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My First Impressions of Web3

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Re: My First Impressions of Web3

#551

Post by lolinder »

pshc wrote: post #380
simias wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well sure but that's the "analog gap" problem. NFTs don't fix that, do they? In the end there'll have to be something that will tie a given NFT to a given watch, and one way or the other it'll be the same issue as tying my CSV to a given watch.

I agree, one can’t easily tie an NFT to a physical object. Nothing guarantees that the watch and NFT change ownership in tandem. All I’m saying is that a serial number doesn’t really prove anything because it’s trivial to copy. A private key inextricable from the object would be better, because it could generate timestamped signatures as proof.

But whatever you use would still be easier to implement using traditional tech than web3, because the problems they solve are orthogonal.

Re: My First Impressions of Web3

#552

Post by baby »

AlexandrB wrote: post #545
baby wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not a problem with crypto, because there are solutions to this, it's a problem with how people use it. The real danger is that people get too comfortable with this way of doing things and we never switch to more secure solutions.

The same thing can be said of the web in general. The linked article even makes this point! If in the early web users all wanted to run their own servers the centralization of web 2.0 would not have happened. Is there any reason to think that history won't repeat itself and users will choose to use web3 technologies the "right" way?

Without Chrome and their push to force https I doubt that the web would have become so encrypted. But then CDN services did start centralizing https as well (because users don’t want to deal with certificates). Metamask and popular wallets, as well as layer 1 projects, have to decide to invest in these areas.

Re: My First Impressions of Web3

#553

Post by baby »

preseinger wrote: post #548
baby wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not a problem with crypto, because there are solutions to this, it's a problem with how people use it. The real danger is that people get too comfortable with this way of doing things and we never switch to more secure solutions.

If one person uses your tool incorrectly, it's a problem with that person. If nearly everyone uses your tool incorrectly, it's a problem with your tool.

I’m not saying Metamask is a good tool, it’s not that easy switching to a good tool today anyway, we will see what happens in the next years but I expect that this will be an active area of research and improvement.

Re: My First Impressions of Web3

#554

Post by derangedHorse »

Swizec wrote: post #413
pshc wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not the same as web2. These web3 frontends don’t have moats or lock-in like Facebook or Google, because they don’t actually control the data. The data they serve is all from public ledgers. You can switch off of Infura in a second by changing your RPC url.

The problem is that they control distribution – the only thing that matters. You don't need to own the data if you own the eyeballs/mindshare. For example: Spotify doesn't own any music copyrights, yet they own 32% of the music streaming market. The second best is Apple at 16% ... which also doesn't own any of the music. https://www.statista.com/statistics/653926/music-streaming-s...

The web3 providers mentioned are the most popular, but they do not control distribution. That's the whole point. Anyone can distribute the data on the blockchain with no clear legal repercussions unlike with music where you will get sued for distributing music without permission.

Re: My First Impressions of Web3

#555

Post by jagger27 »

ptudan wrote: post #125
jagger27 wrote: post #76

> [...] NFTs instead contain a URL that points to the data. What surprised me about the standards was that there’s no hash commitment for the data located at the URL. Looking at many of the NFTs on popular marketplaces being sold for tens, hundreds, or millions of dollars, that URL often just points to some VPS running Apache somewhere. Anyone with access to that machine, anyone who buys that domain name in the futur…

There are plenty of use cases for NFTs with updating data. Many exist already. Most high quality NFT art project do use IPFS, yes. But that is not the only use case for NFTs

I believe that it's possible for there to be a reasonable use case for a pointer to something that changes, though I'd appreciate an example because I can't come up with one. If it links to something that's not on some sort of blockchain, then what's the point?

If an NFT contains a normal URL, how could that possibly be valuable? The domain could expire or be transferred, or the original server hosting it could go down. I can't imagine any NFT that holds "ownership" of a real world tangible asset having any meaning whatsoever.

Re: My First Impressions of Web3

#556

Post by pshc »

lolinder wrote: post #551
pshc wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, one can’t easily tie an NFT to a physical object. Nothing guarantees that the watch and NFT change ownership in tandem. All I’m saying is that a serial number doesn’t really prove anything because it’s trivial to copy. A private key inextricable from the object would be better, because it could generate timestamped signatures as proof.

But whatever you use would still be easier to implement using traditional tech than web3, because the problems they solve are orthogonal.

Yes. I regret not being more clear in my original comment, because the scheme I alluded to is an application of public key cryptography, such as Certificate Authorities, and is not about cryptocurrencies specifically.

Re: My First Impressions of Web3

#558

Post by fcanesin »

Great post, but IMHO it should have been called "My First Impressions of Ethereum". The web3 ideal and movement is much larger than Ethereum only, and many are focused on solving these issues. For example Mina allows for mobile clients to verify the blockchain using recurring ZK proofs.

Re: My First Impressions of Web3

#559

Post by discardedrefuse »

ineptech wrote: post #331
discardedrefuse wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If managing a server were easy and secure, lots of people would do it - for blogs, a minecraft server for the kids, to back up their pictures Easy 1-click deploy exists right now. Lots of VPS providers offer service specific deploy for things like minecraft, seedboxes, plex, nextcloud, etc. Check out Scaleway's InstantApps section to get an idea. https://www.scaleway.com/en/imagehub/

Yes, this is the sort of thing I'm talking about, but I think it also demonstrates that there's a ways to go yet. I suspect that one part of the solution will be abandoning linux and windows. They were built for performance and versatility, which just aren't that important in a server I use to host my blog and email, and come with a lot of baggage that isn't needed in a virtual-only OS.

Don't want to bother with OS updates? CoreOS exists. And containers abstract away the fiddly parts of running services. Firecracker/Ignite exists. I feel like all the parts are there to build what you want. Except there's no market for it. Even if it were free and easy to run your own Nextcloud instance, most users would never switch away from Google/Apple/Microsoft.

Techie users can roll their own servers. Power users can buy a NAS with 1-click service installs. Normal users don't even want alternative services.

Re: My First Impressions of Web3

#560

Post by insaider »

I think the best thing that can come out of this whole crypto/web3 space is a new sort of stock market. I've a startup that I want to open up for micro investors and the best way I can think of doing so is through NFTs/crypto that represent shares in the company.

The barrier to entry to the traditional stock markets (turn over requirements etc) is far too high. Does anyone know of something like this?

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