Author Topic: Keystroke Lotteries - Whitepaper  (Read 7299 times)

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Offline gamey

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I don't see how anyone would prefer buying a Lotto ticket instead. Can you imagine someone who has won $20 in bitcoins in a keystroke lottery immediately converting those bitcoins to dollars and then walking to the nearest liquor store and spending it on a Lotto ticket? Why would they? It's not as if "playing" that kind of Lotto is "fun".

I'm not trying to be rude, but I'm not sure who you are trying to convince in this paragraph.  You should never try to convince yourself with your own hype that your own ideas are solid.

It is interesting theoretically .. I just can't wrap my head around it working.  Perhaps the big payoff psychology.
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BruceSwanson

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I'm not sure what you mean. There would be no reason why someone funding a keystroke lottery would submit someone else's document to be worked on, although if they did it would be irrelevant to the system itself. As for the typists, the system could easily detect copy pasting. It would only accept keystrokes made in real time. So work could not be "submitted." And software bots that produce keystrokes would not work either, because such keystrokes would not be validated by anyone else -- only keystrokes replicated by others following copy as they typed would be accepted. Think of keystrokes overlaying other keystrokes.

You would have to get a *very* large group of people together to try to swamp a given lottery. But who would participate and why? Why not just play along with everyone else around the world working on that document? Might as well, since you would have to pay your own pool of typists for their labor -- surely a money losing proposition!

It's a bit like bitcoin mining. Why try for a 51% share for the purpose of controlling the system? You would just destroy it and lose the money you invested in order to achieve that control.



« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 05:53:49 pm by BruceSwanson »

Offline bytemaster

The problem is that someone could submit someone else's work.  No actual typing need occur.   
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BruceSwanson

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You've *almost* got it!

Remember that although you could type for an hour if you wanted (you could type all day if you wanted), most people would probably just log on and type as their day allows -- on break, waiting in a lobby, etc. Probably a minute or two once or twice a day would suffice for most.  For every person who is quickly bored or runs out of time, there will always be at least one person to take their place. Think of stars winking on and off as you look in the sky. Those winks are people around the world logging on and off, yet working together to achieve the same goal: type-set consensus -- consensus alone determining accuracy. And only with sufficient consensus achieved will a lucky winner be selected by the smart contract following the terms established by the funder.

« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 03:21:19 pm by BruceSwanson »

Offline feedthemcake

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I love this idea.

You work for the dollars you spend on a lottery ticket anyhow, why not hit some keys in hopes of a chance of winning? The more work you do the better your chances too, correct? I'd rather spend 1 hour working on a computer for a chance at winning than spend 1 hour of pay from shoveling asphalt on a lottery ticket.

This forum and the ideas that come through it are a big part of why I hold my Bitshares close to me.
« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 03:07:18 pm by feedthemcake »

BruceSwanson

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You are right that most people wouldn't want to do work for some random chance of being paid. What makes this idea different is the *small* amount of work required to "play" -- like buying a $5 (or less) Lotto ticket -- and the ease of accessing that work. The typing would indeed be work, but you could literally log off in the middle of a word as soon as you got bored and still have a statistical chance of winning the pot. And remember the pot could grow *very* large -- Powerball size payouts.

So: lots of work available anywhere, lots of random amounts of time people have to log on and participate whenever they want to, and either small and fast payouts with a guaranteed winner or huge payouts with no guaranteed winner (but which someone, somewhere *will* eventually win, since funders of keystroke lotteries -- document owners who need typing/translating -- would not get their money back once they sent it to their lottery's public bitcoin address, controlled by a smart contract). The cumulative amount of work outsourced to the planet would be huge.

I don't see how anyone would prefer buying a Lotto ticket instead. Can you imagine someone who has won $20 in bitcoins in a keystroke lottery immediately converting those bitcoins to dollars and then walking to the nearest liquor store and spending it on a Lotto ticket? Why would they? It's not as if "playing" that kind of Lotto is "fun".



« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 03:09:42 pm by BruceSwanson »

Offline gamey

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Most people don't like doing work with some random chance of getting paid.  Your economics/psychology don't line up very well IMO.  Honestly the idea doesn't even make much sense but that may just be me.
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BruceSwanson

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In a few sentences:

Instead of buying lottery tickets, people would do small amounts of work to earn them. On a computer, the smallest amount of work is a keystroke or a mouseclick.

Someone needs something typed. He offers $100 to have it done by midnight tonight. Guaranteed winner. This offer attracts (let's say) 100 typists online. They start typing the document. Some type the whole thing, others just a few lines. But in the end, each sentence of the document ends up being typed 50 times. That redundancy ensures accuracy because any one typist's mistakes are not made by anyone else. No proofreader needed. The program selects a keystroke or word that has also been typed by everyone else. It awards one of those people the $100. That person may have done a lot of work, or very little.

The typing could also be a translation -- group validated translations.

Separately, someone who has witnessed a crime will anonymously submit the name of the perpetrator. A keystroke done by a parolee earning good-behavior points but not eligible to win the lottery ends up being won by the person who provided the information -- informants can put a crime in play by submitting information about that crime. And they might win an award. Or not. But if they don't win, they haven't risked anything, and under the current system of bounties they would not have provided information anyway. So they have nothing to lose by providing cops with dangerous information. Using bitcoins no personal information need by given.

You can see how the concept of smart contracts could work with this idea. The owner of the document funds the lottery by sending bitcoins to be rewarded to an address that is controlled by the contract. (The award could be priced in dollars). The owner/funder stipulates a certain level of keystroke redundancy (fifty in this example). Once that number is reached, the computer program randomly selects a typist and sends them the money to the public address they submitted when they logged on.

For another simple explanation, please go to the version I uploaded on Scribd and just read the first section. There is also an "Objection!" section that deals with various criticisms made to the idea.

Reddit seems to be implementing something similar to a lottery distribution for Reddit Note. You might be able to contact them as well so they know your idea as well.

Thanks for the info. I will take a look.

BruceSwanson

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In my Scribd.com posting, I quote Alexander Hamilton:

"Everybody, almost, can and will be willing to hazard a trifling sum for the chance of a considerable gain."

With internet access becoming ubiquitous, people who have the time to sit around can do literal keystrokes of work that are themselves a "trifling sum" for the chance of a [Lotto magnitude] "considerable gain."

In the Scribd paper, I describe how typists -- players -- need not be committed to working a set number of hours or keystrokes, or even start at the beginning of the document to be typed. Everyone -- anyone -- with web access can log on, submit a bitcoin address, do some typing -- really any amount of typing -- and earn the chance to win a payout funded by whomever needs the typing done. People on break at the office for a few seconds or minutes; on the subway; on the plane; in the airport; in the den; on the couch; in the company lounge; in the gym; in the lobby waiting for a job interview -- anywhere or everywhere you would just log on and do some typing. You follow copy as closely as you can because you know that only validated -- replicated -- keystrokes have a chance of winning. Beavis and Butthead inputting random keystrokes would just be wasting their time because those random keystrokes will not be replicated. Finally even they get the message: just follow copy and they might win.

So the need for word processing and even translations can be outsourced and proofreading eliminated. Closer deadlines with higher mandated levels of replication would require higher payouts, or perhaps smaller payouts would be pooled into many such smaller payouts to make one bigger one. Lotteries could be worldwide, like Powerball-level games.

The really good thing here is that sedentary people who buy their Lotto tickets at the liquor store could instead earn their tickets without paying cash for them. Just do a few keystrokes anywhere you are. People who do not gamble might even be tempted, but now the form of gambling that is tempting them is fundamentally virtuous. They do productive work rather than pay cash. What could be wrong with that? Especially since no matter how much typing you actually do, you will only rarely win even trifling payouts -- exactly like conventional lotteries, except for them you pay cash.

Anyone who has become disenchanted with keystroke lotteries would be unlikely to resume paying cash for the same chance to win. That would be a good thing too.




« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 04:38:27 am by BruceSwanson »

Offline donkeypong

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It's thoughtful. I just wonder whether the kind of person who plays a game of chance (such as a lottery) wants to work or just sit on his/her ass. Maybe there are people willing to work who also would go for this kind of incentive, but maybe not.

Offline luckybit

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In a few sentences:

Instead of buying lottery tickets, people would do small amounts of work to earn them. On a computer, the smallest amount of work is a keystroke or a mouseclick.

Someone needs something typed. He offers $100 to have it done by midnight tonight. Guaranteed winner. This offer attracts (let's say) 100 typists online. They start typing the document. Some type the whole thing, others just a few lines. But in the end, each sentence of the document ends up being typed 50 times. That redundancy ensures accuracy because any one typist's mistakes are not made by anyone else. No proofreader needed. The program selects a keystroke or word that has also been typed by everyone else. It awards one of those people the $100. That person may have done a lot of work, or very little.

The typing could also be a translation -- group validated translations.

Separately, someone who has witnessed a crime will anonymously submit the name of the perpetrator. A keystroke done by a parolee earning good-behavior points but not eligible to win the lottery ends up being won by the person who provided the information -- informants can put a crime in play by submitting information about that crime. And they might win an award. Or not. But if they don't win, they haven't risked anything, and under the current system of bounties they would not have provided information anyway. So they have nothing to lose by providing cops with dangerous information. Using bitcoins no personal information need by given.

You can see how the concept of smart contracts could work with this idea. The owner of the document funds the lottery by sending bitcoins to be rewarded to an address that is controlled by the contract. (The award could be priced in dollars). The owner/funder stipulates a certain level of keystroke redundancy (fifty in this example). Once that number is reached, the computer program randomly selects a typist and sends them the money to the public address they submitted when they logged on.

For another simple explanation, please go to the version I uploaded on Scribd and just read the first section. There is also an "Objection!" section that deals with various criticisms made to the idea.

Reddit seems to be implementing something similar to a lottery distribution for Reddit Note. You might be able to contact them as well so they know your idea as well.

http://www.redditblog.com/2014/12/announcing-reddit-notes.html
« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 02:57:49 am by luckybit »
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BruceSwanson

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Hello,

You can see the article as I originally posted it on Scribd.com. I can't post external links here, so just Google:

Virtual-Currency Keystroke/Informant Lotteries - Scribd

It's much more readable there, and I've provided an abstract.

Hey since you're here maybe you can work with our community? If you can implement some of your ideas why not see if you can become a delegate so you can get paid to pursue it?

Also it might be better if you explain the idea yourself. It's not so easy to understand and most people probably want to hear it directly from you.

I hope to get involved as I learn more about Bitshares. I own some, as well as bitcoins, ethers, ripples, and dogecoins, so I understand the rudiments of DACs, smart contracts, and the blockchain.

I will do my best to respond to questions about my keystroke lottery idea. It's pretty simple once you get the hang of it. I recommend just reading the Scribd version, especially the "Objection!" section.


BruceSwanson

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In a few sentences:

Instead of buying lottery tickets, people would do small amounts of work to earn them. On a computer, the smallest amount of work is a keystroke or a mouseclick.

Someone needs something typed. He offers $100 to have it done by midnight tonight. Guaranteed winner. This offer attracts (let's say) 100 typists online. They start typing the document. Some type the whole thing, others just a few lines. But in the end, each sentence of the document ends up being typed 50 times. That redundancy ensures accuracy because any one typist's mistakes are not made by anyone else. No proofreader needed. The program selects a keystroke or word that has also been typed by everyone else. It awards one of those people the $100. That person may have done a lot of work, or very little.

The typing could also be a translation -- group validated translations.

Separately, someone who has witnessed a crime will anonymously submit the name of the perpetrator. A keystroke done by a parolee earning good-behavior points but not eligible to win the lottery ends up being won by the person who provided the information -- informants can put a crime in play by submitting information about that crime. And they might win an award. Or not. But if they don't win, they haven't risked anything, and under the current system of bounties they would not have provided information anyway. So they have nothing to lose by providing cops with dangerous information. Using bitcoins no personal information need by given.

You can see how the concept of smart contracts could work with this idea. The owner of the document funds the lottery by sending bitcoins to be rewarded to an address that is controlled by the contract. (The award could be priced in dollars). The owner/funder stipulates a certain level of keystroke redundancy (fifty in this example). Once that number is reached, the computer program randomly selects a typist and sends them the money to the public address they submitted when they logged on.

For another simple explanation, please go to the version I uploaded on Scribd and just read the first section. There is also an "Objection!" section that deals with various criticisms made to the idea.



« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 02:04:27 am by BruceSwanson »

Offline gamey

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Can someone explain the idea in a few sentences? 
I speak for myself and only myself.

Offline luckybit

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Hello,

You can see the article as I originally posted it on Scribd.com. I can't post external links here, so just Google:

Virtual-Currency Keystroke/Informant Lotteries - Scribd

It's much more readable there, and I've provided an abstract.

Hey since you're here maybe you can work with our community? If you can implement some of your ideas why not see if you can become a delegate so you can get paid to pursue it?

Also it might be better if you explain the idea yourself. It's not so easy to understand and most people probably want to hear it directly from you.
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