Re: Forget technology
I don't think Web 1.0 provided decentralisation to the extent that we're now talking about. It still relied on servers run by third parties. Third parties with Terms & Conditions (don't post child pornography, don't slag off the country's ruler etc. etc.)
In a truly decentralised world my computer could speak to your computer directly, without an intermediate server or company to safeguard or police (like I said, full decentralisation will have good and bad sides). In a world of IPv4 depletion and everyone behind complex NAT systems that is very hard to do but the rise of IPv6 might change that.
As for Bitcoin, I'm not a believer. From this side of the Atlantic Bitcoin feels a cumbersome, slow and expensive way to transfer money as European banking systems beat Bitcoin on all those fronts (free transactions in seconds at the click of perhaps three buttons, even to other banks). For an American I get the appeal. My father in law lives in Texas and the quickest and cheapest way for him to transfer money between his accounts at two different banks is to get cash out in one branch, drive to the other side of the street, and deposit it into his own account at a branch of the other bank. In a world with such antiquated (and partially corrupt) banking infrastructure, Bitcoin is revolutionary. That says very little about Bitcoin, however, and more about US banking infrastructure. Personally I don't think cryptocurrencies are going to disappear but they are not going to replace existing currencies (I think cryptocurrencies created by central banks actually have more potential).
As for the blockchain as a technology, if you see it as a public and immutable record of things then it certainly has its revolutionary use cases (keeping track of ownership in a world without trust for instance). If you wade through the current NFT hype then parts of the NFT premise are definitely very valuable and likely here to stay long after the last scammer has moved onto something else.
But, there is a lot of shit happening in that space. I have never fully believed in the business adage that "If you don't know who is the mug at the table, you are the mug". I do believe in mutually beneficial agreements and transactions. In the blockchain space, however, 95% of the actors are either deceiving someone, are being deceived, or are not smart enough to notice which cog they are. The other 5% are intelligent and honest people trying to do a good thing in a sea of shouty chaos.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
