1/ Some thoughts on what went on today. First, as much as I complain about these conferences, it's really great to see people that I haven't seen in a while. The beauty of a big conference like this is that you can go hang out with people you want to hang out with.
2/ I really wish consensus was a bit better organized, though, as the wait in line was just absolutely insane. So many people ended up waiting for over an hour to get their badge. They desperately needed more staff today.
3/ I enjoyed my interviews with CoinDesk and Cheddar, but I'm sure the big one was the one on stage. I've spoken at conferences before, but the reaction to this one was pretty dramatic and more than I expected.
4/ The thing I said that got everything started was just the frustration with vague decks that have very little technical detail. Granted, you have a general audience, but come on, you have to provide a bit more detail than "we'll fix everything".
5/ What I said wasn't anything special. I verbalized what probably a large amount of the people in the audience were thinking and much of the reaction in the room was indicating that they, too, didn't get anything of substance from the presentation.
6/ But because so many people are new, or because they're not confident in their assessment of what was just shown, they think they're missing something. And so they politely clap and ignore the nagging doubts in their mind.
7/ Giving voice to something that you know is true often results in shock and laughter. That's what I saw. The entire crowd had been eating non-stop stories about how everything was going to change for the better because of the new tech, usually sponsored by a panelist.
8/ Anyway, I definitely wore the black hat today voiced my doubts about this tech. I want to thank @ethereumJoseph and @AmberBaldet for being good sports about this. I've already seen 2 articles on our panel and I'm sure there will be more.
9/ Regarding my bet with Joe, I'll have to think about this, but the thing he said right before he said "I'll bet you any amount of bitcoin that you're wrong" is "Assuming we can come up with a good standard" or something like that.
10/ He realizes just as I do, that there's no easy way to measure if a blockchain project actually has users. Especially a measurement that's not easily game-able.
11/ Any suggestions on a good objective metric that fairly measures whether a non-money blockchain project gets traction would be great. In the meantime, I had a great time and regardless of how the bet goes, I would love to do a panel in 2023 with Joe Lubin. /fin
