Who pays for climate change, and blockchain games

The Dark Forest is a vast universe, and most of it is shrouded in darkness. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to venture into the unknown, avoid being destroyed by opposing players who may be lurking in the dark, and build an empire from the planets you discover and can make your own.

However, while the video game apparently looks and plays much like other online strategy games, it does not rely on the servers that run other popular online strategy games. Instead, Dark Forest runs entirely on a blockchain, in a way that means no one has control over how it unfolds.

The game’s success shows that blockchains can be used in far more interesting and complex ways than just moving digital money around, something some blockchain champions have reiterated since the technology first appeared.

And it may point to something even more profound: the possibility of a metaverse that isn’t owned by a big tech company. Read the full story.

– Mike Orcutt

They must be read

I’ve been combing the internet to find today’s funniest/most important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Crypto exchange Binance isn’t buying its rival FTX after all
We still do not know the full extent of FTX’s financial problems. (WSJ$)
+ Nothing and no one in crypto is too big to fail. (ENJOY $)
+ Crypto markets are even more volatile than normal right now. (Bloomberg$)
+ Meanwhile, crypto is back on the agenda for New York’s new governor. (The Verge)

2 Why the Republicans’ ‘red wave’ failed to materialize
The specter of Donald Trump and the Dobbs decision loomed large. (Vox)
+ The appeal of Trumpism certainly seems to be waning. (The Atlantic $)
+ Conspiracy theories related to the results also failed to take off. (ENJOY $)
+ However, that didn’t stop suffragettes from trying. (Bloomberg$)
+ This is how you avoid being deceived by incorrect information. (WP$)

3 Prepare for a winter of illness
It’s a triple threat of flu, covid and a respiratory virus. (Wired $)
+ The respiratory failure wave has hit before we have had a vaccine. (Slate $)
+ Is a covid and flu “twindemic” on the horizon? (MIT Technology Review)

4 How Donald Trump unwittingly helped the Paris Agreement
His withdrawal from the treaty actually spurred other countries into action. (The Atlantic $)
+ Reparations can finally compensate the hardest hit nations. (Wired $)
+ Climate action is gaining momentum. So are the disasters. (MIT Technology Review)

5 A viral app has been falsely accused of being a front for sex trafficking
It’s just the latest in a long line of lively apps targeting hoax trafficking. (WP$)

6 There are fewer ransomware attempts than there used to be
An unwillingness to pay ransom may be a factor behind the decline. (FT$)
+ The world’s largest ransom gang has disappeared from the internet. (MIT Technology Review)

7 Twitter’s fired workers have been flooded with job offers
Despite the tech hiring freeze, they are in demand. (The information $)
+ More than 11,000 Meta employees will join them. (Main board)
+ Twitter’s verification and “official” rollout has been a mess. (WP$)