This is great! The concept of distributed currencies should be spread as far wide as possible.
The more obscurely stored the better!
The Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every copy of macOS
271–280 of 451 posts
Re: The Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every copy of macOS
#272Earlier quoted context omitted.
Silicon Valley tech-bros know that the money-printer drives the malinvestment bubbles that feed them. They're natural enemies of a decentralized, deflationary currency.
Bitcoin is neither deflationary nor a currency.
Here’s the arguments-less old schooler.
Edit: bank worker I see, now makes more sense. Sorry man.
Re: The Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every copy of macOS
#273Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You're going to claim you're certain that a solution to the Byzantine generals problem will have no useful consequences? Yes.
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Solutions to the problem have been proposed since at least 1982. if you wanna get theoretical Bitcoin isn't even a game-theoretically unique
In fact that's probably the biggest criticism in general of the technology. What does it solve? I can't really think of a single use-case that couldn't have been solved using other, existing technologies. It seems like it's just adding extra constraints with no actual benefits. And it never lives up to the supposed benefits. In terms of centralization that's turned out to pretty consistently be a false promise. One Bitcoin transaction uses about as much electricity as a US household uses in a month so it's not scalable or sustainable. The cryptography techniques aren't particularly novel except maybe the way they were put together. But you can usually get a lot more use out of just using those cryptography techniques without all the added baggage. The idea that it provides anonymity is also very false. If anything, quite the opposite.
The one thing it does somewhat well is introduce scarcity where there previously was none. Which is often a major cost rather than a benefit but even when it's the main benefit it's not really an effective tool (see all the examples of non-tech-literate people buying "NFTs" as art and then finding that that encrypted URL they just bought got taken down)
Re: The Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every copy of macOS
#274The first I saw 184 - I read 1984 - both the old Apple ad and the context of cryptocurrencies matches
Re: The Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every copy of macOS
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really though? I’m confident there are 100 RFCs alone that were more impactful.
We’ve seen many instances of documents that weren’t highly thought of at the time of their publication, with that changing radically later. Vannevar Bush‘s essay “As We May Think” in 1945 is a visionary document that describes technologies we take for granted today more than 70 years ago. It’s possible the Bitcoin white paper will be looked at in similar ways, especially if Bitcoin ends up being one mankind’s most im…
At its best Bitcoin is just a slightly more convenient digital gold. That isn't exactly innovative. Even modern fiat is more innovative than that.
Re: The Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every copy of macOS
#276Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even if only half the people in China or India did that, they would be double the numbers of the US for such tasks. They have taxes, work and PDFs too. For Google search numbers, that would be different considering PDF searches in China wouldn't be done using Google. But perhaps taxes aren't done using PDFs either, that important detail I don't know.
There are significant percentages of people in China and India that have never used the internet on any device at all, let alone opened any PDF. The number of people filing taxes on a computer in India rounds to zero. For example, a quarter of India is illiterate. And 97+% of them don't make enough money to owe tax. And of the final 3%, many have someone else file for them. https://www.ibtimes.com/how-many-people-ind…
The linked article is 10 years old, and the situation on ground has changed a lot, specifically due to concentrated efforts by the central government to prevent tax evasion. I'm not aware of the figures, and a majority chunk of income-earners still doesn't pay income tax, but it's most definitely much less than the 97% that you mentioned.
Tax evasion as I know it, and as has been informed to me by many financial consultants I've talked to, is now increasingly difficult. You really need to have back-channel contacts with the right people and spectacular know-how of the loopholes to pull it off. I'm talking about large-scale evasion here, but much of it stands true for small-scale as well.
Re: The Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every copy of macOS
#277Earlier quoted context omitted.
> and the former would never allow this to happen ever. Not sure what you mean here. There are many Linux distros...?
And they will never allow this to happen.
Linux distros have had plenty of interesting things hidden in them over the years.
https://mirrors.slackware.com/slackware/slackware-2.3/source...
Re: The Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every copy of macOS
#278Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really though? I’m confident there are 100 RFCs alone that were more impactful.
Silicon Valley tech-bros know that the money-printer drives the malinvestment bubbles that feed them. They're natural enemies of a decentralized, deflationary currency.
Ah yes, cryptocurrency the harbinger of good investment opportunities.
The vast majority of cryptocurrencies are undeniably "malinvestments".
Re: The Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every copy of macOS
#279Is there a Bitcoin miner somewhere in there, too?
Valid questions for any consumer. I love the comments here all so awe struck by this that they don't realize how stupid it is. Literally any PDF document would have served the same purpose, the printer test page could have been enough. But this just reveals that even deep inside Apple development there are cryptobros who don't mind all the millions of dollars that the whole crypto movement has scammed from hard worki…
I feel a difference between the rationality of a critique and the disappointment caused by disappointing human behaviors.
The paper in question is a genesis, discussing it doesn't imply you "don't mind" about all the scammed people.
The weird easter-egg-y nature of "hiding" this document inside a commercial OS makes your contribution a bit extreme; you created a imaginary bridge between two mountains.
Re: The Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in every copy of macOS
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
My mistake on that claim, I still roll my eyes at people who say it's totally normal and okay. How many racey pictures of men have been canonicalized like that? There's a leering element to it.
The statue of David comes to mind immediately. It's been canonicalized like that for over over 500 years, yet I don't hear anybody saying that it's not ok, or talking about how it projects an unhealthy stereotype of men.
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