4 ms·
>I miss the old days :(. There were no "old days". 0.0000001 femtoseconds after the bitcoin white paper dropped describing it, in the first sentence, as a pee
by rocket_surgeron 4y ago
>I miss the old days :(.
There were no "old days".
0.0000001 femtoseconds after the bitcoin white paper dropped describing it, in the first sentence, as a peer-to-peer digital cash replacement the cryptobros descended-- hyping up the "smash the banksters" and "reject the fed" narrative in order to bilk gullible people out of their actual cash.
While muttering "arrrrrbitraaaaaaaaaaaaaage" in their sleep, they dreamed of setting up exchanges hoping to out-bankster the banksters at their own game.
With a dictionary in their left hand and and a YouTube playlist of investing videos in their right they quickly learned to frame crypto not as a "digital cash" but as a security, an investment, a lifestyle, a social statement, a religion. A crusade.
But it has always been, and will always be, a tool for allowing first-movers to scam the information-poor.
And I'm saying this as someone who received actual, entire, bitcoins from faucets and mined actual, entire bitcoins on my Radeon HD 6970.
- specialist 4y agoI heard someone from "a16z" describe cryptocurrencies as a "digital asset class". Um, what? That kind of talk flips bozo bits. - I'm pretty sure it was this episode. (Totally not worth listening to.) A Crypto Optimist and a Crypto Skeptic Walk Into a Podcast Studio The Ezra Klein Show https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-ezra-klein-show-2/episode/a-crypto-optimist-and-a-crypto-skeptic-walk-into-a-podcast-studio-87543123 https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-ezra-klein-show-2/episode/...
- lasc4r 4y agoI'm a fan of the ezra klein show, but this is probably the worst episode. I vaguely remember a torrent of nonsense from someone whose job it is to make cryptocurrency sound good with basically no pushback.
- specialist 4y agoAgreed; mosdef. IMHO, the rebuttal episode w/ Dan Olson, 6 months later, was spot on: The Most Thorough Case Against Crypto I've Heard https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-ezra-klein-show-2/episode/the-most-thorough-case-against-crypto-ive-heard-202061742 https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-ezra-klein-show-2/episode/...
- cowtools 4y agoReally? what's your bitcoin address? can you sign a proof?
- pifm_guy 4y agoKidnapping early bitcoiners is happening more and more. I'm fully out of that now, but if I weren't, I would be keeping it a secret from everyone.
- psychstudio 4y agoI'm relieved you got out of the kidnapping business.
- pifm_guy 4y agoThe work life balance really isn't the best. It's pretty lonely, and any friends you do make always are short lived.
- germandiago 4y agoNot really. Some cryptos have their uses.
- ItsMonkk 4y agoYep, here's[0] Hal Finney describing how rentier-ism was built into the network that he worked out just as it was released. [0]: https://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2009-January/015004.html https://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2009-January...