Comment by Swizec | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Swizec | Hacker News Reader

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> “why not just keep using <monopolistic centralized surveillance ad platform>”?

The question, for me, is actually "how is this any different than <monopolistic centralized surveillance ad platform>”?

Because I still remember high school and how every single one of these monopolistic centralized platforms sold itself to me as "Come to us, we represent a new free and open society unencumbered by stodgy authorities!".

You know, the exact same rhetoric these new web3/crypto companies are selling. Sounds like Animal Farm all over again to my skeptic ears.

Remember when Twitter was the future of decentralized discourse free of government tyranny where you can organize political protests free of oversight and manipulation from your local govt? Hell it's a big part of why arab spring worked!

>> The question, for me, is actually "how is this any different than <monopolistic centralized surveillance ad platform>”?

You can send a transaction from A -> B using Bitcoin (or another cryptocurrency) without it being censored by any government. Can they see your transaction? Yes. In that case, use Monero (or the upcoming Railgun). Comparing crypto to any of the above is quite a stretch.

Twitter may have failed in it's promise, but right now, crypto/blockchains/web is a massive improvement. They may not be perfect, but they are trending in the correct direction. Like the parent post, it's shocking to me the 180 that HN has done in this regard.

> Like the parent post, it's shocking to me the 180 that HN has done in this regard.

Is it all of HN that's changed, or just this thread? There are probably a lot of ppl commenting on this article that don't bother to comment (or maybe even read) many other web3 related articles.

I hear you! And I remember.

Every startup that goes big eventually becomes the thing they were supposed to obsolete, because all the incentives point that way. Moats!

I hope that this time is different, because we can now deploy code that is ownerless and immutable. Kind of a cool property if it catches on.

> "Come to us, we represent a new free and open society unencumbered by stodgy authorities!".

I don't pay a lot of attention to the complaints, so I could be wrong, but it seems like when ppl complain about Twitter they're just as likely to complain about them being too unencumbered as they are about them restricting too much.

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