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Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

timdaub.github.io

631–640 of 650 posts

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#631
post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consider Monero useful but most of its users are unethical. It's pretty telling that the author of the blog post bashes it in the exact way you should. "Don't buy it" as if it was meant to be speculated with.

Wasn’t Bitcoin painted in a similar light before it became mainstream? Monero’s users being unethical (in your opinion) is a testament to the usefulness of the technology, not the other way around. Would you say the same thing about Tor?

i would replace unethical with illegal and that would be right.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#632

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To prove the comment wrong you just have to provide a single example, but you can't do that so instead you're criticizing the complaint and saying it isn't novel (which is true, but irrelevant to its validity).

Nope, I'm criticizing the complaint because it's vapid, which it is. Interesting concept I learned when I stopped drinking -- you aren't owed a rebuttal when your argument is stupid!

You still can't provide a single example, and playing games about how you don't need to rebut a vapid argument only makes this more obvious to everyone else.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#633

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatsapp was cross platform and free.

Skype was cross-platform and free too. Also, we are talking technology, their pricing strategy is a different problem.

No, you have to take in the context and timeframe.

Skype was not a messaging platform that regular users used on their Phone.

iPhone and Android each were their own bubble and required paid expensive SMS messages to talk to each other.

Whatsapp was at least very populair in The Netherlands for this reason alone.

Pricing is important because that proves why it was useful to people. Also: ease of use, based on how Whatsapp works.

We are not talking just technologies but technologies in a context.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#634

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes you can, access to free information and finance should be a human right. Just like cash can be used by anyone, so electronic cash should be.

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain were never really about human rights. It's all about making a quick buck. If that's at the expense of other people or our environment, who gives a fuck right?

Those crypto tools came from techno-anarchist circles, heavily based on academia research - not much of a quick buck there, more passion for privacy and aversion to government and any form of control. Speculators are great for funding and where is money you'll see scammers quickly as well.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#635
post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's being declared "failed technology" at least once a month since inception, no?

I mean it "works", but so do steam powered cars. The problem is most people don't actually use it, just trade it. The space used to mostly involve people who actually wanted to decentralize currencies, now it's almost exclusively "hodl $$$$$ to the moon etc". This article is articulating what's been clear to many people who really believed in the promise of decentralized currency: crypto in its current iteration has…

Maybe you're hearing only "hodl" because those people are loud? Just like Vitalik doesn't give a shit about making money on speculation, so do many people working around this tech, a lot don't hold anything in crypto or purely symbolic amounts, trading takes a lot of time, energy and can drain emotionally very quickly, with more than 80% of new traders loosing money after 1 year not everybody is interested in it.

To put it in other words - crypto trading is different kind of hobby than programming. Many people are interested in what kind of systems can be built and don't give much crap about monetizing it or worry about how many people are using it.

It's a bit like getting upset at Fabrice Bellard because he created quickjs that "nobody is using" - it's completely missing the point.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#636
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How is that different from any other asset, stocks, land, property. It's all speculation nowadays. Just look at the housing market in London and other places. This is a common talking point but it's not actually true. 99% of London housing is used for living in.

> 99% of London housing is used for living in. Are they all owners or the owners actually "invested" in a piece of property calculating the rent passive income and the possible increase in market value as part of the overall rentability of their investment?

Even owner-occupiers may be "investors" - plenty of people's retirement plan involves selling their London home. But the houses are being lived in and are therefore providing real-world value, which is the main thing IMO - speculators can toss money back and forth all day, as long as the useful thing keeps happening.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#637
post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the moment DeFi loans are fully collateralized, with the loan to value ratio affecting the interest rate you pay. If your collateral drops in value you have to recollateralize the loan, or are liquidated.

I don't understand. Why would I need a loan for $X if I already have $X to put up as collateral?

To avoid triggering the taxes (and in many cases, never paying them).

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#638

Building something useful on something that is primarily used as highly volatile financial speculation instrument always rubbed me the wrong way. The whole crypto scene is just about making quick dough with a technology, that for some reason remains hyped through and wrapped in mysticism. Face it, there is no sexy killer app for the masses. Wait. There is one: Crypto trading to... make quick dough. And the cryptonerd…

After all those years, there's still not a single useful blockchain application around. These days I see lots companies telling me, they put their "supply chain on blockchain" and while I understand what they probably want to tell me ("you can't tamper with where our stuff comes from") I don't see the point in that. If you've got trust issues with your subcontractors you should fix those and not "seal" the willingly…

> If you've got trust issues with your subcontractors you should fix those and not "seal" the willingly wrong information in a blockchain.

In first world countries, yes. In third world countries, no.

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#639

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, I'm criticizing the complaint because it's vapid, which it is. Interesting concept I learned when I stopped drinking -- you aren't owed a rebuttal when your argument is stupid!

You still can't provide a single example, and playing games about how you don't need to rebut a vapid argument only makes this more obvious to everyone else.

[deleted]

Re: Ethereum Isn't Fun Anymore

#640

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, I'm criticizing the complaint because it's vapid, which it is. Interesting concept I learned when I stopped drinking -- you aren't owed a rebuttal when your argument is stupid!

You still can't provide a single example, and playing games about how you don't need to rebut a vapid argument only makes this more obvious to everyone else.

Bro you already won the HN argument, you don't need to keep replying unless you want to hang out sometime. Just let me know
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