[arcticfox]

Every time blockchain has had a hype cycle over the years I start thinking of ideas to build on it. Then I realize all of my ideas would just be simpler, better, and more monetizable (minus Ponzi hype) if I just built them on traditional technologies.

[splintercell]

I think the problem here is that you're attacking the wrong part of the problem. Otherwise, why did you even get excited by the original idea being built on the blockchain, to begin with?

Imagine if you thought that it would be a great idea to create decentralized payment system on the internet where people can accept and make payments in a peer to peer manner.

Except, this is 2001. There is no such thing as a blockchain. You face the problem of double spend, and soon enough, you come to the realization that you could create a peer to peer accept/send online payment system much better if it is centralized.

Thus, Paypal is born.

But does that mean a blockchain based decentralized payment system was completely useless? Not really, it is clearly demonstrated by the popularity of bitcoin in a world with capital controls, WikiLeaks payment sanctions etc.

The real reason behind this effect is that the tech world is excited about decentralization, but it doesn't fully understand that there are a lot of missing components required to create say "a censorship-resistant online forum" or "decentralized blah blah service".

On the top of that, nobody except for the people who are being actively censored or prevented from doing things by the centralized institutions truly need the decentralization.

Most SV technologists would be really excited by the idea of a decentralized, censorship proof forum. Except, you will only attract the alt-right (as of now) to it. Why? Because the non-alt-right is perfectly fine with the censorship, as it favors them currently.

[arcticfox]

> Not really, it is clearly demonstrated by the popularity of bitcoin in a world with capital controls, WikiLeaks payment sanctions etc.

Everyone I know that is remotely interested in Bitcoin is interested because it may increase in value, it's not popular at all as a payment mechanism outside of illegal circles.

> Most SV technologists would be really excited by the idea of a decentralized, censorship proof forum

Is this really exciting? It sounds like a formula for a cesspool. It seems to me that the challenge in getting anything interesting to happen there is not in the technology, but in the design of the service. There are already tons of places where you can discuss anything that's not actually illegal, including being alt-right. It's just that they're seedy, so nobody normal goes there.

[watoc]

That's usually the issue I have when selecting a technology before knowing what problem I want to solve.

[unabridged]

Blockchain is not going to make some traditional company rich. Its going to be used to build things like a decentralized, public web of trust that can be used for open, public uber & airbnb clones.

[arcticfox]

> Its going to be used to build things like a decentralized, public web of trust that can be used for open, public uber & airbnb clones.

It's already trivial to build those clones without blockchain if users give up a small amount of trust, and that amount of trust is basically irrelevant to the overhelming majority of users. And the advantages of non-blockchain development, in return, are huge.

[Daishiman]

All those things are laughably far away from being actually useful business ideas.

[tehlike]

can you provide an example for how uber & airbnb clones be built on blockchain? What would you store, how would it help?