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Web3 is a stupid idea

timdaub.github.io

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Re: Web3 is a stupid idea

#21

Post by Tenoke »

timdaub wrote: post #10
fallat wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get the hate for Metamask. You can connect hardware wallets to it and its actual UX is good.

We can't it be a browser-integrated feature? That we can store keys, have them sign messages and e.g. unlock the signature function through e.g. a hardware wallet or a master password?

.. Because major browsers will need to integrate it and they haven't. You can build things yourself more easily than you can convince say chrome to build something (which is the whole point of extensions, really). What you seem to be asking is just metamask to be integrated directly into chrome, which is a nice ask but not done to the right people (ask google/firefox) and its lack does not turn web3 into a 'Stupid Idea'.

There's a lot of extension functionality I'd like straight in the browser itself but it's not the extension's fault that browser devs haven't included it.

Re: Web3 is a stupid idea

#22

Post by dreyfan »

cam0 wrote: post #6

I think it's poorly named. It's not a new major version of the web. Forget the fact that the vast majority of the web's users don't care about decentralization vs. centralization even a single bit. People will continue to mindlessly use WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Coinbase because decentralization is not a concern for _most_ users. Most users of these apps just want to socialize with friends and family,…

I’m so glad the entire decentralized community has rallied around the limitless power and innovation of NFTs.

Re: Web3 is a stupid idea

#23

Post by evv »

officialchicken wrote: post #16
michaellee8 wrote: post #5

Lol the company I am working for is doing some kind of wallet that basically allow you to keep and use your private key without a (shitty) browser extension like metamask. You basically just get your key back by authenticating with your google account and pressing your finger at touchid. Basically allow people to have same web 2.0 experience when using web3 apps.

Wait, let me get this straight - your company has the non-sharded encryption key (not the user), it centralized by your service, and all of that is subject to google's whims. Yep, sounds like the heart of web3.

Metamask is distributed through Google as well, and it operates in Chrome.

It would be easier to let me know what web3 technology is not subject to Google's whims!

Re: Web3 is a stupid idea

#24

Post by pphysch »

gfodor wrote: post #15
pphysch wrote: post #11

Even an ideal blockchain-ified P2P "Web 3.0" is a silly fantasy on par with NAT-less IPv4. First they reinvented gold & databases, now they are reinventing IP. Flat networks are a thing of the past, when you could keep the whole Internet in a paper directory on your desk. Blockchains may be used for settlement and accounting within small networks of international firms, but they will never service the latency and thr…

HN comments that use the word "never" should raise eyebrows. You're not wrong if you assume technology is fixed. But it ain't.

Right, and we will eventually choose to forgo toilets and defecate in the streets again, because "never say never".

Please address my argument instead of this unconstructive purity-testing nonsense.

Re: Web3 is a stupid idea

#25

Post by semicolon_storm »

devmunchies wrote: post #4
twox2 wrote: post #2

Some valid arguments, but in reality web3 is just the web where the backend is something on the blockchain. It makes sense to talk about how to make this experience more secure, but to say the whole thing is a stupid idea doesn't benefit anyone, because a lot of people want it and are going to use it. By the way, most web wallets have hardware support, so you can add an additional layer of security that way.

> web3 is just the web where the backend is something on the blockchain even more broad, i think web3 is just where the database is decentralized. blockchain is one solution.

If it's just when the database is decentralized, why even call it web3? Why should web standards even care about implementation details of the database?

We didn't move to "web3" when db sharding became a big thing, or when NoSQL caught on.

Re: Web3 is a stupid idea

#26

Post by officialchicken »

fallat wrote: post #9
michaellee8 wrote: post #5

Lol the company I am working for is doing some kind of wallet that basically allow you to keep and use your private key without a (shitty) browser extension like metamask. You basically just get your key back by authenticating with your google account and pressing your finger at touchid. Basically allow people to have same web 2.0 experience when using web3 apps.

I don't get the hate for Metamask. You can connect hardware wallets to it and its actual UX is good.

Good UX isn't security, MM and Infuria are owned by the same person (very centralized), you can't change your secret phrase, sentry.js doesn't secure a react app very well at all... etc. etc. etc. I'm not a hater (actually I'm a user), but I am pointing out a wide variety of issues that should be publicly discussed.

Re: Web3 is a stupid idea

#27

Post by tmcw »

zzok22 wrote: post #20

It's much easier to criticize than to build an alternative. I don't think anyone at Metamask or in the space in general thinks to themselves that the ecosystem is in a state of full maturity or that there aren't major problems. Despite its shortcomings, MM and Web3 have given us capabilities that simply didn't exist five years ago. And those capabilities aren't just limited to a select number of shadowy super hackers…

People are building things like renewed web standards (Project Fugu, for example) and P2P networks (Beaker, Hypercore), and light clients (Mighty). These projects don't get any attention from the "Web3" crowd because they don't involve currency speculation.

Re: Web3 is a stupid idea

#28

Post by sergiotapia »

Unfortunately, "web3" being placed next to words like "crypto" and "blockchain" stains it as bullshit full of grifters and leeches.

Edit: forgot about the cherry on top "NFT" another layer of shit on what I thought would be pure and innovative. Grifters all the way down.

Re: Web3 is a stupid idea

#30

Post by timdaub »

zzok22 wrote: post #20

It's much easier to criticize than to build an alternative. I don't think anyone at Metamask or in the space in general thinks to themselves that the ecosystem is in a state of full maturity or that there aren't major problems. Despite its shortcomings, MM and Web3 have given us capabilities that simply didn't exist five years ago. And those capabilities aren't just limited to a select number of shadowy super hackers…

To be fair, in the article I at least outline alternative approaches. And in any case, I believe that by building a commercial product like MM, their makers unwillingly shut the door a bit more for a more standardized approach. Not actively, but simply just by mere existence.
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