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I don't know too much about crypto, it doesn't really interest me and I've never bothered to find out more about it. It does seem to be some right-wing libertar

I don't know too much about crypto, it doesn't really interest me and I've never bothered to find out more about it. It does seem to be some right-wing libertarian thing so reflexively I'm suspicious, but some of the claimed ideals appeal to me as an anarchist. I refuse to invest in stocks because that would mean (potentially) profiting from the exploitation of the workers in that company. I suppose if I were awarded stocks in the company I work for that might be different, I'd need to think about it more.

jasfi 4y ago
Crypto can also be viewed as assets to buy and sell for a profit, and nothing more. I know it can get more complicated, but it doesn't have to. Regarding stocks, you can often be assured that public companies are held to a high standard, especially in western countries where the press reports on exploitation.
- daviross 4y ago
  "viewed as assets to buy and sell for a profit, and nothing more." I'm not sure this act in itself is morally neutral, imo. There's reasons ethical concerns about objectification (in the older 'treating something/one as an object' formulation of it) pop up not-infrequently through time. Reducing something to a market view of itself is a choice. Similarly, seeing something as being more complicated but turning away because 'it doesn't have to be'. Now, I'm not trying to suggest you should take up my concerns here. I'm not saying "you're terrible for this!" in any way. It's just an interesting springboard of a question, what do we see as 'morally neutral' and what has moral salience?
  - jasfi 4y ago
    You can do many different things with crypto, it's up to you to decide what to do with it. Trading crypto is immediately useful, but you have to know the risks, which can be difficult. But that's not my only view. E.g. Ethereum and what it can be used for is still interesting to me, but not immediately of any use to me either.

jasfi 4y ago

Crypto can also be viewed as assets to buy and sell for a profit, and nothing more. I know it can get more complicated, but it doesn't have to. Regarding stocks, you can often be assured that public companies are held to a high standard, especially in western countries where the press reports on exploitation.

daviross 4y ago
"viewed as assets to buy and sell for a profit, and nothing more." I'm not sure this act in itself is morally neutral, imo. There's reasons ethical concerns about objectification (in the older 'treating something/one as an object' formulation of it) pop up not-infrequently through time. Reducing something to a market view of itself is a choice. Similarly, seeing something as being more complicated but turning away because 'it doesn't have to be'. Now, I'm not trying to suggest you should take up my concerns here. I'm not saying "you're terrible for this!" in any way. It's just an interesting springboard of a question, what do we see as 'morally neutral' and what has moral salience?
- jasfi 4y ago
  You can do many different things with crypto, it's up to you to decide what to do with it. Trading crypto is immediately useful, but you have to know the risks, which can be difficult. But that's not my only view. E.g. Ethereum and what it can be used for is still interesting to me, but not immediately of any use to me either.