Long time readers are well aware of my attitude of doubt towards cryptocurrencies. Not that I shan’t change my attitude should cryptocurrencies’ flaws and limitations be corrected, and an advantage to them emerges that justifies shifting to them from governmental currencies happens.
But the following is not encouraging. While I’ve verified WorldCoin exists, I am surprisingly uncomfortable at even visiting their website. I can be creeped out quite effectively at a remove or two from the primary source, thankyouverymuch:
Take Worldcoin, which at first glance seems like a serious company. It is the brainchild of Sam Altman, an influential Silicon Valley investor, who raised more than $25 million for the firm’s launch in October. The company admits that only 3 per cent of the world’s population currently uses a cryptocurrency, but aims to change that. How? Well, this is where it gets odd. Worldcoin will give “as many people as possible a share of a new currency”. Anyone who wants a Worldcoin can have one – as long as they are willing to look into “the Orb”.
That’s right, Worldcoin’s big technical advance is that it has created a shiny, silver ball about the size of a grapefruit called an Orb. You gaze into it, a camera inside takes a picture of your eyes and – poof! – now you have a Worldcoin in your app. Of course, the company also has a picture of your irises.
Like your fingerprint, each of your irises is a unique biometric attribute that can be used to identify you any time you look into a camera. On its website, Worldcoin has strange pictures of “Orb operators” asking people to gaze into shiny balls on a farm in Indonesia and on the streets of unnamed cities in Sudan and Kenya. The vibe is reminiscent of those edge-of-the seat moments in a horror film when something horrible is about to happen to the protagonist. You want to scream: “Don’t look into the Orb!” [“2021 was the year cryptocurrencies went completely off the rails,” Annalee Newitz, NewScientist (18 December 2021, paywall)]
Yes, that would be me, clutching at my eyes, running in circles with the hair afire. Not exactly the picture of sober assessment, is it?
Go ahead. Everyone go stare into their favorite silvery orb. And then think of ol’ Zuck, sucking your thoughts out for use in the Metaverse.
Wheee.
