4 ms·

For the most part, I believe outside of bitcoin, blockchain is a solution in search of a problem,

by uberman 4mo ago

mobear 4mo ago
interesting, I've heard the phrase before. I figured decentralizing trust in areas beyond currency like data ownership and preventing censorship would be beneficial as well
- uberman 4mo ago
  So, there are other ways to decentralize trust that don't involve proof of work or spoof of space or what have you. Proof of work is in fact not a way to decentralize trust as almost all blockchains will be vulnerable to 51% attacks. Big ones, like bitcoin, work because there is enough return to keep mining pools competitive. Likewise there are other ways to circumvent censorship. I don't believe Anna's Archive uses any blockchain other than for payments for example. Again, using bitcoin metadata to store information in a way that prevents censorship is cool but that is again because the size and power of the miners who protect the integrity of the blockchain. A boutique blockchain seems to be to be both needlessly complicated and vulnerable to attack that make the idea of a boutique shared public ledger questionable. I have done a lot of work in the higher Ed space and many people have suggested to me over the years that "what we need" is a blockchain of course grades and credentials. I struggle to understand why we "need" that or if it was needed, why that would be better than getting a transcript directly from the University or from a public clearing house say College Board. If a public ledger was of generic use, why would the NCAA Transfer Portal not already be using one? Your milage may vary (as they say) but this is just what my gut is telling me.
  - mobear 4mo ago
    yeah I'm not an expert, but Anna’s Archive seems to reduce censorship by using torrents, mirrors, ipfs (built by the same team behind filecoin). incentives to seed content are mostly through volunteers, which works well if people care about preserving the data I guess blockchains like filecoin introduce economic incentives, you pay independent storage providers to preserve data rather than relying on volunteers. a good complementary service for additional redundancy. imo blockchain doesn't need to replace every existing solution, but in instances where it makes more sense to reduce dependence on a single party
bnova 4mo ago
I feel this depends on whether you believe concentration is a problem. Like before the Neolithic Revolution people didn't really have leaders, if someone tried to be a tyrant it was a lot easier to leave. Though after agriculture and the ability to concentrate wealth blockchain is imo the first real shot of a store of value independent of a system.... though by creating a new system in which a few centralized players are in charge, humanity prevails

For the most part, I believe outside of bitcoin, blockchain is a solution in search of a problem,

by uberman 4mo ago

For the most part, I believe outside of bitcoin, blockchain is a solution in search of a problem,

interesting, I've heard the phrase before. I figured decentralizing trust in areas beyond currency like data ownership and preventing censorship would be beneficial as well

uberman 4mo ago
So, there are other ways to decentralize trust that don't involve proof of work or spoof of space or what have you. Proof of work is in fact not a way to decentralize trust as almost all blockchains will be vulnerable to 51% attacks. Big ones, like bitcoin, work because there is enough return to keep mining pools competitive. Likewise there are other ways to circumvent censorship. I don't believe Anna's Archive uses any blockchain other than for payments for example. Again, using bitcoin metadata to store information in a way that prevents censorship is cool but that is again because the size and power of the miners who protect the integrity of the blockchain. A boutique blockchain seems to be to be both needlessly complicated and vulnerable to attack that make the idea of a boutique shared public ledger questionable. I have done a lot of work in the higher Ed space and many people have suggested to me over the years that "what we need" is a blockchain of course grades and credentials. I struggle to understand why we "need" that or if it was needed, why that would be better than getting a transcript directly from the University or from a public clearing house say College Board. If a public ledger was of generic use, why would the NCAA Transfer Portal not already be using one? Your milage may vary (as they say) but this is just what my gut is telling me.
- mobear 4mo ago
  yeah I'm not an expert, but Anna’s Archive seems to reduce censorship by using torrents, mirrors, ipfs (built by the same team behind filecoin). incentives to seed content are mostly through volunteers, which works well if people care about preserving the data I guess blockchains like filecoin introduce economic incentives, you pay independent storage providers to preserve data rather than relying on volunteers. a good complementary service for additional redundancy. imo blockchain doesn't need to replace every existing solution, but in instances where it makes more sense to reduce dependence on a single party

bnova 4mo ago

I feel this depends on whether you believe concentration is a problem. Like before the Neolithic Revolution people didn't really have leaders, if someone tried to be a tyrant it was a lot easier to leave. Though after agriculture and the ability to concentrate wealth blockchain is imo the first real shot of a store of value independent of a system.... though by creating a new system in which a few centralized players are in charge, humanity prevails