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Bitcoin is a Cult

adamcaudill.com

171–180 of 232 posts

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#171
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That actually has an interesting failure. The first interesting number that's interesting because it's not special works. The second might qualify, the 10008 does not.

How can there be a second one if there isn’t a first one?

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#172
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…

Oh my. That's way weirder than what I was expecting. I just don't know what to say to that. Is it me or does it seem like this kind of stuff is everywhere now? Maybe I just consume lots of crazy people media.

I think it always has been, it’s just more visible now. It’s a lot easier to find out the random superstitious beliefs of strangers these days.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#174

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…

> these distributed networks are novel and interesting They were interesting when the bitcoin paper was released. Then people (outside of the cult) realized that you Do Not Need A Trustless System. Society is built on trust. Wasting ENORMOUS amounts of power just to replace a few trusted entities with 51% of the network is a horrible idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCHab0dNnj4

Doesn't prevent bad actors. See various banker scams. Codifying rules helps prevent bad actors.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> BBS era and ARPA Net era These services were launched to solve a practical problem. Bitcoin was launched as the manifestation of an ideology.

You sure about that? Arpanet was created to exchange short messages in case of a nuclear attack on the United States rendered all above ground communication and survivability useless. I hardly consider that a practical use case. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Internet_during_the_Cold_W...

On a scale of “practical” to “ideological” I’d say building a system to exchange messages in the event of catastrophe leans heavily toward practical. You can see this because governments of a wide variety of ideological persuasions would be interested in this.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#177

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. What would be the point of such a currency? Trade and wealth exist because of inequalities. Having the same amount of a currency is same as having none of it!

No, trade exists to get things from one person to another precisely because they have different things.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#178
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…

Reminds me a lot of "dubs" in the 4chan world. The chans have always struck me as being a bit of a cult to some people. Look up all the weird Pepe/Kek stuff.

"Bitcoin is a cult" is click bait. People have been engaging in numeric paradolia with financial systems forever. "Dow hit 666!" Etc.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#179
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. I agree. I am also going one step further and arguing that crypto is more of a fan club then a cult. There are cults way stronger that illicit a far greater emotion reaction that crypto. Even now, when the price is in the toilet, a lot of really smart people are having sane discussions across sub-reddits. And those very smart people are still checkin in code and making improvements. This has happened before. D…

> BBS era and ARPA Net era These services were launched to solve a practical problem. Bitcoin was launched as the manifestation of an ideology.

Ideology played a huge role in BBSes and Arpanet too. The same kind of cyber libertarianism popular in bitcoin was popular in the BBS world, and Arpanet was created to help America win the cold war.

Re: Bitcoin is a Cult

#180
post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, retailers don't even want to support Apple Pay because of its transaction fees. If there is already a almost free and efficient payment system that everyone is happy with and is used by 99% of the population why bother with anything new that IS NOT SUPERIOR TO WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE? I simply don't know what problem BTC was supposed to solve.

What Apple Pay transaction fees? They’re exactly the same standard credit card transaction fees because they ARE standard credit card transaction fees. Apple doesn’t take a cut.

"they ARE standard credit card transaction fees"

Creditcards are robbery, they are not very populair and cost retailers money. Why does everyone want to make money from transactions? We are talking about a basic service that costs less than a cent.

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