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What frightens me is that of all places, this is the most common opinion of crypto on HN. You know, like the angry parents that in the 90s called for the Intern
by sph 3y ago
What frightens me is that of all places, this is the most common opinion of crypto on HN. You know, like the angry parents that in the 90s called for the Internet to be banned because it contains porn.
Some ideas are so inane they should not rise to the top of a forum for technologists and software engineers, yet somehow here we are.
- teknico 3y agoAgreed, those ideas should not rise to the top. It’d help if more people asked themselves a question more often: “Am I being a useful idiot right now?” Or they could be usefully malicious, hard to say.
- jpambrun 3y agoThe argument that crypto bros are useful idiots to criminals, sanctioned states and rich early adopters is much more reasonable, no?
- sph 3y agoDividing the world into crypto bros and "reasonable" people is not a good way to deal with the complexities of life. One should try to avoid black-and-white thinking. Unless they are collecting likes on social media.
- haunter 3y agofyi most of HN would ban porn too if they could.
- sph 3y agoPeople these days do not understand the concept of personal freedom. What is good for them must be enforced upon anybody. I think porn is a terrible drug, yet prohibition is even worse. Same for real drugs. Same for crypto. Where have the Californian techno-utopian disappeared to, that all we are left with are the left-leaning socialist posers paid by Big Tech but hating a whole technological niche? I like Bitcoin because it is the realisation of the crypto-anarchist dream. A digital thorn in the side of the State. At least us anarchist posers still take personal freedom seriously.
- willcipriano 3y ago"I don't agree with huffing glue but I'll defend your right to do what you want with your short time on this earth to my death." Voltaire [paraphrased] It's almost like the "think of the children" kids grew up at we are at "think of the adults" now.
- hiq 3y ago> Voltaire https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire#Misattributed https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire#Misattributed
- Larrikin 3y agoThere was always obvious utility to the Internet. None of the ideas behind why bit coin is useful are panning out besides it being the best way to pay for illegal activity by criminal gangs internationally. The fees are more expensive than banks and credit cards. Its value is extremely volatile, so legitimate businesses immediately convert to cash if they accept it. It's not anonymous like cash. Funds are actually easily traceable. So it is pretty much a guarantee that any scam involving bit coin crosses an international border with the blessing of the state. Mining is a massive waste of energy at this point and if it continues will likely become a major contributing factor to climate change. I would say bit coin was a nice idea, but currently is a failure in every way except to the people who got in early and to scammers. Maybe a future crypto could solve some or all of these problems so I'm not in favor of banning the idea, but there's a legitimate argument to be made for banning bit coin. But the people who made a bunch of money from it will fight it extremely hard.