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I thought the same at the beginning. Yet somehow I think I'm missing something a bit more complex (complicated?) than just "linked lists". I don't want to unde

I thought the same at the beginning. Yet somehow I think I'm missing something a bit more complex (complicated?) than just "linked lists". I don't want to understand only the theory but also the "practice" (e.g., one could read all about distributed systems... But one really gets the gist of it until one has to deal with real world networks in the cloud or on prem, dealing with real systems)

mightyRodri 4y ago
Have you seen the "Line goes up" summary by Dan Olson? It puts the crypto sphere into context. From that many descisions and marketing practices start to make sense.
- fastball 4y ago
  Crypto being full of grifters does not mean that the actual developers in the space are using "technobabble" in order to sound smarter without actually introducing new concepts. Crypto is actually innovating in ways that are broadly applicable to computer science in general, e.g. with all the work being done on Zero-Knowledge Proofs. And those innovations require new words because they are new concepts. I think it should be somewhat obvious to anyone that has actually looked at the space that devs are not just re-naming existing ideas.
  - LtWorf 4y ago
    > Crypto is actually innovating in ways that are broadly applicable to computer science in general Most of it is just companies putting blockchains everywhere because VCs give them money in that case. Nothing scientific about that.
    - fastball 4y ago
      Again, the two things are not mutually exclusive. Most people/orgs can be applying blockchain tech in ways that are not actually useful (or are actively harmful), but that doesn't mean there aren't people in that same space doing novel work that requires new terms in order to communicate with other experts/researchers/developers efficiently and effectively.
- AgentME 4y ago
  In that video he searches for the griftiest projects and treats them as defining the whole technology. Suggesting it as an answer here is like responding to a question about how eBay is engineered and showing off the scammiest eBay auction pages you can find by searching for the lowest-rated users.
  - pcthrowaway 4y ago
    I actually thought Line Goes Up was pretty well informed and well-presented. It's definitely one-sided, but I think there were only a couple of statements that I found questionable. I work in the crypto industry, and definitely agree there's a ton of innovation in the space, but the innovations lie at an incredibly technical intersection of cryptography, game theory, and distributed networks. Get marketing, sales, and investment capital involved in the mix (which almost every project has), and you have a bundle of products being thrust in front of the public which they can't rigorously evaluate, and because everything is directly incentivized, tons of scammers, grifters, liars, and fraudsters. When my non-technical friends ask me about crypto, I'm happy to tell them some of the things I think are really cool about it. But I don't recommend buying anything based on my perspective; it's basically gambling (even if you're well-informed)
  - jekrb 4y ago
    Well yeah this is how he gets paid. It's not about being informative about a class of technology, its about generating clicks to get more patreon subscriptions and youtube ad payments.
ilaksh 4y ago
Try to imagine you are building a new banking system, and you want it to be secure. How would you A) allow for secure payments without giving away something like a bank account # or debit card number and B) ensure that, even if those payments were secure, there was no other cheating, such as people at a bank just deciding to initiate an account with one million? Generally speaking the way to handle those requirements is by employing cryptographic signatures and public blockchain(s), and the result is usually referred to as a cryptocurrency.
- cowtools 4y ago
  There's also chaum's e-cash
  - AgentME 4y ago
    It relied on a central authority to work, and that's very related to why it no longer works.
    - wruza 4y ago
      David Chaum opined then “As the Web grew, the average level of sophistication of users dropped. It was hard to explain the importance of privacy to them” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecash https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecash Not sure how this opinion relates to failure, but just in case, things only got worse since.
- Nursie 4y ago
  > A) allow for secure payments without giving away something like a bank account # or debit card number We have a whole bunch of these systems, like Open Banking payments in the UK, Pix in Brazil, and to a lesser extent stuff like Apple/Amazon pay and other payment proxies which don't require you to expose account numbers to merchants. Physical credit-card transactions work this way too, as the chips have built-in cryptographic processors. > such as people at a bank just deciding to initiate an account with one million? This is not a problem people really have. Having a limited quantity of your means of exchange is not a desirable quality in a currency.

mightyRodri 4y ago

Have you seen the "Line goes up" summary by Dan Olson? It puts the crypto sphere into context. From that many descisions and marketing practices start to make sense.

fastball 4y ago
Crypto being full of grifters does not mean that the actual developers in the space are using "technobabble" in order to sound smarter without actually introducing new concepts. Crypto is actually innovating in ways that are broadly applicable to computer science in general, e.g. with all the work being done on Zero-Knowledge Proofs. And those innovations require new words because they are new concepts. I think it should be somewhat obvious to anyone that has actually looked at the space that devs are not just re-naming existing ideas.
- LtWorf 4y ago
  > Crypto is actually innovating in ways that are broadly applicable to computer science in general Most of it is just companies putting blockchains everywhere because VCs give them money in that case. Nothing scientific about that.
  - fastball 4y ago
    Again, the two things are not mutually exclusive. Most people/orgs can be applying blockchain tech in ways that are not actually useful (or are actively harmful), but that doesn't mean there aren't people in that same space doing novel work that requires new terms in order to communicate with other experts/researchers/developers efficiently and effectively.
AgentME 4y ago
In that video he searches for the griftiest projects and treats them as defining the whole technology. Suggesting it as an answer here is like responding to a question about how eBay is engineered and showing off the scammiest eBay auction pages you can find by searching for the lowest-rated users.
- pcthrowaway 4y ago
  I actually thought Line Goes Up was pretty well informed and well-presented. It's definitely one-sided, but I think there were only a couple of statements that I found questionable. I work in the crypto industry, and definitely agree there's a ton of innovation in the space, but the innovations lie at an incredibly technical intersection of cryptography, game theory, and distributed networks. Get marketing, sales, and investment capital involved in the mix (which almost every project has), and you have a bundle of products being thrust in front of the public which they can't rigorously evaluate, and because everything is directly incentivized, tons of scammers, grifters, liars, and fraudsters. When my non-technical friends ask me about crypto, I'm happy to tell them some of the things I think are really cool about it. But I don't recommend buying anything based on my perspective; it's basically gambling (even if you're well-informed)
- jekrb 4y ago
  Well yeah this is how he gets paid. It's not about being informative about a class of technology, its about generating clicks to get more patreon subscriptions and youtube ad payments.

ilaksh 4y ago

Try to imagine you are building a new banking system, and you want it to be secure. How would you A) allow for secure payments without giving away something like a bank account # or debit card number and B) ensure that, even if those payments were secure, there was no other cheating, such as people at a bank just deciding to initiate an account with one million? Generally speaking the way to handle those requirements is by employing cryptographic signatures and public blockchain(s), and the result is usually referred to as a cryptocurrency.

cowtools 4y ago
There's also chaum's e-cash
- AgentME 4y ago
  It relied on a central authority to work, and that's very related to why it no longer works.
  - wruza 4y ago
    David Chaum opined then “As the Web grew, the average level of sophistication of users dropped. It was hard to explain the importance of privacy to them” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecash https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecash Not sure how this opinion relates to failure, but just in case, things only got worse since.
Nursie 4y ago
> A) allow for secure payments without giving away something like a bank account # or debit card number We have a whole bunch of these systems, like Open Banking payments in the UK, Pix in Brazil, and to a lesser extent stuff like Apple/Amazon pay and other payment proxies which don't require you to expose account numbers to merchants. Physical credit-card transactions work this way too, as the chips have built-in cryptographic processors. > such as people at a bank just deciding to initiate an account with one million? This is not a problem people really have. Having a limited quantity of your means of exchange is not a desirable quality in a currency.