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Ask HN: What technology do you think it's ahead of its time?

by examplary_cable on 2/12/23, 6:26 PM with 6 comments

• by rawgabbit on 2/13/23, 3:47 AM

  ChatGPT is already gaining traction despite being in beta. I view ChatGPT as the next evolution of Siri. Now Siri can sound intelligent even if she/he/it is nothing more than parrot. A parrot that can recite the entire internet.

  I believe VR is way too early and will only be a toy. I believe what people really want is R2D2's ability to project Princess Leia's 3D image in space. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volumetric_display

• by ezedv on 2/13/23, 1:50 PM

  In some ways, I think blockchain is ahead of its time in that it offers solutions to problems that have not yet been fully realized or widely understood. For example, the ability to create secure and transparent decentralized systems is a powerful tool that has not yet been fully explored.

  I share this article that talks about this a bit more: https://www.ratherlabs.com/post/blockchain-and-metaverse

• by mikewarot on 2/12/23, 8:47 PM

  Capability based security is way ahead of the curve. (No, it's not the app permissions on a phone, or windows, etc)

  WASM with WASI is a way to run things in a virtual machine that does support it, unless someone breaks it by implementing "faster" "general" file access.

• by logicalmonster on 2/13/23, 3:31 AM

  Data is still the big commodity of the day.

  So what provides the best data?

  Is it AI? No, AI is fun to play with, but is a remix of existing data and cannot guarantee reliable information, especially in a neutered form that corporations use.

  Is it Google? No. Google built a multi-trillion dollar company despite providing really shitty, unreliable data in their search results that is often dead wrong. They're just computer science nerds that are great at algorithms and providing that shitty data on a large scale ultra fast.

  The answer to what might be able to give the most important data is oracles.

  As far as financial value in the medium term, I'm sure there's going to be some technology that comes by surprise, but at the moment I'd say that "blockchain oracles" and the general concept of "crypto-economic security" are very far ahead of their time now, but are going to be incredibly impactful on many areas of society down the road.

  Smart people are starting to understand blockchains and crypto, and smart contracts are a very logical progression from that once you understand the idea that money can be digital and can be programmed. But nothing about smart contracts can work for anything related to the real world without an oracle that provides a reliable decentralized data source. To give a current example, you cannot have a smart contract that works to manage bets on the Super Bowl without an absolutely reliable data source telling you who won the game that cannot be interfered with. The only thing Smart Contracts really are good for now is things like flash loans in crypto trading where you trade/borrow 12,000 Fartcoins for 3,000 Petergriffincoins in one transaction trying to make a buck by being a smarter trader.

  Reliable decentralized oracles that are crypto-economically secure (cost more to screw with than they provide in value) are the absolute lynchpin for unlocking the potential of crypto and smart contracts for anything useful in the real world. We're still probably years away from even the smart people in the room understanding oracles, but they're the absolute key to unlocking all of crypto.

  If Google's shitty unreliable data is worth multi-trillions, absolutely guaranteed reliable data that can be used in all business applications is worth quadrillions.

• by bobolino123 on 2/13/23, 1:45 PM

  Appearently reliable internet and digitilization of public services in Germany :)

• by bjourne on 2/13/23, 6:50 PM

  Virtual reality.