3 ms·

You should try writing a smart contract. I didn’t believe in the utility until I did that. You can think of a blockchain like Ethereum as a really shitty global

by rp1 5y ago

You should try writing a smart contract. I didn’t believe in the utility until I did that. You can think of a blockchain like Ethereum as a really shitty global computer. It’s so weak that all it can do is transactionally change a few bytes of data associated with a key. Using this shitty computer, you can implement a currency or some type of token system. The important bit is that it’s a shitty computer _now_, but maybe it won’t be so bad in the future. When you implement a smart contract, you realize it’d be pretty nice if you could run complicated programs on a global computer and not need to worry about running your own infra like a DB or hosting.

evergrande 5y ago
Try deploying the same contract on a different chain, like Polygon. It's a lot more fun. Super cheap, almost instant and is a preview of the future. If ETH 2.0 is like that it'll be a game changer.
threeseed 5y ago
> could run complicated programs on a global computer and not need to worry about running your own infra like a DB or hosting You mean like serverless ?
- rp1 5y ago
  Serverless is just the execution context. You still need to worry about data storage. As I said, I didnt understand the difference until I tried to build something. It just feels different than serverless. One thing is that you still need maintain your serverless setup. If you stop paying the bills, your app dies. That doesn’t happen on the blockchain.
- evergrande 5y ago
  Except those companies can decide to change the rules at any time and can kick you off. And that's increasingly on the basis of mob rule and authoritarian governments.
Ekaros 5y ago
Single or even handful of global computers running everything sounds extremely scary... Something goes wrong or there is some issue and whole thing comes to halt with decent chunk of economy... Then fights start how to fix it. How to roll things back. What to reinstate. How that effects further things. What if at this point some physical transactions have happened? Are we going back to 40s and world needing 4 computers?
kmarc 5y ago
This is what a couple of my former colleagues worked on under the name of "internet computer". No affiliation, but I find it interesting. https://dfinity.org/ https://dfinity.org/

by rp1 5y ago

evergrande 5y ago

Try deploying the same contract on a different chain, like Polygon. It's a lot more fun. Super cheap, almost instant and is a preview of the future. If ETH 2.0 is like that it'll be a game changer.

threeseed 5y ago

> could run complicated programs on a global computer and not need to worry about running your own infra like a DB or hosting You mean like serverless ?

rp1 5y ago
Serverless is just the execution context. You still need to worry about data storage. As I said, I didnt understand the difference until I tried to build something. It just feels different than serverless. One thing is that you still need maintain your serverless setup. If you stop paying the bills, your app dies. That doesn’t happen on the blockchain.
evergrande 5y ago
Except those companies can decide to change the rules at any time and can kick you off. And that's increasingly on the basis of mob rule and authoritarian governments.

Ekaros 5y ago

Single or even handful of global computers running everything sounds extremely scary... Something goes wrong or there is some issue and whole thing comes to halt with decent chunk of economy... Then fights start how to fix it. How to roll things back. What to reinstate. How that effects further things. What if at this point some physical transactions have happened? Are we going back to 40s and world needing 4 computers?

kmarc 5y ago

This is what a couple of my former colleagues worked on under the name of "internet computer". No affiliation, but I find it interesting. https://dfinity.org/ https://dfinity.org/