Saying that decentralized tech like cryptocurrency is “inherently right wing” is like saying socialism is “inherently authoritarian” because you can point to examples of authoritarian governments that claim to be socialist. Yes, there are a lot of crypto bro scams and BS, but…
Decentralization is our best bet for having a future internet that’s not based on surveillance capitalism and where people have basic rights. Cryptocurrencies are just sort of the tip of the iceberg, messy (and often scammy) proofs of concept for something much more important
So go ahead and retweet the Dogecoin guy with an axe to grind because his thread confirms your biases or makes you feel righteous, but know that what you’re really dunking on is the potential to have a Spotify owned by artists, uncensorable private Twitter with no Jack Dorsey etc
There are also lots of reasons to want uncensorable, private money to exist, at least so long as capitalism exists. have to come from a tremendous position of power to not realize why that might be important. Reminds me of dudes who think ending anonymity will "fix the internet"
Culture war stuff is weird because it makes people turn off the critical thinking parts of their brains. But hating cryptocurrencies because you think a bunch of douchey bros like them (which is true) is like loving the FBI and CIA because you think Trump hates them or whatever.
Context also matters. We're in a tenuous moment right now where the U.S. government is considering massive expansions of surveillance and authoritarians are pushing hard to brand cryptocurrencies, decentralized tech and end-to-end encryption as "tools for terrorists & criminals"
I am far from a starry-eyed cryptocurrency sycophant, but I think it's dangerous and wrong to mindlessly pile on a technology that is still in its infancy at a moment when Big Tech, Big Banks, and various governments would absolutely love to either destroy or co-opt it.
There are a lot of real problems with many cryptocurrencies and a lot of shady / douchey people in the scene, but when you jump in with uninformed dunks on cryptocurrencies as a whole, you're just helping pro-surveillance / pro-Big Bank goons get their way cyberscoop.com/us-government-…
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