Thread by @PnictogenHorses

#capitalism requires what people call "magical thinking". it requires people to believe that impossible things aren't merely *possible*, but can be done routinely, and turned into a dependable cash flow. #AI / #AGI of the @fchollet / @JeffDean sort is a perfect example.

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https://twitter.com/PnictogenHorses/status/1620170509823660032

the very name "#AGI" gives the game away: the #programming boys daydream that they've invented a "general intelligence", a universal thinking machine capable of solving literally any problem—and #capitalism is willing to gamble on that. it's just what #business wants.

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remember that the ideal corporation in #capitalism *does nothing*. it produces nothing, it provides no service, it solves no problems for anyone not in the ownership hierarchy—because producing things *costs money* and capitalists hate all expenditures for any reason.

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the #management and #executive classes of capitalism are people who know one thing above all others: money coming in is good, money going out is bad—*especially* if it's money spent on supporting a workforce, because those clockwatching bums are all lazy and ungrateful.

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at least that's what people like @MattWalshBlog and @realchrisrufo say all the time, even though they don't work for a living. making propaganda isn't real work, even if effort and money get expended on it; it's a purely *destructive* activity, like policing or soldiering.

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in any case, #capitalism *loves* #efficiency, which they define solely in terms of cash flow and #profits: "efficiency" means that money goes up fast as possible and expenditure is minimized. the ideal *worker* in capitalism _pays for the privilege of working_.

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this is how #MLM schemes work, like @Amway and @Herbalife (who made so much money they were able to buy their own Senator, namely Utahn @SenateGOP politician Orrin Hatch), by the way: Amway suckers are forced to pay for the privilege of selling Amway products.

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but I digress! back to this issue of "magical thinking" in #capitalism. #cryptocurrency offers another superb example of it, because the "magic" that's promised is such a basic thing: a little money "grows" instantly into a huge hoard. this does happen to folks, after all!

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enough people really *do* find some way to get rich quick overnight (even if the means are fraudulent) that #capitalism can simply point to them as "proof" that the whole scheme works: you too could be Sam Walton or @elonmusk! these people make the magic seem real.

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hence it's too easy for greedy people (and desperate people) to believe that #cryptocurrency and #cryptotrading really *is* #magic of some sort—after all, the #STEM Lords have all convinced themselves that #technology is the *same* as magic, although...really, it isn't.

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after all...it's got #cryptography in it!

we arrive at an awkward truth about the #computer / #programming nerd culture: these people are *habituated* to endowing their technological toys with magical powers.

again I point to #AGI, @fchollet's magical thinking thing.

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programmers have a bad habit of treating particular technological developments as universal cures—brilliant inventions that will bring joy and wealth to billions, if only the doubters would shut up. the #Internet and the #Web (and now #Web3) are treated in this fashion.

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#AI and "genetic algorithms" and other #MachineLearning entities have been *especially* mythologized into technological panaceas—tools adaptable to ANY conceivable use.

#cryptography, though, has a *special* magic about it—because of the name. the _name_ conveys mystery.

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the Greek word root _krypto_ means "hidden" (cf. krypton, the noble gas that was *hiding* in the gases left over from removing N₂ and O₂ from air) and that word root, along, has become metonymic for all #blockchain / #cryptocurrency / #NFT activity: it's simply #crypto.

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#cryptography is omnipresent in modern #technology; it's impossible to have trustworthy electronic intercommunication among so many *billions* of human beings without some way of _hiding information_: "cryptography" means "hidden writing", i.e. writing in code or cypher.

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in the old days that was done on paper; these days it's done electronically. #programming nerds *really* get into #cryptography. it's *important*, it's certainly a lucrative career, but also it's simply more interesting and intricate than lots of programming challenges.

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and #STEM nerds tend to be really into spy intrigues and meddling with foreign policy (which is partly why people like @mtaibbi exist—it's never been *easier* to get mixed up in the Great Game of global intrigue) which gives #cryptography even *more* mysterious allure.

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#cryptography may be used for mysterious purposes, but the cryptography *itself* isn't too abstruse (although the #programming nerds might want it to be as obfuscated as possible); the *physical process* involved with cryptography is in fact a straightforward one.

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the effectiveness of #cryptography is measured in terms of #entropy—physical entropy; producing a block of artfully scrambled, noise-like bits *requires* the generation of entropy.

the more like *noise* the bits are, the more effectively they can hide useful information.

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but the better the concealment, the less information can be concealed in a block of encrypted information of a given size.

this is why #blockchain technology is doomed to inefficiency, requiring so much equipment and electricity: #cryptography is intrinsically *costly*.

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and the very idea of having every single #Internet transaction being forced through a creaky #Web3 stack of multiple #blockchain gizmos is intrinsically *nightmarish*. the #crypto fanboys are hurling great gobs of #cryptography at _every problem_, and it's a bad idea.

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and once again I stress that all the #STEM kings like @ID_AA_Carmack and @pmarca, who all prize "high #IQ" (which means nothing) and consider themselves to be genetically gifted supergeniuses, never noticed that #blockchaintechnology makes very little *physical sense*.

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#cryptography is intrinsically slow and wasteful of energy; it's literal generation of #entropy, and there's NO WAY to make it "efficient"—and the #Web3 idea of forcing everyone online to endure more and more #blockchain transactions is a dead duck. it's ludicrous.

~Mona Drafter

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