✍︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.

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Cake day: November 14th, 2024

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  • ELI5 request on lemmy: "You see, dear grandchildren, your grandfather used to have an apple orchard. The fruits were so sweet and nutritious that every town citizen wanted a taste because they thought it was the only possible orchard in the world. Therefore the citizens gave a lot of money to your grandfather because the citizens thought the orchard would give them more apples in return, more than the worth of the money they gave. Little did they know the world was vastly larger than our ever more arid US wasteland. Suddenly an oriental orchard was discovered which was surprisingly cheaper to plant, maintain, and produced more apples. This meant a significant potential loss of money for the inhabitants of the town called Idiocracy. Therefore, many people asked their money back by selling their imaginary not-yet-grown apples to people who think the orchard will still be worth more in the future.

    This is called investing, or to those who are honest with themselves: participating in a multi-level marketing pyramid scheme. You see, children, it can make a lot of money, but it destroys the soul and our habitat at the same time, which goes unnoticed by all these people with advanced degrees. So think again when you hear someone speak with fancy words and untamed confidence. Many a times their reasoning falls below the threshold of dog poop. But that’s a story for another time. Sweet dreams."








  • arsCynic@beehaw.orgOPtoTechnology@beehaw.orgCrypto Cult Science
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    3 months ago

    Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely. Disregarding all of bitcoin’s shortcomings, a financial instrument that brings out the worst in people—greed—won’t change the world for the better.

    I disagree with this statement. Blockchain is only a technology, good or bad is what we humans are doing. It depends how we use BTC and other coins, but that’s a human issue rather than a technological one.

    ≈ “C₁₀H₁₅N is only a chemical, good or bad is what we humans are doing. It depends how we use crystal meth and other chemicals, but that’s a human issue rather than a technological one.”


  • arsCynic@beehaw.orgOPtoTechnology@beehaw.orgCrypto Cult Science
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    3 months ago

    As much as I like to refer to Hanlon’s Razor—“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”—I discourage using the word “stupidity” as personal slights. First of all, heated subjects should be met with deescalating vocabulary because it’s already so hard to find common ground. Secondly, everyone is a product of their environment; more often than not ignorance, tradition, inertia, peer pressure, et cetera, is to blame. Not raw incapability of comprehending things.


  • arsCynic@beehaw.orgOPtoTechnology@beehaw.orgCrypto Cult Science
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    3 months ago

    If an entire parallel economy bloomed around crypto - any crypto - that would make more strides to truly shake governments than anything else.

    “[…] In the end, governments aren’t inherently bad, but the people in it can be. And if they can be corrupted by bitcoin then we are merely running uphill on the Titanic.

    “Strong currencies are not the solution to poor governance. Good governance and democracy makes a country and its currency strong. Not vice versa.” —halukakin, HackerNews, 2021 [26]

    So, governments are not without faults, but likewise not the evil bogeymen as many people make them out to be, and neither are bitcoin enthusiasts. I still think most people mean well, but our ideas cannot account for, nor fathom the complexity of it all. Should the US decrease their disproportionally large defence budget?* Most definitely. Will bitcoin stop that? Probably not. Blame is easy, change is hard, and gambling on crypto“currencies” is not hard. It’s just playing Monopoly with another currency without changing the game. Maybe that’s it. Maybe they don’t want it changed and bitcoin is just a charade. “I don’t care if we have new banks, as long as I am rich.” But let’s not get lost in speculation here as well. […]”