Comment by overfeed
2 days ago
> It wasn't just that crypto was an obvious grift
Was it universally obvious? Hindaight is 20/20 There were many block-chain startups funded, and even FAANG got caught up in the hype. FWIW, I was a crypto sceptic, but I had many arguments with believers online and in my social circles. Side note: a crypto enthusiast colleague bought a house off their crypto gains, it may be a grift, but a small number of crypto-believwrs got really wealthy, and you're not going to convince them.
> Was it universally obvious?
Yes. Crypto was never productive.
But nice that your buddy financed a house with other people's dumb money.
Crypto is the best way to pay for illegal things online, which is a really big business.
In fact as the act of paying itself has become more restricted, it's often also a good way to make illegal payments for completely legal goods and services.
My point is that regardless of who got rich, the web 3.0 pitches themselves did not pass even the most casual review.
I was asked to audit a few proposals during that era and in every case I had to go back to the person asking me to say that it was a technical architecture L. Ron Hubbard would have admired. Just straight up making up words in most cases.
Far beyond "wait, is this actually a parody? how is this not a parody?" territory. 80% of them were effectively "tamagotchis + pyramid scheme".
This is why I say that you don't have to love LLMs, but you also can't compare them in terms of also bad. Jay-walking is bad and Jeffrey Dahmer was bad; they are not "both bad".