this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2025
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TechTakes

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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

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[–] o7___o7@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Didn't steemit already fail horribly trying to do this?

At this point cryptocurrency has a bad enough reputation that they have to try and ease readers into it.

(insert clown getting dressed meme image here)

  1. It's new digg!
  2. AI is bad (but also sexy and all powerful)
  3. so captchas are hard :(
  4. let's make a real fancy captcha!
  5. With... Zero-Knowledge Proofs :D :D :D :D :D (all non cryptocurrency people flee at this point)
  6. Also like NFTs for products you buy so when you shill them people know you're at least a real person doing so (maybe, kinda, sorta)
  7. So anyway I was thinking if only there was something else as ~~dystopian~~ cool as Sam Altman 様's orb thing and we smeared it across the entire internet
[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

if you want authenticity, just get good fucking moderation running, but noooo, this involves paying people (giving money away?? this is not how billionaires are made) and can't be grifted on

also https://xkcd.com/810/

[–] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 weeks ago

This is the best xkcd I've seen in ages!

[–] Irelephant@lemm.ee 0 points 3 weeks ago

New idea for instance application questions.

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Ah yes, back to key signing parties. But dumber.

[–] Irelephant@lemm.ee 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Do I have to put my pgp key on "The Blockchain" to get people to use it?

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Dont think you can solve social problems with technical solutions tbh

[–] pikesley@mastodon.me.uk 0 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

@Soyweiser @Irelephant you definitely can't solve *anything* with PGP

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago

not true! if I want to be really fucking angry, pgp is a great solution to getting that done quickly!

[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago

It was an attempt to solve a problem at the time (which partially still exists now) it had some use then (as it does now). It just didn't work as something that would be adopted by the general public for various reasons. Stuff like, you need to go to an open source conference.

[–] jagermo@feddit.org 0 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, jot with these tech bros in charge. They have no interest in the truth or they would pay fact checkers and mods.

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 0 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

It could at least solve the Nicole problem. Proof-of-work was invented for exactly this : reducing spam in inboxes

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

tell me you've never dealt with human-facing network systems without telling me you've never dealt with human facing network systems

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 0 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Hundreds if not thousands of users access the services I host in my home every fucking day. I'm sorry but PoW is a very basic subject in CS and you are the one showing your ignorance. Also, if you had participated in online security challenges like rootme, you would have seen it implemented and working

[–] dgerard@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago

this user is far too informed and knowledgeable to lower himself to educating us peons, and has been guided elsewhere

[–] self@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago

to quote the red ink on your last CS exam: Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

oh yes, keep telling me how I don't know things, that's the stuff. straight into my veins! such a good, clever little poster!

the services I host in my home

I’m sorry but PoW is a very basic subject in CS and you are the one showing your ignorance

arf arf arf

you are not tall enough for this ride, go have some candyfloss and throw some balls in holes

[–] jlow@beehaw.org 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Question is of spam or proof of work burns the planet faster and I feel like it would be the latter.

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It does not work like that. The principle is that legitimate users all pay negligible cost, but a spammy user would have to pay so much it is just not possible. The spammy user would not even try, it discourages them

[–] bitofhope@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What kind of a cost is low enough that eight billion people can pay it for their legitimate communications without burning the planet too much, but also high enough that a spammer with a botnet won't bother to let other people's machines pay the cost?

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago

I am so fucking tired of "just tie the PoW into every protocol interaction and every device! what do you mean old devices can't be updated? you're just afraid of the future!" fucking fans

chucklefucks coming along shouting "you don't know what you're talking about!" while having little fucking idea what the person they're engaging with actually does

[–] cstross@wandering.shop 0 points 3 weeks ago

@Mubelotix @techtakes You know what else would solve the Nicole problem? Old-skool USENET style client-side killfiles circa 1990, applied to DMs—your inbox-equivalent.

[–] IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Honestly, this does seem like a valid use of the technology behind crypto. Definitely a more beneficial use than just value speculation like we have now.

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago

how does one become an irate anteater? is it mostly by lacking ants to eat and instead consuming only inaccurate thinkpieces about how the will-never-pay-you-the-bagholder casino "works"?

Worldcoin is a scam. This is a scam

[–] Dubiousx99@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That is exactly what I was thinking when I read it, too.

[–] self@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

you and your friend really should have spent any time at all looking into who runs worldcoin and how fucking monstrously dystopian it is before rushing into buttcoin of all places to defend the “valid use of the technology behind crypto” (????) you both imagined existed in the OP’s screenshot

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 0 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Cryptography isn't cryptocurrency. It's completely different

[–] froztbyte@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago

an accurate point! and completely irrelevant! congratulations

[–] self@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

yeh I know, so calling out zk proofs as “the technology behind crypto” really reads like calling hydrogen gas “the technology behind the Hindenburg”, doesn’t it.

[–] bitofhope@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't think that simile quite lands. Hindenburg worked as expected until its sudden catastrophic demise and hydrogen caused both the function and the failure. Zero knowledge proofs neither make cryptocoins work nor are they the reason why they don't work.

A more apt comparison is something like saying levers are the technology behind this perpetual motion machine.

The design incorporates levers that fail to make the device function, but it's not like levers are useless because of that.

[–] Klear@sh.itjust.works 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I mean, have you tried building the gizmo in the picture? Just because similar designs have always been used by scammers and crackpots doesn't mean the tech is bad. Now, if you could invest into my startup...

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)
[–] o7___o7@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago

Classic orange cat move

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 0 points 3 weeks ago

There's always money in the banana -coin!

[–] Irelephant@lemm.ee 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

With pump[.]fun anyone can. This has made crypto scamming easier, and has no other discernable benefits.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Hey guys, you should invest in some KolaKoin!

[–] bitofhope@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You gotta be careful not to joke in a way that's indistinguishable from real shitcoin spam 🙃

[–] BlueMonday1984@awful.systems 0 points 3 weeks ago

Everyone knows the real money's in CapaCash! /ref

(Hypnospace Outlaw is top-notch, go play it)