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Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

newsletter.mollywhite.net

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Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#41

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #31
nmat wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds how US centric a lot of crypto companies are. An advantage of crypto that often comes up is “instant and cheap money transfers”. In the UK, I transfer money to my friends instantaneously and for free using just my bank account.

> In the UK, I transfer money to my friends instantaneously and for free using just my bank account. You can do the same thing in the US. The problem is that businesses can't easily do this without collecting bank routing information from customers, which is effectively "secret" because it allows anyone to debit money directly from their bank account, so they're reluctant to provide it. What's needed is a low- or no-…

I think you are talking about a different use case to the parent.

You seem to be talking about authorising businesses to take money from my account without needing further approval. A direct debit.

Parent is talking about transferring money to someone else's account, which is easy and requires no secrets or authorisation.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#42

Post by hef19898 »

kgeist wrote: post #17

>there is no “password reset” when it comes to iris data This is the most critical part, I think. If my Iris scan is leaked (which is not hard to do, from modified Orbs, similar to credit card skimmers, to mobsters scanning people's irises under threat of death), my identity will be stolen and I can't do anything about it. Do they have at least some sort of 2FA?

They didn't have it neither in Demolotion Man, and it worked great!

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#43

Post by thesausageking »

pitahat wrote: post #28

I agree with certain sentiments, especially whether there is an actual product market fit for this, but the tech analysis here is sloppy. Molly is a crypto sceptic so suffers from confirmation bias.

Yeh, I have a lot of problems with Worldcoin but this isn't a great post on it or the issues. You can tell she went in with the intention to write something for an audience that hates crypto and wants to be told they're right.

As a comparison, Vitalik wrote a great, even handed analysis:

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

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#44

Post by hef19898 »

qingcharles wrote: post #21

This image (FTA) is straight out of some insane dystopian nightmare: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_pr... That the photo represents a real event in real reality is absurd o_O

Some people take cyberpunk as entertainment, some as a paraody, some as a warning, some as all of the above. And some take it as blue print worth pursueing.

EDIT: The while premise of needing a nin-centralized wax of confirming ones identity is, at its core, deeply un-demicratic. As of bow, government issued documentation confirms anyones identiy. These governments can be democratic, and are. Puting a different system in place, controlled by some tech-billionaire-liberitarian, is as dytopian as it gets. So of course VCs are investing like hell in it.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#45

Post by HenryBemis »

konschubert wrote: post #37
Animats wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> sibyl attacks? This is exactly the same problem as spam detection - nobody has found a good way to prevent people from generating large numbers of fake identities, short of government identity registration. The classic "Why your solution to spam won't work"[1] checklist applies. [1] https://craphound.com/spamsolutions.txt

Yea, so he’s building an alternative to a government identity system. Which is cool I guess, but why does it need a coin?

It's a tip/gift/bonus/incentive for people to give away their data. And since this is a game of numbers, they knew that throwing $10-20-30 USD to about 400mn people in poor countries they would get the momentum going.

I expect Europeans to shun this.

I fear though that once they hit "1bn people" they will invoke the FOMO into the rest.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#46

Post by lolinder »

rvz wrote: post #40
offtwit wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All

Not ‘All’. Just like 90% of startups fail, it is the same with 90% of crypto startups, and AI startups will fail. The 10% remaining will continue to exist. Just stop this absolutist nonsense.

The absolutism is a bit extreme, but your comparison isn't really fair either. Outside of crypto, we don't regularly see startups get loads of hype and money only to explode so spectacularly that the founders end up in jail.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#47

Post by kibwen »

lolinder wrote: post #9

> While Worldcoin may have developed an algorithm that reliably distinguishes unique irises among its test pool, it’s not clear that it will work with a pool orders of magnitude larger. This is a really key problem. The main application of biometrics today is in cell phones, and for those we operate on the assumption that we're trying to distinguish between the authorized user and a quite small pool of non-authorized…

> the pool of unique people you need to distinguish is the size of the entire planet

Not merely the size of the entire planet. If they hope that this scheme lasts in perpetuity, it will need to distinguish between all individuals who will ever be born.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#48

Post by Wormable »

latchkey wrote: post #20

A lot of people here are questioning how this works. Vitalik went through a pretty good analysis of the mechanics recently [0]. What is it with founders named Sam who are scammers? [0] https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/07/24/biometric.html

[flagged]

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#49

Post by kibwen »

HenryBemis wrote: post #45
konschubert wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, so he’s building an alternative to a government identity system. Which is cool I guess, but why does it need a coin?

It's a tip/gift/bonus/incentive for people to give away their data. And since this is a game of numbers, they knew that throwing $10-20-30 USD to about 400mn people in poor countries they would get the momentum going. I expect Europeans to shun this. I fear though that once they hit "1bn people" they will invoke the FOMO into the rest.

> I fear though that once they hit "1bn people" they will invoke the FOMO into the rest.

Over a billion humans have intestinal parasites, but that doesn't mean people are queuing up for worm eggs.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#50

Post by latchkey »

Wormable wrote: post #48
latchkey wrote: post #20

A lot of people here are questioning how this works. Vitalik went through a pretty good analysis of the mechanics recently [0]. What is it with founders named Sam who are scammers? [0] https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/07/24/biometric.html

[flagged]

It was a reference to SBF and had nothing to do with being anti-semitic.
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