[HN Gopher] Crypto and Other New Faiths
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Crypto and Other New Faiths
Author : Ariarule
Score : 21 points
Date : 2022-11-22 21:51 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (arnoldkling.substack.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (arnoldkling.substack.com)
| nubb wrote:
| hacker news talking about crypto is like your racist maga boomer
| uncle talking about crt.
| jrm4 wrote:
| Meh. I think to write about this intelligently you need to
| include the fact that there is definitely and provably "new tech"
| in here that can be world changing depending on how humans choose
| to use it?
|
| This isn't a guarantee that it will be used well, but at least a
| _base mention_ of the new thing they are looking at and the ways
| in which it could work need to be discussed.
| D13Fd wrote:
| > there is definitely and provably "new tech" in here that can
| be world changing depending on how humans choose to use it
|
| How so?
| bartvk wrote:
| Why does crypto on HN always seem to be polarizing? This article
| too is theorizing that people who are attracted to crypto, wish
| for the current banking system to be overthrown and thus they are
| mentally unstable.
|
| Sigh. You know what's also possible? Put 5% of your savings into
| Bitcoin and then continue to live your normal life.
| gonzo41 wrote:
| I know a guy, who's great great, a few more great's,
| grandfather was part of a land race in Australia, where the
| rules where you could have as much crown land as you could
| fence in a day.
|
| His ancestors smart trick was to fence across a peninsula.
|
| Crypto is attractive because it has a lot of hype that make
| people think that it may be a viable way to get a first mover
| advantage and stake a claim on easy wealth. This thinking is
| IMO, stemming from the inequality that is present in modern
| society. Remember all those bankers that went to jail forever
| for the 2008 crash. Me neither.
|
| It is easy to say, comparison is the thief of joy. But it's
| hard to ignore every single media source gaslighting you about
| the simple ability of others to live great lives whilst your
| lift may not be so flash hot.
|
| Crypto is like a lottery ticket for a lot of people.
| dale_glass wrote:
| Nobody talks about people who just quietly do things and don't
| tell anybody. All the talk is about dramatic stuff happening.
|
| But other than that, putting 5% rather than betting your entire
| life on it still suggests some sort of expectation that this
| might actually be good for something -- unless you're the rare
| person who actually spends significant amounts of money mostly
| at random.
|
| If by chance you are, then the conversation isn't really about
| you. You're just allocating a percentage to a dice throw
| without any other reasoning, hoping it might actually bring
| profit by pure chance.
| nipponese wrote:
| Bitcoin had organic usage and, thus, value before the hype of
| 2013. You can still find old online poker videos of people with
| substantial BTC balances making $10 bets that would be worth
| millions today.
|
| So if we agree on that (I know, big IF), can we get past the
| "religion" argument and label these people correctly as
| "gamblers"?
| snoot wrote:
| Gambling addicts might be more accurate.
| oleganza wrote:
| Bitcoin is quite literally a religion. It has dogmas ("not your
| keys, not your coins"), traditional values ("21 mil"), a prophet
| (satoshi), celebrated dates (Jan 3).
|
| On the serious side, Bitcoin is all about "let's all agree this
| is money". This means it's a useful tool only after you play the
| social game. Technology does not matter if people don't get to a
| consensus on it, but when they do (and they seem to continuously
| re-enforce this consensus over years), it works better and
| better.
| The_Colonel wrote:
| The quasi-religious nature of the Bitcoin/crypto community has
| been a big turn-off for me - the systems where evidence is
| replaced with belief are naturally suspicious.
| peyton wrote:
| This covers the retail side. However I think there's a lot to be
| said about modern, global, 24/7 infrastructure for institutions.
| Maybe crypto needs a rebrand.
| twblalock wrote:
| > However I think there's a lot to be said about modern,
| global, 24/7 infrastructure for institutions.
|
| Ok, then say it! And explain how those institutions will be
| better served by crypto than what they currently use.
| NotYourLawyer wrote:
| They already have that. It's called a database. Not clear to me
| how making it orders of magnitude slower and more expensive
| serves institutions well.
| shakow wrote:
| IMU, the golden use case for crypto would be a database, but
| for entities that are in a perpetual Mexican standoff. So I
| guess that theorically, in its current form or another, it
| may find very good uses in e.g. exchanges (I know, bold of me
| to write this days after the whole FTX shabang).
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