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Cryptonomicon: Among the Bitcoin maximalists

harpers.org

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Re: Cryptonomicon: Among the Bitcoin maximalists

#61

Post by mistrial9 »

shralpmeister wrote: post #10
seibelj wrote: post #8

> In The Bitcoin Standard, Ammous blamed the Fed for the modern “breakdown of the family,” and for “perhaps most damagingly, the depletion of the soil of its nutrients, leading to ever-lower levels of nutrients in food.” He compared the art of the Renaissance, Classical, and Romantic periods, all financed properly with sound money, to the decadent culture of the twenty-first century, with its “animalistic noises’’ an…

Is it just me or does that read like a far-right, Christian, white supremacist screed?

no it must be far-left, Shinto, yellow supremacist. Wait! look in your closet, there is one now! quick! get them and post about it

Re: Cryptonomicon: Among the Bitcoin maximalists

#62

Post by [deleted] »

Animats wrote: post #21

That's a great read. What's striking, in his description of the conference, is the total lack of any connection to real world activity. None of these people seem to be trying to get enough Bitcoin together to build a steel mill or a wafer fab or a smartphone factory or, indeed, any kind of startup that does something. Bitcoin is expected to somehow generate wealth without actually doing anything that generates revenu…

[deleted]

Re: Cryptonomicon: Among the Bitcoin maximalists

#63

Post by tedunangst »

MR4D wrote: post #4

This is interesting... The linked article is titled "Cryptonomicon", and written by Will Stephenson, and a book with the same title was written by Neal Stephenson. Yet, no mention of Neal or his book in the article. So I wonder where he got the word for his title?

Probably the same place the other Stephenson got it. Crypto + /necro/nomicon = cryptonomicon.

Re: Cryptonomicon: Among the Bitcoin maximalists

#64

Post by trinovantes »

kragen wrote: post #43
Animats wrote: post #21

That's a great read. What's striking, in his description of the conference, is the total lack of any connection to real world activity. None of these people seem to be trying to get enough Bitcoin together to build a steel mill or a wafer fab or a smartphone factory or, indeed, any kind of startup that does something. Bitcoin is expected to somehow generate wealth without actually doing anything that generates revenu…

As it turns out, moving money from one group to another† is pretty useful in modern society. It's really all that money is good for, after all. Some of my comments from the last week and a half about what Bitcoin is good for: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30469595 when your country's central bank suspends electronic cash transfers, suspends the foreign exchange market, limits cash withdrawals, and prohibits th…

I doubt Bitcoin will help you when an authoritarian government targets you specifically

https://xkcd.com/538/

Re: Cryptonomicon: Among the Bitcoin maximalists

#65

Post by r00fus »

kragen wrote: post #43
Animats wrote: post #21

That's a great read. What's striking, in his description of the conference, is the total lack of any connection to real world activity. None of these people seem to be trying to get enough Bitcoin together to build a steel mill or a wafer fab or a smartphone factory or, indeed, any kind of startup that does something. Bitcoin is expected to somehow generate wealth without actually doing anything that generates revenu…

As it turns out, moving money from one group to another† is pretty useful in modern society. It's really all that money is good for, after all. Some of my comments from the last week and a half about what Bitcoin is good for: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30469595 when your country's central bank suspends electronic cash transfers, suspends the foreign exchange market, limits cash withdrawals, and prohibits th…

Money is the flow of utility (1st derivative). Flow of money is 2nd derivative.

The uses you indicate are probably 10% of the use case, the remaining 90% is money laundering.

Re: Cryptonomicon: Among the Bitcoin maximalists

#66

Post by CodeMage »

Animats wrote: post #21

That's a great read. What's striking, in his description of the conference, is the total lack of any connection to real world activity. None of these people seem to be trying to get enough Bitcoin together to build a steel mill or a wafer fab or a smartphone factory or, indeed, any kind of startup that does something. Bitcoin is expected to somehow generate wealth without actually doing anything that generates revenu…

> Over the next few months, the tolerance for bullshit, especially in politics, will go way down.

Maybe I'm too cynical, but I think it's way more likely that the next few months will allow those politicians who relied on that bullshit in order to push their agenda, to instead push that agenda quietly and with little or no opposition.

For example, you don't see a lot of outrage on Twitter over Greg Abbott's persecution of trans children anymore, because Twitter is abuzz with what's going on in Ukraine. This is a thing that is just as "real" as Ukraine, but the collective attention gets focused on one thing at a time, which is why "bullshit in politics" is usually needed.

Re: Cryptonomicon: Among the Bitcoin maximalists

#67

Post by ypeterholmes »

Animats wrote: post #21

That's a great read. What's striking, in his description of the conference, is the total lack of any connection to real world activity. None of these people seem to be trying to get enough Bitcoin together to build a steel mill or a wafer fab or a smartphone factory or, indeed, any kind of startup that does something. Bitcoin is expected to somehow generate wealth without actually doing anything that generates revenu…

Counterpoint- this was yet another tired critique of Bitcoin. How many of these smug, superficial boomer oriented rants must we endure?

It's easy to attend conferences and mock people. Meanwhile BTC is playing a meaningful role in the realpolitik you mention, and quickly integrating into the entire banking system. You say BTC has no connection to the real world, as if the Canadian truckers didn't just get their accounts frozen, and cutting Russia off from SWIFT wasn't being discussed. How do you maintain that view in the face of such events?

Re: Cryptonomicon: Among the Bitcoin maximalists

#68

Post by 8note »

seibelj wrote: post #14
burnoutgal wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, classic fascist rhetoric. It's not surprising they point to a woman being independent and expressing her sexuality as the example of "degenerate culture". The "other" (people of colour, women, queers) are producing art that represents our own experiences, which is a threat to their desired white hetero-patriarchal order. Never mind that Mozart wrote a ton of filthy shit. People have been obsessed with sex foreve…

I think the comment about the music is ridiculous, but the broader point about free money causing the gradual degradation of food, housing, standard of living, etc. is not without merit.

The factors leading to the dust bowl in the 1930s happened under the gold standard.

The government is prioritizing the wrong things, which is leading to today's degradation of food, but lack of government intervention also results in the degradation of food.

Housing quality and standard of living are at their best ever - if free money is causing that, thats not a terrible outcome

Re: Cryptonomicon: Among the Bitcoin maximalists

#69

Post by youarethebest »

perardi wrote: post #57
seibelj wrote: post #8

> In The Bitcoin Standard, Ammous blamed the Fed for the modern “breakdown of the family,” and for “perhaps most damagingly, the depletion of the soil of its nutrients, leading to ever-lower levels of nutrients in food.” He compared the art of the Renaissance, Classical, and Romantic periods, all financed properly with sound money, to the decadent culture of the twenty-first century, with its “animalistic noises’’ an…

There are just…I can’t even start with the sheer inanity of that quote. First off, the First World War happened on the gold standard . Most currencies, notably the British Pound, didn’t become decoupled from gold until after WW1. And those World Wars were enabled by technology , not fiat currency . Mass production of weaponry, rapid advancements in said weaponry, trains, fertilizer to grow more food to supply those f…

No post body was provided.

Re: Cryptonomicon: Among the Bitcoin maximalists

#70

Post by youarethebest »

oh_sigh wrote: post #19
seibelj wrote: post #8

> In The Bitcoin Standard, Ammous blamed the Fed for the modern “breakdown of the family,” and for “perhaps most damagingly, the depletion of the soil of its nutrients, leading to ever-lower levels of nutrients in food.” He compared the art of the Renaissance, Classical, and Romantic periods, all financed properly with sound money, to the decadent culture of the twenty-first century, with its “animalistic noises’’ an…

If our crops don't have any nutrients, how exactly would our animal products have nutrients in them? I doubt he is eating wild caught animals for a majority of his nutrition - presumably just eating factory raised pigs and cows which are fed the same crops that he believes has no nutrients. I'll also bet that Ammous ends up with diverticulitis within 10 years if his description of his diet is correct.

Grass-fed animals unaffected.

Easy to get if you actually look and are willing to support regenerative farms in order to obtain the best nutrition possible.

I suggest researching into how animals turn grass into nutrients and the difference between crops for human consumption and grass.

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