web3pm
/web3pm22
A channel as an open repository of my pinned content and training data for my AIs. Exploring intersections of technology and humanity.
Looking for the Connect button while viewing a former colleague on a legacy professional networking platform
We are entering a new era.
Early zkTLS implementations have a lot of compromises across trust, UX, speed, and developer experience.
But they’re finally far enough along where we can use them to accelerate our product while tolerating the trade offs (which will improve)
This wasn’t true ~60 days ago.
I say this not as a recent convert to the zkTLS bandwagon (many rn) but after waiting 2 years for this to arrive.
We built icebreaker around the thesis that data will become open, powered by zkTLS and similarly disruptive technologies.
However, it will take a lot longer for apps to manifest because very few are building interoperable applications on top of this data. Aside from us, web2 will be the bigger early adopter of this tech because there are very clear value props around attacking competitors.
Would love to see more VC investment in other *applications* (incl. competitors) building using interoperable zkTLS data.
Early zkTLS implementations have a lot of compromises across trust, UX, speed, and developer experience.
But they’re finally far enough along where we can use them to accelerate our product while tolerating the trade offs (which will improve)
This wasn’t true ~60 days ago.
I say this not as a recent convert to the zkTLS bandwagon (many rn) but after waiting 2 years for this to arrive.
We built icebreaker around the thesis that data will become open, powered by zkTLS and similarly disruptive technologies.
However, it will take a lot longer for apps to manifest because very few are building interoperable applications on top of this data. Aside from us, web2 will be the bigger early adopter of this tech because there are very clear value props around attacking competitors.
Would love to see more VC investment in other *applications* (incl. competitors) building using interoperable zkTLS data.
The biggest tech unlocks are not from fundamental technologies but their successful applications in the real world
The technology that LLMs are based on had been around for decades until someone built one powerful enough to turn heads and change the world
The technology that LLMs are based on had been around for decades until someone built one powerful enough to turn heads and change the world
It would be cool to be able to “sponsor” other users to become members of a channel that you think they’d enjoy
Helps solve the problem of channel growth by tapping the people who are already in.
And it could be a source of serendipity for receiving users.
Helps solve the problem of channel growth by tapping the people who are already in.
And it could be a source of serendipity for receiving users.
Before the Industrial Revolution, you would work as an apprentice and learn how to make widgets.
The expectation was that you would eventually go off somewhere and begin making widgets on your own.
You learned the end-to-end process of widget making and selling
Most jobs these days provide little exposure to the end-to-end process, poorly equipping founders to go create their own.
I thought this was a big tech phenomenon but it’s actually a post industrialization consequence
The expectation was that you would eventually go off somewhere and begin making widgets on your own.
You learned the end-to-end process of widget making and selling
Most jobs these days provide little exposure to the end-to-end process, poorly equipping founders to go create their own.
I thought this was a big tech phenomenon but it’s actually a post industrialization consequence
In chaos lies opportunity
Recently went down a water standards rabbit hole and would bet many PhDs would fail in answering what filters can effectively remove PFAS.
In order to filter out a health related contaminant, a filter needs to be NSF 53 *for that contaminant*.
Most manufacturers will just get an NSF 53 cert for one thing (like lead), then market their filters as if they've received the certs for all the baddies, like PFAS. Fooling a lot of people, even Consumer Reports (see pic)
What you want in general is a cert for each contaminant.
PFAS are special. Here the NSF level has varied over the years of testing, starting at 70 ppt, then moving to 20 ppt, which is still 5x the current 2024 standard, and >1,000x the EPA recommended standard of specific subclasses like PFOA.
Unfortunately that means the only solution right now is to understand from an engineering POV what types of filtration mechanisms are actually effective in removing PFAS.
Then buy a good filter of that type and cross your fingers.
In order to filter out a health related contaminant, a filter needs to be NSF 53 *for that contaminant*.
Most manufacturers will just get an NSF 53 cert for one thing (like lead), then market their filters as if they've received the certs for all the baddies, like PFAS. Fooling a lot of people, even Consumer Reports (see pic)
What you want in general is a cert for each contaminant.
PFAS are special. Here the NSF level has varied over the years of testing, starting at 70 ppt, then moving to 20 ppt, which is still 5x the current 2024 standard, and >1,000x the EPA recommended standard of specific subclasses like PFOA.
Unfortunately that means the only solution right now is to understand from an engineering POV what types of filtration mechanisms are actually effective in removing PFAS.
Then buy a good filter of that type and cross your fingers.
it's attestations all the way down
https://9to5google.com/2024/09/25/google-maps-warning-shows-which-business-profiles-might-have-fake-reviews/
Some walled gardens will take veracity seriously, at least when it doesn’t conflict with their business incentives (like Google maps -> wants usage).
But will others, like food delivery apps, remove fake reviews when that decreases conversion rates and therefore revenues?
And there’s a catch-22.
If a walled garden *does* decide accuracy is crucial to their business, by definition, they won’t share their algorithm or its outputs with others. Because that data is part of their moat.
This is why closed platforms from web2 will not and can not ever fix the problem of digital trust.
Some walled gardens will take veracity seriously, at least when it doesn’t conflict with their business incentives (like Google maps -> wants usage).
But will others, like food delivery apps, remove fake reviews when that decreases conversion rates and therefore revenues?
And there’s a catch-22.
If a walled garden *does* decide accuracy is crucial to their business, by definition, they won’t share their algorithm or its outputs with others. Because that data is part of their moat.
This is why closed platforms from web2 will not and can not ever fix the problem of digital trust.
Bearish on channels that are not obviously owned by a single entity (ie most of them)
Conflict of incentives is high.
Too many people have camped them strategically.
Do I bother posting in my competitor’s channel? Do they bother posting in mine? Fragments the people who are legit interested in what both of us has to offer.
Conflict of incentives is high.
Too many people have camped them strategically.
Do I bother posting in my competitor’s channel? Do they bother posting in mine? Fragments the people who are legit interested in what both of us has to offer.
What happens when the best place to manage your LinkedIn network isn’t LinkedIn?
The internet can be both open *and* cozy
Verified Coinbase and Google despite no longer working there
Through the power of web of trust
What other things become provable?
Through the power of web of trust
What other things become provable?
Looking through our old notes from April '23...
Verifiable credentials, onchain witnessing, stealth addressing, and the ability to issue them via what is now zkTLS seemed like they'd become cheap and widespread
We asked ourselves: what could we build if we assume these primitives will exist?
Fundamentally, data that previously has been closed becomes open.
Enabling new applications that no longer have to worry about the data bootstrapping problem
Thanks to @witness /opacity /eas /fluidkey /privy and others, these primitives are here, and the builders who have been patiently awaiting crypto's fabled non-speculative applications are taking notice
Verifiable credentials, onchain witnessing, stealth addressing, and the ability to issue them via what is now zkTLS seemed like they'd become cheap and widespread
We asked ourselves: what could we build if we assume these primitives will exist?
Fundamentally, data that previously has been closed becomes open.
Enabling new applications that no longer have to worry about the data bootstrapping problem
Thanks to @witness /opacity /eas /fluidkey /privy and others, these primitives are here, and the builders who have been patiently awaiting crypto's fabled non-speculative applications are taking notice
80% of the results on Amazon are ads
This is the problem with letting content platforms use their own algorithms
Imagine going to the grocery store where you can only be led around by a personal shopper and buy from the items they point out.
No thank you.
Going to build a different system.
This is the problem with letting content platforms use their own algorithms
Imagine going to the grocery store where you can only be led around by a personal shopper and buy from the items they point out.
No thank you.
Going to build a different system.
One of the most powerful ideas from crypto is the retroactive airdrop
ie where every single one of your users or potential users is known and can be reached with incentives or offers.
What if we could extend that to the entirety of all people, places, and things on the internet?
ie where every single one of your users or potential users is known and can be reached with incentives or offers.
What if we could extend that to the entirety of all people, places, and things on the internet?
I want to...
- route all correspondence from my friends to text
- route all work related DMs to email or a slack queue
- route everything else to my AI assistant who reviews and flags the rare signal
- route all correspondence from my friends to text
- route all work related DMs to email or a slack queue
- route everything else to my AI assistant who reviews and flags the rare signal
Ephemeral merkle trees for attesting to lists of things
Can then prove later that A was a member of the list without having to reveal the other members
Wonder how this compares to other approaches
Can then prove later that A was a member of the list without having to reveal the other members
Wonder how this compares to other approaches
It's easy to overlook the marketing genius of Starbucks
Hundreds of millions of people adopting a language that only makes sense in the context of one brand
With every grande order, a brain is being subtly rewired.
Personally find it leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste but gotta respect the craft.
Hundreds of millions of people adopting a language that only makes sense in the context of one brand
With every grande order, a brain is being subtly rewired.
Personally find it leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste but gotta respect the craft.
Multiple breakthroughs in cryptography, privacy, machine learning, and automation are converging- enabling myriad applications. Soon technology is going to feel like magic again
https://x.com/web3pm/status/1374953156098990084?s=46&t=e1zwxepdPy7mzQCs-2v42w
https://x.com/web3pm/status/1374953156098990084?s=46&t=e1zwxepdPy7mzQCs-2v42w