Bitcoin Tech Talk #355
Interesting Stuff
Political Atheism - The idea in this article is not about a non-belief in God or politics, but rather, not getting swept up in the political waves that inevitably come. The author draws heavily from Rene Girard and as he points out the extremes, the rivals in any political rivalry are more similar than are alike and the current political moment and inevitable crisis follows the pattern described by Girard. It really does make you think whether political assassinations of the past were really ways to quell the mimetic rivalry for a time.
Review of Trading - This book review goes over a book on trading, which is unusual for its decided lack of both schadenfreude and thinly-disguised boasting about past trades. One of the most insightful parts from the review is about how all trading ends in regret. For successful trades, you always wish you had bet more and for failed trades, you lost, so there’s regret on making the bet at all. It’s also an aggressively merit-based game, though a zero-sum one. I’m not a trader, but the review makes me intrigued as almost everything you do is a trade in a sense and learning how to think about them clearly would be beneficial.
More Science - The article is a call for more science to be done by non-academics, as the current system is increasingly becoming more inept and rent-seeking. While I appreciate the sentiment, I think this approach to getting more science is getting at this problem from the wrong end. People don’t do science on their own because there’s no reward in it. There’s little hope of making a mark without the political backing of someone in power. The recent news about the superconductor is not an exception, but an example of this rule. The actual person that discovered it toiled for 20 years, trying to get funding, patronage and had to get the backing of lots of people before getting published.
What I'm up to
Little Bitcoin Book in Korean - The book has been translated for a while, but it’s now available as a free audiobook on YouTube! If you have Korean friends or family, this is a good introductory book to Bitcoin, and despite being 4 years old, it holds up pretty well. It’s also available in many other languages for free online.
Bit Block Boom - We are only 3.5 weeks away from this iconic Bitcoin conference is Austin, TX! I’m still deciding on whether I’m going to have a side event or not. If you’re going to be in town and would be interested in some sort of exclusive side event, please drop me a line by replying to this newsletter.
Cubo+ - This article talks about the work I did with the students in El Salvador. It was inspiring to see a place that’s developing so rapidly. I’ve been there 3 times in the past year and a half and everything is growing as the country introduces all the policies needed for economic growth. I’m excited to see what these graduates will be doing as they progress in their careers.
Nostr Note of the Week
What I’m Shilling
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