Neal Stephenson doesn't seem keen on crypto anymore
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Neal Stephenson doesn't seem keen on crypto anymore
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Re: Neal Stephenson doesn't seem keen on crypto anymore
#2I was using "magic beans" way before it was cool.
I could prove it, it's just that I've had several HN accounts banned since then.
Re: Neal Stephenson doesn't seem keen on crypto anymore
#3Maybe it'll cause him to reflect on some of his other techno-optimism too.
I like stephenson fine but he has a huge blind spot about the role of tech companies in positive transformations. I read seveneves a couple years ago and it was so intensely offputting to see obvious neil degrasse tyson and elon musk standins in straightforwardly heroic roles. For someone with such a sophisticated eye for power and change it just seems mindbogglingly naive. I think the crypto thing fits into that same blind spot as well.
Re: Neal Stephenson doesn't seem keen on crypto anymore
#4I was using "magic beans" way before it was cool. I could prove it, it's just that I've had several HN accounts banned since then.
"magic beans" is also a name for part of cats feet
e.g. https://old.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/ohb0xp/magic_beans_and...
Re: Neal Stephenson doesn't seem keen on crypto anymore
#5For anyone else who missed it the first time around, here's Neal Stephenson originally being keen on crypto-currency:
Re: Neal Stephenson doesn't seem keen on crypto anymore
#6Maybe it'll cause him to reflect on some of his other techno-optimism too. I like stephenson fine but he has a huge blind spot about the role of tech companies in positive transformations. I read seveneves a couple years ago and it was so intensely offputting to see obvious neil degrasse tyson and elon musk standins in straightforwardly heroic roles. For someone with such a sophisticated eye for power and change it j…
I know a few people seem to think that Sean Probst was modelled on Musk - but I didn't see him like that at all....
Edit: Wasn't Probst supposed to be from New Jersey?
Re: Neal Stephenson doesn't seem keen on crypto anymore
#7This isn't about cryptocurrency at all. It's about the obviously bad idea of transferable digital in-game goods [sold for cryptocurrency]. You don't need the crypto part to see why it's not a good idea, although the model described here (selling loot to other players?) is not the extremely silly one I've heard more often (buy a CSGO skin and wear it in other games!).
Re: Neal Stephenson doesn't seem keen on crypto anymore
#8Maybe it'll cause him to reflect on some of his other techno-optimism too. I like stephenson fine but he has a huge blind spot about the role of tech companies in positive transformations. I read seveneves a couple years ago and it was so intensely offputting to see obvious neil degrasse tyson and elon musk standins in straightforwardly heroic roles. For someone with such a sophisticated eye for power and change it j…
The real Rorschach test here is who Julia Bliss Flaherty is meant to be: HRC or Sarah Palin (who was still relevant in 2015)
Re: Neal Stephenson doesn't seem keen on crypto anymore
#9Anyone who has read Cryptonomicon should remember that the hero protagonists went to a lot of effort to secure a large mass of gold to 'back' the currency they wanted to create.
The Baroque Trilogy is less clear as Isaac Newton mints new currency.
Does that mean that perhaps Stephenson's opinions were always that currency needs to be backed by something whether it is gold or national borders.
Re: Neal Stephenson doesn't seem keen on crypto anymore
#10I'm somewhat outrageously bullish on cryptocurrency, but still lovingly refer to it as 'fake internet money'.