„Still, I do believe that the positive outcomes outweigh the negative.“ I wonder, what are the negative outcomes? View quoted note →

Triumph after triumph after triumph! Stumbled on extract from Orwell’s interview, posted by Musk. Every time I see stuff from 1984 I marvel about the foresight he had… “In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement… …We have cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future there will be no wives and no friends… There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever… …And remember that it is for ever. The face will always be there to be stamped upon. The heretic, the enemy of society, will always be there, so that he can be defeated and humiliated over again… …That is the world that we are preparing, Winston. A world of victory after victory, triumph after triumph after triumph: an endless pressing, pressing, pressing upon the nerve of power.” 1984 And the moral is simple - do not let it happen! But it is up to everyone personally. Only through personal responsibility can we try to preserve or correct something.

An amazing visual developed by @Lyn Alden. Reflects the monies very well!

Lyn Alden

"The Four Monies" Visual

December 2023 I spent this past weekend playing around and experimenting with some of the latest versions of generative art programs. I’ve al...

It is crazy, how many people around me are very much focused on "receiving salary", instead of actually "doing the work". Seeking all possible loopholes to extract as many benefits from the employer, instead of actually using the time to produce something of value.

Humans need Humans! Tarkovsky is considered one of the pillars of cinematography, not just in his home country but worldwide. He is often mentioned alongside Bergman, Fellini, Antonioni, Kurosawa... and sometimes even ranked higher. Before now, I had only seen Stalker. To be honest, I didn't fully understand it. As a big fan of the Strugatsky brothers, I had read Roadside Picnic several times. But in Tarkovsky's film, the main character, the Zone, and everything else were portrayed completely differently. Even the central theme diverged significantly from the book. After reading the book about Tarkovsky, I was inspired to explore his other films. So, when my wife asked if I wanted to watch Stalker or Solaris, I immediately said - Solaris. From the very beginning, I felt a strange sensation. Perhaps my brain, accustomed to the rush of emotions and hormones triggered by modern films, struggles with the slow and enigmatic openings... The science studying the planet Solaris has reached an impasse. It's impossible to communicate with the ocean, which seems to possess a consciousness that reacts to human actions. On Earth, there is a debate about whether to continue investing resources in exploring the planet or to abandon the mission. Psychologist Chris Kelvin travels to Solaris to decide what to do. "Guests" begin appearing to the scientists at the station—people they once knew. Chris's friend, one of the scientists on Solaris, leaves a dying message: "This is not madness... there's something involving the conscience." As Chris sleeps, a "guest" also visits him—his wife, who died 10 years ago after an argument. Sartorius, a strictly rational workaholic, tries to view these "guests" as mere objects of physical study. He conducts blood analyses, autopsies, and attempts to analytically justify the origin of these visitors. For Chris, however, the appearance of his wife is so shocking that it completely shatters his initially cynical and detached attitude. The film vividly illustrates that memory and conscience can be more revealing than a person's actions during their lifetime. True love transcends mere relationships with the living; it is a complex of emotions that can humanize seemingly inanimate entities, granting them genuine life, emotions, and suffering. Sartorius is visibly disturbed by Chris's response to his "guest." He cannot fathom how they could be considered anything other than objects. To him, real emotions are impossible towards something that "in reality" no longer exists. The story begins with research into the unknown, pushing boundaries, learning, and contacting new civilizations—a triumphant march of scientific progress. Yet it culminates in the realization that the most crucial endeavor is understanding oneself and one's fellow humans. "Science? — Nonsense! In this situation, both mediocrity and genius are equally helpless... I must tell you that we do not want to conquer any space at all. We want to expand Earth to its boundaries. We do not know what to do with other worlds. We do not need other worlds. We need a mirror... We are struggling with contact and will never find it. We are in the absurd position of a man rushing toward a goal he fears and doesn't need. A man needs a man!" Another powerful moment is Chris's feverish monologue about how the primary force for saving humanity is shame (or how else can one describe repentance without saying the word itself). Only through the recognition and processing of this shame can one save oneself from destruction and madness. How, in an age of scientific atheism, can one convey that love conquers death in the most literal sense? How to demonstrate that the most important thing for a person is their neighbor, another human being? I now feel that a movie like this can be watched multiple times, each viewing revealing something new. #journal

Somehow browsing #Nostr I have come across the article from #[1]​ titled "Dear Crypto & Fiat Bros. An open letter to the confused and dismissive." (https://dergigi.com/2022/11/19/dear-crypto-fiat-bros/). And this is probably one of the best, if not the best piece on #Bitcoin, I have ever read. "Bitcoin is best understood as a force of nature, like the coming and going of the tide, like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.... The tide will come and go, the sun will rise and set, and Bitcoin will produce a new block. Every 10 minutes." At some point after installation of my own node I got this feeling, and I was sitting in awe trying to contemplate the existence of this network. This article captured a lot of these feelings in words. Thanks #[3]​!

Balaji masterfully captures complicated socio-economic dynamics in his catchy phrases: - Trust the Fed, end up dead - #AI, #Bitcoin, and China are the ABC of the coming collapse. But most intriguing for me is his analysis of how history runs in reverse. His analogy that Social Fabric is like origami - folding in different directions, is something fascinating to dwell upon for longer… Thanks #[1]​ for this pod! View quoted note →

After WBD conversation regarding #Ledger Recovery service, it was great to hear a follow-up on Coin Stories from #[1]​ with #[2]​. An interesting quote from the discussion: „If you are not yet ready for self-custody, don’t buy #Bitcoin“. I’m not sure I fully support this statement, but the logic behind is sound - self-custody is one of core aspects of bitcoin besides all the monetary benefits. So we cannot just use Bitcoin to protect our savings. We should also learn to self-custody it to avoid 3rd party risks. „The most painful thing to happen is to have your coins see grow in value to be rug-pulled by any third party involved through the process“. Thank you for your insights! {"pubkey":"edcd20558f17d99327d841e4582f9b006331ac4010806efa020ef0d40078e6da","content":"This episode covers everything you need to know about #Bitcoin self-custody and cold storage wallets. Thank you so much #[1]​.\n \nPodcast: https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/coin-stories-with-natalie-brunell\/id1569130932\n \nTopics:\n-Why should you self-custody your Bitcoin?\n-How to choose a cold storage wallet\n-What happened with Ledger recently?\n-Can someone extract a seed phrase from my cold storage device?\n-The history of cold storage wallets","id":"394d5ba7723f3b1dcf64186f5cb14dc6a798d3b47a1d8afcb261caf7be48924c","created_at":1685485855,"sig":"752afce1f90c5f5dbab7387c723747e7d0ec105712b25d65f41fb54eb052072996282f2fa8f9ce8efe2f9bd18fd6b362dccf1df0f731ae602204846f00c99c3f","kind":1,"tags":[["t","bitcoin"],["p","e88a691e98d9987c964521dff60025f60700378a4879180dcbbb4a5027850411"]]}“

I have recently listened to What Is Money episode with #[0]​ on the Nature of Energy ( and I totally recommend it to those, who have not had this chance yet. Saylor describes very eloquently, how evolution of ways to channel energy led to development of civilization. Money is most efficient way to channel energy, and bitcoin is best money ever invented. But even more than that, in Michael’s words, “Bitcoin is the ultimate digital network which will defend integrity of commerce in cyberspace. It is culmination of 40 years of the search for a perfect decentralized system. And ultimately it would lead to dematerialization of notary and licensing networks, passports and verification systems.” Another anecdote I have recently listened too described one of the older leaders (70+ years) of one of the major countries not using smartphone, and relying in all his decisions and communications on paper reports and documents. And I think this is true not only to this country leader, but also to many older company managers and political actors, who because of their age cannot fully comprehend the power of internet and new technologies, and the transformative effect they are already having. This obviously limits their ability to experience and understanding of bitcoin, and consequently willingness to enable its adoption and development. But as Michael describes in the WIM podcast, there is no other network other than Bitcoin, which can preserve truth in a decentralized matter. And since it’s the most efficient way to channel energy in a digitizing world, as well as most efficient means of protection in cyberspace, it is destined to gain adoption and importance. One truly cannot stop #Bitcoin, only slightly slow down its progression.

Following the introduction of the Recover service by #Ledger, I was trying to understand what are the actual risks (new and old) in using a hardware wallet. @Peter McCormack WBD podcast on this subjects has been the best source of clarification so far (https://iris.to/note1gdvzzx2c7xc7q754fsjnt7pfqn0edmqqmpnja6l4859fwjsm5ktsejgjqk) 1) The service is optional. If you do not opt-in, your KYC is not requested and encrypted shards of the seed are not leaving your device (on this we have to trust Ledger). 2) We should be aware and educate others that there are always trade-offs. E.g. using exchange to custody your crypto is the simplest, but least secure option. All hot wallets are ultimately breakable. Hardware wallets are best way to self-custody, but here you have trade-offs as well - UI, open-source, ability to support other coins, etc. 3) By introducing this service Ledger is off-boarding loss of key risk, but on-boarding state actor risk (credit to Harry Sudock from Griid for formulating that well). For most of users, risk of their personas being of interest to the Government is relatively low vs risk of loosing their seed phrase, and this service might make sense. For others - one can not use the service or move to other wallets. But the feature should also be looked at in the context of how many users are actually using self-custody - less than 10 mln people among more than 300 mln crypto holders. If this feature helps brings more people into self-custody on a hard wallet - the trade-off might be totally worth it.

I have recently finished a book “The Bible Tells Me So” by Peter Enns. One of the core ideas there is that we should not take the Scripture as a historical account, but rather understand it collection of stories from people, who have been trying to describe their relationship with God and Faith. These people have been imperfect as we are, and have tried to convey their message to populations around them. Suddenly, expulsion from Eden makes sense, as do a lot of other stories from the Bible. If you consider life of hunter-gatherers vs life of people in agricultural society, one would see that former one were free, whereas later one not. Old testament for an effort to describe ways of living at that time – time of smaller tribes and enmity between them. Whereas New Testament offered new ways of living together, where kindness and love is more valuable to society at large. Birth of Christ marked a major milestone in human history, it led to development of new Ethics, which focused on building moral character, glorified virtues and emphasized duty. It is interesting how interconnectedness of the whole world via internet, development of #Bitcoin and #Nostr can lead to further evolution of human interaction and Ethics.