This morning the White House issued a National Security Memorandum declaring that "AI is likely to affect almost all domains with national security significance". Attracting technical talent and building computational power are now official national security priorities. https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1gb6j9v/this_morning_the_white_house_issued_a_national/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/10/24/memorandum-on-advancing-the-united-states-leadership-in-artificial-intelligence-harnessing-artificial-intelligence-to-fulfill-national-security-objectives-and-fostering-the-safety-security/

I'm applying for a loan to buy my first house. After they went line by line through my bank account, they sent me an e-mail and said "We need you to provide some more information on these transactions..." Just the fact that occurs was enough to immediately stress me out, because my view is totally different on these kind of things now after I have been spending more time studying economics and Bitcoin this year. Then I looked down at the short list and saw this among the items: "River Financial" I immediately started overthinking, all kinds of stuff like how they're going to deny my loan just because I tell them I bought some Bitcoin, how there's still a massive stigma against it from most of society, how it's associated with criminal activity in most peoples minds (and I'd be willing to bet this is even more true for a lender). But then I realized, I can provide proof that I've never spent any of it because of the blockchain. I don't know how this is going to go for me, how much they actually will make a big deal of this, but I did feel much more relieved knowing the proof is right there for all to see and check on their own. At least in my mind that seems like it would mitigate the likelihood of them viewing that single purchase as a lending risk. Also it was a pretty small one-time purchase. Has anyone else had a similar experience? I'd be interested to hear about it if so. #Bitcoin

I think this would be an excellent documentary to send to friends and family who need more financial education, or who need to gain awareness of the current state of the world economy. It focuses on the most important points of why the currency system is breaking down, but all information is presented in an easily digestible way, and it ends on a positive note.

I see constant talk about how Bitcoin is the way of the future, how it's the answer, the solution to the corrupt and mismanaged fiat system, a revolution, a way to put the power back in the hands of the people, digital capital, how it has so much utility, how it is the perfect money... But I never ever ever see anyone talking about how we'll actually value it in a future where it has achieved the goal that everyone idolizes. Why? Why does it feel like there's no true long-term plan? Lots of people say "don't value your Bitcoin in fiat", but they just stop there. They don't even bother with trying to extend that thought. I feel like this is a mistake to not take it further. Imagine a future where Bitcoin has become our new primary store of value and we no longer value Bitcoin in fiat. How will we value it at that point? What will one BTC be representative of? How will we determine this new system of value? How will we arrive at a consensus for it? Will this somehow naturally and organically grow out of the decentralized nature as the system becomes more and more widespread and adopted and used, similar to the dynamics involved in the emergence of the first currencies? Or will there need to be some form of committee formed to make a decision about how we value BTC? Will governments play a role in this? All the talk of "0.1 BTC is all you need" and "whole coiners" is all purely based on fiat, and doesn't address anything about the long term future of Bitcoin. I was wondering if people can tell me if any thought is actually being put towards this. I'd like to read about any progress towards this, or about thought experiments for it, or see videos or listen to podcasts that discuss it. So any kind of recommendation of reading materials or other information would be greatly welcome. Memes and pithy hype quotes aren't going to do shit for us. If this truly is a revolution, we need plans, and we need to ask the hard questions and deal with the tough discussions and start to think about the goal we all dream of actually being realized. Memes and parroting "stack sats" are the lowest of the low hanging fruit. #Bitcoin

When you buy BTC on an exchange and then want to send it to another address but they block your transaction, call you on the phone, make you confirm your name, birth date, address, and verbal confirmation of the address you are sending it to and that you understand what you're doing prior to allowing the transaction... Wouldn't they be logging this information and using it for some form of reporting to some other organization? Because I know they sure as fuck don't actually care about the safety of your assets. Is it for liability? "You can't complain about us if you lose it because you gave confirmation" type of thing?

I think the core of what we were all truly hoping for in our hearts from hearing Trump speak was just a shred, an iota, just a CRUMB of evidence that he truly understands Bitcoin's higher purpose and potential for the future. Do you feel like that's what we got?

What can or should be done about these failures to post to relays? I assume I wrote something that broke a rule, but I have no way to find out. I tried to find some kind of list of policies or rules or something for each relay but wasn't able to find anything useful. Unless I missed it, they don't have actual websites with stuff like that listed. Just wondering if anyone has advice. How would you find out what policy you violated or why you were blocked? Is it even worth worrying about, or should you just add more relays to your publish list and move on? #asknostr

There's so many important topics in this discussion. I trust Whitney Webb and her investigative journalism. This kind of information about the people who control our data, who control politics, who have ties with every social media platform, the banking system, and all aspects of the media... it really makes me despair to learn these things, because as a normal person with no influence, I don't know what I can do to make any difference in my future. They also talk about how Bitcoin is not free of this influence, which makes perfect sense. The people in power will not relinquish that power without fighting to hold it to the utmost of their ability. They'll do whatever they can to ensure Bitcoin works in their favor like everything else. I highly recommend taking a few hours to listen to this discussion. As with all things, remain questioning and skeptical, don't fall for anyone's narrative without doing your own research.

One thing that I'm still feeling uncomfortable about when posting on Nostr is the permanence of the notes. Even with something small like a typo, it's weird knowing there's nothing that can be done about it unless somehow every single relay where your note was replicated to honored the delete/edit ( I think this is a technically correct statement, but let me know if not). Really, this just makes me curious about the psychological aspects of where this feeling stems from and the significance of it. I am still unsure of whether I actually miss the feature, or I am just feeling the effects of realigning my mental framework. Looks like there's actually ongoing discussion and debate on this, just judging from some quick Googling:

On Deleting and Editing Notes - Nos: The Human Network

Anyway, just some thoughts that I'm processing after being on here for a few days now. Interested to hear others commentary and thoughts on it, if you were confronted by the same observation.

Is anyone else an avid follower of the developmental biology research being done by Michael Levin and his team out of Tufts University? It gave me some intense existential crisis type moments when I understood the implications. This was the first lecture I discovered by him: