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backus's profile
John Backus
John Backus
John Backus
@backus

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John Backus

@backus

Seeking alternative compression. Hopefully wrong on average. Shameless. Started @getcognito and @bloom

San Francisco, CA
Joined August 2012

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    1. John Backus‏ @backus Jun 11

      Does your mental model of human behavior explain the 2000s warez scene? • Competition to leak high profile albums • High risk of prison • Not for profit! • Against rules to share leaks outside The Scene • Not about love for music. They leaked the SpongeBob movie soundtrack

      27 replies 80 retweets 307 likes
      Show this thread
      John Backus‏ @backus Jun 11

      In other words: • Highly competitive • High risk • No financial motive • No ideological motive (like liberating music or taking down the industry) • Not about love of art

      9:24 PM - 11 Jun 2018
      • 15 Retweets
      • 73 Likes
      • Brady McKenna HIGH IQ WHALE Harry Tormey Jonathan Hamel ⚡ kevin zooko Sumanth ⚡ Zak Ritter ☠ Chaos ☣ Theory ☠
      9 replies 15 retweets 73 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. John Backus‏ @backus Jun 11

          lol. Just after I tweet this, I turn to the next page and read this.pic.twitter.com/04bHpMsXIt

          4 replies 3 retweets 59 likes
          Show this thread
        3. John Backus‏ @backus Jun 11

          Basically, two of the top Scene members tried to leave in 2007 but couldn't escape the urge to keep leaking. They started up again, anonymously.

          4 replies 2 retweets 42 likes
          Show this thread
        4. John Backus‏ @backus Aug 3

          John Backus Retweeted John Backus

          Followup conundrum from the same book. Why were people *paying* to use a private torrent tracker?https://twitter.com/backus/status/1025559220836429826?s=21 …

          John Backus added,

          John Backus @backus
          Why were people *paying* to use OiNK, an exclusive BitTorrent tracker? > Classic economist: Unlimited choice > effort and risk > Behavioral economist: Habit! > Political theorist: They're rebelling against corporations! > Sociologist: People want to be in an exclusive community pic.twitter.com/om38PbIuWg
          Show this thread
          2 replies 0 retweets 5 likes
          Show this thread
        5. End of conversation
        1. New conversation
        2. Bedeho‏ @bedehomender Jun 11
          Replying to @backus

          Yes, this to me seems like the most irrational community activities on the web. There is so little public information about how these things work though, I would not be surprised if the financial motive part actually turned out to be incorrect - just not transparent.

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
        3. John Backus‏ @backus Jun 11
          Replying to @bedehomender

          I've learned a lot by listening to http://a.co/1rHLXwu  The lack of financial motive wasn't 100% absent, but the norms were definitely strong and I'm fairly convinced that a lot of members likely weren't making money off of it and even more weren't inherently driven by it

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
        4. End of conversation
        1. New conversation
        2. mach nine‏ @alegw Jun 13
          Replying to @backus

          Fascinating, but disagree about “high risk”. Very unlikely to get caught.

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
        3. John Backus‏ @backus Jun 13
          Replying to @alegw

          Not extremely likely you go to prison sure, but also high risk of getting fired which matters to a lot of people. Getting fired for stealing content so you can leak it is rough. Similar to being fired for embezzlement or something. Definitely industry blacklist material

          0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
        4. End of conversation
        1. New conversation
        2. Daniel Lommes  🔵‏ @lommes Jun 11
          Replying to @backus @__ice9

          The answer can be found in Adam Smith (1759) The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Book 1, Section 3, Chapter 2 - Of the origin of Ambition, and of the distinction of Ranks

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
        3. Husam ABBOUD‏ @drhus Jun 12
          Replying to @lommes @backus @__ice9

          Daniel would you be so kind to open: Adam Smith (1759) The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Book 1, Section 3, Chapter 2 **and copy for us what's relevant** Of the origin of Ambition, and of the distinction of Ranks

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
        4. Daniel Lommes  🔵‏ @lommes Jun 12
          Replying to @drhus @backus @__ice9

          "From whence, then, arises that (...)? To be observed, to be attended to, to be taken notice of with sympathy, complacency, and approbation, are all the advantages which we can propose to derive from it. It is the *vanity*, not the ease, or the pleasure, which interests us."

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
        5. Daniel Lommes  🔵‏ @lommes Jun 12
          Replying to @lommes @drhus and

          the whole chapter is relevant and worth a read: http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smMS1.html … But briefly, Smith proposes that most human action (incl supposedly profit-oriented motives) is motivated by vanity and esteem, your own, and that of others. We are posers,

          2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
        6. Daniel Lommes  🔵‏ @lommes Jun 12
          Replying to @lommes @drhus and

          self-image and other-image (vanity) are key: "to become the natural object of the joyous congratulations and sympathetic attentions of mankind is, in this manner, the circumstance which gives to prosperity all its dazzling splendour"

          0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
        7. End of conversation
        1. John Light  🦓‏ @lightcoin Jun 11
          Replying to @backus

          I believe they call it "for the lulz" and if one has nihilists, sociopaths, and other highly neuro-atypical personalities as part of their mental model then it makes perfect sense :p

          0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
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        1. New conversation
        2. Sumanth  ⚡‏ @SuMastodon Jun 11
          Replying to @backus

          So, its about status and earning renown? Doesn't sound that different from early day expeditioners

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        3. Justin Label‏ @justinlabel Jun 11
          Replying to @SuMastodon @backus

          Or Twitter. Or Bitcoin. [Turns off all devices. Goes to bed for a week.]

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
        4. End of conversation
        1. scriptjunkie‏ @scriptjunkie1 Jun 22
          Replying to @backus @halvarflake

          scriptjunkie Retweeted John Backus

          Because rich, powerful, sometimes famous companies and people said you couldn't.https://twitter.com/backus/status/1006391825093967872 …

          scriptjunkie added,

          John Backus @backus
          In other words: • Highly competitive • High risk • No financial motive • No ideological motive (like liberating music or taking down the industry) • Not about love of art
          Show this thread
          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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        1. Husam ABBOUD‏ @drhus Jun 12
          Replying to @backus @zooko

          I thought you are talking about online dating

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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        1. Ash‏ @Crypto4Lif Jun 11
          Replying to @backus @zooko

          Status is at least as important as money motivation it’s just harder for economists to quantify

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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