A difference between AIs and humans is that humans die. Morality is downstream from death.

A machine therefore can't have values so it will never be able to tell right from wrong - only copy humans' values

There's also a lot of folks without internet (2.9B) or electricity (770M) in the world. I don't really think of those as elitist technologies normally. Maybe I should. Similar idea? Different?

I spoke at a big bitcoin-adjacent company this week and one of the best questions was from someone who asked what the downsides of bitcoin adoption might be.

I always do appreciate these steelman questions, the skeptical questions, the ones where we challenge ourselves. Only when we can answer those types of questions do we understand the concept that we are promoting.

So the classic example is that in modern economic literature, "deflation is bad". This, however, is only the case in a highly indebted system. Normally, deflation is good. Money appreciates, technology improves, and goods and services get cheaper over time as they should. Price of Tomorrow covers this well. My book touches on this too, etc. The "deflation is bad" meme is still alive in modern economic discourse and thus is worth countering, but I think in the bitcoin spectrum of communities, people get that deflation is fine and good.

My answer to the question was in two parts.

The first part was technological determinism. In other words, if we were to re-run humanity multiple times, there are certain rare accidents that might not replicate, and other commonalities that probably would. Much like steam engines, internal combustion engines, electricity, and nuclear power, I think a decentralized network of money is something we would eventually come across. In our case, Bitcoin came into existence as soon as the bandwidth and encryption tech allowed it to. In other universes or simulations it might look a bit different (e.g. might not be 21 million or ten minute block times exactly), but I think decentralized real-time settlement would become apparent as readily as electricity does, for any civilization that reaches this point. So ethics aside, it just is what it is. It exists, and thus we must deal with it.

The second part was that in my view, transparency and individual empowerment is rarely a bad thing. Half of the world is autocratic. And half of the world (not quite the same half) deals with massive structural inflation. A decentralized spreadsheet that allows individuals to store and send value can't possibly be a bad thing, unless humanity itself is totally corrupted. I then went into more detail with examples about historical war financing, and all sorts of tangible stuff. In other words, a whole chapter full of stuff. I've addressed this in some articles to.

In your view, if you had to steelman the argument as best as you could, what are the scenarios where bitcoin is *BAD* for humanity rather than good for it, on net?

2009 - 2023 was the gradually phase.

Maybe life of blissful ignorance is not so bad.

Live on fake money. Put in your hours. Don’t question. Smile on weekends. Stay in line. Do as you’re told. Play your part. Go to school. Get a job. Live beyond your means. Let someone else worry about everything else. Politics? Tune out. Talk loudly since you know everything. Scan your eyeballs. Get you global ID. Surrender all privacy. Convenience first. Trust your government. Trust your schools. Trust your doctors. Trust the law. Trust the courts. Take it all in and just mind your own business.

Ah, sweet life.

The former, until we get to the next place.

After we get to the next place, then the present becomes the latter.

Converse with people and share interesting stuff you’re doing. Share your hobbies with hashtags and see if others are sharing stuff that’s related.

Post about stuff you’re into. Share you’re thoughts. Use the #GrowNostr tag. Enjoy 😁

I'm just posting notes into the void, zapping, boosting, being a reply guy, and following people as I find them. It's fun, and I'm not especially worried about followers. That seems to be slowly picking up naturally.

Which, honestly, is how it should be 🤔

I came here with no other social following, and I think it is going ok so far on Nostr. Post yourself! Post good pics, make funny jokes, help other users, whatever you want. And follow lots of other people, that helps too 🫂💜

Adding value ftw

Just post into the void 🙂

I say share what YOU are all about. Pour your mind and soul here.

Set up a zap addy, cuz you can easily monetize your hobbies, thoughts and dreams.

Fake it you mean? nostr:note1mv32p0qrfpftuyzswuhq3whpvmgpjhcwxlwmhxc77hr83esgfsrsu8zvf5

“To know the future in a conscious way gives you, obviously, a survival advantage. But at the same time it gives you a survival disadvantage, so what you gain on the roundabout you lose on the swings. You gain the ability to plan your future, to invest, to take out insurance, to do all those things. But the price you pay for it is anxiety. And you pay this price because you know that you don’t know enough.”

— Alan Watts