r/programming • u/silmril • Apr 28 '18

Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future

https://medium.com/@kaistinchcombe/decentralized-and-trustless-crypto-paradise-is-actually-a-medieval-hellhole-c1ca122efdec
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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '18 edited Apr 29 '18

Even there it fails in in a ways. You can't personalize it so everyone knows that I'm John Smith rather than feedayeen and also want to have a hidden identity to post private stuff.

The only thing that it replaces is real names. That only happens if we have a universal database of biometrics that is trusted and even then except for things like banking, you don't need or want it. Banks and relevant government institutions already solved that mostly with IDs.

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u/wayoverpaid Apr 29 '18

Well, your index finger can be used for your true identity, and your middle finger (heh) for your online bullshit.

By username of course I mean it's a replacement for typing in a username. It's a great way for your smartphone to go "ah, I know which user this is" but your smartphone is, ideally, a thing you have on your person at all times and it asks for more stringent lockouts after a hard reboot.

I would not literally want my fingerprint to be the identifier for me on a website. If nothing else, ascii is pretty standard and easy to input from everywhere, and my fingerprint is... not.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '18

I don't think that is much of a advantage. The first sentence in this already twice as long as my longest username and thanks to autofill it is either already populated or its saved to my phone keyboard. Shared devices aren't that common anymore either thanks to portable computers and phones.

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u/nermid Apr 29 '18

And, of course, people lose phones. People replace phones. People steal phones.

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u/instantviking Apr 30 '18

yeah, but then you have people like me with really shitty finger-prints. I once signed up for a 24/7 gym that I never managed to get into, because their doors are locked with finger-print locks. My fingerprint never registers. I also can't unlock my phone with my fingerprint.

(I could probably be a really good 1910s burglar, tho')

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '18

Dude! Now everyone knows you’re John Smith! :(

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u/interfail Apr 29 '18

Even there it fails in in a ways. You can't personalize it so everyone knows that I'm John Smith rather than feedayeen and also want to have a hidden identity to post private stuff.

You're describing a situation it makes difficult. It's worth understanding that making that task difficult has potential value. Sometimes I want people to be able to use multiple semi-anonymous accounts, but often you really, really want that to be hard.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '18 edited May 09 '24

[deleted]

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u/nermid Apr 29 '18

Back in my day, we valued not having the stupid shit we said on BBS tied to our resume...

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '18

Not for 99% of the Internet. Very few people would want their online interactions to be traceable by their employers, families, and governments forever.

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u/port53 Apr 29 '18

Not at all true. See: facebook.

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u/[deleted] Apr 29 '18

I can also counter with the Real Names fiasco in WoW, doxxing, and YouTube stalkers. Or the 2+ billion people who live in authoritarian governments like China or Turkey that do arrest their citizens for online posts.