44 ms·
Anybody else remember that time YC funded an international smuggling operation? https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/backpack https://www.ycombinator.com/comp
by teraflop 2y ago
Anybody else remember that time YC funded an international smuggling operation?
https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/backpack https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/backpack
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8199286 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8199286
- calgoo 2y agoLooks like they are still active!
- darby_nine 2y agoHell you could write off all of web3 with that sentence
- naikrovek 2y agobecause web3 was a smuggling/laundering operation and those are illegal. basically, all cryptocurrency activity is immediately a suspicious activity.
- bitcoin_anon 2y agoReminder that until recently, most cannabis patients relied on smugglers to treat their illnesses.
- tourmalinetaco 2y agoReminder that a minority of cases does not justify smuggling for recreational use.
- bitcoin_anon 2y agoI disagree. I’m fine with millions of recreational users supporting smugglers so that a single patient can get the medicine they need. It was the black market the safeguarded this plant for generations until we came to our senses again.
- naikrovek 2y agoreminder that cannabis has been distributed quite successfully and broadly for hundreds if not thousands of years, all without blockchain. blockchain is the solution to exactly nothing. zero things are better with blockchain. zero. in the case of hiding cannabis use, the problem is that it is illegal despite having valid medicinal uses.
- bitcoin_anon 2y agoIt wasn’t widely distributed over the internet until Bitcoin. Bitcoin solved the problem of irreversible payments over a communications channel without an intermediary.
- timdiggerm 2y agoYou say that like writing them off would be a bad thing
- oldgregg 2y agoAnyone else remember when HackerNews had an adventurous libertarian ethos before the school marms infested the place with irrelevant and low vibrational commentary?
- consteval 2y ago[flagged]
- gperkins978 2y agoNo, it is simply an idea to live and let live. Sane people escape California or New York where one must be insanely wealthy to live a decent life. In most of the US, you can do your thing and no one will bother you. Most hellishly expensive places would become affordable and fun if they implemented Texas-style zoning. Now, obnoxious white people in Silicon Valley would be upset that multifamily housing had allowed displeasing minorities in, but man would that make life better for everyone. I lived in East Asia, and it is really nice when cities are not too expensive for regular people to live in. Furthermore, I have no sympathy for rich @holes who complain about losing their expensive view. Freedom helps all, but especially the poor. The leftists have tricked people in California and NYC into thinking the system fails the poor, when in reality it is their stupid regulations that made these places expensive.
- hughesjj 2y agoYeah, this is why all the homeless people in Cali and New York move to Texas and Mississippi. It's all those darn regulations hurting poor people. Not the rich people who are always whining about regulation and taxes. No, the poor people. Btw anyone else seen that bear rummaging around? Any idea how to get rid of it?
- Geee 2y agoI think the critique was directed towards the attitude of being overtly scared of doing something illegal or breaking rules (which does not equal being unethical!). Backbag is simply a way to transport stuff in a backbag, which isn't illegal.
- 8organicbits 2y agoTheir website is "backpack bang"? What a strange name, the last thing I want is for my backpack to "bang" when moving unknown goods across international borders!