Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Crypto is an unproductive bubble

alexkolchinski.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

291–300 of 539 posts

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#291

Post by esrauch »

stazz1 wrote: post #286

I think you're missing a lot of information from your article and your thinking. The creative limits of a new organizational strategy for information are nonexistent. That is, when the vacuum-tube was invented, no one foresaw the integrated circuit. When the personal computer was made possible, no one really foresaw the internet. When the internet was spawned, nobody really foresaw large companies dominating the ment…

Surely some technologies show early promise but turn out to be evolutionary dead ends though, and we just don't know/think about them because they didn't end up relevant to modern life.

Maybe one example is space travel. My parents generation was apparently convinced that we'd have hotels on the moon by 1990. Probably most 20 year olds don't think we'll have hotels on the moon in their lifetime now.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#293

Post by Tijdreiziger »

dropnerd wrote: post #280
Tijdreiziger wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Crypto is FOSS finance, it works for the people as stated and expected. A laughable statement in the face of crypto’s negative externalities. We’ll wreck the planet we all share, but at least we’ll have FOSS finance!

i suspect that proof of stake cryptotokens at scale will consume less energy than video games and machine learning.

Ethereum has been ‘close’ to going PoS for years now, but I will certainly celebrate the day it happens.

Bitcoin… do they even have any plans to move to PoS?

In short, I’ll believe it when I see it. I certainly hope you’re right, though.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#294

Post by tobz1000 »

> any use of blockchain technology in which the ledger is not self-contained [is unusable because] there can be no trust-free link between the ledger and the physical world.

Sure, data would need to be verified by a trusted party when it's first entered. A blockchain still protects against forgery after this though.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#295

Post by dimsumbytes »

stazz1 wrote: post #286

I think you're missing a lot of information from your article and your thinking. The creative limits of a new organizational strategy for information are nonexistent. That is, when the vacuum-tube was invented, no one foresaw the integrated circuit. When the personal computer was made possible, no one really foresaw the internet. When the internet was spawned, nobody really foresaw large companies dominating the ment…

It's been 13 years. How long would we wait before we declare it unproductive?

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#296

Post by throwaway22032 »

I literally use it to pay for education.

That's about as productive of a thing as I can imagine. I suppose physically producing a thing might be a step above that depending on whether it's a useful thing.

Satoshi's words come to mind on this. If you don't get it (or it's not useful for you), that's fine.

Really it's just amusing 14 years in that you don't realise you're the old man ranting in the pub.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#297

Post by cma »

stazz1 wrote: post #286

I think you're missing a lot of information from your article and your thinking. The creative limits of a new organizational strategy for information are nonexistent. That is, when the vacuum-tube was invented, no one foresaw the integrated circuit. When the personal computer was made possible, no one really foresaw the internet. When the internet was spawned, nobody really foresaw large companies dominating the ment…

The internet predates the pc.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#298

Post by peterangular »

randomhodler84 wrote: post #215
nl wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, AI mostly. Let's just say I thought it was interesting but not worth pursuing. I just re-checked. It was actually 2009 sorry.

Prove it. There are other 2009 era bitcoiners here who can vouch if you were there. The community was known in 2009. My x to doubt is because nobody claims to have “been in blockchain since 2008” it’s a give away that your talking trash. The Genesis block date was Jan 3rd 2009. You were talking to satoshi about Bitcoin pre launch?

Yeah - agree... also anyone throwing out a quick "Let's just say..." immediately makes me question the legitimacy of their claims. It's a handwave at best, but most often I've seen folks use it to cover up a bs claim by being incredibly vague, all while attempting to come off as cheeky and intelligent.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#299

Post by grog454 »

jmcgough wrote: post #19

One of the biggest drawbacks for blockchain is that transactions can't be revoked after the fact (with the only exception being costly forks of the entire ledger), and there's no additional human oversight (like I'd get when sending a large amount of money through a bank) to protect me. If someone steals my credit card, I have my credit card company to give me some level of protection. They can block transactions if…

> If someone steals my credit card, I have my credit card company to give me some level of protection. They can block transactions if they think it's stolen, and if I report it as stolen I can claw back money from fraudulent purchases.

Can we, just for a moment, think critically about whether or not this is a good* thing?

As a consumer / client of the credit card company it seems great at first glance. I get scammed? No problem, I'll get my money back. But where does that money come from? Certainly not from the thief. My hypothesis (I'm not an expert in this field) is that it actually comes from you, the consumer, albeit very indirectly and in two main ways:

1) Credit cards companies charge businesses that allow consumers to use them a fee. Business often pass this fee on to the consumer, sometimes even explicitly. For example gas stations usually publish separate prices for gas w/ or w/o credit card. That fee is the main revenue source for the credit card company, and fraud reimbursement is one of their expenses. Expenses go up? Fees go up. In this way businesses (and less directly you) are paying an insurance premium on top of the credit card company's operating costs and profit margin.

2) Credit card companies most likely write fraud reimbursement off when filing taxes. So taxes that they would otherwise pay vanish. If the taxing entity wants a minimum tax revenue, that means increased rates elsewhere (and quite possibly for individuals).

So what's an alternative? Putting more effort in to the prevention of theft/fraud in the first place.

* "Good thing" meaning net benefit to society.

Re: Crypto is an unproductive bubble

#300

Post by [deleted] »

throwaway22032 wrote: post #296

I literally use it to pay for education. That's about as productive of a thing as I can imagine. I suppose physically producing a thing might be a step above that depending on whether it's a useful thing. Satoshi's words come to mind on this. If you don't get it (or it's not useful for you), that's fine. Really it's just amusing 14 years in that you don't realise you're the old man ranting in the pub.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN