I'm stupid, can you give me a like, more clear practical example of a good use of blockchain? Cause I get the sense that a good amount of this conflict, going off that flowchart, is going to be due to the evaluation of these situations as like, not needing to arise in the first place, or maybe like, a philosophical objection to the necessity of the technology, maybe. But I think a clearer example could help with this.

[–] Dnn@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

can you give me a like, more clear practical example of a good use of blockchain?

Do you see how all the answers are generic, tend to be long and read like a sales pitch? That's because the actual answer is: no, there is no practical legal application that isn't better solved with conventional tech.

The only application that is successfully used in practice is paying for organized crime: buying goods and services on the dark web and paying for extortion like ransomware attacks.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago

https://blockworks.co/news/nft-airline-tickets-revolutionize-travel

[–] dtjones@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The blockchain is essentially a ledger that tracks transactions (including the creation of currency). One thing that is not always clear is how important it is for a blockchain to be decentralized. When I say "decentralized," I mean that many different people are operating a server that performs transactions on a larger network. These people are rewarded in currency for their efforts, and are sometimes referred to as "miners," though this term is changing somewhat.

There are thousands of these servers in a network that are operating on and tracking the ledger for blockchains like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Any updates to the ledger are verified by all of these nodes. As long as 51% of nodes can verify a transaction, it will be added to the ledger. This means that as long as someone doesn't own 51% of the network, they can't just inject whatever transactions they want (i.e., fraudulent activity). In practice, this makes these networks very resilient to fraud.

I think this paves the way for a lot of the practical examples you're looking for. For example, there's no way for the network to decide to just give tons of money to a single entity for some "economic policy" like Too Big to Fail (i.e., corporate bailouts). This means you don't have to wake up one morning worrying about whether or not your currency will rapidly inflate because of things like corruption. Another example is the true ownership of digital assets. NFTs have (rightly) gotten a lot of flack for being overpriced JPEGs, but there are real use cases here. A random middleman can't just decide to price gouge because they own all the tickets first (Ticketmaster). Instead, artists can mint tickets on the blockchain (very important: this ensures authenticity) and then fans can buy them on the blockchain - no middle man required. You still show a QR code at the door for verification like you would now.

[–] daltotron@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

As long as 51% of nodes can verify a transaction, it will be added to the ledger. This means that as long as someone doesn’t own 51% of the network, they can’t just inject whatever transactions they want (i.e., fraudulent activity). In practice, this makes these networks very resilient to fraud.

Could like, 51% of the owners just coordinate to kind of, do a fraud? I mean it sounds like an inherently democratic system, but from what I've understood of, say, miners, right (dunno how this works for proof of stake, but I imagine it has similar problems), those rigs are gonna be bought by people who disproportionately have higher earnings and can afford more GPUs in finland or wherever, and then that's going to just kinda recreate the same power dynamic that we see in the real world already. Which ends up in the same kind of speculative market garbage we have with stock ownership in companies already.

I also don't really understand how a ticketing system would really work on the blockchain. I probably don't know enough about cryptography to know how it might work, but I got the sense that nfts weren't even overpriced jpegs, they were overpriced links with pseudo-legal contracts, that were still prone to link rot, and didn't really indicate any IP ownership. If you had a code on the ticket instead that could only be verified as real, rather than fake, by a ticketing person, instead of like, a link, that would probably be the use case, right? am I getting that correct, is that something cryptography can do? probably, right?

Also, can someone just like, steal your ticket still? Or like impersonate you as the ticket guy, or what? Like from the others have told me and also just from what I know already, you can't really change the chain unless, like you said, you have 51% of the owners, so how would you be able to like, put something in the chain that identifies the owner as being the owner? Wouldn't it be more secure to have just like, a verifiable code or something, that you can delete, that isn't public, between the artist and the buyer? Then you could ensure anonymity between the buyer and the venue and stuff, you could work in establishing characteristics like oh here's my driver's license, here's my government ID, without putting that stuff on the blockchain, which seems like a bad idea.

[–] Dalvoron@lemm.ee 2 points 8 months ago

In practice, this makes these networks very resilient to fraud.

Could like, 51% of the owners just coordinate to kind of, do a fraud?

Sybil attacks sound like the kind of thing you're talking about. I don't have the expertise to go into it, but one person (or a group) creates lots of nodes and uses that influence to do bad things to the network, potentially including fraud. Or as you suggest, legitimate users can just coordinate to do whatever they wanted (see ethereum vs ethereum classic if you want a chuckle).

I want to make a note that the networks are only resilient to a specific type of fraud - people trying to enter data in a way that doesn't meet the criteria of the system. That's all well and good for wallet to wallet transactions, but when you have transactions going off chain (like buying something, trading for other kinds of coins, doing anything with crypto exchanges), there are still plenty of other kinds of fraud that are possible and happen all the time, because while the chain is fairly trustworthy, nothing else about the system is. Most kinds of fraud involve doing things that technically you have permission to do, because you lied to people to access their password or promised them bigger returns in the future or missold a product or service etc and all of that is still possible under crypto. In some cases crypto is more vulnerable to these things because of having no central authority or regulator or laws or whatever.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago

https://blockworks.co/news/nft-airline-tickets-revolutionize-travel

[–] Zuberi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Blockchain technology can improve health care services in a decentralized, tamper-proof, transparent, and secure manner.

This can also be used for research institutes to be able to research with each others' findings.

Here is a paper on the topic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8555946/

Blockchains are also great for the verification of digital goods as tangible assets. While I'm not sure we reach this level of meme, people could 100% mint their own house's deed and trade that as a legit way to buy/sell their house.

I am very carefully avoiding the words "NFT" because they are another horrible use-case of a blockchain (and a prime example of how capitalists turn a good tech into something stupid for a quick buck), but this would theoretically be a tokenized-security with a 1:1 to the actual deed to the house.

Is that more secure than the normal process of buying a house? Do you really need it to be external to a 3rd party when the transfer of homes already exists? No not really lol, hence why we probably see it the most in highly regulated industries like biotech and finance first.

HIPPA/Securities-laws (or lack-thereof) will require a tough regulatory framework that "could" realistically be done via a 3rd party, but you have to ask yourself if you trust big-pharma and wallstreet enough to regulate themselves like that.

Edit: Looked up and saw c/lemmyshitpost, maybe I'm spending too much time elucidating a response on a meme thread but this is my take on the tech.

[–] OneOrTheOtherDontAskMe@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

No no, thank you for this.

I understand blockchain as a concept, and kind of hownit plays into cryptocurrency, but understanding a true example of blockchain use outside of finances is something I needed more info on, thank you

[–] hglman@lemmy.ml 2 points 8 months ago

The big improvement is the removal of the need to trust some 3rd party but also to add the precision and complexity of computer language to some domain. For example health care data, a block chain system would make one standard for how the records are stored, it would make it so the data in encrypted by the patient and they alone could grant access. When a new provider wants access there is one standard way that is automated and secure. None of which is dependent on a 3rd party who can be compromised or become corrupt and no longer act in good faith. Obviously there is a lot of details here dependent on making the block chain work flawlessly.

Imo block chains have 2 core issues to over come in order to really solve problems. First is being constructed so that they are bug free. Software is not a mature enough discipline for that as of yet. Second, is what happens when you loose you key or it gets stolen. If someone steals you Bitcoin private key, you can't get them back after they transfer them out. Or if you just loose the key your up a creek. What is required is a way to prove you are you to the system that can't be stolen and can't be lost. That is a far harder question.

[–] daltotron@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I just wrote out another comment, and I think I kinda figured out my core question, but, is there a way to save my medical information without doxxing myself, if this is supposed to be like, a public database, you know, if that's kinda the point, is that everyone can look at everyone else's stuff? I got the impression that a lot of the current blockchain stuff wasn't capable of the necessary levels of storage that would be required for like, health records, on their own.

I dunno, maybe you could have some situation where you have a key, that opens up some cryptography on the blockchain, and that blockchain piece when unlocked gives you another key that lets you access your medical records, or something like that, and that might be able to fit. But, then, I don't really see how that's any different from just having like, the key to the person's medical records be contingent on person. Like biometric security, or government ID, or something.

Point out wherever I've made wrong assumptions here, I'm just kind of talking out my ass, and hoping that I'm correct inso that the conversation can continue and I can scrape more out of it, I don't really expect to be right.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

https://medium.com/@emilpepil/medical-system-with-zero-knowledge-7fb4441d6d47

[–] profdc9@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

A blockchain can provide an irrevocable record, and it can provide a mechanism for uncooperating parties to agree that the record should be created. This is usually used for financial transactions involving coins of dubious value, but it can also be used for recording transactions of real world assets as long as those transactions can be faithfully linked to the event on the blockchain. Therefore the blockchain doesn't really prove that a transaction is fraudulent or not, all it proves is that a sufficient number of parties believe it is not.

[–] daltotron@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

as long as those transactions can be faithfully linked to the event on the blockchain.

That kind of seems like the big glaring video game boss style weak point, to me. I feel like you'd still need some external third party to verify that everything is properly linked up to the blockchain, or like, someone could just impersonate someone else through whatever things are used to link something to the blockchain, and then it's just kinda back to square one, I would think. I dunno, I think also maybe I just don't really quite get it.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

The oracle problem has had some attempts at being solved.

A the moment external data on a blockchain is more about transparency than trust.

[–] far_university1990@feddit.de 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

https://git-scm.com/

[–] __dev@lemmy.world 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Git is not a blockchain. There is no distributed ledger; no consensus algorithm.

[–] far_university1990@feddit.de 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ledger: repository database.

Consensus algorithm: repository access key.

[–] __dev@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Key word distributed ledger. Git repositories don't talk to each other except when told to do so by users.

I shouldn't need to explain why an access key is not a consensus algorithm. Seriously?

[–] far_university1990@feddit.de 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_ledger no need to talk automatically, only distribution necessary without single point of failure. say „synchronized“, if you mean realtime synchronized then not in git, but synchronized manually.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_(computer_science) only need to determine which block to commit to database, access key do that. if meant in term of „which repo is real one“, signed commit optional feature, maybe that speak against it being blockchain because not by default.

[–] __dev@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Distributed ledger data is typically spread across multiple nodes (computational devices) on a P2P network, where each replicates and saves an identical copy of the ledger data and updates itself independently of other nodes. The primary advantage of this distributed processing pattern is the lack of a central authority, which would constitute a single point of failure. When a ledger update transaction is broadcast to the P2P network, each distributed node processes a new update transaction independently, and then collectively all working nodes use a consensus algorithm to determine the correct copy of the updated ledger. Once a consensus has been determined, all the other nodes update themselves with the latest, correct copy of the updated ledger.

From your first link. This does not describe how git functions. Did you actually read the page?

The consensus problem requires agreement among a number of processes (or agents) for a single data value. Some of the processes (agents) may fail or be unreliable in other ways, so consensus protocols must be fault tolerant or resilient. The processes must somehow put forth their candidate values, communicate with one another, and agree on a single consensus value.

From your second this. Again this description does not match with git.

You're right in that automation is not technically required; you can build a blockchain using git by having people perform the distribution and consensus algorithms themselves. Obviously that doesn't make git itself a blockchain in the same way it doesn't make IP a blockchain.

[–] far_university1990@feddit.de 1 points 8 months ago

Did you actually read the page?

Not fully, only summary at top because looked like already proved my point of not need automation.

Then you right, git by itself not blockchain. Maybe not even possible with signed commit only because central authority (key owner).

Thank you for discussion.