Thread by @PnictogenHorses

I do feel there's something more to be said (while the iron is hot, so to speak) about #cryptocurrency and the question of how presumably intelligent #computer and #programming professionals (not to mention the @elonmusk / @mtaibbi crowd) could possibly have fallen for it.

(1/x)

https://twitter.com/PnictogenHorses/status/1619564812786339840

the *allure* is obvious enough; it's the same allure that's in looking for legendary pirate treasure, or prospecting for gold. you're hoping for more than just some #money—you're hoping that for enough to *set you up for life*. all monetary worries, permanently erased.

(2/x)

that's one of the reason that it's so important to interrogate the #ElonMusk crowd about Musk's blood-emerald dealings, and what the *truth* was about Musk's family striking it rich—it's likely that Musk simply lost the ability thenceforth to think in realistic terms.

(3/x)

from a youthful formative age, #ElonMusk would have been too used to complete freedom from worry about expenditures—he would have been *conditioned* (especially if his upbringing was traumatic) to expect that money would simply always be there, forever and ever.

(4/x)

this is undoubtedly one of the key allures of avarice as a sin (or cognitive trap): the mind gets conditioned to thinking of wealth as something that ought to be not merely *very large*, but effectively _infinite_: wealth that flows forever, and always more and more.

(5/x)

the #computer revolution made that kind of *fantasy* of infinitude and perpetually gushing #wealth trivially simple to _envision_: #programming simulations involving #money can easily accrue impossible sums. the #technology boys thus easily daydreamed of infinite money.

(6/x)

also I fear another, subtle problem—I wonder if the top-flight #programming boys, especially if they're into #business and #finance stuff (seems like they *all* are), can help the Pnictogen Wing with this one.

perhaps Messrs. @ID_AA_Carmack or @theromero? even @jack?

(7/x)

here's the problem that I wonder about: do #programmers know that quantities of #money aren't actually floating-point numbers?

they can't be, because doing sums on money is subject to strict rules about precision and rounding—in a very real sense, money is *quantized*.

(8/x)

and those rules have to be obeyed with *every single operation* involving a quantity of #money. also there's the issue that *negative sums* aren't always possible—not all transactions in a #financial system permit an overdraft (negative balance) to accrue.

(9/x)

forgive me for doubting the #programming community, Messrs. @ID_AA_Carmack (and @theromero and @jack and @JeffDean and whoever may *know the truth* of this matter), but—I don't think most programmers will remember how pervasive these issues are with operations on #money.

(10/x)

I think a lot of #programmers working on any #software pertaining to #business and #finance and #money and #cryptocurrency and all that *may* think that they can simply round off a floating-point money value to the nearest cent, at the end of a block of calculations.

(11/x)

I have no idea if this the case or not, Messrs. @theromero _et alii_; I simply fear that it's possible, because...

...well that brings me to a central point: the #programming community tends to be singularly *unaware* of the defects in their intellectual equipment.

(12/x)

I believe that the #computer has seduced too many human beings into thinking they were smart, because...the *computer* was smart, and they owned the computer.

that roughly describes the intoxicating allure of the #AI / #AGI dreams of @sama / @fchollet / @JeffDean / etc.

(13/x)

they want #AGI to be the Universal Thinking Machine since they feel (fallaciously) that if the machine is all-intelligent, it proves the *creator* is all-intelligent. @sama wants to think he's a genius because he made a genius child—which is also the allure of *eugenics*.

(14/x)

this is one reason that @elonmusk and @EPoe187 want to think they squirt out magic Intelligence™ or #IQ "genes" every time they have a sneeze in the loins: it's sort of their last-ditch hope. "maybe I'll have a smart kid, anyway. maybe THEY will rise above the rabble."

(15/x)

#AI / #AGI is the smart kid whom @sama and @fchollet and the rest of the #ArtificialIntelligence / #STEM Lord folks hope will rise above the rabble—living *proof* that all the wild promises made by #programmers really amounted to something, because they'd created *life*.

(16/x)

believe it or not, I'm *not unsympathetic*! really I'm not. the Pnictogen Wing is genuinely interest in #AI technology; we just think the current approach is hopelessly broken. we don't think that #capitalism is capable of achieving such miracles; it's hobbled #science.

(17/x)

but I'd like to return to the #cryptocurrency / #NFT problem one more time, because in a way it's the same issue: #programming wizards want to think they can achieve miracles, and one of the *easiest* "miracles" to achieve is making a big heap of #money in no time.

(18/x)

it's not as though #cryptocurrency hasn't made people rich, but then so has ordinary #gambling, or gem prospecting or oil-drilling or any other of a hundred ways for making a lot of #money very quickly.

there's something *especially* unreal about #crypto money though.

(19/x)

I've already given the *physical* reason for that: a #blockchain block is mostly noise, because that's how #cryptography works: hiding a little information amid a lot of noise. that's why #NFTs can't actually hold images of any significant size—cryptography is too bulky.

(20/x)

but the #cryptocurrency boys all pretended that their @Bitcoin / @ethereum / @ripple / @dogecoin thingummies had "intrinsic value" based on *scarcity*.

"just like gold and diamonds, right?"

no. that's not why those materials are valuable. it's not mere *scarcity*.

(21/x)

diamonds aren't even all that scarce—which is why @DeBeers (@elonmusk could tell you who these people are) has put so much effort into planting propaganda about #diamonds and artificially inflating the price through various trickeries—all's fair in love and #capitalism.

(22/x)

the reason gold and diamonds are valuable is because they have *physical properties* that are impossible to duplicate, and properties which make these materials very durable (though diamonds can be easily crushed.) also, gold and diamond are easy to test for veracity.

(23/x)

THAT is the reason that #gold became the _de facto_ #currency of much of the world: it wasn't the *scarcity* of gold, but the fact that you could easily verify if a chunk of metal was gold through relatively simple tests. rubbing the metal on a "touchstone" can be enough.

(24/x)

again the fact that all the genius #STEM Lords and #programming gods (and @elonmusk) somehow *never noticed this*—never noticed that the whole "scarcity" argument about the value of #cryptocurrency didn't even apply to gold or other precious materials—beggars imagination.

(25/x)

didn't a single #business or #technology journalist at @arstechnica or @PopSci or @sciam notice this about #cryptocurrency? yes, there were plenty of articles about how *wasteful* all the $BITC / $ETH / #blockchain thingummies were. but where was the deeper analysis?

(26/x)

why weren't the absurd claims and ludicrous analogies used to justify #cryptocurrencies ever examined in print?

#capitalism, that's why. capitalism has insulated itself against criticism in #journalism—because capitalism *relies upon artificial scarcity to function*.

(27/x)

nobody questioned the "scarcity" argument for #cryptocurrency, which doesn't even apply to #gold—for #capitalism manufactures scarcity. in fact it's probably the thing that capitalist industry is best at making: not useful products, but *obstacles*, artificial barriers.

(28/x)

there's few better ways of putting an artificial barrier in between people and the things they need, than forcing every single transaction they make to go through a string of #blockchain / #web3 transactions. #cryptography is slow and expensive. it's *deliberate waste*.

(29/x)

this is how #capitalism makes most of its money. every artificial barrier is an opportunity for a capitalist to make money—barriers mean a lively business in selling purported workarounds and #time-saving methods. capitalism tries to maximize the number of transactions.

(30/x)

whatever @JeffDean might say, #capitalism *must* optimize for inefficiency—that's how to maximize #profit. the more intricate and creaky a system is, the more *chaotically* it behaves, the more money is to be made for selling "solutions" to the chaos.

~Mona Drafter of Pnictogen

(of course, NOTHING works more chaotically than that #AI / #AGI stuff. that's deliberate—janky #software turns into opportunities to sell replacements and upgrades. @elonmusk has introduced a *new* wrinkle to deliberately broken software: now he can pose as a personal fixit man.)

@UnrollThread