Comment by smaudet
1 year ago
Eh? I'm not pretending digital coins or dubious "tokens" were all particularly useful, but crypto (in the sense of cryptography) has been around for decades and is definitely here to stay...
The people who made coins and tokens bad for society are doing the same thing with GenAI...
Both are useful and both come with huge problems. Neither one is some panacea or a sustainable get-rich-quick scheme (obviously, both people in "crypto" and in "GenAI" are getting rich, but neither are going to lead to some sort of great societal good).
> but crypto (in the sense of cryptography) has been around for decades and is definitely here to stay...
But that's not the sense under discussion. "Crypto"=cryptography lost the language war and was completely supplanted by "crypto"=cryptocurrency. I really wish the word could regain its original and useful meaning, but it's too late now.
Ironically, "I work in crypto" went from meaning something useful to society to meaning being a parasite on society, and you'd best not accidentally use the phrase expecting people to understand it to mean the original thing (cryptography).
(Yes, not all uses of cryptocurrency are a parasitic detriment. But if you happen to be working on actually useful stuff and we meet socially, then please be very quick about saying that you work at doing something with cryptocurrency or blockchain that is intended to provide actual benefit. If you just say "I work in crypto", I will excuse myself at the first opportunity.)
> "Crypto"=cryptography lost the language war and was completely supplanted by "crypto"=cryptocurrency.
On the timescale of the past 4-5 years, you are correct about the popular usage.
However, if cryptocurrency continues to recede from the public eye, then in another 4-5 years I think "crypto" will no longer mean "cryptocurrency".
Understanding both the current lexicon and the "archaic" and "recently archaic" uses of the term I hold is both useful and pertinent to being able to communicate effectively. Which is why I immediately clarified, I'm talking about the 40+ year definition of the term, not the current whimsical linguistic fad.