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My BPI keynote

"Bitcoin is the Most Important Human Rights Technology of the 21st Century"

Delivered in the heart of DC

Please share with normies who don't think Bitcoin has a use case. We have A LOT of work to do, most people think this way

But we WILL win in the end

https://blossom.primal.net/fbb5c8d98220ae2e323045c9ff199f02637f06f2e735be972df592bc9999259a.mp4

Callum 6mo ago

The conflation of Bitcoin with human rights is stupid.

Bitcoin is a technology. It doesn't care what 'rights' it is granted or not. The whole point of Bitcoin is that it routes around censorship.

p.s. it should always be noted when nostr:nprofile1qqs9336p4f3sctdrtft2wlqaq5upjz9azpgylhfd3dplwf005mfrr9spzamhxue69uhkummnw3ezuendwsh8w6t69e3xj7spz3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezummcw3ezuer9wct4lwjj starts spouting talk about human rights that he is highly selective in whose rights he wants to promote, and that these suspiciously co-align with ppl agitating for régime change in governments not controlled by the North Atlantic oligarchies

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Discussion

gladstein 6mo ago

You should watch the talk

Callum 6mo ago

What do you have to say about Peter Thiel's foundational role in the nostr:nprofile1qqs0rxy6jmt44guxkny8z4pkym9mxckqxfytygxuntjn6l80hj409sgpzfmhxue69uhky6t5wd6xzcmt9eshquqpzamhxue69uhkxcfwdaexzmn8v4cxjmrv9ejx2ashehydu ? That's something I'd be interested in listening to.

gladstein 6mo ago

He used to support a lot of free speech causes like the Committee to Protect Journalists and HRF

Then he changed his mind. Not sure what else to say

rapadu 6mo ago

Heard this a few times now over the years. I want to know more. Do you have any links?

Callum 6mo ago

Two links from 2013 examining funding links of the nostr:nprofile1qqs0rxy6jmt44guxkny8z4pkym9mxckqxfytygxuntjn6l80hj409sgpzfmhxue69uhky6t5wd6xzcmt9eshquqpzfmhxue69uhhqatjwpkx2urpvuhx2ucpzamhxue69uhkxcfwdaexzmn8v4cxjmrv9ejx2asult5ph and the associated OFF :

https://truthout.org/articles/using-human-rights-for-right-wing-politics/

> The story of the Oslo Freedom Forum is also a story of US right-wing sponsorship, lack of transparency and “heroes of human rights” involved in supporting serious human rights violations.

The truthout article references this earlier 2013 piece by Max Blumenthal :

https://electronicintifada.net/content/oslo-freedom-forum-founders-ties-islamophobes-who-inspired-mass-killer-anders-breivik/12451

As for amount of funding provided by Thiel, a BuzzFeed article states it as at least $900,000 to the HRF, but it is BuzzFeed so not sure about the accuracy. Thiel is also acknowledged on the OFF website as a founding funder (separate to his funding of the HRF) and organiser of the initial conference.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/matthewzeitlin/oslo-freedom-forum-founder-says-thiel-has-every-right

Not enough scrutiny of the HRF/OFf, its backers and its funding sources has been done since those early 2013 articles I linked above.

Callum 6mo ago

The Blumenthal piece puts Thiel's finding of the nostr:nprofile1qqs0rxy6jmt44guxkny8z4pkym9mxckqxfytygxuntjn6l80hj409sgpzfmhxue69uhky6t5wd6xzcmt9eshquqpzfmhxue69uhhqatjwpkx2urpvuhx2ucpzamhxue69uhkxcfwdaexzmn8v4cxjmrv9ejx2asult5ph at $535,000 so you may prefer to use that figure over the higher BuzzFeed figure

gladstein 6mo ago

The largest gift we received from Peter in a calendar year was $100k. He has not given in more than 12 years. Our annual budget today is north of $20M. This is completely silly

Callum 6mo ago

Where can I find the full transparent records of all monies received by the nostr:nprofile1qqs0rxy6jmt44guxkny8z4pkym9mxckqxfytygxuntjn6l80hj409sgpzfmhxue69uhky6t5wd6xzcmt9eshquqpzfmhxue69uhhqatjwpkx2urpvuhx2ucpzamhxue69uhkxcfwdaexzmn8v4cxjmrv9ejx2asult5ph and the OFF for each financial year dating back to their foundation ?

So I can verify your assertion

gladstein 6mo ago

Don’t trust, verify. We are a 501c3 so we are mandated to provide this kind of info in our published 990s

Carl 6mo ago

I - and many others - sent bitcoin to the Canadian truckers when their bank accounts were frozen. When fiat dollar crowd funding was shut off by authoritarians, bitcoin prevailed.

Callum 6mo ago

Good for you but what is your point ? Bitcoin worked as designed, as uncensorable money. This is regardless of whether the truckers rights were being respected or not. Bitcoin doesn't know and doesn't care.

Carl 6mo ago

As they say - bitcoin is for your enemies. The point is fiat is very difficult to use for human rights in authoritarian regimes, bitcoin prevails.

Therefore it is much better in many instances for good

Zen<3lofi 5mo ago

I think that “Callum” account is just trying to be argumentative.

Rick Apollo 6mo ago

Alex nostr:nprofile1qythwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnxd46zuamf0ghxy6t6qy28wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytn00p68ytnyv4mqqgzccaq65ccv9k3454480sws2wqepz73q5z0m5kckslhyhh6d533jc25xncl promotes Bitcoin. If what you're saying:

"Bitcoin is a technology. It doesn't care what 'rights' it is granted or not. The whole point of Bitcoin is that it routes around censorship."

is true, then your whole comment is a contradiction in itself, since Bitcoin cannot be hijacked for any specific purpose. Not even by the HRF. Freedom and Self-Sovereignty only.

Callum 6mo ago

Bitcoin is code. The people who maintain and add features to the code can be interfered with. Users always have a choice not to run newer implementations of the code but that also requires users understanding Bitcoin well. Understanding has decreased since the last big challenge to the code base in 2017 with the introduction, by evangelistic 'orange pilling' of many shallow, influencer led Bitcoiners. The struggle to keep Bitcoin 'true' is an ongoing one, and also the layers built on top of it. I see nostr:nprofile1qqs9336p4f3sctdrtft2wlqaq5upjz9azpgylhfd3dplwf005mfrr9spzamhxue69uhkummnw3ezuendwsh8w6t69e3xj7spz3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezummcw3ezuer9wcq3qamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wwa5kueg6g89xw and the nostr:nprofile1qqs0rxy6jmt44guxkny8z4pkym9mxckqxfytygxuntjn6l80hj409sgpzfmhxue69uhky6t5wd6xzcmt9eshquqpzfmhxue69uhhqatjwpkx2urpvuhx2ucpzamhxue69uhkxcfwdaexzmn8v4cxjmrv9ejx2asult5ph as highly suspect players in the world of Bitcoin developer funding.

Bitcoinerdamus 6mo ago

Bitcoin is human desire for truth. Manifest in a unique sw/ hw system that binds the physical world (energy) with the political world of humans (money) via numbers (cryptography). Once discovered now, no going back. It's too simplistic to say 'bitcoin is code'. BitcoinCore and its contributors are a convenience, not the essence.

Zen<3lofi 5mo ago

> Bitcoin is a technology … yeah…designed by a group of humans.

also, kinda everything at this point is *a* technology.

lastly, BOTH are true (and probably more). Bitcoin has many points, functions, and uses. Your comment sets up a false dichotomy.