Year of first contact:
1985 Computer
1994 Internet
2011 Bitcoin
2023 Nostr
Yes, I'm putting Nostr at that level.
Nostr is internet 2.0
thinking more about it, you can send the content to them as a direct message, which they could obviously post publicly, but it would probably be too much friction.
Is there a nostr client that has a built in lightning wallet so I don't have to copy and paste invoices?
you're right. but i guess it'd be something more akin to patreon. the content goes to everyone, but it's funded by people that really want to support it and they get it first.
Title not finalized, but a book on how fiat ruins everything and bitcoin fixes many of those things.
And of course, my brain responds with: how about you release chapters to a paid relay (really, a publishing server) you run yourself? It's unending, really.
Stupid Nostr. My brain is being bombarded with ideas about what you can build on it. I need to finish writing a book damn it!
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Fiat is fraud
Altcoins are too
To truly get Bitcoin's value proposition, study economics first and technology second.
There are plenty of people that understand the technology of Bitcoin, but haven't bought. Much more important is an understanding of economics and the monetary properties of Bitcoin.
You can implement it as MuSig. Your second factor is just another signer in a 2-of-2.
Gah, now I'm going to be thinking about how to do this. Maybe a Bitcoin Tech Talk account that you can follow and if the post gets a zap, the subscriber gets it in their messages? Now I want to make a newsletter bot.
Interesting Stuff
People aren’t stupid - Sadly, it’s the elites that think the masses are dumb and that they can do much better by making choices for them. This is what has caused so much strife as authorities that get this control almost always make giant mistakes, moral or otherwise that lead to poverty, death or worse. The collective is smarter than the individual, almost always. The contempt that we see from the elites these days for collective opinion is the problem.
Nuclear Waste - This is an article written by an environmentalist formerly against nuclear energy. He looks at the misconceptions around nuclear, particularly around waste and concludes that it’s some of the safest, especially when compared to the waste products of other energy sources. I think he’s being too harsh on coal and oil, but he’s honest about the waste generated by solar and wind. It’s criminal how little progress we’ve made with nuclear and how much regulation they’re under nearly everywhere.
The Nature of Beauty - A very interesting first-principles based analysis of beauty. I really liked how the idea of desire was incorporated into his definition and how beauty is really a way to induce desire. I’m not sure I agree with the article exactly, but I always appreciate analysis like this that clearly outlines how a particular phenomenon works.
What I'm up to
Individual Incentives - My latest article for Bitcoin Magazine this week is the first of a 4-part series about incentives at various levels. The main point in this article is that there are no good savings vehicles, making nearly everything into crappy savings vehicles and encouraging lots of debt. The conspicuous consumption that we see every day is truly soul-crushing and meaningless, making the modern world so much more nihilistic. Thankfully, Bitcoin fixes this.
Nostr - I've finally created a private key and have been playing with it this past week. My public key is npub10vlhsqm4qar0g42p8g3plqyktmktd8hnprew45w638xzezgja95qapsp42 if you want to follow me there. I posted a story there that I didn’t put anywhere else that hopefully is a fun read (doesn’t have to do with Bitcoin, but it does have to do with Trudeau). I’ve also been playing around with some of the protocol, seeing how easy it is to program. Let’s just say that it was pretty easy for me to get some code for.
Yereven and Dubai - These are the next two cities on my itinerary and if you’re in either one, please drop me a line! There will be some sort of meetup in Dubai, though I don’t have the details yet. I’m hoping there’s some good steak. The interesting part about this region is that their currencies seem relatively stable, and requiring less cash. We’ll see if this changes as I make my way to southeast Asia.
What I’m Shilling
Books
Bitcoin and the American Dream
Thank God for Bitcoin
The Little Bitcoin Book
Programming Bitcoin
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For free subscribers: Rethinking Nuclear Waste, First Principles analysis of Beauty, Fiat Individual Incentives and more!
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#Bitcoin Tech Talk #331
Here's an off-the-cuff idea. Before a peer-to-peer trade both Alice and Bob send a signed message to each other. Alice signing "I have initiated a trade X for Y with Bob". Then after the trade, Bob countersigns the message with "I successfully completed this trade with Alice" or "Alice didn't live up to her end of the bargain." These can be tallied up based on how close they are to you on the network for a score.
Haven't seen a NIP for this yet, but I'd love to see some proposal for reputation/web of trust. This could be very useful for and sort of peer-to-peer trading or interaction, especially if we can get different algorithms for figuring out how much to trust someone. Might need a different way to relate than follow, though.
Respectfully, I think you miss the point of the paintings of Jesus on the cross. For Christians, they are representations of what really happened and not some abstract symbolism. The point for Christians is to look at such paintings and reflect on Christ's sacrifice.
Similarly, paintings of Jesus as a baby are representations of what really happened and are invitations to reflect on how God came to earth.
A mishmash like this is meaningless and unrepresentative of the reality Christians reflect on daily because of the simple fact that it didn't happen and no one claims it did.
looks like a variation of fool's mate. nice job not panicking on the queen threat.
well, i guess that worked. whoever sent me 21 sats, thank you!