In Nairobi, Bengaluru, and Hong Kong, our reporters found lots of people were eager to take the deal.

Reporters visited booths of Worldcoin, a global blockchain project championed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in Nairobi, Bengaluru, and Hong Kong to get a better sense of who was signing up for the service and why. In all three cities, the surge of interest for registering their biometrics to the blockchain was driven primarily by the sign-up bonuses. Relatively few people were familiar with the goals of the project.

    • Elw@lemmy.sdf.org
      45·
      1 year ago

      It’s not necessarily idiocy. Dystopian, yes. And when you consider that the case for it not being idiocy is a government that has created such wealth inequality that people will do this for an extra $50.

      • flip@lemmy.nbsp.one
        12·
        1 year ago

        Valid point, that’s what makes it even more dystopian. The most in your face example of “you have to be able to afford privacy”.

      • 0x815@feddit.deOP
        8·
        1 year ago

        @Elw

        I agree with what you say about inequality and get your point, though I am not sure whether exactly these individuals were in urgent need of extra 50 bucks. A major point here is information and education here (or, better, the lack of it).