Item — HN Reader

After much exposure in big data processing and running an Ethereum meetup since it wasn't yet cool, I think the main promise of this technology is more conceptual than strictly determined by a dominant protocol. These are:

- Fully user owned identities

- Eradicating information asymmetry in mutually beneficial ways

- Transparent update rules, i.e. an evolving but never deprecated API

Thus different roads will lead to those economic gains. Essentially you take mongodb, encapsulate any write access into UDFs (=smart contracts) with permission to execute based on a public/private key, a second set of keyholders able to read and validate the log and et voila, all promises of blockchain tech fulfilled.

1 comments

The identity part is what's really going to surprise people. We now have the tools to build IDs that are more reliable and resilient than state-issued IDs, but can be used in any application without permission.

Forms? Where we're going, we don't need forms.

Can you expand on that? As I understand it blockchains allow you to use a private key as your master identity, but don't inherently provide tools for connecting that key to a real-world identity.

Are you envisioning a system like Keybase, but completely distributed?

Blockchains are decentralized cloud computers that enforce rules on a historical record. Bitcoin's rules are about managing a currency: how coins are issued, how to transfer them, etc. You can build a blockchain that enforces any rules, though, and Ethereum lets you define new rules without having to spin up your own blockchain.

Your identity will no longer be a key. It will be a pointer to a program and its associated storage on a blockchain. To identify yourself, give someone a proof that you control that identity. To add a new key to the identity, use the rules you put in place to add new keys. To change the rules that control the identity, use the rules you put in place to change the rules. You can build any rules for an identity management process into a program that runs on a blockchain. Through trial and error, we will discover the most resilient patterns with the least trust required.

And what happens when you lose your keys?

Solutions so far seem to boil down to either "trust other people" (multisignature wallets) or "trust your devices" (a la Keybase: https://keybase.io/blog/keybase-new-key-model ).

Any recovery method can be built. Maybe your bank's key can authorize a new key for you. Maybe your government can. Maybe three out of five friends you picked can.

It's better to start from the other side of the problem: how do you want to recover your identity?

That would be Namecoin