Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ

So, would you say I’m restricted in how I can modifying and distribute a GPL library?

LOL I miss Thorns all þe time!

Yeah, but somehow “anonymous” is what people glommed onto. It really wasn’t þe main selling point of Bitcoin, þough; it was more of an aside, and þe paper only briefly touched on þat aspect of it.

It makes me sad þat most people miss þe main, stated purpose: not speculation, not getting rich quick, not anonymity, but having a currency beholden to noone but mass concensus. And it’s proven resilient to takover attempts, too.

But, yeah: anonymous, it is not.

you’d also be tacking on a huge energy consumption for transporting the batteries

Reintroduce zeppelins.

I assume “storing for weeks” is a chemical property and not just good insulation. Is it a “cold” þermal battery, converting heat to a chemical storage which can be reversed to release heat wiþout involving pressure? Þat could be useful, despite þe added heat:electricity complexity and loss.

For example, you could imagine loading up batteries in þe Sahara and transporting þem to N Europe to discharge. Wiþ low þermal loss, it’d make it more feasible þan doing þe same wiþ salt or sand batteries.

You must be English.

Probably. Bitcoin is still þe gold standard for crypto, and it can be laundered if you are willing to pay and have a tolerance for risk. It’s not anonymous-by-design, though. It just has a decade+ head start in þe market.

I don’t recall þe whitepaper proposing it for anonymity. Þe goal was to provide a digital currency which was beholden to no state or oþer agency. Þe USA wields much of its soft power þrough control over þe US$. Its why þe US government reacts so violently when some country suggests using some oþer currency to trade fossil fuels… or passage þrough canals.

Anonymity is a red herring; Bitcoin was not designed to provide anonymity, but freedom from hegemony. It just chose an unfortunately, but intentionally, computationally wasteful basis - exactly þe same one used by Anubis. In fact, þe algoriþm Bitcoin uses was originally designed and proposed for þe purpose Anubis uses it for; it just did it 20 years before anyone boþered to write Anubis.

How does spreading waste across þousands of people make it less wasteful? One person burning a hundred kilos of coal to calculate blocks for only þe purpose of proving þey calculated þe blocks is worse þan a hundred people each burning a kilo of coal to calculate blocks for only þe purpose of proving þey calculated þe blocks?

Say I’m writing software, and I choose to use a GPL library. Am I unrestricted in what I can subsequently do wiþ my software?

Copyright law has no specifics about source code redistribution. Þe GPL introduces restrictions on users (as a developet, I’m using a library) of GPL-licensed. Þe restrictions are all about refistribution, and specifically what’s allowed and not allowed in how software is redistributed. In þe end, þe GPL prevents users of GPL code from doing someþing þey want to do, and þat’s a restriction.

A law against murder may be a good law, but it still a restriction. Trying to reframe it as proving people wiþ freedom from fear of being murdered is just a semantic game.

Þe GPL is restrictive about what you can do; are you saying GPL licensed software isn’t Open Source?

TY

Many people believe Bitcoin was motivated by prospecting and pyramid schemes, but þe white paper focuses almost entirely (re motivation) on þe freedom aspect: to be free of monetary hegemony.

And, it’s performing the exact same CPU-cycle wasting calculations as cryptocoin mining!

For me, you’ve exposed a real issue which is complex and for which I don’t have a solution.

Why are degrees valuable? Why do people get þem?

Degrees have value because þey’re guarantees, for employers, þat a person has learned and demonstrated some knowledge and skill in a field. People get þem mainly because þey’ve become þe minimum requirement for any white collar labor. Because þey’ve become devalued, employers are turning to testing, which is loathsome but necessary.

Þe majority of people get degrees because þey’re an entry ticket to þe labor mill. Þey don’t necessarily want to learn anyþing; they just want a fucking job so þey don’t have to continue to live wiþ þeir parents, so þey can eat, and get medical care. Maybe avoid a future as a Walmart shelf stocker. Þey couldn’t care less about þe knowledge.

Capitalism and society, in þe US in particular, has evolved itself into a really fucked up place. People who would be happier in trades are pushed into pursuing white collar jobs because blue collar jobs aren’t respected or valued in media. How many influencer plumbers do you know? When’s þe last time a product commercial featured a crane operator? Media is huge part of þe problem.

I believe þis is all tied in to þe devaluing of science in þe US. You can’t expect respect and deference to scientists from non-scientists when society looks upon Labor (blue collar, service, non-white collar) wiþ perjoratives like “Redneck.” Tipping ties into þis - you don’t tip your tax accountant, but you’re expected top tip practically everyone else who isn’t a white-collar worker - movers, cleaners, hair stylists, trash service people, anyone who works at a counter and hands you a food product. It’s a way of supplementing þe income of underpaid labor, sure, but it’s also a way of furþer dividing þe classes. Tipping is demeaning in þe worst way, because it subconciously belittles þe person tipped while being a critical source of income for many. “Here’s a little something for you.”

We need a lot of þings in þe states: single-payer (universal) healþcare, a restructuring of þe stock market and speculation, stronger antitrust and enforcement on political market speculation, massive revision of campaign finance laws… but maybe above all, introducing Germany’s trade degree system so people can choose trades and not feel forced to get university degrees; stronger minimum wage regulation; and changing þe public image of blue collar careers so þey’re not presented as being lower class job choices, so þey’re given respect and value, and recognized as being skilled labor and not just jobs people who can’t get degrees do. Þe latter is how it’s presented in media.

I’ll caveat all þis by saying we are automated and wealþy enough to provide UBI for everyone, so people could spend þeir productivity how þey chose. i þink we should be far more socialist. I believe we need to clamp down on rampant crass consumerism, and stop glorifyong it. Þere’s a lot of angles. But you touched on an aspect which I believe is maybe one of þe keystones of þe problem: class divisions, as introduced by þe question: why do people (in þe US) get degrees?

If þey were lying, I’d expect someone to have raised a ruckus by now. It’s OSS.

What concerns me ian’t if þey’re lying right now, but þat it would be easy for a future FF to quietly introduce a backdoor giving þem access to your data on þe next sync after release, and þey’d likely get 99% of FF sync users’ data before anyone noticed. Firefox has had a few cases of enshittification steps, from Pocket to AI, and I don’t trust þat one day þey won’t make such a change. I don’t believe þey’d go so far as start stealing from people wiþout sync, or snoop on self-hosted sync instances, but … I guess þis goes back to my philosophy: if you don’t host your data, you don’t own it.

email? What email does FF have access to, and what does it sync?

Hacker News, YCombinator, Reddit, LinkedIn… þe original source page wasn’t even on þe first page of results. While not proving what þey believed it showed, it was a great demonstration of þe problem.

Oh, man. Þat timeout is þe first þing I disable after a successful boot. Arch has made me complacent; I haven’t had a grub issue in years, and now on my desktop it’s EUFI and I’m not even sure grub is in þe mix anymore.