100 years of whatever this will be • Hacker News Board

Re: 100 years of whatever this will be

#391

Post by pjkundert » Thu, Dec 02, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

sva_ wrote: post #346

pjkundert wrote: post #39

This article is profoundly insightful. I have been searching for patterns and insights in this field for 25 years. What apenwarr concludes is true: All we need is to build distributed systems that work. That means decentralized bulk activity, hierarchical regulation. The problem is, everyone wants distributed systems that require everyone else to agree (global consensus), which is literally impossible (see: CAP theor…

> https://holo.host > HoloToken (HOT) is an ERC-20 token I'm not sure a hierarchy in which the Ethereum Foundation, who gave themselves the absolute majority of Ether currency, is at the top, is the answer to the struggles/issues postulated in the essay.

Nope, Holo / Holochain has nothing to do with Ethereum; HOT is just the place-holder token (issued during the ICO used to fund the project, initially, a couple of years ago).

When the project goes live, it will be exchangeable for the initial HoloFuel cryptocurrency.

Re: 100 years of whatever this will be

#392

Post by treespace8 » Thu, Dec 02, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

jq-r wrote: post #111

wilkommen wrote: post #65

I agree with everything in the blog post. I just think it's really hard for societies to "unfuck" themselves. I think the reason things are going in this direction is because of an increasing concentration of power among a relatively small number of people. It's hard to walk back that kind of concentration of power without societal upheaval. The only reason the gilded age in the United States ended was because of WW2…

You've answered your own question. It is going to be a war. War is a great mallet which destroys most of the power structures and shuffles the cards a bit. But the price to pay is atrociously high. After the war everyone will swear "Never again!", but their children's children have no idea what that means, and have no problem going to war all over again.

I feel that nuclear weapons have made modern global war impossible. Because the powerful would not be able to escape the effects of such a conflict.

So for the first time we must now work out our differences without war. This can't be a bad thing.

Re: 100 years of whatever this will be

#393

Post by tcgv » Thu, Dec 02, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

notpachet wrote: post #49

All of the current histrionics that we hear from DeFi advocates regarding escaping the evil centralized Banks and Regulators and what not -- you know what they remind me of? They remind me of what I hear from junior developers when they're tasked with fixing an antiquated, broken software system. These developers typically lack the experience and the patience necessary to fix the system incrementally from within, so…

To be fair, this argument is only valid when targeting people from outside of the areas of expertise / niches involved:

> All of the current histrionics that we hear from [[INSERT_ANTI_ESTABLISHMENT_TREND_HERE]]-- you know what they remind me of? They remind me of what I hear from junior developers when they're tasked with fixing an antiquated, broken software system

The argument will become invalid if, say, a "Senior" in a field is defending the anti-establishment trend or movement within that field.

Re: 100 years of whatever this will be

#394

Post by efdee » Thu, Dec 02, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

padobson wrote: post #309

syndacks wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You had me except for the reincarnation/another life bit. Bedsides scripture, is there any evidence of this in science? I'm asking genuinely here.

I'd ask you to check your basic assumption about science as an authority. Science is really good at transmitting information about deterministic processes, but is really bad at transmitting information about non-deterministic processes or even processes that are so complex that they appear non-deterministic e.g. human behavior. I don't believe in reincarnation, but it's not hard at all for me to see how it can be use…

> I don't believe in reincarnation, but it's not hard at all for me to see how it can be used as a moral tool that helps people think long term.

I find this highly offensive. The people must be lied to so they can do the thing that's best for them, because they can't come to this conclusion in a way that doesn't involve lieing.

Re: 100 years of whatever this will be

#395

Post by lvh » Thu, Dec 02, 2021, 6:44 PM UTC

throwawayboise wrote: post #359

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Universal Healthcare doesn't particularly threaten corporate interests either. Remember when centrist Obama tried to implement the Heritage foundation approved version and everyone went a little crazy for no obvious reason? It would be comforting to think that some evil geniuses were holding back universal healthcare for their own benefit, but it's mostly just lingering stupidity and racism that's holding America bac…

Almost afraid to ask, but how is racism holding back health care?

Not OP, but I assume the argument is something to the tune of: healthcare should be universal to make progress, universal healthcare would disproportionally benefit the poor, the poor are disproportionally of color.

Re: 100 years of whatever this will be

#396

Post by ska » Thu, Dec 02, 2021, 6:44 PM UTC

maerF0x0 wrote: post #288

robotresearcher wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like anything we could ever hope to try is already accounted for and defeated before the effort even begins. Gay marriage, the fall of communism, civil rights, universal health care (in every rich country but one), women's rights. Don't forget about the very important real progress being made.

I've never understood the reason we even have marriage defined in government at all, and thusly would include "gay" marriage (all marriage is marriage if it's undefined)... We don't have a government definition of prayer or baptism, but for some reason we have have codified that one religious practice into our government? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Also why do they get varyingly get tax incentives or disincen…

> or some reason we have have codified that one religious practice into our government?

We haven't really codified the religious practice so much as codified the civil law assumptions around it.

It is weird in many ways, and it is the most complicated (and misunderstood) contract that many/most people will execute in their lives and it's done very implicitly.

On the other hand, if you didn't have the contractual side of marriage standardized, a whole other can of worms gets opened. If we didn't have a "standard contract" there are a crapton of things you would have to deal with individually.

Before gay marriage, some same-sex couples worked pretty hard to try and get as close to the marriage contracts as they could through contracts, which as I understand it was pretty expensive (5 figures typically) and ultimately not entirely successful especially as there are other implicit aspects that run counter to it.

Re: 100 years of whatever this will be

#397

Post by kkjjkgjjgg » Thu, Dec 02, 2021, 6:44 PM UTC

WriterGuy2021 wrote: post #278

Freedom is slavery... We're not all in the same boat. If you want to change the system, you're going to have to fight the people invested in the status quo. Most people aren't interested in the "greater good," even though they may maintain this position publicly because it is considered antisocial to openly say "f** the plebs," but actions speak louder than words--by their fruits you shall know them. When we see thin…

What if I think freedom is the greater good? Maybe people just differ in their goals and priorities?

I think the current vaccination discussions are a good example. It used to be that society would accept sacrifices for freedom. For example they would deem thousands of traffic accident deaths acceptable in exchange for mobility, or send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to their death to fight for freedom.

Now many people seem to feel that every Covid death has to be avoided at all costs. Which is of course a valid opinion, but not a given truth, given that at other times, people were actually willing to pay the price of higher risk in exchange for freedom.

So neither group is necessarily wrong, in my opinion, they just thing different things are more important.

A good movie that illustrates it may be "I, Robot", when the robots tasked with protecting humans decide the best way to protect them is to lock them into their homes. Let's say we achieve that kind of technology, robots can take of everything, and humans are safest when locked away at home. Should we advocate locking everybody up?

Re: 100 years of whatever this will be

#398

Post by moffkalast » Thu, Dec 02, 2021, 6:44 PM UTC

kkjjkgjjgg wrote: post #384

thumbellina wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps the continual raising awareness of problems is a key part of progress.

No, technical progress is key part of progress. Most innovators are not driven by the constant complaints of other people.

If you keep complaining about the lack of water though a pipeline will eventually be built.

Re: 100 years of whatever this will be

#399

Post by ErrantX » Thu, Dec 02, 2021, 6:45 PM UTC

solveit wrote: post #333

ErrantX wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working in finance myself, I totally agree with you on the regulators lint. Everyone arguing regulators are evil is genuinely tech and finance savvy. The regulator is not there to protect them. They are there to protect the vast majority - not only from the outright criminals but also the slightly evil financial services companies (see the Wonga and payday loans debacle in the UK). Say what you like about regulators…

> Everyone arguing regulators are evil is genuinely tech and finance savvy. The regulator is not there to protect them. They are there to protect the vast majority I agree. But a funny thing I wanted to remark on is that this dynamic makes defi (and any other esoterica) better (or less worse, depending on your POV) than it "deserves" to be. It essentially functions as a less-regulated side track for those savvy enoug…

Well yes true. Arguably the whole NFT thing is an example of that already.

But I get your point; it is reasonable for savvy people to have a play ground for more risk.

Re: 100 years of whatever this will be

#400

Post by oivey » Thu, Dec 02, 2021, 6:45 PM UTC

throwawayboise wrote: post #359

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Universal Healthcare doesn't particularly threaten corporate interests either. Remember when centrist Obama tried to implement the Heritage foundation approved version and everyone went a little crazy for no obvious reason? It would be comforting to think that some evil geniuses were holding back universal healthcare for their own benefit, but it's mostly just lingering stupidity and racism that's holding America bac…

Almost afraid to ask, but how is racism holding back health care?

You lost the word “universal” in “universal healthcare” in the comment you’re replying to. There are many ways racism impedes the push for universal healthcare. One is the classic fact that it is a welfare program, and that spurs the comments and thoughts about welfare queens and “young bucks.”