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by Terr_ 993 days ago
> I think you'll see people picking those techniques

Those techniques were already invented and in-use long beforehand though.

I think that needs emphasizing, because sometimes it feels like... Imagine that fans of the Segway claimed it will replace all other forms of transportation, and a worrying number of them are still out there crediting the (failing) product for inventing the wheel.
1 comments
iskander 993 days ago
Merkle trees, yes! That was just an example of a technique that can be well hidden vs in the user's face.

Newer techniques like Verkle trees, SNARKs, STARKs, &c are.... well, new.

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Terr_ 993 days ago
The way I see it, "blockchain" (NFTs, etc) are less technologies and more business-plans to make money--perhaps in a slightly more-literal sense than usual--from available tools.

It's kind of like ride-share services: They didn't invent cars or databases or dispatching systems or phone-apps, and while their investment might have spurred some new tools/libraries/algorithms they use, the broader usefulness of those inventions doesn't flow backward to mean they have a good/sustainable business.

There are even cases like "private blockchain" where the fad-marketing is getting used to mislabel what is actually just a regular old distributed database of yesteryear.

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miracle2k 993 days ago
> They didn't invent cars

Can we really call the car an "invention"? After all, both the wheel and the steam engine already existed.

Those techniques were already invented and in-use long beforehand.

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