Bitcoin Tech Talk #359
Interesting Stuff
The Therapeutic Culture - This article is from someone on the left, decrying the constant validation that’s required of everyone and the self-serving lies of therapy. The post is ostensibly about psychiatry and the author comes off as skeptical of the incentives at play. The article is a dive into the world view of those that use therapy is a metaphysical anchor, and to say that it’s failed in that regard is an understatement. The author really wants reality to be reasserted but therapeutic culture simply doesn’t allow for it. I haven’t been to therapy, so I don’t have any personal experience, but I came away thinking that therapy is in many ways a fiat religion.
Learning to Draw - The article is about one artist’s quest to learn how to draw and how it was taught before the modern era. There used to be a progression that every art student went through to learn how to draw realistically. As the author points out, this more or less disappeared in the 20th century as “creative expression” became the bigger target. I suspect that the main reason for the diminishing of technical capacity was because abstract art rendered such skills unnecessary. This does make me wonder, what other educational resources and wisdom about learning have we lost due to modern laziness masquerading as “freedom?”
The Case for Memorization - Perhaps related to the last article, this is a lamentation on how memorization has been devalued in contemporary education. Yet as the article points out, the ability to look up information alone does not supplant memorizing. The ability to reason holistically is dependent on holding many things in mind at once and without memorization, there’s a limit to how much the mind can hold. I suspect so much of human ability is locked up because people don’t know how to memorize.
What I'm up to
Fiat Ruins Everything - My book is out and I’m doing a crowdfund! I’ve already reached the goal, but there are lots of goodies that you can get, including prints of the cover, a bulk pack of books, dinner in Amsterdam and even a meetup appearance! Your support is greatly appreciated and I hope to be providing you with more content in the future!
Unshackling the Golden Handcuffs - My talk and subsequent interview from BitBlockBoom are on YouTube! I make the case for getting out of the fiat system and practical ways to execute on that (hint: get rid of debt and start saving in Bitcoin first!) The interview afterwards was about some of the macroeconomic issues that we face today. Speaking of which, I’ll be releasing a new podcast of Bitcoin Fixes This for the first time in a year this week with Parker Lewis and Tuur Demeester!
Bitcoin Amsterdam - I will be doing a signing for my new book at this event in October and if you’re looking to go, you can use the code JIMMYSONG for 10% off! I’m also looking for European locations to visit between this conference and Plan B Forum in Lugano the week after and if you’re interested in having me at your meetup, please email me.
Nostr Note of the Week
What I’m Shilling
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