381–390 of 703 posts
Topic other than discussing the irresponsibility of "outing" a guy using the clever tricks of using his name and public records look ups. > A libertarian, Nakamoto encouraged his daughter to be independent, start her own business and "not be under the government's thumb," she says. "He was very wary of the government, taxes and people in charge." > What you don't know about him is that he's worked on classified stuff…
My government job is cool, because I do work and stuff. Other people, of course, suck at the government teat, and drive welfare Cadillacs to the welfare office to pick up their food stamps and welfare check to pay for their 15 kids by different fathers. In other words, if you do it, it's wrong and you need to change. If I do it, it's because you just don't understand. (Edit: Do we need an irony tag? This is a humorou…
Topic other than discussing the irresponsibility of "outing" a guy using the clever tricks of using his name and public records look ups. > A libertarian, Nakamoto encouraged his daughter to be independent, start her own business and "not be under the government's thumb," she says. "He was very wary of the government, taxes and people in charge." > What you don't know about him is that he's worked on classified stuff…
Couldn't this also be seen as principled? Arguing for a concept such as smaller government even when it hurts your own career seems courageous in a sense.
So Newsweek outed a guy who allegedly owns half a billion dollars in pseudo-untraceable, digital cash? I hope they're also going to chip in for a permanent security detail... More seriously, I think they could have done a better job reporting on the identity without giving so much away: * A picture of his house is posted, identical to the one in Google Street View * The license plate is relatively clear in the high-r…
Topic other than discussing the irresponsibility of "outing" a guy using the clever tricks of using his name and public records look ups. > A libertarian, Nakamoto encouraged his daughter to be independent, start her own business and "not be under the government's thumb," she says. "He was very wary of the government, taxes and people in charge." > What you don't know about him is that he's worked on classified stuff…
Snowden did the same thing. Sometimes people feel that you need to understand the beast before fighting against it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ayn Rand withdrew Social Security checks (to get back what the government took.) There is nothing necessarily wrong with that.
Yes, but this is not really related to what I said. Ayn Rand, and any other person who has become independently wealthy in a way that has nothing to do with the government, can despise looters and be consistent. Government workers in particular cannot.
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That's still not hypocrite, because the power plant would be built anyway . Her/His action is not causing the power plant to happen, unless somehow s/he's the only nuclear engineer available.
No, performing actions that are different than your beliefs is literally the definition of hypocrisy. The fact that somebody else might take the actions anyways is irrelevant.
However, believing the government should be smaller and then voting for politicians who want to grow your sector of the government does seem hypocritical.
"What?" The police officer balks. "This is the guy who created Bitcoin? It looks like he's living a pretty humble life." That quote smells totally fake to me. There's just no way some random office would know what Bitcoin is, and even if he did, that's not something a police officer would say. I don't know what that says about the rest of the article, but that quote doesn't read very factual to me.
"no way"... You lost me and your credibility with that one.
Quite an odd article for such an important (if true) expose. The only reason I think its possibly true is Gavin's vague tweet. 50% of the article deals with material about bitcoin that is redundant to anyone whose been following it for more than a day (like most here). 45% deals with "Dorian S. Nakamoto"'s family, personal background and that he's a libertarian oddball, with a penchant for math (but no other signific…
Seems like a confirmation?
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the paradox of the deeply conservative anti-federal government types who work for the government - directly or as a fed contractor Those are the people who have a realistic, first hand understanding of the government innerworkings. Also, a contradiction between believing that allocation of capital would be more efficient under a less centrally-influenced system, and being willing to accept higher pay and benefits fro…
I think what your proposed cognitive model of anti-government government workers is missing is something Upton Sinclair pointed at: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." I've worked for financial trading companies and for advertisers before, but I can't do that work anymore because I think those industries mainly make the world worse. Not won't d…
Libertarianism will look like a "coherent political philosophy" only if you're a young white kid from an affluent family.