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Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against blockchain technologies

news.ycombinator.com

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Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against blockchain technologies

#1

Post by doedoedoedoe »

Any technologist familiar with blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs is almost certainly aware that the entire scope of these technologies is promoting fraud, scams, and Greater Fool schemes. As a legitimate technological framework for the mythical decentralized "Web 3.0", anyone who spends more then an hour learning about how enthusiasts propose to actually implement "Web 3.0" tech on blockchains knows that there is not a shred of legitimacy to the thought that blockchain can drive even a tiny, mundane application - never-mind the "new web".

For those not familiar with the industry, the YouTube documentary "Line Goes Up" by Dan Olson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g) has been pointed to many times in HN threads, and is a great introduction to how dangerous these technologies really are. Within a few hours of following any tutorial on building a decentralized app, most developers should be able to see what an absolute disaster zone trying to work with this fundamentally broken technology would be, and what a nightmarish step backwards it is for developers concerned with cost, speed, privacy, safety, and ease.

I think it is important as technologists, engineers, and developers that we start making it very loud and clear to the public how fraud-ridden and dangerous these systems are. With most early-adopters running dry, the Ponzi scheme will only be able to continue by expanding into the average consumer market - and if as a community we stay silent about why and how these systems are simply convoluted scam practices, we are dooming ourselves to work with them.

Re: Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against blockchain technologies

#2

Post by unkulunkulu »

My brother is currently working in the field. It brings him good money. Now, really good money. His work is 100% clean per se (infrastructure for mining).

I don't feel any moral grounds to say anything to him, he does it for engineering and fun and really actualizes himself. He is my older brother finally creating something meaningful for people and having rightful rewards. He is hidden in the moral waves, harvesting something he can, surfing in the sunshine. I don't know how to think about this.

Re: Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against blockchain technologies

#4

Post by abzolv »

From a technical perspective you are correct.

However, in the midst of a mania, unfortunately nobody is going to listen to a group of engineers telling them about the dangers of blockchain.

The only thing that will, and can, stop the madness is politicians getting off their backsides and implementing related laws and regulations.

If you want to talk to anyone, and have any potential effect, talk to the people in government.

Re: Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against blockchain technologies

#6

Post by exolymph »

Alright, go for it. Speak out all you want. Cryptocurrency users will continue ignoring and/or deriding you.

Telling people that you don't like what they're doing is not an effective way to modify their behavior. You need to provide competing incentives, and somehow I doubt y'all are up to that.

Re: Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against blockchain technologies

#7

Post by zanzibar735 »

unkulunkulu wrote: post #2

My brother is currently working in the field. It brings him good money. Now, really good money. His work is 100% clean per se (infrastructure for mining). I don't feel any moral grounds to say anything to him, he does it for engineering and fun and really actualizes himself. He is my older brother finally creating something meaningful for people and having rightful rewards. He is hidden in the moral waves, harvesting…

I have friends who have made millions from crypto. But every dollar they made is a dollar that someone else paid into the system, that that person is going to lose when the bubble bursts. Enabling that loss is not morally clean.

Re: Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against blockchain technologies

#8

Post by suyash »

It's not just technologists anymore, there is a whole bunch of powerful investors, marketing agencies, media companies all pushing their agenda via Web 3.0 guise. Not to mention 'get rich quick' scammers taking full advantage of this.

I do believe there is value in 'Decentralation' and some other blockchain ideas but all implementations of it thus far as proven not very effective.

Re: Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against blockchain technologies

#9

Post by alanfranz »

zanzibar735 wrote: post #7
unkulunkulu wrote: post #2

My brother is currently working in the field. It brings him good money. Now, really good money. His work is 100% clean per se (infrastructure for mining). I don't feel any moral grounds to say anything to him, he does it for engineering and fun and really actualizes himself. He is my older brother finally creating something meaningful for people and having rightful rewards. He is hidden in the moral waves, harvesting…

I have friends who have made millions from crypto. But every dollar they made is a dollar that someone else paid into the system, that that person is going to lose when the bubble bursts. Enabling that loss is not morally clean.

But the question is: what is morally clean?

Is housing not a bubble? Then, how could prices be that inflated in most places, even with a stable (or just slightly increasing) population?

Is stock trading not a bubble, because "real companies exist and have a value"? But, their price is probably 20x their "real worth"?

Is selling vegetables in grocery stores at 20x the price the farmer gets morally clean?

Is it morally clean to keep putting CO2 into the air that everybody breaths?

There are a freaking lot of "unclean" things in the world. I don't understand why a lot of people seem to focus on cryptocurrencies and blockchains.

Re: Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against blockchain technologies

#10

Post by Reubend »

You're wrong. New flavors of crypto, blockchain apps, etc are almost entirely scams. But Bitcoin itself is an incredible technology, and I don't think its beautiful design gets appreciated enough in the midst of all the speculative investments, derivative currencies, and marketing.
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