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On anti-crypto toxicity

blog.mollywhite.net

271–280 of 734 posts

Re: On anti-crypto toxicity

#271
like others have said, crypto doesn't meaningfully solve much of anything. we need more anti-crypto sentiments, not less.

the really exciting, yet unexplored, leverage point that a new ecology of mutual credit currencies will likely have is in their use in what pioneers have dubbed Network Resource Planning (NRP) software. the DWeb project http://mikorizal.org is working on this. essentially it entails the open mapping of supply chains using DWeb p2p app frameworks (self-describing protocols, instead of centralized third party Silicon Valley-made platforms), using new (e.g. collaborative, automated) forms of resource accounting already employed by ERP systems behind closed doors (undemocratic stewardship of resources as done today is the real reason we are overusing resources). if anyone can see what i mean i'd love to hear you explain in your own words what you see and what you think of the impact it could have.

http://mikorizal.org/Fromprivateownershipaccountingtocommons...

Re: On anti-crypto toxicity

#272
post #167
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess its time for a reality check: Putin oligarchs are still filthy rich, the ruble has come back to pre-war levels while average Russian citizens who have been excluded from the rest of the world. https://developers.slashdot.org/story/22/04/18/016252/is-git...

The ruble's course doesn't matter because it's close to unusable. The Russian economy is cut off from vital supplies, and will soon have all sorts of shortages of all sorts of high tech/quality things - vehicles, phones, computer parts, sensors for their precious resource extractions. China and India cannot fill all the gaps, there's too many of them. As for the oligarchs, they're still rich, but much less so, and th…

> Yes, the average Russian citizen is excluded from the rest of the world, and will bear the brunt of the impact. As they should, because they're the ones who mostly sat idly and allowed all of this to happen. I have zero sympathy for the average Russian whose inaction made them unable to purchase a new phone or car.

What do you expect the average Russia to have done exactly? I’m curious what you would have done in their position.

Re: On anti-crypto toxicity

#273
post #12

I don’t think there’s a bifurcation between “good” and “bad” people in crypto, the real world is a lot more grey, and how people behave doesn’t depend so much on their character, but on culture and incentives. These days, we painfully observe the culture of crypto in every single online medium that isn’t very carefully moderated, for example Twitter. And about incentives, I think it’s very hard not to become some kin…

>I don’t think there’s a bifurcation between “good” and “bad” people in crypto

"The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart."

and

"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being."

-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Re: On anti-crypto toxicity

#274
post #21

>How can we create a more equitable financial system, where everyone has access to banking services? I don't think Crypto is a "more equitable financial system" but it is a more equal one.

I've never heard of a bitcoin or Ethereum deterministic wallet being canceled because someone found out its owner is from Iran or Venezuela. That's a huge improvement over the crap that is the current financial system.

Any state with sufficient laws can enforce exchanges, businesses, etc. to blacklist wallets which have been identified as foreign owned - if there are sanctions / embargos against said country/countries.

Of course, there are ways to obfuscate the money trail, but if they start handing out hard prison time and fines, that alone will probably deter most.

So while you still have a "bank", so to speak, you're still limited to whom you can do business with.

Re: On anti-crypto toxicity

#275
post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It has been a decade of dumb claims and ridiculous assertions from the pro-crypto crowd. Agreed. For me it was the NFT'ing of a fart that was the jumping the shark moment that drove me from being merely a crypto skeptic to being vociferously anti-crypto and advocating against it at every turn.

Bitcoin is a groundbreaking invention. All the "cryptos" and NFTs are just scams.

well, same could be said for Facebook. Only now, less than 20y later, we're all scrolling through endless feeds and digging comment section trenches of the latest culture wars

Re: On anti-crypto toxicity

#276
post #12

I don’t think there’s a bifurcation between “good” and “bad” people in crypto, the real world is a lot more grey, and how people behave doesn’t depend so much on their character, but on culture and incentives. These days, we painfully observe the culture of crypto in every single online medium that isn’t very carefully moderated, for example Twitter. And about incentives, I think it’s very hard not to become some kin…

> In my opinion, all of this would be fun and games if it weren’t for the massive negative externalities all of this cause in terms of environmental damage and accelerating the climate catastrophe.

The climate externalities are significant, but they're not the only problem. If the whole cryptocurrencies space shifted to Proof of Stake tomorrow, cryptocurrencies would still have a tremendously bad effect by increasing wealth inequality (because just as with Proof of Work, it's baked in to the code).

Re: On anti-crypto toxicity

#277

Unfortunately, given: "How can we create a more equitable financial system, where everyone has access to banking services? How can we reduce the power that a small few currently hold over the web? How can we improve data privacy and ensure that people have control over their personal information? How can we create reasonable privacy in the financial system? How can we make information more available to everyone? How…

Quoted post unavailable.

If someone is trying to get to the moon by climbing successively higher trees, are you doing them a disservice by reminding them that the highest tree is not tall enough to reach there? Especially when they are burning large amounts of resources trying to get there?

If people are genuine about solving the world's poverty and inequality problems, recognizing that cryptocurrencies are unlikely to help with those problems is a valuable first step.

Re: On anti-crypto toxicity

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bootstrapping a new cryptocurrency where 90% of the coins go to relatively few early adopters is the worst possible way to fix financial inequality. The crypto holders would love if the world switched to using the cryptocurrency they’re invested in because it would make them extraordinarily wealthy relative to the average person buying in late. I don’t understand how anyone can honestly suggest that a gradual changeo…

Pretending a system that has specific names for various scams will somehow reduce inequality is hilarious. I feel people think “if everyone had bought Bitcoin when it was cheap, everyone would be rich now” and then think that Safemoon rugpull #42053 will somehow do it.

No post body was provided.

Re: On anti-crypto toxicity

#279
post #105
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is that with so many more scams than real projects, and so much focus on buzzwords, it’s more likely to fall for a scam than to actually find a real useful project. And even the not-entirely-a-scam projects, be it NFTs, the entire ETH or BTC sphere, are so full of money laundering, trade front running, people using it as investment vehicle, etc. that you can’t trust these projects either.

Buy Bitcoin. Everything else is a scam. And if you want to launder money use Dollars just like everyone else.

I would argue that Bitcoin is already outdated tech so has the only benefit to be the first one. Now you have crypto doing what Bitcoin does, but with instant transactions, feeless, while barely using any energy (think a wind turbine would suffice to maintain the complete network)

Re: On anti-crypto toxicity

#280
> If you feel the urge to “cyberbully” someone in crypto, direct it at the powerful players behind crypto projects that are actively taking advantage of the vulnerable.

Phrased like that, sure, how can anyone disagree?

But what about urging folks to not loose their shirts in a scam? Situations like going to a wedding, meeting up with relatives/family-friends, and finding out they're about to get involved in Amway, bizarre religions, Tony Robbins or other self-help guru's, or nutritional supplement scams? Does it ever work to intervene? Probably not often, but there's value in speaking to them about it. Same thing with crypto.

One useful thing you can do is to direct folks to the "Line Goes Up" video from Dan Olson (https://youtu.be/YQ_xWvX1n9g). It's an epic, 2 hour long take-down that's perhaps the most comprehensive and air-tight argument against crypto thus far. Does it convince people? I hope so. It should?

It pains me to see even smart progressive orgs like Popula (https://popula.com/) get themselves involved in crypto. And I don't want the most vulnerable people to be left "holding the bag" when this stuff inevitably pops.

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