v64

29 ms·

331.
by v64 9y ago
Apologies, was an earnest attempt to answer parent's Q, didn't realize they were flagged for it
332.
by v64 9y ago
Thanks for this writeup! You've done a great job at organizing many of the points that were discussed in this Bitcoin thread[1] from last month. I'll be using this as a starting point for discussion with friends that are intereste
333.
by v64 9y ago
https://i.imgur.com/dqPq0wI.gif
334.
by v64 9y ago
Just because it's private doesn't mean it's decentralized in a protocol sense. The nodes in the private blockchain would still be distrustful of each other and would still undergo decentralized consensus. As for compensation,
335.
by v64 9y ago
> Is there a better estimate of total value this can create? I don't think there'll be a way to realistically estimate this for at least another decade. That would be like asking what the effect of TCP/IP will be on eComme
336.
by v64 9y ago
I agree with a lot of what you say, but I don't think we're at the visionary stage yet. Right now we're inventing TCP/IP. At that point, the best you could say is that we're developing technology for a global commun
337.
by v64 9y ago
Out of curiosity, where did you live and what sector did you work in? From my own experience, I agree that the businesses that were excited about computer technology were businesses with high amounts of inventory and paperwork where automat
338.
by v64 9y ago
The way I view cryptocurrencies is that they're a service like HTTP or SMTP on top of a blockchain, which would be analogous to TCP/IP. Cryptocurrencies are only one of many uses of blockchains. I disagree with the notion that a c
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by v64 9y ago
Thanks for your observation. I was an old /. user who eventually found his way here and have always felt to be in likeminded company, but I understand that technology often outpaces culture, even among the tech vanguard. I hope that pe
340.
by v64 9y ago
> So far, the best use case of the block chain tech is to remove the necessity for a variety of industry associations few people have ever heard of. The same could be said of many of the early hardware and software makers of the early in
341.
by v64 9y ago
> AOL was a company, not a class of technology like cryptocurrency. You know this, but many users of AOL didn't. To them, AOL was equal to the internet, like many people believe that cryptocurrency is the only application of blockch
342.
by v64 9y ago
I don't think you can underestimate how important immutability and trustlessness are in cases like these. Don't get me wrong, your setup would be an improvement over many manually curated processes (and in my own business, I use l
343.
by v64 9y ago
This is a great point that I don't see a lot of people making. The US government would love nothing more than having a USDCoin that allows them to see exactly how money flows from person to person and institution to institution, as wel
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by v64 9y ago
Cryptocurrency isn't blockchains anymore than AOL is the Internet. Bitcoin may be getting less useful, showing that a proof of work system that incentivizes miners the way it does may be broken, but this doesn't fundamentally ceas
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by v64 9y ago
> So the article doesn’t seem in conflict with my HN reading, 80s/90s surviving self any more than me thinking AOL and Broadcast.com sucked back then even though I bet my whole career on the Internet. I think we agree and I haven&#x
346.
by v64 9y ago
> Then, one day, ten or twenty years from now, we'll realise that "fiat" currencies have been blockchain based since some un-trumpeted central bank upgrade eighteen-months prior. Tom, Dick, and Jane may not notice, but I w
347.
by v64 9y ago
Many financial transactions take place between parties who don't necessarily trust that the other side isn't fudging their numbers in order to get a better deal for themselves or to conceal information. Auditing firms exist to pou
348.
by v64 9y ago
> I'm onboard with that. Although your argument may benefit from better phrasing, because it actually does come across like that, which is a disservice to your advocacy effort. In the end I'm just a programmer, not an essayist
349.
by v64 9y ago
From a fintech perspective, I'll make a thirty year prediction that blockchains will be used to reduce costs associated with third party clearinghouses and auditing firms by strengthening assurances that data hasn't been manipulat
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by v64 9y ago
I agree that the current system involving miners is fraught with political implications. But that doesn't mean the system is broken, it just means it needs to be improved (proof of stake, for instance).
351.
by v64 9y ago
> Yes, except, personal computers didn't have negative side effects I disagree with this sentiment. In the early days, the dissemination of information like pornography and texts like the Anarchist Cookbook, which had instructions o
352.
by v64 9y ago
No, you didn't get that right at all. Doubt and skepticism are inherent parts of creating new ideas, and at no point did I express that the people who are skeptical are wrong. Rather, I am surprised to see comments on a technical websi
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by v64 9y ago
> Why do you assume that Bitcoin is one of these few winners, rather than the multitude of losers? I didn't state that Bitcoin would be a winner, and in fact stated in my comment that Bitcoin may cease to exist as a software product
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by v64 9y ago
> I lived through the 80s and early 90s. The difference is that I could do stuff with the early Internet. I could do stuff with BBSes. I could do stuff with early PCs. These things were almost immediately very useful to a lot of people.
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by v64 9y ago
> The end user doesn't care what database you're using. They care about utility. I agree, but this isn't just about the end user. Many businesses incur costs to third parties that could be reduced or eliminated by trustles
356.
by v64 9y ago
> So are you saying that it's more rational to simply think 'anything is possible' even though the available evidence and information seems to point to the fact that that isn't the case? At what point do you believe t
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by v64 9y ago
> there are deep, deep flaws with proof of work as a concept because of the energy consumed What is the energy consumption of all the bank offices and computer systems in the world? Even without this comparison, I think the amount of ene
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by v64 9y ago
It's strange to me how there are many among the Hacker News crowd who can read an article like this and have doubts about its thesis. You lived through the 80s and 90s right? I can't count how many times in my life I was told no o
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by v64 9y ago
Unfortunately, because the officer was Somali and named Mohamed, I've heard nothing but bigotry back home regarding this case. "Wouldn't have happened if the officer was white", etc. If the officer had been white, I coul
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by v64 9y ago
> So - the demonstrations following some police shootings aside, is there any significant push in the US to drive the police towards less lethal encounters with the public it is to serve and protect? I'm from the southern US, which

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