Thread by @PnictogenHorses

at some point, *someone* is going to have to investigate THE question of the age, which is...

...just *why* is @elonmusk as disastrous as he is?

why is #ElonMusk a phenomenon? how on Earth did practically everyone in corporate #media and #journalism fall for this man?

(1/x)

@mtaibbi or @lhfang might have inquired into this matter, at some hypothetical time in the past when they cared about #journalism rather than careerism and selling out to whoever offered the sparkliest vision of the future—maybe that time was *never*, truth be told.

(2/x)

what does it even mean to be a "real journalist"? how can that be defined? one can be tolerably certain, at any rate, that whatever @mtaibbi or @lhfang or @Timcast or @bariweiss ever *used* to be in the past—if that dream was ever noble, it's long ago dissolved into smoke.

(3/x)

one hopes at least that @mtaibbi once had genuine curiosity and fearlessness in the face of truth—because doing errands for @elonmusk in service of @GOP political ambitions certainly isn't THAT. Taibbi can safely dispose of any illusions that he's serving the greater good.

(4/x)

Taibbi's problem is a general one. #capitalism's deliberately absurd vision for the #Internet—this technological marvel that capitalists and politicians (and @mtaibbi) regard as a joke, while also regarding as the key to wealth and power—has destroyed Western #journalism.

(5/x)

the capitalist #Internet has been viewed mostly as a sort of magic machine for printing #money.

#cryptocurrency and #NFT scams are a great example—the daydream of @Bitcoin / @ethereum is money made by gambling on utterly worthless #blockchain blocks. money from *nothing*.

(6/x)

and #money dissolves all ethical boundaries. morality cannot coexist with the ceaseless desire to make ever-increasing heaps of money.

it's not "creating wealth", whatever the #business and #finance propaganda may say—whatever @APompliano or @BillyM2k tell themselves.

(7/x)

#money is in fact *destructive*: the rapacious trade in #blockchain money-making, all those #cryptocurrencies and #NFTCommunity thingummies, make that abundantly clear. @Bitcoin and @ethereum turn vast amounts of silicon and electricity into...thermal noise. #cryptography.

(8/x)

the efficacy of #cryptography is measured in terms of entropy—*physical* #entropy; there's no special entropy for physicists and another for #computer nerds (one wonders if folks like @ID_AA_Carmack or @JeffDean even KNOW that. they know so very little beyond their toys.)

(9/x)

but consider this: #cryptography really is like hiding a needle amid the biggest possible pile of hay—it takes *work* (physical work) to amass a pile of hay big enough to hide the needle, and it takes even *more* work to sort through the hay to find the needle again.

(10/x)

these tasks are made *deliberately difficult*—if the work were easy, the #cryptography would be easy to crack. hence *encrypting* things means the equivalent of burying the information within a massive chunk of NOISE. pure thermal noise—pure #entropy. that's how it works.

(11/x)

all that #blockchain #technology, all the #cryptocurrency and #NFT and #web3 nonsense—every bit of it, $BITC, $ETH, $DOGE, ALL of it—has been literally *nothing* but turning electricity (and silicon) into waste products, and then letting nerds gamble on blocks of waste.

(12/x)

for that's the only value $BITC or $ETH (or #stocks) have on the #market—*gambling* value. *speculative* value. it's like handing a chip to someone in Vegas and saying that with luck and skill you can turn it into the #fortune that you need to pay your kids' doctor bills.

(13/x)

and somehow—SOMEHOW—none of the bright sparks of modern-day high-tech, none of those #STEM Lords, nobody in #business or #finance #journalism, none of the popular #science or #technology journalists either, not @ID_AA_Carmack, not @fchollet, not even @elonmusk *noticed*.

(14/x)

they NEVER noticed that, if they'd followed some basic physical principles, they'd see that #cryptocurrency was equivalent to gambling on blocks of noise.

can you understand why Chara (at @KrisAtLarge) and myself are so _annoyed_ at all of you? can you not see it?

(15/x)

Mr. @ID_AA_Carmack, I have bombarded you. possibly you've blocked me, so I'll kindly ask @theromero if he could pass the message along if Mr. Carmack has decided he'd had enough of Chara and myself. I would NOT blame him! we are harsh, and persistent in our harshness.

(16/x)

there was a time when Chara admired you—it was a long time ago—and had daydreams of being like you. I genuinely raise my eyes heavenward in thanks, because this did NOT happen, and Chara did not fall into the pit. they didn't become a #programmer / #STEM Lord person.

(17/x)

but I am not here to cast (any more) aspersions. I ask you humbly and sincerely, Mr. @ID_AA_Carmack (and Mr. @theromero)...how on Earth did you not think about #cryptocurrency long enough to see that it was based on false, irrational premises?

~Mona Drafter of Pnictogen

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