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What Problem Blockchains Solve

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Re: What Problem Blockchains Solve

#21

Post by aeternum »

m3nu wrote: post #7

> The very mechanical understanding of a contract means that we cannot tell the difference between a transaction that abides by the rules and one that exploits a bug in the system, respecting the letter of the law but not its spirit. This is really the key issue, which is difficult to change. I can't think of many important systems where we wouldn't expect human intervention if something goes wrong.

There still is human intervention and we've already seen it. The ETH vs. eth classic fork was one example where humans stepped in and decided to follow the spirit rather than the letter of the law. Both chains are still going but it's pretty clear which won the majority consensus and lions-share of the value.

Basically while code is law for these blockchains, human attention and usage still dictates the value.

Re: What Problem Blockchains Solve

#22

Post by mads »

xboxnolifes wrote: post #5
dragontamer wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if I made an NFT of the Constitution, does that make me the owner of the Constitution?

Can we quit beating this straw horse?

I am genuinely interested in how this problem is solved.

I actually own around 200 frames of a certain movie (bought them from the production company as a way to help sponsor the movie) and I would like to put them up for sale as NFT's, but I dont really see how everyone else could just claim the ownership and do the same.

Re: What Problem Blockchains Solve

#23

Post by PeterCorless »

m3adow wrote: post #17
xboxnolifes wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we quit beating this straw horse?

I don't see how that's a straw horse. It's even mentioned in the blog post as the "Enforcement problem". Nobody can (or should) take NFTs for Real-Life goods seriously until this problem is solved for good. I myself doubt it can be solved properly without a centralised authority which would contradict the whole "trustless" selling point. But I'd be glad to hear approaches how this and the Oracle problem could be solv…

There are serious projects using distributed ledger technology that are trying to solve for "this distributed ledger entry stands for this real-world container of goods" or "this particular pallet," or "this particular box on that pallet, or "this particular diamond in that box" or "this particular fish."

But the application-level definition of parsing and comprehending what an entry in a ledger stands for is not universal. These are proprietary, or at least, communally-held paradigms being set up independently by each ledger designer.

We're lacking universal grammars so that the logic of an item designed to operate on distributed ledger X would be recognized or honored if migrated to distributed ledger Y.

Re: What Problem Blockchains Solve

#24

Post by wtsnz »

They also allow for micro transactions in a way we’ve not been able to do so far.

You can use the original Bitcoin protocol to stream (and pay) for each packet of data. We can now make a pay-to-use netflix, something we haven’t done yet. https://xiaohuiliu.medium.com/netflix-over-bitcoin-payment-c...

Re: What Problem Blockchains Solve

#25

Post by PeterCorless »

pengwing wrote: post #10

Ethereum has only been around since 2015. Naturally smart contracts, DAos and NFTs are somewhat newer technology, still exhibiting flaws. Block chain as a concept with the single use case of store of value has been around since 2009 in the form of Bitcoin. So let me only pick one battle here: The problem is federally-issued inflationary currency. Bitcoin solves it.

"we find no evidence of any positive links between inflation and either Bitcoin or Ethereum during times of increasing forward inflation expectations. This raises significant doubts over the ability of cryptocurrencies to hedge expected inflation in the short- or long-run."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016517652...

Re: What Problem Blockchains Solve

#26

Post by Karunamon »

dragontamer wrote: post #4
marcodiego wrote: post #2

Basically it allows demonstrability of ownership.

So if I made an NFT of the Constitution, does that make me the owner of the Constitution?

Provenance is a thing, so no. You're just some rando and nobody would care about your NFT.

The same way you can buy or even make replicas of nearly any artwork out there. The one blessed by the creator has value that the illegitimate copies do not.

Re: What Problem Blockchains Solve

#27

Post by malthaus »

There is not one actual practical problem blockchains solve. It's a get rich quick / pyramid scheme built on top of a theoretical concept that appeals to nerds but doesn't work in the world we live in.

The same issues persist, they're just packaged/framed differently - and, due to lack of regulation and norms to mitigate them in the real world, can still be exploited.

People were complaining that Google eats up so many engineers to solve ad-problems but the whole blockchain space is much worse - what a colossal waste of human and ecological resources.

Re: What Problem Blockchains Solve

#28

Post by da-x »

pengwing wrote: post #10

Ethereum has only been around since 2015. Naturally smart contracts, DAos and NFTs are somewhat newer technology, still exhibiting flaws. Block chain as a concept with the single use case of store of value has been around since 2009 in the form of Bitcoin. So let me only pick one battle here: The problem is federally-issued inflationary currency. Bitcoin solves it.

However so far it's not proving to be a currency (short term stability, long term deprecation or preservation) but only an asset class (short term instability, long term preservation).

So far it is only proving that it cannot be both.

For assets, one can choose to invest in already existing inflation resistant assets, and many investors and even unsophisticated laypeople did that across the ages before Bitcoin was invented. So essentially federally-issued inflationary currency is not really a problem of investment because there are other alternatives to it when investment is concerned.

Re: What Problem Blockchains Solve

#29

Post by mekster »

malthaus wrote: post #27

There is not one actual practical problem blockchains solve. It's a get rich quick / pyramid scheme built on top of a theoretical concept that appeals to nerds but doesn't work in the world we live in. The same issues persist, they're just packaged/framed differently - and, due to lack of regulation and norms to mitigate them in the real world, can still be exploited. People were complaining that Google eats up so ma…

I'm amazed at the end of 2021, I still get to see these responses about blockchain on hacker news.

Somehow Reddit looks smarter when it comes to blockchain topics.

Re: What Problem Blockchains Solve

#30

Post by lmm »

mekster wrote: post #29
malthaus wrote: post #27

There is not one actual practical problem blockchains solve. It's a get rich quick / pyramid scheme built on top of a theoretical concept that appeals to nerds but doesn't work in the world we live in. The same issues persist, they're just packaged/framed differently - and, due to lack of regulation and norms to mitigate them in the real world, can still be exploited. People were complaining that Google eats up so ma…

I'm amazed at the end of 2021, I still get to see these responses about blockchain on hacker news. Somehow Reddit looks smarter when it comes to blockchain topics.

I'm amazed that the whole thing has somehow kept going despite the same lack of legitimate use cases that it's had from the start.
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