Yes, it can probably be done with a traditional database
Comment on Please Stop
Oderus@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I’ll likely get downvoted but Polestar, the EV automaker that used to build performance variants for Volvo, uses blockchain to track minerals used in their EV’s.
Circulor Circulor’s blockchain technology enables tracing of extracted raw materials, particularly those with significant impact to communities and the environment.
I like that they use blockchain to ensure the minerals they use aren’t coming from negative sources but I’m sure someone will argue and say it’s stupid or that SQL can do the same.
ElCanut@jlai.lu 3 months ago
VR20X6@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
You could do literally the same thing with a series of private key signed envelopes containing the prior chain of signed content.
Oderus@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I’m hoping you’re being hyperbolic about burning rainforests because not every blockchain is power hungry like Bitcoin or the old the POW Ethereum.
Besides, the rainforest is being burned down to make way for more cattle to provide more beef. Not sure why you chose the rainforest as example of intense computational power.
VR20X6@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
It’s somewhat hyperbolic, but in relative terms, it is pretty wasteful to implement it with a blockchain over what I just suggested. Cryptographic consensus doesn’t solve anything for the given example that the verifiable chain of custody in my proposed alternative does not and there’s zero way it’s less expensive than a bunch of asymmetric signatures that can be verified offline on demand. If anything, it’s better than a blockchain since it would only require a majority of parties to be complicit in a lie to rewrite history in a blockchain full of parties that have no business with any given transaction other than to enforce immutability whereas it would require every single node in the chain of custody before you to be complicit in my proposal.
And I’m surprised that the rainforest thing confuses you. It and burning tires are the go-to colloquialisms for complaining about things that are unnecessarily environmentally hostile, particularly when talking about crypto crap. But yeah, blockchains are a solution in search of a problem, so the derision is intentional. There’s no legitimate problem that can be solved with blockchain that can’t be solved in a better way. Cryptocurrency only in theory and this supply chain problem are the closest it gets to blockchain making sense and it still fails to be better than non-blockchain alternatives.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 3 months ago
No, because it would be trivial to make a change and regenerate the entire chain.
VR20X6@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
Yeah, you would only need to have every single private key for all nodes that follow you in the supply chain. Super trivial.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 3 months ago
OK. So you are proposing a private blockchain with minimal data validation rules.
How do you decide who gets to add the next record?
You would also need some protection against all nodes sharing their keys.
__dev@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Polestar uses contracts and audits to ethically source materials, not blockchain. It uses blockchain as a shitty append-only SQL database to (apparently) tell you where the materials came from. Let me quote from Circulor’s website:
So the chain is private and accessible only through a centralized, authenticated REST API. This is a traditional web application. A centralized append-only ledger is not even a blockchain.
DarkSpectrum@lemmy.world 3 months ago
This guy ICTs!
Oderus@lemmy.world 3 months ago
So you’re saying Polestar is lying about using blockchain?
media.polestar.com/global/en/media/…/500098
Polestar enters strategic partnership with blockchain provider Circulor
Collaboration targets blockchain traceability and CO2e tracking
Progressive in scope and ambition, partnership enables unprecedented supply chain transparency
__dev@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Well, I’m saying Circulor is most likely lying about their “blockchain” actually being a blockchain, or that they’ve pointlessly set up extra nodes to perform redundant work in order to avoid technically lying.
Blockchain is completely pointless without 3rd parties being part of the network. It’s like me saying I run a personal social network for just myself.
Oderus@lemmy.world 3 months ago
It must be exhausting being so cynical.
riodoro1@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Buzz words. It doesn’t matter if it’s true, as long as it sells. See, you remembered, so it worked.