Worldcoin has a new Orb and is now just World • Hacker News Board

Re: Worldcoin has a new Orb and is now just World

#61

Post by Dalewyn » Fri, Oct 18, 2024, 10:14 PM UTC

Synaesthesia wrote: post #2

When I first was interested in cryptocurrency, or Bitcoin, this is the sort of thing which made me excited. The idea of a new currency outside of the control of states or banks, which will take back the power for ordinary people. It soon stopped being about that and about "hodl" and self-enrichment. I applaud this project for being in the original spirit of Bitcoin. I've since come to realise that the important thing…

>It soon stopped being about that

It's because everyone forgot about Chesterton's Fence. Stuff like the emergence of exchanges and the story of Magic The Gathering Online Exchange in particular are the result of people realizing those fences were necessary.

There are very good reasons that the currencies we trust are managed and regulated by reputable banks and countries.

Re: Worldcoin has a new Orb and is now just World

#62

Post by game_the0ry » Fri, Oct 18, 2024, 10:15 PM UTC

runako wrote: post #18

game_the0ry wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Something like World ID will eventually exist, meaning that you will need to verify [that you are human] on the internet, whether you like it or not. I think that's certainly going to happen with the progress in AI. No thanks. I would prefer to just opt out.

If this was necessary to solve a problem, why wouldn't the existing Internet access points simply solve the problems? For example, why would Apple not add liveness detection to its devices, which users already trust with their biometric data? One could imagine a Web standard that specifies minimum capabilities for user agents, which could then be implemented in a variety of ways. Apple might use an upgraded FaceID, f…

> For example, why would Apple not add liveness detection to its devices, which users already trust with their biometric data?

That's what I always assumed too, that existing biometrics on mobile would be adequate. This World Coin Orbo bullshit doe not bring anything to the table except get sama one step closer to his wet dream fantasy of WorLD DomInaAtiOn.

Re: Worldcoin has a new Orb and is now just World

#63

Post by 23B1 » Fri, Oct 18, 2024, 10:28 PM UTC

FireBeyond wrote: post #58

Did Sam ever satisfactorily answer why they seeded the database not in say, Silicon Valley, or the US, but in some of the most impoverished regions in Africa, and offering "insane" amounts - like in some cases two months salary or more?

Bond villains only answer questions when you're safely strapped in to their brain-drilling chair.

Re: Worldcoin has a new Orb and is now just World

#64

Post by stogot » Fri, Oct 18, 2024, 10:28 PM UTC

> “To provide access to every human, we need more Orbs. Lots more Orbs. Probably on the order of a thousand times more Orbs than we have today,” Heley said. “Not only more Orbs but more Orbs in more places.”

What a blob of a thing to say. And ‘access’ isn’t even a thing people want. There’s few companies I hope for bankruptcy and this is one of them

Re: Worldcoin has a new Orb and is now just World

#65

Post by stogot » Fri, Oct 18, 2024, 10:30 PM UTC

remcob wrote: post #32

grishka wrote: post #16

I've not researched how this works, but this definitely feels like one of those things where if you dig deep enough into it, it boils down to "we verify your 'humanness' by checking that there's your biometric data signed by our private key, for which the public key is hardcoded everywhere, so trust us please".

It actually uses a lot of modern cryptography (zero knowledge proofs, multiparty computation, decentralized consensus, etc) to avoid exactly that.

To avoid harvesting people’s biometrics for profit?

Re: Worldcoin has a new Orb and is now just World

#66

Post by AlexandrB » Fri, Oct 18, 2024, 10:35 PM UTC

AyyEye wrote: post #59

pvaldes wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The market for fake eyes made on resin and plastic seems to have a brilliant future. Soon most of all 'certified 100% humans' talking on internet will be animatronic heads without a brain. Same as today

The orb is a multi-spectral imager with extreme zoom, liquid lens, and very tamper hardened. They'll be everywhere.

I doubt it. For one thing, the ergonomics of an "orb" are horrible. This is a solution looking for a problem and seemingly designed by people who took the wrong lessons from Apple's success.

Incidentally they have a typo in their announcement page[1].

> The Orb is the incluse[sic], secure and anonymous device that enables World ID holders to verify their humanness and uniqueness.

I assume "incluse" is meant to be "inclusive". But what's "inclusive" about letting a startup with foggy monetization plans collect everyone's biometrics? Sounds like bullshit.

[1] https://world.org/blog/announcements/world-unveils-new-orb-n...

Edit: I'm reminded of this old clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4VBqTViEx4

From all external appearances, "World" is being run by sales and marketing people from its inception.

Re: Worldcoin has a new Orb and is now just World

#67

Post by stogot » Fri, Oct 18, 2024, 10:35 PM UTC

AyyEye wrote: post #11

throwway120385 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, kind of. It's also a physical thing that you stand in front of to give up a bunch of biometric information to go in some database somewhere for...some reason that is unspecified. The fact that they're doing it "for free" suggests to me that there is some purpose to it that makes it profitable in spite of the costs. Given how much everyone's data is actually worth, I suspect that the reason it's free is because…

> some reason that is unspecified. Their end goal is for you to need this to use the internet. > something like World ID will eventually exist, meaning that you will need to verify [that you are human] on the internet, whether you like it or not. I think that's certainly going to happen with the progress in AI. https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/07/10/an-or...

Wow, “whether you like it or not” directly contradicts the “for the good of humanity” of their proposal. That’s what autocrats say

Re: Worldcoin has a new Orb and is now just World

#68

Post by AlexandrB » Fri, Oct 18, 2024, 10:36 PM UTC

AyyEye wrote: post #52

Philadelphia wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we’re dealing with an all-powerful Skynet intelligence, or even a WOPR or Wintermute, won’t it just figure out how to bypass the verification system?

How smart your AI is depends on whether you're selling the poison or the antidote.

AKA: who you're marketing something to.

Re: Worldcoin has a new Orb and is now just World

#69

Post by pram » Fri, Oct 18, 2024, 10:37 PM UTC

llamaimperative wrote: post #12

akira2501 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It soon stopped being about that I submit that it could never have actually been about that. It may have been out of the states control but it was far to technocratic and dependent on first movers so it was always going to leave behind the class of people you hoped it would most benefit. > the original spirit of Bitcoin Is effectively "you don't need permission." That's _it_. People projected quite a bit onto that.

Yep, it was very obviously going to produce landgrab dynamics. Like... it would be utterly astounding for someone not to see that from day one.

This was explicitly the aim of projects like Urbit too, literally feudal lords ruling over their virtual real estate lol

Re: Worldcoin has a new Orb and is now just World

#70

Post by notfried » Fri, Oct 18, 2024, 10:38 PM UTC

Sam needs to hire a consultant when he wants to name products. First it was ChatGPT, then came the 4o's and o-1's, and now this. "World" is not easy to pronounce for some non-English speakers (the "rld" part). For a product literally meant to be used by everyone, that's quite the faux pas.