The apocalyptic impulse keeps popping up again and again in Silicon Valley (remember the Singularity?) and shows the true contempt the tech elite has for institutions and democracy. Step 1 is always to sweep away the old and do a ground-up rewrite of society
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Pinboard Retweeted Jody Shenn
This is a great accelerationist point! The only practical achievement of cryptocurrency in its 13 years of existence has been to make ransomware a tenable industrial pursuithttps://twitter.com/JodyShenn/status/1392196349291110407 …
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Step 1: create an alternative form of money to do all the crime Step 2: crime causes systemic collapse Step 3: everything works out somehow
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Pinboard Retweeted
Another excellent point. There is a general phenomenon of flattening going on, where people can't understand that there is a massive distance between mild social dysfunction and some Max Max existence, or between an authoritarian turn and full-on fascism. https://twitter.com/ParetoOptimizer/status/1392196314969083907 …
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We'd all be better off if the tech industry were led by a country like Argentina or Lebanon, that has in its recent history experienced points all along this spectrum and as a result has a lot more chill. Instead people are panicking over a line at a gas station.
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Pinboard Retweeted Alex Gladstein
Yes, Bitcoin is a powerful human rights tool to defend against authoritarianism and kleptocracy. That explains why 2/3 of this decentralized freedom currency is mined in China, with more than half of that just in Xinjiang—they need it there the most!https://twitter.com/gladstein/status/1392205251625639938 …
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Alex GladsteinVerified account @gladsteinReplying to @PinboardThe “tech elite” doesn’t control Bitcoin. It’s neutral, open, borderless technology with no special rules for the rich. It is a powerful human rights tool to defend against authoritarianism + kleptocracy. Anyone w/ internet can access it today. Ultimately it threatens the elite.9 replies 57 retweets 263 likesShow this thread -
Correction: I said China mines 2/3 of Bitcoin; the correct figure is in fact 3/4, according to a study out last month. Pinboard regrets the error. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22256-3.pdf …pic.twitter.com/3bASxFiBYh
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Replying to @Pinboard
they mine themselves for sure but all the hashrate that they pay out to is not all in china
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My point is if China nationalized Bitcoin tomorrow, they would have de facto control of the blockchain
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Replying to @Pinboard
That's not how blockchains work. The users that run nodes get the final say on which blocks get appended to the chain. Granted this can cause a fork, but if things get bad enough then it would be worth it. Also they wouldn't get "de facto" control, best they can do is censor tx's
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Replying to @matthiasdebern @Pinboard
it is how bitcoin works though. if any group of miners who controls 51% of the network decide to, they can cause chaos. it's a fundamental flaw that has still not been resolved. this is a good summary of the issuehttps://www.jumpstartmag.com/understanding-51-attacks-on-blockchains …
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