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The Face Behind Bitcoin?

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Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#651

Post by zecho »

res0nat0r wrote: post #552
polymatter wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if she is wrong? Maybe he doesn't have access to his million dollar fortune. Maybe he lost the keys. Maybe someone else used his name and he is the Satoshi but not the creator. He is certainly not living as someone with hundreds of millions in the bank. In what way did he lose any right to be protected from public scrutiny (assuming anyone does have that right - I'm not sure they do)?

> He is certainly not living as someone with hundreds of millions in the bank. Thats because he doesn't have hundreds of millions in the bank. He has it in a random internet conceived currency. I'd seriously like to see him (or anyone for that matter) try and realize $1MM in Bitcoin in actual USD. Good luck with getting your 1000 payouts of $1000 at a time spread over the course of 2 weeks per payout.

"The whole reason geeks get excited about Bitcoin is that it is the most efficient way to do financial transactions."

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#652

Post by bane »

baddox wrote: post #509
bane wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you live in a system that coerces you into giving up half of your income it doesn't mean that you are in the wrong for working for it or even taking things like subsidies. I'm positing that it does. In fact, there's only one case where I can find working for the government while thinking it shouldn't exist is workable, and that's working for the government in a capacity where you can dismantle the government.…

> In fact, there's only one case where I can find working for the government while thinking it shouldn't exist is workable, and that's working for the government in a capacity where you can dismantle the government. Which is often what happens right? Where do you draw the line? What about using tax-funded roads, or regulated industries like air travel?

It doesn't mean I agree with that method. But it's at least internally consistent and I can respect the ideology and politics from it.

I happily think that my taxes help buy the civilization I enjoy. I actually believe the concept that government is not some impersonal monolithic bureaucracy, but is what Lincoln enshrined as "by the people, of the people and for the people".

When the IRS makes a mistake and gives me a hard time I don't think "GODDAMN IMPERSONAL IRS SCREW THE GOVERNMENT", I think "some poor schlep looking at tax returns all day screwed up." I think this might come from the area I grew up and live in, where practically every 4th or 5th person I know is employed in some capacity by the Federal government. So I personalize what it is and understand that it's not a mechanized black box.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#653

Post by tonyhb »

cbr wrote: post #64
tonyhb wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really – the Kentucky police chief is paid in bitcoin: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57614544-93/kentucky-police... People don't have to be working in the tech scene to be interested.

a Kentucky police chief

Ah thanks. Not entirely sure of the police hierarchy in America.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#654

Post by weavejester »

mpyne wrote: post #594
weavejester wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if someone does something of note, they give up their right to privacy, even if that could compromise their own safety?

That's basically what keeps the paparazzi in business, yes. There's a reason the First Amendment rights were listed first , as well, which is the same reason the Guardian has been doing much of their Snowden coverage out of their New York office; press freedom is a big deal, even when that's inconvenient for you...

Since we're talking ethics, rather than legality, do you believe it's ethically sound to post someone's personal details, and then make (possibly false) claims about them that may compromise their safety?

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#655

Post by bane »

3pt14159 wrote: post #567
bane wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you live in a system that coerces you into giving up half of your income it doesn't mean that you are in the wrong for working for it or even taking things like subsidies. I'm positing that it does. In fact, there's only one case where I can find working for the government while thinking it shouldn't exist is workable, and that's working for the government in a capacity where you can dismantle the government.…

It isn't hypocritical because I find myself in a system that accepts coercion. If I disagree with communism should I refuse work and perish from starvation? No! I'm already within the system that make unethical demands. It isn't a choice between living free and working within an unethical system, it is a choice between working within an unethical system or working within an unethical system in a different manner. Wit…

> It isn't hypocritical

Wrong, full stop. It's actually the literal dictionary definition of hypocrisy.

The problem I have is not being a hypocrite, it's not being cognitively able to acknowledge it.

> If I disagree with communism should I refuse work and perish from starvation?

No, of course not. But you can recognize that you are helping perpetuate the system you disagree with. You may be empowered to resolve that conflict or not, but not the conflict exists at all? Now that's a problem. It fundamentally delegitimizes all of your arguments.

> That is where the sin is.

Definitely not interested in arguing where the sin is. Or how lamentable and pathetic a coerced situation you've found yourself in that you have no choice but to hypocrize yourself while insisting you aren't. You can also be coerced into hypocrisy.

Redefining words or insisting that you really truly dearly hold the set of beliefs you hold, yet are working against, doesn't modify the nature of the universe.

The truth is, it doesn't matter if you are a hypocrite. Everybody commits a little hypocrisy all the time. I don't like sweat shops, but man if cheap shirts made in unregulated developing countries don't fill my closet.

I don't have a particular problem with your beliefs, you've selected your chosen set of ideological axioms and have chosen to work off of those. I'm not even remotely interested in debating those.

What I'm interested in what happens when you violate your beliefs, do you acknowledge that violation, or do you try to fold space-time around your beliefs and act as if nothing at all ever happened.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#656

Post by comex »

bane wrote: post #655
3pt14159 wrote: post #567

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't hypocritical because I find myself in a system that accepts coercion. If I disagree with communism should I refuse work and perish from starvation? No! I'm already within the system that make unethical demands. It isn't a choice between living free and working within an unethical system, it is a choice between working within an unethical system or working within an unethical system in a different manner. Wit…

> It isn't hypocritical Wrong, full stop. It's actually the literal dictionary definition of hypocrisy. The problem I have is not being a hypocrite, it's not being cognitively able to acknowledge it. > If I disagree with communism should I refuse work and perish from starvation? No, of course not. But you can recognize that you are helping perpetuate the system you disagree with. You may be empowered to resolve that…

Hypocrisy is behaving in a manner inconsistent with one's principles. One can have a principle that people shouldn't do anything that could assist something they consider evil, but if they have a less strict standard, doing so is not "the literal dictionary definition of hypocrisy".

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#657

Post by gnarbarian »

zecho wrote: post #650
gnarbarian wrote: post #631

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that I also work in the private sector as well. I have both private and public clients. It's MUCH MUCH worse in government. Also if you're seen as wasteful at a large company you're more likely to be shown the door. The larger the organization the more room there is for waste within its ranks. No organizations are larger than the government.

Speaking as a government employee, not a contractor, we are actually more efficient than my previous private sector jobs. But then again, we have a "build it don't buy it" culture here with a lot of love for open source throughout our services and really only use consultants on ultra specific jobs, due to head count caps from our legislature. Sure there's some union cruft here and there but I've seen similar dead wei…

your department sounds pretty awesome. I've never seen anything like that. Unfortunately I don't have the option of choosing our clients. I am but a humble developer for an 8a contractor.

If you don't mind me asking. What state/department do you work for?

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#658

Post by selimthegrim »

Myrmornis wrote: post #417

Well it's too late to get any points for this inference now, but I'm going to claim that there was a strong clue that the author of the PDF was old: the bitcoin paper cites "An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications" by William Feller. This is a classic, from the 1960s, but I don't think it's very well known among people under 40 (correct me if I'm wrong).

I'm 27 and I've certainly heard of that book - most people studying probability even for scientific applications will have encountered it. I actually recommended it to a friend about 3 years ago.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#659

Post by mindcrime »

enraged_camel wrote: post #390
wpietri wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>>And I think that would be especially true of the libertarians I have known. If I were to generalize about them, I'd say that on average they're unusually thoughtful and unusually principled. Most people don't even try for a coherent political philosophy. Libertarianism will look like a "coherent political philosophy" only if you're a young white kid from an affluent family.

Libertarianism will look like a "coherent political philosophy" only if you're a young white kid from an affluent family.

Or, anybody else.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#660

Post by mindcrime »

fivethree wrote: post #353
cgore wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of people seem to be confusing Libertarianism with Anarchism. Libertarians typically do see roles for SOME government, and those roles are typically the military, judges, roads, police, and the like. Not other things though, so no Social Security, no Obamacare, no National Endowment for the Arts, and no space program (other than for space weapons, so get rid of NASA and establish some sort of "US Star F…

Libertarians view of government is, 'I want to be allowed to do whatever I want while everyone else is restricted to doing what I want them to do.' It's a dumb ideology that falls apart with literally any amount of thought.

Libertarians view of government is, 'I want to be allowed to do whatever I want while everyone else is restricted to doing what I want them to do.'

No it isn't. You're either badly misinformed, or trolling. That is nothing like the libertarian viewpoint.

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