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backus's profile
John Backus
John Backus
John Backus
@backus

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John Backus

@backus

Seeking alternative compression. Hopefully wrong on average. Shameless. Started @getcognito and @bloom

San Francisco, CA
Joined August 2012

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    1. michael_nielsen‏ @michael_nielsen Apr 30

      What are the deepest questions & ideas people are exploring around crypto? Not get-rich-quick, but rather ideas that may be really transformative. Explanation and links welcome!

      23 replies 10 retweets 79 likes
      Show this thread
    2. michael_nielsen‏ @michael_nielsen Apr 30

      Here's one I heard from a friend: ICOs are interesting because for the first time they really incentivize the creation of new open protocols. SMTP, HTTP, SSL etc all arguably at least as valuable as Google/FB, but no value capture, so people didn't work so much on new protocols.

      6 replies 14 retweets 78 likes
      Show this thread
    3. John Backus‏ @backus Apr 30
      Replying to @michael_nielsen

      John Backus Retweeted John Backus

      ICOs incentivize people to build things where private keys are mandatory. If *anyone* can build an easy to use product that puts private keys in the hands of end users, massive potential is unlocked for identity, privacy, security, and of course finance.https://twitter.com/backus/status/987063369730408448 …

      John Backus added,

      John Backus @backus
      Tying biometrics and mobile devices to crypto people can actually use is super valuable. The blockchain craze is a trojan horse for realizing this. 🔑 Passwords → Signatures 🚪 Login with FB → Global login via managed keychain ☑️ Verified by Twitter → Verified by public key
      1 reply 1 retweet 8 likes
    4. michael_nielsen‏ @michael_nielsen Apr 30
      Replying to @backus

      Can you characterize where private keys are mandatory? Seems like almost anything where people instinctively want control over some aspect of access.

      1 reply 1 retweet 4 likes
    5. John Backus‏ @backus Apr 30
      Replying to @michael_nielsen

      Well, if you do a token sale and you don't build a decentralized product then the SEC will probably sue you and the ecosystem will call you a scam (rightfully so). People talk about it as a fund raising mechanism but it is actually a promise about how your product works.

      2 replies 1 retweet 5 likes
    6. John Backus‏ @backus Apr 30
      Replying to @backus @michael_nielsen

      So, people have to figure out how to make things work with a blockchain in the middle no matter what. Means people need to tackle usability problems no one has been incentivized to do in the past I think. I've particularly enjoyed thinking about this stuffhttps://blog.hellobloom.io/how-to-make-a-user-friendly-ethereum-dapp-5a7e5ea6df22 …

      1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
      John Backus‏ @backus Apr 30
      Replying to @backus @michael_nielsen

      There are still a lot of big questions to figure out but I think someone will get it. How do you tie private keys to biometrics? How do you let people recover keys? If you backup keys to the cloud, how do you make sure compromising those doesn't mean complete account takeover?

      10:34 PM - 30 Apr 2018
      • 1 Like
      • michael_nielsen
      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        1. New conversation
        2. michael_nielsen‏ @michael_nielsen Apr 30
          Replying to @backus

          Funny - a lot of these things (privacy, usability) are things Apple is as good at as anyone.

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        3. John Backus‏ @backus Apr 30
          Replying to @michael_nielsen

          I think they were very forward thinking to have taken such a pro privacy stance over the last few years. Yeah, I think Apple specifically could own this world if they wanted. I don't think a big company will move on it though. Big co sees liability, startup sees upside.

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
        4. End of conversation

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