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We keep talking about how tech should be used to make a net positive change yet we allow this glorified linked list that has 0 real world benefits after a decad

by sub7 5y ago

We keep talking about how tech should be used to make a net positive change yet we allow this glorified linked list that has 0 real world benefits after a decade to get a pass because some man children run around promising it's the future.

Romanulus 5y ago
I'm not sure which system you're referring to exactly.
ddtaylor 5y ago
I think it's censorship resistant and permissionless properties make it pretty impressive.
- lugged 5y ago
  Sanction resistant too.
- bawolff 5y ago
  I don't think its cencorship resistence is that impressive. The amount of data you can publish is pretty limited, which is a key property of cencorship resistence.
  - ddtaylor 5y ago
    There are other blockchains with more available space than Bitcoin, such as Bitcoin Cash.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  Is it censorship resistant? Couldn't state easily enough attack it at any sufficiently large point it contacts with real economy? They degree certain wallets being tainted. And then promise to jail anyone who deals with coins from these, receive them and transmit on to anywhere but government controlled wallets and face jail time? For one scenario, or just tell exchanges or like to confiscate any coins coming from certain addresses...
chroem- 5y ago
That "glorified linked list" solves a lot of problems in peer to peer computing. In fact, blockchains are arguably the biggest breakthrough that subfield of computer science has ever seen.
- bawolff 5y ago
  Meh, bitcoin is an interesting solution to a difficult to solve problem, but "biggest breakthrough" is rediculously hyperbolic. The applications beyond decentralized trustless tradeable tokens have mostly been toy examples. Examples of bigger breakthroughs in the field of p2p communication: the internet. Distributed hash tables.
- sub7 5y ago
  It's a kademlia based app, this shit was around in the 90s. I'd argue the biggest breakthrough was the Turing machine but sure the consensus math is interesting.
  - chroem- 5y ago
    Kademlia had no consensus mechanism. >I'd argue the biggest breakthrough was the Turing machine Witty, but that's not peer to peer computing.
  - bawolff 5y ago
    Did i miss something? I didnt think bitcoin used kademlia. I would consider kademlia (or overlay networks in general) a bigger breakthrough though.
- dmitriid 5y ago
  > solves a lot of problems in peer to peer computing. Can you list ten of these problems if there are a lot of them?
  - chroem- 5y ago
    Sure: - consensus - distributed computation - statefulness - peer to peer identity - peer to peer reputation of nodes - resistance against many classic failure modes (e.g. Sybil attacks) - peer to peer source of truth (e.g. Namecoin/DNScoin) - verifiable code execution (smart contracts) - immutability/ tamper proof - and (obviously) peer to peer payments Granted, some of these overlap with each other, but the point still stands. The pearl clutching over cryptocurrency seems extremely inauthentic when you consider the vast sums of energy tech giants expend to target us with ads.
exporectomy 5y ago
Can you identify someone expressed both of those beleifs? Maybe they're separate people, who are obviously entitled to have conflicting opinions.
mclightning 5y ago
"glorified linked list" is a pretty big straw-man, besides being short-sighted. innovation of blockchain is not entirely the tech, but what it ultimately enables socio-politically.

by sub7 5y ago

Romanulus 5y ago

I'm not sure which system you're referring to exactly.

ddtaylor 5y ago

I think it's censorship resistant and permissionless properties make it pretty impressive.

lugged 5y ago
Sanction resistant too.
bawolff 5y ago
I don't think its cencorship resistence is that impressive. The amount of data you can publish is pretty limited, which is a key property of cencorship resistence.
- ddtaylor 5y ago
  There are other blockchains with more available space than Bitcoin, such as Bitcoin Cash.
Ekaros 5y ago
Is it censorship resistant? Couldn't state easily enough attack it at any sufficiently large point it contacts with real economy? They degree certain wallets being tainted. And then promise to jail anyone who deals with coins from these, receive them and transmit on to anywhere but government controlled wallets and face jail time? For one scenario, or just tell exchanges or like to confiscate any coins coming from certain addresses...

chroem- 5y ago

That "glorified linked list" solves a lot of problems in peer to peer computing. In fact, blockchains are arguably the biggest breakthrough that subfield of computer science has ever seen.

bawolff 5y ago
Meh, bitcoin is an interesting solution to a difficult to solve problem, but "biggest breakthrough" is rediculously hyperbolic. The applications beyond decentralized trustless tradeable tokens have mostly been toy examples. Examples of bigger breakthroughs in the field of p2p communication: the internet. Distributed hash tables.
sub7 5y ago
It's a kademlia based app, this shit was around in the 90s. I'd argue the biggest breakthrough was the Turing machine but sure the consensus math is interesting.
- chroem- 5y ago
  Kademlia had no consensus mechanism. >I'd argue the biggest breakthrough was the Turing machine Witty, but that's not peer to peer computing.
- bawolff 5y ago
  Did i miss something? I didnt think bitcoin used kademlia. I would consider kademlia (or overlay networks in general) a bigger breakthrough though.
dmitriid 5y ago
> solves a lot of problems in peer to peer computing. Can you list ten of these problems if there are a lot of them?
- chroem- 5y ago
  Sure: - consensus - distributed computation - statefulness - peer to peer identity - peer to peer reputation of nodes - resistance against many classic failure modes (e.g. Sybil attacks) - peer to peer source of truth (e.g. Namecoin/DNScoin) - verifiable code execution (smart contracts) - immutability/ tamper proof - and (obviously) peer to peer payments Granted, some of these overlap with each other, but the point still stands. The pearl clutching over cryptocurrency seems extremely inauthentic when you consider the vast sums of energy tech giants expend to target us with ads.

exporectomy 5y ago

Can you identify someone expressed both of those beleifs? Maybe they're separate people, who are obviously entitled to have conflicting opinions.

mclightning 5y ago

"glorified linked list" is a pretty big straw-man, besides being short-sighted. innovation of blockchain is not entirely the tech, but what it ultimately enables socio-politically.