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LASER, back when it was still written in all caps. It was called "the most useless invention of the century" for a while, and it took close to a decade to figur

LASER, back when it was still written in all caps. It was called "the most useless invention of the century" for a while, and it took close to a decade to figure a use for it. But I think the whole discussion is missing the point. Blockchain is mostly not trying to be a solution to engineering problems, but societal, "how do we do X without a trustworthy party involved". We already know how to do any given X with someone trustworthy involved. And, fundamentally, that's how society works, no matter how much anarchists wish it didn't. It's almost always possible to agree to some party to be in charge, making blockchain mostly pointless, no matter how much money is poured in the technical details.

skohan 5y ago
But this is a totally abstract argument. Can you point to a tangible example of blockchain being used to solve a real societal problem, in a way which is competitive with other, more conventional solutions?
- neolog 5y ago
  The "Git" application is a blockchain for decentralized management of the Linux kernel source code. The "Bitcoin" application is a tool useful for buying and selling recreational drugs without exposure to the physical risk posed by cash transactions. Edit: That is, the physical/financial risk posed to you by the other party or third-party robbers. Legal risk is probably also reduced: law-enforcement deanonymization attacks seem much less frequent than busting people with drugs on the street. Blockchain-based markets in general enable transactions without revealing personally identifying information to the counterparty or platform while circumventing regulatory restrictions on conventional transactions.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - skohan 5y ago
    Git isn't a blockchain.
    - neolog 5y ago
      Why not? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain
      - skohan 5y ago
        > The blockchain was invented by a person (or group of people) using the name Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 > Git was created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 for development of the Linux kernel They use similar data structures, but blockchain is more than a Merkel tree, it also includes a consensus algorithm.
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
  - creshal 5y ago
    Git is not a blockchain, there's no distributed consensus algorithm. The consensus on what's the main branch and what's the authoritative history lies with Linus Torvalds. > The "Bitcoin" application is a tool useful for buying and selling recreational drugs without exposure to the physical risk posed by cash transactions. It hasn't been since at least 2018; authorities regularly seize millions worth of bitcoins together with drug dealers, and have been openly bragging about their de-anonymization successes as early as 2019.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - neolog 5y ago
      clarified above, I mean interparty violence, not legal threat > what's the authoritative history lies with Linus Torvalds. I agree with your point about distributed consensus in general, but there isn't really a single authoritative history of linux, there are tons of important forks simultaneously maintained. As for deanonymization, that doesn't seem to be very common. Compare to the rate at which people get busted by street cops for buying drugs.
      - creshal 5y ago
        > I agree with your point about distributed consensus in general, but there isn't really a single authoritative history of linux, there are tons of important forks simultaneously maintained. What does that have to do with blockchain? Is bittorrent to you "blockchain for downloads" just because it's decentralized and has hashes?
        neolog 5y ago
        I've changed my mind after reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain#Structure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain#Structure
- creshal 5y ago
  I can't. That's why I'm saying it's the real problem, not the engineering side.

skohan 5y ago

But this is a totally abstract argument. Can you point to a tangible example of blockchain being used to solve a real societal problem, in a way which is competitive with other, more conventional solutions?

neolog 5y ago
The "Git" application is a blockchain for decentralized management of the Linux kernel source code. The "Bitcoin" application is a tool useful for buying and selling recreational drugs without exposure to the physical risk posed by cash transactions. Edit: That is, the physical/financial risk posed to you by the other party or third-party robbers. Legal risk is probably also reduced: law-enforcement deanonymization attacks seem much less frequent than busting people with drugs on the street. Blockchain-based markets in general enable transactions without revealing personally identifying information to the counterparty or platform while circumventing regulatory restrictions on conventional transactions.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- skohan 5y ago
  Git isn't a blockchain.
  - neolog 5y ago
    Why not? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain
    - skohan 5y ago
      > The blockchain was invented by a person (or group of people) using the name Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 > Git was created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 for development of the Linux kernel They use similar data structures, but blockchain is more than a Merkel tree, it also includes a consensus algorithm.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
- creshal 5y ago
  Git is not a blockchain, there's no distributed consensus algorithm. The consensus on what's the main branch and what's the authoritative history lies with Linus Torvalds. > The "Bitcoin" application is a tool useful for buying and selling recreational drugs without exposure to the physical risk posed by cash transactions. It hasn't been since at least 2018; authorities regularly seize millions worth of bitcoins together with drug dealers, and have been openly bragging about their de-anonymization successes as early as 2019.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - neolog 5y ago
    clarified above, I mean interparty violence, not legal threat > what's the authoritative history lies with Linus Torvalds. I agree with your point about distributed consensus in general, but there isn't really a single authoritative history of linux, there are tons of important forks simultaneously maintained. As for deanonymization, that doesn't seem to be very common. Compare to the rate at which people get busted by street cops for buying drugs.
    - creshal 5y ago
      > I agree with your point about distributed consensus in general, but there isn't really a single authoritative history of linux, there are tons of important forks simultaneously maintained. What does that have to do with blockchain? Is bittorrent to you "blockchain for downloads" just because it's decentralized and has hashes?
      - neolog 5y ago
        I've changed my mind after reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain#Structure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain#Structure
creshal 5y ago
I can't. That's why I'm saying it's the real problem, not the engineering side.