[anonymouskimmer]

> Insurance

All blockchain proves is that you have access to someone's insurance key. While it would be a bit more difficult or costly than faking a card, it's not impossible. And most places I've been to don't even care about the card or the insurance number, they just ask for my regular ID and insurance provider to verify with.

> resell my phone

Two things: 1) The status quo could be that the new owner has the serial number of the phone. The fact that it isn't this simple (if it really isn't this simple) is because the seller doesn't want to make it that simple. 2) Insurance is particular to a person and their activities. For things such as aftermarket phone insurance the price you pay for the insurance will be based in part on your individual risks. This is obviously not transferable.

> Art

Royalty mechanisms aren't controlled by the artist, and can be, and have been, eliminated by marketplaces. https://www.forbes.com/sites/leeorshimron/2022/10/24/nft-cre...

[philippz]

I just gave some examples. Tech is early, and the businesses around this new environment still have to be built. It's kind of a chicken-and-egg problem.

It's very early, as I stated in another answer on the same comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=philippz#34479955

[LegionMammal978]

But what sets append-only databases apart from blockchains for any of these examples? Why can't I symmetrically say, "It's very early for append-only DBs, and new businesses around them still have to be built"?

[philippz]

But what sets append-only databases apart from pen and paper?

[LegionMammal978]

Easy. Unlike pen and paper, the operator of an append-only database can publicly distribute it in real-time so that interested parties can read it and audit it for consistency. I don't see what the distributed consensus required by a blockchain adds on top of that, unless you're saying that all these applications require a zero-trust source of truth.

[philippz]

> unless you're saying that all these applications require a zero-trust source of truth.

Not all of them, of course. It's not a wonder child that aims to solve all of humanity's problems. It'll bring humanity closer, though and make it more efficient in many ways. People always try to look so narrow at it.

There are plenty of use cases and attributes (permissionlessness, immutability, zero-trust sources, etc.), and of course, not always all of these count all the time or are even desired. But it allows us to have and apply those as needed in an interoperable way.

[LegionMammal978]

But why do you think that its permissionless and zero-trust properties allow blockchain technology in particular to "bring humanity closer and make it more efficient in many ways", better than other technologies can? In other words, why are these properties so important that a blockchain is to an append-only DB as an append-only DB is to pen and paper, by your own analogy?

[anonymouskimmer]

It may be early, but it's also actively competing with other systems. Those other systems aren't going to just stay stagnant until blockchain is ready.

[philippz]

Which other systems? Databases?