"Bitcoin is simply an alternative; an exit valve; an opt-out. It is competing only insofar as it is proving to be a far superior alternative. It is not a sword for Theseus to fight the Minotaur, but a thread to follow to exit the labyrinth. Bitcoin is Ariadne."
"What remains of interpersonal, non-programmatic banking is likely to look very similar to the proscriptions of Islamic finance, with a dramatically reduced role for debt, and a focus on risk-sharing rather than risk-transfer. Bitcoin is halal."
"Bitcoin was weakest when smallest, but less so the more time passes. Bitcoin is a black hole sucking unsustainably artificial value beyond its event horizon. As it grows, so does its pull. Bitcoin is gravity."
"Efforts to ban Bitcoin, while they will certainly be attempted, will also almost certainly fail. Bitcoin is the ultimate samizdat. Bitcoin is logos."
"No alternative has ever actually worked. Given the problems Bitcoin solves are very clearly not just academic but are core to human civilization, actually working is rather important. Bitcoin is techne."
"I am quite partial to the romantic idea that Bitcoin was discovered rather than invented. It is a foundation to scale the next great phase of economic progress. Bitcoin is Venice."
essay in meme form:
n.b. this is a ~30 minute read, so don't say I didn't warn you!
but also, I will soon be serializing the entire trilogy into 14 sections, each 5-10 mins long, for much more convenient reading and referencing.
watch this space 😃
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Bitcoin’s value as money will naturally be determined by how easy it is to use it to buy things. Luckily, Bitcoin has what is called a “difficulty adjustment” which is known to vary based on the proportion of Bitcoin transactions that start with zero.
This is because if it is too difficult for somebody to transfer Bitcoin, but they have already committed to a transaction by proving the transaction works, they tend to just transfer zero and use PayPal instead.
tfw when you accuse somebody of being a liar, a fraud, an idiot, a charlatan, a bullshit artist, and a cult leader, and his acolytes' only comeback is, “it’s too long.”
it’s long because of just how much stupid bullshit he has done, you morons.
I was thorough.
🧵/n
I’ll try to put the highlights in a tweetstorm trailer. somebody asked for the medium version, this is it:
he chastised somebody for failing to have read a book of his that hasn’t yet been published.
2/n
he wrote a foreword to a book he hadn’t read about a concept he doesn’t understand.
he revealed as much by slandering a world expert in *something else* he doesn’t understand, who was mentioned in this book.
3/n
what other than a diatribe, I wonder? a rant, a screed, an unwarranted tirade? I sound like a petty ex? I am trying to make a name for myself by going after a celebrity?
I couldn’t possibly fathom the breadth of his wisdom and understanding?
these complaints are petty, while his concerns are real? these complaints are theoretical, while his interests are applied?
friends, I am proud to announce I have made Taleb shit himself.
and we are barely past the starter in this gourmet meal.
a thread 🧵
earlier today I not-very-cryptically announced that I was nearing completion of an essay that shows him up to be a bullying, cowardly, bullshitting charlatan.
so I'm currently spending my nights and weekends on a site that provides specific Edinburgh-based information and services on the #COVID19 outbreak.
here's a little thread about how @Facebook is running interference for the virus in the name of surveillance capitalism.
🧵/n
I deleted facebook a little over a year ago, and instagram too, when I convinced myself that they were poisonous for society. @shoshanazuboff, @evgenymorozov, Jaron Lanier, the usual stuff.
I wrote about it here to try to nudge others on the fence.
I was never going to be a dick and force anybody else to do the same. I wanted people to make the same decisions as me because they had gone through the same thought process.