Google Creates Blockchain Unit, Hires New ‘Founding Leader’ • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Creates Blockchain Unit, Hires New ‘Founding Leader’

#21

Post by Kon-Peki » Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 4:56 PM UTC

suprfsat wrote: post #10

netcan wrote: post #5

Whatever is going on with the >$1trn club's ideas for cracking that next ceiling... it's all quite opaque. "Let a thousand flowers bloom" failed, but at least we had a grasp of what's going on. It was a bet on the, now known to be false idea that the web economy would have horizontal breadth. Turned out that (a) ads had a lot of death and (b) Google didn't manage to create any alternative revenue streams worth noting…

Ah yes, Google Wallet, I mean Pay, is nothing if not "orderly" and "accountable".

According to page 40 of the survey linked in [1] two weeks ago, 4 times as many American teenagers write checks vs using Google Pay. Going all in on blockchain makes it into a less-bad joke than it already is.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29817807

Re: Google Creates Blockchain Unit, Hires New ‘Founding Leader’

#22

Post by acdha » Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 4:57 PM UTC

rodiger wrote: post #19

acdha wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blockchains are inefficient always-on distributed systems. If people stop paying to run all of that infrastructure, it's effectively dead even if someone else did make a copy unless they can afford to run a scaled down version — and with little demand, the ceiling for that is quite low.

You don't need much infra because of how difficulty adjustments work... consistently less hashpower -> it becomes easier to mine

You’re still talking a networked system which needs to be internet-accessible. Servers, bandwidth, storage, and operators are not free and that means someone has to see some value to running them.

Re: Google Creates Blockchain Unit, Hires New ‘Founding Leader’

#23

Post by kaycebasques » Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 5:00 PM UTC

manningthegoose wrote: post #13

It's possible that this project was created as a sort of L8+ engineer/manager retention program. There's been some reporting that high level execs have been leaving GAMMA companies for blockchain/crypto projects with high payout potential[1]. I wonder if Google is heading in this direction to toss these people a bone with the hopes they'll stay. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/technology/silicon-valley...

Is GAMMA the new FAANG?

* Google

* Amazon

* Microsoft

* ???

* Apple

Re: Google Creates Blockchain Unit, Hires New ‘Founding Leader’

#24

Post by oplav » Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 5:02 PM UTC

kaycebasques wrote: post #23

manningthegoose wrote: post #13

It's possible that this project was created as a sort of L8+ engineer/manager retention program. There's been some reporting that high level execs have been leaving GAMMA companies for blockchain/crypto projects with high payout potential[1]. I wonder if Google is heading in this direction to toss these people a bone with the hopes they'll stay. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/technology/silicon-valley...

Is GAMMA the new FAANG? * Google * Amazon * Microsoft * ??? * Apple

Re: Google Creates Blockchain Unit, Hires New ‘Founding Leader’

#25

Post by thebean11 » Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 5:02 PM UTC

acdha wrote: post #22

rodiger wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need much infra because of how difficulty adjustments work... consistently less hashpower -> it becomes easier to mine

You’re still talking a networked system which needs to be internet-accessible. Servers, bandwidth, storage, and operators are not free and that means someone has to see some value to running them.

The point is that the rewards are elastic. If less people run them, rewards increase, so more people run them again. Obviously the currency rewards are denominated in could hit $0, but that doesn't seem likely to most people at this point.

Re: Google Creates Blockchain Unit, Hires New ‘Founding Leader’

#26

Post by lmkg » Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 5:03 PM UTC

kaycebasques wrote: post #23

manningthegoose wrote: post #13

It's possible that this project was created as a sort of L8+ engineer/manager retention program. There's been some reporting that high level execs have been leaving GAMMA companies for blockchain/crypto projects with high payout potential[1]. I wonder if Google is heading in this direction to toss these people a bone with the hopes they'll stay. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/technology/silicon-valley...

Is GAMMA the new FAANG? * Google * Amazon * Microsoft * ??? * Apple

Facebook is now Meta, so the acronyms have to change.

Re: Google Creates Blockchain Unit, Hires New ‘Founding Leader’

#27

Post by tyingq » Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 5:03 PM UTC

Proven wrote: post #2

HN (2024): Google cancels Blockchain services What value can they possibly add? I can't think of any blockchain (apart from government blockchains) that I'd avoid as much as Google's.

>What value can they possibly add?

Maybe something to squash, say, DocuSign? Not that you need a blockchain to do that, but I can see a Google or Apple DocuSign product growing fast because they own the mobile OSes.

Re: Google Creates Blockchain Unit, Hires New ‘Founding Leader’

#28

Post by uvdn7 » Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 5:03 PM UTC

progbits wrote: post #20

manningthegoose wrote: post #13

It's possible that this project was created as a sort of L8+ engineer/manager retention program. There's been some reporting that high level execs have been leaving GAMMA companies for blockchain/crypto projects with high payout potential[1]. I wonder if Google is heading in this direction to toss these people a bone with the hopes they'll stay. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/technology/silicon-valley...

But why keep them if they are going to be doing useless work? In the hopes they get bored and move internally to different project?

It’s not entirely useless. It costs big companies little to make this type of investments to avoid a potential big miss longer term (think of IBM, Nokia, etc.) Big companies are paranoid about missing the next big thing, so it makes sense to invest in a lot of things.

Re: Google Creates Blockchain Unit, Hires New ‘Founding Leader’

#29

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 5:06 PM UTC

kaycebasques wrote: post #23

manningthegoose wrote: post #13

It's possible that this project was created as a sort of L8+ engineer/manager retention program. There's been some reporting that high level execs have been leaving GAMMA companies for blockchain/crypto projects with high payout potential[1]. I wonder if Google is heading in this direction to toss these people a bone with the hopes they'll stay. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/technology/silicon-valley...

Is GAMMA the new FAANG? * Google * Amazon * Microsoft * ??? * Apple

[deleted]

Re: Google Creates Blockchain Unit, Hires New ‘Founding Leader’

#30

Post by xen0 » Fri, Jan 21, 2022, 5:06 PM UTC

lmkg wrote: post #26

kaycebasques wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is GAMMA the new FAANG? * Google * Amazon * Microsoft * ??? * Apple

Facebook is now Meta, so the acronyms have to change.

Or maybe we just need a new company beginning with an F?