if you’re overwhelmed by all the really smart, really passionate people on here, remember there are also some of us who just shitpost and share random photos and thoughts and don’t build and don’t create PRs but day after day we show up and that still counts for something.

#introductions

Unchained.com or onrampbitcoin.com?

Friendly reminder that the ostrich is the dumbest fucking bird on the planet.

Finally got around to watching killers of the flower moon.

It’s a masterpiece.

One of Scorsese’s best films.

Definitely check it out if you haven’t already.

When you’ve been away from Nostr for a day and don’t get the dans thing.

Has social media been a net positive or a net negative in your life?

I don't talk much about shitcoins, because I spend as little time possible thinking about them. I felt these thoughts bubbling up to the surface so thought I'd share them on Nostr.

I was seeking alternative currencies when I started using Bitcoin. During the initial wave of shitcoinery, I still had some level of interest from the "competing currency" standpoint, not at all related to pump and dump profiting. In fact, I was too naive to realize this is what they would become. Yes, I'm this retarded. 😂

Currently, I think of most shitcoins as a form of gambling. Gambling is idiotic and a waste of money, but that's my opinion. Some people want to do degen shit, and I'm not going to forcefully stop them.

I typically mute/block shitcoin stuff because I don't care about them. I don't waste my time looking at them, when Bitcoin does exactly what I need it to do. When people ask me my opinion on shitcoins I tell them to learn about Bitcoin and DCA sats instead.

Bitcoin is for anyone, but not everyone. I'd rather live in a world where not everyone wants to use Bitcoin. Maybe some want to voluntarily use bcash (lol) or monero. Live and let live. Voluntary money instead of forced govt fiat sounds ok to me.

To be clear:

I own no shitcoins other than two physical Lealana litecoin silver rounds that for some reason I've had since like 2013 or 2014. 😂 Not gonna lie, they look incredible.

In late 2017 I told Blockchain(dot)com I was quitting because they were adding shitcoins after supporting the failed Segwit2x chain. I left 7 figures worth of equity on the table when I quit, as well as a salary that was 4x more than I made at any point in my life. I could have stuck around another 6 months for those shares to vest, but chose to leave because yes, I'm this retarded. 😂

Does this make me a "shitcoin sympathizer?" Am I not "maxi enough" because of these beliefs?

Final thoughts: are all shitcoins scams? I don't think so, but many definitely are. Which ones are scams and which ones aren't? You can DYOR & hope you're right OR you can stop playing stupid games & just stack sats instead.

I'm glad I made the right decision.

The majority of people have a strong tendency to want to be part of something that is bigger than themselves. It is why they not just get up in the morning, but why they are *energized* to get up in the morning.

Clans and religions were among the earliest bigger things. People know that they will die, and so they invest into their descendants, honor their ancestors, and contemplate metaphysics and the nature of life. Many people will willingly sacrifice themselves for their children or for their highest ideals because of this.

In the modern era of printing presses and telecommunication systems, there is also a broader set of choices for people to group together around, either combined with those other ones or sometimes instead of them. Sometimes they choose nationalism. Sometimes they fight for a political ideology that transcends borders. Sometimes it is a professional guild or professional recognition. Sometimes it is the environment. Right or left or anywhere in between, you can often tell what someone adheres to as their highest ideal.

A powerful exercise is to 1) identify what you feel a part of in the bigger sense (it could be a few things) and 2) whenever someone’s behavior confuses you, stop and think about what they likely feel a part of in a bigger sense, if anything. You might feel that what they associate with is fucking retarded, but if you can at least identify it, then that is the first step toward successful communication and debate and rebuttal.

Using myself as an example, my professional experience is in a combination of engineering and finance. Separately, my ethical philosophy is grounded in virtue ethics (that’s a whole other longwinded topic), and as a result, what I feel a part of in a bigger sense is various social movements and protocols that utilize technology to bring financial autonomy to people. That’s where I put my time and capital toward.

Successful commerce involves the combination of value and communication. Therefore, I want people to be able to communicate freely and transfer value freely. As such, I strongly associate with the leading technologies in those fields, such as Bitcoin and Nostr.

If I thought they were weak, I would sympathize with them but not invest in them or have much hope for them. That was my view for a while. But if I view them as technically capable and achieving of network effects, then my rationality combines with my sympathy and becomes full support.

I don’t care what peoples’ race, sex, orientation, ethnicity, or nationality is. Instead, what I care about is doing whatever tiny part I can to bring technologies to people that allow them to transfer value and information to others, or to educate people on those technologies, etc. That is where my time and capital is focused on. Outside of family, that is what makes me energized in the morning to work toward.

What is yours?

Whenever you feel good at something, take a moment to remind yourself that people can solve rubiks cubes in three seconds, or shoot pro arrow shots on horseback, or weld a complex thing while underwater.

Financial benefits often consolidate toward a few professions, but happiness itself tends to spread more broadly and is only partially correlated with monetary success. nostr:note182lxku4dk78cu0n4rlerm5lz8vlffpj474hr7kj8sph64wjr5tvsx4nnp9