Re: Is Decentralized Identity/Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) the killer application for blockchain/DLT?

On 11/16/2018 07:39 PM, Kevin O'Brien wrote:
> So, when someone asks me, why not use X, I ask back, if X works then
> why hasn't X already been implemented to solve this problem?

Hey Kevin, yes, exactly... that's typically our response as well.

To which, the counter-response is: ... because you just don't understand
that with very small modifications, X can do what you want to do... and
so you're wasting your time!

To which, we respond -- please join the community and tell us how to do
that, then! ... and that's typically where the conversation ends due to
this nasty catch-22 situation in technology approaches.

It is very difficult to march into a community and tell them that what
they've been doing for years is (effectively) wrong and a waste of
effort. Very few in this community want to go to other communities and
say that, and very few in other communities want to come into this
community and say that.

Saying that, politely and with scientific rigour is extremely
important... but sometimes it's easier to just keep plodding along and
let your solution compete in the marketplace with all of the other ideas
of solving the problem. Sometimes, you have no idea if what you are
doing is the "Right thing to do"(tm).

... but, at some point, C wins out over FORTRAN, REST overtakes WS-*,
JSON eases past XML, and so on. Each one of those went through the same
sort of back and forth.

I don't know how to speed that sort of thing along. It seems to be human
nature, to cling to old technologies until they're obsolescence is vivid.

Being open, seeking leaders from those other communities, and listening
to their criticisms of what we're doing here tends to be the most
effective way of building bridges that I've found to date.

-- manu

-- 
Manu Sporny (skype: msporny, twitter: manusporny)
Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
blog: Veres One Decentralized Identifier Blockchain Launches
https://tinyurl.com/veres-one-launches

Received on Saturday, 17 November 2018 05:49:38 UTC