
Show HN: Lexiconomy – Decentralized and Economized Dictionary - sixfour
https://lexiconomy.org
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jonnydubowsky
Totalitarian regimes take note, you can buy up all the words in every language
and change their meanings as you wish. Get in while the prices are low. Flip
the dictionary for a profit to the dictator next door the next time you have
lunch.

And look out for our next product, colornomics, where you can buy and sell
combinations of light, create your own unique color and license it to others
to use.

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rglullis
Very accurate:

    
    
        scam
        You've discovered an undefined word!   
        
        place the highest bid for scam to be the first to invent it.

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imw
Honestly, I find this horrifying. Why take one of the few decently commons-
producible information goods and enclose it with a pay-for-play economy? What
is the possible benefit to society?

~~~
mrguyorama
But think of that sweet ICO profit!

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JeremyBanks
A very amusing piece of performance art. :)

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jressey
Urban Dictionary but you have to pay.

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ssalka
How is disambiguation handled? Many words can mean several things:

Cabinet (storage or govt body)

Keyboard (for typing, or music instrument)

Remote (controller device or distant/far away)

Also any word that can be used as e.g. either a noun or a verb

Etc...

And could words across languages be linked to the same definition? Seems like
there are a lot of edge cases that make this type of application more complex
than the site indicates

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sixfour
It's decided by the owner of the word

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ssalka
IMO that's a really poor strategy. Assuming people use this product, it will
alienate anyone who comes later on after all common words have been bought up
(or even the owner of a word who would like to use it for two different
meanings).

More generally, it's an inaccurate model of language, because it assumes that
every word has a single definition - categorically false.

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magnamerc
I'm all for people building dapps, but like you I fail to see the utility in
this.

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ssalka
I think there could be great utility for a dapp like this, if it was
architected differently under more generalized assumptions.

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magnamerc
I know this was a few days ago, but I'm curious, what utility do you see for
this dapp? I'm trying to wrap my head around the economics. Will properly
defined words be more valuable?

~~~
ssalka
Personally, I could see the words being used as building blocks for semantic
programs, eg public APIs or smart contracts, or maybe even formal documents
(real estate, law, etc). But that kinda only works when you can properly
disambiguate words.

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benbristow
Doesn't seem to work for me. Just infinitely stuck on a spinner after typing a
word ('travel' in this example)

Lots of error'd requests to 'mainnet.infura.io'

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sixfour
As of right now, the Lexiconomy's is backed entirely by Ethereum, so it's
limited by the speed of Web3.

[https://lexiconomy.org/tips#web3-issues](https://lexiconomy.org/tips#web3-issues)

~~~
drivingmenuts
You're blaming the impatience of the end-user, rather than getting your act
together and fixing technical issues?

We need a word for that.

~~~
bluehatbrit
"lexiconomyistic"

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bryanrasmussen
Swearconomy - economized dictionary of swear words and dirty language. Words
and their meanings are auctioned. I expect to make a lot of money on Santorum.

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fiatjaf
"Decentralized".

Goes on to make a thousand XHR calls to infura.io

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ParadisoShlee
April fools?

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overthemoon
Why? What is the point of owning language?

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drivingmenuts
If you own the language to communicate, you can change meaning to suit your
own needs at the time.

Consider rebranding, common in the business world. Once upon a time, there was
Blackwater, a company of mercenaries who committed acts of questionable
ethics/morality. Several name changes later, the same company exists under a
new name, disassociated from those acts, but generally appearing to be a new
entity.

~~~
Freak_NL
They are now named Academi, and were briefly called Xe Services after renaming
from Blackwater.

The talk page is amusing: the current owners of Academi are trying to get
their history rewritten on Wikipedia, because “Academi (ACADEMI), which is a
Constellis company, was formed by a group of investors in 2010, who purchased
certain assets from Blackwater”.

I think they were active in Yemen the past few years.

