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Worldcoin isn’t as bad as it sounds: It’s worse

blockworks.co

41–50 of 370 posts

Re: Worldcoin isn’t as bad as it sounds: It’s worse

#41

Like any other non-coin crypto tech, Worldcoin doesn't do what it set out to do because it doesn't solve the oracle problem. If you trust their orb, it generates a wallet for you - but anyone, human or otherwise - can use that wallet. There's a black market in China for these identities already [1] and of course the response from Worldcoin was there's nothing they can do - because there's nothing they can do. So this…

You generate the secret keys beforehand in your wallet, and then only link them (in zero knowledge) with the iris hash.[1] , [2]

If we're going to be critical, let's at least understand how it works first.

[1]: https://twitter.com/ercwl/status/1684939802083282944

[2]: https://vitalik.ca/general/2023/07/24/biometric.html

Re: Worldcoin isn’t as bad as it sounds: It’s worse

#42

Like any other non-coin crypto tech, Worldcoin doesn't do what it set out to do because it doesn't solve the oracle problem. If you trust their orb, it generates a wallet for you - but anyone, human or otherwise - can use that wallet. There's a black market in China for these identities already [1] and of course the response from Worldcoin was there's nothing they can do - because there's nothing they can do. So this…

> anyone, human or otherwise - can use that wallet. But there are only 8 billion people, which is literally an infinite improvement over the status quo.

Yes, but it also assumes that the orb is perfect, and never hacked or reverse-engineered to generate completely arbitrary quantities of these keys. You're putting an awful lot of trust in this for a 'trustless' system.

Re: Worldcoin isn’t as bad as it sounds: It’s worse

#44

Like any other non-coin crypto tech, Worldcoin doesn't do what it set out to do because it doesn't solve the oracle problem. If you trust their orb, it generates a wallet for you - but anyone, human or otherwise - can use that wallet. There's a black market in China for these identities already [1] and of course the response from Worldcoin was there's nothing they can do - because there's nothing they can do. So this…

TBH it's hard to blame anyone for considering starting new cryptocurrencies. BTC/ETH have stuck around despite everything and remained at non-trivial prices. The "identity verification" step really just turns it into a club to join and that's still marketable in the world of cryptocurrency.

Re: Worldcoin isn’t as bad as it sounds: It’s worse

#45
post #30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People still don't understand the 'this is not a pipe' painting...

Indeed. I have better luck, though, with "The map is not the territory".

https://generalsemantics.org/resources/documents/gsb-65-wils...

Re: Worldcoin isn’t as bad as it sounds: It’s worse

#47
post #18

I think you should instead just read what Worldcoin wrote. It's quite short, and I think easy to consider false. https://worldcoin.org/cofounder-letter There are a few words about economic opportunity but little explanation, so you can discount that part. They don't seem to believe it beyond UBI distribution, which has the same problems as any distribution today[1] Their main sell: > scale a reliable solution for dis…

> After visiting an Orb, a biometric verification device, you will receive a World ID. Literally everything about this is a huge nope for me.

In the evangelical setting of the 90's, where TV preachers were openly broadcast over the airwaves, they routinely claimed everything was "the mark of the beast".

Credit cards, Dungeons and Dragons, Pokemon, "new world orders", the United Nations. All of these things were tools of the devil, marking your soul for eternal damnation.

I get the sense they would have had a field day with Worldcoin.

I can hear it now. "The Antichrist is taking control of the global finance system. When you choose to scan your eyes and participate in his world instead of the kingdom of heaven, you surrender your soul to the devil. And that's a place where even Jesus Christ himself cannot save you. Choosing to scan your eyes - that God himself gave you - is swearing allegiance to Lucifer and his armies on this earth. Choosing Worldcoin is making a personal choice of eternal damnation."

Re: Worldcoin isn’t as bad as it sounds: It’s worse

#48

Like any other non-coin crypto tech, Worldcoin doesn't do what it set out to do because it doesn't solve the oracle problem. If you trust their orb, it generates a wallet for you - but anyone, human or otherwise - can use that wallet. There's a black market in China for these identities already [1] and of course the response from Worldcoin was there's nothing they can do - because there's nothing they can do. So this…

Instead of trusting Uncle Sam... trust Sam Altman.

Re: Worldcoin isn’t as bad as it sounds: It’s worse

#49

Worldcoin is simply another pre-mined, VC backed shitcoin - albeit worst because they’re building a biometrics database. - VCs dump money in (SBF, a16z, etc) - 25% of the coins are kept for the founders + investors How many times do people have to get burned on these scams? Obviously Sam has some street cred with the govt else they would have pulled him infront of congress like when zuck tried to launch Libre.

> Obviously Sam has some street cred with the govt else they would have pulled him infront of congress like when zuck tried to launch Libre.

He got around US regulations by not making it available in the US. No street cred required.

Re: Worldcoin isn’t as bad as it sounds: It’s worse

#50
post #15

I don't think Worldcoin is the solution, but I'm interested in hearing what the rest of you think the solution to the bots-indistiguishable-to-humans problem could look like? Or should we just accept that the times of interacting over internet with strangers you can believe to be humans is over? The only idea I see is for some certificates handed out by government to citizens and I absolutely hate it even in a democr…

I have bad news: it may be time to go back to the real world
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