https://t.co/tkAMShno4k 2/
I've just read one of the most lucid, wide-ranging, cross-disciplinary critiques of cryptocurrency and blockchain I've yet to encounter. 1/
https://t.co/tkAMShno4k 2/
The presence of "externalities" in Rosenthal's title is key. 4/
This is an important critique of libertarianism. 5/
https://t.co/kbmvG5MRbq 11/
https://t.co/bIwXOkJfZH
That democracy itself is incompatible with liberty, since it lets workers vote to limi their bosses:
https://t.co/oL2cBCYJMB 12/
This expense, in turn, compensates miners for the money they pour into defeating Sybil attacks. 21/
This profound wastefulness is a feature, not a bug. 25/
https://t.co/fO5fciIW3u 29/
https://t.co/xbJRf73SZy 35/
https://t.co/jdtbWjOe3C 49/
I. Permissioned blockchains can stop Sybil attacks without cryptocurrency and have no significant externalities; 50/
III. To be successful, permissionless blockchains require proof-of-work or some other deliberately wasteful system, making externalities inevitable; 51/
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters (modified)
https://t.co/bq5JJPcDcp
CC BY 2.0:
https://t.co/B930sKCLnf 56/
https://t.co/5rhyfeEW7L
More from Cory Doctorow RIGHT-CLICKING WORDCEL MENTALITY
Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).
Inside: Mashing the Bernie meme; Know Nothings, conspiratorialism and Pastel Q; and more!
Archived at: https://t.co/cKWPSzuYHE
#Pluralistic
1/
Mashing the Bernie meme: What if every video game, except Bernie with mittens?
https://t.co/Zcs71oUras
2/
Inside: Mashing the Bernie meme; Know Nothings, conspiratorialism and Pastel Q; and more!
Archived at: https://t.co/cKWPSzuYHE
#Pluralistic
1/
Mashing the Bernie meme: What if every video game, except Bernie with mittens?
https://t.co/Zcs71oUras
2/
The remix culture of the early 2000s left an indelible impression on me, an enduring delight in the power of whimsy, juxtaposition, virtuosity and ingenuity - and the ability of strangers all over the world to collaborate without any explicit coordination.
— Cory Doctorow #BLM (@doctorow) January 31, 2021
1/ pic.twitter.com/hMKzmoxjLu
More from Crypto
So the cryptocurrency industry has basically two products, one which is relatively benign and doesn't have product market fit, and one which is malignant and does. The industry has a weird superposition of understanding this fact and (strategically?) not understanding it.
The benign product is sovereign programmable money, which is historically a niche interest of folks with a relatively clustered set of beliefs about the state, the literary merit of Snow Crash, and the utility of gold to the modern economy.
This product has narrow appeal and, accordingly, is worth about as much as everything else on a 486 sitting in someone's basement is worth.
The other product is investment scams, which have approximately the best product market fit of anything produced by humans. In no age, in no country, in no city, at no level of sophistication do people consistently say "Actually I would prefer not to get money for nothing."
This product needs the exchanges like they need oxygen, because the value of it is directly tied to having payment rails to move real currency into the ecosystem and some jurisdictional and regulatory legerdemain to stay one step ahead of the banhammer.
If everyone was holding bitcoin on the old x86 in their parents basement, we would be finding a price bottom. The problem is the risk is all pooled at a few brokerages and a network of rotten exchanges with counter party risk that makes AIG circa 2008 look like a good credit.
— Greg Wester (@gwestr) November 25, 2018
The benign product is sovereign programmable money, which is historically a niche interest of folks with a relatively clustered set of beliefs about the state, the literary merit of Snow Crash, and the utility of gold to the modern economy.
This product has narrow appeal and, accordingly, is worth about as much as everything else on a 486 sitting in someone's basement is worth.
The other product is investment scams, which have approximately the best product market fit of anything produced by humans. In no age, in no country, in no city, at no level of sophistication do people consistently say "Actually I would prefer not to get money for nothing."
This product needs the exchanges like they need oxygen, because the value of it is directly tied to having payment rails to move real currency into the ecosystem and some jurisdictional and regulatory legerdemain to stay one step ahead of the banhammer.
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Ivor Cummins has been wrong (or lying) almost entirely throughout this pandemic and got paid handsomly for it.
He has been wrong (or lying) so often that it will be nearly impossible for me to track every grift, lie, deceit, manipulation he has pulled. I will use...
... other sources who have been trying to shine on light on this grifter (as I have tried to do, time and again:
Example #1: "Still not seeing Sweden signal versus Denmark really"... There it was (Images attached).
19 to 80 is an over 300% difference.
Tweet: https://t.co/36FnYnsRT9
Example #2 - "Yes, I'm comparing the Noridcs / No, you cannot compare the Nordics."
I wonder why...
Tweets: https://t.co/XLfoX4rpck / https://t.co/vjE1ctLU5x
Example #3 - "I'm only looking at what makes the data fit in my favour" a.k.a moving the goalposts.
Tweets: https://t.co/vcDpTu3qyj / https://t.co/CA3N6hC2Lq
He has been wrong (or lying) so often that it will be nearly impossible for me to track every grift, lie, deceit, manipulation he has pulled. I will use...
... other sources who have been trying to shine on light on this grifter (as I have tried to do, time and again:
Ivor Cummins BE (Chem) is a former R&D Manager at HP (sourcre: https://t.co/Wbf5scf7gn), turned Content Creator/Podcast Host/YouTube personality. (Call it what you will.)
— Steve (@braidedmanga) November 17, 2020
Example #1: "Still not seeing Sweden signal versus Denmark really"... There it was (Images attached).
19 to 80 is an over 300% difference.
Tweet: https://t.co/36FnYnsRT9
Example #2 - "Yes, I'm comparing the Noridcs / No, you cannot compare the Nordics."
I wonder why...
Tweets: https://t.co/XLfoX4rpck / https://t.co/vjE1ctLU5x
Example #3 - "I'm only looking at what makes the data fit in my favour" a.k.a moving the goalposts.
Tweets: https://t.co/vcDpTu3qyj / https://t.co/CA3N6hC2Lq