Bitcoin Tech Talk #484
Interesting Stuff
Downsides of Efficiency - Efficiency is a staple of the modern fiat world and unfortunately, has debased a lot of experiences in its wake. As Aporia shows, much of what we value as humans have been debased by the inherent cheapness of production. One of the big insights in this article for me was the irony of how efficiency saves people time, which robbing it of value. This isn’t all fiat money’s fault, of course, modern technology is a big reason, but surely, the relentless drive for efficiency is deeply driven by the pressures of inflation and sticky prices.
Thanking JP - James Taylor Foreman has a clear-eyed reflection on the legacy of Jordan Peterson. His fall from grace since 2020 or so has made him something like a Girardian scapegoat, hated by the left for empowering a lot of young white men, and hated by the right for his unwillingness to quite embrace them. In that sense, he’s become something like a modern day prophet, speaking truths that ultimately relegated him to the position he has now. I thought the article was a great summation of why we should be thanking the man for bringing truth into the public sphere without the “yes, but” which seems to accompany his mention lately.
Boomerlib Fiction - Chesterton's Fence has a semi-review of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. I say semi-review, because the article is much more about the deceased author’s worldview as it relates to the plot and characters of the 34-book series than it is about the series itself. The main insight is that the many plot devices used by Pratchett reflect his Boomer/Liberal view of the world, which is that reality can be made by enough people believing in some vision. As he points out, there’s almost always some authoritarian streak that goes with it, enforcing empathy and acceptance on a non-cooperative population. It’s a worldview born of fiat prosperity, which Boomers enjoyed without having to suffer all the consequences which generations after them have.
How We Learn Virtue - Kenneth B. has this article on how first and second century Christians did church. You might expect that there was a lot of theological education, but indeed, that was not the case. What was much more prominent was 3 years of discipleship, where people learned simply to be Christ-like. The modern emphasis on information or knowledge is misplaced, in that regard. Virtue does not come from knowing, but in doing. Unfortunately, it’s a pervasive societal fiction that if you know better that it makes you more virtuous, but as this article shows, information is probably the least important factor in changing behavior.
Physics and Conditional Probability - Scott Locklin has another post on some physics topics, and as you might expect, it’s a fun one about how stupid very smart people can be. Conditional probability is a very obvious and known concept. If you know that a card is red, for example, the probability of the card being a heart is 50%, but if you don’t know, it’s 25%. That sort of thing, apparently, is hard for physicists to grasp as they’re not trained in it. Yet as he points out, conditional probability may be a much cleaner and logical way to understand quantum entanglement than some woo-woo spooky action at a distance.
What I'm up to
Cocomax - A vlog of the chopper trip I took to El Zonte is online. The normally 45-minute car ride took a mere 10 minutes by helicopter and we did this to get Max’s signature drink, the Coco Max (coconut and some other stuff). When I think about how often I’ve been stuck in traffic, I get upset that we don’t have this type of transportation available everywhere.
Condensed Financial Fox - If you missed my interview with Financial Fox, here’s a condensed 10 minute version of why Bitcoin will be great in a multi-polar world, why taxation is slavery, and why there’s no way out of a fiat monetary system without hyperinflation.
Plan B El Salvador - I will be in El Salvador again at the end of this month for this annual conference. One of the things I will be doing is talking about whether Treasury Companies are good for Bitcoin.
Nostr Note of the Week
