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Is Web3 anything?

chris-granger.com

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Re: Is Web3 anything?

#71

Post by hansonkd13 »

CurrentB wrote: post #43

Nice read. What I don't get about all the crypto haters, who will probably make up the majority of replies here, are they really just happy with the status quo? Do they really think the current financial system is great and their online bank account is perfect and nothing radical is worth trying? That usernames and passwords given to each of a million different companies are so great, why would people want to manage…

I’m not satisfied by the standard quo and want something better. But the current state of trustless web3 is not it.

My bank account is great. If I die there are clear procedures for getting my assets to my spouse. Even if I forget my account number or my password, my lifetime of earnings does not simply disappear. This can’t happen in crypto unless I trust a third party, in which case just using a bank in US dollars is much safer as there are actual laws and insurance covering it.

Maybe other countries are different,

Re: Is Web3 anything?

#72

Post by GVRV »

bushbaba wrote: post #48
CurrentB wrote: post #43

Nice read. What I don't get about all the crypto haters, who will probably make up the majority of replies here, are they really just happy with the status quo? Do they really think the current financial system is great and their online bank account is perfect and nothing radical is worth trying? That usernames and passwords given to each of a million different companies are so great, why would people want to manage…

Idk. I get my direct deposit into my account from my employer for free. I can transfer funds to pay bills for free. And I can go anywhere in the world and withdraw money for less than a 5$ fee in less than a minute. Try doing that with crypto.

You must live in a developed nation. I'm from one of the tier-2 cities in India.

I cannot hold stable, diversified collection of global currencies in my bank account and cannot invest in global markets without going to a branch in a bigger town and without significant paperwork. I cannot legally accept money from around the world for my software development skills without being a part of the existing banking system. My relatives in my native village just 100 KMs away don't even have a bank they can walk into (they have mobile phones with data though).

Do we just have to wait for regulated, for-profit entities to calculate when it will be profitable for them to provide us with services? What benefit did maintaining the status quo provide for people in countries where inflation wiped out savings overnight? If we have the skills and the opportunity to participate in an alternative, mostly open system, how long should we need to wait for permission?

Re: Is Web3 anything?

#73

Post by Fordec »

robbedpeter wrote: post #55
Fordec wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've come to the acceptance that lawyers are to the legal system as software engineers are to technical systems. You pay people who specialize in knowing the ins and outs of a complex system so you can get on with your life as a citizen, founder, etc. And people who espouse that we don't need laws or lawyers to run our society are making about as coherent sense as saying we can ship a unicorn entirely on no-code and…

The trouble is that the systems are broken. The level of gatekeeping and lack of informed consent have made the legal system a mess. The lawyers are the ones writing the laws... for the benefit of the lawyers and the people with the highest bids. In a fair system, sure, but the American financial legal system is bonkers. There's a reason people are looking for alternatives.

Lawyers do not write laws. Politician, or at least the writing staff do.

To stick to the analogy I guess:

Lawyers -> Engineers

Policy Writers -> Architects

Politicians -> Executives, Directors, Sales and Marketing

Judges -> QA

Re: Is Web3 anything?

#74

Post by impulser_ »

fatbird wrote: post #47
EGreg wrote: post #31

[flagged]

Ethereum has twice hard forked the blockchain to revert the results of "code is law", clearly saying that code is only law when a quorum of powerful individuals accept the outcome. Code isn't law, "code is law" is a slogan with as much veracity as slogans usually have.

Yes, but the original blockchain still exists. You can still use the original Ethereum blockchain, if you want too.

Re: Is Web3 anything?

#75

Post by ttiurani »

> Unfortunately with trust in low supply these days...

This is at the core of the issue: no technology, but especially not web3, is just a tool. Tech is inherently political because of both these kinds of underlying assumptions about the world, and how it shapes habits and beliefs of people using it.

Creating tech which accepts "trust is in low demand" and proceeds to fix it by making trusting people unnecessary, is a very effective way to promote right-libertarian policies.

So I understand why right-libertarian people support "web3". What I don't understand is why so many people with very different political values do.

IMO we need tech that promotes trusting each other, not tech where we can make do with a war of all against all.

Re: Is Web3 anything?

#76

Post by largely_sitting »

All of these systems are pay-to-play systems, and just like pay-to-play games favor whales and their large wallets. Proof-of-work just means more bots hard at work. Voting systems will botted. Swarm investments will seem like democracy to the average user, but all orchestrated from a single source.

Re: Is Web3 anything?

#77

Post by onion2k »

robbedpeter wrote: post #50
westoncb wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair point :) I was admittedly thinking of more DIY scenarios, but it isn't really fair to only consider how it impacts programmers. OTOH—without knowing many concrete details myself—seems like there would be plenty of room for reuse of contracts? Maybe even something like a storefront where you can grab one that matches your scenario

As open source successes start to accumulate, the costs will go down. Reuse is incentivized as development on the cryptocurrency as opposed to a perpetually monetized rent extraction by regulators or "professionals."

As open source successes start to accumulate, the costs will go down.

That hasn't happened in any other area of open source. Linux is supported by billion dollar companies with hundreds-of-millions in revenue. Container software is supported by tech giants. Browsers are the same. Web frameworks are either from corporations or they're built by people who are sponsored to build them. Most successful open source projects have revenue streams from outside the project paying people to work on them. I'd even suggest that might be a requirement for a successful project. As the project grows and gains popularity the costs of running it go up massively.

In the case of all of those projects the usefulness and utility of the projects also goes up, so people are able to make money with them that pays for the developers, and that could happen for web3 tech. I'm not suggesting web3 won't go the same way, just that economies of scale don't rrally work for software development. The more popular a software project gets the more it costs to run, forever.

Re: Is Web3 anything?

#78

Post by dools »

What’s missing from this discussion is that you are trusting a blockchain. So if someone goes around and raises money from a bunch of people they are exchanging currency for some crypto asset. How do they know that crypto asset is actually genuine Etherium and not Etheriumm?

Re: Is Web3 anything?

#79

Post by dools »

CryptoPunk wrote: post #52
jolux wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. I’m not saying it’s perfect, there may actually be some limited use for blockchain technology, but casting it as an alternative to the modern liberal state beggars belief.

I don't think many people are suggesting that the blockchain can replace all of the functions of the nation-state. I think the most common sentiment among blockchain advocates is actually closer to your views, of it having utiltiy in specific use-cases.

This article is suggesting just that

Re: Is Web3 anything?

#80

Post by [deleted] »

ssss11 wrote: post #20
tracyhenry wrote: post #3

> Once submitted, that “contract” will be carried out exactly as specified. It is observable to everyone, debuggable, and non-falsifiable. But a centralized database can also achieve this, right? The premise of the general public trusting a blockchain more than an established, centralized 3rd party (e.g. government) seems so feeble.

Well not exactly. The blockchain is distributed and you effectively can’t modify it (let’s not get into 51% attacks etc) A centralised database is controlled and modifiable by the owner - government, private company or whoever. They will act on their best interest not yours. I don’t personally have a problem with government having my dat although they’re usually useless at implementing technology, but a decentralised…

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