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Up front: I hate crypto. I think it is stupid and any use case it has can be solved much more efficiently with existing tools. To me this blog reads like post-

Up front: I hate crypto. I think it is stupid and any use case it has can be solved much more efficiently with existing tools. To me this blog reads like post-breakup copium. Dude just spent two years of his life and who knows how much money trying to find a market, only to realize there isn’t one. But he is sure someone else will find it! The technology is good! No it isn’t. And no they won’t. Admit when you are wrong and serve as a lesson to others.

smoldesu 4y ago
I hate cryptocurrency too, but claiming that P2P technologies aren't good or don't fix problems is pretty laughable. Programs like Bittorrent and Soulseek have left media corporations quaking in their boots for decades. Cryptocurrency, despite all of it's shortcomings, is insanely resistant technology and even the most despised shitcoins will probably outlive your youngest living relatives. It's fine to loathe it, but the underpinnings of P2P technology are absolutely phenomenal, and increasingly relevant in a world where protocol trumps products. The real conundrum of cryptocurrency is that the technology is awesome, but the social implications of ripping the safety rails off the free market is so dire that only a disillusioned nerd could advocate for it.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- drakythe 4y ago
  Peer to peer tech isn’t exclusive to cryptocurrency shenanigans. Neither is cryptography. I don’t hate these technologies. I don’t think they are useless. Quite the opposite. But the cryptocurrency/blockchain “stack” is a solution in search of a problem. I personally believe any good use case for this stack will be so hyper specific you’ll need to pay others to run copies of he ledger so you can have the consensus mechanism. But then you run into privacy issues and are better off duplicating your standard DB to some audited write only instance.
- danaris 4y ago
  There's a big difference between saying cryptocurrency (or, more broadly, blockchain) doesn't solve real-life problems and saying P2P systems don't solve real-life problems. You appear to be attacking a strawman.
- _visgean 4y ago
  > Bittorrent and Soulseek have left media corporations quaking in their boots for decades did they? From my understanding availability of piracy was not really the issue behind the decline in revenue e.g. we still have all p2p infrastructure going on but the media revenue is through the roof - because of streaming. Also to me it seemed more people used file serving service e.g. megaupload to download movies / music rather than torrents.. > and increasingly relevant in a world where protocol trumps products does not seem to describe my experience at all. Most things that I and mainstream users tend to use are based on closed products rather than protocols... I hope the trend will disappear but it does not seem like it.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  > claiming that P2P technologies aren't good or don't fix problems is pretty laughable. Who said that? Are we not allowed to talk about p2p without talking about crypto any more?
qazpot 4y ago
I can bet there are a lot of people still working in crypto because of sunk cost fallacy.
- birracerveza 4y ago
  I can bet in a couple years this comment will be really funny.
- tayo42 4y ago
  What does working on crypto actually mean. Like are you implementing block chains or finding uses for coins?
  - qazpot 4y ago
    Both.
olalonde 4y ago
> Up front: I hate crypto. I think it is stupid and any use case it has can be solved much more efficiently with existing tools. There are no alternative to a decentralized currency. Personally, I believe that the world would be a better place with a neutral/decentralized currency but I recognize that not everyone shares this opinion. I can't say that I "hate" fiat though, that seems a bit too strong.

smoldesu 4y ago

I hate cryptocurrency too, but claiming that P2P technologies aren't good or don't fix problems is pretty laughable. Programs like Bittorrent and Soulseek have left media corporations quaking in their boots for decades. Cryptocurrency, despite all of it's shortcomings, is insanely resistant technology and even the most despised shitcoins will probably outlive your youngest living relatives. It's fine to loathe it, but the underpinnings of P2P technology are absolutely phenomenal, and increasingly relevant in a world where protocol trumps products. The real conundrum of cryptocurrency is that the technology is awesome, but the social implications of ripping the safety rails off the free market is so dire that only a disillusioned nerd could advocate for it.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
drakythe 4y ago
Peer to peer tech isn’t exclusive to cryptocurrency shenanigans. Neither is cryptography. I don’t hate these technologies. I don’t think they are useless. Quite the opposite. But the cryptocurrency/blockchain “stack” is a solution in search of a problem. I personally believe any good use case for this stack will be so hyper specific you’ll need to pay others to run copies of he ledger so you can have the consensus mechanism. But then you run into privacy issues and are better off duplicating your standard DB to some audited write only instance.
danaris 4y ago
There's a big difference between saying cryptocurrency (or, more broadly, blockchain) doesn't solve real-life problems and saying P2P systems don't solve real-life problems. You appear to be attacking a strawman.
_visgean 4y ago
> Bittorrent and Soulseek have left media corporations quaking in their boots for decades did they? From my understanding availability of piracy was not really the issue behind the decline in revenue e.g. we still have all p2p infrastructure going on but the media revenue is through the roof - because of streaming. Also to me it seemed more people used file serving service e.g. megaupload to download movies / music rather than torrents.. > and increasingly relevant in a world where protocol trumps products does not seem to describe my experience at all. Most things that I and mainstream users tend to use are based on closed products rather than protocols... I hope the trend will disappear but it does not seem like it.
pessimizer 4y ago
> claiming that P2P technologies aren't good or don't fix problems is pretty laughable. Who said that? Are we not allowed to talk about p2p without talking about crypto any more?

qazpot 4y ago

I can bet there are a lot of people still working in crypto because of sunk cost fallacy.

birracerveza 4y ago
I can bet in a couple years this comment will be really funny.
tayo42 4y ago
What does working on crypto actually mean. Like are you implementing block chains or finding uses for coins?
- qazpot 4y ago
  Both.

olalonde 4y ago

> Up front: I hate crypto. I think it is stupid and any use case it has can be solved much more efficiently with existing tools. There are no alternative to a decentralized currency. Personally, I believe that the world would be a better place with a neutral/decentralized currency but I recognize that not everyone shares this opinion. I can't say that I "hate" fiat though, that seems a bit too strong.