To opt out of fiat is not to succumb to political ambivalence. In fact, Bitcoin is a politically relevant decision. Our democracy has been reduced to a form of representative government which is by nature, distanced from the citizen. A protocol that receives users’ feedback directly by way of POW and nodes, embodies a democratic element that has been lost in real politics. This character strengthens its resistance to anti-political appeals to patriotism, fear, and demagoguery.

Designing an enemy for the population to fear.

👍Excited to read this when I have some time tonight. Manufacturing Consent is one of those books that redefines one’s world view.

To opt out of fiat is not to succumb to political ambivalence. In fact, Bitcoin is a politically relevant decision. Our democracy has been reduced to a form of representative government which is by nature, distanced from the citizen. A protocol that receives users’ feedback directly by way of POW and nodes, embodies a democratic element that has been lost in real politics. This character strengthens its resistance to anti-political appeals to patriotism, fear, and demagoguery.

There is no left-right conflict inherent in the system.

There is only top-bottom conflict, and a dialogue controlled by the top with a purpose of fomenting resentment between the suffering masses below.

The power of decentralized money, communication, media… is not economic equality, but political equality. These protocols have the potential to undermine the elite’s claim that economic status should dictate political participation. The current relationship is by nature illiberal.

It is crucial to recognize the tension between political democracy and economic power. The demos strives for political equality, and the elite claims that political inequality is a natural and acceptable aspect of economic inequality. When economic status dictates political status, democracy becomes impossible.

Hello Brother,

I like Jamison Lopp, but he is not a progressive person. If your intention is to have a progressive podcast, I recommend having conversations with people who study human rights, equality, and socially responsible political systems. Many Bitcoiners start with Bitcoin and work backwards to a set of tenets that really don’t support their conclusion. One should the conversation start by sharing an understanding of plutocracy, of elitism, of the traditional power of corporations and monopolies over the masses. Your podcast should include conversations about labor struggles, about the dangers of austerity, about the finance/insurance/real estate sectors and their tactics to extract rents from the people. Let’s discuss US imperialism in Central America in the 80’s. Let’s discuss resource and labor extraction from third world countries in Africa. Let’s discuss managed democracy and the rise of inverted totalitarianism. Let’s discuss the works of Noam Chomsky, Michael Hudson, JS Mill, Sheldon Wolin, Richard Wolff, Brian Czech, Chris Hedges, Alex Vitale, Tim Parsons, Gore Vidal, Paul Craig Roberts, etc. Bitcoin is the most liberal economic system that has ever existed, and it is part of the answer to many of the criticisms put forth by Marx, Rocker, Trotsky, Lenin, and Kropotkin.

Awesome. Now you can sell your furnace to buy some more miners.

1. They’re super loud; don’t put them under your bedroom

2. Filter that air really well. There’s some dirty air in those ducts, and miners do not care to be dirty.

3. One may want to consider whether placement of miners in series or in parallel would make more sense. In series would be easier, but then the hot exhaust gasses from one would become intake gasses for the next.

4. Bitmain says miners should not be placed in damp areas. Evaluate that crawl space.

Belief in species exceptionalism…or cultural exceptionalism…or national exceptionalism…or genetic exceptionalism…depends on a mythical and imagined foundation. The only exceptionalism is in life itself.

What do you mean by that?

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I think freedom from ideology is greatly liberating. Why find comfort in a set of collected beliefs and values designed for you by a political tribe? Designing your own set based on an independent world view, allows you to define your own tenets and then extract logical conclusions. The existing plutocracy would rather present you with allowable conclusions, and hope that you ignore the fact that the natural tenets of human need do not support them.

At the fiat mine, making more money than most, because I know a thing about barriers to entry, trade monopolies, and state regulations... not because my time is worth more, or because my craft is more valuable.

It’s nice for me…but really it’s a symptom of a broken system that allows powerful industries to write their own rules.

Bitcoin fixes this.

Looks good 👍🐿

Agricultural practices in India and the western US are key causes

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023GL103509

We’re terrified of public opinion from the moment we’re born, partially due to religious training, partially due to an educational system that is not very interested in educating us.

What, really, the rulers want are docile workers, who refuse to have anything to do say about minimum wage or labor unions, and passionate consumers…

Gore Vidal

History of the National Security State

According to Thorstein Veblen, wealth was historically measured in personal time: leisure, the ability to let your wife stay at home, the time to study and learn.

Rent seekers and money lenders changed the dialogue, and convinced the world that wealth is things. Your leisure time, it turns out, yields them no interest and no rent.