowly winning
    - realce 6y ago
      Oh - just like punk did?
ccortes 6y ago
> The promise of Bitcoin is the idea that individuals, not large financial concerns, have the power. Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency out there. Besides, the fact that coinbase just had an IPO doesn't mean they control bitcoin, I don't need them or anyone else to move around cryptocurrencies however I want.
wsc981 6y ago

larzang 6y ago

Wasting massive amounts of mostly carbon-producing electricity as the planet dies to do absolutely nothing productive is a pretty cyberpunk evil megacorp thing to do, agreed.