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Exactly. To make an analogy, consider what would happen if the president/congress appointed an incompetent fool as the chair of the Federal Reserve. The whole w

by apeace 9y ago

Exactly. To make an analogy, consider what would happen if the president/congress appointed an incompetent fool as the chair of the Federal Reserve. The whole world would lose confidence in the dollar, and another currency would take over. This is why I agree with Mike Hearn that the "Bitcoin experiment has failed"[0]. In fact it already did so in late 2015. He makes technical arguments there which you could debate (some of his technical arguments have been shown to be misleading[1]). But I think where he hits the nail on the head is that Bitcoin is now simply a circus. Unless the community can be united again, it won't last. The Reddit censorship, DoS attacks, "scaling" conferences where solutions are not allowed to be proposed. It's childish, and almost shocking that people have stood behind their ridiculous behavior for so long, when they are on the verge of changing the world economy. [0] https://blog.plan99.net/the-resolution-of-the-bitcoin-experiment-dabb30201f7 https://blog.plan99.net/the-resolution-of-the-bitcoin-experi... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14833567 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14833567

mike_hearn 9y ago
I rarely comment on Bitcoin these days, although I do still read things about it from time to time. I realise we're mostly in agreement, but on the technical arguments I'd like to briefly defend myself here - the arguments I made were not misleading or dishonest in any way. It's rather the post you link to which is. No particularly special Bitcoin knowledge is required to figure out why, just careful study of that post with a critical and analytical mind (and not the mind of a "fan"). I wasted far too much of my life dealing with people Peter Todd had deliberately confused back in those years - it's a Sisyphean task that simply never ends if you let it - so I don't wish to write out a long rebuttal now, especially as I don't know you. But see if you can figure it out. Like I said, you don't need me to explain if you study things carefully.
- apeace 9y ago
  Thanks! I will certainly re-read it. As I said to Peter Todd in that thread, I'm a neutral observer and a fan of both of yours. Having been a programmer for over a decade, it's a shame that even someone like me can get so lost in the rhetoric of this debate. Thanks for all your blog posts, I point people to them all the time. My greatest wish (something I tried to communicate to Peter Todd) is that Core would write some thoughtful, clear, well-argued posts like yours. But I suppose it doesn't matter, because as we both agree, the experiment has already failed.

by apeace 9y ago

mike_hearn 9y ago

I rarely comment on Bitcoin these days, although I do still read things about it from time to time. I realise we're mostly in agreement, but on the technical arguments I'd like to briefly defend myself here - the arguments I made were not misleading or dishonest in any way. It's rather the post you link to which is. No particularly special Bitcoin knowledge is required to figure out why, just careful study of that post with a critical and analytical mind (and not the mind of a "fan"). I wasted far too much of my life dealing with people Peter Todd had deliberately confused back in those years - it's a Sisyphean task that simply never ends if you let it - so I don't wish to write out a long rebuttal now, especially as I don't know you. But see if you can figure it out. Like I said, you don't need me to explain if you study things carefully.

apeace 9y ago
Thanks! I will certainly re-read it. As I said to Peter Todd in that thread, I'm a neutral observer and a fan of both of yours. Having been a programmer for over a decade, it's a shame that even someone like me can get so lost in the rhetoric of this debate. Thanks for all your blog posts, I point people to them all the time. My greatest wish (something I tried to communicate to Peter Todd) is that Core would write some thoughtful, clear, well-argued posts like yours. But I suppose it doesn't matter, because as we both agree, the experiment has already failed.