Re:Lex Fridman Podcast #309 – John Carmack
by fossuser on Friday August 05, 2022 @12:32AM
(#32351696)
The "is Coinbase layer 1, 2, or 3" is a particularly dumb one and a good example of how eye-rollingly bad his questions can be. It's hard for the guest to get into the interesting details when interrupted with a question that's wrong in a bunch of ways that betray he has no idea what he's talking about. It just feels like he's full of shit.
If I were asked this question, I would actually consider this a good question, because:
- it probably is something people are wondering
- it's a good moment to talk about layers and where coinbase fits in the ecosystem
the answer for the curious: none of them. Coinbase is just a wallet using the layer 1 of most cryptocurrencies, and can also use apps and wallets from other layers (I'm not sure it does support any other layers at the moment though). A layer 2 can be seen like another cryptocurrency built on top of a cryptocurrency (layer 1), and a layer 3 is the same built on top of a layer 2, and so on.
It's a different kind of investigation into a subject. Perfectly valid. Any textbook on a subject, will often start with the most basic question. The Who/What/Where/Why/When of questions. Another way to describe First Principles Thinking. I find it extremely foundational to know the basics in developing higher knowledge in a field.
On the other hand someone like Tyler Cowen doesn't ask for clarification unless he legitimately doesn't know what some is talking about. Some guests even said "maybe I should explain that", to which Cowen replies, "this conversation is for us, don't worry about the audience", and that leads to a much better natural and interesting conversation. If the listener doesn't understand anything they can always pause and look up what they don't understand