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Web3 seems like the attempt to hype a solution to a largely non-existent problem in order to "keep the music playing". There are many actors with large financia

Web3 seems like the attempt to hype a solution to a largely non-existent problem in order to "keep the music playing". There are many actors with large financial stakes in the crypto ecosystem that will do anything to keep the masses to put money into the system. We've seen that with NFTs earlier this year, where a concerted effort was made to create hype e.g. by auctioning NFTs via Sothesby's for 8-figure amounts (one does wonder why you'd need Sotheby's in the world of decentralized finance), which seems to have worked as people now pay thousands of dollars for worthless GIFs. But in order to keep the price rally going you need to make people pour more and more money into the system every year. Hyping decentralized apps just seems like the next logical step here. I found it quite hilarious though to see the diagram in the article that explains how a decentralized Web3 app is supposed to replace a traditional centralized system, which ended up being plastered with the logos of companies whose proprietary commercial solutions you need to operate a dApp.

libertine 5y ago
I'm not into crypto, but I think you're missing the picture here: the fact is that a lot of people are into crypto, and new people are coming in (even if they come in waves that crash and exit, some do still stick around), and Web3 seems to be here to serve this people. You can even call it a niche. If you can capture part of the value of this market by creating value for those users... what's wrong with that? How is this a non-existent problem? NFTs are a good example of what you're dealing with. There are so many people with - arguably - apparent "poor taste" exchanging large sums of funny-money because that's part of their vision of an end game, and maybe that "poor taste" it's just because there's nothing else to do with the funny-money. The problem here is that they want to spend it, exchange it, do things with it, and dApps are here to serve them. From my understanding of this: the Web3 is not about/for you, or me, it's more for them. If they are hyping it to be the future, let them be, it's their thing and we "don't get it" - that's ok. We've seen this over and over again, some stuff stuck around, others faded away. But it's ok to not understand some social movements and not be part of them. You're probably experiencing what some folks experienced when Rock Music came about, it's confusion and it's an odd feeling. I'm not saying crypto will have the same popularity of rock music... I could say another example like EBM music... the point is that we don't understand a lot of things.
- raesene9 5y ago
  Do you think that most/all people buying NFTs are doing it for the art, or are they doing it because they're speculating that the NFT will go up in value and they can resell it? If you want to appreciate art (of whatever type) what additional benefits of that art does the NFT provide? It's not access to the original image, those are just files, it's only certification of ownership of a particular instance of that image, AFAIK. The concern I see with NFTs and other similar applications of blockchain tech, is that it's not about the application as much as speculating on them to make money. That speculation, like all speculation, is susceptible to people overhyping it, leading to lots of losses for late adopters.
  - libertine 5y ago
    I do think that the main motivation of a big part of those exchanges is indeed fueled by the prospect of the things they buy getting up in value, which if you think about is the same of a social proof-of-stake that you're "cool" - you see the same with real assets with real money, like Supreme merchandising, Pokemon/MTG cards. Supreme is for the "cool/boasting" factor. Pokemon/MTG is a mix of nostalgia with boasting on social media. Idk what Beanie Babies was about but it had a short run. Is it an arbitrary choice? Does it require some (little) taste? I don't know, probably A or B, or both A & B. We all buy stuff with the hopes that people will pay more for it in the future, the difference is that the majority of people exchange broadly accepted symbols like stocks, precious metals, and that renders those symbols as more safe bets - but the motivation is there if you strip off the symbol. With that said I would never buy a "Bored Ape" NFT. Like I would never buy old Air Jordan shoes for thousands of real money units. >If you want to appreciate art (of whatever type) what additional benefits of that art does the NFT provide? Maybe the main value that NFT seems to provide is that is exchanged with crypto. Like I said in my previous comment, it's something people can do with the funny money. >That speculation, like all speculation, is susceptible to people overhyping it, leading to lots of losses for late adopters. I do agree with you, yet I need to recognize as well that this thing has momentum and a life of it's own. Even if it is simply because too many people have invested too much on it to go back (time/money), or even if they just believe in that vision... The truth is that still this is a market that is self serving itself, to the point that they seem to be creating new protocols for that purpose. Itself has it's own problems and there are solutions for those problems, that's how value is created and exchanged. Even if the problem is "we have all this funny money and we want to spend it". Can it all crumble down? I think it can, like many other cultural movements. But I need admit that I don't understand a big part of it, and I think that a lot of this tech literate user base of HN is on the same boat as me.

libertine 5y ago

I'm not into crypto, but I think you're missing the picture here: the fact is that a lot of people are into crypto, and new people are coming in (even if they come in waves that crash and exit, some do still stick around), and Web3 seems to be here to serve this people. You can even call it a niche. If you can capture part of the value of this market by creating value for those users... what's wrong with that? How is this a non-existent problem? NFTs are a good example of what you're dealing with. There are so many people with - arguably - apparent "poor taste" exchanging large sums of funny-money because that's part of their vision of an end game, and maybe that "poor taste" it's just because there's nothing else to do with the funny-money. The problem here is that they want to spend it, exchange it, do things with it, and dApps are here to serve them. From my understanding of this: the Web3 is not about/for you, or me, it's more for them. If they are hyping it to be the future, let them be, it's their thing and we "don't get it" - that's ok. We've seen this over and over again, some stuff stuck around, others faded away. But it's ok to not understand some social movements and not be part of them. You're probably experiencing what some folks experienced when Rock Music came about, it's confusion and it's an odd feeling. I'm not saying crypto will have the same popularity of rock music... I could say another example like EBM music... the point is that we don't understand a lot of things.

raesene9 5y ago
Do you think that most/all people buying NFTs are doing it for the art, or are they doing it because they're speculating that the NFT will go up in value and they can resell it? If you want to appreciate art (of whatever type) what additional benefits of that art does the NFT provide? It's not access to the original image, those are just files, it's only certification of ownership of a particular instance of that image, AFAIK. The concern I see with NFTs and other similar applications of blockchain tech, is that it's not about the application as much as speculating on them to make money. That speculation, like all speculation, is susceptible to people overhyping it, leading to lots of losses for late adopters.
- libertine 5y ago
  I do think that the main motivation of a big part of those exchanges is indeed fueled by the prospect of the things they buy getting up in value, which if you think about is the same of a social proof-of-stake that you're "cool" - you see the same with real assets with real money, like Supreme merchandising, Pokemon/MTG cards. Supreme is for the "cool/boasting" factor. Pokemon/MTG is a mix of nostalgia with boasting on social media. Idk what Beanie Babies was about but it had a short run. Is it an arbitrary choice? Does it require some (little) taste? I don't know, probably A or B, or both A & B. We all buy stuff with the hopes that people will pay more for it in the future, the difference is that the majority of people exchange broadly accepted symbols like stocks, precious metals, and that renders those symbols as more safe bets - but the motivation is there if you strip off the symbol. With that said I would never buy a "Bored Ape" NFT. Like I would never buy old Air Jordan shoes for thousands of real money units. >If you want to appreciate art (of whatever type) what additional benefits of that art does the NFT provide? Maybe the main value that NFT seems to provide is that is exchanged with crypto. Like I said in my previous comment, it's something people can do with the funny money. >That speculation, like all speculation, is susceptible to people overhyping it, leading to lots of losses for late adopters. I do agree with you, yet I need to recognize as well that this thing has momentum and a life of it's own. Even if it is simply because too many people have invested too much on it to go back (time/money), or even if they just believe in that vision... The truth is that still this is a market that is self serving itself, to the point that they seem to be creating new protocols for that purpose. Itself has it's own problems and there are solutions for those problems, that's how value is created and exchanged. Even if the problem is "we have all this funny money and we want to spend it". Can it all crumble down? I think it can, like many other cultural movements. But I need admit that I don't understand a big part of it, and I think that a lot of this tech literate user base of HN is on the same boat as me.