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Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by aey on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @12:19PM (#21325453)
Crypto! 17% of the worlds GDP is spent on financial services. Software can eat it all.
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by tossAfterUsing on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @01:01PM (#21326002)
crypto is fake money, and it will never survive government scrutiny.

we need our dollars to be made by governments, not basement dwellers.

Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by johnmorrison on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @01:19PM (#21326201)
All money is fake money, the notion of a currency is a value fiction shared among a group of people.

Most governments are very young, and do not last very long historically. Central banking is a handful of decades old, cryptocurrency is one decade old.

Neither the maximalists nor deniers are right at this point. It remains to be seen when/whether cryptocurrency will replace fiat currency.

Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by tossAfterUsing on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @02:03PM (#21326779)
cryptocurrency will never replace gold-backed fiat currency.
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by johnmorrison on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @05:56PM (#21328850)
Fiat currency is not backed by gold, in fact, it is not backed by anything.

Also, gold is not inherently valuable. It will become a regular common metal once we shift extraction to the asteroid belt.

The truth is there really isn't much with "inherent" value out there, with the notable exception of potential energy.

Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by Qasaur on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @02:23PM (#21326985)
“The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in ‘Metcalfe’s law' becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.” - Paul Krugman
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by tossAfterUsing on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @03:36PM (#21327705)
Paul Krugman - the original stable genius
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by omarchowdhury on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @02:59PM (#21327322)
Pray tell which fiat currency is gold backed.
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by tossAfterUsing on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @05:35PM (#21328717)
us dollars. obivoulsy
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by omarchowdhury on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @05:37PM (#21328735)
U.S. dollars aren't gold backed.
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by FloresHernandez on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @02:19PM (#21326947)
There is no gold-backed fiat currency.
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by md8 on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @01:35PM (#21326403)
Is the Government currency True money?
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by penagwin on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @12:35PM (#21325643)
I think you missed the train friend.
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by nostrademons on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @12:56PM (#21325926)
That's what somebody told me about crypto in 2015, or for that matter about Google in 2009 and computer science in 2002.

There's always another train, right up until the point where everybody assumes that there'll always be another train and world domination is assured. At that point, it's time to hop on another track.

Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by aey on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @12:40PM (#21325704)
Crypto is the internet in 1996, and you are telling me I missed the train because SUN Microsystems is going to be the first trillion dollar company.
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by pjc50 on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @12:59PM (#21325975)
.. eventually going bust and being bought by Oracle?
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by nostrademons on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @01:08PM (#21326080)
I think that's the point. Existing cryptocurrencies are very likely to get eclipsed by new competitors that actually solve the problems people face with them. And if you want to have a big impact on humanity, solving those problems is a fruitful area. The financial system that'll pay for our retirements likely hasn't been invented yet.
Re:Ask HN: What's a promising area to work on? by WA on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @01:08PM (#21326074)
Crypto is not the internet in 1996. It's a scam. The internet never was. "Crypto is the early internet" is such a lame over-repeated phrase by crypto enthusiasts. Doesn't make it correct in any way.