Am I wrong here or is it at very basic level makes these services stay alive?
How is crypto/blockchain %100 not beneficial if it makes Sci-Hub libgen funded?
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Re: How is crypto/blockchain %100 not beneficial if it makes Sci-Hub libgen funded?
#2If there were no benefits to cryptocurrency people would not voluntarily use it. It really is that simple. And yes, I know there are dangers. "Think of the children!"
If the regulated financial infrastructure was a better alternative, there would be no need to create decentralized cryptocurrency platforms.
There was a time when the hacker motto was "information wants to be free". Today HN largely cries, "There outta be a law".
SV is a cesspool of would be gatekeepers or current gatekeepers. Didn't like the print and broadcast media? Try the blogosphere. Even better, try social media. We'll keep you safe from dangerous disinformation.
The emerging frontier of cryptocurrency is another opportunity for disruption, reconstitution and capture.
Re: How is crypto/blockchain %100 not beneficial if it makes Sci-Hub libgen funded?
#3If crypto were just a scalable way to perform global transactions without friction, that would actually be useful.
However, right now crypto:
- is not scalable at all
- is not private at all
- doesn’t have KYC, so it’s possible to be global
- doesn’t follow lows or AML, so you can fund /technically/ illegal things like SciHub
- UI/UX is so bad that even experts accidentally lose everything
- 99% of volume and value is speculation and wash trading
Re: How is crypto/blockchain %100 not beneficial if it makes Sci-Hub libgen funded?
#4Paying for things that benefit you at the expense of others is not the hallmark of a great deed.
Crypto, after a decade of promises, remains nearly exclusively a fraud and pollution ring. Proceeds from misdeeds are not magically redeeming.
What if sex slavers donated their proceeds to sci-hub? If extortionists donated to sci-hub? If assassins donated their proceeds to sci-hub? Suddenly we should call them beneficial? "Oh, I'd love to end child sex trafficking, but did you know about the free access to journal articles?"
Fund sci-hub by mailing them rare pokemon cards instead.
Re: How is crypto/blockchain %100 not beneficial if it makes Sci-Hub libgen funded?
#5The "beneficial" property you're referring to is "can be easily used to fund criminal behavior", which is typically not a desirable feature in a payment system.
Many people believe LibGen/Sci-Hub are good forms of breaking the law - but if that is the case the solution is "make the things they do legal" rather than "make it easier to send criminals money over the internet".
Re: How is crypto/blockchain %100 not beneficial if it makes Sci-Hub libgen funded?
#6If there were no benefits to cryptocurrency people would not voluntarily use it. It really is that simple. And yes, I know there are dangers. "Think of the children!" If the regulated financial infrastructure was a better alternative, there would be no need to create decentralized cryptocurrency platforms. There was a time when the hacker motto was "information wants to be free". Today HN largely cries, "There outta…
Drugs, other illegal things, huge gigantic speculation opportunity.
The things primarily responsible for the 'success' of crypto.
As soon as the countries start to catch up and create laws,.crypto will look like any other currency.
I personally used crypto for drugs. I personally don't have and haven't had any other use case than that and I'm not aware of any other real use case which is solved better with crypto than with what we have.
I'm actually more negative affected by crypto due to GPU prices and additional CO2 consumption.
Re: How is crypto/blockchain %100 not beneficial if it makes Sci-Hub libgen funded?
#7The "beneficial" property you're referring to is "can be easily used to fund criminal behavior", which is typically not a desirable feature in a payment system. Many people believe LibGen/Sci-Hub are good forms of breaking the law - but if that is the case the solution is "make the things they do legal" rather than "make it easier to send criminals money over the internet".
>which is typically not a desirable feature in a payment system.
I think it would be desirable. Some people will get into specifics of which laws they like to break and which laws they want enforced, but my experience has been most people like the ability for some laws to be broken and it is a good thing in regards to some laws being unjust. It is hard to get a standard because we would basically be asking which laws are moral/ethical and which aren't, which is its own messy discussion, but in general I find most people want some freedom to break away from and to weaken the legal system in some cases.
Sure, it might be a bandaid to a larger problem, but a bandaid is preferable to no bandaid even if the wound needs a long term resolution.
Re: How is crypto/blockchain %100 not beneficial if it makes Sci-Hub libgen funded?
#8A perhaps more interesting (and less controversial) variation on this question is "could blockchain usage catalyze financially sustainable and scalable Open Publishing models".
Re: How is crypto/blockchain %100 not beneficial if it makes Sci-Hub libgen funded?
#9If there were no benefits to cryptocurrency people would not voluntarily use it. It really is that simple. And yes, I know there are dangers. "Think of the children!" If the regulated financial infrastructure was a better alternative, there would be no need to create decentralized cryptocurrency platforms. There was a time when the hacker motto was "information wants to be free". Today HN largely cries, "There outta…
> "The emerging frontier of cryptocurrency is another opportunity for disruption, reconstitution and capture."
This should be FTX's epitaph.
Re: How is crypto/blockchain %100 not beneficial if it makes Sci-Hub libgen funded?
#10[deleted]