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Blockchains Are a Bad Idea (James Mickens)

HBS Digital Initiative · lecture · Watch on YouTube

CryptographyFuturism & technology and society

What it is

James Mickens of Harvard gives a funny lecture at HBS's Future Assembly arguing that blockchains are a very bad idea. He covers their trust, legal and practical shortcomings for real-world problems.

Why Hacker News recommends it

A staple HN recommendation in crypto and Web3 threads as an entertaining, compelling case against blockchain.

  • 8 people recommended it
  • 8 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2018, last 2023

What HN commenters said

  1. “James Mickens' "Blockchains are a bad idea" talk [1] is a great explanation that discusses exactly that.”

    Great explanation of blockchain's problems.

    asciimike, 2021-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Bitfinex just spent $23.7M in fees to make a single Ethereum transaction”

  2. “James Mickens has a pretty good breakdown of why blockchain isn't a good solution for most real-world problems”

    Breakdown of why blockchain is a poor fit for real problems.

    tootie, 2018-09 · Recommendation · in “Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are useless”

  3. “Here's a compelling and fun to watch lecture that James Mickens (Harvard SEAS) recently gave about the problems with Blockchain”

    Compelling, fun lecture on blockchain's problems.

    Reedx, 2018-09 · Recommendation · in “Crypto’s 80% Plunge Is Now Worse Than the Dot-Com Crash”

  4. “In better and funny: Blockchains Are a Bad Idea (James Mickens)”

    Funny, better explanation of why blockchain is a bad idea.

    onli, 2018-09 · Recommendation · in “GnuPG can now be used to perform notarial acts in the State of Washington”

  5. “Blockchains Are a Bad Idea (James Mickens)”

    Offered as one of the best talks of 2018.

    raghava, 2018-12 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: Best talks of 2018?”

  6. “I started curating blogs and videos (as myth-busters) to help me bring the point across in discussions.”

    Top item in a curated list of blockchain myth-busting resources.

    DyslexicAtheist, 2020-02 · Recommendation · in “SEC Commissioner's “safe harbor” proposal for ICOs will only enable scammers”

  7. “the talk for anyone who's interested considering he conveys a few interesting points I've seen throughout this thread”

    Talk makes several points about blockchain's legal and trust issues.

    how2cflags, 2020-12 · Recommendation · in “Steve Wozniak launches Efforce, a blockchain-based energy-saving platform”

  8. “James Mickens gives several arguments against blockchain-based systems like Bitcoin”

    Gives several arguments against blockchain systems like Bitcoin.

    thesuperbigfrog, 2021-09 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: What is your strongest argument AGAINST Bitcoin?”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: blockchain, cryptocurrency, james mickens, trust, web3

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