kemonocode (u/kemonocode)

kemonocode commented on Bitcoin’s gold rush was always an illusion newstatesman.com/business... · Posted by u/InternetPerson

toomuchtodo · 4 years ago

It’s more expensive to use Bitcoin than TransferWise to send international payments or money transfers. TransferWise often settles very fast if the destination country has good fintech plumbing (Australia, Canada, SEPA, etc).

kemonocode · 4 years ago

(Transfer)Wise arbitrarily stopped working for Venezuela over sanctions that don't even apply to the entirety of the country, right before I was going to accept a pretty well paid gig that would have covered my living expenses for months. To say I was fuming would be an understatement. Life or death in an impoverished country.

Found a different gig, less well paid but they accepted paying me in crypto. It was a grand total of 0.10 USD in BTC to receive that money and it took 5 minutes before first confirmation.

Yes, transaction fees can be expensive sometimes, but in practically every case I've experienced they're nothing compared to the highway robbery most of the mainstream payment infrastructure imposes upon everybody.

kemonocode commented on Bitcoin’s gold rush was always an illusion newstatesman.com/business... · Posted by u/InternetPerson

0des · 4 years ago

The goal is permissionless transactions on an immutable ledger.

kemonocode · 4 years ago

You can have different, non-conflicting goals. Specific projects bring something in particular to the table. Permission-less transactions on an immutable ledger is the very least most bring. A form of rebellion against centralized banking and an unfair global financial system where if you have the means and the connections you can get away with pretty much anything: lemon socialism, laundering billions and paying pittances on your taxes.

To some, these are important goals; to others they are troublesome things to get rid of because they believe centralized economic systems are superior and inherently more trustful and less prone to abuse by criminals and terrorists, or that the perceived ecological impacts crypto mining are excessive.

There are valid points on both sides, but it'll be extremely hard for me to change my position on crypto when it's become a personal lifeline for so long.

kemonocode commented on Roger Waters – Thoughts on Facebook Ad Offer [video] m.youtube.com/watch?v=yuv... · Posted by u/amar-laksh

kemonocode · 4 years ago

As much as Roger Waters lost all my respect back then when he sided with Maduro during the Venezuelan protests, giving the middle finger to Zuckerberg is something I wholeheartedly endorse. The irony is just too thick with his materials in particular.

kemonocode commented on The Non-Innovation of Cryptocurrency stephendiehl.com/blog/non... · Posted by u/tenslisi

creshal · 4 years ago

PoW undermines our attempts to fight climate change, there's tons of examples of fossil fuel power plants being used for the sole purpose of running "crypto" "currencies". That is a very direct threat to our survival as a species.

Additionally, unregulated currency in general undermines the international political system itself, by allowing rogue states and terrorist organisations to completely bypass attempts at embargoing them. Or in case of organisations like the CIA, any attempts at governmental oversight – the situation was already bad before bitcoin, it's completely hopeless now.

kemonocode · 4 years ago

>PoW undermines our attempts to fight climate change, there's tons of examples of fossil fuel power plants being used for the sole purpose of running "crypto" "currencies".

No. There's literally one single concrete example of this happening [0] and a lot of moral busybodies wasting time with rounding errors instead of focusing on the big global climate disasters going on right now.

[0] https://www.wsj.com/articles/bitcoin-miners-are-giving-new-l...

kemonocode commented on Police officer plays Taylor Swift song to keep a video off YouTube theverge.com/2021/7/1/225... · Posted by u/mychele

jopsen · 4 years ago

Or just use mask/obfuscate the audio, and face while your at it.

In some ways, the whole debate could be more civil if officers faces and voices were blurred.

After all, it's not really the individual officer who is at fault: it's the system that trained the officer, and the department policies that require officers to apply unreasonable force.

There are also many other contributing factors to policing issues in the US. But the argument that it's just "a few bad apples" seems like deflection to me. And if it's not just a few bad apples, then why do we need to publicly shame individual officers who are just doing their job as they were trained to do, in line with department policies? (Doesn't such public shaming just create opposition and resentment, distracting from the issue at hand)

Just saying... in other countries media don't go around posting/shaming people publicly if there is no conviction. (Sure, there is a balance, a few exceptions, and lots of nuance)

kemonocode · 4 years ago

> In some ways, the whole debate could be more civil if officers faces and voices were blurred.

Police have no expectation of privacy when performing their official duties, at least in the US, so that should be a non-issue. If they don't want to bring consequences unto themselves for what they're doing, then perhaps they should stop doing such things or think really hard about their chosen career path.

> After all, it's not really the individual officer who is at fault: it's the system that trained the officer, and the department policies that require officers to apply unreasonable force.

At some point you can't just blame "the system" and there needs to be individual accountability. Mayhaps if they like the lack of it and with less bodily risk, they could pursue politics instead.

kemonocode commented on Canada weather: Heatwave hits record 46.6C as US north-west also frazzles bbc.com/news/world-us-can... · Posted by u/hochmartinez

shafyy · 4 years ago

No, we need to invest more in solar and wind. They're already cheaper and safer than Nuclear, and will only continue to get cheaper.

You say that nuclear has killed fewer people. That's true, but this is not the main problem of Nuclear. The main problems are 1) that catastrophic events can and will happen in the future. That's why nobody wants to live next to a nuclear power plant. 2) Nuclear waste storage.

Why would even invest in nuclear power plants now that it's pretty clear that other alternatives are cheaper and safer? (I'm not saying abandon nuclear power research, there are definitey niche cases where it makes sense, like space exploration).

kemonocode · 4 years ago

> The main problems are 1) that catastrophic events can and will happen in the future. That's why nobody wants to live next to a nuclear power plant.

The chances for such events are vanishingly low when it comes to modern reactors. Seriously, as hard as it is to believe, we've come so, so far from Chernobyl. Thorium-based reactors are meltdown-proof [0], and Thorium comes with the plus in that it's not as easily weaponizable [1].

> 2) Nuclear waste storage.

Thorium reactors also produce less dangerous waste [2], which is great! They're not a panacea by any means- it is still technically possible to make weapons using Thorium reactors even if it's more difficult, and fuel is harder to prepare, but I do think the upsides greatly overcome the downsides.

Solar and wind aren't viable everywhere, which is why we need nuclear. The sooner we get over our inveterate fear of it, as difficult as it may be, the better.

[0] https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/200900...

[1] https://whatisnuclear.com/thorium.html#prolif

[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257126696_Abundant_...

kemonocode commented on BTC Hashrate dropped another 27% down ~62% form peak now at 2019 levels bitinfocharts.com/compari... · Posted by u/noxer

arcticbull · 4 years ago

This is good for the planet because mountains of Xinjiang coal are no longer being burned to achieve literally nothing. Unfortunately these miners are probably going to be turned on somewhere else, attached to weaker energy grids - like Texas. Fingers crossed they're won't be but that's probably asking too much in 202x.

But yes of course, this is good for Bitcoin. Everything is good for Bitcoin.

kemonocode · 4 years ago

> This is good for the planet because mountains of Xinjiang coal are no longer being burned to achieve literally nothing.

By the same token I could say all the power (and pollution!) used by the US military given that it's actively hostile to my country is a waste, bad for the planet and I wish it went away, but that wouldn't be too fair towards US citizens or their allies.

> But yes of course, this is good for Bitcoin. Everything is good for Bitcoin.

Well, Bitcoin is cleaner for now, wasn't that one of the greater criticisms levied towards it? I'm pretty sure by now that it could be found that mining Bitcoin cures cancer and AIDS by tomorrow and detractors would still find a reason to criticize it. I don't think there's a way to win, so I don't bother.

kemonocode commented on YouTube takes down Xinjiang videos, forcing rights group to seek alternative reuters.com/technology/ex... · Posted by u/zdw

kemonocode · 4 years ago

Conspiracy nuts and other unsavory members from fringe communities do make for odd bedfellows when one is being actively censored, thus why I am loathe to promote Bitchute et al. Best second alternative would be their own Peertube instance, but that of course requires them to put up their own infrastructure.

kemonocode commented on Cryptocurrency buzz drives record investment scam losses ftc.gov/news-events/blogs... · Posted by u/haskellandchill

bombcar · 4 years ago

If you're bored and want to see receipts for a decent number of them, check out https://old.reddit.com/r/Buttcoin/

Current favorite whipping targets are Safemoon and Doge.

kemonocode · 4 years ago

/r/Buttcoin has been about as bad smelling their own farts over the years as the Bitcoin subreddit has.

The occasional blog post by long-time critics (Gerard et al) is the only thing of value you can find there.

kemonocode commented on Cryptocurrency buzz drives record investment scam losses ftc.gov/news-events/blogs... · Posted by u/haskellandchill

kemonocode · 4 years ago

The only reason this is news-worthy is because it's tied to the current hot button issue (cryptocurrency). Scams like these happen all the time during bull markets and the crypto investment maxims (never invest what you're not willing to lose, do your own research and if it sounds too good to be real, it usually is the case) apply just as well in any other kinds of speculative investments.

Increasing regulation and adopting that sort of paternalistic attitudes will do nothing except harbor further dissent and widen the divide between the rich and poor, as it always has.