Occam’s Razor:

Ilya Sutskever didn’t like watching someone do victory laps, and take all the credit for his life’s work.

I just want to know what he lied about.

Like is it some personal thing or financial thing, or is it about the tech itself. Due to how this was handled, it couldn’t have been small.

Thank you 👑💜💫👏🏻

But i have a suggestion! There are young kids who are joining Nostr. Do you think those bold photos are good for them?

Proof of abs 😂

It's not the case for everyone, but for a lot of people, participating in something that they perceive as bigger than themselves is really important. They want to leave a tiny mark that goes beyond their own life in some way in terms of reach or in terms of time.

Sometimes it's religion, sometimes it's patriotism, sometimes it's a certain political/ideological movement, sometimes it's a professional guild, sometimes it is advancing technology, sometimes it is advancing art, etc. Could be any number of things.

Mine is mixed, but it's basically the intersection of technology and human rights. I want to support technologies like Bitcoin and Nostr and others that empower individualism and human rights. People should be able to engage in transfers of information and commerce largely unrestricted. They should be able to protect themselves from currency dilution. They should be able to do this regardless of their race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or whatever, as long as they are not actively trying to hurt others. It should require probable cause and the allocation of deliberate resources and time by authorities to prevent bad people from doing these things, rather than being automatically applied to everyone as a matter of course. And this can't really be asked for; the technology has to be built and shared so that the burden of difficulty is on those trying to make it otherwise.

And for me, that means educating people about these technologies, providing capital or economic guidance to people these technologies, otherwise doing whatever small part I can to help improve the success or adoption of these technologies.

Other than that, I just want to leave my little slice of the world better than I found it. I want to help rather than hurt. I want to beautify rather than destroy. I want to unify differing views through objectivity and open talk and help create collaboration and coexistence, rather than sow unnecessary division. This doesn't scale as well and can't win as decisively as technology can, so it's mainly just my side thing.

What's yours? What is the thing(s) that you want to participate in that are bigger than yourself?

It's not the case for everyone, but for a lot of people, participating in something that they perceive as bigger than themselves is really important. They want to leave a tiny mark that goes beyond their own life in some way in terms of reach or in terms of time.

Sometimes it's religion, sometimes it's patriotism, sometimes it's a certain political/ideological movement, sometimes it's a professional guild, sometimes it is advancing technology, sometimes it is advancing art, etc. Could be any number of things.

Mine is mixed, but it's basically the intersection of technology and human rights. I want to support technologies like Bitcoin and Nostr and others that empower individualism and human rights. People should be able to engage in transfers of information and commerce largely unrestricted. They should be able to protect themselves from currency dilution. They should be able to do this regardless of their race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or whatever, as long as they are not actively trying to hurt others. It should require probable cause and the allocation of deliberate resources and time by authorities to prevent bad people from doing these things, rather than being automatically applied to everyone as a matter of course. And this can't really be asked for; the technology has to be built and shared so that the burden of difficulty is on those trying to make it otherwise.

And for me, that means educating people about these technologies, providing capital or economic guidance to people these technologies, otherwise doing whatever small part I can to help improve the success or adoption of these technologies.

Other than that, I just want to leave my little slice of the world better than I found it. I want to help rather than hurt. I want to beautify rather than destroy. I want to unify differing views through objectivity and open talk and help create collaboration and coexistence, rather than sow unnecessary division. This doesn't scale as well and can't win as decisively as technology can, so it's mainly just my side thing.

What's yours? What is the thing(s) that you want to participate in that are bigger than yourself?

What is CPFP

Progressives vs Conservativs is the ultimate tension.

Politically speaking, if we set aside the extremists on each side, the middle ground debate between well-informed people is often a battle between the following:

Progressives want to move society forward, but often in too centralized and artificial manner. At their best, they want to help the disenfranchised among us and focus on what they see as the bigger picture. At their worst, they get into eugenics and central control and underestimate the efficiency of market forces.

Conservatives often want to hold society where it is, even when resisting new change that could be good. At their best, they support responsibility and virtue and hard work, while at their worst, they harm new ideas or minorities that deviate from their local culture, and hold back good new ideas.

And how we interpret these forces changes over time. Sometimes science is at the forefront, and sometimes politics/culture is. Copernicus and Galileo were scientific progressives, and were punished for it despite being right. But then Marx and Woodrow Wilson were political progressives, and had success despite later being wrong in many ways. And then ironically, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were both considered progressive US presidents, but in many ways they couldn't be more different. Conservatives today have more respect for the former than the latter.

Both fundamental forces, progress and conservatism, are necessary. We need to move forward, but with awareness of our past. Cautiously progressive, and virtuously conservative. Humble in our presumed ability to control the world, but empathetic in our outreach to groups that don't necessarily fit within the existing culture. Something akin to Libertarianism fits the bill, but with more widespread support. When Libertarianism fails to catch on in any of 200 or so countries, its lack of success needs to be examined. Why isn't Libertarianism popular?

Some of this I argue is due to technology. The existing tech of fast transactions but slow settlements gives power to central banks and governments. Technology dictates politics.

For example, prior to the invention of the printing press, it wasn't possible to have a democratic republic over a large landmass. That required fast information transfer and widespread literacy. Ancient people were not "ignorant" to have their prior social structures; they outright lacked the technology to even attempt our current norms. And today, can we imagine if new technology makes our existing norms irrelevant? What if capital flows as freely as information flows? Does that change politics? I think so.

In the modern era, central planners have a technological edge. It's easy for them to consolidate the banks and central banks, since everything is reliant on credit-based transfers. The invention of bitcoin and fast non-credit transfer starts to mess with that, but it takes time with liquidity and network effects.

I expect the next few decades to change substantially. But as they do, I consider progressivism vs conservatism to be a useful framework to keep in mind. Openness to change vs preservation of what works well now. In all technological environments, era after era, this is ultimately the key social debate. As monetary technology stalled in recent decades, politics took center stage. As monetary technology advances over the next couple of decades, I expect that technology to start impacting and framing conversations more and more, as it starts setting the clear path.

“What if we had a genuine initiation ritual for newly minted maxi’s… a passing rite that affirms your exit from the old, rotten fiat paradigm and your subsequent entry into satoshi’s judicious universe; a transformation symbolized by your face seemingly moving through a portal. I get excited just thinking about it!“ #circlebearding

Most people have a strong urge to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Not all, but most.

It could be a tribe, gang, nation, religion, political ideology, technological ideology, military hierarchy, artisan guild, their own family, or something else. A set of virtues that they adhere to, that stirs them up emotionally, and that even in certain contexts they would put their career or reputation or life on the line to defend.

When trying to understand other people, it helps to understand what bigger context drives you, and what bigger context drives those you are interacting with.

Always try to ascertain, “what bigger context drives this person, if any?”

What has blown me away are the sheer number of people that just absolutely do not care/excuse mass slaughter of innocent people, using the most paper thin of excuses.

peepee poopoo

One of my recent macro narratives that resonates with people is that all of the fucking gates are down.

The 160+ fiat currency bubbles, which previously relied on controlling ports of entry and bank transfers, are now highly porous. They can be routed around by remembering twelve words through a port of entry, by sending money via a QR code over a video call, or by communicating via email or DM and arranging a payment- all with infinite value density.

But adoption takes time. Liquidity needs to build, people need to become aware and comfortable with the technology. Only in the past few years has liquidity become serious enough to be interesting to most people, and given another cycle or two it could and should just blow these gates wide open.

If you are in a foreign country and don’t know how to eat some local dish, you can take a photo and ask chatgpt how to eat it.

I’ve also been the photo feature to identify plants and shells.

Any other cool things you’ve used it for?

I am getting close to giving a more detailed assessment on Israel/Hamas, as it drags on.

And it will probably be Nostr-only since other platforms can’t handle it. It is too polarized. Everyone is tunnel-visioned.

My husband is currently in Cairo dealing with some property work we are doing for our extended family. They are only 250 miles from the problem, and Egypt’s acute currency crisis brings it closer to home if military or refugee shit hits the fan. Most of my extended family is geopolitically or financially close to the Israel/Gaza issue and is Muslim. I am thus both close and far from the issue. And I grew up in the US in a diverse region with Jewish and Muslim peers, but more-so Jewish overall.

Suffice to say, I don’t want civilians on either side to suffer or die. I am pro-humanity first and foremost.

Before I give my eventual analysis, I am happy to see Nostr comments on the issue. What are your thoughts and questions on the topic? What would you like to see addressed from a diverse or as non-biased source as possible?