What movies, TV shows, or books, defined you?

Along with your answers, state your approximate generation. GenZ, Millennial, GenX, Boomer, older, etc.

I’ve spent a lot of hours analyzing “crypto” and keeping up with the fads, and to this day I still cannot find a problem that I have, and that it can solve.

Bitcoin solves my hard globally-portable savings problem. I don’t see better money than this. And that’s a big problem to solve.

Stablecoins solve some developing market intermediate-term money problems in very inflationary environments as a bridging tool while Bitcoin is still volatile. Okay. That’s big for now.

Digital collectibles are fine. I mean, I have cardboard Magic the Gathering cards worth thousands of dollars. So you buy an ape NFT and get membership to an exclusive ape club (which is like all dudes, nearly entirely devoid of women) and can show your status by displaying your supposedly elite avatar. I do see how there is a nonzero recurring interest in this sort of digital elitist collectible thing. But it doesn’t solve any of my problems or seem to be relevant on the macro scale. A niche thing that doesn’t appeal to me. Like, Pokémon might make a billion dollars but it won’t make a macro-scale trillion dollars.

DeFi is mainly about trading and leveraging worthless tokens. In a world where there are much more real-world tokens involved (eg tokenized Apple stock or whatever), then maybe there is more of a use for that. But until then it’s mainly a circular Ponzi. And even then, that industry is limited.

So almost 15 years into this industry, there have been a handful of interesting experiments, but barely anything other than bitcoin and stablecoins interests me at scale.

Beyond that, it is just things that they can empower.

Nostr, for example, doesn’t need a blockchain. There is no reason to go to the expense to maintain a global state. It certainly is empowered from the fact that Bitcoin and Lightning exist (new good money allows for new good technologies), so it’s a tangential technology.

The vast majority of “crypto” projects either don’t solve a problem, or just solve a smaller niche interest.

Depends on size, training, and other matters. A minor slashing weapon like a key and with an intent to go for an eye can be useful in some contexts.

Pretty sure your first is weaker with a key between your fingers.

There have been a handful of times in my life, maybe four or five or so, where I was walking in a dark parking garage or similar venue alone in a city at night, and came across a sketchy-looking dude that was looking at me weird or otherwise triggered my confrontational intuition based on his vibe, clothing, and/or body language.

And each time I kept it cool on the surface, looked at him confidently, but kind of subtlety clenched my fists and was internally amping myself up with uncontrollable adrenaline like, “You want to fucking go dude?” and began running through mental routines of how to drop him based on certain approaches, or what if he has a knife and how to focus on that, etc.

To this day, I don’t know what percentage of them were intending to be a problem. Maybe none. Maybe one or two out of five. I think at least some of them probably triggered defensive instincts in me for a reason; those aren’t there for no reason. Some aspect of them seemed acutely out of place or overly intentional, etc. Studies generally suggest that attackers pick out less confident looking people. Easy targets. They use their instincts too. Part of me wonders if any of them might have tried something if I slumped my shoulders and tried to walk quicker to my car rather than look straight at them and and basically amp myself up while also acting like nothing was happening. Some vibe of me was present for their instincts too.

But perhaps more importantly, I wonder what it feels like to be totally afraid there. To have no defenses, no answer. It happens to people all the time. You’re in a parking lot or garage and there is a sketchy dude or a few drunk guys. You get on a small elevator with a guy and it is you and him and he’s 80 pounds heavier. My father put me in martial arts so that I wouldn’t face a scenario with no answers. While I might feel adrenaline or concern, I never feel powerless. I immediately start running through options. I wonder what people feel like in these situations if they have literally never had a fight in their lives. Like, I might or might not win in this scenario, but either way it’ll be absolutely vicious if it gets down to it. I can’t imagine having no answer.

Or the doorbell rings at 9pm while my husband is on travel. 95% of me like “probably a neighbor” and the other 5% of me is looking out the window and clenching my fists slightly and running through those same routines and thinking about the closest knife location in case this gets weird.

I think that is an important aspect to teach people. Everyone should have basic defense training. Not everyone is going to have extensive combat training, but everyone can have some basics to boost their chances by either improving their vibes to avoid being targeted or having some basic starting points of what to do if attacked, since some actions like yelling and having a handful of moves to get away from a grab or hit someone back or otherwise make someone realize that it’s not worth it. It’s the same as having basic cooking skills, basic repair skills, how to change a tire, etc. you just have to know a few things.

Anytime you find yourself arguing about something gender-related, for or against, stop and think about how few times this has actually happened in real life. This has become a big national political issue, but what percentage of your monthly interactions in the past year have included pronoun or similar disagreements between yourself and someone else *in person*?

Somehow, I have reached age 36 and this has not once been an issue in real life. Has it ever been an issue in your life? Unless you live in like one of four cities in the world or have the unfortunate role of being a liberal arts college professor, probably not. Let them deal with it.

Social polarization is a method of control by those with the money, so that you focus on something other than the money. They create theoretical problems to distract you from something more important.

For this decade in particular, it is important to focus on the money. Show empathy and tolerance and love and acceptance toward all, and really just be based, but focus on the money. Because that is what they are trying to distract you from, like a magician.

Anyway, good night.

imo most people realize alcohol and nicotine aren’t good for them…caffeine, not so much