Yes, if you lose your private key you are toast. That could happen on the fediverse too. With the distinction that, there, you never get the keys in the first place so you have to trust that your admin keeps them well.
Discussion
yeah but I mean I wouldn't use my fediverse handle as login in other contexts. That's how I understand the "nostr id cyberpassport" notion however -- you sign in with it everywhere, increasing the actual damage of a scenario in which you no longer can access it...
(Of course, I don't really have a good idea myself how a decentralized, recoverable, unique and secure ID could work)
Well that's the gravity in the question: consider our digital present, and what is in place for authentication today. Would you rather be able to create a new keypair on a whim, or give the opportunity for an adversary to revoke your credentials?
I got caught in my own joke a bit, because the point is: fuck passports!
There's likely a middle ground, and while I don't believe in national states, I do believe we need means of authentication in cyberspace. The question of validation on the other hand is very much a social one. And as far as I can tell, the only world where we would be unable to validate ourselves and our communities, is one where everybody is terminally online.