Post by Molly White

1y

Enjoying posting this to Mastodon, which I have been informed by Chris Dixon is a failure.

He's real mad Mastodon won't use a blockchain, btw.

How might one fix this? Imagine another system on top of a federated network that collects data from the individual servers and aggregates that data into a single, centralized database. Sometimes servers will disagree, so the system needs a way to adjudicate disputes to decide which servers best represent the network's true state. Well, guess what? We've just invented a blockchain. Blockchains provide a mechanism for centralizing data while keeping control of that data decentralized.
Many proponents of federated networks refuse to use or even to consider blockchains, presumably because of the associations blockchains have with the casino culture of scams and speculation. This is unfortunate. Anyone who looks at blockchains dispassionately will see them as powerful tools that can help to compete with corporate networks. (See "The Computer versus the Casino" for more.)
To complicate matters further, some federated-network proponents will consider using blockchains, but only specific blockchains. For one, Dorsey has expressed interest in using Bitcoin as part of a decentralized social network. The problem is that Bitcoin has high transaction fees (typically more than $1 per transaction) and slow transaction times (usually ten minutes or longer, depending on various factors including network conditions). Some projects are trying to fix these limitations by building layers on top of Bitcoin. I hope they succeed. Without them, it's hard to see how Bitcoin can be a key component of

1y

Is it just me or is the last paragraph in the screenshot a frank admission that the largest deployed public ledger blockchain project, Bitcoin, is unfit for purpose due to its inability to scale beyond "freshman year Comp Sci project" levels?

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1y

@RojCowles Dixon is not a big fan of Bitcoin. He's a big fan of Ethereum.

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1y

@molly0xfff
Ohhhh, thanks! That makes more sense

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