Hello,

I have been researching about blockchains and stuff and it all seems like a big scam. It’s not sustainable and can be replaced by a simple database.

is there any legitimate use cases of blockchains or it is all just a big scam?

  • Endmaker@ani.socialEnglish
    73·
    20 days ago

    OpenCerts

    An easy way for employers to verify that your certifications are authentic.

    Tangentially, a lot of scientists do research on topics that do not see application in everyday life immediately.

    I can’t think of any examples off the top of my head, but I remember reading articles on how some research bear fruit - ones with huge impacts - only decades later.

    To stop research into a topic because there is no practical application now is short-sighted IMO.

    • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
      4·
      20 days ago

      OpenCerts does require institutions to be trusted partners, so this isn’t permissionless. Why not just make the normal database searchable if it relies on trusting someone?

      It’s not that blockchain doesn’t have any applications. It’s just that it only solves problems in ways that are easier and better solved by other implementations. It’s not that are no practical applications, it’s that there aren’t even any realistic theoretical applications.

      • Endmaker@ani.socialEnglish
        21·
        20 days ago

        it’s that there aren’t even any realistic theoretical applications.

        Here’s the neat thing about research: the researcher themselves may not even know the kind of outcomes their research would bring about in the future.

        It is not necessarily a known unknown in which we work towards a theoretical application; it could very well be an unknown unknown.

        • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
          51·
          20 days ago

          I have a PhD, I know how research works. But the new for a new data distribution system isn’t caused by a technological advancement, it’s driven by social systems.

          The usecases for blockchain technology are wellknown, and they are basicaly the antithesis of the technology itself. You need a massive breach of trusted institutions, while maintaining free, open and fast electronic communication throughout the network. You also need to solve the first-owner problem without introducing a trusted party, which is a huge issue in almost every practical application.

          So yeah, it can be an unknown unknown, but it’s one in the same way that research into moonratpoison has potential applications. Maybe something vastly unlikely happens, and then it’ll be a good thing we have the tech.