• k_o_t@lemmy.ml
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    3 years ago

    it’s funny how all of the “web3 is a scam” articles and websites focus completely on cryptocurrency scams aspect, and never say a word about legitimate technologies that comprise web3

    it’s like pointing out that there are scams on web2, therefore the entire web2 is a scam 🤦‍♀️

    • poVoq@lemmy.ml
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      3 years ago

      I think the problem is that crypto-currencies and block-chain have largely become synonyms for pyramid scheme scams, and if you take those out of web3 there really isn’t that much worthwhile left to talk about.

      • k_o_t@lemmy.ml
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        3 years ago

        there are a lot of web3 technologies that don’t use any cryptocurrency: libp2p, textile stack, go-ipfs have enabled all sorts of exciting new projects to be built upon them with features like peer to peer communication, offline use, decentralization and a ton of other things

        • poVoq@lemmy.ml
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          3 years ago

          Other then IPFS (which is also tightly interwowen with Filecoin), do you have some actual examples for something not blockchain based build with these?

          • k_o_t@lemmy.ml
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            3 years ago

            IPFS (which is also tightly interwowen with Filecoin)

            how so? all of these technologies rely on ipfs at their core but you can use them just fine without ever touching filecoin, or even knowing what filecoin is, and there are a lot of projects based on these, some of the ones I follow or know of

            anytype - uses textile, go-ipfs and ipfs-mobile, works like an note taking alternative to notion, except it has a ton of really cool capabilties like offline use, p2p sync between your devices, p2p and offline collaboration etc

            berty - p2p messenger that uses libp2p and ipfs-mobile that works offline, via bluetooth, on local networks etc

            peerpad - decentralized text collabortion (uses libp2p)

            dtube - decentralized youtube alternative that stores videos on ipfs

            • poVoq@lemmy.ml
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              3 years ago

              Thanks for the examples. All of them seem to use IPFS though.

              I am willing to go as far as IPFS being an interesting technology, but AFAIK it predates the idea of web3 by quite a bit and can be used without it just fine.

              As for being interwoven with Filecoin… yes currently it can be used without, but the venture capital funded company that is developing both IPFS and Filecoin is clearly aiming to use Filecoin as the preferred IPFS storage backend, meaning that if they succeed with establishing both, it will be nearly impossible to use IPFS without also using (at least in proxy) Filecoin.

              • k_o_t@lemmy.ml
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                3 years ago

                most of these projects are separate from protocol labs, so if they seize to exist you can still be using these libraries/projects

                and while yes, they are definitely going to be leaning into filecoin, i don’t see this as a problem: part of the appeal of ipfs is its modularity and flexibility, for example, there’s a theoretical google docs-like ipfs-based app, and they’re offering either p2p sync or sync to an ipfs node on your own server, or they offer paid backups via filecoin, it’s a perfect business model in my opinion… many ipfs based projects have already adopted this model

                without its modularity and flexibility (purely restricted to filecoin) ipfs is nothing but a glorified storage solution, and would lose most of its appeal

                • poVoq@lemmy.ml
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                  3 years ago

                  Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t IPFS have build-in replication of data to other IPFS nodes? At least using it purely on a single node on your own server seems useless (and p2p in general is too impractical to be of much use).

                  So as a result you as an IPFS user are likely to end up either using Filecoin directly or indirectly by using another IPFS node where someone else pays for the storage (more likely then not in Filecoin if Protocol labs gets their way).

                  Now, given that Filecoin is both an ecological disaster and primarily benefits some of the worst venture capitalists (due to extensive pre-minting for them), I would rather avoid this technology all together…

                  • k_o_t@lemmy.ml
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                    3 years ago

                    by default ipfs doesn’t offer any data replication guarantees

                    if you spin up a regular ipfs node and do nothing with it, you will get practically zero data flowing in and out of it, excluding a few kilobytes of metadata that is broadcasting your peer id to other nodes and downloading some distributed hashtable data about which nodes have what files

                    you can pin any file, and then your node will broadcast that it has that file and others can now download it, if they choose to do so, and that file will remain on their computer for a few hours until garbage collection gets rid of it

                    iiuc this is basically where “involuntary” data replication ends, so for your file to remain on ipfs you either have to pin it yourself, get others to get interested in it and also pin it, or pay a hosting provider to pin it for you, or use filecoin, but that comes with its whole separate api and other stuff

                    about the ecological aspect of filecoin i’m not really sure, but I thought they aren’t using proof of work, rather proof of space, which doesn’t carry much ecological consequences, other than the energy to run the drives and the computer they’re attached to, but since these drives are used for legitimate applications of storing data, it’s not any worse environmentally than any other cloud storage provider

                    primarily benefits some of the worst venture capitalists

                    was there some shady stuff going on? i’ve heard that filecoin has had some weird stuff going on, but never really paid close attention to it… in theory, though, filecoin should work against concentration of power in the hands of VCs and big companies, because even if there were one massive company that hosts 95 % of data using filecoin, there is no vendor lock in like there is with aws or google cloud, so anybody can come in and set up their filecoin operation, you only need to pay for hardware to enter the game and that’s it

      • iortega
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        3 years ago

        I wouldn’t call them "synonyms for pyramid scheme"s, but what I’m sure about is that people that is into this only cares for the amount of money they might gain for shilling some kind of seemingly interesting project that could change the web itself. A lot of money. A LOT OF MONEY. The only thing I see is just a bunch of slobbering dogs chasing tasty projects to invest in.