Discussion
1/2 Hey fedi, I would like someone to patiently explain to me, with practical examples that are not founded in hype or bullshit…
when using a blockchain is better than a regular database (distributed or otherwise).
Bearing in mind a couple of points:
1. *humans* build webs of trust, not machines. Machines do not know how or when to trust because they cannot relate to each other emotionally. So I do not see how blockchain can resolve a trust deficit…
@urlyman a blockchain can host a stable coin. A stable coin stays stable because it is backed by treasuries. So a stable coin gives two of the following advantages (but to whom?): traceability of transactions, and increasing of debt for the entity whoms treasury is used as backing. So with a blockchain some entity can sell its debt and see where it goes. Not sure if a database can do this.
@made thanks but I’m not that interested in rationales for cryptocurrency at the level of states. That seems to me a clear recipe for acceleration of power consumption. And as such, not practical
@urlyman i should have read 2/2... tbh i am not sure these days how much energy proof of stake coins consume and how much a traditional banking system costs.
But i feel stablecoins will be maybe the only lasting development of cryptocurrencies. Until the debt will tear it down.
@made No worries. I think you’re right.
Part of the problem, I feel, is that economics doesn’t know how to put a value on trust (embedded in the relationships between people) or the cost of the lack of it. So the argument gets rendered to one of end-point-of-use energy consumption, which is, even when it can be selectively reconciled, laughably inadequate
@urlyman
As far as I know, blockchain is 117% hype and absolutely zero value.
In a survey I looked at last year, long after the blockchain craze should have matured if able to, all the projects that claim to be selling blockchain are either not selling blockchain, or are not actually in business.
I will see if I can find it.
@androcat thanks.
We’re gonna love the (un)stablecoin future that is upon us 😬
@urlyman Disclaimer:
My comment was solely about non-cryptocurrency allegedly actually useful applications of blockchain.
Cryptocurrency is a scam from end to end. Not even worth looking at.
But blockchain is also useless in other contexts. Despite all the hype to the contrary.
@androcat thanks. Understood
Here it is, it's from 2022, but still way past the "it will have matured by now if it is going to": https://weh.wtf/34-blockchain-projects.html
@androcat cheers. Will have a read
…2/2
2. cryptography is great, but it is computationally more expensive than not doing it. So, in a world still addicted to oil and rapidly overheating (for us), we should do the minimum that is sensible.
Which means, for example, that if we can deploy people in trusted roles to administer accountable oversight, we should do that instead, because that’s how trust is maintained (see #1 above)
@urlyman I worked for a company that marketed a “blockchain language”. It was backed by PostgreSQL. (You could use an actual blockchain, but no one did.)
The underlying data model is just serialised data + signed hashes, where the hash includes the parent. Like Git.
So to answer your question: nope, totally pointless.
Sadly they have pivoted to actual blockchain now. I am glad I left before that.
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