Thoughts from John Reed Stark
Here is yet another comprehensive, thoughtful and commonsensical research paper, written in plain English, by yet another technology expert, explaining why Web3 is nonsense.
The paper explains in clear and certain terms why blockchain, crypto, DeFi, smart contracts, NFTs and the rest of the Web3 scourge is all one big con. Sadly, anyone who shills otherwise is simply part of the grift.
A few excerpts:
“The problem with smart contracts is that they’re not smart and they’re not contracts. They’re just simplistic code, running on top of a blockchain, which anyone can write. And because code is just a set of instructions for a computer to follow, it can do anything you tell it to. Including in effect deleting all your money. Or stealing it. Which is exactly what has happened.“
“When I say blockchain is a brilliant fraud, I mean one of its greatest accomplishments is that a huge ecosystem built on what is in reality a simple data structure which is neither particularly novel nor interesting has somehow captured enough hearts that even many knowledgeable, rational minds adjacent to them who aren’t necessarily on board with the digital currency side of things will still enthusiastically nod and agree “the technology” will herald some new era of innovation, the future of the internet, even if they can’t ever quite pin down the details of what, how or why.”
“[Web3] is a false utopia being pedaled to us by people who are in the business of selling blockchain as a solution to an undefined problem, or straight up preying on the fears, credulity or greed of the layperson, whether they’re (not unjustly) paranoid about the level of centralized control of data in Web 2.0 services, or just hoping for a quick, free buck, a promise of prosperity and riches in a mythical El Dorado.”
“Every person who’s made money from crypto has only done so by buying in earlier at the expense of people who bought in later. It’s a zero-sum game, and for every “HODLer” who’s cashed out at a profit, there’s someone else who bought in at a higher price and lost money. Cryptos transfer wealth upwards, they don’t create it.”
“Just because data is written to a blockchain doesn’t mean it can’t be hacked (e.g. wallet theft). Just because data is immutable, doesn’t mean it’s accurate (oops, that airline just wrote the wrong date for your flight to the blockchain). And just because a blockchain might be reasonably secure, it doesn’t mean the data written to it is secure (eek, your medical records have just been leaked). Blockchain is no more inherently secure than any other conventional data storage method. It’s often less secure, because the decentralization of blockchain means that there are more opportunities, more surface area, for hacks and attacks.”
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