Comment by tim333 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tim333 | Hacker News Reader

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I did the worldcoin scan thing a couple of years ago and it's all quite jolly. The article is a bit scaremongering. Re:

>Simply put, the premise is this: scan your eyeball, get a biometric tag, verify yourself, buy our apps (and cryptocurrency). ... Minority Report style technology

it's not really like that. They take a photo of your eye to check you are a new person and not someone who has an account already, then give you an account which is like an anonymous crypto wallet with a private key. You never do an eye scan again in normal use. They give you free crypto/money rather than you needing to buy anything. I've been given ~$300 - it fluctuates a fair bit with crypto prices.

I recommend it to anyone who's curious / positive about new tech.

> I recommend it to anyone who's curious / positive about new tech.

What does this have to do with curiosity or new-tech positivity? Nothing.

Give biometric data, get fluctuating ~$300. You did nothing else than sell something you have. I'm not judging.

how will we solve distinguishing real humans over bots online?

It it's our goal to solve this issue via authentication, then we might as well let the government authenticate us, instead of Sam Altman.

<< I recommend it to anyone who's curious / positive about new tech.

I would ask that you elaborate a little more. I am an example of one. I like LLMs, but I cringe internally and externally at times at some of the things people seem to want to use them for ( and I just saw a presentation that basically said the equivalent of "add AI here, happy sunshine leaves there". And how? Magic. Nobody knows. ). I like crypto, but it is impossible to not see million rugpulls, scams and so on out there. I like technology, but I am very, very aware of the issues with basic human nature.

I guess so. It's pretty similar to getting a crypto wallet and some altcoin. I guess whether you find that interesting is down to the individual.

Another thing - I just logged in and they have mini apps in the world app including one paying 61% interest to deposit your worldcoins. It's like a whole ponzi-economy in there!

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