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Edward Snowden Slams Sam Altman's Worldcoin: 'Don't Catalogue Eyeballs'

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231–240 of 318 posts

Re: Edward Snowden Slams Sam Altman's Worldcoin: 'Don't Catalogue Eyeballs'

#231
post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well it dramatically decreases the efficiency of the monetary system (requiring 60 days of electricity and 1 iPad of e-waste to scribble a few bytes into the ledger every 10 minutes), and only one of the other assets you pointed out create value, the others are unproductive. Real estate is not a monetary asset, it's a productive asset - because people need a place to live and you can either live in a house yourself o…

This post is riddled with misconceptions, but I’m just going to focus on these because they’re probably the most productive places for you to start: > Real estate is not a monetary asset, it's a productive asset… Gold is a commodity, not a monetary asset. This is wrong. Any asset with monetary properties can (and will, in the right environments) be monetized. When the primary medium of exchange is inflationary, peopl…

> This is wrong. Any asset with monetary properties can (and will, in the right environments) be monetized.

That is not the definition of a monetary asset.

"A monetary item is an asset or liability carrying a value in dollars that will not change in the future. These items have a fixed numerical value in dollars, and a dollar is always worth a dollar. The numbers do not change even though the purchasing power of a dollar can potentially change." [1]

Words have meaning, so I guess I'm not 100% sure what you're talking about.

> Invocation of “intrinsic value” is a 100% surefire sign of a dysfunctional economic mental model.

[citation needed]

[1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/monetary-item.asp

Re: Edward Snowden Slams Sam Altman's Worldcoin: 'Don't Catalogue Eyeballs'

#232
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding your first paragraph, from Oxford Dictionary, "fairness" means "impartial and just treatment or behavior without favoritism or discrimination." The above poster was right — it's fair if you're referring to equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. I've seen this whole ladder analogy commonly used in radical socialist, communist, CRT-type Instagram accounts, used to reframe discrimination in a positive light.

Which version of the OED includes the phrase "without favouritism or discrimination" in the definition of "fairness"? The one I have access to, oed.com (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online September 2021) doesn't include the phrase "without favouritism or discrimination" - its full definition of "fairness" (meaning 6) is "Honesty; impartiality, equitableness, justness; fa…

>Which version of the OED includes the phrase "without favouritism or discrimination" in the definition of "fairness"?

FWIW in the "Oxford Dictionary of English" that's built into iOS, if I look up "fairness" I get

> 1. impartial and just treatment or behaviour without favouritism or discrimination.

> [...]

(the other definitions refer to pale skin or beauty)

Re: Edward Snowden Slams Sam Altman's Worldcoin: 'Don't Catalogue Eyeballs'

#233
post #53
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I don't care about Worldcoin (I think it will fail, because they are solving the problem that does not exist), this post is false in multiple ways. First, retina scanning output hash is deterministic - it is supposed to generate the same result for the same eyeball. So it can't be replaced with random number generation. Second, network does not interpret hashes, except for making sure that single hash is awarde…

So… then why do they need retina scans? If the whole process has tons of checks and balances, it sounds a lot like the normal verification processes followed by governments for IDs/Visas.

Or banks, know your customer and all that. But the day some crypto project goes there the world implodes vor something.

Re: Edward Snowden Slams Sam Altman's Worldcoin: 'Don't Catalogue Eyeballs'

#234
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They allegedly do liveness checks with an IR sensor to make sure they are scanning a live eye

Humans and eyeballs are just machines. Anything they check for liveness can be simulated if there's enough incentive to do it.

Assuming it was 99.99999% foolproof, then you may have some other problems which are even bigger: kidnapping, having children to collect their coins, etc.

The big logic flaw here is the same one as when the Soviet Union collapsed and shares of the state owned enterprises and assets were sold to the general public: poor people sell the assets to the wealthy.

The entire thing is strange, and doesn’t make sense.

Re: Edward Snowden Slams Sam Altman's Worldcoin: 'Don't Catalogue Eyeballs'

#235
post #11

Incredible how out of touch the Silicon Valley elite is with the real world.

When I left Silicon Valley, it was to escape the bubble. What you wrote is what I felt. But in hindsight, I think "Silicon Valley is out of touch with the real world" is too innocuous. Obviously, it is, but a lot of the "elite" aren't just happily enjoying their bubble. They are intent on shaping "the real world", and they have enough resources and influence to be successful some of the time. I doubt very much that t…

There was a time, relatively recently, that the second half of your second paragraph was strictly in the realm of tin-foil hat weirdo.

But now, I can see a clear line between the data we're collecting today and the data that would be that much more useful like DNA.

Re: Edward Snowden Slams Sam Altman's Worldcoin: 'Don't Catalogue Eyeballs'

#236
post #43
post #7

I registered the domain thiseyeballdoesnotexist.com - anyone interested in training a GAN for that page?

How will that help you? You need the orb, too and those operating the orb can presumably tell the difference between a real person and a jpg of an eyeball.

When they start handing them out, just figure out how to get one. Then the website listed and your orb can rake you in all that sweet crypto cash.

This seems like a solution to a problem that isn't really a solution.

Re: Edward Snowden Slams Sam Altman's Worldcoin: 'Don't Catalogue Eyeballs'

#237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're going to need to figure out how to recycle e-waste at massive scale irregardless of bitcoin. Silicon brains are the spice of civilization. The only limit on who much e-waste we produce is how fast we can churn them out.

Cool and when we do we can revisit Bitcoin.

That's not how progress in anything, whether it's increasing complexity in evolution of life or the advance of civilization, has ever worked.

We do new things, and figure out how to manage the fallout for the successful things after the fact.

Re: Edward Snowden Slams Sam Altman's Worldcoin: 'Don't Catalogue Eyeballs'

#238
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well a passport can always be faked. If the world became a totalitarian dystopia and you were a freedom fighter that had to elude detection, you can always use a fake passport. Faking biometrics is much harder if they already have your data.

I don't think I'd consider "it's harder to fake" a negative for the project if I was involved.

Yes. It’s very good for the project (and the NSA), not so great for users. I’m responding to the comment that prefers to give biometric data to some random private company

Re: Edward Snowden Slams Sam Altman's Worldcoin: 'Don't Catalogue Eyeballs'

#239
post #48

RIP Sam Altman's reputation

Genuine question: what is Sam Altman's reputation based on? I'm aware that Paul Graham had a serious mancrush on him, and that he somehow managed to turn a failed startup into a $40M acquihire, which is nothing to scoff at -- but is his success mostly based on his genius of selling himself and whatever he's involved in, or has he actually said or done anything that shows some deeper form of insight or ability?

I wondered exactly the same, for years, and have, for years, not seen an answer.

Re: Edward Snowden Slams Sam Altman's Worldcoin: 'Don't Catalogue Eyeballs'

#240

The retinal scan is used to issue a e-ticket (identical for everyone) which allows you to create an account and then the scan is immediately discarded. The scan is in no way tied to your account at any time. Many of the comments here would be better informed by reading how this process works. There are issues to discuss, but a lot of what's in these threads has nothing to do with the actual workings of the project. h…

>https://worldcoin.org/privacy-during-field-testing

>We collect the following data through the Orb after the user gives us their consent: Images of users’ body, face, and eyes, including users’ irises (visible, near infrared and far infrared spectrum) Three-dimensional mapping of users’ body and face

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