Subnostr

When I was kid, I was into computers and completely fascinated by the idea of an internet, a place that allowed communication. And freedom of speech. A way to express and a dream of better governments.

The only problem was that the internet of the nineties was mostly unmoderated, you wouldn't input your credit card, nor would you disclose your phone number and let alone your name.

It just was the way it is.

Anywhoo I needed an alias that I could use in online games.

I went to the school library for inspiration and as we all know, books are lame.

I browsed and walked along the shelves until

I happened upon a book thicker than I had ever opened - but the cover sported a cool illustration of a warrior and a female mage riding under a moon.

I thought "whatever" and pulled out my library card.

Once home I opened it up, and trailed a finger to the first decent name I could use as a tag.

Cause seriously, the book was like 700 pages and there's gonna at least two names on each page so what does it matter?

If you've read any fantasy books then you know by now that names have power.

Oh boy - I picked good one...

Funny, I didn't do as much gaming as I expected, but ironically I ended up doing a lot of reading.

And I have worn the same name since before the great platforming.

I'm rereading the books now, almost 20 years later.

It's just a story about good versus evil.

But looking back at my former self I can't help but vibe with story as it unfolds seeing the depth that was veiled from the younger reader - anthropomorphizing it with my own experiences. Yes golden haired Illyena is already dead, killed her with my own two hands - at least in my heart. (Don't worry the ex is alive, talked to her yesterday, she's fine)

But I am a tiny bit insecure about my sanity..

For those of you who read:

I honestly fear we're at the end of the age of enlightenment. Our beloved bitcoin is the bore that promises unlimited power, a trustless system so great it makes trust a simple accessory to be donned and discarded at a nick.

I am truly afraid of what happens when 51% of humanity enchains themselves and future generations.

I believe this golden cult of sacrifice will gain sentience and start sacrificing it's own.

Those who hold onto one coin or less will be the first to go.

Paper burns but every hodler deleted makes the collective richer.

What's more.

In the year of 2038, when all Unix clocks will stops.

I'm afraid that the temptation to adopt a new decentralized time piece will be too great.

Using blockheight we will have broken time itself and anchor our everyday minds to a very alien idea.

I don't know about you but I would welcome more time in my life less spent thinking of money.

According to story, the war of power begun when we broke open the bore. The darkness escaped into our world we turned on each other.

And the war raged on until there was no one nor nothing left fighting for.

The point is: I don't like money, because it's a messed up system that is currently failing.

But when I remember what Bitcoin truly is, I have nightmares.

I will not name the forsaken, you know those who preach - and the Jack of shadows posts here every now and then. Wonderful

If you're a nostr developer, please remember:

"Censorship Resistance"

If you ever forget that, then you have forgotten why nostr was hailed in the first place.

Or think of it this way: a paid word is word whose weight is not worth a dime.

So I've decided that I wish to grow up a bit and stop trolling y'all, you're doing a decent job.

Please accept my apology - and also stop the circlejerk that alienates good creators like musicians, makers and other people who just wish to have place where they can do their own thing maybe reach like minded at a distance without being "productified" or forced to give up their name.

In general the relays are already good quality, but the clients could use another set of hands to help iterate for wider adoption.

But seriously, am I wrong to be afraid of the orange pill?

I wish to know.

Please

Ingwie Phoenix (aka. birb) 2y ago

Alright, I read the whole thing. That was a lot o.o

First, I can tell that you are extremely emotional about this, and I can totally emphasize with that. The previous few weeks, whilst whitnessing the full all-out "crapification of the internet", I had a bit of a depression actually.

Where did all the things I enjoyed go? TweetDeck, that I used to enjoy wrestling pay-per-views with likeminded people? Gone. Reddit, where I found the very first community that accomodated my exact interests? Gone. And, whilst not in this very space, I used to enjoy Facebook because my school mates were there too. It's not gone, but... it is a far, far, far cry from what it was. And the seasoning ontop of this is the recession itself - the price hikes and all the other raising inconveniences that pertrude my everyday life. I used to order a cheeseburger menu once every while. But now, the cheeseburger alone has surpassed the price of the menu back then. Three words: What the fuck?

Fantasy novels, thin or small, have the tendency to pull you into a different world, or mindset, and allow you to escape from reality for a little while. But at some point, you ease yourself back over the threshold - but now with the experience of one or many characters and their respective relationships and emotions. You start to reflect, albeit a little differently than usual. And this often results in some of the most interesting and intriguing thoughts out there.

I get how you feel about bitcoin; heck, when I realized that Nostr was basically Bitcoin maxis with a few "non-coiners" inbetween, I was quite surprised. And yet, I feel like watching those coiners go about their discussions - good or bad; informative or utterly pointless - has helped me see things a little differently. Whilst I don't plan to become a "Bitcoin Maxi", I do intend to understand the reason and it's place in the world far more. People wouldn't have made Bitcoin, if it had no reason, or place in this world - right...? I mean, it could also just have been someone being incredibly drunk and writing some of the most advanced code out there like they've skipped the "10x Developer" class alltogether and went to 100x instead. xD

Money is something I have always kept an eye on; making sure my budget was in check, that my bills were paid, that I could still afford my occasional burger and other commodities. But, I had never thought about money in terms of the entire system. We exchange paper bills and metal coins for food, only for said coins and bills to be exchanged at a bank for credit on an account, which can then be used to pay for other bills and the likes. Its actually kinda wild o.o

Watching the crapification of the internet, playing together with the recession and realizing that both of them rely on the systems that are built upon money (capitalism, for instance and specifically where I live - Germany), I do have to wonder if the path most of humanity has chosen is actually a good one.

You mentioned the internet in the nineties; well I only experienced it in the early 20s; specifically starting at 2002. I saw Myspace rise and fall, Limewire come, impact and go as well as other things. Most of the IT experience I built was actually due to needing it to complete the instructions given in some of the downloads! Odd way to do things, but that seems to be one of my special traits, even today (i.e.: I wanted to learn about Lightning, and ended up first at BTCPayServer docs... whoops.)

Is Euro, Dollar or Bitcoin the answer? Iunno, I am not that visionary or capable of this far foresight myself. But I do know one thing: History has a tendency of repeating itself. And who knows, maybe this won't just repeat the bad parts but also the good parts? I mean the .com-bubble bursting was quite bad, but what came after was pretty okay. Maybe we're seing something similiar? No idea...

I decided, for myself, that I will stay at #Nostr. One of my personal dystopian fears is that I will need i2p or Tor to even access the internet, because the rest of it has become completely full of tracking and surveiliance - and stacking an adblocker ontop, just for good meassure - albeit its almost a requirement at this point...

So to answer your final question: Yes, and no. Approach it with caution, don't ever forget that every coin has two sides - even Bitcoin, albeit being a mere hash on a linked, distributed list. I am too; but in my honest opinion, it might become the lesser of two evils in the long run... And I am _not_ looking forward to that. :/

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Discussion

[NPC] Tony 2y ago

Thank you for reply.

It is as you say.

Culture grows like underappreciated weeds, once it takes root, someone will say "Aaaah~ value"

And then the harvesting begins until there's not a straw left unmilked.

I seem to have had a couple years headstart.

So I'll just say fear not, culture is just like mold, it vanishes from one place but pops up in another.

Honestly thought I was the only coinless user here. 👊

#nostr4all