Police raid Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi • Hacker News Board

Re: Police raid Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi

#71

Post by wpietri » Mon, Aug 07, 2023, 5:10 PM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #20

I'm actually surprised how rapidly this went downhill exactly how people were warning it would.

Yeah, my take is that during the rise of the internet and mobile, tech earned a lot of social credit. But since then tech companies both large and small have been burning through that at a prodigious rate, especially social media, monopoly-seekers, and the trash fire that is crypto. If I had to sum up the new attitude of European regulators toward tech, it would be, "We're tired of your bullshit."

I'm glad to see it. Maybe with some better policing, the tech sector will again turn into something I can be unambiguously proud about working in.

Re: Police raid Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi

#72

Post by ks2048 » Mon, Aug 07, 2023, 5:11 PM UTC

Legend2440 wrote: post #36

I really don't want to have anything to do with crypto, and the fact that Sam Altman is pushing it in 2023 makes both him and OpenAI look sketchy. Especially crypto with a weird biometric eye scanner.

It is wild to me that Altman seems to really believe his company will have a God-On-Earth within the next decade and he still wants to put his name and time into some side hustle? I don't get it. (I think he or his supporters would say Worldcoin is something necessary for the future-AI world, but I don't buy it).

Re: Police raid Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi

#73

Post by jonathankoren » Mon, Aug 07, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

antiviral wrote: post #35

"Worldcoin, founded by US tech entrepreneur Sam Altman, offers free crypto tokens to people who agree to have their eyeballs scanned." Can anyone say how much each of those crypto tokens are worth in $USD?

The interesting thing is, now that they’re bringing the orb to the United States, they can’t give out their coin to Americans.

Re: Police raid Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi

#74

Post by tracker1 » Mon, Aug 07, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

Legend2440 wrote: post #36

I really don't want to have anything to do with crypto, and the fact that Sam Altman is pushing it in 2023 makes both him and OpenAI look sketchy. Especially crypto with a weird biometric eye scanner.

Considering I've had a lot of laser treatments (micro-veins) and am getting eye (retina) surgery before long, it makes me wonder how reliable such a system is, and how well it will tollerate change/variance of one's eye-prints. I mean, theoretically, if you lose your eye in an accident, does that mean you lose your life savings in such a scheme?

It really has me concerned. As fallible as people and banking are already, I'm not sure I'm ready for that level of "secure" without such considerations.

Re: Police raid Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi

#75

Post by twelve40 » Mon, Aug 07, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

ethbr0 wrote: post #67

jabradoodle wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does this mean? You already have a unique identity as far as the government are concerned, and who would pay UBI if not the government.

As with all crypto ideas, I believe this starts with "If we wanted to take government out of the picture..."

i think the question is more along the lines of how is this feasible

Re: Police raid Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi

#76

Post by 3cats-in-a-coat » Mon, Aug 07, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

sdenton4 wrote: post #55

Legend2440 wrote: post #36

I really don't want to have anything to do with crypto, and the fact that Sam Altman is pushing it in 2023 makes both him and OpenAI look sketchy. Especially crypto with a weird biometric eye scanner.

Sadly, I liked the original idea behind this, and thought it was one of the few actually-interesting applications of crypto currency. If you can (somehow) solve the unique identity problem, you can design a Universal Basic Income using a crypto-currency as backing. The Unique ID problem isn't solved by the blockchain, though, so it ends up being a total mess.

Governments already exist. To try and upend them by replacing their system of personhood and currency is in effect the tech-bro version of a mutiny. It may seem ridiculous but that's precisely what crypto is. An attempt to replace central banks and governments. Tech companies have grown very powerful, and they see an opportunity to create a world-wide "private government" and they're going for it. This won't be the last attempt. Governments will eventually wake up. Or if not. That's it for them.

Re: Police raid Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi

#77

Post by littlestymaar » Mon, Aug 07, 2023, 5:13 PM UTC

Ataraxic wrote: post #60

Legend2440 wrote: post #36

I really don't want to have anything to do with crypto, and the fact that Sam Altman is pushing it in 2023 makes both him and OpenAI look sketchy. Especially crypto with a weird biometric eye scanner.

I'm actually significantly more skeptical of OpenAI after discovering that one of their founders is behind this. The tag line of universal basic income is so absurd for an iris scanner built on the blockchain. Are we still in the world of 0% interest rates???

You can have UBI at a country level if you finance it with government budget (through taxes)[1], but as a for-profit enterprise, there's no that's a good idea (for it to work at all, it must have a monetization strategy, and they all look dystopian)

[1] it actually exist(ed) in France (see RMI/RSA, though the different governments recently added tons of bureaucracy to it as a way to deter people from getting it, ruining the point), but the political will that it requires (and whether this is a good idea at all, I don't have a strong opinion on that) is the limiting factor.

Re: Police raid Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi

#78

Post by mrguyorama » Mon, Aug 07, 2023, 5:13 PM UTC

mcpackieh wrote: post #43

nwoli wrote: post #27

> On Thursday, Worldcoin said it is planning to implement crowd-control measures and collaborate with the government before resuming work. What does this even mean?

In essence, they aspire to be a Palantir competitor. CIA as a Service

Sam Altman and Thiel are friends. This isn't a competitor, this is a Palintir data source.

Re: Police raid Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi

#79

Post by jonathankoren » Mon, Aug 07, 2023, 5:14 PM UTC

carabiner wrote: post #70

Why does this have to be a crypto currency? My ssn is not a currency and it is used for id. Why can't it be like that, a database of id's? Should we make our drivers licenses or passports into crypto currencies? What is the advantage?

It’s literally a solution in search of a problem.

They’d say it proves you’re an actual human and not a fake profile, but there are existing solutions to that, and it doesn’t solve identity theft at all.

Re: Police raid Worldcoin warehouse in Nairobi

#80

Post by cool_dude85 » Mon, Aug 07, 2023, 5:15 PM UTC

alangibson wrote: post #33

A huge amount of the value of big tech companies comes from outrunning regulators (AirBnB, Uber) and/or existing in a state of exception (section 230). Congrats to Kenya for calling BS in short order.

I think people also forget that Amazon was in this game too, refusing to collect and pay state sales tax to undercut brick-and-mortar.