> Who are you to decide what “normal” people want, what a “necessity” is, what a “toy” is? And, moreover, are you sure account recovery is as important as you think it is? Maybe people would prefer to have accounts that have very little identity, that get thrown away without much care — you know, like how people use throwaways on here — than some One Absolute Source Of Recoverable Truth?
The person being replied to literally suggested it as a single source of truth. For everything from HN to your bank account. So you’re tilting at the wrong windmill!
I think one thing the crypto fad has proven is that even experienced people can’t keep hold of their keys properly. You’re always one mistake from an irrecoverable situation.
Why would I want creds that once compromised not only were irrecoverable but also affected my entire life?
If you want easy, temporary identity then the current situation is pretty great.
> The person being replied to literally suggested it as a single source of truth. For everything from HN to your bank account. So you’re tilting at the wrong windmill!
The parent I replied to is competent enough to know that there is an easy way to have that “recoverable account” he is obsessed with: custodial wallets. You know, like the custodial accounts that are the defining feature of Web 2.0.
People who don’t understand the innovation of being able to choose between custodial and non-custodial, and how that’s a big deal that many appreciate beyond the opsec requirements, sort of expose their own weaknesses.
I can see that login via private key is cool for some people, and being able to login via a private key some other party maintains for you would work for "normal" users. But I could also implement that without bringing in a block chain, right? Wouldn't we expect that Google and the current authN providers just implement that if it ever became popular?
> But I could also implement that without bringing in a block chain, right?
Not only that, but they have! Signature-based authentication existed 20 years ago. Register with a public key. Sign a message with your private key to authenticate. Modulo some small details to prevent things like replay, you are done. The only thing that the blockchain brings is that now lots of people have asymmetric key pairs where their public keys are published somewhere widely accessible.
The person being replied to literally suggested it as a single source of truth. For everything from HN to your bank account. So you’re tilting at the wrong windmill!
I think one thing the crypto fad has proven is that even experienced people can’t keep hold of their keys properly. You’re always one mistake from an irrecoverable situation.
Why would I want creds that once compromised not only were irrecoverable but also affected my entire life?
If you want easy, temporary identity then the current situation is pretty great.