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Criticisms here are correct: Look, decentralized here doesn't mean "decentralized" in the slightest. I think for - not just the people he's critcizing, but ALSO

by jrm4 5y ago

Criticisms here are correct: Look, decentralized here doesn't mean "decentralized" in the slightest. I think for - not just the people he's critcizing, but ALSO FOR HIM, "decentralized" really means "centralized differently." True "decentralization" means letting go of (at least some) exclusivity and ownership; and the current flavor of the crypto craze can't even conceive of it. Ironic, since a lot of it is built on free/open source (which is true decentralization). (Which is to say, cryptocurrency isn't valueless, bills gotta get paid and I think fungible crypto can help. But trying to leverage to create new forms of ownership, which is centralization, is exactly backward.)

fragmede 5y ago
> decentralized here doesn't mean "decentralized" in the slightest. That's a bit much. There is a bunch of weird crypto hype surrounding web3, but when I can use a website without having to create a login, and my data that its showing doesn't exist on their servers, that's fundamentally a different Internet than the one we've come to know.
- jrm4 5y ago
  But not fundamentally different from the one we had 20 years ago! Maybe that's my issue here. So many of these Web3 clowns are promising slightly worse versions of the web we already had a while ago (which, fair, might be necessary) -- but while pretending it's something new and, perhaps this is the worst part, apparently aggressively ignoring the extent to which "Information wants to be free"/ GNU Manifesto/etc" type ideas are at least PARTLY true.
  - fragmede 5y ago
    Same thing happened when VPS hosting started being branded as this brand new thing called the cloud and now look at where we are with that. Go figure out how and where smart contracts get executed, and how web3 does decentralize things via a wallet, and tell me there isn't something there, hidden behind all of the marketing fluff of crypto conmen.
xorp 5y ago
> True "decentralization" means letting go of (at least some) exclusivity and ownership; and the current flavor of the crypto craze can't even conceive of it. "True" decentralization is a voluntary framework where both exclusivity and ownership can coexist with other (less capitalist) ideologies. What I find interesting is that there is an emerging global sandbox for people to experiment with novel technologies and try out new ideas that were simply not possible before. It's certainly a fair criticism that the most popular (and most profitable) projects are lacking in creativity and disproportionately rewarded for questionable utility, but that is a criticism of the people who are building (and paying) with this technology. Crazes come and go, and after this current Cambrian explosion winds down and all the NFT hype, DeFi scams, and almost-ponzi schemes implode, I believe that the truly interesting (and useful) projects will not only remain, but continue to grow and evolve over time.
- jrm4 5y ago
  I agree, though I think the current one or ones being hyped now is far less interesting that the projects that have already done much of the same pre-Crypto. They ALL seem like "stuff we've done before but lets add on more payments." See e.g. Deviant Art, Wikipedia, Roblox, Minecraft, Second Life, the list goes on.

by jrm4 5y ago

fragmede 5y ago

> decentralized here doesn't mean "decentralized" in the slightest. That's a bit much. There is a bunch of weird crypto hype surrounding web3, but when I can use a website without having to create a login, and my data that its showing doesn't exist on their servers, that's fundamentally a different Internet than the one we've come to know.

jrm4 5y ago
But not fundamentally different from the one we had 20 years ago! Maybe that's my issue here. So many of these Web3 clowns are promising slightly worse versions of the web we already had a while ago (which, fair, might be necessary) -- but while pretending it's something new and, perhaps this is the worst part, apparently aggressively ignoring the extent to which "Information wants to be free"/ GNU Manifesto/etc" type ideas are at least PARTLY true.
- fragmede 5y ago
  Same thing happened when VPS hosting started being branded as this brand new thing called the cloud and now look at where we are with that. Go figure out how and where smart contracts get executed, and how web3 does decentralize things via a wallet, and tell me there isn't something there, hidden behind all of the marketing fluff of crypto conmen.

xorp 5y ago

> True "decentralization" means letting go of (at least some) exclusivity and ownership; and the current flavor of the crypto craze can't even conceive of it. "True" decentralization is a voluntary framework where both exclusivity and ownership can coexist with other (less capitalist) ideologies. What I find interesting is that there is an emerging global sandbox for people to experiment with novel technologies and try out new ideas that were simply not possible before. It's certainly a fair criticism that the most popular (and most profitable) projects are lacking in creativity and disproportionately rewarded for questionable utility, but that is a criticism of the people who are building (and paying) with this technology. Crazes come and go, and after this current Cambrian explosion winds down and all the NFT hype, DeFi scams, and almost-ponzi schemes implode, I believe that the truly interesting (and useful) projects will not only remain, but continue to grow and evolve over time.

jrm4 5y ago
I agree, though I think the current one or ones being hyped now is far less interesting that the projects that have already done much of the same pre-Crypto. They ALL seem like "stuff we've done before but lets add on more payments." See e.g. Deviant Art, Wikipedia, Roblox, Minecraft, Second Life, the list goes on.