Bitcoin Tech Talk #488
Efficiency Maxxing, High v. Low Trust, Fermi Paradox, Fiat Pastors, Elder Fraud
Interesting Stuff
Seeking Efficiency - κρῠπτός has this deep thought piece on the opposition of technology and character. Many historians look at the brilliance of Greek philosophers and shake their head about the decisive lack of technological progress that they made. Indeed, the Greeks knew a whole lot about nature and didn’t take advantage of what they knew, particularly through technology. Yet there is a tradeoff in living by technology and it comes as a cost to character and excellence. The article is an excellent distillation of the writings of Jacque Ellul, whose warnings about the dominance of technology seem especially prescient.
High Trust Economy - Tom Owens has this article on how low-trust cultures have taken advantage of high trust cultures through trade. As he points out the regulations around manufacturing in the US are much more stringent and difficult to get around than in China or India. This means Chinese and Indian firms don’t have to spend as much money on compliance of various types giving them an enormous advantage. In addition, these firms get around regulatory compliance through lobbying, which has been extremely effective. Like illegal immigration, this is a consequence of high-trust culture assumptions being taken advantage of by low-trust people.
One Shot Civilizations - Skilos has a take on the Fermi Paradox, or why civilizations may fail to progress. The usual explanations for Fermi’s Paradox are along the lines of nuclear war. Yet as he points out, there are many other things we can see right now, such as the low fertility rates, which may be an indicator of civilization stalling. He has this very interesting thought experiment, which is, what would happen if we were suddenly thrust back to the stone age, how long would it take for people to get back to the current level of technology? As many of the resources have been used up (oil, natural gas, iron ore, even wood), getting back to the same level may take much longer.
Fiat Pastors - Jon Harris has this rather sobering take on how pastors have become more celebrities and less shepherds in modern churches. As he points out, much of their tactics are based on sales, or getting more people to come rather than in taking care of the people in the congregation. He makes a very helpful distinction between the character traits of a pastor versus their competence to execute their job. The latter is often equated with knowing and preaching the Bible, but the biblical job description is much more than that. The former, unfortunately is also pretty lacking, which the many financial and sexual scandals of pastors can attest to.
Elder Fraud - We preach in Bitcoin that we verify, not trust so that we don’t get scammed. Unfortunately for people that grew up in a much more trusting environment, of, say, 50 years ago, they’re getting bilked left and right. Part of the reason is understandable. These are generally people that haven’t been immunized to internet fraud and become easy marks for scammers. But the more subtle reason is that they have so much of the money in the first place! The Baby Boomer generation has managed to take a significant amount of wealth through political means and this means they have the money which they didn’t necessarily earn. I suspect in a non-fiat economy, that most of these people that are getting bilked wouldn’t have that much in the first place.
What I'm up to
Core v Knots Part XI - This is the final installment in the series that Tone and I started months ago and there was no guest involved, just the two of us. It’s a 4-hour stream and we talked about BIP110 and whether that would be good or bad for Bitcoin. Tone’s view is that it would centralize Bitcoin and my view is that it would not. Tone’s view is that it would also cause a huge crash in Bitcoin should it succeed and my view was that it would not. The reasoning is pretty involved and we talked quite a bit about it, so listen if you’re so inclined.
BitBlockBoom - The next conference I will be attending for certain is this one in Dallas, TX April 9-11. There’s a Thank God for Bitcoin conference right before as well, which I’ll also be speaking at. I’m not sure what the topics for either one will be, but both should be fun times.
Nostr Note of the Week
