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Show HN: Futuure – hash-certified public prediction store

futuu.re

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Re: Show HN: Futuure – hash-certified public prediction store

#21

Post by jojo_was_a_man »

fluxinflex wrote: post #15
ssimono wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, I am the main dev behind this. The poks are currently not encrypted because there is no way to fundamentally allow a decryption later without someone having the key the whole time, which defeats the purpose. But we're looking into potential with applications stored in Ethereum or something! In the meantime we are committed to not use, and not even look at the content before their release

True, it's not the same as hashing a password and comparing hashes - you need to decrypt your data. Encryption adds one layer of obfuscation for a bad actor that might steal the database but does not get their hands on the key. Plus access to the key can be managed differently than access to the database. Either way, it comes down to sensitivity of the predictions made and how users would react should they be exposed…

But there are other crypto mechanism for that purpose... see - Verifiable Delay Functions

https://eprint.iacr.org/2018/601.pdf

Re: Show HN: Futuure – hash-certified public prediction store

#22

Post by space_rock »

viraptor wrote: post #11
space_rock wrote: post #9

Blockchain is overhypered nonsense 99.9999% of the time. But seriously this is the one in a billion projects where you should use the Bitcoin blockchain as much as I hate to say it

What feature would a blockchain give them that they can't have now in a simpler way?

It's a tamper-proof prediction to the world that cannot be altered by any party

Re: Show HN: Futuure – hash-certified public prediction store

#23

Post by smt88 »

kngl wrote: post #16
viraptor wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What feature would a blockchain give them that they can't have now in a simpler way?

A proof that the pok and its hash hasn't been altered since its creation.

You can accomplish this with plain old cryptography. No blockchain needed.

There are lots of ways to do it. One of them would be for Fuuture to publish the hash to literally anywhere.

Public + cryptographically verifiable + distributed + append-only still does not equal blockchain, as long as we're defining blockchain as something that was not invented before 2009.

Re: Show HN: Futuure – hash-certified public prediction store

#28

Post by Moodles »

klingon78 wrote: post #19
ketamine__ wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like when Patrick McKenzie (@patio11) posted a hash about some Covid nonsense he wanted to be right about?

If it’s about releasing information on schedule that’s verifiably created with a datetime stamp and maybe also by user, then it’s not really about predictions, it’s more than that. It could be used for any info, and then verification is available for the who and when. The thing though that would make this worthwhile would be if it were decentralized, because you want universal verification and independence of some th…

Honestly (and I hate saying this) but you could stick the hashes in a public blockchain and get clients to verify. But of course this would cost money and any Merkle tree would do, but I can’t believe I just non-ironically suggested a blockchain for something.

Re: Show HN: Futuure – hash-certified public prediction store

#29

Post by SamBam »

smt88 wrote: post #24
bsenftner wrote: post #20

Okay, I'll bite. What's the point? My thinking here is "....and? that's it? why bother?"

Trustworthy digital bookie, I guess?

But why not make the prediction public? That' the part I don't understand. (I came to ask the same question as GP.)

It seems that it's used on Twitter to prove that you were right about something, and so people should trust your foresight ability. E.g., this tweet here: [1]

How does keeping it secret change things? If it's about something that is secret that you know about, well then having foreknowledge is not that surprising. Is it so other people can't steal your prediction and also be right, so you're not as special?

Indeed, as far as I can tell, that tweet was a prediction about global consequences of the Coronavirus. How does keeping that secret help anyone at all, besides saying "ha ha, I was secretly right all along!"

I guess I can also think of some very specialized cases, like getting a hash of a patent you're submitting to prove invention date. But I think I'm being dumb not coming up with more obvious reasons that must make this desirable to lots of people..

1. https://twitter.com/patio11/status/1241551327743770624

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