Earlier quoted context omitted.
How else do you get A16z to invest?
You play League of Legends while on a pitch call with them
That sounds like a real power-move from a top-tier mind.
Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem
51–60 of 176 posts
Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem
#52I have a Sam Altman story... I did a pre-interview to work for one of Sam's first startups, the mobile one that had the date via GPS idea. Turned down going beyond the pre-interview due to concept and funding combination not being compatible with reality. You have to remember at that point in time Mobile OEMs were locking down GPS access through apps and Mobile Operators were attempting to pretend they were VCs. Not…
This is a story about Sam?
Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem
#53It disappoints me to see anyone discussing this on technical merits when the whole thing is a laughably bad idea. It really just needs to be buried into the ground before it gets started.
Smart people missing the forest for the trees. Nothing new, but still disappointing.
Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem
#54Earlier 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?
> why does it need a coin?
Otherwise it wouldn't Make Money Fast.
This came up a few weeks ago on HN, with someone from a small country writing that they quit a crypto startup because they realized it was a scam. The startup was starting up an exchange, which doesn't really need a "coin". But they had to have one, so they could play games with the financial structure and Make Money Fast.
This is why there are very few real DeFi crypto exchanges. A trustless exchange, where the exchange never has custody of the money, is the way a crypto exchange ought to work. The exchange is then just a matching service - people put limit orders on a blockchain, the exchange finds ones that match, and tells both parties "go". Like the NYSE, which never owns a stock.
But there's no Make Money Fast in that. It's getting your hands on the customer assets that pays off.
Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem
#55Earlier 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 needs to be a coin so they can pocket $240m in an ICO, which is significantly easier than getting a large government contract because ICO investors are not sophisticated, largely don’t have rights, and insider trading is much easier.
Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem
#56If you're trying to build a world where a person's iris is their unique proof of personhood, then you are building a world where people without eyes are not people. I cannot see a way around this.
Add it onto the list of "falsehoods programmers believe in".
Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem
#57Earlier 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.
Can you name a concrete counterexample of a crypto venture that provides actual value to society?
Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem
#58This 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
And these people don’t give two shits about world coin, they just want the free money the company is throwing at them. This things is doomed to fail, because the biometrics are only authenticated when you setup your account initially like in this photo. So these people can collect the sign up fee and the then turn around and sell their account to a someone else, thereby nullifying the sybil resistance of the system.
Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem
#59A 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]
> Sam[uel] is merely a common Jewish first name
This shouldn’t be downvoted. I have heard OP’s joke. That it could come across as anti-Semitic, despite almost never being intended that way, is a good heads up.
Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem
#60I do not understand how this is supposed to prevent sibyl attacks? How do they prevent fake virtual iris scanning devices from pretending that they scanned a person that doesn’t actually exist? Or is the idea that sama is will run a centralised private identity system that aims to replace government identity management? Then why do you need crypto? Are they trying to replace proof of stake/proof of work with “proof o…
I think fake iris scanning is the least of the concerns here. The big problem, and likely reason this will fail, is there’s nothing preventing you from selling your account for a small fee after getting your initial scan to set it up. And that’s likely exactly what will happen, because they’re onboarding users in poor countries first. These users don’t give a shit about world coin, they’re simply lining up and being scanned to make a bit of easy money.