qingcharles 12 hours ago

This WorldCoin image will forever live rent free in my head:

https://www.crikey.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/08...

  • Vespasian 5 hours ago

    What exactly am I looking at?

    • tim333 3 hours ago

      A worldcoin gizmo which is basically a digital camera and I think has some face scanner stuff like an iphone. Once they've scanned and checked you are someone who hasn't been done already they give you basically a crypto wallet with some 'worldcoin' shitcoin in. And there's an app.

      You only get a scan at the start, after that it's basically a usual crypto wallet + private key. They don't ask for your name or id or anything at the start. Although they are now offering me like $25 if I'll scan my passport and do kyc stuff. I think they are trying to make it into a payment/investment network.

    • Nursie 5 hours ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_(blockchain)

      A Sam Altman project which seemingly popped up out of nowhere, and offered people free money in exchange for biometric registration on the network, in a lot of countries all over the world. It seemed to be an attempt to set up some sort of global electronic ID system and currency all in one.

      That silver sphere is an iris scanner, IIRC.

      Got shut down pretty hard in a bunch of places as a potentially illegal invasion of privacy.

      • CaptainZapp 5 hours ago

        >A Sam Altman project which seemingly popped up out of nowhere, and offered people free money

        Was it free money? I recall that it was some shitcoin token paid out, which may or may not be worth something.

        I could be wrong, of course.

      • Vespasian 4 hours ago

        Ah got it. I've heard about that but apparently were behind how Iris scanners look these days.

        • benterix 3 hours ago

          > but apparently were behind how Iris scanners look these days

          Not necessarily - they look whatever you want them to look. In this case sama wanted to create a feeling of futurism - the story being he is leading a global AGI revolution and you can be a part of it by staring in a metal ball.

      • kotaKat 2 hours ago

        Just another step closer to the creepy desires of building an AI "replica" human. Gotta get the look right (with Sora), the fingerprints and iris (with Worldcoin), the personality (ChatGPT erotic mode)...

  • tjpnz 3 hours ago

    Looks suspiciously like the robot that pumped Princess Leia full of drugs.

  • bigyabai 11 hours ago

    "How does it work?"

    "It's magic. All technology is."

    • joomla199 11 hours ago

      Given that we don’t know why electromagnetism exists, this is basically true for many technologies.

      • adastra22 6 hours ago

        What do you mean? We know quite well how electromagnetism arises from U(1) symmetry in gauge theory. What else is there to know?

      • hoppp 9 hours ago

        We don't know why the world itself exists so everything is magic

rob74 2 hours ago

In this case, I suspect it's more Uncle Donald (or Aunt Kristi, but she usually doesn't do anything without Uncle Donald's approval).

tern 11 hours ago

Big difference between a hash for use as an attestation (proof of humanity) and a digital ID associated with your name