Live data from Hacker News

Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

newsletter.mollywhite.net

131–140 of 176 posts

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#131
post #117

It's exhausting refuting everyone's misconceptions. I will simply say that most people, which probably includes you, don't understand the entirety of how this project works and you therefore make assumptions that are incorrect. It doesn't store biometric data. It doesn't store any information that is useful to anyone for any purpose. The only thing it can do is tell if your iris has been scanned before. That's it. It…

This honestly feels like you didn't even read the article and are responding to what you think it says. If I'm wrong I'd be happy to have you clarify why Molly is wrong, instead of just generally asserting that people misunderstand. > It doesn't store biometric data. She addresses this: they do in fact store the biometric scans if you opt in, and they strongly encourage you to opt in because if you don't you'll have…

You're right, I didn't read it. I'm responding to comments in general on this article and others, which is full of misconceptions. I didn't bother with the article itself because every single one I've read is also full of misconceptions or incomplete information or uncharitable interpretations or unsubstantiated personal attacks against Sam Altman.

> As Molly points out, you're making a huge assumption that this number that uniquely identifies your iris isn't useful information to sell to someone (or for someone to hack).

How would someone possibly use the information that you've already scanned your iris to your detriment? How does that benefit anyone?

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#132
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems unfair to attack someone so personally without providing neutrally presented evidence to support it

I feel theres plenty of evidence... he's a super rich public figure known to lie to get traction on his projects. He doesn't need your protection

It's not about me protecting some billionaire that doesn't give a shit about me. It's about protecting reasonable discussion and trying to keep discussion in reality instead of it just being an echo chamber of "ai man bad". If I just wanted to see outrage and shitting on someone without substance I'd go read reddit and twitter.

Plenty of evidence... of which still none is being presented neutrally.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#133
post #12
post #8

Once again it is completely ignored that the whole online identity thing is a solved problem, in the EU. Millions of Europeans use eIDAS apps daily and enjoy single-sign-on across EU websites, can sign docs, make payments etc. etc. And there’s no privacy issues thanks to the GDPR, which it turns out is not just about cookie popups The tech is there, it works today, without crypto bullshit, and it is extremely useful.…

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.

You can also do this in the US with Zelle. Of course there's app alternatives like Venmo or PayPal too -- I don't really understand the importance / benefit of 'just using a bank account.'

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The story really had nothing to do with Sam Altman. "I have a pre-interview story..."

If someone had an anecdote about, say, interviewing at one of Elon Musk's earliest ventures, that's an Elon Musk story, especially if it tells you how the company is run.

No, that's now how most will people interpret that statement.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone had an anecdote about, say, interviewing at one of Elon Musk's earliest ventures, that's an Elon Musk story, especially if it tells you how the company is run.

I'd call that a story about interviewing at a venture that Elon Musk started. I certainly wouldn't call that a story about Elon Musk. Let's be real here, this was a rather poor attempt at name dropping Sam. It also had nothing to do with Sam. It also had nothing to do with how the company was run, which they'd really know very little about, given that it was a pre-interview. They turned the offer to continue down due…

Guy goes into interview with an early fly-by-night Sam Altman operation. Finds it dysfunctional as expected.

Reports it back to us as Sam Altman launches another fly-by-night operation.

Sorry, but it's a Sam Altman story.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#136
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This honestly feels like you didn't even read the article and are responding to what you think it says. If I'm wrong I'd be happy to have you clarify why Molly is wrong, instead of just generally asserting that people misunderstand. > It doesn't store biometric data. She addresses this: they do in fact store the biometric scans if you opt in, and they strongly encourage you to opt in because if you don't you'll have…

You're right, I didn't read it. I'm responding to comments in general on this article and others, which is full of misconceptions. I didn't bother with the article itself because every single one I've read is also full of misconceptions or incomplete information or uncharitable interpretations or unsubstantiated personal attacks against Sam Altman. > As Molly points out, you're making a huge assumption that this numb…

Let me know when you've read the article, and I'll reply to your question if you're unsatisfied with her answer. I'm not going to rehash any more of the points that Molly already made.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#137
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel theres plenty of evidence... he's a super rich public figure known to lie to get traction on his projects. He doesn't need your protection

It's not about me protecting some billionaire that doesn't give a shit about me. It's about protecting reasonable discussion and trying to keep discussion in reality instead of it just being an echo chamber of "ai man bad". If I just wanted to see outrage and shitting on someone without substance I'd go read reddit and twitter. Plenty of evidence... of which still none is being presented neutrally.

There is a bunch of evidence in the article we're commenting on. Good faith assumption that people have all read the article before commenting is (supposedly) a premise of HN's culture. In practice, many people who comment are responding solely to a comment or to the title presented.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd call that a story about interviewing at a venture that Elon Musk started. I certainly wouldn't call that a story about Elon Musk. Let's be real here, this was a rather poor attempt at name dropping Sam. It also had nothing to do with Sam. It also had nothing to do with how the company was run, which they'd really know very little about, given that it was a pre-interview. They turned the offer to continue down due…

Guy goes into interview with an early fly-by-night Sam Altman operation. Finds it dysfunctional as expected. Reports it back to us as Sam Altman launches another fly-by-night operation. Sorry, but it's a Sam Altman story.

"fly-by-night" and "as expected" are your own added bias. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It is a story about a pre-interview, not a story about Sam.

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#139
post #114
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The premise is that you can make spam filtering and bot filtering and circles of trust work if you have a finite amount of accounts. Currently on the internet there are infinite accounts. If there's only a billion accounts, filtering becomes much easier.

And all the poor people who sold their accounts when that seemed to have no cost for $50 (which is real money) are locked out of the internet forever

Re: Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 syste…

> 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. I deeply hate this line of logic. This exact argument was presented agai…

>) can't tap phones, therefore math (and the technologists who code up this math) are evil and anti-democratic.

it's usually much more than that. A lot of those projects founders, including Signal's, are pursuing deeply ideological projects, "it's just math" doesn't really cut it. Many aren't just after providing services that are largely in line with existing values of privacy or what have you. Hell, Moxie wrote an actual anti-democratic treatise whose central premise was:

>"[..]Our critique is of democracy in all its various forms, whether representative or direct. We are not echoing confused cries for more democracy, we are calling for its entire abolition."

These kind of attitudes are often baked into the projects themselves, hence why there's a worldcoin and MobileCoin in Signal. Don't really need your own currency for either of those projects right?

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/moxie-marlinspike-an...

Post reply on HN