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Bitcoin is a Cult

adamcaudill.com

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Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#91

Post by dnomad »

sgt101 wrote: post #72
SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think maybe you are confusing or just being hyperbolic on the difference between fan club and religious devotion.

There are many differences (of course!) but one common strand is that both are elements of the adherent's identity. In the case of Crypto there is another defining commonality - which is life style and life chances. Religions provide a vehicle (the community) which provides adherents with different chances from those outside, Crypto does the same - via money... if you have invested you might be rich, or poor, but you…

But this is true of all groups. All groups offer identity and possibility of growth. What makes cults special is the element of faith. This is the difference between an investor and a speculator, an engineer and a magician, and real currencies that can be used to pay taxes and exchange tokens like gold/bitcoin/beanie babies. Cryptocurrencies are inviting their members to take a leap of faith on a mechanism that is not subject to rational analysis and be rewarded with riches beyond their wildest dreams. The beauty here is that there's social proof -- in the form of actual crypto millionaires and lots of fancy whitepapers from smart people and open-source code that anybody can download and review. This attracts irrational players into the game (which in turns attracts more predators since irrational players are easy money). There's a vicious cycle at work and eventually the whole game is dominated by irrationality and delusion.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#92

Post by ForHackernews »

B-Con wrote: post #66
Permit wrote: post #49

I think people have largely missed the point of the article. This is specifically in relation to a "magic hash" on a block that was mined on June 19, 2018 with the hash: 00000000000000000021e800c1e8df51b22c1588e5a624bea17e9faa34b2dc4a The leading zeros are the "proof-of-work". The bitcoin mining algorithm tries various nonces and generates many hashes until it finds one with (currently) 18 leading zeros. Surprisingly…

In this type of scenario (be it bitcoin hashes, serial numbers elsewhere, etc), the real question is how many possible "vanity" hashes exist. The odds of this specific one are not interesting, it's the space of all of them that is. It's pretty much always infeasible to enumerate that space, but generally speaking there are a looooot of things that could qualify as special-looking enough to be included. All forms of e…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interesting_number_paradox

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#93

Post by Permit »

B-Con wrote: post #66
Permit wrote: post #49

I think people have largely missed the point of the article. This is specifically in relation to a "magic hash" on a block that was mined on June 19, 2018 with the hash: 00000000000000000021e800c1e8df51b22c1588e5a624bea17e9faa34b2dc4a The leading zeros are the "proof-of-work". The bitcoin mining algorithm tries various nonces and generates many hashes until it finds one with (currently) 18 leading zeros. Surprisingly…

In this type of scenario (be it bitcoin hashes, serial numbers elsewhere, etc), the real question is how many possible "vanity" hashes exist. The odds of this specific one are not interesting, it's the space of all of them that is. It's pretty much always infeasible to enumerate that space, but generally speaking there are a looooot of things that could qualify as special-looking enough to be included. All forms of e…

Absolutely, when I was searching I followed this guide to search for hex words: https://nedbatchelder.com/text/hexwords.html

But there are definitely other 'interesting' numbers people could come up with.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#94

Post by plankers »

Obi_Juan_Kenobi wrote: post #31

There is, without a doubt, a Bitcoin cult. Or more generally, crypto-currency cults. The headline reads like it's only a cult, which isn't the case. Even the most critical observer must concede that these distributed networks are novel and interesting. The farther you move from social media, the less cult-like things get. The best discussion remains on listservs, and there is a lot of interesting and substantive disc…

After spending a few years in the bitcoin space, I avoid anything at the nexus of crypto and social media like the plague. You can almost always find interesting folks to chat with and answer your questions on IRC.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#95

Post by plankers »

tekromancr wrote: post #40
Obi_Juan_Kenobi wrote: post #31

There is, without a doubt, a Bitcoin cult. Or more generally, crypto-currency cults. The headline reads like it's only a cult, which isn't the case. Even the most critical observer must concede that these distributed networks are novel and interesting. The farther you move from social media, the less cult-like things get. The best discussion remains on listservs, and there is a lot of interesting and substantive disc…

If you don't mind me asking, what are some listservs worth reading?

The bitcoin-dev mailing list is quite technical, but can be quite amusing when egos begin to clash.

https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bitcoin-d...

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#96

Post by shobith »

shobith wrote: post #9

Any network-effect driven product is a cult.

small correction: s/is/starts out as/g

To the telephone counter-examples in the responses: early telephone users were probably "culty" until the mainstream adopted it for useful stuff.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#97

Post by shobith »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #18
shobith wrote: post #9

Any network-effect driven product is a cult.

> Any network-effect driven product is a cult "The term cult usually refers to a social group defined by its religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or its common interest in a particular personality, object or goal" [1]. Membership connotes devotion. That is different from network effects. For example, telephones benefit from network effects. Buying a telephone does not join one onto a cult. (Buying Bitcoin,…

> Buying Bitcoin, alone, does not admit one into a cult, either. It’s the behaviour of the community around Bitcoin that exhibits cult-like tendencies.

In that case, is Bitcoin really a cult? or is there a cult that is using Bitcoin?

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#98

Post by kartan »

Synaesthesia wrote: post #51

When I first got into bitcoin I thought it could be a wonderful alternative to the current monetary system, I especially hoped it would be more equitably shares. Unfortunately it’s turned out to be as unequally shared as our current wealth is, if not more. Perhaps some kind of coin where everybody in the world is issued the same amount or something.

> Perhaps some kind of coin where everybody in the world is issued the same amount or something.

That is why the Monopoly game was created. All players start with the same amount of money and the same rules. Skill and mostly luck accumulates all money in the hand of just one player. Monopoly games can be long, be it is not so long until one player has everything.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#99

Post by JumpCrisscross »

awt wrote: post #45
Abidarn wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a great analogy. Government bonds were never meant to be a currency. Bitcoin was advertised as a currency. Yet its adoption for that purpose, despite the massive network available for its propagation, has yet to materialize.

What it was "meant to be" hardly matters. What it actually is is more important than the misrepresentations presented by various misinformed parties.

> What it actually is is more important than the misrepresentations presented by various misinformed parties

Fair enough. Government bonds let countries deficit spend. They are also a stable store of value. These attributes make them useful.

Bitcoin is neither of these. Like government bonds, it does not behave like money.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#100

Post by paulmd »

B-Con wrote: post #66
Permit wrote: post #49

I think people have largely missed the point of the article. This is specifically in relation to a "magic hash" on a block that was mined on June 19, 2018 with the hash: 00000000000000000021e800c1e8df51b22c1588e5a624bea17e9faa34b2dc4a The leading zeros are the "proof-of-work". The bitcoin mining algorithm tries various nonces and generates many hashes until it finds one with (currently) 18 leading zeros. Surprisingly…

In this type of scenario (be it bitcoin hashes, serial numbers elsewhere, etc), the real question is how many possible "vanity" hashes exist. The odds of this specific one are not interesting, it's the space of all of them that is. It's pretty much always infeasible to enumerate that space, but generally speaking there are a looooot of things that could qualify as special-looking enough to be included. All forms of e…

> The odds of this specific one are not interesting, it's the space of all of them that is.

So what you're saying is basically that there's no way to tell whether it's Jesus or Mohammed or Buddha that might be trying to communicate with us, because any of them might be using any of their magic codewords? /s

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