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This is like asking "what problem do computers solve?" I recommend you have a look at the ecosystem where literally thousands of problems are being solved in n

by tern 5y ago

This is like asking "what problem do computers solve?" I recommend you have a look at the ecosystem where literally thousands of problems are being solved in new ways, and more every day than it's possible to keep up with.

voz_ 5y ago
Please be kind, and don't snipe or deride my question. Instead of hand waiving a recommendation, can you provide some answers?
- tern 5y ago
  Sorry, after awhile I've started to feel frustrated with the dominant narrative on HN. When I'm interested to get a feel for the range of crypto projects with significant traction, I sometimes start here: https://snapshot.org/#/ https://snapshot.org/#/ But it's hard to point to a single place. There are many worlds in crypto. Twitter is a portal to some. One must go on an adventure. Here's something a friend works on: https://www.regen.network/ https://www.regen.network/ For me, crypto enables experimenting with new kinds of corporate structures. That's what I work on. I think we have a decent shot at replacing the current model—basically psychopathic projections of sick humans minds—with something that won't destroy Earth. It's very hard to do that without programmable money.
  - koonsolo 5y ago
    Oh the irony. First gives a short answer. Other poster is not satisied with that. Then apologizes and gives a longer more informative answer. Then gets downvoted to hell. I wonder if next time, you will still give a longer answer, or just not bother anymore. Welcome to the club.
    - CTmystery 5y ago
      Perhaps the downvotes were harsh (I was not one of them, can't downvote :), but the question was "what problem does bitcoin solve?". I'm having a hard time seeing any problem in the parent's comment. Instead of identifying a problem, poster is encouraging us to go on an adventure.
      - koonsolo 5y ago
        For me, I'm tired of really discussing it. I stated a powerful usecase before, but it seems a lot of HNers don't really want a use case, they just want something to bash on. So if you want use cases, you can look it up on the net. And if you want something to bash on, you won't get it from me.
        CTmystery 5y ago
        I get it, it can def be discouraging. For me, I really _want_ to know what the great problems of the day are that bitcoin/blockchain can solve (or assist in solving). I imagine many others are too. So far, from my cursory reading, I haven't seen anything that makes it click, especially when weighing off against energy costs to our planet.
        koonsolo 5y ago
        Ok I'll bite :). Energy cost can be very low when using Proof of Stake. For example a 7000 transactions per second network could run on the energy of a single windmill: https://www.reddit.com/r/nanocurrency/comments/7ucw1a/the_entire_nano_network_is_so_efficient_that/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share https://www.reddit.com/r/nanocurrency/comments/7ucw1a/the_en... And for use cases, the second hand car industry is ready for disruption. You could say all blockchain use cases can be also handled by a central database. But this has failed miserably in the car industry. There are plenty of companies trying to log metadata, and as a result none of them have the complete picture. Even data aggregator companies are not able to properly bundle it. Blockchain could offer a very good trustless solution, where you could log a cars history, and a second hand buyer could consult it. Therefore, big names are entering this space, and I'm confident we will see blockchain solutions in that market soon. This is only 1 example: https://www.ledgerinsights.com/mercedes-benz-blockchain-used-car-market/ https://www.ledgerinsights.com/mercedes-benz-blockchain-used... The DHL website also has a nice explanation on their use cases https://www.dhl.com/global-en/home/insights-and-innovation/insights/blockchain.html https://www.dhl.com/global-en/home/insights-and-innovation/i...
  - voz_ 5y ago
    Thanks, that's a good answer. I am not 100% sold that any of these are "problems", but I could at least see why you think they are and pursue "solutions".
  - kmonsen 5y ago
    I think you are right the crypto can solve some problems, perhaps even useful and interesting problems. But I don’t think it currently solves useful problems dot average people. I know that was not your claim, but it could be read as such and many people think that way of crypto. Not saying that will not change in the future.
- boc 5y ago
  You aren't missing anything. Crypto doesn't solve an existing problem. It was created by arrogant software engineers who thought they know monetary policy better than people who devote their entire lives to the study. It's survived because it happened to make a great natural ponzi scheme, which then made some people rich, and made some people financially invested in pumping the price higher, who now spend all their time telling you how useful it is in an attempt to get you to buy into the "Crypto" universe but really just want your fiat. It's a libertarian currency. Don't be surprised that it's a greater-fool nightmare - that's exactly the point. There's a reason that the True Believers get the majority of the coins for no mining costs and the rest beg for fractions of a coin. It's pure FOMO and reflected in their unofficial motto: "Have fun staying poor". All of the people replying to you trying to convince you that crypto makes sense have a personal financial interest in getting you onboard. They have a larger interest in shooting down dissent and mocking non-believers, because if people stop believing the whole house of cards comes down. I stand to gain nothing if you believe me or don't believe me, so take it however you wish.
egfx 5y ago
Ecosystem is the key word here. Crypto currency enables an economic ecosystem to expand where as without crypto this ecosystem and all the network effects and innovation of said ecosystem would not exist.
School-Cotton 5y ago
It’s possible to give many examples of problems computers solve. For example: I can edit text on a computer more easily than with pencil and paper. Blockchain proponents find it very difficult to give similar answers for what blockchains make possible.
- koonsolo 5y ago
  > For example: I can edit text on a computer more easily than with pencil and paper. So it was not a real problem to begin with. A computer didn't solve anything, it just made a small improvement on your usecase.
  - ALittleLight 5y ago
    The computer made a huge improvement. Have you ever written and edited a significant document with pencil and paper? The bigger point is that it's very easy to point to huge improvements computers have made or to new things computers enable (e.g. collaborative document editing with many authors around the globe and version control). It's much harder to point to things that crypto improves or enables - except for illicit activities.
    - koonsolo 5y ago
      > Have you ever written and edited a significant document with pencil and paper? I'm from 1979, so yes. Now that you mention it, before writing a huge document, you had to think up front what you were going to write and how to write it. So now that I think about it, the computer is actually a step backwards in some way.
    - rauljordan2020 5y ago
      I think the bigger point is that when computers were first introduced, there was a lot of similar pushback to what we see today. The answer is that they don't _directly_ solve a pressing problem, but are a canvas for others to come and use as a new paradigm to solve problems using its technology. Blockchain by itself is a canvas, and anyone can come and create applications on top of it that could solve real problems. Computers and the web are similar in this regard.
mdp2021 5y ago
Computers are Turing Machines - a paradigm of openness to implement processes. How you can compare them to the specific topic is as mysterious as attempting to put life and tree leaves on the same plane.

by tern 5y ago

voz_ 5y ago

Please be kind, and don't snipe or deride my question. Instead of hand waiving a recommendation, can you provide some answers?

tern 5y ago
Sorry, after awhile I've started to feel frustrated with the dominant narrative on HN. When I'm interested to get a feel for the range of crypto projects with significant traction, I sometimes start here: https://snapshot.org/#/ https://snapshot.org/#/ But it's hard to point to a single place. There are many worlds in crypto. Twitter is a portal to some. One must go on an adventure. Here's something a friend works on: https://www.regen.network/ https://www.regen.network/ For me, crypto enables experimenting with new kinds of corporate structures. That's what I work on. I think we have a decent shot at replacing the current model—basically psychopathic projections of sick humans minds—with something that won't destroy Earth. It's very hard to do that without programmable money.
- koonsolo 5y ago
  Oh the irony. First gives a short answer. Other poster is not satisied with that. Then apologizes and gives a longer more informative answer. Then gets downvoted to hell. I wonder if next time, you will still give a longer answer, or just not bother anymore. Welcome to the club.
  - CTmystery 5y ago
    Perhaps the downvotes were harsh (I was not one of them, can't downvote :), but the question was "what problem does bitcoin solve?". I'm having a hard time seeing any problem in the parent's comment. Instead of identifying a problem, poster is encouraging us to go on an adventure.
    - koonsolo 5y ago
      For me, I'm tired of really discussing it. I stated a powerful usecase before, but it seems a lot of HNers don't really want a use case, they just want something to bash on. So if you want use cases, you can look it up on the net. And if you want something to bash on, you won't get it from me.
      - CTmystery 5y ago
        I get it, it can def be discouraging. For me, I really _want_ to know what the great problems of the day are that bitcoin/blockchain can solve (or assist in solving). I imagine many others are too. So far, from my cursory reading, I haven't seen anything that makes it click, especially when weighing off against energy costs to our planet.
        koonsolo 5y ago
        Ok I'll bite :). Energy cost can be very low when using Proof of Stake. For example a 7000 transactions per second network could run on the energy of a single windmill: https://www.reddit.com/r/nanocurrency/comments/7ucw1a/the_entire_nano_network_is_so_efficient_that/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share https://www.reddit.com/r/nanocurrency/comments/7ucw1a/the_en... And for use cases, the second hand car industry is ready for disruption. You could say all blockchain use cases can be also handled by a central database. But this has failed miserably in the car industry. There are plenty of companies trying to log metadata, and as a result none of them have the complete picture. Even data aggregator companies are not able to properly bundle it. Blockchain could offer a very good trustless solution, where you could log a cars history, and a second hand buyer could consult it. Therefore, big names are entering this space, and I'm confident we will see blockchain solutions in that market soon. This is only 1 example: https://www.ledgerinsights.com/mercedes-benz-blockchain-used-car-market/ https://www.ledgerinsights.com/mercedes-benz-blockchain-used... The DHL website also has a nice explanation on their use cases https://www.dhl.com/global-en/home/insights-and-innovation/insights/blockchain.html https://www.dhl.com/global-en/home/insights-and-innovation/i...
- voz_ 5y ago
  Thanks, that's a good answer. I am not 100% sold that any of these are "problems", but I could at least see why you think they are and pursue "solutions".
- kmonsen 5y ago
  I think you are right the crypto can solve some problems, perhaps even useful and interesting problems. But I don’t think it currently solves useful problems dot average people. I know that was not your claim, but it could be read as such and many people think that way of crypto. Not saying that will not change in the future.
boc 5y ago
You aren't missing anything. Crypto doesn't solve an existing problem. It was created by arrogant software engineers who thought they know monetary policy better than people who devote their entire lives to the study. It's survived because it happened to make a great natural ponzi scheme, which then made some people rich, and made some people financially invested in pumping the price higher, who now spend all their time telling you how useful it is in an attempt to get you to buy into the "Crypto" universe but really just want your fiat. It's a libertarian currency. Don't be surprised that it's a greater-fool nightmare - that's exactly the point. There's a reason that the True Believers get the majority of the coins for no mining costs and the rest beg for fractions of a coin. It's pure FOMO and reflected in their unofficial motto: "Have fun staying poor". All of the people replying to you trying to convince you that crypto makes sense have a personal financial interest in getting you onboard. They have a larger interest in shooting down dissent and mocking non-believers, because if people stop believing the whole house of cards comes down. I stand to gain nothing if you believe me or don't believe me, so take it however you wish.

egfx 5y ago

Ecosystem is the key word here. Crypto currency enables an economic ecosystem to expand where as without crypto this ecosystem and all the network effects and innovation of said ecosystem would not exist.

School-Cotton 5y ago

It’s possible to give many examples of problems computers solve. For example: I can edit text on a computer more easily than with pencil and paper. Blockchain proponents find it very difficult to give similar answers for what blockchains make possible.

koonsolo 5y ago
> For example: I can edit text on a computer more easily than with pencil and paper. So it was not a real problem to begin with. A computer didn't solve anything, it just made a small improvement on your usecase.
- ALittleLight 5y ago
  The computer made a huge improvement. Have you ever written and edited a significant document with pencil and paper? The bigger point is that it's very easy to point to huge improvements computers have made or to new things computers enable (e.g. collaborative document editing with many authors around the globe and version control). It's much harder to point to things that crypto improves or enables - except for illicit activities.
  - koonsolo 5y ago
    > Have you ever written and edited a significant document with pencil and paper? I'm from 1979, so yes. Now that you mention it, before writing a huge document, you had to think up front what you were going to write and how to write it. So now that I think about it, the computer is actually a step backwards in some way.
  - rauljordan2020 5y ago
    I think the bigger point is that when computers were first introduced, there was a lot of similar pushback to what we see today. The answer is that they don't _directly_ solve a pressing problem, but are a canvas for others to come and use as a new paradigm to solve problems using its technology. Blockchain by itself is a canvas, and anyone can come and create applications on top of it that could solve real problems. Computers and the web are similar in this regard.

mdp2021 5y ago

Computers are Turing Machines - a paradigm of openness to implement processes. How you can compare them to the specific topic is as mysterious as attempting to put life and tree leaves on the same plane.