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Good luck guys! I'm incredibly excited. This feels like a modern day Apollo launch.

by aakilfernandes 11y ago

JustSomeNobody 11y ago
I'm sorry, but no.
- vezzy-fnord 11y ago
  One could also interpret it as an indictment. If a blockchain technology is really as exciting as Apollo 11, then that must reflect poorly on us.
  - JustSomeNobody 11y ago
    You make a very good point. :)
- natrius 11y ago
  I think Ethereum (or something like it) will have a greater effect on many more lives than the Apollo missions did. If successful, it will reshape society by giving every individual reduced economic transaction costs that once required the economies of scale of a megacorporation to achieve. Take the humble grocery store. The grocery store is a byproduct of economies of scale. Producers sell to grocery stores because it's easier to sell to them in bulk than to find each individual end customer to sell to. Customers buy from grocery stores because it's easier to get everything they want in one store than trying to find each producer to buy from. Ethereum makes it trivial to connect producers and consumers. It could make the grocery store obsolete. Using an Instacart-style interface, customers could shop from every producer on the planet and have their purchases appear on their doorstep. No intermediary is necessary for this: consumers will pay producers directly, and pay the delivery people and storage centers along the paths from their goods to their homes. Software will do this for them. Competing in this market is as easy as putting your goods up for sale and building up your reputation—not with a brand marketing campaign, but by selling your goods and services for lower prices until enough people rate them highly enough for you to demand higher prices. More competition and fewer middlemen will lead to lower prices and better products. Trade will be so easy that more trade will happen, and since every trade makes both sides more wealthy, mankind will be more wealthy. This is why I'm excited about Ethereum. It's easy to dismiss if you don't understand what can be built with it. I encourage you to learn more about what it is and imagine new things that can be built with it.
  - carterehsmith 11y ago
    Anyone can order stuff from Amazon or Alibaba or wherever and have it delivered, and build reputation, and so on - how does Ethereum improve on that?
    - natrius 11y ago
      To clarify, Ethereum isn't a marketplace or a reputation system. It's just a good platform for building those things. Ordering from Amazon or Alibaba means paying them for the privilege. Systems that connect producers directly to consumers will have lower costs because there's no middleman that needs to skim profits. If such systems become popular, it will be a transfer of wealth from the Amazons of the world to everyone else. I find that desirable. In general, Ethereum gives us powerful tools to coordinate human interactions. That means there will be more human interactions, and you'll be able to interact with people you don't have much personal history with. You will buy your USB drives directly from the factory in Shenzhen with a good reputation score and low prices. You'll get your loan directly from the person who wants to earn returns on their savings.
      - fleitz 11y ago
        Umm... Amazon and Alibaba ship actual things, and how they improve the situation is by economies of scale such that the profit they make is less than the inefficiencies they eliminate. Even then many people would rather go to the mall and pay for local retail space in order to be able to inspect the goods before purchase. I fail to see how ethereum will make the distribution of goods anymore efficient. 'middle man' is just hand wavy economic ignorance.
      - carterehsmith 11y ago
        >>Systems that connect producers directly to consumers will have lower costs because there's no middleman that needs to skim profits. Will it? Amazon and the likes operate on notoriously slim margins whilst buying at wholesale prices, and getting shipments in bulk. Whereas me buying 1 widget from Shenzhen, that will be retail price, plus shipment for 1 single item overseas, that will cost way more than Amazon is paying per bulk-shiped item. I don't see how all that could add up being cheaper than buying it at Amazon or Walmart or whatever.
itistoday2 11y ago
Forgive the downvoters Father, they know not what they do. I'm right there with you on the edge of my seat. There might be no visible rocket explosion, but this will have a similar explosive impact on humanity. Major congrats to the Ethereum team!
- verisimilidude 11y ago
  It can't have an explosive impact, because it has none of the drama of three guys strapping their nuts to a massive rocket, hurtling themselves into space, and becoming the very first to walk on the big white ball in the sky—where said ball has captured the imagination of every human that has ever lived, ever. You're not going to have every TV set in the whole world tuned into the launch day for a blockchain. If this does have an impact at huge scale, it's going to slither into everyone's lives by coincidence, convenience, or accident, over time. I would not call that explosive. Perspective, people.
  - kordless 11y ago
    If it delivers on the technology, Ethereum will eventually enable the elimination of everything in the world governed by legal and monetary contracts. That's a big IF, but if that IF is real, you are going to be dead wrong in your assertion of 'perspective'.
    - verisimilidude 11y ago
      I never doubted the potential, as I said. I only doubted the possibility that this will have an immediate (read: "explosive") impact on par with the Apollo landings. Re-read my comment, and attempt reading comprehension this time.
- aakilfernandes 11y ago
  I'm actually enjoying the downvotes. It'll make this comment all the better when I link back to it in 5 years.
  - 11y ago
carterehsmith 11y ago
>> Good luck guys! I'm incredibly excited. This feels like a modern day Apollo launch. Lol. So you are saying that Apollo Moon landing was as fake as this ;)
drcode 11y ago
I agree, it feels like a really big deal... the fact that so few others are on board with this technology so far definitely means some exciting times are ahead, whether we're proven wrong or right.

Good luck guys! I'm incredibly excited. This feels like a modern day Apollo launch.

JustSomeNobody 11y ago

I'm sorry, but no.

vezzy-fnord 11y ago
One could also interpret it as an indictment. If a blockchain technology is really as exciting as Apollo 11, then that must reflect poorly on us.
- JustSomeNobody 11y ago
  You make a very good point. :)
natrius 11y ago
I think Ethereum (or something like it) will have a greater effect on many more lives than the Apollo missions did. If successful, it will reshape society by giving every individual reduced economic transaction costs that once required the economies of scale of a megacorporation to achieve. Take the humble grocery store. The grocery store is a byproduct of economies of scale. Producers sell to grocery stores because it's easier to sell to them in bulk than to find each individual end customer to sell to. Customers buy from grocery stores because it's easier to get everything they want in one store than trying to find each producer to buy from. Ethereum makes it trivial to connect producers and consumers. It could make the grocery store obsolete. Using an Instacart-style interface, customers could shop from every producer on the planet and have their purchases appear on their doorstep. No intermediary is necessary for this: consumers will pay producers directly, and pay the delivery people and storage centers along the paths from their goods to their homes. Software will do this for them. Competing in this market is as easy as putting your goods up for sale and building up your reputation—not with a brand marketing campaign, but by selling your goods and services for lower prices until enough people rate them highly enough for you to demand higher prices. More competition and fewer middlemen will lead to lower prices and better products. Trade will be so easy that more trade will happen, and since every trade makes both sides more wealthy, mankind will be more wealthy. This is why I'm excited about Ethereum. It's easy to dismiss if you don't understand what can be built with it. I encourage you to learn more about what it is and imagine new things that can be built with it.
- carterehsmith 11y ago
  Anyone can order stuff from Amazon or Alibaba or wherever and have it delivered, and build reputation, and so on - how does Ethereum improve on that?
  - natrius 11y ago
    To clarify, Ethereum isn't a marketplace or a reputation system. It's just a good platform for building those things. Ordering from Amazon or Alibaba means paying them for the privilege. Systems that connect producers directly to consumers will have lower costs because there's no middleman that needs to skim profits. If such systems become popular, it will be a transfer of wealth from the Amazons of the world to everyone else. I find that desirable. In general, Ethereum gives us powerful tools to coordinate human interactions. That means there will be more human interactions, and you'll be able to interact with people you don't have much personal history with. You will buy your USB drives directly from the factory in Shenzhen with a good reputation score and low prices. You'll get your loan directly from the person who wants to earn returns on their savings.
    - fleitz 11y ago
      Umm... Amazon and Alibaba ship actual things, and how they improve the situation is by economies of scale such that the profit they make is less than the inefficiencies they eliminate. Even then many people would rather go to the mall and pay for local retail space in order to be able to inspect the goods before purchase. I fail to see how ethereum will make the distribution of goods anymore efficient. 'middle man' is just hand wavy economic ignorance.
    - carterehsmith 11y ago
      >>Systems that connect producers directly to consumers will have lower costs because there's no middleman that needs to skim profits. Will it? Amazon and the likes operate on notoriously slim margins whilst buying at wholesale prices, and getting shipments in bulk. Whereas me buying 1 widget from Shenzhen, that will be retail price, plus shipment for 1 single item overseas, that will cost way more than Amazon is paying per bulk-shiped item. I don't see how all that could add up being cheaper than buying it at Amazon or Walmart or whatever.

itistoday2 11y ago

Forgive the downvoters Father, they know not what they do. I'm right there with you on the edge of my seat. There might be no visible rocket explosion, but this will have a similar explosive impact on humanity. Major congrats to the Ethereum team!

verisimilidude 11y ago
It can't have an explosive impact, because it has none of the drama of three guys strapping their nuts to a massive rocket, hurtling themselves into space, and becoming the very first to walk on the big white ball in the sky—where said ball has captured the imagination of every human that has ever lived, ever. You're not going to have every TV set in the whole world tuned into the launch day for a blockchain. If this does have an impact at huge scale, it's going to slither into everyone's lives by coincidence, convenience, or accident, over time. I would not call that explosive. Perspective, people.
- kordless 11y ago
  If it delivers on the technology, Ethereum will eventually enable the elimination of everything in the world governed by legal and monetary contracts. That's a big IF, but if that IF is real, you are going to be dead wrong in your assertion of 'perspective'.
  - verisimilidude 11y ago
    I never doubted the potential, as I said. I only doubted the possibility that this will have an immediate (read: "explosive") impact on par with the Apollo landings. Re-read my comment, and attempt reading comprehension this time.
aakilfernandes 11y ago
I'm actually enjoying the downvotes. It'll make this comment all the better when I link back to it in 5 years.
- 11y ago

carterehsmith 11y ago

>> Good luck guys! I'm incredibly excited. This feels like a modern day Apollo launch. Lol. So you are saying that Apollo Moon landing was as fake as this ;)

drcode 11y ago

I agree, it feels like a really big deal... the fact that so few others are on board with this technology so far definitely means some exciting times are ahead, whether we're proven wrong or right.