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Fun and joy in and of themselves are worthy pursuits. That's completely aside from considering video games as an artistic medium that can be used to learn and s

Fun and joy in and of themselves are worthy pursuits. That's completely aside from considering video games as an artistic medium that can be used to learn and share about the human experience. Bitcoin does none of that. At its very very best it's a way to buy hallucinogens on the internet with massive external consequences.

la_fayette 6y ago
I think understanding bitcoin from a systems point of view is of great value. Although proof of work is problematic, the idea and manifestation of a censorship resisten electronic monetary system is just amazing. Bitcoin is actually working for more than 10 years... There are alternatives to PoW, e.g. ethereum 2.0, let's see if this works and than judge again...
- jasonlaramburu 6y ago
  Is it really censorship resistant though? In order to actually buy anything with BTC, you need a fiat offramp which is 100% vulnerable to censorship.
  - codehalo 6y ago
    Do you really think you cannot by anything with Bitcoin? Are you uninformed or just dishonest?
    - jasonlaramburu 6y ago
      Yes, you can buy some items online with BTC, but almost no household daily essentials. Show me a grocery store, gas station or pharmacy that accepts crypto. There are plenty of companies selling Crypto payment gateway software, so it’s clearly not a technology limitation. The reality is there is no consumer demand for crypto as a means to purchase things.
  - blockmarker 6y ago
    If transaction fees were reasonable, you could simply sell it to people and they pay you in cash. Nowadays I don't know how resistant it is.
- kbenson 6y ago
  > censorship resisten electronic monetary system I feel sorry for anyone that expects bitcoin to actually be anonymous. Given that we can use statistics and timing to determine the memory contents and instructions run on different cores in a CPU, anyone that uses a currency that keeps public global transaction log and thinks they can anonymize themselves by just mixing their money in a pool is in for a rude awakening at some point. For any useful amount of usage, my guess is they're just kicking the de-anonymization can down the road a few years.
  - dmingod666 6y ago
    We would like to recruit your guidance in our search for Satoshi. Thanks in advance.
    - kbenson 6y ago
      The only reason satoshi hasn't been found is exactly because he/she/they haven't spent any of those bitcoins. (Also, the slightest movement in those coins would likely cause a massive drop in the value of bitcoin, as rational people realized a huge cache of previously assumed out of play coins might start being sold and everyone using it as an investment rushed to exit ASAP to avoid beat that).
  - la_fayette 6y ago
    Have you checked and understood taproot? Do you really think the bitcoin protocol is not innovating?
    - kbenson 6y ago
      I haven't, but I'll take a look. My completely green suspicion knowing nothing about it at this point is that it's probably just a step up in an arms race, to which more advanced statistical techniques could be developed and applied to eventually, which means past transactions using old methods are vulnerable to being traced. I'd be happy to be proven wrong though, so I'll take a look. Edit: As suspected, it's not a silver bullet.[1] 1: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoins-taproot-upgrade-wont-help-privacy-where-it-matters https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoins-taproot-upgrade-wont...
scsilver 6y ago
Its an alternative finance system bringing inflation resistant digitally accessible and transferable assets to an unbanked and inflation exposed populace. Many are ignorant of the challenges that face people in contries that don't the most sophisticated financial system on the planet with a local currency that acts as the worlds reserve currency. It takes up way too much power, but I am not going to let this key opportunity to much of the worlds less fortunate, be under appreciated. At best its an alternative finance system that works around the captured, corrupted, and rent seeking finance systems of the world.

la_fayette 6y ago

I think understanding bitcoin from a systems point of view is of great value. Although proof of work is problematic, the idea and manifestation of a censorship resisten electronic monetary system is just amazing. Bitcoin is actually working for more than 10 years... There are alternatives to PoW, e.g. ethereum 2.0, let's see if this works and than judge again...

jasonlaramburu 6y ago
Is it really censorship resistant though? In order to actually buy anything with BTC, you need a fiat offramp which is 100% vulnerable to censorship.
- codehalo 6y ago
  Do you really think you cannot by anything with Bitcoin? Are you uninformed or just dishonest?
  - jasonlaramburu 6y ago
    Yes, you can buy some items online with BTC, but almost no household daily essentials. Show me a grocery store, gas station or pharmacy that accepts crypto. There are plenty of companies selling Crypto payment gateway software, so it’s clearly not a technology limitation. The reality is there is no consumer demand for crypto as a means to purchase things.
- blockmarker 6y ago
  If transaction fees were reasonable, you could simply sell it to people and they pay you in cash. Nowadays I don't know how resistant it is.
kbenson 6y ago
> censorship resisten electronic monetary system I feel sorry for anyone that expects bitcoin to actually be anonymous. Given that we can use statistics and timing to determine the memory contents and instructions run on different cores in a CPU, anyone that uses a currency that keeps public global transaction log and thinks they can anonymize themselves by just mixing their money in a pool is in for a rude awakening at some point. For any useful amount of usage, my guess is they're just kicking the de-anonymization can down the road a few years.
- dmingod666 6y ago
  We would like to recruit your guidance in our search for Satoshi. Thanks in advance.
  - kbenson 6y ago
    The only reason satoshi hasn't been found is exactly because he/she/they haven't spent any of those bitcoins. (Also, the slightest movement in those coins would likely cause a massive drop in the value of bitcoin, as rational people realized a huge cache of previously assumed out of play coins might start being sold and everyone using it as an investment rushed to exit ASAP to avoid beat that).
- la_fayette 6y ago
  Have you checked and understood taproot? Do you really think the bitcoin protocol is not innovating?
  - kbenson 6y ago
    I haven't, but I'll take a look. My completely green suspicion knowing nothing about it at this point is that it's probably just a step up in an arms race, to which more advanced statistical techniques could be developed and applied to eventually, which means past transactions using old methods are vulnerable to being traced. I'd be happy to be proven wrong though, so I'll take a look. Edit: As suspected, it's not a silver bullet.[1] 1: https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoins-taproot-upgrade-wont-help-privacy-where-it-matters https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoins-taproot-upgrade-wont...

scsilver 6y ago

Its an alternative finance system bringing inflation resistant digitally accessible and transferable assets to an unbanked and inflation exposed populace. Many are ignorant of the challenges that face people in contries that don't the most sophisticated financial system on the planet with a local currency that acts as the worlds reserve currency. It takes up way too much power, but I am not going to let this key opportunity to much of the worlds less fortunate, be under appreciated. At best its an alternative finance system that works around the captured, corrupted, and rent seeking finance systems of the world.