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The Face Behind Bitcoin?

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Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#481

Post by smsm42 »

Jtsummers wrote: post #287
MadManE wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking advantage of the existing situation for maximum personal gain doesn't indicate doublethink. It only indicates that they care more about themselves than they care about "the greater good" - which, in my opinion is how it should be. Somebody's going to be getting paid for doing nothing - it might as well be me.

It's doublethink or hypocrisy to complain about people getting fat off the government dole while getting fat off the government dole.

The complaint is about the system that allows to do that. While the system is in place, somebody's going to be the beneficiary. If the system were to be destroyed, then nobody - including the people complaining - would get fat off it. It's like if you just took your money out of your wallet and threw it on the street, I'd tell you it's not a sound financial behavior. Would then it be hypocritical for me to take some of that money laying in the street? I personally would be reluctant to work for government unless having no other option, but I understand people who do while still thinking government should be less invasive.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#482

Post by anigbrowl »

prostoalex wrote: post #456
dagw wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I think publishing his name and address was in any way a good idea, but how many US citizens from this list: http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/#tab:overall get "robbed, kidnapped or killed" each year?

Their personal security spending runs millions of dollars a year. For example: http://gizmodo.com/5517656/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-has-17m-wor...

So? He can afford it.

I'm pretty sure that the real issue here is that if he starts spending his money he's going to get hit with a very large tax bill which he would rather not receive.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#483

Post by smsm42 »

rosser wrote: post #337
Houshalter wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ayn Rand withdrew Social Security checks (to get back what the government took.) There is nothing necessarily wrong with that.

When you claim Social Security money, you aren't "getting back" what you put in/was "taken" from you. Your contribution is already gone, disbursed to current recipients. When you ultimately collect, that money is similarly coming out of someone else's pocket.

That is true, but it is not how it is marketed. SS is marketed as "insurance" (official name is Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) - so you pay the premium and then get the benefits. The fact that it is not actually insurance but a combination of tax and welfare program is true, but it's hardly the fault of the person who has no choice in paying the tax. If you already are forced to pay the admission price, you may as well enjoy the benefit of what is being sold, even if you are forced to buy it and prefer not to. E.g. many places force people to buy car insurance. Would it be hypocritical for somebody to object to the fact that it is mandatory and still buy it and use it when accident happens? I think only person not understanding the difference between voluntary and coerced transactions would claim such thing.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#484

Post by Crito »

pkfrank wrote: post #371
Crito wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I know, many public school typing classes still teach double-spaces. It isn't until you get to things like classes in journalism tracks at universities that the concept is dispensed with.

This bit of the article also confused me. Who doesn't double-space after periods? I recognize the historical origin (typewriters), but I was taught this way and I'm "only" 24.

I use double spaces because it is a harmless habit that typesetting systems correct when it isn't appropriate. In fixed-width code, it looks better imho, so I continue to use it there.

Since typesetting systems remove it anyway though, there isn't any reason to do it when using them.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#486

Post by saraid216 »

bane wrote: post #415
dragonwriter wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Doesn't that imply then that those bits that shouldn't have been shrunk are therefore not part of what they think is "the government"? No, what you are doing is demonstrating the fallacy of division. The proposition "we should shrink government " is not equivalent to, and does not imply, the proposition "we should shrink every individual component of government ". There is a legitimate case to be made that many peo…

Yeah, you are right. My thinking is a fallacy. Rationally, shrinking even a single program is "shrinking government". But practically "shrinking government" is used to mean "shrinking the civilian parts of government". > There is a legitimate case to be made that many people who would assert the need to shrink government in aggregate haven't actually considered things sufficiently and would not maintain that position…

> But practically "shrinking government" is used to mean "shrinking the civilian parts of government".

Uh... I think I know what you want to mean, but this makes it seem like you have no idea about the principle of civilian authority over the military.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#487

Post by smsm42 »

cgore wrote: post #302
spindritf wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 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…

ITYM "no government-sponsored space program".

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#488

Post by anigbrowl »

gress wrote: post #474
anigbrowl wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, for example, mass transit, like subways would still exist if the government didn't use coercion to fund and run it, it would just be owned by private individuals. Given the dearth of private subway companies, I question this claim. There are lots of places where a subway would be highly desirable but doesn't exist, why hasn't some entrepreneurial soul built one already?

False. The London Underground, the earliest subway system, was initially built as a patchwork of private railway systems that were later brought under government control. Most of the subsequent systems (e.g. Paris, Moscow, St. Petersburg) used the London system as a reference. So, mass transit did in fact arise as a result of private entrepreneurship. The reason subways don't exist in places where it would be 'desira…

Not true. The Corporation of the City of London put up most of the money with the goal of alleviating congestion. The chief visionary, charles Pierson, was the solicitor (a sort of lawyer) for the City.

http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/first-day-lond...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Railway#Establishm...

Same deal with new York's subway - therre were private companies involved but they were set up within the frameworks of a public works project and were basically financial vehicles designed to limit financial liability and attract some matching capital from the private sector for an initial large public sector investment or monopoly grant.

I'm sympathetic to libertarianism but this notion that all this stuff would happen by itself if it weren't for evil government interference is just bollocks, it's just as stupid as communists claiming that all private capital is wicked.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#489

Post by badman_ting »

bane wrote: post #101

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…

Yes, most of my in-laws are people whose entire life was funded by work done for the Federal government. And they all think the government sucks. They'll bitch about welfare and then they'll bitch about, like, a pool being shut down that they used to be able to use because they're related to a service member. It's dumb.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#490

Post by BU_student »

citricsquid wrote: post #322
sktrdie wrote: post #300

Here's a comment left on a forum by this Dorian person: https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/preserved-bars... Satoshi's punctuation style with the double-space after the dot is a distinctive feature of his writing, used in both the official Bitcoin publication and on forum posts. Looking at the HTML source of that review, you can notice this exact punctuation style.

This is a very common Americanism, double spacing after periods is something I see more than single spacing. I would be more surprised if a 50s American didn't double space after periods. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/...

You should read this comment:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2103480

Manjoo was wrong.

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