@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Nostr is not decentralized nor censorship-resistant

Peter Todd has been saying this for a long time and all the time I've been thinking he is misunderstanding everything, but I guess a more charitable interpretation is that he is right.

Nostr today is indeed centralized.

Yesterday I published two harmless notes with the exact same content at the same time. In two minutes the notes had a noticeable difference in responses:

The top one was published to wss://nostr.wine, wss://nos.lol, wss://pyramid.fiatjaf.com. The second was published to the relay where I generally publish all my notes to, wss://pyramid.fiatjaf.com, and that is announced on my NIP-05 file and on my NIP-65 relay list.

A few minutes later I published that screenshot again in two identical notes to the same sets of relays, asking if people understood the implications. The difference in quantity of responses can still be seen today:

These results are skewed now by the fact that the two notes got rebroadcasted to multiple relays after some time, but the fundamental point remains.

What happened was that a huge lot more of people saw the first note compared to the second, and if Nostr was really censorship-resistant that shouldn't have happened at all.

Some people implied in the comments, with an air of obviousness, that publishing the note to "more relays" should have predictably resulted in more replies, which, again, shouldn't be the case if Nostr is really censorship-resistant.

What happens is that most people who engaged with the note are following me, in the sense that they have instructed their clients to fetch my notes on their behalf and present them in the UI, and clients are failing to do that despite me making it clear in multiple ways that my notes are to be found on wss://pyramid.fiatjaf.com.

If we were talking not about me, but about some public figure that was being censored by the State and got banned (or shadowbanned) by the 3 biggest public relays, the sad reality would be that the person would immediately get his reach reduced to ~10% of what they had before. This is not at all unlike what happened to dozens of personalities that were banned from the corporate social media platforms and then moved to other platforms -- how many of their original followers switched to these other platforms? Probably some small percentage close to 10%. In that sense Nostr today is similar to what we had before.

Peter Todd is right that if the way Nostr works is that you just subscribe to a small set of relays and expect to get everything from them then it tends to get very centralized very fast, and this is the reality today.

Peter Todd is wrong that Nostr is inherently centralized or that it needs a protocol change to become what it has always purported to be. He is in fact wrong today, because what is written above is not valid for all clients of today, and if we drive in the right direction we can successfully make Peter Todd be more and more wrong as time passes, instead of the contrary.

---

See also:

• Censorship-resistant relay discovery in Nostr
• A vision for content discovery and relay usage for basic social-networking in Nostr

@ e6ce6154:275e3444

Este artigo foi censurado pelo estado e fomos obrigados a deletá-lo após ameaça de homens armados virem nos visitar e agredir nossa vida e propriedade.

Isto é mais uma prova que os autoproclamados antirracistas são piores que os racistas.

https://rothbardbrasil.com/pelo-direito-de-ser-racista-fascista-machista-e-homofobico

Segue artigo na íntegra. 👇

Sem dúvida, a escalada autoritária do totalitarismo cultural progressista nos últimos anos tem sido sumariamente deletéria e prejudicial para a liberdade de expressão. Como seria de se esperar, a cada dia que passa o autoritarismo progressista continua a se expandir de maneira irrefreável, prejudicando a liberdade dos indivíduos de formas cada vez mais deploráveis e contundentes.

Com a ascensão da tirania politicamente correta e sua invasão a todos os terrenos culturais, o autoritarismo progressista foi se alastrando e consolidando sua hegemonia em determinados segmentos. Com a eventual eclosão e a expansão da opressiva e despótica cultura do cancelamento — uma progênie inevitável do totalitarismo progressista —, todas as pessoas que manifestam opiniões, crenças ou posicionamentos que não estão alinhados com as pautas universitárias da moda tornam-se um alvo.

Há algumas semanas, vimos a enorme repercussão causada pelo caso envolvendo o jogador profissional de vôlei Maurício Sousa, que foi cancelado pelo simples fato de ter emitido sua opinião pessoal sobre um personagem de história em quadrinhos, Jon Kent, o novo Superman, que é bissexual. Maurício Sousa reprovou a conduta sexual do personagem, o que é um direito pessoal inalienável que ele tem. Ele não é obrigado a gostar ou aprovar a bissexualidade. Como qualquer pessoa, ele tem o direito pleno de criticar tudo aquilo que ele não gosta. No entanto, pelo simples fato de emitir a sua opinião pessoal, Maurício Sousa foi acusado de homofobia e teve seu contrato rescindido, sendo desligado do Minas Tênis Clube.

Lamentavelmente, Maurício Sousa não foi o primeiro e nem será o último indivíduo a sofrer com a opressiva e autoritária cultura do cancelamento. Como uma tirania cultural que está em plena ascensão e usufrui de um amplo apoio do establishment, essa nova forma de totalitarismo cultural colorido e festivo está se impondo de formas e maneiras bastante contundentes em praticamente todas as esferas da sociedade contemporânea. Sua intenção é relegar ao ostracismo todos aqueles que não se curvam ao totalitarismo progressista, criminalizando opiniões e crenças que divergem do culto à libertinagem hedonista pós-moderna. Oculto por trás de todo esse ativismo autoritário, o que temos de fato é uma profunda hostilidade por padrões morais tradicionalistas, cristãos e conservadores.

No entanto, é fundamental entendermos uma questão imperativa, que explica em partes o conflito aqui criado — todos os progressistas contemporâneos são crias oriundas do direito positivo. Por essa razão, eles jamais entenderão de forma pragmática e objetiva conceitos como criminalidade, direitos de propriedade, agressão e liberdade de expressão pela perspectiva do jusnaturalismo, que é manifestamente o direito em seu estado mais puro, correto, ético e equilibrado.

Pela ótica jusnaturalista, uma opinião é uma opinião. Ponto final. E absolutamente ninguém deve ser preso, cancelado, sabotado ou boicotado por expressar uma opinião particular sobre qualquer assunto. Palavras não agridem ninguém, portanto jamais poderiam ser consideradas um crime em si. Apenas deveriam ser tipificados como crimes agressões de caráter objetivo, como roubo, sequestro, fraude, extorsão, estupro e infrações similares, que representam uma ameaça direta à integridade física da vítima, ou que busquem subtrair alguma posse empregando a violência.

Infelizmente, a geração floquinho de neve — terrivelmente histérica, egocêntrica e sensível — fica profundamente ofendida e consternada sempre que alguém defende posicionamentos contrários à religião progressista. Por essa razão, os guerreiros da justiça social sinceramente acreditam que o papai-estado deve censurar todas as opiniões que eles não gostam de ouvir, assim como deve também criar leis para encarcerar todos aqueles que falam ou escrevem coisas que desagradam a militância.

Como a geração floquinho de neve foi criada para acreditar que todas as suas vontades pessoais e disposições ideológicas devem ser sumariamente atendidas pelo papai-estado, eles embarcaram em uma cruzada moral que pretende erradicar todas as coisas que são ofensivas à ideologia progressista; só assim eles poderão deflagrar na Terra o seu tão sonhado paraíso hedonista e igualitário, de inimaginável esplendor e felicidade.

Em virtude do seu comportamento intrinsecamente despótico, autoritário e egocêntrico, acaba sendo inevitável que militantes progressistas problematizem tudo aquilo que os desagrada.

Como são criaturas inúteis destituídas de ocupação real e verdadeiro sentido na vida, sendo oprimidas unicamente na sua própria imaginação, militantes progressistas precisam constantemente inventar novos vilões para serem combatidos.

Partindo dessa perspectiva, é natural para a militância que absolutamente tudo que exista no mundo e que não se enquadra com as regras autoritárias e restritivas da religião progressista seja encarado como um problema. Para a geração floquinho de neve, o capitalismo é um problema. O fascismo é um problema. A iniciativa privada é um problema. O homem branco, tradicionalista, conservador e heterossexual é um problema. A desigualdade é um problema. A liberdade é um problema. Monteiro Lobato é um problema (sim, até mesmo o renomado ícone da literatura brasileira, autor — entre outros títulos — de Urupês, foi vítima da cultura do cancelamento, acusado de ser racista e eugenista).

Para a esquerda, praticamente tudo é um problema. Na mentalidade da militância progressista, tudo é motivo para reclamação. Foi em função desse comportamento histérico, histriônico e infantil que o famoso pensador conservador-libertário americano P. J. O’Rourke afirmou que “o esquerdismo é uma filosofia de pirralhos chorões”. O que é uma verdade absoluta e irrefutável em todos os sentidos.

De fato, todas as filosofias de esquerda de forma geral são idealizações utópicas e infantis de um mundo perfeito. Enquanto o mundo não se transformar naquela colorida e vibrante utopia que é apresentada pela cartilha socialista padrão, militantes continuarão a reclamar contra tudo o que existe no mundo de forma agressiva, visceral e beligerante. Evidentemente, eles não vão fazer absolutamente nada de positivo ou construtivo para que o mundo se transforme no gracioso paraíso que eles tanto desejam ver consolidado, mas eles continuarão a berrar e vociferar muito em sua busca incessante pela utopia, marcando presença em passeatas inúteis ou combatendo o fascismo imaginário nas redes sociais.

Sem dúvida, estamos muito perto de ver leis absurdas e estúpidas sendo implementadas, para agradar a militância da terra colorida do assistencialismo eterno onde nada é escasso e tudo cai do céu. Em breve, você não poderá usar calças pretas, pois elas serão consideradas peças de vestuário excessivamente heterossexuais. Apenas calças amarelas ou coloridas serão permitidas. Você também terá que tingir de cor-de-rosa uma mecha do seu cabelo; pois preservar o seu cabelo na sua cor natural é heteronormativo demais da sua parte, sendo portanto um componente demasiadamente opressor da sociedade.

Você também não poderá ver filmes de guerra ou de ação, apenas comédias românticas, pois certos gêneros de filmes exaltam a violência do patriarcado e isso impede o mundo de se tornar uma graciosa festa colorida de fraternidades universitárias ungidas por pôneis resplandecentes, hedonismo infinito, vadiagem universitária e autogratificação psicodélica, que certamente são elementos indispensáveis para se produzir o paraíso na Terra.

Sabemos perfeitamente, no entanto, que dentre as atitudes “opressivas” que a militância progressista mais se empenha em combater, estão o racismo, o fascismo, o machismo e a homofobia. No entanto, é fundamental entender que ser racista, fascista, machista ou homofóbico não são crimes em si. Na prática, todos esses elementos são apenas traços de personalidade; e eles não podem ser pura e simplesmente criminalizados porque ideólogos e militantes progressistas iluminados não gostam deles.

Tanto pela ética quanto pela ótica jusnaturalista, é facilmente compreensível entender que esses traços de personalidade não podem ser criminalizados ou proibidos simplesmente porque integrantes de uma ideologia não tem nenhuma apreciação ou simpatia por eles. Da mesma forma, nenhum desses traços de personalidade representa em si um perigo para a sociedade, pelo simples fato de existir. Por incrível que pareça, até mesmo o machismo, o racismo, o fascismo e a homofobia merecem a devida apologia.

Mas vamos analisar cada um desses tópicos separadamente para entender isso melhor.

Racismo

Quando falamos no Japão, normalmente não fazemos nenhuma associação da sociedade japonesa com o racismo. No entanto, é incontestável o fato de que a sociedade japonesa pode ser considerada uma das sociedades mais racistas do mundo. E a verdade é que não há absolutamente nada de errado com isso.

Aproximadamente 97% da população do Japão é nativa; apenas 3% do componente populacional é constituído por estrangeiros (a população do Japão é estimada em aproximadamente 126 milhões de habitantes). Isso faz a sociedade japonesa ser uma das mais homogêneas do mundo. As autoridades japonesas reconhecidamente dificultam processos de seleção e aplicação a estrangeiros que desejam se tornar residentes. E a maioria dos japoneses aprova essa decisão.

Diversos estabelecimentos comerciais como hotéis, bares e restaurantes por todo o país tem placas na entrada que dizem “somente para japoneses” e a maioria destes estabelecimentos se recusa ostensivamente a atender ou aceitar clientes estrangeiros, não importa quão ricos ou abastados sejam.

Na Terra do Sol Nascente, a hostilidade e a desconfiança natural para com estrangeiros é tão grande que até mesmo indivíduos que nascem em algum outro país, mas são filhos de pais japoneses, não são considerados cidadãos plenamente japoneses.

Se estes indivíduos decidem sair do seu país de origem para se estabelecer no Japão — mesmo tendo descendência nipônica legítima e inquestionável —, eles enfrentarão uma discriminação social considerável, especialmente se não dominarem o idioma japonês de forma impecável. Esse fato mostra que a discriminação é uma parte tão indissociável quanto elementar da sociedade japonesa, e ela está tão profundamente arraigada à cultura nipônica que é praticamente impossível alterá-la ou atenuá-la por qualquer motivo.

A verdade é que — quando falamos de um país como o Japão — nem todos os discursos politicamente corretos do mundo, nem a histeria progressista ocidental mais inflamada poderão algum dia modificar, extirpar ou sequer atenuar o componente racista da cultura nipônica. E isso é consequência de uma questão tão simples quanto primordial: discriminar faz parte da natureza humana, sendo tanto um direito individual quanto um elemento cultural inerente à muitas nações do mundo. Os japoneses não tem problema algum em admitir ou institucionalizar o seu preconceito, justamente pelo fato de que a ideologia politicamente correta não tem no oriente a força e a presença que tem no ocidente.

E é fundamental enfatizar que, sendo de natureza pacífica — ou seja, não violando nem agredindo terceiros —, a discriminação é um recurso natural dos seres humanos, que está diretamente associada a questões como familiaridade e segurança.

Absolutamente ninguém deve ser forçado a apreciar ou integrar-se a raças, etnias, pessoas ou tribos que não lhe transmitem sentimentos de segurança ou familiaridade. Integração forçada é o verdadeiro crime, e isso diversos países europeus — principalmente os escandinavos (países que lideram o ranking de submissão à ideologia politicamente correta) — aprenderam da pior forma possível.

A integração forçada com imigrantes islâmicos resultou em ondas de assassinato, estupro e violência inimagináveis para diversos países europeus, até então civilizados, que a imprensa ocidental politicamente correta e a militância progressista estão permanentemente tentando esconder, porque não desejam que o ocidente descubra como a agenda “humanitária” de integração forçada dos povos muçulmanos em países do Velho Mundo resultou em algumas das piores chacinas e tragédias na história recente da Europa.

Ou seja, ao discriminarem estrangeiros, os japoneses estão apenas se protegendo e lutando para preservar sua nação como um ambiente cultural, étnico e social que lhe é seguro e familiar, assim se opondo a mudanças bruscas, indesejadas e antinaturais, que poderiam comprometer a estabilidade social do país.

A discriminação — sendo de natureza pacífica —, é benévola, salutar e indubitavelmente ajuda a manter a estabilidade social da comunidade. Toda e qualquer forma de integração forçada deve ser repudiada com veemência, pois, mais cedo ou mais tarde, ela irá subverter a ordem social vigente, e sempre será acompanhada de deploráveis e dramáticos resultados.

Para citar novamente os países escandinavos, a Suécia é um excelente exemplo do que não fazer. Tendo seguido o caminho contrário ao da discriminação racional praticada pela sociedade japonesa, atualmente a sociedade sueca — além de afundar de forma consistente na lama da libertinagem, da decadência e da deterioração progressista — sofre em demasia com os imigrantes muçulmanos, que foram deixados praticamente livres para matar, saquear, esquartejar e estuprar quem eles quiserem. Hoje, eles são praticamente intocáveis, visto que denunciá-los, desmoralizá-los ou acusá-los de qualquer crime é uma atitude politicamente incorreta e altamente reprovada pelo establishment progressista. A elite socialista sueca jamais se atreve a acusá-los de qualquer crime, pois temem ser classificados como xenófobos e intolerantes. Ou seja, a desgraça da Europa, sobretudo dos países escandinavos, foi não ter oferecido nenhuma resistência à ideologia progressista politicamente correta. Hoje, eles são totalmente submissos a ela.

O exemplo do Japão mostra, portanto — para além de qualquer dúvida —, a importância ética e prática da discriminação, que é perfeitamente aceitável e natural, sendo uma tendência inerente aos seres humanos, e portanto intrínseca a determinados comportamentos, sociedades e culturas.

Indo ainda mais longe nessa questão, devemos entender que na verdade todos nós discriminamos, e não existe absolutamente nada de errado nisso. Discriminar pessoas faz parte da natureza humana e quem se recusa a admitir esse fato é um hipócrita. Mulheres discriminam homens na hora de selecionar um parceiro; elas avaliam diversos quesitos, como altura, aparência, status social, condição financeira e carisma. E dentre suas opções, elas sempre escolherão o homem mais atraente, másculo e viril, em detrimento de todos os baixinhos, calvos, carentes, frágeis e inibidos que possam estar disponíveis. Da mesma forma, homens sempre terão preferência por mulheres jovens, atraentes e delicadas, em detrimento de todas as feministas de meia-idade, acima do peso, de cabelo pintado, que são mães solteiras e militantes socialistas. A própria militância progressista discrimina pessoas de forma virulenta e intransigente, como fica evidente no tratamento que dispensam a mulheres bolsonaristas e a negros de direita.

A verdade é que — não importa o nível de histeria da militância progressista — a discriminação é inerente à condição humana e um direito natural inalienável de todos. É parte indissociável da natureza humana e qualquer pessoa pode e deve exercer esse direito sempre que desejar. Não existe absolutamente nada de errado em discriminar pessoas. O problema real é a ideologia progressista e o autoritarismo politicamente correto, movimentos tirânicos que não respeitam o direito das pessoas de discriminar.

Fascismo

Quando falamos de fascismo, precisamos entender que, para a esquerda política, o fascismo é compreendido como um conceito completamente divorciado do seu significado original. Para um militante de esquerda, fascista é todo aquele que defende posicionamentos contrários ao progressismo, não se referindo necessariamente a um fascista clássico.

Mas, seja como for, é necessário entender que — como qualquer ideologia política — até mesmo o fascismo clássico tem o direito de existir e ocupar o seu devido lugar; portanto, fascistas não devem ser arbitrariamente censurados, apesar de defenderem conceitos que representam uma completa antítese de tudo aquilo que é valioso para os entusiastas da liberdade.

Em um país como o Brasil, onde socialistas e comunistas tem total liberdade para se expressar, defender suas ideologias e até mesmo formar partidos políticos, não faz absolutamente o menor sentido que fascistas — e até mesmo nazistas assumidos — sofram qualquer tipo de discriminação. Embora socialistas e comunistas se sintam moralmente superiores aos fascistas (ou a qualquer outra filosofia política ou escola de pensamento), sabemos perfeitamente que o seu senso de superioridade é fruto de uma pueril romantização universitária da sua própria ideologia. A história mostra efetivamente que o socialismo clássico e o comunismo causaram muito mais destruição do que o fascismo.

Portanto, se socialistas e comunistas tem total liberdade para se expressar, não existe a menor razão para que fascistas não usufruam dessa mesma liberdade.

É claro, nesse ponto, seremos invariavelmente confrontados por um oportuno dilema — o famoso paradoxo da intolerância, de Karl Popper. Até que ponto uma sociedade livre e tolerante deve tolerar a intolerância (inerente a ideologias totalitárias)?

As leis de propriedade privada resolveriam isso em uma sociedade livre. O mais importante a levarmos em consideração no atual contexto, no entanto — ao defender ou criticar uma determinada ideologia, filosofia ou escola de pensamento —, é entender que, seja ela qual for, ela tem o direito de existir. E todas as pessoas que a defendem tem o direito de defendê-la, da mesma maneira que todos os seus detratores tem o direito de criticá-la.

Essa é uma forte razão para jamais apoiarmos a censura. Muito pelo contrário, devemos repudiar com veemência e intransigência toda e qualquer forma de censura, especialmente a estatal.

Existem duas fortes razões para isso:

A primeira delas é a volatilidade da censura (especialmente a estatal). A censura oficial do governo, depois que é implementada, torna-se absolutamente incontrolável. Hoje, ela pode estar apontada para um grupo de pessoas cujas ideias divergem das suas. Mas amanhã, ela pode estar apontada justamente para as ideias que você defende. É fundamental, portanto, compreendermos que a censura estatal é incontrolável. Sob qualquer ponto de vista, é muito mais vantajoso que exista uma vasta pluralidade de ideias conflitantes na sociedade competindo entre si, do que o estado decidir que ideias podem ser difundidas ou não.

Além do mais, libertários e anarcocapitalistas não podem nunca esperar qualquer tipo de simpatia por parte das autoridades governamentais. Para o estado, seria infinitamente mais prático e vantajoso criminalizar o libertarianismo e o anarcocapitalismo — sob a alegação de que são filosofias perigosas difundidas por extremistas radicais que ameaçam o estado democrático de direito — do que o fascismo ou qualquer outra ideologia centralizada em governos burocráticos e onipotentes. Portanto, defender a censura, especialmente a estatal, representa sempre um perigo para o próprio indivíduo, que mais cedo ou mais tarde poderá ver a censura oficial do sistema se voltar contra ele.

Outra razão pela qual libertários jamais devem defender a censura, é porque — ao contrário dos estatistas — não é coerente que defensores da liberdade se comportem como se o estado fosse o seu papai e o governo fosse a sua mamãe. Não devemos terceirizar nossas próprias responsabilidades, tampouco devemos nos comportar como adultos infantilizados. Assumimos a responsabilidade de combater todas as ideologias e filosofias que agridem a liberdade e os seres humanos. Não procuramos políticos ou burocratas para executar essa tarefa por nós.

Portanto, se você ver um fascista sendo censurado nas redes sociais ou em qualquer outro lugar, assuma suas dores. Sinta-se compelido a defendê-lo, mostre aos seus detratores que ele tem todo direito de se expressar, como qualquer pessoa. Você não tem obrigação de concordar com ele ou apreciar as ideias que ele defende. Mas silenciar arbitrariamente qualquer pessoa não é uma pauta que honra a liberdade.

Se você não gosta de estado, planejamento central, burocracia, impostos, tarifas, políticas coletivistas, nacionalistas e desenvolvimentistas, mostre com argumentos coesos e convincentes porque a liberdade e o livre mercado são superiores a todos esses conceitos. Mas repudie a censura com intransigência e mordacidade.

Em primeiro lugar, porque você aprecia e defende a liberdade de expressão para todas as pessoas. E em segundo lugar, por entender perfeitamente que — se a censura eventualmente se tornar uma política de estado vigente entre a sociedade — é mais provável que ela atinja primeiro os defensores da liberdade do que os defensores do estado.

Machismo

Muitos elementos do comportamento masculino que hoje são atacados com virulência e considerados machistas pelo movimento progressista são na verdade manifestações naturais intrínsecas ao homem, que nossos avôs cultivaram ao longo de suas vidas sem serem recriminados por isso. Com a ascensão do feminismo, do progressismo e a eventual problematização do sexo masculino, o antagonismo militante dos principais líderes da revolução sexual da contracultura passou a naturalmente condenar todos os atributos genuinamente masculinos, por considerá-los símbolos de opressão e dominação social.

Apesar do Brasil ser uma sociedade liberal ultra-progressista, onde o estado protege mais as mulheres do que as crianças — afinal, a cada semana novas leis são implementadas concedendo inúmeros privilégios e benefícios às mulheres, aos quais elas jamais teriam direito em uma sociedade genuinamente machista e patriarcal —, a esquerda política persiste em tentar difundir a fantasia da opressão masculina e o mito de que vivemos em uma sociedade machista e patriarcal.

Como sempre, a realidade mostra um cenário muito diferente daquilo que é pregado pela militância da terra da fantasia. O Brasil atual não tem absolutamente nada de machista ou patriarcal. No Brasil, mulheres podem votar, podem ocupar posições de poder e autoridade tanto na esfera pública quanto em companhias privadas, podem se candidatar a cargos políticos, podem ser vereadoras, deputadas, governadoras, podem ser proprietárias do próprio negócio, podem se divorciar, podem dirigir, podem comprar armas, podem andar de biquíni nas praias, podem usar saias extremamente curtas, podem ver programas de televisão sobre sexo voltados única e exclusivamente para o público feminino, podem se casar com outras mulheres, podem ser promíscuas, podem consumir bebidas alcoólicas ao ponto da embriaguez, e podem fazer praticamente tudo aquilo que elas desejarem. No Brasil do século XXI, as mulheres são genuinamente livres para fazer as próprias escolhas em praticamente todos os aspectos de suas vidas. O que mostra efetivamente que a tal opressão do patriarcado não existe.

O liberalismo social extremo do qual as mulheres usufruem no Brasil atual — e que poderíamos estender a toda a sociedade contemporânea ocidental — é suficiente para desmantelar completamente a fábula feminista da sociedade patriarcal machista e opressora, que existe única e exclusivamente no mundinho de fantasias ideológicas da esquerda progressista.

Tão importante quanto, é fundamental compreender que nenhum homem é obrigado a levar o feminismo a sério ou considerá-lo um movimento social e político legítimo. Para um homem, ser considerado machista ou até mesmo assumir-se como um não deveria ser um problema. O progressismo e o feminismo — com o seu nefasto hábito de demonizar os homens, bem como todos os elementos inerentes ao comportamento e a cultura masculina — é que são o verdadeiro problema, conforme tentam modificar o homem para transformá-lo em algo que ele não é nem deveria ser: uma criatura dócil, passiva e submissa, que é comandada por ideologias hostis e antinaturais, que não respeitam a hierarquia de uma ordem social milenar e condições inerentes à própria natureza humana. Com o seu hábito de tentar modificar tudo através de leis e decretos, o feminismo e o progressismo mostram efetivamente que o seu real objetivo é criminalizar a masculinidade.

A verdade é que — usufruindo de um nível elevado de liberdades — não existe praticamente nada que a mulher brasileira do século XXI não possa fazer. Adicionalmente, o governo dá as mulheres uma quantidade tão avassaladora de vantagens, privilégios e benefícios, que está ficando cada vez mais difícil para elas encontrarem razões válidas para reclamarem da vida. Se o projeto de lei que pretende fornecer um auxílio mensal de mil e duzentos reais para mães solteiras for aprovado pelo senado, muitas mulheres que tem filhos não precisarão nem mesmo trabalhar para ter sustento. E tantas outras procurarão engravidar, para ter direito a receber uma mesada mensal do governo até o seu filho completar a maioridade.

O que a militância colorida da terra da fantasia convenientemente ignora — pois a realidade nunca corresponde ao seu conto de fadas ideológico — é que o mundo de uma forma geral continua sendo muito mais implacável com os homens do que é com as mulheres. No Brasil, a esmagadora maioria dos suicídios é praticada por homens, a maioria das vítimas de homicídio são homens e de cada quatro moradores de rua, três são homens. Mas é evidente que uma sociedade liberal ultra-progressista não se importa com os homens, pois ela não é influenciada por fatos concretos ou pela realidade. Seu objetivo é simplesmente atender as disposições de uma agenda ideológica, não importa quão divorciadas da realidade elas são.

O nível exacerbado de liberdades sociais e privilégios governamentais dos quais as mulheres brasileiras usufruem é suficiente para destruir a fantasiosa fábula da sociedade machista, opressora e patriarcal. Se as mulheres brasileiras não estão felizes, a culpa definitivamente não é dos homens. Se a vasta profusão de liberdades, privilégios e benefícios da sociedade ocidental não as deixa plenamente saciadas e satisfeitas, elas podem sempre mudar de ares e tentar uma vida mais abnegada e espartana em países como Irã, Paquistão ou Afeganistão. Quem sabe assim elas não se sentirão melhores e mais realizadas?

Homofobia

Quando falamos em homofobia, entramos em uma categoria muito parecida com a do racismo: o direito de discriminação é totalmente válido. Absolutamente ninguém deve ser obrigado a aceitar homossexuais ou considerar o homossexualismo como algo normal. Sendo cristão, não existe nem sequer a mais vaga possibilidade de que algum dia eu venha a aceitar o homossexualismo como algo natural. O homossexualismo se qualifica como um grave desvio de conduta e um pecado contra o Criador.

A Bíblia proíbe terminantemente conduta sexual imoral, o que — além do homossexualismo — inclui adultério, fornicação, incesto e bestialidade, entre outras formas igualmente pérfidas de degradação.

Segue abaixo três passagens bíblicas que proíbem terminantemente a conduta homossexual:

“Não te deitarás com um homem como se deita com uma mulher. Isso é abominável!” (Levítico 18:22 — King James Atualizada)

“Se um homem se deitar com outro homem, como se deita com mulher, ambos terão praticado abominação; certamente serão mortos; o seu sangue estará sobre eles.” (Levítico 20:13 — João Ferreira de Almeida Atualizada)

“O quê! Não sabeis que os injustos não herdarão o reino de Deus? Não sejais desencaminhados. Nem fornicadores, nem idólatras, nem adúlteros, nem homens mantidos para propósitos desnaturais, nem homens que se deitam com homens, nem ladrões, nem gananciosos, nem beberrões, nem injuriadores, nem extorsores herdarão o reino de Deus.” (1 Coríntios 6:9,10 —Tradução do Novo Mundo das Escrituras Sagradas com Referências)

Se você não é religioso, pode simplesmente levar em consideração o argumento do respeito pela ordem natural. A ordem natural é incondicional e incisiva com relação a uma questão: o complemento de tudo o que existe é o seu oposto, não o seu igual. O complemento do dia é a noite, o complemento da luz é a escuridão, o complemento da água, que é líquida, é a terra, que é sólida. E como sabemos o complemento do macho — de sua respectiva espécie — é a fêmea.

Portanto, o complemento do homem, o macho da espécie humana, é naturalmente a mulher, a fêmea da espécie humana. Um homem e uma mulher podem naturalmente se reproduzir, porque são um complemento biológico natural. Por outro lado, um homem e outro homem são incapazes de se reproduzir, assim como uma mulher e outra mulher.

Infelizmente, o mundo atual está longe de aceitar como plenamente estabelecida a ordem natural pelo simples fato dela existir, visto que tentam subvertê-la a qualquer custo, não importa o malabarismo intelectual que tenham que fazer para justificar os seus pontos de vista distorcidos e antinaturais. A libertinagem irrefreável e a imoralidade bestial do mundo contemporâneo pós-moderno não reconhecem nenhum tipo de limite. Quem tenta restabelecer princípios morais salutares é imediatamente considerado um vilão retrógrado e repressivo, sendo ativamente demonizado pela militância do hedonismo, da luxúria e da licenciosidade desenfreada e sem limites.

Definitivamente, fazer a apologia da moralidade, do autocontrole e do autodomínio não faz nenhum sucesso na Sodoma e Gomorra global dos dias atuais. O que faz sucesso é lacração, devassidão, promiscuidade e prazeres carnais vazios. O famoso escritor e filósofo francês Albert Camus expressou uma verdade contundente quando disse: “Uma só frase lhe bastará para definir o homem moderno — fornicava e lia jornais”.

Qualquer indivíduo tem o direito inalienável de discriminar ativamente homossexuais, pelo direito que ele julgar mais pertinente no seu caso. A objeção de consciência para qualquer situação é um direito natural dos indivíduos. Há alguns anos, um caso que aconteceu nos Estados Unidos ganhou enorme repercussão internacional, quando o confeiteiro Jack Phillips se recusou a fazer um bolo de casamento para o “casal” homossexual Dave Mullins e Charlie Craig.

Uma representação dos direitos civis do estado do Colorado abriu um inquérito contra o confeiteiro, alegando que ele deveria ser obrigado a atender todos os clientes, independente da orientação sexual, raça ou crença. Preste atenção nas palavras usadas — ele deveria ser obrigado a atender.

Como se recusou bravamente a ceder, o caso foi parar invariavelmente na Suprema Corte, que decidiu por sete a dois em favor de Jack Phillips, sob a alegação de que obrigar o confeiteiro a atender o “casal” homossexual era uma violação nefasta dos seus princípios religiosos. Felizmente, esse foi um caso em que a liberdade prevaleceu sobre a tirania progressista.

Evidentemente, homossexuais não devem ser agredidos, ofendidos, internados em clínicas contra a sua vontade, nem devem ser constrangidos em suas liberdades pelo fato de serem homossexuais. O que eles precisam entender é que a liberdade é uma via de mão dupla. Eles podem ter liberdade para adotar a conduta que desejarem e fazer o que quiserem (contanto que não agridam ninguém), mas da mesma forma, é fundamental respeitar e preservar a liberdade de terceiros que desejam rejeitá-los pacificamente, pelo motivo que for.

Afinal, ninguém tem a menor obrigação de aceitá-los, atendê-los ou sequer pensar que uma união estável entre duas pessoas do mesmo sexo — incapaz de gerar descendentes, e, portanto, antinatural — deva ser considerado um matrimônio de verdade. Absolutamente nenhuma pessoa, ideia, movimento, crença ou ideologia usufrui de plena unanimidade no mundo. Por que o homossexualismo deveria ter tal privilégio?

Homossexuais não são portadores de uma verdade definitiva, absoluta e indiscutível, que está acima da humanidade. São seres humanos comuns que — na melhor das hipóteses —, levam um estilo de vida que pode ser considerado “alternativo”, e absolutamente ninguém tem a obrigação de considerar esse estilo de vida normal ou aceitável. A única obrigação das pessoas é não interferir, e isso não implica uma obrigação em aceitar.

Discriminar homossexuais (assim como pessoas de qualquer outro grupo, raça, religião, nacionalidade ou etnia) é um direito natural por parte de todos aqueles que desejam exercer esse direito. E isso nem o direito positivo nem a militância progressista poderão algum dia alterar ou subverter. O direito natural e a inclinação inerente dos seres humanos em atender às suas próprias disposições é simplesmente imutável e faz parte do seu conjunto de necessidades.

Conclusão

A militância progressista é absurdamente autoritária, e todas as suas estratégias e disposições ideológicas mostram que ela está em uma guerra permanente contra a ordem natural, contra a liberdade e principalmente contra o homem branco, cristão, conservador e tradicionalista — possivelmente, aquilo que ela mais odeia e despreza.

Nós não podemos, no entanto, ceder ou dar espaço para a agenda progressista, tampouco pensar em considerar como sendo normais todas as pautas abusivas e tirânicas que a militância pretende estabelecer como sendo perfeitamente razoáveis e aceitáveis, quer a sociedade aceite isso ou não. Afinal, conforme formos cedendo, o progressismo tirânico e totalitário tende a ganhar cada vez mais espaço.

Quanto mais espaço o progressismo conquistar, mais corroída será a liberdade e mais impulso ganhará o totalitarismo. Com isso, a cultura do cancelamento vai acabar com carreiras, profissões e com o sustento de muitas pessoas, pelo simples fato de que elas discordam das pautas universitárias da moda.

A história mostra perfeitamente que quanto mais liberdade uma sociedade tem, mais progresso ela atinge. Por outro lado, quanto mais autoritária ela for, mais retrocessos ela sofrerá. O autoritarismo se combate com liberdade, desafiando as pautas de todos aqueles que persistem em implementar a tirania na sociedade. O politicamente correto é o nazismo dos costumes, que pretende subverter a moral através de uma cultura de vigilância policial despótica e autoritária, para que toda a sociedade seja subjugada pela agenda totalitária progressista.

Pois quanto a nós, precisamos continuar travando o bom combate em nome da liberdade. E isso inclui reconhecer que ideologias, hábitos e costumes de que não gostamos tem o direito de existir e até mesmo de serem defendidos.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Estórias

• O caso da Grêmio TV
• Jofer
• Lagoa Santa: como chegar -- partindo da rodoviária de Belo Horizonte
• O Planetinha

@ 76c71aae:3e29cafa

I wanted to take a moment to address the recent Business Insider article about Jack Dorsey’s funding of Nostr. While the article has inaccuracies and it lacks nuance, this piece it’s also an invitation to all of us to discuss Nostr openly. 

Is the article true? First things first: We do not actually know fiatjaf’s identity so we cannot weigh in on the veracity of who he is. His real identity remains a mystery to us. While we do not share Fiatjaf’s beliefs, he’s always been clear that Nostr was built to support all types of speech, even the stuff he personally disagrees with. That’s a fundamental principle of the platform.

Why is Nos built on a protocol that was built by someone who supports fascists? Let’s clear up a major point of confusion.Merriam Webster defines fascism as: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

Based on that definition, fascism is then a centralized autocratic government led by a dictatorial leader, enforcing several economic and social regimentation, and suppressing opposition. Nostr, on the other hand, is designed to prevent centralized control altogether. It’s a decentralized network where no single entity has ultimate power.

Nostr is designed so there is no central authority of control. By distributing content across multiple relays, the architecture of Nostr eliminates the possibility of centralized autocratic control.

Nos chose to build an app on the Nostr protocol because traditional corporate social media platforms often stifle views outside the mainstream, these also include views of leftist activists, LGBTQ community, and others. This stifling takes the form of shadow banning when people use terms that the platform doesn’t want to support such as abortion. More recently there has been an uptick in account suspensions and shadow bannings as people use reporting tools to flag accounts that support Gaza. Often the people flagging are looking at older posts and flagging those to get the accounts shutdown.

On the other hand, Nos is about giving users control over their accounts, identities, and feeds. Nostr makes this possible in a way no other protocol does today. At Nos, we are committed to building an app using tools that put the user in charge and Nostr enables this user-first approach.This means that everybody has something to say, and we may not like it.

How does Nos reconcile being on a network that can’t ban people for their views? Unlike corporate social media, such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, Nostr is built on the idea of a web of trust, meaning you only see the content from the people you follow. There are no algorithms pushing sensational content to keep you glued to your screen. Corporate platforms thrive on “engagement” and are optimized for eyeballs and time on site. Over the years, the algorithms have learned that the content that is most engaging is content that induces moral outrage in the viewer.

As a result, the corporate platforms feed users more and more morally outrageous content to keep them online. As mentioned before, Nostr operates on a different principle. It’s built on a web of trust, where you only see content from people you follow: Nos and most of the other Nostr clients do not have algorithm-driven feeds, instead content from the people you follow appears in reverse chronological order in your feed. Those clients that do have algorithmic feeds today show the most popular content, but are not optimizing for morally outrageous content.

This means that it is much more difficult for toxic, hateful content to go viral as there’s no behind-the-scenes mechanism amplifying content for views similar to what you have on Youtube and X today. You won’t find the same amplification of divisive content here that you see on these traditional platforms.

Nos offers the ability to have “Freedom from” unwanted content at the user level. There is no central authority shutting down one account or another or blocking certain accounts.

This is especially important for activists. At present on Mastodon and other ActivityPub servers, we are witnessing pro-Palestinian activists accounts’ being blocked from certain servers. While happening at a smaller level, this is still a form of shutting down the dialogue and conversation.I get it –after more than a decade of algorithmic fueled hot-takes and virtue signaling on X (formerly Twitter), it might be a bit difficult to conceive of a social media experience where dialogue exists, but the network that has evolved on top of Nostr is that space. Yes, as difficult as it sounds, Nostr allows for dialogue without central censorship.

Many folks disagree on Nostr in the same way disagreements used to happen on Twitter (now X) in the early days, where there are long text based dialogues. Folks may walk away still disagreeing and a small subset get nasty, but those conversations do not spiral out of control in the same way they do on X or even on Mastodon and Bluesky today.

And if things get ugly, Nos and a few other apps have user-led moderation tools to help mitigate anything that comes into replies or mentions. Nos is leading efforts to enhance user-led moderation across the network. 

This discussion is crucial. We have the chance to reshape the future of decentralized social media and we can build a more open and inclusive digital space. The pathway is and will be messy. How do we balance free speech while protecting users from harmful content? What role should decentralization play in the next generation of social media platforms? I’d love to hear your thoughts and keep this conversation going.‍

@ 0176967e:1e6f471e

Čo nám prinášajú exotické protokoly ako Nostr, Cashu alebo Reticulum? Šifrovanie, podpisovanie, peer to peer komunikáciu, nové spôsoby šírenia a odmeňovania obsahu.

Ukážeme si kúl appky, ako sa dajú jednotlivé siete prepájať a ako spolu súvisia.

@ 0176967e:1e6f471e

Podnikanie je jazyk s "crystal clear" pravidlami. Inštrumentalisti vidia podnikanie staticky, a toto videnie prenášajú na spoločnosť. Preto nás spoločnosť vníma často negatívne. Skutoční podnikatelia sú však "komunikátori".

Jozef Martiniak je zakladateľ AUSEKON - Institute of Austrian School of Economics

@ 0176967e:1e6f471e

Ako sa snažím praktizovať LunarPunk bez budovania opcionality "odchodom" do zahraničia. Nie každý je ochotný alebo schopný meniť "miesto", ako však v takom prípade minimalizovať interakciu so štátom? Nie návod, skôr postrehy z bežného života.

@ 0176967e:1e6f471e

Tento rok vás čaká workshop na tému "oranžové leto" s Jurajom Bednárom a Mariannou Sádeckou. Dozviete sa ako mení naše vnímanie skúsenosť s Bitcoinom, ako sa navigovať v dnešnom svete a odstrániť mentálnu hmlu spôsobenú fiat životom.

Na workshop je potrebný extra lístok (môžete si ho dokúpiť aj na mieste).

Pre viac informácií o oranžovom lete odporúčame pred workshopom vypočuťi si podcast na túto tému.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Why relay hints are important

Recently Coracle has removed support for following relay hints in Nostr event references.

Supposedly Coracle is now relying only on public key hints and kind:10002 events to determine where to fetch events from a user. That is a catastrophic idea that destroys much of Nostr's flexibility for no gain at all.

• Someone makes a post inside a community (either a NIP-29 community or a NIP-87 community) and others want to refer to that post in discussions in the external Nostr world of kind:1s -- now that cannot work because the person who created the post doesn't have the relays specific to those communities in their outbox list;
• There is a discussion happening in a niche relay, for example, a relay that can only be accessed by the participants of a conference for the duration of that conference -- since that relay is not in anyone's public outbox list, it's impossible for anyone outside of the conference to ever refer to these events;
• Some big public relays, say, relay.damus.io, decide to nuke their databases or periodically delete old events, a user keeps using that big relay as their outbox because it is fast and reliable, but chooses to archive their old events in a dedicated archival relay, say, cellar.nostr.wine, while prudently not including that in their outbox list because that would make no sense -- now it is impossible for anyone to refer to old notes from this user even though they are publicly accessible in cellar.nostr.wine;
• There are topical relays that curate content relating to niche (non-microblogging) topics, say, cooking recipes, and users choose to publish their recipes to these relays only -- but now they can't refer to these relays in the external Nostr world of kind:1s because these topical relays are not in their outbox lists.
• Suppose a user wants to maintain two different identities under the same keypair, say, one identity only talks about soccer in English, while the other only talks about art history in French, and the user very prudently keeps two different kind:10002 events in two different sets of "indexer" relays (or does it in some better way of announcing different relay sets) -- now one of this user's audiences cannot ever see notes created by him with their other persona, one half of the content of this user will be inacessible to the other half and vice-versa.
• If for any reason a relay does not want to accept events of a certain kind a user may publish to other relays, and it would all work fine if the user referenced that externally-published event from a normal event, but now that externally-published event is not reachable because the external relay is not in the user's outbox list.
• If someone, say, Alex Jones, is hard-banned everywhere and cannot event broadcast kind:10002 events to any of the commonly used index relays, that person will now appear as banned in most clients: in an ideal world in which clients followed nprofile and other relay hints Alex Jones could still live a normal Nostr life: he would print business cards with his nprofile instead of an npub and clients would immediately know from what relay to fetch his posts. When other users shared his posts or replied to it, they would include a relay hint to his personal relay and others would be able to see and then start following him on that relay directly -- now Alex Jones's events cannot be read by anyone that doesn't already know his relay.

@ 58edc6ae:e070cfa5

The Bitcoin journey is a long one, and books are an essential part of it. Here is a chronological record of my Bitcoin literary education—the first fifty books.

I’m sharing this list because it did the trick for me. This particular sequence first got me intrigued, then opened my eyes, converted me into a maximalist, and led me to explore areas I had never visited before. Maybe it will do the same for you or someone you know.

If you think there’s a must-read book that’s not on my list, please recommend it to me (skip other book suggestions).

1. The Evolution of Everything (Chapter: The Evolution of Money), Matt Ridley
2. Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean Ammous
3. Inventing Bitcoin: The Technology Behind The First Truly Scarce and Decentralized Money Explained, Yan Pritzker
4. Denationalisation of Money, Fridrich A. Hayek
5. Bitcoin Clarity, Kiara Bickers
6. Bitcoin, Sovereignty Through Mathematics, Knut Svanholm
7. The Internet of Money, Part 1, Andreas Antonopolous
8. Layered Money, Nick Bhatia
9. Human Action, Ludwig von Mises
10. The Fiat Standard, Saifedean Ammous
11. Cryptography, The key to digital security, How it works and why it matters, Keith Martin
12. Blocksize War, Jonathan Bier
13. The Bullish Case For Bitcoin, Vijay Boyapati
14. Bitcoin i Blockchain. Narodziny kryptowalut, Mateusz Lubiński, Mateusz Wiatr
15. The Internet of Money, Part 2, Andreas Antonopolous
16. The Internet of Money, Part 3, Andreas Antonopolous
17. Kryptowaluty dla zabieganych, Michał Zajda
18. Bitcoin, Hard Money You Can’t Fuck With, Jason A. WIlliams
19. 21 Lessons. What I’ve Learned From Falling Down the Bitcoin Rabbit Hole, Gigi
20. The Price of Tomorrow, Jeff Booth
21. Everything Divided by 21 Million, Knut Svanholm
22. Bitcoin jako przedmiot stosunków cywilnoprawnych, Marcin Michna
23. Independence Reimagined, Knut Svanholm
24. Softwar, Jason P. Lowery
25. America’s Great Depression, Murray Rothbard
26. The Ethics of Money Production, Jörg Guido Hülsmann
27. Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War, Ludwig von Mises
28. Principles of Economics, Saifedean Ammous
29. Praxeology, Knut Svanholm
30. Broken Money, Lyn Alden
31. Sovereign Individual, James Dale Davidson, Lord William Rees-Mogg
32. When Money Dies, Adam Fergusson
33. Anatomy of the State, Murray Rothbard
34. Fraudcoin, Rune Ostgard
35. Check Your Financial Privilege, Alex Gladstein
36. Gradually, Then Suddenly: A Framework for Understanding Bitcoin as Money, Parker A. Lewis
37. Bitcoin Is Venice, Allen Farrington, Sacha Meyers
38. A Progressive’s Case for Bitcoin: A Path Toward a More Just, Equitable, and Peaceful World, C. Jason Maier
39. Fiat Ruins Everything, Jimmy Song
40. Fossil Future, Alex Epstein
41. 21 Futures: Tales from the Timechain, 21 different authors
42. The Fourth Turning, William Strauss, Neil Howe
43. Fiat Food: Why Inflation Destroyed Our Health and How Bitcoin Fixes It, Matthew Lysiak
44. The Genesis Book, Aaron va Wirdum
45. The Book of Satoshi, Phil Champagne
46. Bitcoin Billionaires, Ben Mezrich
47. Hidden Repression, Alex Gladstein
48. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
49. Luna is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein
50. Man, Economy and State. A Treatise on Economic Principles, Murray Rothbard

bookstr

@ 6871d8df:4a9396c1

Embracing AI: A Case for AI Accelerationism

In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) development is at the forefront of technological innovation, a counter-narrative championed by a group I refer to as the 'AI Decels'—those advocating for the deceleration of AI advancements— seems to be gaining significant traction. After tuning into a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Podcast, I realized that the prevailing narrative around AI was heading in a dangerous direction. Rogan had Aza Raskin and Tristan Harris, technology safety advocates, who released a talk called 'The AI Dilemma,' on for a discussion. You may know them from the popular documentary 'The Social Dilemma' on the dangers of social media. It became increasingly clear that the cautionary stance dominating this discourse might be tipping the scales too far, veering towards an over-regulated future that stifles innovation rather than fostering it.

Are we moving too fast?

While acknowledging AI's benefits, Aza and Tristan fear it could be dangerous if not guided by ethical standards and safeguards. They believe AI development is moving too quickly and that the right incentives for its growth are not in place. They are concerned about the possibility of "civilizational overwhelm," where advanced AI technology far outpaces 21st-century governance. They fear a scenario where society and its institutions cannot manage or adapt to the rapid changes and challenges introduced by AI.

They argue for regulating and slowing down AI development due to rapid, uncontrolled advancement driven by competition among companies like Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft. They claim this race can lead to unsafe releases of new technologies, with AI systems exhibiting unpredictable, emergent behaviors, posing significant societal risks. For instance, AI can inadvertently learn tasks like sentiment analysis or human emotion understanding, creating potential for misuse in areas like biological weapons or cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Moreover, AI companies' profit-driven incentives often conflict with the public good, prioritizing market dominance over safety and ethics. This misalignment can lead to technologies that maximize engagement or profits at societal expense, similar to the negative impacts seen with social media. To address these issues, they suggest government regulation to realign AI companies' incentives with safety, ethical considerations, and public welfare. Implementing responsible development frameworks focused on long-term societal impacts is essential for mitigating potential harm.

This isn't new

Though the premise of their concerns seems reasonable, it's dangerous and an all too common occurrence with the emergence of new technologies. For example, in their example in the podcast, they refer to the technological breakthrough of oil. Oil as energy was a technological marvel and changed the course of human civilization. The embrace of oil — now the cornerstone of industry in our age — revolutionized how societies operated, fueled economies, and connected the world in unprecedented ways. Yet recently, as ideas of its environmental and geopolitical ramifications propagated, the narrative around oil has shifted.

Tristan and Aza detail this shift and claim that though the period was great for humanity, we didn't have another technology to go to once the technological consequences became apparent. The problem with that argument is that we did innovate to a better alternative: nuclear. However, at its technological breakthrough, it was met with severe suspicions, from safety concerns to ethical debates over its use. This overregulation due to these concerns caused a decades-long stagnation in nuclear innovation, where even today, we are still stuck with heavy reliance on coal and oil. The scare tactics and fear-mongering had consequences, and, interestingly, they don't see the parallels with their current deceleration stance on AI.

These examples underscore a critical insight: the initial anxiety surrounding new technologies is a natural response to the unknowns they introduce. Yet, history shows that too much anxiety can stifle the innovation needed to address the problems posed by current technologies. The cycle of discovery, fear, adaptation, and eventual acceptance reveals an essential truth—progress requires not just the courage to innovate but also the resilience to navigate the uncertainties these innovations bring.

Moreover, believing we can predict and plan for all AI-related unknowns reflects overconfidence in our understanding and foresight. History shows that technological progress, marked by unexpected outcomes and discoveries, defies such predictions. The evolution from the printing press to the internet underscores progress's unpredictability. Hence, facing AI's future requires caution, curiosity, and humility. Acknowledging our limitations and embracing continuous learning and adaptation will allow us to harness AI's potential responsibly, illustrating that embracing our uncertainties, rather than pretending to foresee them, is vital to innovation.

The journey of technological advancement is fraught with both promise and trepidation. Historically, each significant leap forward, from the dawn of the industrial age to the digital revolution, has been met with a mix of enthusiasm and apprehension. Aza Raskin and Tristan Harris's thesis in the 'AI Dilemma' embodies the latter.

Who defines "safe?"

When slowing down technologies for safety or ethical reasons, the issue arises of who gets to define what "safe" or “ethical” mean? This inquiry is not merely technical but deeply ideological, touching the very core of societal values and power dynamics. For example, the push for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives shows how specific ideological underpinnings can shape definitions of safety and decency.

Take the case of the initial release of Google's AI chatbot, Gemini, which chose the ideology of its creators over truth. Luckily, the answers were so ridiculous that the pushback was sudden and immediate. My worry, however, is if, in correcting this, they become experts in making the ideological capture much more subtle. Large bureaucratic institutions' top-down safety enforcement creates a fertile ground for ideological capture of safety standards.

I claim that the issue is not the technology itself but the lens through which we view and regulate it. Suppose the gatekeepers of 'safety' are aligned with a singular ideology. In that case, AI development would skew to serve specific ends, sidelining diverse perspectives and potentially stifling innovative thought and progress.

In the podcast, Tristan and Aza suggest such manipulation as a solution. They propose using AI for consensus-building and creating "shared realities" to address societal challenges. In practice, this means that when individuals' viewpoints seem to be far apart, we can leverage AI to "bridge the gap." How they bridge the gap and what we would bridge it toward is left to the imagination, but to me, it is clear. Regulators will inevitably influence it from the top down, which, in my opinion, would be the opposite of progress.

In navigating this terrain, we must advocate for a pluralistic approach to defining safety, encompassing various perspectives and values achieved through market forces rather than a governing entity choosing winners. The more players that can play the game, the more wide-ranging perspectives will catalyze innovation to flourish.

Ownership & Identity

Just because we should accelerate AI forward does not mean I do not have my concerns. When I think about what could be the most devastating for society, I don't believe we have to worry about a Matrix-level dystopia; I worry about freedom. As I explored in "Whose data is it anyway?," my concern gravitates toward the issues of data ownership and the implications of relinquishing control over our digital identities. This relinquishment threatens our privacy and the integrity of the content we generate, leaving it susceptible to the inclinations and profit of a few dominant tech entities.

To counteract these concerns, a paradigm shift towards decentralized models of data ownership is imperative. Such standards would empower individuals with control over their digital footprints, ensuring that we develop AI systems with diverse, honest, and truthful perspectives rather than the massaged, narrow viewpoints of their creators. This shift safeguards individual privacy and promotes an ethical framework for AI development that upholds the principles of fairness and impartiality.

As we stand at the crossroads of technological innovation and ethical consideration, it is crucial to advocate for systems that place data ownership firmly in the hands of users. By doing so, we can ensure that the future of AI remains truthful, non-ideological, and aligned with the broader interests of society.

But what about the Matrix?

I know I am in the minority on this, but I feel that the concerns of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) are generally overblown. I am not scared of reaching the point of AGI, and I think the idea that AI will become so intelligent that we will lose control of it is unfounded and silly. Reaching AGI is not reaching consciousness; being worried about it spontaneously gaining consciousness is a misplaced fear. It is a tool created by humans for humans to enhance productivity and achieve specific outcomes.

At a technical level, large language models (LLMs) are trained on extensive datasets and learning patterns from language and data through a technique called "unsupervised learning" (meaning the data is untagged). They predict the next word in sentences, refining their predictions through feedback to improve coherence and relevance. When queried, LLMs generate responses based on learned patterns, simulating an understanding of language to provide contextually appropriate answers. They will only answer based on the datasets that were inputted and scanned.

AI will never be "alive," meaning that AI lacks inherent agency, consciousness, and the characteristics of life, not capable of independent thought or action. AI cannot act independently of human control. Concerns about AI gaining autonomy and posing a threat to humanity are based on a misunderstanding of the nature of AI and the fundamental differences between living beings and machines. AI spontaneously developing a will or consciousness is more similar to thinking a hammer will start walking than us being able to create consciousness through programming. Right now, there is only one way to create consciousness, and I'm skeptical that is ever something we will be able to harness and create as humans. Irrespective of its complexity — and yes, our tools will continue to become evermore complex — machines, specifically AI, cannot transcend their nature as non-living, inanimate objects programmed and controlled by humans.
The advancement of AI should be seen as enhancing human capabilities, not as a path toward creating autonomous entities with their own wills. So, while AI will continue to evolve, improve, and become more powerful, I believe it will remain under human direction and control without the existential threats often sensationalized in discussions about AI's future.

With this framing, we should not view the race toward AGI as something to avoid. This will only make the tools we use more powerful, making us more productive. With all this being said, AGI is still much farther away than many believe.

Today's AI excels in specific, narrow tasks, known as narrow or weak AI. These systems operate within tightly defined parameters, achieving remarkable efficiency and accuracy that can sometimes surpass human performance in those specific tasks. Yet, this is far from the versatile and adaptable functionality that AGI represents.

Moreover, the exponential growth of computational power observed in the past decades does not directly translate to an equivalent acceleration in achieving AGI. AI's impressive feats are often the result of massive data inputs and computing resources tailored to specific tasks. These successes do not inherently bring us closer to understanding or replicating the general problem-solving capabilities of the human mind, which again would only make the tools more potent in our hands.

While AI will undeniably introduce challenges and change the aspects of conflict and power dynamics, these challenges will primarily stem from humans wielding this powerful tool rather than the technology itself. AI is a mirror reflecting our own biases, values, and intentions. The crux of future AI-related issues lies not in the technology's inherent capabilities but in how it is used by those wielding it. This reality is at odds with the idea that we should slow down development as our biggest threat will come from those who are not friendly to us.

AI Beget's AI

While the unknowns of AI development and its pitfalls indeed stir apprehension, it's essential to recognize the power of market forces and human ingenuity in leveraging AI to address these challenges. History is replete with examples of new technologies raising concerns, only for those very technologies to provide solutions to the problems they initially seemed to exacerbate. It looks silly and unfair to think of fighting a war with a country that never embraced oil and was still primarily getting its energy from burning wood. The evolution of AI is no exception to this pattern. As we venture into uncharted territories, the potential issues that arise with AI—be it ethical concerns, use by malicious actors, biases in decision-making, or privacy intrusions—are not merely obstacles but opportunities for innovation. It is within the realm of possibility, and indeed, probability, that AI will play a crucial role in solving the problems it creates. The idea that there would be no incentive to address and solve these problems is to underestimate the fundamental drivers of technological progress.

Market forces, fueled by the demand for better, safer, and more efficient solutions, are powerful catalysts for positive change. When a problem is worth fixing, it invariably attracts the attention of innovators, researchers, and entrepreneurs eager to solve it. This dynamic has driven progress throughout history, and AI is poised to benefit from this problem-solving cycle.

Thus, rather than viewing AI's unknowns as sources of fear, we should see them as sparks of opportunity. By tackling the challenges posed by AI, we will harness its full potential to benefit humanity. By fostering an ecosystem that encourages exploration, innovation, and problem-solving, we can ensure that AI serves as a force for good, solving problems as profound as those it might create. This is the optimism we must hold onto—a belief in our collective ability to shape AI into a tool that addresses its own challenges and elevates our capacity to solve some of society's most pressing issues.

An AI Future

The reality is that it isn't whether AI will lead to unforeseen challenges—it undoubtedly will, as has every major technological leap in history. The real issue is whether we let fear dictate our path and confine us to a standstill or embrace AI's potential to address current and future challenges.

The approach to solving potential AI-related problems with stringent regulations and a slowdown in innovation is akin to cutting off the nose to spite the face. It's a strategy that risks stagnating the U.S. in a global race where other nations will undoubtedly continue their AI advancements. This perspective dangerously ignores that AI, much like the printing press of the past, has the power to democratize information, empower individuals, and dismantle outdated power structures.

The way forward is not less AI but more of it, more innovation, optimism, and curiosity for the remarkable technological breakthroughs that will come. We must recognize that the solution to AI-induced challenges lies not in retreating but in advancing our capabilities to innovate and adapt.

AI represents a frontier of limitless possibilities. If wielded with foresight and responsibility, it's a tool that can help solve some of the most pressing issues we face today. There are certainly challenges ahead, but I trust that with problems come solutions. Let's keep the AI Decels from steering us away from this path with their doomsday predictions. Instead, let's embrace AI with the cautious optimism it deserves, forging a future where technology and humanity advance to heights we can't imagine.

@ 81870f53:29bef6a6

ザンビアは未来の銅のエルドラドです！ この数字は印象的です。

世界的な危機にもかかわらず、鉱業セクターは国の経済を 2022 年に +4.7% に押し上げています。 何十億人もの人々がこの国に流入している。

ザンビアは2032年までに銅の生産量を3倍にする計画だ！

鉱山大手はこれを理解しており、巨額の投資を行っている。

✅ バリック・ゴールド: ラムワナ鉱山の 20 億ドル ✅ 第一量子鉱物: 20 年間で 13 億 5,000 万ドル

チャンスは非常に大きいです。

特にこの国は 80% が水力発電で環境を尊重しているためです。

グリーン化が進む世界において投資家を惹きつける大きな競争上の優位性。

グリーンテクノロジー用の金属の需要が高まっているため、これは理想的です。

@ b2d670de:907f9d4a

This is a list of nostr relays exposed as onion services. The list is currently actively maintained on GitHub. Contributions is always appreciated!

| Relay name | Description | Onion url | Operator | Payment URL | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | nostr.oxtr.dev | Same relay as clearnet relay nostr.oxtr.dev | ws://oxtrdevav64z64yb7x6rjg4ntzqjhedm5b5zjqulugknhzr46ny2qbad.onion | operator | N/A | | relay.snort.social | Same relay as clearnet relay relay.snort.social | wss://skzzn6cimfdv5e2phjc4yr5v7ikbxtn5f7dkwn5c7v47tduzlbosqmqd.onion | operator | N/A | | nostr.thesamecat.io | Same relay as clearnet relay nostr.thesamecat.io | ws://2jsnlhfnelig5acq6iacydmzdbdmg7xwunm4xl6qwbvzacw4lwrjmlyd.onion | operator | N/A | | nostr.land | The nostr.land paid relay (same as clearnet) | ws://nostrland2gdw7g3y77ctftovvil76vquipymo7tsctlxpiwknevzfid.onion | operator | Payment URL | | bitcoiner.social | No auth required, currently | ws://bitcoinr6de5lkvx4tpwdmzrdfdpla5sya2afwpcabjup2xpi5dulbad.onion | operator | N/A | | relay.westernbtc.com | The westernbtc.com paid relay | ws://westbtcebhgi4ilxxziefho6bqu5lqwa5ncfjefnfebbhx2cwqx5knyd.onion | operator | Payment URL | | freelay.sovbit.host | Free relay for sovbit.host | ws://sovbitm2enxfr5ot6qscwy5ermdffbqscy66wirkbsigvcshumyzbbqd.onion | operator | N/A | | nostr.sovbit.host | Paid relay for sovbit.host | ws://sovbitgz5uqyh7jwcsudq4sspxlj4kbnurvd3xarkkx2use3k6rlibqd.onion | operator | N/A | | nostr.wine | 🍷 nostr.wine relay | ws://nostrwinemdptvqukjttinajfeedhf46hfd5bz2aj2q5uwp7zros3nad.onion | operator | Payment URL | | inbox.nostr.wine | 🍷 inbox.nostr.wine relay | ws://wineinboxkayswlofkugkjwhoyi744qvlzdxlmdvwe7cei2xxy4gc6ad.onion | operator | Payment URL | | filter.nostr.wine | 🍷 filter.nostr.wine proxy relay | ws://winefiltermhqixxzmnzxhrmaufpnfq3rmjcl6ei45iy4aidrngpsyid.onion | operator | Payment URL | | N/A | N/A | ws://pzfw4uteha62iwkzm3lycabk4pbtcr67cg5ymp5i3xwrpt3t24m6tzad.onion:81 | operator | N/A | | nostr.fractalized.net | Free relay for fractalized.net | ws://xvgox2zzo7cfxcjrd2llrkthvjs5t7efoalu34s6lmkqhvzvrms6ipyd.onion | operator | N/A | | nfrelay.app | nfrelay.app aggregator relay (nostr-filter-relay) | ws://nfrelay6saohkmipikquvrn6d64dzxivhmcdcj4d5i7wxis47xwsriyd.onion | operator | N/A |

@ 1c6b3be3:73f0ae6f

Releases - No Bullshit Bitcoin

Bitcoin Optech #312: Distributed Key Generation Protocol for FROST The text announces a distributed key generation protocol for the FROST scriptless threshold signature scheme, called ChillDKG, which is compatible with Bitcoin's schnorr signatures. The protocol has been proposed as a BIP draft by Tim Ruffing and Jonas Nick, who have also provided a reference implementation.

The newsletter also highlights a detailed introduction to cluster linearization, the basis for cluster mempool, written by Pieter Wuille and published on Delving Bitcoin.

Additionally, the newsletter announces that Bitcoin Optech will host an audio recap discussion of the newsletter with special guests Jonas Nick and Pieter Wuille on Twitter Spaces, where attendees can discuss or ask questions about the announcements.

🍵 "btc | bitcoin | lightning network | asic" - Google News

Mining CEO: Bitcoin ‘Keeps Hashing’ Despite Widespread CrowdStrike Network Failures - Cryptonews Move Your Bitcoin to TON Safely: Teleport Bridge Offers Key Compromise Protection – TON and BTC Rally Ahead? - Crypto News Flash Sei, ORDI, and Arweave gain over 10% after Bitcoin jumps 3% - crypto.news

@ f0aca767:dce3306e

This is going to be a sort of long one (or maybe it won't?), because I have a lot of thoughts as a tech and social media enthusiast, and some of those thoughts have to do with how I feel about the direction that social media is moving in. How I feel about Mastodon, and Nostr, side-by-side, and what the biggest problems with Bluesky are.

So, let's jump right the heck in ...

Nostr, the misconceptions, and the truth

I recently wrote about Nostr, and its relayed protocol of user-owned identity that you can take ... wherever. I outlined a lot of thoughts and impressions I initially had, and then what I wrote went to Reddit, and then it found itself on Nostr. It got there entirely outside my own involvement. I posted to Mastodon, and almost nowhere else.

This inspired me to log back in, and set some things up (such as domain verification from one of a few domains I own), and then I explored a bit. I interacted with people, participated in some community events that came up spontaneously, and really dug into the extreme multitude of features that run across the Nostr network.

Let's just say, I was pretty floored, and some of the impressions I had were wrong. Such as thinking that a place that is more centered around the idea of lacking censorship, or robust moderation, must be filled with toxic, horrible trolls. In the couple of days I've been messing with the network, I think I've muted like one person who said some off-the-wall shit in my notifications.

But ... I think Nostr has nasty people just in the same way Twitter, Threads, and Mastodon do. They exist, and they always will, no matter where you go. Suffice to say, I learned a lot about what decentralization was, and now is. I was given an article by user nostr:npub1njst6azswskk5gp3ns8r6nr8nj0qg65acu8gaa2u9yz7yszjxs9s6k7fqx that gave some really in-depth information about the emergence of decentralization--Scuttlebutt, ActivityPub, and then ATProtocol, and Nostr.

I'm not going to lie, I originally started writing this as a hit piece against Bluesky, thinking their ATProtocol was just a riff of what Nostr was doing. But, apparently, both ATP and Nostr were developed independent of each other, and mostly without any knowledge of one or the other. I think that's ... actually pretty wild, and strange.

On the topic of decentralization, which is something I feel is integral to the future of the internet, I now understand Mastodon to be a place of islands, and decentralization that occurs in a way that's more like isolated communities talking to other isolated communities. Like the latter half of The Walking Dead.

In a way, it's decentralization, the half-measure. The full-measure, that comes with some iffy trade-offs some may not like, is Nostr, and ATProtocol.

You take your identity, your thoughts, your posts, and you move freely between pieces of software, and networks, and you lose nothing (this is nearly the direct opposite of Mastodon, where moving to a new server means burning everything you've ever posted, to the ground). And, honestly, I'm kind of starting to feel like that's how it should be. The downside, is that, on Nostr, you have a public key, and a secret key. Your secret key is something you use to log in and sign events coming from your account, and your public key is basically your identity. That's not the iffy part, though. The iffy part, is that people can use your public key to see all of your data except direct messages (which are encrypted).

Not entirely too scary, unless you're doing a lot of weird things on your account. But definitely something you should know if you decide that this is a journey you want to take, and you're not jaded from hearing about how much Jack Dorsey loved Nostr and it's Bitcoin affiliation (a lot of people across different platforms hold a lot of dislike for the man).

At this point, I'm less worried about the power consumption of BTC transactions, and have more shifted that focus to content farms from the likes of Microsoft and Nvidia buying up all the AI tech they can get their grubby little hands on.

That aside, I'm not writing this to blow smoke up the Bluesky developer's butts. I, in fact, am not favorable of Bluesky and there are some specific reasons for that. Maybe this spells their downfall, or maybe they'll be a tight-knit community that doesn't really expand all that much, forever.

Bluesky, the Apple of social media

Bluesky is a place that a couple million people call home (I think, last I saw, it was around 6 million or so). There's no algorithm, and much like Nostr, you own your identity. Except, for now, that's mostly tied to the website's central server.

Now, obviously, there are far less people populating Nostr, but Nostr and its relays are able, and are connected to both ActivityPub and Bluesky (just, not through ATProtocol).

Most of what you'll see on bsky.app are quite a few furries, an actually impressive population of Second Life users, and quite a lot of LGBTQ+ people. None of these things or communities are inherently bad. In fact, I think they're probably the only reason Bluesky is really alive at all, today.

My angst and negative feelings about the direction of Bluesky have nothing to do with the LGBTQ+ community, or any other community residing on the platform. The issues I mainly hold have to do with how far up their own asses the board and developers are, in regard to the platform, and its development over the past year or so. This is why I kind of think of them as the Apple of social media. And you might think, "Hey, don't you own like a billion pieces of Apple tech?"

Yeah, I do.

But this is more like if Apple skipped over having Steve Jobs and just went straight to some random guy who didn't know what he was doing. You know, like putting up a wall and locking out all potential users for a year, and keeping all new sign-ups under lock and key via exclusive codes. As you might imagine, having that walled-garden erected through six or seven different events where people were leaving Twitter in droves, very likely probably worked against the social network's best interest.

Mainly, because Threads came out of absolutely nowhere, and sucked up most of those users.

That's only half of the issue, though. The other part to all of this, is that the developers I see directly on Bluesky do not recognize or acknowledge this at all. Paul Frazee, whose influence goes back quite a bit further than Bluesky, posts as though it's the greatest platform ever made (maybe just because he's a developer for Bluesky). But the website, despite its six million some-odd users, feels almost completely dead.

Which is ridiculous, because, as I've said, Nostr has far less users than that, and it most definitely doesn't feel dead when you post.

Not to mention, we're over a year into Bluesky, and it still, more or less, is propped up to look, feel, and act just like Twitter did in 2014. ATProtocol, in this respect, still feels mostly like an afterthought that's inaccessible to most users.

Meanwhile, if you really like Nostr, you can get going with your own chunk of the network immediately, with about a page of install commands.

It's this mixture of grandiosity that emanates from Bluesky, and the blunder of keeping their doors closed through one exodus after another, that I think they've shot themselves in the feet so much that they now don't have feet. They have stumps.

But, if you've followed me all the way through this article, I think there's a way they can blow the doors open. But, then they'd have to sort of abandon their idea of the ATProtocol, and stop trying to be the center of social media they most definitely are not, and probably never will be. And, really, that's the final issue I have with Bluesky and the ATProtocol.

It feels like they're trying to do Nostr, but be corporate-owned. Bluesky doesn't feel like it's owned by the people, developed by the people, and run by the people. It feels like it's run by some suits, who give the impression that the people will have their freedom, as long as they say it's okay.

And that, my buddy ol' pal, just ain't okay.

The elephant and the ostrich

Which brings us squarely back to Mastodon, and Nostr. Both platforms have their own merits. Nostr is about controlling your own content, and what you see, and largely eschews censorship to a high degree. But everyone can see almost everything you do and are talking about, whenever they want. Mastodon, on the other hand, puts the tools into a user's hands to create a network, and build their own communities, while picking and choosing who those communities interact with. A network that ... encourages users to police everyone around them ... which is how we end up with tyrannical admins acting like they work in a prison, and they've just been promoted to Warden.

If only there were some way to take the best parts of both of these animals, and make them one.

An elephrich.

For now, though, I am at least pretty content to screw around with both while I feel around and see what sticks. In the age of corporate control and censorship so heavy that people can't even say "kill" or "suicide" any more (these are only two of the most egregious examples I can think of), I think it's healthy to explore your options, and cement your identity, and who you are online, before everything else we've come to know is lost completely.

If that's something you care about, at least.

@ 3c984938:2ec11289

I'm having some pain in my heart about the U.S. elections.

Ever since Obama campaigned for office, an increase of young voters have come out of the woodwork. Things have not improved. They've actively told you that "your vote matters." I believe this to be a lie unless any citizen can demand at the gate, at the White House to be allowed to hold and point a gun to the president's head. (Relax, this is a hyperbole)

Why so dramatic? Well, what does the president do? Sign bills, commands the military, nominates new Fed chairman, ambassadors, supreme judges and senior officials all while traveling in luxury planes and living in a white palace for four years.

They promised Every TIME to protect citizen rights when they take the oath and office.

...They've broken this several times, with so-called "emergency-crisis"

The purpose of a president, today, it seems is to basically hire armed thugs to keep the citizens in check and make sure you "voluntarily continue to be a slave," to the system, hence the IRS. The corruption extends from the cop to the judge and even to politicians. The politicians get paid from lobbyists to create bills in congress for the president to sign. There's no right answer when money is involved with politicians. It is the same if you vote Obama, Biden, Trump, or Haley. They will wield the pen to serve themselves to say it will benefit the country.

In the first 100 years of presidency, the government wasn't even a big deal. They didn't even interfere with your life as much as they do today.

^^ You hold the power in your hands, don't let them take it. Don't believe me? Try to get a loan from a bank without a signature. Your signature is as good as gold (if not better) and is an original trademark.

Just Don't Vote. End the Fed. Opt out.

^^ I choose to form my own path, even if it means leaving everything I knew prior. It doesn't have to be a spiritual thing. Some, have called me religious because of this. We're all capable of greatness and having humanity.

✨Don't have a machine heart with a machine mind. Instead, choose to have a heart like the cowardly lion from the "Wizard Of Oz."

There's no such thing as a good president or politicians.

If there was, they would have issued non-interest Federal Reserve Notes. Lincoln and Kennedy tried to do this, they got shot.

There's still a banner of America there, but it's so far gone that I cannot even recognize it. However, I only see a bunch of 🏳‍🌈 pride flags.

✨Patrick Henry got it wrong, when he delivered his speech, "Give me liberty or give me death." Liberty and freedom are two completely different things.

Straightforward from Merriam-Webster Choose Right or left? No control, to be 100% without restrictions- free.

✨I disagree with the example sentence given. Because you cannot advocate for human freedom and own slaves, it's contradicting it. Which was common in the founding days.

I can understand many may disagree with me, and you might be thinking, "This time will be different." I, respectfully, disagree, and the proxy wars are proof. Learn the importance of Bitcoin, every Satoshi is a step away from corruption.

✨What does it look like to pull the curtains from the "Wizard of Oz?"

Have you watched the video below, what 30 Trillion dollars in debt looks like visually? Even I was blown away. https://video.nostr.build/d58c5e1afba6d7a905a39407f5e695a4eb4a88ae692817a36ecfa6ca1b62ea15.mp4

I say this with love. Hear my plea?

Normally, I don't write about anything political. It just feels like a losing game. My energy feels it's in better use to learn new things, write and to create. Even a simple blog post as simple as this. Stack SATs, and stay humble.

<3 Onigirl

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

About Nostr, email and subscriptions

I check my emails like once or twice a week, always when I am looking for something specific in there.

Then I go there and I see a bunch of other stuff I had no idea I was missing. Even many things I wish I had seen before actually. And sometimes people just expect and assume I would have checked emails instantly as they arrived.

It's so weird because I'm not making a point, I just don't remember to open the damn "gmail.com" URL.

---

I remember some people were making some a Nostr service a while ago that sent a DM to people with Nostr articles inside -- or some other forms of "subscription services on Nostr". It makes no sense at all.

Pulling in DMs from relays is exactly the same process (actually slightly more convoluted) than pulling normal public events, so why would a service assume that "sending a DM" was more likely to reach the target subscriber when the target had explicitly subscribed to that topic or writer?

Maybe due to how some specific clients work that is true, but fundamentally it is a very broken assumption that comes from some fantastic past era in which emails were 100% always seen and there was no way for anyone to subscribe to someone else's posts.

Building around such broken assumptions is the wrong approach. Instead we should be building new flows for subscribing to specific content from specific Nostr-native sources (creators directly or manual or automated curation providers, communities, relays etc), which is essentially what most clients are already doing anyway, but specifically Coracle's new custom feeds come to mind now.

---

This also reminds me of the interviewer asking the Farcaster creator if Farcaster made "email addresses available to content creators" completely ignoring all the cryptography and nature of the protocol (Farcaster is shit, but at least they tried, and in this example you could imagine the interviewer asking the same thing about Nostr).

I imagine that if the interviewer had asked these people who were working (or suggesting) the Nostr DM subscription flow they would have answered: "no, you don't get their email addresses, but you can send them uncensorable DMs!" -- and that, again, is getting everything backwards.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Bitcoin transactions explained

A transaction is a piece of data that takes inputs and produces outputs. Forget about the blockchain thing, Bitcoin is actually just a big tree of transactions. The blockchain is just a way to keep transactions ordered.

Imagine you have 10 satoshis. That means you have them in an unspent transaction output (UTXO). You want to spend them, so you create a transaction. The transaction should reference unspent outputs as its inputs. Every transaction has an immutable id, so you use that id plus the index of the output (because transactions can have multiple outputs). Then you specify a script that unlocks that transaction and related signatures, then you specify outputs along with a script that locks these outputs.

As you can see, there's this lock/unlocking thing and there are inputs and outputs. Inputs must be unlocked by fulfilling the conditions specified by the person who created the transaction they're in. And outputs must be locked so anyone wanting to spend those outputs will need to unlock them.

For most of the cases locking and unlocking means specifying a public key whose controller (the person who has the corresponding private key) will be able to spend. Other fancy things are possible too, but we can ignore them for now.

Back to the 10 satoshis you want to spend. Since you've successfully referenced 10 satoshis and unlocked them, now you can specify the outputs (this is all done in a single step). You can specify one output of 10 satoshis, two of 5, one of 3 and one of 7, three of 3 and so on. The sum of outputs can't be more than 10. And if the sum of outputs is less than 10 the difference goes to fees. In the first days of Bitcoin you didn't need any fees, but now you do, otherwise your transaction won't be included in any block.

If you're still interested in transactions maybe you could take a look at this small chapter of that Andreas Antonopoulos book.

If you hate Andreas Antonopoulos because he is a communist shitcoiner or don't want to read more than half a page, go here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Coin_analogy

@ 76c71aae:3e29cafa

The Curious Case of DSNP: Years of Effort, Minimal Output

It's been a while since I looked at DSNP. There’s news that its backer, Frank McCourt, is trying to put together a team to buy TikTok. That’s insane. The DSNP and Project Liberty team are well-meaning, but they’re even less equipped to run a social network or protocol than Elon Musk at his lowest point when he was firing engineers based on how many lines of code they’d written.

To check what’s happened with DSNP since I last looked a year ago, I just read the entire spec, and there's not actually that much to it. The amount of time and money spent on developing so little is quite stunning. While the spec is fine, it is minimal.

Key Features and Odd Choices

DSNP allows users to have a key pair, write content into a datastore, follow people, and sign messages. However, the protocol seems to mix up layers, specifying the wire protocol, signing system, and at-rest specification format that clients and user data servers might use (pds in atproto, instance in fedi, relay in nostr). They use the ActivityStreams 2.0 schema, which is a good choice. Many new protocols have created their own schemas, but I appreciate DSNP's use of the standard. I wish more protocols had not tried to reinvent the wheel in this respect.

Encrypted Direct Messages and Metadata Privacy

There’s mention in the whitepaper about encrypted direct messages, suggesting it’s possible to hide metadata using techniques from Ethereum’s Whisper. Although the specs or code about DMs don't elaborate much on this, it’s good to see an attempt to hide metadata. However, there’s nothing about double ratchet encryption, forward secrecy, or any advanced encryption techniques. So, overall, it feels quite basic.

Data Storage and Interesting Choices

For storing user data and posts, they're using Apache Parquet, a file format from Hadoop. This is probably the only neat or interesting aspect. I've been searching for a supported data format like Parquet for a while because I think it can facilitate privacy-preserving contact discovery, so it’s cool to see its inclusion here.

Minimal Data Types and Following Options

DSNP supports very minimal data types: post, follow, reaction, profile, and, oddly, location. You can follow publicly or privately, the latter being a neat feature that Scuttlebutt had but most of the current generation of emerging social protocols don't.

Lack of Comprehensive Features

There does not appear to be any client app or server code, which might not be needed. There is an SDK for some core functions, but that’s it. Their documentation lacks information on user discovery, algorithms, or anything beyond the basics.

The Verdict: A First Draft After Years of Work

It feels like someone spent millions and ended up with a naive first draft, despite working on this for years. It’s similar to the early sketches of Farcaster and Lens, but those protocols have grown significantly over the past couple of years, with real users, lots of functionality, and apps.

DSNP remains as vaporware today as it was four years ago. These clowns have wasted tens of millions of dollars on nothing. Some academics have happily taken the money to fund their research labs. Consultants have written and thrown away countless prototypes nobody’s ever used.

There are lots of serious projects to build decentralized social media protocols. All these folks had to do was either work with others or even copy them. This stuff is all open source. Yet DSNP keeps sending folks to conferences without talking to anybody or attending any talks.

It’s a shame because they’ve got their hearts in the right place. The Unfinished conferences are really well put together with lots of great speakers. They hired the supremely talented and savvy Karl Fogel and James Vasile to help them make their code and process open, but you can’t fix DSNP.

Fundamentally, software and specs are a social enterprise, even more so if you’re working on social protocols. But these folks… they’ve never figured out how to play well with others. The money and good intentions couldn’t overcome their fundamental failure to have the humility to learn and play well with others.

@ 7361ca91:252fce6d

フル動画はこちら

サイエンス・フィクションは、可能な未来を想像する思索的な演習です。サイファイは可能性の空間を拡張します。暗号通貨は極端な種類のサイファイであり、未来のビジョンを提供するだけでなく、その未来を実現するためのツールも提供します。暗号通貨は現在、ソーラーパンクと呼ばれるサイファイのジャンルによって活気づけられています。サイバーパンクから進化したソーラーパンクは、楽観主義によって特徴づけられる未来のユートピア的なビジョンです。ソーラーパンクにとって、未来は明るいのです。ソーラーパンクはサイバーパンクのディストピアの影を払いのけ、混沌とした地平線を越えた世界を照らし出します。多くの人気のあるDeFiチェーンでは、ソーラーパンクのハッカーが公共財を資金調達するための透明なインフラを構築しています。共有された信念はシンプルです。分散型で透明な金融システムへの公共アクセスが、より公正で正義のある世界をもたらすということです。ソーラーパンクは暗号通貨の意識的な心です。明るく、自信に満ち、未来志向です。

しかし、ソーラーパンクの信念に対する反対はルナーパンクの懐疑主義です。ルナーパンクはソーラーの影の自分たちです。彼らはこのサイクルの無意識です。ソーラーパンクがDAOに参加する一方で、ルナーパンクは戦争の準備をし、コミュニティを守るためのプライバシー強化ツールを構築します。ルナーパンクは最初、ソーラーパンクのサブセットとして登場しました。常にイーサリアムや類似のチェーンで提供されるプレーンテキストのパラダイムよりも暗号化を好んでいました。時間が経つにつれて、ソーラーパンクの傾向によって生じた緊張はますます増大しました。ルナーパンクはソーラーパンクの遺産から離れ、自分自身のアイデンティティを主張するようになりました。

ルナーパンクの空想では、暗号通貨と既存の権力構造との間の対立は基本的にプログラムされています。規制によって暗号通貨は地下に追いやられ、匿名性が増大します。ルナーパンクのビジョンは、ベアリッシュな悪夢として拒絶されます。その根本的な対立――国家が暗号通貨を禁止すること――は、人々が金を持って逃げるような恐怖を生むため、ソーラーパンクによって却下されます。ソーラーパンクの楽観主義はブルマーケットのサイクルと同義になり、悲観主義はベアと関連付けられています。ルナーパンクはこの単純なエスカレーションを超える何かを提供します。それは市場サイクルの間の洞察の瞬間、ホログラムの中のグリッチであり、ソースコードが輝いて見える瞬間です。

ソーラーパンクは脆弱です――揺れ動くと壊れるものです。アンチフラジャイルとは、ショックを吸収し強くなるものです。次のことを考慮してください。暗号通貨の核心的なイノベーションは適応的です。ユーザーをエンパワーメントしつつ、その攻撃面を等しく拡散させます。ユーザーのエンパワーメントは脆弱性と負の相関があります。ユーザーベースが重要であればあるほど、ネットワークはよりアンチフラジャイルになります。ユーザーのエンパワーメントとシステムのアンチフラジャイルは互いにポジティブなフィードバックを形成します。

しかし、このサイクルは逆方向にも進行します。透明なシステムでは、ユーザーはさらされます。外部環境が敵対的になると、この情報が彼らに対して武器として使用される可能性があります。迫害に直面したユーザーは脱退を選び、それが脆弱性への下降を引き起こします。ソーラーパンクの考え方は本質的に楽観的です。ソーラーパンクシステムの透明性は、外向きに投影された楽観主義の精神です。透明なシステムを構築することで、ソーラーパンクは「法律が自分に不利にならないと信じている」と言っています。楽観主義の強調は、最悪の事態に備えることを妨げます。これがソーラーパンクの脆弱性の核心です。

暗い選択肢とアンチフラジャイル性は未知性に依存しています。未来は暗く、意味のある確実性を持って予測することはできません。選択肢は、その暗闇を利用して有利に働くため、アンチフラジャイル性の武器と呼ばれています。選択肢は、予言がほとんどの場合間違っていると仮定します。間違っていることは安価ですが、正しいことは不釣り合いに報われます。ルナーパンクは最悪の事態において成功するため、選択肢を取り入れています。ルナーパンクの仮説が間違っていれば、スーパーサイクルは続きます。正しければ、暗号通貨は適切な防御を備えた次の段階に進みます。しっかりと防御されることは、暗号化を使用してユーザーの身元と活動を保護することを意味します。

予言

匿名性は、まず大量監視への適応として生じます。しかし、その存在自体が監視努力をさらに正当化します。これは、匿名性と監視がエスカレートする運命にあることを示唆する正のフィードバックループです。このループが十分に続くと、ルナーパンクの予言の次の段階が引き起こされます：規制トラップ。この段階では、政府は匿名性の増加を口実にして、暗号通貨に対してその力を最大限に活用します。しかし、暗号通貨を取り締まることで、敵対的な力はその正当化をさらに強化するだけです。暗号通貨の実用性は、取り締まりの程度と相関します。各打撃を受けるたびに、不釣り合いに拡大します。

ルナサイクル

太陽はその透明性とアイデンティティへのこだわりを通じて、自然の象徴であり暴政の象徴でもあります。ソーラーパンクはその中央の象徴の二重の特徴を受け継いでいます。ソーラーパンクシステムは、ユーザーが危険にさらされる砂漠の風景です。ルナーパンクは森のようなものです。暗号化の密集した覆いが部族を保護し、迫害された人々に避難所を提供します。木立は重要な防衛線を提供します。ルナの風景は暗いですが、生物にあふれています。ルナテックは、自由のために人々自身によって所有され、運営されています。ルナサイクルは、権威主義的な技術に対して民主的な技術を支持します：監視に対する自由と、単一文化に対する多様性です。システムに透明性を重視することで、ソーラーパンクは悲劇的にその運命を作り上げています。監視、すなわち権威主義のメカニズムは、ソーラーパンクの運命に結びついています。ソーラーパンクが成功するためには、ルナーパンクの無意識を統合する必要があります。ソーラーパンクが成功する唯一の希望は、暗闇に移行することです。

@ 6c8c7979:15595f3e

The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italian: Torre Pendente di Pisa), or simply the Tower of Pisa (Italian: Torre di Pisa), is one of the world's most famous leaning buildings. It is located in the city of Pisa, in the Tuscany region of Italy, near the Pisa Cathedral in the Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles). The tower was originally built as the bell tower for the cathedral and was intended to visually attract people to it when construction began in 1173 AD. Its construction spanned 177 years.

$$Description of the Leaning Tower$$

Externally, the Leaning Tower of Pisa appears as a cylindrical stone building with balconies and columns resting on a lower support base. The bell chamber is located at the top, and it lacks floors on the inside. The central part consists of a hollow cylinder, and the interior façade is built from intricately carved grey-white marble from the nearby city of San Giuliano. The exterior façade, however, is constructed from white-gray limestone brought from San Giuliano.

The tower leans towards the southeast at an angle of 3.99 degrees currently, down from its previous inclination of 5.5 degrees before restoration works conducted between 1990 and 2001. These restoration efforts involved horizontally shifting the tower's peak by approximately 3.66 meters from its center. Here are some specific specifications:

• Height: 55.86 meters on the lower side and 56 meters on the higher side.

• Weight: 14,200 tons.

• Diameter: 15.54 meters at the base.

• Circumference: 48.6 meters at the base.

• Number of steps: Approximately 294 steps, with fewer at the seventh floor.

• Wall thickness: About 4.9 meters at the base, and 2.48 meters at the belfry; tapering from bottom to top.

$$Story of the Leaning Tower's Construction $$ Construction of the Leaning Tower of Pisa began in 1173 AD using white marble and was designed to reach a height of 56 meters. It was to be the third and final building in the Piazza dei Miracoli complex alongside the cathedral. After completing the third floor of the planned eight floors, construction halted due to observed instability in its foundations on the soft ground beneath. This pause coincided with wars among Italian city-states, leading to a century-long hiatus that inadvertently protected the tower from collapse by stabilizing its foundations.

Engineer Giovanni di Simone resumed the tower's construction after this long hiatus. He sought to compensate for its lean by building additional upper floors longer on the shorter side. However, this exacerbated the tower's sinking into the soil below. Over subsequent centuries, various interruptions and proposed solutions aimed at addressing the lean finally saw its completion in the 14th century. Seven bells were subsequently installed, with the largest weighing 3,600 kilograms. In the early 20th century, the heaviest bell's operation was stopped due to concerns it could worsen the tower's tilt. Cement and other materials were injected into the foundations for reinforcement, but it continued to sink at a rate of 1.2 millimeters annually by the end of the 20th century. Consequently, it faced collapse risks, leading to closure in 1990 and cessation of all bell operations. Engineers undertook major projects to modify its tilt.

$$Current Stability of the Tower$$

The tower's current stability owes to soil reinforcement beneath its foundations, allowing the tower to exert pressure on the ground below by providing spaces to redirect it opposite to its lean direction. This was part of a 1990 project led by engineer John Burland with 13 experts, costing over 30 million euros and lasting a decade. This project reopened the tower in 2001, marking the last of several efforts to maintain its stability. Adjustments to its tilt included shifting its center of gravity towards the bottom and north, placing weights to counter its southward tilt, using giant steel cables to tension the tower during project work, and adjusting its tilt after soil preparation. These cables were removed post-operation. Additionally, 60 cubic meters of mud were excavated from below the foundations through well-digging, then dried. Concrete columns were added underground, reaching 15 meters in length, to reinforce the foundations. Attempting to return the tower to its current state by pulling steel cables. The della helped

@ dd664d5e:5633d319

My suggestion for scaling up and staying humble

The original protocol design was "good enough for now"

When Nostr was invented and got started with developing implementations, the Original Devs (ODs) were convinced this was going to be big... maybe... someday... hopefully.

But, whatever they did at the moment should definitely scale up a bit and be a bit flexible, to attract innovators and keep up the momentum. So, they designed the protocol to be open and left the specifications a bit vague and very high-level, so that nobody was forced into a particular implementation, in order to adhere to the spec. And they put the specs into a GitHub repository and managed them by a committee of collaborators, who were generally open to changes to the specs, including breaking changes.

That was smart. And it was "good enough for now"... back then. After all, Nostr (and the associated wiki and modular article specs) hadn't been invented, yet, so they couldn't write the protocol in the protocol before the protocol existed. They're good, but not that good.

What they specifically wrote, into the Nostr Protocol was:

To promote interoperability, we standards (sic) that everybody can follow, and we need them to define a single way of doing each thing without ever hurting backwards-compatibility, and for that purpose there is no way around getting everybody to agree on the same thing and keep a centralized index of these standards...

Standards may emerge in two ways: the first way is that someone starts doing something, then others copy it; the second way is that someone has an idea of a new standard that could benefit multiple clients and the protocol in general without breaking backwards-compatibility and the principle of having a single way of doing things, then they write that idea and submit it to this repository, other interested parties read it and give their feedback, then once most people reasonably agree we codify that in a NIP which client and relay developers that are interested in the feature can proceed to implement.

I disagree with this statement.

I don't disagree with what they meant, or what they wanted, I disagree with what they specifically wrote.

Standards (defined as prose specifications) are not the only -- or even best -- way to ensure interoperability or to check for backwards-compatibility. And, as they later note, basing a protocol off of implementations is arguably worse (but faster) than using specifications, as implementations have a life of their own and are sometimes simply shoddy or buggy, their content eventually differs from what ends up in the final standard, or there are soon multiple implementations covering the same spec "in theory", but not in practice, so that their events are incompatible.

And then the inevitable, heated discussion begins: * Which implementation is the Real Standard™? * Who controls the Real Standard™? * How is the Real Standard™ spec supposed to be written? * Does everything have to be in the same file type or markup language? If not, how can we ensure compatibility? * What is realistic content for the data files? * Is the Real Standard™ including all of the information needed to ensure interoperability, but not anything more, without reducing innovation and artificially forcing consensus by encouraging copy-paste or forking of product code?

There is a third way: write the test first

We actually do not need standards to define a single way of doing each thing. A test is another way, and I think it is the best (i.e. the most-efficient and most-effective) way.

Specifically, I think we can borrow the simple behavior-driven design (BDD) language called Gherkin (or something similar), which is used to write dynamic specifications: i.e. implementations that test adherence to a set of rules, rather than an implementation that uses the rules to perform some task for an end user.

Gherkin simply allows you to create standard scenarios and test data and write the tests up in a way that can be performed manually or through automation. For example ( source ):

(For a concrete example of such a TDD Protocol for Nostr, please see the nostr-voliere repo from nostr:npub1axy65mspxl2j5sgweky6uk0h4klmp00vj7rtjxquxure2j6vlf5smh6ukq .)

This really is better

This TDD Protocol design would have some downsides and some upsides, of course, like any change.

Downsides

• You can't write a TDD spec by yourself unless you understand basic software functionality, how to define an acceptance test, and can formulate a use case or user story.
• The specs will be more informative and agnostic, but also longer and more detailed.
• Someone will have to propose concrete test data (i.e. a complete json event) and spec interlinking will be explicit, rather than writing "...", "etc.", or "sorta like in that other section/doc, but not really" all over the place.
• The specs will tend to focus on positive cases, and leave off error-handling or most edge-cases, so developers can't use them to replace unit tests or other verification of their product.

Upsides

• The specs will be concrete and clear, in a type of pseudocode, while leaving the actual implementation of any feature up to the individual developer, who uses the spec.
• The specs will be orderly and uniquely-identifiable, and can have hierarchy and granularity (major and minor tests, optional tests, tests only under certain conditions, etc.)
• Deciding whether changes to the spec are breaking changes to the protocol would be simple to determine: Does the previous test still pass?
• Specs will always be final, they will simply be versioned and become more or less defined over time, as the tests are adjusted.
• Product developers will feel less like they "own" particular specs, since their implementation is actually what they own and the two remain permanently separate.
• Developers can create an implementation list, defining specific tests in specific versions, that they adhere to. This makes it more transparent, what their product actually does, and lowers their own documentation burden.
• Rather than stalking the NIPs for changes, or worrying about what some other implementation someplace has built, developers can just pull the repo and try running the relevant tests.
• Each product developer can test the spec by trying to perform or automate/run it, and request changes to ensure testability, raising the quality of the spec review process.

This is already a lot to think about, so I'm just going to end this here. Thank you for reading.

@ c73818cc:ccd5c890

🛩 Il Solana Name Service si trasforma, rafforzando il suo ruolo nell'ecosistema Web3.

✈️ Un’evoluzione strategica per l’identità digitale

🛩 Il Solana Name Service (SNS), precedentemente noto come Bonfida, si è rebrandizzato per migliorare l'infrastruttura dei nomi di dominio decentralizzati. Questa trasformazione riflette le ambizioni di SNS di soddisfare le aspettative della comunità Solana e di consolidare i domini .sol come parte fondamentale dell'ecosistema Web3.

✈️ Crescita e partnership significative

🛩 SNS ha già registrato 247.000 nomi di dominio e costruito una rete di oltre 115 partnership strategiche. La criptovaluta nativa, $FIDA, gioca un ruolo cruciale nell'ecosistema, offrendo vantaggi agli utenti e supportando l'espansione continua della piattaforma. Il rebranding è un passo verso una maggiore visibilità e importanza dei domini .sol.

✈️ Un futuro promettente per SNS

🛩 Il team di SNS mira a posizionare il servizio come la spina dorsale delle identità on-chain, associando ogni chiave pubblica a un dominio .sol. Con iniziative tecniche come l'open source parziale del codice SNS, il progetto intende diventare il protocollo più affidabile di Solana per le identità Web3, promuovendo l'innovazione e soddisfacendo le esigenze degli utenti.

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@ 7361ca91:252fce6d

リベラリズムにおいて、自由とは他人が不適切と感じるかもしれない決定を個人が行うことを許容することを意味します。ただし、その決定が第三者に害を及ぼさない限りです。つまり、自由は各個人が自分の人生計画を構築し、実行する権利を守るものであり、他人にとって誤っていると見なされる決定も含まれます。

個人の決定を批判することと、その決定を妨げるために強制力を使用することの間には大きな違いがあります。

リベラリズムは、たとえ悪い決定を批判することができても、それらの決定を妨げるために（国家の）強制力を使用すべきではないと主張します。ただし、これらの決定が他人に害を及ぼす場合は例外です。

リベラリズムにおける認識的慎重さは、どの決定が正しいか常に確信できるわけではないことを認識しています。したがって、他人に誤っているように見える場合でも、個人が自分の決定を下す自由を許容しなければなりません。

非常に一般的な例として、薬物の使用が挙げれます。リベラルな視点からは、他人がこれを悪い決定と見なすかもしれなくても、個人が薬物を使用する自由を持つべきです。鍵となるのは、これらの個人的な決定が第三者に害を及ぼさないことです。

リベラルな哲学においては、個人の自由と自己決定が重要視されます。他人が悪いと考えるかもしれない決定を行う権利も尊重されるべきであり、その決定が第三者に害を及ぼさない限り、（国家が）強制力を使用して妨げるべきではないという立場をとります。この認識的慎重さが、リベラリズムの核心の一つです。

@ 3c984938:2ec11289

It's been a journey from the Publishing Forest of Nostr to the open sea of web3. I've come across a beautiful chain of islands and thought. Why not take a break and explore this place? If I'm searching for devs and FOSS, I should search every nook and cranny inside the realm of Nostr. It is quite vast for little old me. I'm just a little hamster and I don't speak in code or binary numbers zeros and ones.

After being in sea for awhile, my heart raced for excitement for what I could find. It seems I wasn't alone, there were others here like me! Let's help spread the message to others about this uncharted realm. See, look at the other sailboats, aren't they pretty? Thanks to some generous donation of SATs, I was able to afford the docking fee.

Ever feel like everyone was going to a party, and you were supposed to dress up, but you missed the memo? Or a comic-con? well, I felt completely underdressed and that's an understatement. Well, turns out there is a some knights around here. Take a peek!

A black cat with a knight passed by very quickly. He was moving too fast for me to track. Where was he going? Then I spotted a group of knights heading in the same direction, so I tagged along. The vibes from these guys was impossible to resist. They were just happy-go-lucky. 🥰They were heading to a tavern on a cliff off the island.

Ehh? a Tavern? Slightly confused, whatever could these knights be doing here? I guess when they're done with their rounds they would here to blow off steam. Things are looking curiouser and curiouser. But the black cat from earlier was here with its rider, whom was dismounting. So you can only guess, where I'm going.

The atmosphere in this pub, was lively and energetic. So many knights spoke among themselves. A group here, another there, but there was one that caught my eye. I went up to a group at a table, whose height towed well above me even when seated. Taking a deep breath, I asked, "Who manages this place?" They unanimous pointed to one waiting for ale at the bar. What was he doing? Watching others talk? How peculiar.

So I went up to him! And introduced myself.

"Hello I'm Onigirl"

"Hello Onigirl, Welcome to Gossip"

"Gossip, what is Gossip?" scratching my head and whiskers.

What is Gossip? Gossip is FOSS and a great client for privacy-centric minded nostriches. It avoids browser tech which by-passes several scripting languages such as JavaScript☕, HTML parsing, rendering, and CSS(Except HTTP GET and Websockets). Using OpenGL-style rendering. For Nostriches that wish to remain anonymous can use Gossip over TOR. Mike recommends using QubesOS, Whonix and or Tails. [FYI-Gossip does not natively support tor SOCKS5 proxy] Most helpful to spill the beans if you're a journalist.

On top of using your nsec or your encryption key, Gossip adds another layer of security over your account with a password login. There's nothing wrong with using the browser extensions (such as nos2x or Flamingo) which makes it super easy to log in to Nostr enable websites, apps, but it does expose you to browser vulnerabilities.

Mike Points out

"people have already had their private key stolen from other nostr clients,"

so it a concern if you value your account. I most certainly care for mine.

Gossip UI has a simple, and clean interface revolving around NIP-65 also called the “Outbox model." As posted from GitHub,

"This NIP allows Clients to connect directly with the most up-to-date relay set from each individual user, eliminating the need of broadcasting events to popular relays."

This eliminates clients that track only a specific set of relays which can congest those relays when you publish your note. Also this can be censored, by using Gossip you can publish notes to alternative relays that have not censored you to reach the same followers.

👉The easiest way to translate that is reducing redundancy to publish to popular relays or centralized relays for content reach to your followers.

Cool! What an awesome client, I mean Tavern! What else does this knight do? He reaches for something in his pocket. what is it? A Pocket is a database for storing and retrieving nostr events but mike's written it in Rust with a few extra kinks inspired by Will's nostrdb. Still in development, but it'll be another tool for you dear user! 💖💕💚

Onigirl is proud to present this knights to the community and honor them with kisu. 💋💋💋 Show some 💖💘💓🧡💙💚

👉💋💋Will - jb55 Lord of apples 💋 @npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s

👉💋💋 Mike Knight - Lord of Security 💋 @npub1acg6thl5psv62405rljzkj8spesceyfz2c32udakc2ak0dmvfeyse9p35c

Knights spend a lot of time behind the screen coding for the better of humanity. It is a tough job! Let's appreciate these knights, relay operators, that support this amazing realm of Nostr! FOSS for all!

This article was prompted for the need for privacy and security of your data. They're different, not to be confused.

Recently, Edward Snowden warns Bitcoin devs about the need for privacy, Quote:

“I've been warning Bitcoin developers for ten years that privacy needs to be provided for at the protocol level. This is the final warning. The clock is ticking.”

Snowden’s comments come after heavy actions of enforcement from Samarai Wallet, Roger Ver, Binance’s CZ, and now the closure of Wasabi Wallet. Additionally, according to CryptoBriefing, Trezor is ending it’s CoinJoin integration as well. Many are concerned over the new definition of a money transmitter, which includes even those who don’t touch the funds.

Help your favorite the hamster

^^Me drowning in notes on your feed. I can only eat so many notes to find you.

👉If there are any XMPP fans on here. I'm open to the idea of opening a public channel, so you could follow me on that as a forum-like style. My server of choice would likely be a German server.😀You would be receiving my articles as njump.me style or website-like. GrapeneOS users, you can download Cheogram app from the F-Driod store for free to access. Apple and Andriod users are subjected to pay to download this app, an alternative is ntalk or conversations. If it interests the community, just FYI. Please comment or DM.

👉If you enjoyed this content, please consider reposting/sharing as my content is easily drowned by notes on your feed. You could also join my community under Children_Zone where I post my content.

An alternative is by following #onigirl Just FYI this feature is currently a little buggy.

Follow as I search for tools and awesome devs to help you dear user live a decentralized life as I explore the realm of Nostr.

Thank you Fren

@ b2d670de:907f9d4a

This is a list of nostr relays exposed as onion services. The list is currently actively maintained on GitHub. Contributions is always appreciated!

| Relay name | Description | Onion url | Operator | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | nostr.oxtr.dev | Same relay as clearnet relay nostr.oxtr.dev | ws://oxtrdevav64z64yb7x6rjg4ntzqjhedm5b5zjqulugknhzr46ny2qbad.onion | njump | | relay.snort.social | Same relay as clearnet relay relay.snort.social | wss://skzzn6cimfdv5e2phjc4yr5v7ikbxtn5f7dkwn5c7v47tduzlbosqmqd.onion | njump | | nostr.thesamecat.io | Same relay as clearnet relay nostr.thesamecat.io | ws://2jsnlhfnelig5acq6iacydmzdbdmg7xwunm4xl6qwbvzacw4lwrjmlyd.onion | njump | | nostr.land | The nostr.land paid relay (same as clearnet) | ws://nostrland2gdw7g3y77ctftovvil76vquipymo7tsctlxpiwknevzfid.onion
http://nostrland2gdw7g3y77ctftovvil76vquipymo7tsctlxpiwknevzfid.onion (for payments) | njump | | bitcoiner.social | No auth required, currently | ws://bitcoinr6de5lkvx4tpwdmzrdfdpla5sya2afwpcabjup2xpi5dulbad.onion | njump | | relay.westernbtc.com | The westernbtc.com paid relay (via Tor: hjar34h5zwgtvxr345q7rncso3dhdaryuxgri3lu7lbhmnzvin72z5ad.onion) | ws://westbtcebhgi4ilxxziefho6bqu5lqwa5ncfjefnfebbhx2cwqx5knyd.onion | njump | | freelay.sovbit.host | Free relay for sovbit.host | ws://sovbitm2enxfr5ot6qscwy5ermdffbqscy66wirkbsigvcshumyzbbqd.onion | njump | | nostr.sovbit.host | Paied relay for sovbit.host | ws://sovbitgz5uqyh7jwcsudq4sspxlj4kbnurvd3xarkkx2use3k6rlibqd.onion | njump | | nostr.wine | 🍷 nostr.wine relay (same as clearnet) | ws://nostrwinemdptvqukjttinajfeedhf46hfd5bz2aj2q5uwp7zros3nad.onion
http://nostrwinemdptvqukjttinajfeedhf46hfd5bz2aj2q5uwp7zros3nad.onion | njump | | inbox.nostr.wine | 🍷 inbox.nostr.wine relay (same as clearnet) | ws://wineinboxkayswlofkugkjwhoyi744qvlzdxlmdvwe7cei2xxy4gc6ad.onion
http://wineinboxkayswlofkugkjwhoyi744qvlzdxlmdvwe7cei2xxy4gc6ad.onion | njump |

@ 681ec9c0:fe78b4e7

I was puzzled when Mike Masnick claimed that Bluesky is everything Jack wished for in a decentralized social network, being as it is highly centralized

I think the discrepancy comes down to different views of the role of decentralization encapsulated in this term, enshittification

"Even if most of the users of a decentralized system don’t know or care about the fact that it’s decentralized, the fact that the underlying protocol is that way and is set up such that others can build and provide services (algorithms, moderation services, interfaces, etc.) means that Bluesky itself has strong, built-in incentives to not enshittify the service.

In some ways, Bluesky is building in the natural antidote to the activist investors that so vexed Jack at Twitter. Bluesky can simply point out that going down the enshittification path of greater and greater user extraction/worsening service just opens up someone else to step in and provide a better competing service on the same protocol. Having it be on the same protocol removes the switching costs that centralized enshittified services rely on to keep users from leaving, allowing them to enshittify. The underlying protocol that Bluesky is built on is a kind of commitment device. The company (and, in large part, its CEO Jay) is going to face tremendous pressures to make Bluesky worse.

But by committing to an open protocol they’re building, it creates a world that makes it much harder to force the company down that path. That doesn’t mean there won’t still be difficult to impossible choices to make. Because there will be. But the protocol is still there."

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/05/13/bluesky-is-building-the-decentralized-social-media-jack-dorsey-wants-even-if-he-doesnt-realize-it/

And echoed by Bluesky CEO Jay Graber

"There will always be free options, and we can't enshittify the network with ads. This is where federation comes in. The fact that anyone can self-host and anyone can build on the software means that we'll never be able to degrade the user experience in a way where people want to leave."

https://web.archive.org/web/20240209161307/https://www.wired.com/story/bluesky-ceo-jay-graber-wont-enshittify-ads/

It all comes down to this

"the protocol is still there"

In this view of decentralization, being there is sufficient

Decentralization is this thing that can happen if needed

It's a safety valve operated by market forces

And where I think Jack and most of nostr would disagree is that market forces do not cater to the rights of individuals

Because one person being deplatformed is not a market demand

Especially for ATProto where decentralization is relatively expensive

To service deplatformed users would require building four servers, each one capable of ingesting the entire network: a Relay, a Labeller, an AppView and a Feed Generator

Decentralization by default is necessary for censorship resistance

Jack talked about censorship in the interview that formed the basis for Mike's article

"I know it's early, and Nostr is weird and hard to use, but if you truly believe in censorship resistance and free speech, you have to use the technologies that actually enable that, and defend your rights."

https://www.piratewires.com/p/interview-with-jack-dorsey-mike-solana

Mike's concerns over enshittification are highly valid

I would like to see Mike address Jack's concern for censorship resistance

I think that would help understanding

@ 862fda7e:02a8268b

I am someone who thinks independently without abiding to a group to pre-formulate my opinions for me. I do not hold my opinions out of impulse, out of the desire to please, nor out of mindless apadtion to what others abide to. My opinions are held on what I belive is the most logical while being the most ethical and empathetic. We live in a world with a nervous systems and emotions for animals and humans (same thing) alike, thus, we should also consider those feelings. That is not the case in our world.

Cyclists are one of the most homosexual GAY ANNOYING people to exist on EARTH

I hate cyclists with a burning passion. These faggots are the GAYEST MOST ANNOYING retards to exist. They wear the tightest fitting clothing possible to show off their flaccid cocks to each other and to anybody around them. And if that weren't enough, they present their ass up in the air, begging to be fucked by their cyclist buddies, as they ride their bike in the middle of the road. It's homosexual. Look at the seat they ride on, it looks like a black cock about to go up their ass. Don't get me started on their gay helmets, the "aerodynamic" helmets they wear. YOU FAGGOTS AREN'T IN THE TOUR DE FRANCE, YOU'RE IN FRONT OF MY CAR IN AN INTERSECTION IN A MINNESOTA TOWN WITH A POPULATION OF 5,000. They LIKE the look of the costume. And that's just what it is - a costume. You're required to have a "look" as a cyclist - you aren't really a cyclist if you don't spend hundreds of dollars on the gay gear. God forbid you just get a bike and ride it around on a trail like anyone else. These people LIKE to be seen. They WANT to be seen as cool, which is why they ride right in front of my fucking car at 15mph in a 45mph zone. I swear, every time I pass one of these cyclists, I am this close to yelling "FAGGOT" out the window at them. The only reason I haven't is because they like to record everything on their gay bikes and upload it to Youtube, so then I'd have to deal with you people knowing where I live just because I called some fruit on a bike a faggot. Think I'm exaggerating? Think again. These homos have an entire community built on "catching" drivers who dare drive too close or blow their exhaust at the poor little faggy cyclist. There's Youtube channels dedicated to this. Part of their culture is being a victim by cars. Almost like it's dangerous to be in the middle of the road going 15mph on a 45mph road. Oh but I'm sure cars almost hitting you is surely a personal attack and nothing to do with the fact that what you're doing is DANGEROUS YOU RETARD. I've seen these "share the road" signs in the most insane and dangerous places. I've seen them on HIGHWAYS, yes, HIGHWAYS, where the cyclist would BARELY have any room next to the car. It's insanely dangerous and I guess to some people, the constant threat of dying is fun... until it actually happens. I will never understand the mind of a cyclist. You are not in the fricken' Tour de France. You look like a homosexual that's inconveniencing HEAVY METAL HIGH POWERED CARS RIGHT BEHIND YOU. It's incredibly dangerous, and you can't rely on the very heavy, high powered cars and the people driving them to honor your life. Road rage is real, you might be the tipping point for some angry old boomer in his Ram to RAM INTO YOU and kill you. God I hate cyclists, their gay look, their cocky "better than you" attitude. Hey fudge stripe, in a battle between my CAR and your soft body, my CAR WILL WIN. Get off the road and go suck some cocks instead. Stop riding the bikes and go ride cocks instead, you homo.

@ b2caa9b3:9eab0fb5

Well, folks, I’m starting to see the light at the end of this data tunnel. After a seemingly endless 12-hour format, my stubborn SSD finally decided to cooperate. With that hurdle cleared, I dove headfirst into the world of data migration.

Last night was a whirlwind of activity: changing to a new bed, data copying, and a valiant battle against a pesky mosquito net. I managed to keep my sanity intact until around 2 am, when sleep finally claimed me. But let's not forget the culinary highlight of the evening: Wali Maharagwe - a simple yet satisfying rice and bean dish that hit the spot perfectly. Check out this photo, it's a local favorite and incredibly affordable.

This morning, I woke up feeling not really refreshed and still tired, but ready to conquer the remaining data challenges. After a cold shower, quick breakfast and a chat with a fellow traveler, I’m back at it, transferring data from one SSD to another. Fingers crossed this one behaves itself!

One thing's for sure, the temperature has taken a drastic drop compared to the warmth of Mombasa. I'm grateful for my trusty fleece as I shiver my way through the day. It's a stark contrast to the 27 degree Celsius I was enjoying just a short distance away.

So, while I continue my data wrangling, I hope you all are enjoying a relaxing Sunday. Stay tuned for more updates on my progress!

Online

Profile Page | Support Page

If you'd like to show your appreciation, you can send a tip via the Lightning Network to rubenstorm@sats.mobi. (QR code available in the image)

@ 76c71aae:3e29cafa

Why are there 5.5 million people with Bluesky accounts and about 800k to 1.3M on Nostr?

Some of it boils down to social dynamics and chance. It's akin to how immigrants often cluster in the same neighborhoods. Most people are simply following their communities, and their primary decision is driven by where their community is heading.

Why did the communities choose Bluesky over Nostr, Mastodon, Farcaster, or the several dozen centralized and decentralized alternatives?

That’s a more pertinent question. Firstly, very few people actually make these decisions, and most simply follow them. Secondly, the choices aren't primarily based on the technology or the features of the apps or protocols.

Bluesky had certain advantages and disadvantages. It received a fair amount of press as a Twitter spinoff. However, it was late to launch, only preceded by Threads, which had Meta’s platforms for promotion.

In terms of initial marketing, I’d say Bluesky and Nostr were about equal, both often pitched as a ‘Jack Dorsey thing’, which wasn’t true in either case. The press loves stories about people and drama over networks and systems. Social media is vast and complex, and its technology even more so, which is why it’s often presented through personalized narratives about the creators.

Under the hood, Bluesky’s atproto and Nostr are very similar technologically. Both were inspired by Secure Scuttlebutt. Bluesky has adopted a cathedral model of open source, akin to how Android is open source but controlled by Google. Meanwhile, Nostr developed under the bazaar model of open source, created by a community rather than a company.

This company model gives Bluesky some advantages; for instance, they could launch with an invite list, a classic tactic to make something feel more desirable. Even then, most Bluesky users haven’t posted a single thing, and when they had a million registered users, they had fewer than 1500 Daily Active Users (DAU) see bluesky stats.

Bluesky is a lot easier to try than Nostr. The ways keys and content signing work in Bluesky and Nostr are overwhelmingly similar, except that Nostr doesn’t tell you where to store your keys and in Bluesky, you put them on your PDS server, which Bluesky provided free by default for all new users.

This means for Nostr, you have to figure out what to do with your nsec and npub, then how to get a nip-05 for a Nostr name which makes sense. If you want to log in with a username and password, you need to find and set up a nip-46 service. Not all apps support that, so you’re copying and pasting around an nsec. If you want to use a web app, you need to go find and choose one of several browser extensions and set that up. This is easy and natural for folks with experience in crypto but really foreign for everyone else.

Maybe a million people have figured out how to get started on Nostr; it’s definitely possible. And some apps like Primal and Nos have integrated name services as part of the signup, which makes it cleaner.

Once you’re on Nostr, people often discuss zaps, a functionality that may not work as expected. You’ve got to learn how to set up a wallet, what lightning and Bitcoin are. Some get really into it, we’ve seen folks get into Bitcoin through Nostr, but for many, it’s a confusing hurdle.

Bluesky provides a neat way to get into a single default app and gives you a username. Sure, you can change it—I self-host my DID at rabble.nz—but apparently less than 1% of Bluesky users do that, just like most Nostr users have chosen to use a cloud service for their nip-05 Nostr name.

Why else has Bluesky grown bigger than Nostr? It's their approach to positioning the protocol. They’ve set up default moderation controls and a trust and safety team. Initially, they didn’t have these, and when users demanded action and the company refused, growth stalled and usage dropped last July. The Bluesky team didn’t post for about a month, and there was a real question about whether Bluesky would survive.

The user community wanted pretty heavy-handed moderation. The Bluesky team was committed to building a decentralized protocol that didn’t do that. The compromise was that Bluesky would be slow about opening up open federation over atproto until the Bluesky apps, protocol, and company-hosted services could have a trust and safety team and a moderation bot. Their moderation bot is fancier than @reportinator, but it’s the same idea, but with a bigger team of humans reviewing reports. And if you’re using the Bluesky-provided PDS, there’s no way to block or unfollow their default moderation bot. We don’t make everybody on Nostr follow nostr:npub14h23jzlyvumks4rvrz6ktk36dxfyru8qdf679k7q8uvxv0gm0vnsyqe2sh .

That compromise worked for the community and company, and the user base started growing again. The negative press about Bluesky's content ceased and those upset by the policies left, some migrating to Nostr. Bluesky was able to position itself as the socially responsible social media protocol that was easy to use. Jack deleted his Bluesky account, signaling to the world and press what we already knew: he is much more interested in Nostr’s approach to bottom-up development by community and support for lightning payments.

During this period, Nostr's growth really stalled. There are a few reasons for this. We'd saturated the community of folks who both love Bitcoin and dislike Elon enough to leave Twitter. Additionally, our new user experience pushed people to view a global feed dominated by a single topic of conversation.

Nostr has positioned itself strongly as a protocol for those who are freedom-loving, anti-censorship Bitcoin enthusiasts. The easiest Nostr client for new users, Primal, markets itself as a Bitcoin wallet first, and only secondarily as a social media app. People view Nostr as a Web3 project. We’ve had individuals visit the Nos.social website and decline involvement, saying they dislike Web3 because they perceive it as a planet-harming scam (let's not argue the carbon emissions of mining here). We never mention Web3 or any cryptocurrency elements on the Nos website, yet all decentralization has been associated with dubious schemes.

As Nostr’s growth has stalled, the ecosystem has matured and flourished. Nostr boasts technology and apps that other platforms envy. I often hear Bluesky and Fediverse developers express admiration for the cool things Nostr is doing with technology and apps, but since their communities don’t use it, they don’t either.

Just look at the articles my posts last week about Nostr vs. ActivityPub kicked off: Extending ActivityPub and Nomadic Identity is Coming to ActivityPub

I suspect what’s holding back Nostr is twofold. First, how we talk about Nostr. We discuss it in political and ideological terms—we're against censorship, for free speech, value-for-value, etc.—but not about the types of content and people on Nostr, how to find your friends, or the interesting stuff you followed elsewhere. Nor do we talk about how you can use all these cool apps with the same identity and content. It's a hard concept to grasp, and I find myself constantly having to explain it.

The biggest issue people see with Nostr is its perceived association with Bitcoin enthusiasts plus those who’ve been deplatformed elsewhere, often for contentious reasons. I’m not saying the deplatforming was justified, but the perception among those unfamiliar with arbitrary bans and sanctions on platforms is that those who've been deplatformed had it coming—that they were all conspiracy theorists, bigots, or harassers. Some were, some were not, but it's perceived that way by many.

The way we talk about Nostr and onboard new users doesn’t help. The goal of the creator and journalism projects we just launched was to both diversify the content on Nostr for new users and to demonstrate to those creators and journalists that micropayments and paid content on Nostr are viable alternatives/additions to how they publish on social media elsewhere. It is value-for-value without the label, because our theory is that people want the functionality but aren't so keen on the cultural ideology.

This is all solvable. We can: - Make it easier to set up a nip-05 for new users. - Ensure that nip-05 also functions as an nsec bunker for easy login, if users desire. - Add Webfinger files so your nip-05 name functions as a Fediverse name (it’s pretty easy to do; we're experimenting with it on nos.social). - Show users a variety of content types when they join. - Help users find communities, perhaps encouraging groups/channels the way Farcaster does. - Make it easy to find and choose moderation settings, offering more middleware services like Reportinator but with different content labeling ideas. - Change our marketing to attract these new users, focusing on what they can see and who they can connect with, less on Bitcoin, technology, or evading censorship. - Develop apps that offer new functionalities, drawing people in instead of being mere clones with or without certain features.

It always takes a long time for people to figure out what the native mediums are on a technology platform. Initially people would make a phone call to listen to a concert, the first radio stations had people just reading the newspaper, and the first tv broadcasts were either a camera pointed at radio announcers or a single camera shot of a play. People always do the same things, we're the same humans that evolved a couple hundred thousand years ago, same brains, same bodies. What's changed is the way we do things with technology, so what fundamental human thing can we do new and different now that we've got these social protocols and tech?

Addressing the app design and technology will help, but actual growth will come when people discover us, join, find connections, and genuinely want to invite others to join them. Nostr users are incredibly welcoming to new users. However, we also have a subset of users who engage in sexist, racist, and homophobic harassment. This harassment drives people away from Nostr and deters them from recommending it to others. If we don't provide better tools for users to protect themselves from this harassment, they'll leave and find social spaces where they feel safe. Some might abandon public social media altogether, or just switch to Bluesky, which promises to eventually open up their network and has just announced support for uploading images, coming soon.

We're way ahead of the other protocols in some areas and way behind in others. We've got enough momentum and users to figure this out, but we're not there yet.

@ 862fda7e:02a8268b

Pictured above is a female body that looks incredibly similar to mine. So similar that it could be mine if I didn't have a c-section scar. Actually her boobs are a bit bigger than mine, but mine do look like that when they swell.

Nudity should be normalized

I don't understand why people get offended or sensitive over the human body. Especially the female human chest. We all have nipples, we all know what they look like, so I don't understand why a female being topless is unacceptable, whereas a male topless is normal. I've seen shirtless men with more shapely, larger breasts than mine. Personally, I have stopped caring if other people see the shape of my breasts or my nipples if they were to be poking in the freezer section of the grocery store. I stopped wearing bras years ago. I often times want to be topless outside in my yard because it feels good and natural. I like the sun on my skin, and I especially love the rain on my skin. It's very unfortunate that our natural human body is massively shamed, by who I believe, is the reptilians (for a number of reasons). Logically, it makes no sense to be outraged by the female human chest. We all know what nipples look like, we all have them, I truly believe women should be allowed to be topless like men are. If it's hot out and you're doing yard work - pop your top off, who cares?

I understand that males and some females sexualize the human chest. However, that is not my problem. That is none of my concern what others think about my body. I should be allowed to wear my human body as it is just like anyone else should be. What I can't wrap my mind around is why people are shocked or offended by the human body, since we ALL know what these parts look like and we all have them. I understand in certain scenarios being topless or nude would likely be inapproriate, or that perverts would use it as a way to expose themselves to children. In an ideal world, we could live like tribes where the human body is normal, it's not overtly sexual. This is why we're so offended over the human body - it's constantly concealed, so the moment we get to see a female chest, it's suddenly sexual because it's normally tabboo to be seen. I wish I could be shirtless outside, I envy males who get to truly feel the wind, the earth on their backs and their chest. Female and male nipples look the same, I don't understand why it should be illegal for me to experience nature in my natural state.

Anyways, I highly dislike the "nudist" people because it is NOT about accepting the human body in its natural state. It's completely co-opted by pedophiles who want to expose themselves to childen or for children to expose themselves to others for sexual gratification. There are nudist resorts pedophile parents force their children to go to (as a child you have no personal autonomy and are completely a slave to your parents - trust me, I know this because I couldn't LEGALLY decide which parent I wanted to live with up until I was 18 years old. If your parent wants you to do something, a child in the US has no legal say over that, so if your parent wants to go to a nudist resort, you must go). A human body should simply be a human body, it's unfortunate that being unclothed immediately brings on sexualization. This is mostly an issue because clothes is the expected default. The more tabboo something is, the more naughty the thing is.

I am not a nudist. However, I do believe that at the very least, females should have the right to be topless in similar settings as males are allowed to. I don't think a woman is a slut if she's in her natural state, in her human body, and proceeds life as normal. How one acts portrays slutty behavior. Living your life in your natural human body should be a right without caviots. I feel detached from people who constantly see the human body as flawed (e.g. circumcision industry, body hair removal industry, clothing industry). These industries are harmful for the victims in them (infant boys, and modern day slaves in sweatshops), and the main motivating factor is money among all these industries.

@ 85d5e49c:7a156b84

siamstrmm

@ 41fa852b:af7b7706

"I'm the diamond in the dirt, that ain't been found / I'm the underground king and I ain't been crowned." -50 Cent

Welcome back, folks! I hope you’re all soaking up the sunshine while it lasts and gearing up for some holiday adventures with family and friends.

Usually, meetup attendance tends to dip this time of year as many of us head out of town.

If you’re travelling within the UK this week, check the list below to see what’s on offer.

---

Upcoming Bitcoin Meetups

Happening this week...

1. Bitcoin Nottingham: The July Bitcoin Nottingham Meetup date for your diary is Wednesday 24th July at 6:30 PM at Carlton Town Football Club.
2. Manchester Bitcoin: On the 25th it’s Manchesters turn. Join them at The Smithfield Market Tavern, 7pm.
3. The Satoshi Society - Southampton: Join a friendly group of bitcoiners at The Maritimo Lounge, Ocean Village on Friday 26th July for food and a Bitcoin chat.
4. Bitcoin Walk - Edinburgh: Every Saturday they walk around Arthur's Seat in this historic city. Join them at 12 pm to chat about all things Bitcoin and keep fit.
5. Bitcoin East: Join Bitcoin East in Bury St. Edmunds on July 28th, 11am at Procopio’s Pantry. All welcome, Bitcoiners and anyone else curious about Bitcoin.

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New Businesses Accepting Bitcoin

• The Ayurvedic Retreat: A residential, bespoke, three to five-day retreat for relaxation, managing stress and detoxing mind, body and soul. Includes daily four-handed Ayurvedic massage, life-coaching, yoga and meditation. Now accepting bitcoin.
• Express Boilers: Boiler repair & central heating, plumbing services company based in Teddington, Middlesex. Covering Richmond Borough, east and west Moseley, Kingston and Walton on Thames. Now accepting bitcoin.

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Upcoming Special Events

• Tooting Market Bitcoin Event: Get your tickets now for this free event. The lineup is looking good with some great talks throughout the evening and plenty of merchants now accepting bitcoin. Guest speakers included Ray Youssef, Jordan Walker, Nicholas Gregory, Hashley Giles, Bridge2Bitcoin and many more. It all starts at 6 PM on the 7th August.
• Bitcoin - The change you've been waiting for: Mark your calendars for August 31 at 10:30 am for "The Change You’ve Been Waiting For" at Glasgow University Union. This seminar, costing £10, focuses on Bitcoin's transformative potential. With Bitcoin impacting individuals and businesses globally, understanding it is crucial. Guest speaker Allen Farrington will share his expertise, making this event perfect for both seasoned investors and the Bitcoin-curious. Don't miss this opportunity to explore how Bitcoin can shape your financial future.

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Get Involved

• Volunteer Opportunities: Bridge2Bitcoin is actively seeking volunteers who share our passion for merchant adoption. We'd be delighted to connect if you're eager to contribute. Reach out to us on Twitter or through our website.
• Start Your Own Meetup: Interested in launching a Bitcoin meetup? We’re here to support you every step of the way. We’ve assisted numerous UK Bitcoin meetups in getting started. Get in touch via Twitter.
• Telegram users: You might find our Telegram Channel another useful way to keep up-to-date with UK meetups.
• Feedback and Suggestions: We value your input! Share your ideas on how we can enhance this newsletter.
• Consider subscribing on Substack

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Get out and support the meetups where you can and stay tuned for more updates next week!

Simon.

@ 6ad3e2a3:c90b7740

I’ve written about this before, and I’ve also tried to illustrate it via parable in “The Simulator.” I even devoted most of a podcast episode to it. But I thought it might be useful just to cut to the chase in written form, give the tldr version.

Utilitarianism is the moral philosophy of the greatest good for the greatest number. That is, we calculate the prospective net benefits or harms from a course of action to guide our policies and behaviors. This moral framework deserves scrutiny because it (unfortunately) appears to be the paradigm under which most of our governments, institutions and even educated individuals operate.

The philosophy is commonly illustrated by hypotheticals such as “the trolley problem” wherein a person has the choice whether to divert a runaway trolley (via switch) from its current track with five people in its path to it to an alternate one where only one person would be killed. In short, do you intervene to save five by killing one? The premise of utilitarianism is that, yes, you would because it’s a net positive.

Keep in mind in these hypotheticals these are your only choices, and not only are you certain about the results of your prospective actions, but those are the only results to consider, i.e., the hypothetical does not specify or speculate as to second or third order effects far into the future. For example, what could go wrong once people get comfortable intervening to kill an innocent person for the greater good!

And yet this simplified model, kill one to save five, is then transposed onto real-world scenarios, e.g., mandate an emergency-use vaccine that might have rare side effects because it will save more lives than it costs. The credulous go along, and then reality turns out to be more complex than the hypothetical — as it always is.

The vaccine doesn’t actually stop the spread, it turns out, and the adverse effects are far more common and serious than people were led to believe. Moreover, the mandates destroyed livelihoods, ran roughshod over civil liberties, divided families and destroyed trust in public health.

Some might argue it’s true the mandates were wrong because the vaccine wasn’t sufficiently safe or effective, but we didn’t know that at the time! That we should judge decisions based on the knowledge we had during a deadly pandemic, not after the fact.

But what we did know at the time was that real life is always more complex than the hypothetical, that nth-order effects are always impossible to predict. The lie wasn’t only about the safety and efficacy of this vaccine, though they absolutely did lie about that, it was that we could know something like this with any degree of certainty at all.

The problem with utilitarianism, then, is the harms and benefits it’s tasked with weighing necessarily occur in the future. And what distinguishes the future from the past is that it’s unknown. The save one vs five hypothetical is deceptive because it posits all the relevant consequences as known. It imagines future results laid out before us as if they were past.

But in real life we deal with unknowns, and it is therefore impossible do a rigorous accounting of harms and benefits as imagined by the hypotheticals. The “five vs one,” stated as though the event had already happened, is a conceit conjured from an overly simplistic model.

In short, in modeling the future and weighing those projected fictions the same way one would historic facts, they are simply making it up. And once he grants himself license to make things up, the utilitarian can create the moral imperative to do what coincidentally benefits him, e.g, Pfizer profited to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, for the greater good!, which turned out not to be so good. Once you make the specious leap of purporting to know the future, why not go all the way, and make it a future where the greatest good coincides with enriching yourself to the greatest extent possible?

So in summary, as this has gone on longer than I intended, utilitarianism is moral bankruptcy because the “greater good” on which it relies is necessarily in the future, and we cannot predict the future with enough accuracy, especially over the medium and longer term, to do a proper moral accounting.

As a result, whoever has power is likely to cook the books in whatever way he sees fit, and this moral philosophy of the greatest good for the greatest number paradoxically tends toward a monstrous outcome — temporary benefits for the short-sighted few and the greatest misery for most.

@ 81870f53:29bef6a6

7月19日金曜日、CrowdStrike Falconのバージョンアップデートの問題により世界規模のコンピュータシステムがクラッシュし、市場に混乱が生じ、複数の企業の運用上の問題が発生し、CrowdStrikeが「世界的クラッシュの犯人」として注目を集めた。 」はクラウドストライクでした。

メディアの報道によると、昨日、CrowdStrike Falcon バージョンのアップデートの問題により、世界規模のコンピュータ システムがクラッシュしました。

現地時間金曜日、米国株は取引開始時に急落し、株価は一時14％下落し、11.10％下落した。

では、この「世界的大暴落」の犯人は一体どの企業なのか、そしてそれはマイクロソフトにどのような影響を与え、これほどの壊滅的な被害をもたらしたのでしょうか?

クラウドストライクとは何ですか? CrowdStrike は、クラウド コンピューティングをベースとしたエンドポイント保護プラットフォームの提供に重点を置いたオンライン セキュリティ ソリューションを提供する企業であると報告されており、CrowdStrike の主力製品は人工知能を使用する Falcon プラットフォームです。インテリジェンスと機械学習を利用して、ネットワークの脅威を検出、防止、対応します。

高度なサイバー攻撃を検出して防御する能力で知られる同社のソフトウェアは、Microsoft や Amazon AWS などの大手クラウド コンピューティング サービス プロバイダーだけでなく、世界的な大手銀行、医療機関、エネルギー会社でも使用されています。ハッカーの脅威を検出して阻止します。

市場調査会社IDCによると、CrowdStrikeは86億ドルのエンドポイント検出および応答（EDR）ソフトウェア市場で約18％のシェアを占めており、Microsoftに次ぐ第2位となっている。

CrowdStrike はどのようにしてブルー スクリーンを引き起こしたのですか? なぜ Microsoft が関与しているのですか? CrowdStrike のソフトウェア タイプは、バージョンが限定されている昔ながらのセキュリティ ソフトウェアとは異なります。 従来のウイルス対策ソフトウェアは、既知の悪意のあるソフトウェアの兆候を捕捉できるため、コンピュータやインターネットの開発の初期段階では効果的でしたが、攻撃が進むにつれて人気がなくなりました。より複雑になります。

現在、CrowdStrike のエンドポイント検出および応答ソフトウェア製品は、従来のウイルス対策ソフトウェアよりもはるかに効果的ですが、他のサイバーセキュリティ製品と同様に、CrowdStrike のソフトウェアは脅威をスキャンするためにコンピュータのオペレーティング システムへのより深いアクセスを必要とし、このアクセス許可により、コンピュータのオペレーティング システムを破壊することができます。守ろうとしている。

Microsoft と CrowdStrike は競合他社であり、どちらもエンドポイント サイバーセキュリティ製品を提供しています。CrowdStrike の Falcon プラットフォームは、Microsoft Azure や Microsoft 365 などの Microsoft のセキュリティ製品に統合して、全体的なネットワーク セキュリティ保護を強化できます。

昨日のインシデントは、CrowdStrike によるソフトウェア コードの更新によって引き起こされた可能性があり、Windows システムと誤ってやり取りしてクラッシュし、多数のユーザーがブルー スクリーン クラッシュを経験した可能性があると報告されています。

「CrowdStrike は、Windows ホスト上の 1 つのコンテンツ更新で見つかった欠陥を修正するために、影響を受ける顧客と積極的に取り組んでいます。Mac および Linux ホストは影響を受けません。これはセキュリティ イベントやネットワーク攻撃ではありません。」と共同創設者でジョージ カーツ氏は述べています。クラウドストライクのCEO。

「CrowdStrike は、Windows ホスト上の 1 つのコンテンツ更新で見つかった欠陥に対処するために、影響を受ける顧客と積極的に取り組んでいます。Mac および Linux ホストは影響を受けません。これはセキュリティ イベントやネットワーク攻撃ではありません。」

CrowdStrike の殺傷力はどれほど広範囲に及ぶのでしょうか? クラウドストライクがリリースした誤ったソフトウェアアップデートは、航空、銀行、医療、小売などの業界の顧客に一連の障害を引き起こし、港湾、企業、政府に影響を与え、病院は手術の遅延を余儀なくされ、マクドナルド、UPS、フェデックスも影響を受けた。金曜日にはJPモルガン、野村ホールディングス、バンク・オブ・アメリカなどの銀行の従業員も自社のシステムにログインできなくなる障害が発生した。

航空会社にとっては、この障害により飛行機と地上管制との間の通信障害が発生し、乗客の移動に影響が出ているとFlightAwareは示しており、現在、ユナイテッド航空、デルタ航空、アメリカン航空、ルフトハンザ航空、エールフランスKLMオランダ航空、ライアン航空が運航に遅れをとっている。徐々に回復してきていますが、速度は遅いです。

サイバーセキュリティ専門家はこう言う

CrowdStrike のテクノロジーはランサムウェアに対する強力なツールですが、そのコスト (場合によっては 1 台あたり 50 ドルを超える場合もあります) が高いため、ほとんどの企業がすべてのコンピューターに CrowdStrike をインストールすることはなく、ソフトウェアがインストールされているコンピューターが最も重要なコンピューターになります。保護される必要があります。それらが失敗すると、重要なサービスも失敗します。

ユニバーシティ・カレッジ・ロンドンのコンピューターサイエンス学部助教授マリー・ヴァセック氏はこう語った。

「大規模なコンピュータークラッシュは、世界のテクノロジーシステムがマイクロソフトやクラウドストライクを含む数社のソフトウェアにどれほど依存しているかを示しています。ここでの問題は、マイクロソフトは誰もが使用している業界標準のソフトウェアであり、クラウドストライクの脆弱性はそれらに展開されているということです」すべてのシステム。」

クラウドストライク自体も、同社はオペレーティングシステムと生産性ソフトウェア市場で支配的な地位を占めているため、自社に弱点があると壊滅的な影響を与える可能性があると述べている。

問題はどうすれば解決できますか? 損失は誰が負担するのでしょうか? CrowdStrikeの最高経営責任者（CEO）George Kurtz氏は、問題の根本が判明し、アップデートの影響を受けてクラッシュしたWindowsデスクトップやラップトップは、MacとLinuxマシンを除き、再度アップデートする必要があると述べた。

メディアが引用した CrowdStrike と顧客との会話によると、CrowdStrike のテクニカル サポート チームは、影響を受けるシステムを最大 15 回再起動する必要がある可能性があると示唆しました。

この障害によって引き起こされる経済的損失の範囲と、その損失を誰が負担するのかについては、しばらくの間まだ不明であるが、ほとんどのソフトウェア ベンダーは、販売されたものではなく認可されたプログラムによって生じた損害に対して責任を負っていないと報告されている。しかし、彼らは通常、最大の顧客とサービス契約を締結しており、場合によっては、救済を支援したり、割引やその他の補償を提供したりする必要があります。

クラウドストライクは声明で次のように述べた。

「影響を受けるすべての顧客と協力して、システムが通常の動作に戻り、顧客に期待されるサービスを提供できるようにします。」

さらに、Microsoft Azure クラウド コンピューティング サービスに関連したインシデントが発生し、サービスの中断が発生したことも注目に値します。Microsoft は、根本的な問題は解決されたものの、ユーザーは依然として「影響が残る」可能性があると述べています。

アナリストらによると、コンピュータシステムのクラッシュのうち、どの程度がクラウドストライクのソフトウェアアップデートの欠陥によって引き起こされ、どの程度がマイクロソフトのオンラインサービスや木曜日に開始された企業向けクラウドコンピューティングサービス「アジュール」の問題によって引き起こされているかは不明だという。

しかし、Microsoftの広報担当者は、CrowdStrikeソフトウェアの脆弱性が「一部のAzure顧客」に影響を与えた中断に関連しているとは考えていないと述べた。

この記事がお役に立てば幸いです。 もしそうなら、チップをおくるどうぞ https://getalby.com/p/bitcap

日本のホスティングサービス Linux、Windowsクラウドホスティング データストレージ JPStream を使用して NOSTR リレーを作成する ホスティング サービスの料金をSatsで支払うことができます https://jpstream.net

@ 266815e0:6cd408a5

NOTE: this is just a quick technical guide. sorry for the lack of details

Install NodeJS

Download it from the official website https://nodejs.org/en/download

Or use nvm https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm?tab=readme-ov-file#install--update-script

bash wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bash nvm install 20

Clone example config.yml

bash wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hzrd149/blossom-server/master/config.example.yml -O config.yml

Modify config.yml

```bash nano config.yml

or if your that type of person

vim config.yml ```

Run blossom-server

```bash npx blossom-server-ts

or install it locally and run using npm

npm install blossom-server-ts ./node_modules/.bin/blossom-server-ts ```

Now you can open http://localhost:3000 and see your blossom server

And if you set the dashboard.enabled option in the config.yml you can open http://localhost:3000/admin to see the admin dashboard

@ 0d2a0f56:ef40df51

Dear Bitcoin Blok Family,

In my last post, I shared how Bitcoin became my personal antidote, rescuing me from destructive behaviors and opening up a world of knowledge. Today, I want to explore how Bitcoin is becoming an antidote for my entire family, solving problems I didn't even know we had.

As I've delved deeper into the Bitcoin rabbit hole, I've realized that I was searching for something beyond personal growth – I was looking for a solution to give my family an identity. When you look at successful families of the past or thriving organizations, you'll notice they're known for something specific. Some families are known for real estate, others for owning businesses, and some for establishing various institutions. This identity ties a family together, giving them a shared purpose and legacy.

For my family, I want that identity to be rooted in Bitcoin. Why? Because Bitcoin brings a focus I haven't seen in anything else. It neutralizes much of what I consider toxic behavior in modern society.

Take TikTok, for example. While there's nothing inherently wrong with the platform, it often promotes content that I find concerning – gender wars, gossip, and sometimes even false information. This issue extends to most social media platforms. Our kids are learning to dance, but they're not learning about money. They're absorbing various behaviors, but they don't understand inflation. We're turning to social media for education and information, which isn't necessarily bad, but it requires careful vetting of sources and filtering out the noise.

What's truly dangerous is how these platforms steal our attention subconsciously. We're wasting time, putting our attention in unproductive places without even realizing it. This is a toxic part of our culture today, and I believe Bitcoin can help solve this problem.

It's challenging to teach kids about money in today's fiat standard. How do you explain the concepts of time and energy when the measuring stick itself is constantly changing? But with Bitcoin, these lessons become tangible.

Moreover, Bitcoin opens up possibilities that seemed out of reach before, particularly in the realm of family banking. In the past, wealthy families in the United States understood the risks of keeping their family's worth in another person's hands or in external institutions. They recognized that protecting wealth comes with certain risks, and establishing a family protocol was crucial.

With Bitcoin, family banking becomes not just possible, but easily achievable and more secure than ever before. Through multi-signature wallet arrangements, we can create a true family bank where each family member holds a key to the family wallet. No funds can be moved without the permission of other family members. This technology eliminates what has been a major stumbling block in the past: trust issues. Now, we can have transparency, trust, and access for all family members.

Imagine a family account where parents and children alike have visibility into the family's finances, but movements of funds require agreement. This not only teaches financial responsibility but also fosters open communication about money within the family. It's a powerful tool for financial education and family cohesion.

This is something we should definitely take advantage of. It's not just about storing wealth; it's about creating a financial system that aligns with our family values and goals. Bitcoin provides the infrastructure for this new form of family banking, one that combines the best aspects of traditional family wealth management with the security and transparency of modern technology.

When it comes to teaching about compound interest and value, Bitcoin provides the perfect use case. Over its lifetime, Bitcoin has been averaging an astonishing 156% year-over-year return. While this number is significant, it's important to note that past performance doesn't guarantee future results. However, even with more conservative estimates, the power of compound interest becomes clear. I challenge you to use a compound interest calculator with a more modest 30% annual return. The results are still astronomical. Imagine teaching your children about saving and investing with potential returns like these. It's a powerful lesson in the value of long-term thinking and delayed gratification.

What I'm getting at is this: there are many forces in our society that hinder positive behavior and promote negative, toxic culture. These forces are stealing our children's time, attention, energy, and of course, money. Bitcoin is the antidote that can start correcting and curing some of that behavior, while also providing tangible lessons in finance and economics, and even reshaping how we approach family wealth management.

By making Bitcoin a central part of our family identity, we:

1. Provide a shared purpose and legacy
2. Encourage financial literacy from a young age
3. Teach valuable lessons about time, energy, and value
4. Promote long-term thinking and delayed gratification
5. Offer an alternative to the instant gratification of social media

Bitcoin isn't just an investment or a technology – it's a paradigm shift that can reshape how we think about family, legacy, and education. It's an antidote to the toxic aspects of our digital age, offering a path to a more thoughtful, intentional way of living.

As we continue this journey, I invite you to consider: How could Bitcoin reshape your family's identity? What toxic behaviors could it help neutralize in your life? Until next time check out the below video on what some may know as the "Waterfall or "Rockefeller Method". https://youtu.be/MTpAY1LKfek?si=s7gA4bt_ZoRGAlAU

Stay sovereign, stay focused,

Joe Thomas Founder, The Bitcoin Blok

@ 266815e0:6cd408a5

While I was in Mediera with all the other awesome people at the first SEC cohort there where a lot of discussions around data storage on nostr and if it could be made censorship-resistent

I remember lots of discussions about torrents, hypercore, nostr relays, and of course IPFS

There were a few things I learned from all these conversations:

1. All the existing solutions have one thing in common. A universal ID of some kind for files
2. HTTP is still good. we don't have to throw the baby out with the bath water
3. nostr could fix this... somehow

Some of the existing solutions work well for large files, and all of them are decentralization in some way. However none of them seem capable of serving up cat pictures for social media clients. they all have something missing...

An Identity system

An identity system would allow files to be "owned" by users. and once files have owners servers could start grouping files into a single thing instead of a 1000+ loose files

This can also greatly simplify the question of "what is spam" for a server hosting (or seeding) these files. since it could simply have a whitelist of owners (and maybe their friends)

What is blossom?

Blossom is a set of HTTP endpoints that allow nostr users to store and retrieve binary data on public servers using the sha256 hash as a universal id

What are Blobs?

blobs are chunks of binary data. they are similar to files but with one key difference, they don't have names

Instead blobs have a sha256 hash (like b1674191a88ec5cdd733e4240a81803105dc412d6c6708d53ab94fc248f4f553) as an ID

These IDs are universal since they can be computed from the file itself using the sha256 hashing algorithm ( you can get a files sha256 hash on linux using: sha256sum bitcoin.pdf )

How do the servers work?

Blossom servers expose four endpoints to let clients and users upload and manage blobs

• GET /<sha256> (optional file .ext)
• PUT /upload
• Authentication: Signed nostr event
• Returns a blob descriptor
• GET /list/<pubkey>
• Returns an array of blob descriptors
• Authentication (optional): Signed nostr event
• DELETE /<sha256>
• Authentication: Signed nostr event

What is Blossom Drive?

Blossom Drive is a nostr app built on top of blossom servers and allows users to create and manage folders of blobs

What are Drives

Drives are just nostr events (kind 30563) that store a map of blobs and what filename they should have along with some extra metadata

An example drive event would be json { "pubkey": "266815e0c9210dfa324c6cba3573b14bee49da4209a9456f9484e5106cd408a5", "created_at": 1710773987, "content": "", "kind": 30563, "tags": [ [ "name", "Emojis" ], [ "description", "nostr emojis" ], [ "d", "emojis" ], [ "r", "https://cdn.hzrd149.com/" ], [ "x", "303f018e613f29e3e43264529903b7c8c84debbd475f89368cb293ec23938981", "/noStrudel.png", "15161", "image/png" ], [ "x", "a0e2b39975c8da1702374b3eed6f4c6c7333e6ae0008dadafe93bd34bfb2ca78", "/satellite.png", "6853", "image/png" ], [ "x", "e8f3fae0f4a43a88eae235a8b79794d72e8f14b0e103a0fed1e073d8fb53d51f", "/amethyst.png", "20487", "image/png" ], [ "x", "70bd5836807b916d79e9c4e67e8b07e3e3b53f4acbb95c7521b11039a3c975c6", "/nos.png", "36521", "image/png" ], [ "x", "0fc304630279e0c5ab2da9c2769e3a3178c47b8609b447a30916244e89abbc52", "/primal.png", "29343", "image/png" ], [ "x", "9a03824a73d4af192d893329bbc04cd3798542ee87af15051aaf9376b74b25d4", "/coracle.png", "18300", "image/png" ], [ "x", "accdc0cdc048f4719bb5e1da4ff4c6ffc1a4dbb7cf3afbd19b86940c01111568", "/iris.png", "24070", "image/png" ], [ "x", "2e740f2514d6188e350d95cf4756bbf455d2f95e6a09bc64e94f5031bc4bba8f", "/damus.png", "32758", "image/png" ], [ "x", "2e019f08da0c75fb9c40d81947e511c8f0554763bffb6d23a7b9b8c9e8c84abb", "/old emojis/astral.png", "29365", "image/png" ], [ "x", "d97f842f2511ce0491fe0de208c6135b762f494a48da59926ce15acfdb6ac17e", "/other/rabbit.png", "19803", "image/png" ], [ "x", "72cb99b689b4cfe1a9fb6937f779f3f9c65094bf0e6ac72a8f8261efa96653f5", "/blossom.png", "4393", "image/png" ] ] }

There is a lot going on but the main thing is the list of "x" tags and the path that describes the folder and filename the blob should live at

If your interested, the full event definition is at github.com/hzrd149/blossom-drive

Getting started

Like every good nostr client it takes a small instruction manual in order to use it properly. so here are the steps for getting started

1. Open the app

Open https://blossom.hzrd149.com

2. Login using extension

You can also login using any of the following methods using the input - NIP-46 with your https://nsec.app or https://flare.pub account - a NIP-46 connection string - an ncryptsec password protected private key - a nsec unprotected private key (please don't) - bunker:// URI from nsecbunker

3. Add a blossom server

Right now https://cdn.satellite.earth is the only public server that is compatible with blossom drive. If you want to host your own I've written a basic implementation in TypeScript github.com/hzrd149/blossom-server

4. Start uploading your files

NOTE: All files upload to blossom drive are public by default. DO NOT upload private files

5. Manage files

Encrypted drives

There is also the option to encrypt drives using NIP-49 password encryption. although its not tested at all so don't trust it, verify

Whats next?

I don't know, but Im excited to see what everyone else on nostr builds with this. I'm only one developer at the end of the day and I can't think of everything

also all the images in this article are stored in one of my blossom drives here

nostr:naddr1qvzqqqrhvvpzqfngzhsvjggdlgeycm96x4emzjlwf8dyyzdfg4hefp89zpkdgz99qq8xzun5d93kcefdd9kkzem9wvr46jka

@ 3c984938:2ec11289

Hello (N)osytrs!

Yes! I'm calling you an (N)oystr!

Why is that? Because you shine, and I'm not just saying that to get more SATs. Ordinary Oysters and mussels can produce these beauties! Nothing seriously unique about them, however, with a little time and love each oyster is capable of creating something truly beautiful. I like believing so, at least, given the fact that you're even reading this article; makes you an (N)oystr! This isn't published this on X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, Discord, Telegram, or Instagram, which makes you the rare breed! A pearl indeed! I do have access to those platforms, but why create content on a terrible platform knowing I too could be shut down! Unfortunately, many people still use these platforms. This forces individuals to give up their privacy every day. Meta is leading the charge by forcing users to provide a photo ID for verification in order to use their crappy, obsolete site. If that was not bad enough, imagine if you're having a type of disagreement or opinion. Then, Bigtech can easily deplatform you. Umm. So no open debate? Just instantly shut-off users. Whatever, happened to right to a fair trial? Nope, just burning you at the stake as if you're a witch or warlock!

How heinous are the perpetrators and financiers of this? Well, that's opening another can of worms for you.

Imagine your voice being taken away, like the little mermaid. Ariel was lucky to have a prince, but the majority of us? The likelihood that I would be carried away by the current of the sea during a sunset with a prince on a sailboat is zero. And I live on an island, so I'm just missing the prince, sailboat(though I know where I could go to steal one), and red hair. Oh my gosh, now I feel sad.

I do not have the prince, Bob is better! I do not have mermaid fins, or a shell bra. Use coconut shells, it offers more support! But, I still have my voice and a killer sunset to die for!

All of that is possible thanks to the work of developers. These knights fight for Freedom Tech by utilizing FOSS, which help provides us with a vibrant ecosystem. Unfortunately, I recently learned that they are not all funded. Knights must eat, drink, and have a work space. This space is where they spend most of their sweat equity on an app or software that may and may not pan out. That brilliance is susceptible to fading, as these individuals are not seen but rather stay behind closed doors. What's worse, if these developers lose faith in their project and decide to join forces with Meta! 😖 Does WhatsApp ring a bell?

Without them, I probably wouldn't be able to create this long form article. Let's cheer them on like cheerleaders.. 👉Unfortunately, there's no cheerleader emoji so you'll just have to settle for a dancing lady, n guy. 💃🕺

Semisol said it beautifully, npub12262qa4uhw7u8gdwlgmntqtv7aye8vdcmvszkqwgs0zchel6mz7s6cgrkj

If we want freedom tech to succeed, the tools that make it possible need to be funded: relays like https://nostr.land, media hosts like https://nostr.build, clients like https://damus.io, etc.

With that thought, Onigirl is pleased to announce the launch of a new series. With a sole focus on free market devs/projects.

Knights of Nostr!

I'll happily brief you about their exciting project and how it benefits humanity! Let's Support these Magnificent projects, devs, relays, and builders! Our first runner up!

Oppa Fishcake :Lord of Media Hosting

npub137c5pd8gmhhe0njtsgwjgunc5xjr2vmzvglkgqs5sjeh972gqqxqjak37w

Oppa Fishcake with his noble steed!

Think of this as an introduction to learn and further your experience on Nostr! New developments and applications are constantly happening on Nostr. It's enough to make one's head spin. I may also cover FOSS projects(outside of Nostr) as they need some love as well! Plus, you can think of it as another tool to add to your decentralized life. I will not be doing how-to-Nostr guides. I personally feel there are plenty of great guides already available! Which I'm happy to add to curation collection via easily searchable on Yakihonne.

For email updates you can subscribe to my [[https://paragraph.xyz/@onigirl]]

If you like it, send me some 🧡💛💚 hearts💜💗💖 otherwise zap dat⚡⚡🍑🍑peach⚡⚡🍑 ~If not me, then at least to our dearest knight!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your time and support (N)oystr! Shine bright like a diamond! Share if you care! FOSS power!

Follow on your favorite Nostr Client for the best viewing experience!

[!NOTE]

I'm using Obsidian + Nostr Writer Plugin; a new way to publish Markdown directly to Nostr. I was a little nervous using this because I was used doing them in RStudio; R Markdown.
Since this is my first article, I sent it to my account as a draft to test it. It's pretty neat.

@ f0aca767:dce3306e

Mastodon is obviously an already established and semi-well known social network--A user-owned network of communities. But one of the biggest issues I always see the corporate social media denizens talk about, is that the loss of content when moving instances (sometimes, you have to do this) is one of the biggest turn-offs. And that's definitely something I can attest to. If I were still on mastodon.social, from my humble posting-beginnings in 2017, I'd have a post history longer than five football fields and probably plenty to cringe at.

The question remains: Why haven't we been able to take this history with us ... if every instance you've ever been federated with is keeping that data.

What do I mean by this?

Every single time you post on Mastodon, your words get pushed out to other instances (servers), and in order for people to be able to read what you said, a copy of it is downloaded onto that server. It does this very quickly, so quick that it seems as though it happens in real-time. And, for all intents and purposes, I'm not inclined to believe that it doesn't.

If you've ever had an account on an instance that isn't mastodon.social, and you have a posting history, and you remember your username: Go over to mastodon.social, create a burner account, and then search up that username.

Yeah, you see that? Your entire body of posting-work is still there, even if you deleted your account, even if the instance you were on is long dead.

This is obviously not true for every server. Some choose to delete old content to make space for the new, but there are many Mastodon servers out there retaining everything ever posted, like mastodon.social.

But what point am I trying to get at here? As far as you're probably concerned, even if that data still exists, and your account, and instance does not, you can't access it, right? You can't reclaim everything you've said and done, and put it back where it belongs: Under your ownership.

Or, what if you could?

If you've been following my posting history on here in the past week, I've been screwing around with Nostr, and musing about Bluesky. Two networks using a similar protocol, that I feel are getting the idea of what I'm thinking of here, only about 75% correct.

Bluesky's problem, is that the protocol is owned by ... the owners. The corporation. Your keys report to their server, and in return, so does your content. A central server that has a lot of different keyholes.

Not really the optimal experience, because you can't create your own server, and build your own community, and survive if the main Bluesky datacenter goes out, right? The only thing you can do is host your own software that essentially just holds keys and content, and, as far as I know, all of that will be worthless if the devs ever go offline with the main server.

So then there's Nostr, where all of your data lives everywhere on the network, and as long as you have your keys, you can use any app that utilizes the protocol, and continually access everything you post, forever. You can't be banned, but you also can't block anyone. And any random stranger can take your public key from your profile, and view your entire everything (as I've said before).

I would say this is also not really that optimal. The idea is great, but the execution trades privacy for extreme versatility.

This brings us back to Mastodon, which is still in active development, still receiving new features, and ... well, kind of also only has the whole thing about 75% correct.

There's that last little bit we're missing here.

The user should have the option of a community, a personal community away from what's viewed to be the central Mastodon server and have their privacy, but, they should also be able to retain their posts, and their bookmarks, and their likes, and their lists, and everything else.

How do we accomplish this?

Keys.

The entire fediverse (for the most part) already has all of your content. So, if every user had a key tying them to that content, no matter where you're located, be it mastodon.social, or mkultra.monster, then you could just go wherever you want?

That's the idea, at least.

Your content becomes immortal, immutable, and that's the one missing puzzle piece to ActivityPub. I am 100% sure of this, and I don't know what the developer stance is on the topic of keys and immutable data, but I fully believe this is something that should be on their roadmap. Yes, storage space is a concern ... but holding onto the text content of a post is much easier, and smaller in size, than holding onto larger pieces of data (like photos, and videos). If you scrolled back to five years ago and found something you posted, but the only thing you could see was the text, would you be all that disappointed?

I guess that part is subjective.

Mastodon is already setup nearly identical to Nostr, except users live on the relays. So just ... add user generated keys to the mix, and I am 100% double-dippin' certain that most of the naysayers being spammed by engagement farming on Threads and Twitter will jump ship.

Mark my worms.

If it isn't. Well. They're making a huge mistake.

@ 000002de:c05780a7

Lately it seems like I keep noticing people that are sympathetic to anarchism and libertarian ideas completely misunderstanding governance. It really seems like this might be one of the biggest mental blocks people have. I wonder if it is mostly the fault of libertarians and anarchists.

Those in the liberty movement (broadly) rant and demonize the government. This is completely justified. I've done it for years. I've noticed that more experienced communicators will tend to say "The State" instead of government. Years ago I heard someone explain how to think about three terms often used incorrectly.

• The country is the land
• The nation is the people
• The state is the government

I don't recall learning this in school. It is possible it was in a textbook but I doubt it. The country part I think most people do get. Nation less so. The best example of a nation without a country are Native Americans. Tribes are nations without a country (their historical lands). Tribes have their own governments and a certain amount of sovereignty in the lands they are allowed to inhabit.

The state is the word that I have found most people are confused about. People used to tell me, you hate the government so much. Why don't you leave. Well, I don't hate the nation(people) or the country(land). It is the governance system I hate. I don't even hate the people that are working in it.

Its funny to me that people on the red or blue team seem to hate the government when their side isn't in power but if someone points to issues in the system itself, well that's just crazy.

So what about those people that are sympathetic to libertarian values? Many of them say things like this. Well, I agree with you on taxes and the corruption of the government. But you always need a government. My usual response is yes. You do need governance. But you don't need a state or government. My home is governed by my wife and I. Businesses have their own governance models. Bitcoin does as well. But we do not need a single entity with a monopoly on violence.

So why is there so much confusion on this topic? I think there are two reasons.

The first is ignorance. The state of the world is largely invisible to most people. We are purposely kept ignorant of how our world works. The State isn't really discussed as a separate entity from the country and nation.

The second reason for the confusion is how libertarians and anarchists communicate. There are some that just foolishly believe people do not need governance. Honestly in my experience they are either just young or do not think deeply enough. They haven't steel manned their arguments yet. In my experience this is a small percentage of people though.

I think people in the liberty movement just need to do a better job communicating ideas. Instead of saying we need to get rid of the government one might say we need to get rid of the state. Another way to lead into this is to speak about the empire vs. the government. Talk about the monopoly which the state holds. How competition leads to better outcomes vs. monopoly.

What do you think? Have you noticed this hurdle as well? I think many people hear good ideas and agree but assume we are just dummies that believe in a fairy tale.

If private or decentralized governance is interesting to you, you might enjoy reading Chaos Theory by Bob Murphy. Its short and answer many common objections to private governance.

@ 4fda8b10:7bbee962

On a weekend in March 2024, I shared and streamed my electronic music as @Teder on #nostr and received an overwhelming number of heartfelt responses.

While doing so, I was building a list of followers that can't be censored or deleted by any company that can interact with me trough chat, stream, music streaming.

In each of the pieces of content I was able to setup split payments, which means all of the contributors instantly got their commissions, with negligable transaction costs and without the platform taking a big cut.

I wrote a piece about this experience including a detailed onboarding and my insights. I invite you to share it with creators as I did with my musical peers!

Onboarding

• I installed amethyst on my Android and damus on my ipad, and created a private public key pair
• I filled in my nostr profile through the Amethyst app and discovered my profile identifier: the npub account for Teder nostr:npub1asuq0pxedwfagpqkdf4lrfmcyfaffgptmayel9947j8krad3x58srs20ap
• I created a bitcoin lightning wallet in walletofsatoshi app, copied the lightning adress and filled the address in profile.
• I added NIP05 verification on my website using a WordPress plugin
• I then created a new post in Damus sharing a short clip of the Teder and TimMey - Rebound EP jam including the introductions hashtag nostr:nevent1qqsfqh0085arl45js5x7s40tm49xrgw76a0nsdhjpcdq9tpzsweg4hqpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyrkrspuym94e84qyze4xhud80q38499q9005n8u5kh6g7c04ky6s7qcyqqqqqqg9cttm9
• I received a whole bunch of reactions and zaps, amongst which recommendations to host a stream with my live music on tunestr / zapstr, and to publish the album on wavlake
• That night, I streamed a live set for 40 minutes on zapstr: nostr:nevent1qqsd4sru85vk7mpcq6j5c60w9ku5qwk0m2627hzjvfjgfd3vc5nek6cpzamhxue69uhkummnw3ezu6rpwd5xyctwvuhxumqzyrkrspuym94e84qyze4xhud80q38499q9005n8u5kh6g7c04ky6s7qcyqqqqqqgz275ar
• During the stream, I received some bigger zaps, between 1000 and 10000 SATs per zap
• I then uploaded the EP on wavlake: https://wavlake.com/album/e0d37f7c-aa8b-44b3-b41e-42637e958f91
• I mentioned the release in a couple of replies, and received about 7000 SATs worth of zaps on the songs of the album within a day.

Response

• In about 24 hours I received hundreds of reactions, likes and about 29400 SATs ~ €19. This is more royalties then I've ever received from any streaming platform, and these were immediately liquid in my account ready to be spent on nostr ór converted to fiat to for instance fund my next physical release.
• These rewards include zaps on the reactions and the answering questions from the audience, which is something we are already used to do on other platforms, but were never able to get rewarded for other than brand building.

Insights

• Motivation: Motivation to get back to sharing due to the constant stream of micro payments is very high. Some contributions are only 5 or 21 SATs but it is the fact that someone consciously sent it that really matters, and gives you a sense of worth other than people just trying to build their brand / persona with replies, as is often the case on instagram.
  • See my post, the gratitude I feel for these tiny payments is very high: nostr:nevent1qqsxdahe2f2s2kqnvx96juqfdnxnwt69dwveadqun3apwzluvgz097spp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyrkrspuym94e84qyze4xhud80q38499q9005n8u5kh6g7c04ky6s7qcyqqqqqqgwl7ljh
  • Receiving small monetary rewards also has the interesting side effect of reciprocity, and also entices you to support others with the SATs you have received in your wallet.
• Portability and ownership over fanlist: Being able to take your following/fans and content with you when you are moving back and forth in different applications (such as the Twitter like environment, the Twitch like streaming environment and the Spotify like music catalog environment). In comparison, starting a new TikTok from scratch takes a lot of time and energy, even though the format of sharing short clips and repurposing content from others is pretty cool.
• Evergreen content: Having new followers on different applications find your older content in the same environment, and being able to send micro payments to all that content transparently is very encouraging to make you want to create and share higher quality and more evergreen content.
• Collaboration commission: Collaborations are amongst my favorite activities while creating. Being able to set up payment splits on each separate piece of content ( Even on a single Tweet!) is very encouraging to both creator and fan. There is just something enticing about contributing knowing that sending that zap will land some value to both the musicians, the visual artist that made the artwork, and for instance the videographer that shot the video. And all that without needing to settle afterwards or pay high transaction fees.
• Community efforts: Imagine producing a radio show with live performances from multiple community members and sharing all zaps between involved members equally, or transparently raising money for specific goal / charity!

Opportunities for music artist groups / collectives / labels (such as Petite Victory Collective)

I see very interesting opportunities for both PVC and online radio sites such as massive radio to use this network for bringing attention to our music, events and streams. The whole decentralised / no-middleman-company-in-between really resonates with the goals and setup of the community.

• Stream shows, live events and massive radio streams and enable receiving of streaming sats rewards from listeners.
• Setting up split payments for content to divide rewards amongst both musicians, visual artists, vj, radio hosts etc.
• Stream live shows / dj sets to promote albums and releases.
• Provide live shows / streams / music / DJ at nostr / bitcoin events while the network is still growing.
• Selling merchandise with crypto payments, cutting out platform and transaction costs and splitting rewards amongst contributors.
• Integration of audience in live streams, taking inspiration for jam / improvisation from crowd.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, feel free to comment with your thoughts or reach out if you have further questions about these topics or onboarding you music onto nostr!

@ 81870f53:29bef6a6

先週、利下げへの期待が金の魅力を高め、金は3週連続で上昇した。今週は、ドナルド・トランプ前大統領の暗殺未遂事件に伴う政治的懸念と利下げの憶測が市場を動かした。

月曜日、ダウ工業株30種平均は今年20回目の最高値を更新し、他の主要株価指数も利下げへの期待がウォール街に広がる中、上昇した。同日、金は0.8％上昇して終値2,432ドルとなった。月曜日は安全資産としての買いが金を支えたが、銀は30.85ドル付近でほとんど変わらなかった。

火曜日、投資家が短期的な利下げに自信を深めたため、金は史上最高値の2,481ドルに急騰した。当時、CME FedWatchツールは、9月に0.25％の利下げが行われる可能性を98％と示していた。同時に銀は2%近く急騰し、火曜日の取引を1オンス31.37ドルで終了した。一方、株式は前日の取引から上昇幅を拡大した。

金は水曜日に当初堅調に推移し、史上最高値の2,483ドルを記録した。しかし、ドル高が貴金属価格を圧迫したため、上昇は短命に終わった。その結果、金は1オンス2,470ドルで取引を終了した。水曜日にはS&P500とナスダック総合指数はともに下落し、ハイテク株と半導体メーカー株は下落した。半導体メーカー株の急落は、バイデン政権が中国への半導体材料の輸出制限を検討しているという噂を受けてのものだった。一方、ダウ工業株30種平均は2日連続で過去最高値で終了した。

木曜日にはハイテク株の売りが強まったため、米国株は前日の取引から下落幅を拡大した。金も木曜日にはドル高が進んだため下落した。しかし、米国と中国の間で激しい論争が繰り広げられる中、地政学的な懸念が金の下落を抑えた。同様の動きで、銀は木曜日に2週間ぶりに30ドルを下回った。

株式市場の下落は今朝も続き、銀行、メディア企業、航空会社に影響を及ぼした「前例のない」コンピューターシステム障害のニュースが報じられた。クラウドストライクによると、このシステム障害はマイクロソフトベースのシステムの更新失敗に起因するものだった。これにハイテク株の売りが加わり、S&P 500とナスダックは4月以来最悪の週を記録した。

貴金属も今日は下落し、利益確定とドル高により金と銀は下落に転じた。金は1％以上下落して2,399ドルで引け、週ベースで0.5％の下落となり、金の3週間連続上昇は終わった。一方、銀は5%下落し、1オンス29.21ドルで週末を終えた。来週、投資家は米国の政治情勢、およびそれぞれ木曜と金曜に発表されるGDPとインフレデータを注視するだろう。

@ c43d6de3:a6583169

"If you do tomorrow what you did today, you will get tomorrow what you got today." - Benjamin Franklin

Seize the Day

Image from article- https://community.thriveglobal.com/want-your-authentic-self-mindfulness-is-a-gateway/Confliction

There are two conflicting approaches to life: Delay gratification today for a wealthy tomorrow and carpe diem Seize the Day and live like today is your last. Usually, when someone prescribes delayed gratification they refer to finances; save a dollar today for a hundred tomorrow. Carpe diem often refers to smelling the coffee, enjoying the little things and not putting off for tomorrow what could've been done today. 

I've never felt the two of those prescriptions collide more violently than now as a father of two beautiful kids.  I find it more difficult than ever before to make decisions that might benefit my future over being present for my kids. Time being the finite thing that it is, often I can only choose one. 

Image from Adobe ImagesTwo Fathers, Two Approaches: Enough Small Moments Equal A Big Moment My brother in-law and I have different approaches to this. He tends to delay gratification. More often than not, he's out on business and misses minor family events and outings. Meanwhile, I often choose to attend even the smallest family events as opposed to going on business. 

I should mention, my brother in-law doesn't dare miss the big events. He's always there for a birthday, baptism, or graduation but he misses outings to the beach or spring. He misses the books read by the bed and the dimming of the light just before a kiss goodnight. 

If you miss enough small moments, you a miss big one. 

Image from article- https://www.spiritualmom.com/god-is-weaving-a-tapestry/

Since my children were born I vowed to live as much in the moment as I could. In the moment, I'm happy to be with my kids stitching together cherished mementos that will be the tapestry of our lives. These indelible memories not only serve to make me happy but, I believe they'll work as the sinews and tendons that come together to form my children's personality and identity. My relationship with my kids and family will tighten as their persona grows.

I don't have facts from studies or scientific analysis, but I have a gut feeling its the strength of the tapestry of our lives that determines how resilient my children will be. When they encounter hard times they'll carry the uplifting memories of good times and they'll have the comfort of knowing there's a tightknit family at their backs to get through it.

That said, I've never heard my brother in-law complain about money. 

I can't say I struggle for cash either. I make ends meet, but my wife and I have experienced that nervous rush when the AC blows out mid-summer and we wonder if we would have enough to pay for the down payment of a new unit and the mortgage at the beginning of the month. 

What's been bothering me most as of late is my damn near non-existent retirement fund.

 

Image from ANATOMY OF A SOLDIER BY HARRY PARKER REVIEW - UNUSUAL PERSPECTIVES ON WARFARE FICTION

Commitments- To My Nation, To My Self

My biggest conflict today is tied to the commitment I made to the United States Army Reserves years before the birth of my children. While I can decide not to go on business like my brother in-law does, I can't simply not attend drill (one weekend a month) or go off on annual training (2–3 weeks a year). Failure to attend to my military obligations can result in a dis-honorable discharge. Having that hanging over my head will forever ruin any lucrative opportunities for employment and public service. 

More often than not, my relatively small obligation to the Army Reserves has stood in direct conflict with my desire to be present in my kids lives as well as the lives of my friends and family. Some how, I've had the misfortune of having drills and annual training scheduled on major events like weddings, baptisms, and birthdays; the very things I vow never to miss. 

There are ways to request those special days off and make it up on a later date and when I can, I do. However, I've been forced to go unaccounted for on several occasions when special events are back to back and overlap with already requested days off. That's led to conflict in the past but, I've been fortunate enough to have good leaders who've understood why I preferred to be absent in the military over absent in a major life event.  It would be easiest, and most convenient, to resign my congressional commission as an officer and leave the Army Reserves. This is when I feel that great internal conflict. 

Serving in the Army Reserves allows me to give back to my nation and grants me several financial benefits that would otherwise be completely lost. Medical insurance is remarkably cheaper than what I would have to deal with as a civilian. I get a world of benefits when purchasing a house and I can apply for special grants if ever needed. Perhaps most important of all, if I stick around for the full 20 years (I have almost 9 now) I will have a very nice retirement pension waiting for me when I turn 65. This is where that differed gratification really kicks in. 

When I really boil it down to pros and cons, there's just way too many pros to staying in the Reserves than cons. 

Image of Jordan Peterson from Video Clip- "4 years video"

Phases of Life Approach

World renown psychologist Jordan Peterson says "you have little kids for 4 years and if you miss it, its done." For Jordan, this is time period is peak experience for your kids. As I write this, my eldest just turned two and my youngest is 9 months. I'm not quite halfway there yet and I can't let up now. 

I don't want to test to see if what Jordan Peterson says is true, I'm going to continue living as much in the moment as is possible during these early years of my children's lives. If I stay in the army reserves throughout this time I will have had 13 years of service by the time my youngest is 4. 

Taking this approach, I will have been very present in the first 4 years of my kids lives and will only have to serve seven more years to acquire that retirement. 

For me, today is Gold and tomorrow is Silver.

People have sacrificed worse. 

artstr #plebchain #writing

---

I want to show the world that life is a scroll riddled with ink. The marks will only ever be simple blots on the parchment unless you pause and perceive them for the characters they are.

I'm constantly thinking about what the future could look like if we just take action.

More of my thoughts about the future and the world around us are coming soon...

Thank you for Reading this article. If you liked it and would consider zapping some sats, doing so supports me and motivates me to continue writing!

If you are interested in Fiction writing, visit my NOSTR page Fervid Fables: npub1j9cmpzhlzeex6y85c2pnt45r5zhxhtx73a2twt77fyjwequ4l4jsp5xd49

@ 58537364:705b4b85

ปะภัสสะรามิทัง ภิกขะเว จิตตัง อาคันตุเกหิ อุปักกิเลเสหิ อุปักกิลิฏฐัง... ซึ่งแปลว่า ดูก่อนภิกษุทั้งหลาย จิตนี้เป็นประภัสสร แต่ว่าจิตนี้เศร้าหมอง เพราะอุปกิเลสที่จรเข้ามา ดังนี้.

ข้อที่พระองค์ตรัสว่า จิตนี้เป็นประภัสสรนั้น ท่านทั้งหลายจะต้องฟังให้ดี ๆ ในการที่พระองค์ทรงใช้คำว่า ประภัสสร ไม่ได้ใช้คำว่า บริสุทธิ์ ไม่ได้ใช้คำว่า หลุดพ้น หรือไม่ได้ใช้คำอะไร ๆ นอกไปจากคำว่า ประภัสสร.

ทีนี้คำว่า ประภัสสร ในภาษาบาลี มาเป็นภาษาไทย ก็ยังใช้ทับศัพท์ว่า ประภัสสร อยู่นั่นเอง คงจะเนื่องจาก ไม่สามารถที่จะแปลเป็นภาษาไทยคำใดให้เหมาะสม เราจึงต้องใช้คำว่า ประภัสสร ไปตามเดิม บางคนอาจจะไม่รู้ว่าประภัสสรนั้นเป็นอย่างไร ถ้าเช่นนั้น ก็จะต้องถือเอาตามตัวหนังสือนั้น ประภัสสร มาจากคำว่า ประภา สะระ ประภา คือ แสง สะระ เออ, แล่นออก หรือแล่นไป ประภัสสร จึงแปลว่า มีแสงแล่นออกไป เมื่อเราเห็นสิ่งใดมีแสงเป็นรัศมี แล่นออกไปรอบตัว โชติช่วงอยู่ดังนั้น นั่นแหละ คือ อาการที่เป็นประภัสสร หรือเรียกอีกอย่างหนึ่งว่า มีรัศมีซ่านออกไปรอบตัว เป็น เออ, แสงสว่าง อาการอย่างนี้ ตรงตามตัวหนังสือแท้ว่า ประภา สะระ หรือประภัสสร ที่ว่าจิตนี้เป็นประภัสสรนั้น หมายความว่า...มีแสง หรือเรืองแสงอยู่ในตัวมันเองโดยรอบด้าน ก็หมายความว่า มันไม่สกปรก มืดมัว เศร้าหมองแต่อย่างใด.

ทีนี้ ก็มีอุปกิเลสเกิดขึ้น มาจากเหตุปัจจัยอย่างใด อย่างหนึ่ง จากภายนอก เป็นเหมือนกับจรเข้ามา จากภายนอก เป็นอาคันตุกะ ทำให้จิตนั้นสูญเสียความเป็นประภัสสร เหมือนอย่างว่า เรามีเพชรเม็ดนึง แวววาว ส่องสว่างอยู่กลางแดด ถ้าเราเอาน้ำโคลนสาดเข้าไป รัศมีของเพชรนั้นมันก็ จะไม่ปรากฏ แต่แล้ว ท่านอย่าเพิ่งคิดไปว่ารัศมีนั้น สูญสิ้นไปเสียแล้ว ไม่ได้มีเหลืออยู่ ความจริงมันก็ต้องมีอยู่เท่าเดิม และตามเดิม หากแต่ว่าโคลนมันปิดบังเสีย ตาตามประสามนุษย์ก็มองไม่เห็น มันต้องมีตาพิเศษ ยิ่งกว่าตามนุษย์ จึงจะมองเห็นแสงเพชร ที่ทะลุโคลนออกมาได้ จิตนี้ก็เหมือนกัน เมื่อมีอุปกิเลสอย่างใด อย่างหนึ่ง นานาชนิด สรุปรวมเป็น...ความโลภ ความโกรธ ความหลง เกิดขึ้นแล้ว มันก็เป็นสิ่งปิดบังจิตนั้น ให้สูญเสียความเป็น ประภัสสร คือ ไม่ปรากฏแก่สายตา

ทีนี้ เราก็จะต้องคิดกันต่อไปว่า ทำอย่างไรจึงจะให้คงมี ความเป็นประภัสสร ปรากฏอยู่เป็นการ ถาวรได้ คำตอบง่าย ๆ ใคร ๆ พอจะมองเห็น ว่าก็กระทำอย่าให้มีกิเลสเกิดขึ้นก็แล้วกัน จิตนั้นก็เป็นประภัสสร อยู่ตลอดกาล เพราะฉะนั้น วิธีใดที่จะทำให้กิเลสไม่เกิดขึ้น แล้ววิธีนั้นแหละ คือ วิธีที่จะทำจิตนี้ ให้เป็น ประภัสสรตลอดกาล วิธีที่จะทำไม่ให้กิเลสเกิดขึ้นนั้น พระพุทธเจ้าท่านเรียกว่า อัฏฐังคิกมรรค คือ การกระทำที่ถูกต้องครบถ้วน ๘ ประการ รวมกันเป็นอันเดียวกันเรียกว่า มรรค มีความเห็นชอบ ความใฝ่ฝันชอบ พูดจาชอบ ทำการงานชอบ เลี้ยงชีวิตชอบ ความพากเพียรชอบ มีสติตั้งไว้ชอบ มีสมาธิตั้งไว้ชอบ เป็นความชอบ หรือความถูกต้องรวมกัน ๘ ประการ เป็นมรรคตั้งอยู่ดังนี้แล้ว เรียกว่า มีการเป็นอยู่ชอบ เมื่อมีการเป็นอยู่ชอบดังนี้แล้ว กิเลสใด ๆ ก็ไม่อาจจะเกิดขึ้นมาได้ จิตนั้นก็ไม่มีอะไร ที่จะมาหุ้มห่อ ให้สูญเสียความเป็นประภัสสร.

ด้วยเหตุที่พระศาสดาสัมมาสัมพุทธเจ้า ได้ทรงแสดง อัฏฐังคิกมรรค คือ..มรรคมีองค์ ๘ ประการนั้น ในวันอาสาฬหปุรณมีนี้ ด้วยเหตุเช่นนี้เอง อาตมาจึงกล่าวว่า วันอาสาฬหบูชานี้คือ วันที่พระองค์ทรงประกาศ วิธีทำจิตให้เป็นประภัสสรอยู่ตลอดกาล เป็นสมุจเฉทปหานแก่กิเลสทั้งปวง ถ้าเราสามารถทำจิต เป็นจิตประภัสสรได้ตลอดกาลแล้ว ปัญหามันก็ไม่มีเหลืออยู่เลย จงพยายามทำความเข้าใจในเรื่องนี้ ว่า....จิตประภัสสรนั้น มันเป็นส่วนจิต ส่วนกิเลสนั้น มันเป็นแต่เพียงสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้นกับจิต ไม่ใช่ตัวจิต.

ส่วนตัวจิตนั้น คงเป็นประภัสสรตามธรรมชาติ ส่วนกิเลสนั้นเป็นสิ่งที่เกิดกับจิต เขาเรียกว่า เจตสิก เจตสิกเกิดขึ้นอย่างไร ก็ปรุงแต่งจิตไปในลักษณะเช่นนั้น เมื่อสูญเสียความเป็นประภัสสร ก็คือ สูญเสียสภาวะเดิมของมัน ด้วยอำนาจที่เจตสิกอย่างใด อย่างหนึ่ง เข้าไปปรุงแต่ง นี้เจตสิกนี้เกิดขึ้น จากสิ่งแวดล้อม ก็ตั้งต้นจากภายนอก คือ รูป เสียง กลิ่น รส โผฏฐัพพะ ธรรมารมณ์ กระทบทางตา ทางหู ทางจมูก ทางลิ้น ทางกาย หรือซึมเข้าไปถึงใจ มันจึงเกิดการปรุงแต่ง เป็นสิ่งที่เรียกว่า เจตสิกได้ในที่สุด คือ กิเลสต่าง ๆ นั่นเอง.

-พุทธทาสภิกขุ

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Nostr is not decentralized nor censorship-resistant

Peter Todd has been saying this for a long time and all the time I've been thinking he is misunderstanding everything, but I guess a more charitable interpretation is that he is right.

Nostr today is indeed centralized.

Yesterday I published two harmless notes with the exact same content at the same time. In two minutes the notes had a noticeable difference in responses:

The top one was published to wss://nostr.wine, wss://nos.lol, wss://pyramid.fiatjaf.com. The second was published to the relay where I generally publish all my notes to, wss://pyramid.fiatjaf.com, and that is announced on my NIP-05 file and on my NIP-65 relay list.

A few minutes later I published that screenshot again in two identical notes to the same sets of relays, asking if people understood the implications. The difference in quantity of responses can still be seen today:

These results are skewed now by the fact that the two notes got rebroadcasted to multiple relays after some time, but the fundamental point remains.

What happened was that a huge lot more of people saw the first note compared to the second, and if Nostr was really censorship-resistant that shouldn't have happened at all.

Some people implied in the comments, with an air of obviousness, that publishing the note to "more relays" should have predictably resulted in more replies, which, again, shouldn't be the case if Nostr is really censorship-resistant.

What happens is that most people who engaged with the note are following me, in the sense that they have instructed their clients to fetch my notes on their behalf and present them in the UI, and clients are failing to do that despite me making it clear in multiple ways that my notes are to be found on wss://pyramid.fiatjaf.com.

If we were talking not about me, but about some public figure that was being censored by the State and got banned (or shadowbanned) by the 3 biggest public relays, the sad reality would be that the person would immediately get his reach reduced to ~10% of what they had before. This is not at all unlike what happened to dozens of personalities that were banned from the corporate social media platforms and then moved to other platforms -- how many of their original followers switched to these other platforms? Probably some small percentage close to 10%. In that sense Nostr today is similar to what we had before.

Peter Todd is right that if the way Nostr works is that you just subscribe to a small set of relays and expect to get everything from them then it tends to get very centralized very fast, and this is the reality today.

Peter Todd is wrong that Nostr is inherently centralized or that it needs a protocol change to become what it has always purported to be. He is in fact wrong today, because what is written above is not valid for all clients of today, and if we drive in the right direction we can successfully make Peter Todd be more and more wrong as time passes, instead of the contrary.

---

See also:

• Censorship-resistant relay discovery in Nostr
• A vision for content discovery and relay usage for basic social-networking in Nostr

@ 25f67ef1:d3cb96eb

In a stunning turn of events, Bitcoin's value has nosedived a staggering 15%, falling from an all-time high of $72,000 per BTC to $61,000. The cause? None other than former United States president, Donald J. Trump, whose recent comments and rumored policies have sent shockwaves through the global Bitcoin community.

In a recent rally, Trump declared, "We want all the remaining bitcoin to be made in the USA." This bold statement has left many scratching their heads, wondering if the ex-president fully grasps the decentralized nature of Bitcoin. Nevertheless, his followers cheered, and the markets trembled.

Adding fuel to the fire, rumors are swirling about a proposed tariff on offshore bitcoin brought into the United States. Whether such a measure could work in practice is still to be determined, but the idea of taxes on foreign sourced bitcoin has many American businesses with international operations nervous.

But that's not all. In a move that could only be described as draconian, whispers of a plan to use recursive covenants on Bitcoin have emerged. The scheme aims to ringfence all the bitcoin currently held in US custody, such as those held by the "too big to fail" Coinbase, the primary custodian for corporate america, wall street and the popular ETFs. These covenants would effectively prevent those coins from ever being sent outside of whitelisted US addresses. If true, this would essentially create a digital Berlin Wall around American Bitcoin, isolating it from the rest of the world.

Critics argue that these policies are nothing more than a misguided attempt to assert dominance over the borderless digital cash. By prioritizing a "USA first" approach, Trump risks alienating global partners and further isolating the United States on the international stage. Neighboring countries, already wary of America's unpredictable policies, are likely to view these moves as antagonistic and regressive.

And let's not forget the opportunists lurking in the shadows. Trump's buddies and notorious shitcoiners are reportedly licking their chops, hoping that once he's in charge, they'll have a free hand to write regulations that allow them to prey on the public with their dubious shitcoin offerings. These unregistered securities are a haven for scams, and with the right legislation, these predators could wreak havoc on unsuspecting investors.

The fear of Trump's rising popularity and his policy direction for Bitcoin has undoubtedly contributed to the recent market uncertainty. Investors are apprehensive about the future of bitcoin in the US under a potential second Trump administration.

As the 2024 US presidential election looms, the Bitcoin community can only watch and wait, bracing for more market volatility. Will Bitcoin recover from the "Trump Dump"? Only time will tell. For now, it seems the ex-president's quest to "Make America Great Again" might just come at the expense of their burgeoning Bitcoin economy.

@ 6c8c7979:15595f3e

Vincent van Gogh is one of the most prominent artists in the history of global art, with a significant influence on modern artistic movements. He was born in the Netherlands in 1853 and passed away in 1890. Despite not achieving fame during his lifetime, his works later became among the most impactful in fine arts.

Van Gogh's works are characterized by vibrant colors and rapid brush strokes, giving his paintings a unique style. His pieces often reflect nature and everyday life with a touch of deep emotion and drama. Some of his most famous works include "Starry Night," "The Night Cafe," "Irises," and "Wheatfield with Crows."

Throughout his life, van Gogh faced numerous personal and psychological challenges, which imbued his works with a sense of depth and contemplation. He struggled with severe mental disorders and social tensions, which greatly influenced his art.

After his death, public interest in his works grew significantly, and he came to be regarded as a pioneer of expressionism and modern art. His profound impact on global art is evident in the many movements and subsequent artists who drew inspiration from his techniques and subjects.

In summary, Vincent van Gogh remains an exceptional artistic figure, leaving an unforgettable legacy in art history. His works continue to inspire and captivate audiences worldwide with their beauty and artistic depth.

@ 1c6b3be3:73f0ae6f

Releases - No Bullshit Bitcoin

BitcoinSearch.xyz: Search Engine for Bitcoin Tech (1 min) Bitcoin Search v2 is a search engine developed by Bitcoin Dev Project that focuses specifically on the technical ecosystem of Bitcoin. The search engine aims to provide highly relevant results for users' specific bitcoin tech needs, and its scope is limited to just that. Users can suggest additional sources to be added to the project's repository of bitcoin tech sources.

Key features of Bitcoin Search v2 include:

• Integration with Elasticsearch for robust full-text search capabilities and complex query support
• URL-driven search state management, enabling shareable search URLs and intuitive user navigation
• A server-side proxy layer for Elasticsearch queries, which provides security by abstracting away direct access to the Elasticsearch cluster and enriching queries with necessary filters and parameters.

The project was announced in July 2024 and is available on GitHub for further development. The search engine allows users to dive deep into technical bitcoin knowledge and retrieve high signal information about bitcoin tech.

Lightning.Pub & ShockWallet: Nostr-based Account System for Lightning (1 min) Lightning.Pub is a new Nostr-based account system that aims to make running Lightning infrastructure simpler and more accessible for individuals and businesses. The system uses Nostr-based accounts for Lightning Network connections and is the foundation for ShockWallet, the first wallet to utilize this technology.

ShockWallet features multi-device sync abilities via NIP78 and allows users to connect to multiple accounts, including legacy LNURL ones, all within a single interface. It also supports node multi-sourcing and automation features.

The Lightning.Pub project is open source and welcomes community support. The developer plans to distribute it on Umbrel/Start9 appliances and integrate product sales hooks. They will also work on creating a client library for static payment codes over Nostr and Nostr-native Lightning Addresses using NIP05 handles.

For more information, you can visit the Devost page or project archives, as well as check out the GitHub repositories for both Lightning.Pub and ShockWallet.

Nutsack v0.1: A Wallet That Lives in Nostr Nutsack is a new, experimental NIP-60/61 client for the decentralized social networking platform nostr. It allows users to have a "wallet that lives in nostr and can be accessed from any nostr client that chooses to implement it." The project is highly experimental and should be used with caution. Nutzaps, a feature of Nutsack, are opt-in and allow for faster and more secure payments on the platform. They cannot go missing and provide users with a unified balance across all their apps. Users can follow the real-time flow of NUTZAPS at nutlife.lol. The project's announcement, archive, and GitHub repository can be found at the provided links.

Bitcoin Optech

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #312 (6 min) The newsletter discusses a new protocol and various updates in Bitcoin services and client software. Firstly, it presents the ChillDKG protocol that allows secure generation of keys for FROST scriptless threshold signatures compatible with Bitcoin's schnorr signatures. Distributed key sharing, verification, encryption, authentication, and non-censorship are included in this novel approach to creating a fully generalized protocol applicable for generating FROST-based scriptless threshold signature keys.

Additionally, Pieter Wuille posted an extensive introduction to cluster linearization, which is the foundation of the cluster mempool. The overview explains various concepts and algorithms involved in its implementation, along with links to relevant Bitcoin Core pull requests.

Regarding changes to services and client software, there are several updates: 1. ZEUS v0.8.5 release supports BOLT12 offers and BIP353 with TwelveCash service integration. 2. Phoenix 2.3.1 added BOLT12 offers support, while version 2.3.3 introduced BIP353 compatibility. 3. Stack Wallet's v2.1.1 release now features RBF and CPFP fee-bumping, as well as Tor support. 4. BlueWallet v6.6.7 added the functionality to send payments to silent payment addresses. 5. Strike announced the BOLT12 Playground, a testing environment for offers across various Lightning Network implementations. 6. Ledger introduced a Python-based testing repository named Moosig for MuSig2 and BIP388 wallet policies in descriptor wallets. 7. A real-time Stratum visualization tool has been released for monitoring mining activities more efficiently.

🍵 "btc | bitcoin | lightning network | asic" - Google News

Crypto community reacts to Windows-CrowdStrike outage as blockchains unaffected - Cointelegraph BTC price is overvalued, according to this Bitcoin network value indicator ATH - Finbold - Finance in Bold TON Foundation Launches TON Teleport BTC, Enabling Bitcoin Use on Telegram-Linked Network for DeFi - Crypto News Flash Be Safe During Lightning - beechtreenews.com Financial System at Risk by Global IT Outage: Bitcoin, Ethereum Unfazed - BeInCrypto Arthur Hayes’ Family Office Maelstrom Fund Unveils Grant Program Aimed at Supporting Bitcoin Developers - The Daily Hodl exSat Partners with BitTrade to Boost Bitcoin Scalability - Altcoin Buzz Bitcoin & AI, IREN’s Short Report and Tether’s Mining Investments - CoinDesk ‘Bitcoin Keeps Hashing’ Amid Global CrowdStrike Outages: Mining CEO - Decrypt Bitcoin surges after Trump’s JD Vance VP pick, BlockDAG network nears $60M amid US Presidential Election c - The Economic Times

@ 6a39a186:88f51c19

Privacy, Security, and Real-World Applications

We Are Still Early

Concerning Bitcoin, privacy and security remain paramount. As an enthusiast in Ecash privacy and security, I aim to shed light on some of the most promising and undervalued Bitcoin frameworks. These frameworks offer robust solutions for enhancing privacy, security, and scalability, making Bitcoin more adaptable for various industries. Lets's examine their strengths and weaknesses, supported by real-world examples.

1. Mimblewimble: Enhancing Privacy and Scalability

Overview

Mimblewimble is a privacy-centric blockchain protocol designed to enhance the confidentiality and scalability of Bitcoin transactions. Mimblewimble uses cryptographic innovations to obscure transaction details while ensuring network security.

Strengths

• Enhanced Privacy: Mimblewimble transactions are confidential, hiding transaction amounts and addresses.
• Scalability: The protocol significantly reduces blockchain bloat, improving efficiency and speed.
• Security: By using cryptographic primitives, Mimblewimble ensures that transactions are secure and verifiable.

Weaknesses

• Compatibility: Mimblewimble is not fully compatible with Bitcoin’s existing infrastructure, requiring significant changes to the network.
• Complexity: The protocol's complexity can be a barrier to understanding and adoption.

Real-World Example: Grin and Beam

Grin and Beam are two cryptocurrencies that have implemented Mimblewimble. Grin focuses on simplicity and community-driven development, while Beam emphasizes user-friendly interfaces and governance structures. Both projects demonstrate Mimblewimble’s potential in providing enhanced privacy and scalability.

2. Lightning Network: Scaling Bitcoin Transactions

Overview

The Lightning Network is a second-layer solution designed to enable fast and low-cost transactions on the Bitcoin network. By creating off-chain transaction channels, the Lightning Network alleviates congestion on the main blockchain.

Strengths

• Speed: Transactions on the Lightning Network are nearly instantaneous.
• Low Fees: Off-chain transactions significantly reduce transaction costs.
• Scalability: The network can handle millions of transactions per second, far exceeding the main blockchain's capacity.

Weaknesses

• Liquidity: Users need to lock up funds in channels, which can limit liquidity.
• Complexity: Setting up and managing channels can be technically challenging.
• Security: Off-chain transactions require robust security measures to prevent fraud and ensure reliability.

Real-World Example: El Salvador’s Bitcoin Adoption

El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender showcases the Lightning Network’s capabilities. The government and businesses use the network to facilitate everyday transactions, demonstrating its effectiveness in a real-world economy.

3. Taproot and Schnorr Signatures: Improving Privacy and Efficiency

Overview

Taproot and Schnorr signatures are recent upgrades to the Bitcoin protocol that enhance privacy, security, and efficiency. Taproot allows complex transactions to appear as simple ones, while Schnorr signatures enable aggregation, reducing data size.

Strengths

• Privacy: Taproot masks the complexity of transactions, enhancing privacy.
• Efficiency: Schnorr signatures reduce the data size of transactions, improving blockchain efficiency.
• Security: Both upgrades maintain Bitcoin’s robust security model.

Weaknesses

• Adoption: Widespread adoption of these upgrades is still in progress.
• Complexity: Implementing and understanding these changes require technical expertise.

Real-World Example: Taproot Activation

The activation of Taproot in November 2021 marked a significant milestone for Bitcoin. It demonstrates the network’s ability to evolve and adopt new features that enhance privacy and efficiency. Various Bitcoin services and wallets are beginning to integrate Taproot, showing its practical benefits.

4. Sidechains: Expanding Bitcoin’s Capabilities

Overview

Sidechains are independent blockchains that run parallel to the Bitcoin mainchain. They enable experimentation with new features and scalability solutions without affecting the main network.

Strengths

• Flexibility: Sidechains allow for the development and testing of new features.
• Scalability: They can handle additional transactions, reducing load on the main blockchain.
• Interoperability: Sidechains can interact with the main Bitcoin network, enhancing its functionality.

Weaknesses

• Security: Ensuring the security of sidechains can be challenging.
• Complexity: Developing and maintaining sidechains require significant technical expertise.

Real-World Example: Liquid Network

The Liquid Network, developed by Blockstream, is a sidechain that enhances Bitcoin’s functionality for traders and exchanges. It provides faster settlements and confidential transactions, showcasing the practical benefits of sidechains.

5. CoinJoin: Strengthening Transaction Privacy

Overview

CoinJoin is a privacy-enhancing technique that combines multiple Bitcoin transactions into a single transaction, making it difficult to trace individual inputs and outputs.

Strengths

• Enhanced Privacy: CoinJoin obscures transaction details, improving user privacy.
• Community Support: Widely supported by the Bitcoin community and integrated into several wallets.

Weaknesses

• User Experience: The process can be complex and may require additional steps for users.
• Partial Privacy: While it improves privacy, it is not foolproof and can still be subject to analysis.

Real-World Example: Wasabi Wallet

Wasabi Wallet is a Bitcoin wallet that implements CoinJoin to enhance user privacy. It provides an intuitive interface for conducting private transactions, illustrating CoinJoin’s practical application.

Make The Ecosystem Happen

The evolution of Bitcoin frameworks continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in the realm of digital currency. From Mimblewimble’s privacy and scalability enhancements to the Lightning Network’s speed and efficiency, these frameworks offer promising solutions to current challenges. Real-world examples like El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption and the Liquid Network’s advancements highlight the practical benefits and potential of these technologies. As the Bitcoin ecosystem evolves, these frameworks will play a crucial role in shaping the future of digital finance, ensuring privacy, security, and scalability for users worldwide.

Further Reading

For those interested in delving deeper into the frameworks discussed in this article, here are some recommended resources:

1. Mimblewimble:
2. Mimblewimble: What is it? How It Works?
3. Grin

4. Beam

5. Lightning Network:

6. The Lightning Network For Businesses and Developers
7. Historical Look At Bitcoin Adoption In El Salvador

8. Telegram Adoption As A Good Thing In The Long Run

9. Taproot and Schnorr Signatures:

10. Taproot: The Next Major Upgrade for Bitcoin

11. Schnorr Signatures: The Future of Bitcoin Transactions

12. Sidechains:

13. Blockstream’s Liquid Network

14. Block Stream Education Hub

15. CoinJoin:

16. Wasabi Wallet
17. Understanding CoinJoin

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Yesterday's edition https://stacker.news/items/613971/r/Undisciplined

• • -

July 20, 2023 📅

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📝 TOP POST

Frostsnap - Easy, personalized, secure bitcoin multisig for everyone

Link to https://frostsnap.com/introducing-frostsnap.html

6034 sats \ 19 comments \ @utxoclub \ ~bitcoin

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💬 TOP COMMENT

https://stacker.news/items/211668/r/Undisciplined?commentId=211676

Excerpt

Check out @super_testnet's super simple Superstore: https://stacker.news/items/167945

614 sats \ 0 replies \ @OneOneSeven

From Making a Store by @Undergotten in ~nostr

---

🏆 TOP STACKER

2nd place @utxoclub (1st hiding, presumed @siggy47)

4679 stacked \ 1826 spent \ 1 post \ 5 comments \ 0 referrals

---

🗺️ TOP TERRITORY

~bitcoin

everything bitcoin related

founded by @k00b on Tue May 02 2023

48.4k stacked \ 0 revenue \ 55.2k spent \ 84 posts \ 166 comments

https://imgprxy.stacker.news/fsFoWlgwKYsk5mxx2ijgqU8fg04I_2zA_D28t_grR74/rs:fit:960:540/aHR0cHM6Ly9tLnN0YWNrZXIubmV3cy8yMzc5Ng

July 20, 2022 📅

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📝 TOP POST

I'm John Cantrell, entrepreneur, spiral grantee, and creator of Sensei. AMA

Excerpt

I'm @johncantrell97 and I've been working on and around Bitcoin for over a decade now. Most recently I've been working on Sensei as part of a Spiral grant.

112.7k sats \ 54 comments \ @JohnCantrell97 \ ~bitcoin

---

💬 TOP COMMENT

https://stacker.news/items/47509/r/Undisciplined?commentId=47521

Excerpt

"As of the end of Q2, we have converted approximately 75% of our Bitcoin purchases into fiat currency." Tesla didn't HODL. Or deploy as liquidity on Lightning to earn yield. Some just have to learn the hard way 🤷‍♂️ […]

329 sats \ 4 replies \ @holzapfelbaum

From Tesla Sells 75% of Bitcoin Holdings by @kr in ~bitcoin

---

🏆 TOP STACKER

1st place @k00b

11.9k stacked \ 108.1k spent \ 4 posts \ 19 comments \ 0 referrals

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🗺️ TOP TERRITORY

~bitcoin

everything bitcoin related

founded by @k00b on Tue May 02 2023

130.5k stacked \ 0 revenue \ 140k spent \ 113 posts \ 249 comments

https://imgprxy.stacker.news/fsFoWlgwKYsk5mxx2ijgqU8fg04I_2zA_D28t_grR74/rs:fit:960:540/aHR0cHM6Ly9tLnN0YWNrZXIubmV3cy8yMzc5Ng

July 20, 2021 📅

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📝 TOP POST

The Bitcoin Miners banned from China are coming back online in force, bois!

Excerpt

https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-hashrate.html Don't let your lettuce hands leave you with regrets. Stack those sats!

7 sats \ 3 comments \ @03cdf4abc3 \ ~bitcoin

---

💬 TOP COMMENT

https://stacker.news/items/428/r/Undisciplined?commentId=429

Excerpt

We're supposed to believe he's acting in the interest of the people to support of a censorship resistant platform for the exchange of value while not doing anything of note to further the interests of the people regarding a censorship resistant platform for exchanging words that he just happens to be the CEO of. They deplatformed the president of the united states.

1 sat \ 1 reply \ @03cdf4abc3

From Forget Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey Is the Hero Bitcoin Deserves for the Coming Years. by @shawnyeager in ~bitcoin

---

🏆 TOP STACKER

No top stacker

---

🗺️ TOP TERRITORY

~bitcoin

everything bitcoin related

founded by @k00b on Tue May 02 2023

43 stacked \ 0 revenue \ 71 spent \ 9 posts \ 14 comments

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/615090

@ 6a39a186:88f51c19

The Superiority of Asymmetric Encryption

Cryptography plays a pivotal role in protecting sensitive information. Two primary forms of encryption—symmetric and asymmetric—are utilized to secure data. This essay argues that while both symmetric and asymmetric encryption have their merits, asymmetric encryption offers superior security and practical advantages in most contemporary applications. By exploring the fundamental differences, strengths, and weaknesses of each type, this essay will demonstrate why asymmetric encryption is the preferred choice for modern cryptographic needs.

Symmetric Encryption

Definition and Mechanism

Symmetric encryption, also known as secret-key encryption, involves the use of a single key for both encryption and decryption. Popular algorithms include AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and DES (Data Encryption Standard). The process is straightforward: the sender encrypts the plaintext using the key, and the receiver decrypts the ciphertext with the same key.

Strengths of Symmetric Encryption

1. Speed and Efficiency: Symmetric encryption is generally faster and more efficient than asymmetric encryption, making it suitable for encrypting large amounts of data quickly.
2. Simplicity: The mechanism of symmetric encryption is relatively simple, which can be advantageous in systems with limited computational power.

Weaknesses of Symmetric Encryption

1. Key Distribution Problem: The primary challenge with symmetric encryption is securely distributing the key to both parties without interception by malicious actors.
2. Scalability Issues: As the number of users increases, the number of unique keys needed for secure communication grows exponentially, complicating key management.

Asymmetric Encryption

Definition and Mechanism

Asymmetric encryption, or public-key encryption, uses a pair of keys: a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption. Notable algorithms include RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) and ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography). The public key is openly shared, while the private key remains confidential.

Strengths of Asymmetric Encryption

1. Enhanced Security: The separation of keys eliminates the need for secure key distribution channels. The public key can be freely shared, reducing the risk of key interception.
2. Scalability: Asymmetric encryption scales efficiently. Each user has a single pair of keys, simplifying key management in large networks.
3. Authentication and Digital Signatures: Asymmetric encryption enables digital signatures, which verify the sender's identity and ensure the integrity of the message. This is crucial for secure online transactions and communications.

Weaknesses of Asymmetric Encryption

1. Computational Intensity: Asymmetric encryption is computationally more intensive and slower compared to symmetric encryption, which can be a drawback for real-time applications.
2. Complexity: The algorithms involved in asymmetric encryption are more complex, requiring greater computational resources and more sophisticated implementation.

Addressing Resistance against Secure Secret Sharing

Performance Concerns

Critics argue that the computational intensity of asymmetric encryption makes it impractical for certain applications. However, hybrid systems, which combine the strengths of both symmetric and asymmetric encryption, effectively address this concern. In such systems, asymmetric encryption is used to securely exchange a symmetric key, which is then used for the bulk encryption of data. This approach leverages the efficiency of symmetric encryption while maintaining the security benefits of asymmetric encryption.

Complexity and Resource Requirements

While it is true that asymmetric encryption requires more resources, advancements in computational power and optimization techniques have significantly mitigated these challenges. Modern hardware and software are increasingly capable of handling the demands of asymmetric encryption without compromising performance.

Practical Applications and Real-World Relevance

Securing Communications

Asymmetric encryption is integral to securing online communications, including email encryption (e.g., PGP) and SSL/TLS protocols used in securing web traffic. The ability to securely exchange keys and authenticate identities is essential for protecting sensitive information transmitted over the internet.

Digital Signatures and Certificates

Digital signatures, enabled by asymmetric encryption, are crucial for verifying the authenticity and integrity of digital documents. They are widely used in financial transactions, software distribution, and legal agreements, ensuring that the content has not been tampered with and confirming the sender's identity.

Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain

Asymmetric encryption underpins the security of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Public and private keys are used to manage wallet addresses and sign transactions, ensuring secure and verifiable transfers of digital assets.

To Consider

While symmetric encryption offers speed and simplicity, asymmetric encryption provides superior security and scalability, making it the preferred choice for most modern cryptographic applications. The ability to securely distribute keys, authenticate identities, and verify the integrity of messages are critical advantages that asymmetric encryption holds over symmetric methods. By understanding and leveraging the strengths of asymmetric encryption, we can build more secure and resilient digital systems, protecting sensitive information in an increasingly interconnected world. Embracing asymmetric encryption as the foundation for digital security not only addresses current challenges but also prepares us for the evolving threats of the future.

Securing Communications Coventions

1. Email Encryption (PGP/GPG): Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and its open-source counterpart, Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG), use asymmetric encryption to secure email communications. They ensure that only the intended recipient can decrypt and read the message, maintaining privacy and security.

2. SSL/TLS Protocols: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) are protocols that use asymmetric encryption to secure data transmitted over the internet. They are widely used to secure web traffic, ensuring that data exchanged between a user’s browser and a web server is encrypted and secure.

3. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs): VPNs use asymmetric encryption to establish a secure connection between a user's device and the VPN server. This encryption ensures that data sent through the VPN tunnel is protected from eavesdropping and interception.

4. Secure Shell (SSH): SSH protocols use asymmetric encryption to secure remote login and command execution over an insecure network. SSH ensures that the communication between the client and server is encrypted, preventing unauthorized access.

5. Messaging Apps (e.g., Signal): Secure messaging applications like Signal use asymmetric encryption to encrypt messages end-to-end. This means that only the sender and recipient can read the messages, ensuring that the communication remains private and secure.

Digital Signatures and Certificates Conventions

1. Software Distribution: Software developers use digital signatures to sign their software. This ensures that the software has not been tampered with and verifies the identity of the developer. Users can trust that the software they download is authentic and has not been altered.

2. Financial Transactions: Digital signatures are used to verify the authenticity and integrity of financial transactions. For example, banks and financial institutions use digital signatures to ensure that transaction details are not altered during transmission.

3. Legal Documents: Digital signatures are widely used in signing legal documents and contracts. They provide a way to verify the signer's identity and ensure that the document has not been altered after it was signed.

4. Code Signing Certificates: Developers use code signing certificates to sign their code. This process ensures that the code is authentic and has not been tampered with, providing trust to users who download and install the software.

5. Electronic Invoices and Receipts: Businesses use digital signatures to sign electronic invoices and receipts. This practice ensures the integrity and authenticity of the documents, making them legally binding and verifiable.

Assets and Blockchain Conventions

1. Bitcoin: Bitcoin transactions are secured using asymmetric encryption. Public and private keys are used to manage Bitcoin addresses and sign transactions, ensuring that only the rightful owner can verify their Bitcoins.

This forms the backbone of security for modern client server systems enabling change via communities

The Cashu Protocol: Digital Transactions with Enhanced Privacy and Flexibility

So you want to run a mint? When? Sometime Soon?

In the anonymity ecosystem of digital transactions, maintaining privacy and security while ensuring seamless interoperability among Bitcoin layers is paramount. The Cashu protocol, an open-source ecash protocol designed for Bitcoin, offers a groundbreaking solution that leverages the Blind Diffie-Hellmann Key Exchange (BDHKE) to facilitate secure and private digital transactions. This argues that the Cashu protocol's innovative cryptographic mechanisms and open-source nature position it as a superior framework for digital currency transactions, fostering a secure, private, and interoperable ecosystem. By examining the protocol's technical foundations, practical applications, and potential challenges, this essay aims to demonstrate why adopting the Cashu protocol is a forward-thinking choice for digital financial systems.

The Technical Foundations of the Cashu Protocol

Blind Diffie-Hellmann Key Exchange (BDHKE)

At the heart of the Cashu protocol is the BDHKE, which ensures the privacy and security of ecash tokens through a robust cryptographic scheme. The BDHKE involves three key actors: Alice (the sending user), Bob (the mint), and Carol (the receiving user). The process involves a series of steps that obscure the transaction details, making it difficult for unauthorized parties to trace or tamper with the transaction.

• Mint (Bob): Bob publishes a public key (K) derived from his private key (k).
• Alice: Alice picks a secret (x) and blinds it using a random factor (r) to create a blinded message (B_).
• Bob: Bob receives the blinded message and signs it, returning a blinded key (C_) to Alice.
• Alice: Alice unblinds the key to obtain a proof (C), which she can use as a token.
• Carol: Carol can verify the token by sending it to Bob, who checks its validity and adds it to the list of spent secrets if it is genuine.

This process ensures that transactions are conducted privately and securely, with the blinding and unblinding steps preventing any correlation between the tokens and their origins.

Cashu NUTs (Notation, Usage, and Terminology)

The Cashu protocol's specifications are meticulously detailed in the Cashu NUTs, providing comprehensive guidelines for implementation and ensuring compatibility across various applications. These specifications enable developers to create interoperable software that adheres to the protocol, fostering a cohesive and secure ecosystem.

Practical Applications and Implementations

Language Support and Flexibility

The Cashu protocol is supported by multiple programming languages, enhancing its accessibility and implementation flexibility. Examples include:

• Python: Cashu Nutshell Python Library
• TypeScript: Cashu-TS TypeScript Library
• Rust: Cashu-crab and cashu-rs Libraries
• Golang: Cashu-Feni Golang Library
• Kotlin: Cashu Client Library in Kotlin
• Dart: Cashu Dart Library

These libraries allow developers to integrate the Cashu protocol into a wide range of applications, promoting widespread adoption and innovation.

Cashu Mints

Several mint implementations, such as Nutshell (Python), Moksha (Rust), Cashu-rs-mint (Rust), and Feni (Golang), provide robust solutions for secure transactions. The LNbits extension further empowers users by allowing them to run their own Nutshell mint, enhancing control over the security and privacy of their transactions.

Why You Should Focus on Cashu Development

Operational Concerns

Critics might argue that the cryptographic complexity of the Cashu protocol could impact performance and scalability. However, the protocol's design includes optimizations that mitigate these concerns. For instance, the use of efficient cryptographic algorithms ensures that transactions are processed swiftly, even as the volume of transactions increases. Additionally, the open-source nature of the protocol allows for continuous improvements and optimizations by the developer community.

How would I use this and Would Others use it

Alot of users worry about the usability and chance of others using the protocol. While the technical nature of the Cashu protocol might seem daunting to some users, the availability of detailed documentation (Cashu NUTs) and implementation libraries in multiple programming languages lowers the barrier to entry. By providing clear guidelines and versatile tools, the protocol facilitates broader adoption and practical implementation across diverse platforms. Partaking in continued constructive dialogue also around ecash future and past

Considering The Protocol

The Cashu protocol represents a significant advancement in digital transaction privacy and security. Its innovative use of the Blind Diffie-Hellmann Key Exchange (BDHKE) ensures that transactions are conducted privately and securely, while the open-source nature of the protocol fosters interoperability and widespread adoption. By addressing potential performance and usability concerns through continuous improvement and comprehensive documentation, the Cashu protocol is well-positioned to become a cornerstone of secure digital financial systems. Embracing the Cashu protocol not only enhances the privacy and security of digital transactions but also promotes a more flexible and interoperable ecosystem, making it a forward-thinking choice for the future of digital finance.

Real-World Applications of the Cashu Protocol

ChatNut: Privacy-Preserving Chat Application

ChatNut is an innovative chat application that integrates the Cashu protocol to offer privacy-preserving interactions with large language models (LLMs). Users pay-per-request using an integrated Cashu wallet without the need to create accounts, ensuring privacy and security. This application highlights the versatility of the Cashu protocol in enabling secure and anonymous communication services.

SpaceNut: Cashu-Enabled Gaming Experience

SpaceNut is described as the "sickest Cashu-enabled game" available. By integrating the Cashu protocol, SpaceNut offers a gaming experience where players can earn and spend Cashu tokens, demonstrating the protocol's applicability beyond traditional financial transactions. This use case underscores the potential of Cashu to revolutionize the gaming industry by introducing secure and private in-game economies.

NutMiner: Proof-of-Work Based Cashu Faucet

NutMiner is a proof-of-work based Cashu faucet that continuously releases Cashu tokens. This innovative approach leverages the principles of proof-of-work to distribute tokens fairly and securely. NutMiner exemplifies how the Cashu protocol can be integrated into decentralized token distribution systems, providing a steady and transparent method for distributing digital currency.

The manner in which you choose to run the processes of your mint could be the first step to understanding the power of unlocking transactional freedom on Bitcoin base layer while contributing to future resources around the budding sphere of Sovereign Privacy via Ecash, as an anonymous freedom driver and system to implement provably fair anonymous value systems.

@ b2caa9b3:9eab0fb5

Another day, another adventure in tech hell. Let’s start with last night. I was hoping to get some inspiration from an audio story before bed, but my brain decided to short-circuit. Woke up at 4 AM with headphones still on, no recollection of the story, and a general sense of disorientation.

Fast forward to this morning, I managed to escape the dorm for a quick shower and some much-needed coffee. Feeling somewhat human again, I tackled the beast that is my external SSD. It’s a 1TB behemoth that decided to be extra dramatic this morning. I’ve been staring at a “12 hours to go” message for what feels like an eternity. Who knew formatting a drive could be such a suspenseful ordeal?

This drive has been giving me trouble lately. It’s like it has a grudge or something. Constantly going into read-only mode, refusing to save large files. I think my 25,000 travel photos might be a bit too much for it. It’s not even that old! I switched from a heavy HDD to this thing for portability, and now it makes me trouble.

I’m hoping that once this formatting nightmare is over, I’ll have a happy, healthy SSD. I’ve decided to format it as exFAT, so at least it should be compatible with everything. But then I have two more drives to deal with. This is turning into a full-blown data relocation project. Why didn’t I do this when I was chilling in Kilifi?

Oh well, at least the weather is improving. Yesterday was the coldest day since I’ve been in Africa. Even my trusty fleece got some use.

Wish me luck on this digital odyssey!

@ 6c8c7979:15595f3e

The history of art represents a comprehensive study of the evolution of human creativity through the ages, embodying aesthetic and cultural expression from ancient times to the modern era. This article includes an overview of various historical periods and key artistic movements that have shaped what we know today as the fine arts. It provides a comprehensive look at visual, architectural, and literary arts that deeply influenced art history.

1. Ancient and Classical Periods*: - Artistic history begins with ancient arts in the Near East and Far East, where religious significance and expressions of power and daily life were central to creativity. Examples include the arts of the Egyptian Pharaohs, Sumerians, and Assyrians.

1. Greek and Roman Art:

2. Western art was significantly influenced by Greek and Roman art, characterized by geometric dimensions and aesthetic elegance in architecture, sculpture, and painting.

3. Byzantine Art:

4. Byzantine art represents a blend of religion and art with its distinctive style and symbols that influenced Islamic art and rural architecture.

5. Art in the Middle Ages:

6. This period focused on Christian and scientific art in Europe, evolving from Romanesque styles.

7. The Renaissance:

8. In Italy, this period reflects the flourishing of science, philosophy, arts, and humanitarian movements, represented by works of artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael.

9. Modern and Contemporary Art:

10. This modern art movement reflects the impact of World Wars I and II, and includes movements such as Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstraction.

11. Contemporary Art:

12. Contemporary arts have evolved into a diverse mix of techniques and concepts, with varied styles and experiments that reflect contemporary cultural identity.

Through this article, we delve into the details of these historical periods, including analyses of major artworks and prominent artists who have shaped the face of art throughout history. We will discuss how techniques and styles of art have changed from one period to another, and how they have been influenced by the social, cultural, and political contexts of each era.

art #artstr #history

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• Security

• Convenience

• Challenges and Limitations

• Adaptation and Future Outlook

• Conclusion

• FAQ

Bitcoin and traditional banking are two different systems of financial services. Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, while traditional banking is a centralized financial institution. In this article, we will compare and contrast the security and convenience of both systems to determine which offers better value to users.

Security

Bitcoin operates on a decentralized network, which means that there is no central authority that controls transactions. Every transaction is recorded on a public ledger called the blockchain, making it transparent and tamper-proof. Bitcoin also uses cryptography to secure every transaction, making it nearly impossible to hack. The decentralized nature of Bitcoin and its cryptography make it more secure than traditional banking. Traditional banks are vulnerable to cyber attacks and fraud because they operate on a centralized system where a central authority controls transactions.

Convenience

Traditional banking offers a wide range of financial services, including ATM withdrawals, transfers, bill payments, loans, and credit cards. Banks also have physical branches where customers can speak to bank representatives and resolve their queries. However, traditional banking has its limitations. Customers have to comply with banks' working hours and locations, making it challenging to access their accounts during emergencies. Bank transactions are also subject to government regulations and third-party fees, making it expensive for customers to use their services.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, offers a high degree of convenience. It operates 24/7, making it accessible to customers anytime and anywhere in the world. Bitcoin transactions are also faster and cheaper compared to traditional banking. There are no third-party fees, making it more affordable for customers to use their services. However, Bitcoin still faces challenges in terms of adoption and acceptance. While more merchants are accepting Bitcoin as a mode of payment, it is still not widely accepted compared to traditional payment methods.

Challenges and Limitations

Bitcoin faces challenges in terms of adoption and acceptance. Some people are still skeptical about Bitcoin's value and stability, and some governments have imposed restrictions on its use. Additionally, Bitcoin's decentralized nature makes it difficult to regulate and control, which could lead to legal issues. On the other hand, traditional banking is subject to government regulations, which can sometimes limit their services and products. Compliance with these regulations can also increase costs, which are often passed on to customers.

Adaptation and Future Outlook

As technology continues to evolve, both Bitcoin and traditional banking will have to adapt to meet the changing needs of customers. Bitcoin is already being integrated into the financial system, and more merchants are accepting it as a mode of payment. Traditional banks are also adopting digital technologies to offer more convenience to customers. In the future, it is possible that the lines between Bitcoin and traditional banking will blur, as both systems adopt similar technologies and offer similar services.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Bitcoin and traditional banking offer different levels of security and convenience. Bitcoin's decentralized network and cryptography make it more secure than traditional banking, while traditional banking offers a wide range of financial services that are convenient for customers. The choice between Bitcoin and traditional banking ultimately depends on individual preferences and needs. However, as technology continues to evolve, it is likely that both systems will continue to adapt and offer better value to their users.

FAQ

What is traditional banking? Traditional banking is a centralized financial institution that offers a wide range of financial services, including loans, credit cards, and savings accounts.

Which is more secure, Bitcoin or traditional banking? Bitcoin is considered more secure than traditional banking because it operates on a decentralized network and uses cryptography to secure transactions.

Which is more convenient, Bitcoin or traditional banking? Bitcoin is more convenient in terms of accessibility and affordability, as it operates 24/7 and has no third-party fees. However, traditional banking offers a wide range of financial services and has physical branches for customer support.

What are the challenges faced by Bitcoin and traditional banking? Bitcoin faces challenges in terms of adoption and acceptance, while traditional banking is subject to government regulations and compliance issues.

How can Bitcoin and traditional banking adapt to meet the changing needs of customers? Both Bitcoin and traditional banking can adopt digital technologies to offer more convenience and value to their customers, while also adhering to regulatory compliance.

That's all for today

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Censorship-resistant relay discovery in Nostr

In Nostr is not decentralized nor censorship-resistant I said Nostr is centralized. Peter Todd thinks it is centralized by design, but I disagree.

Nostr wasn't designed to be centralized. The idea was always that clients would follow people in the relays they decided to publish to, even if it was a single-user relay hosted in an island in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

But the Nostr explanations never had any guidance about how to do this, and the protocol itself never had any enforcement mechanisms for any of this (because it would be impossible).

My original idea was that clients would use some undefined combination of relay hints in reply tags and the (now defunct) kind:2 relay-recommendation events plus some form of manual action ("it looks like Bob is publishing on relay X, do you want to follow him there?") to accomplish this. With the expectation that we would have a better idea of how to properly implement all this with more experience, Branle, my first working client didn't have any of that implemented, instead it used a stupid static list of relays with read/write toggle -- although it did publish relay hints and kept track of those internally and supported kind:2 events, these things were not really useful.

Gossip was the first client to implement a truly censorship-resistant relay discovery mechanism that used NIP-05 hints (originally proposed by Mike Dilger) relay hints and kind:3 relay lists, and then with the simple insight of NIP-65 that got much better. After seeing it in more concrete terms, it became simpler to reason about it and the approach got popularized as the "gossip model", then implemented in clients like Coracle and Snort.

Today when people mention the "gossip model" (or "outbox model") they simply think about NIP-65 though. Which I think is ok, but too restrictive. I still think there is a place for the NIP-05 hints, nprofile and nevent relay hints and specially relay hints in event tags. All these mechanisms are used together in ZBD Social, for example, but I believe also in the clients listed above.

I don't think we should stop here, though. I think there are other ways, perhaps drastically different ways, to approach content propagation and relay discovery. I think manual action by users is underrated and could go a long way if presented in a nice UX (not conceived by people that think users are dumb animals), and who knows what. Reliance on third-parties, hardcoded values, social graph, and specially a mix of multiple approaches, is what Nostr needs to be censorship-resistant and what I hope to see in the future.

@ 0d2a0f56:ef40df51

Today, I want to explore a question that's fundamental to our community: What is Bitcoin?

At its core, Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, without a central bank or single administrator, that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries. Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain.

But Bitcoin is so much more than this technical definition. It's a revolution in finance, a beacon of hope for financial freedom, and arguably, the antidote to many of the economic ailments plaguing our world today.

When I say "Bitcoin is the Antidote," I'm making a bold, abstract claim. An antidote is a remedy or solution to a problem or difficult situation. To truly explain why I believe this, I need to share my personal journey.

My story begins long before Bitcoin. In my mid-20s, I was living what many would consider a successful life. I had finished school and became an electrician, owned real estate, and was earning $120,000 to $140,000 a year. I was growing my family and excelling in my career. Yet, something was missing.

I wanted to be legendary, but for all the wrong reasons. My success came with a misguided sense of entitlement and a desire for luxury. This mindset led to depression and hopelessness. By night, I was a thrill-seeking, woman-chasing, money-wasting, alcohol-abusing party animal. This lifestyle nearly killed me, crashing down in early 2018 and resulting in months of recovery at the University of Chicago.

After this wake-up call, I promised myself I'd make better use of my time. I quit alcohol and partying cold turkey, transitioned to a less physically intense career, and started seeking something meaningful to build for my family.

In 2019-2020, I diversified my interests. I took classes on digital marketing, blockchain, social media entrepreneurship, and even MIT classes on the future of work. I dabbled in various investments - classic cars, private equity, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and metaverse properties. I was particularly drawn to altcoins and their ambitious whitepapers.

Then COVID hit, and the world as we knew it changed. Markets crashed, economic downturns accelerated. Amidst this chaos, I found myself reading the Bitcoin whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto. It was a pivotal moment.

The whitepaper aligned realities for me, unblocking my perception to view the world differently. Concepts like peer-to-peer cash, time, energy, central authorities, money, inflation - it all sparked something inside me. I began converting all my assets into Bitcoin.

As an electrician, I quickly saw Bitcoin as a much-needed reference point, a tool to measure against and better understand value. It wasn't just coincidence that Bitcoin went from a fraction of a penny to $20,000 per coin by 2020. This price action reflected the devaluation of the dollar and highlighted the misuse of money by states against their own citizens.

Reading the Bitcoin whitepaper led me down a rabbit hole of research into politics, economics, social science, and money. It helped me better understand how to preserve energy and value, what property is, and how to store and conserve it.

I discovered voices like Robert Breedlove, Michael Saylor, and Max Keiser, who elaborated on the problems Bitcoin solves. I was introduced to the Bitcoin community through conferences like Oslo Freedom Forum. Bitcoin began to feel like something spiritual, where people gathered with purpose, spreading awareness and fighting for a better way.

For someone like me, with an obsessive and addictive personality and a relentless appetite for knowledge, Bitcoin became the antidote. It was the truth serum I needed to shine a light on my toxic behaviors. But more than that, Bitcoin offered something I had been searching for without realizing it - an unlimited pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.

In many ways, diving into Bitcoin reminds me of a spiritual journey or the pursuit of God. It's a never-ending quest for understanding, always offering new layers to uncover, new concepts to grasp, and new implications to consider. This property makes Bitcoin a perfect transition for people with past addictive behaviors.

Where I once channeled my addictive tendencies into destructive habits, I now find myself addicted to learning. I'm constantly reading about economics, cryptography, game theory, and philosophy. I'm engaging in discussions about the nature of money, the role of the state, and the future of human coordination. This intellectual stimulation provides the same rush I used to seek in less healthy ways, but instead of destroying me, it's building me up.

The Bitcoin rabbit hole is deep and wide. It touches on so many aspects of human knowledge and experience that it can keep even the most voracious minds occupied indefinitely. For those of us who struggle with addictive behaviors, this can be a lifesaver. It provides a positive outlet for our obsessive tendencies, a constructive way to channel our energy and passion.

Moreover, the Bitcoin community, with its conferences, meetups, and online forums, offers a sense of belonging and purpose that many addicts seek. It's a global movement united by shared values of freedom, sovereignty, and honest money. This sense of community and higher purpose can fill the void that many try to fill with substances or destructive behaviors.

It's not simple to explain in a few pages how life-changing Bitcoin can be, but I promise that if you take on the task of better understanding Bitcoin and the problems it solves, it can become your antidote too. Whether you're battling addiction, seeking purpose, or simply looking to understand the world better, Bitcoin offers a path forward.

Bitcoin is the antidote to complacency, to financial illiteracy, to centralized control. It's a beacon of hope in a world that often seems hopeless. It's not just about money - it's about freedom, understanding, and reclaiming our sovereignty. It's about finding a positive addiction that enriches your life rather than depletes it.

As we navigate these uncertain times, I invite you to explore Bitcoin not just as a financial tool, but as a paradigm shift, a new way of thinking, and potentially, a new way of life. It might just become your antidote too.

Stay curious, stay sovereign,

Joe Thomas Founder, The Bitcoin Blok

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

início

"Vocês vêem? Vêem a história? Vêem alguma coisa? Me parece que estou tentando lhes contar um sonho -- fazendo uma tentativa inútil, porque nenhum relato de sonho pode transmitir a sensação de sonho, aquela mistura de absurdo, surpresa e espanto numa excitação de revolta tentando se impôr, aquela noção de ser tomado pelo incompreensível que é da própria essência dos sonhos..."

Ele ficou em silêncio por alguns instantes.

"... Não, é impossível; é impossível transmitir a sensação viva de qualquer época determinada de nossa existência -- aquela que constitui a sua verdade, o seu significado, a sua essência sutil e contundente. É impossível. Vivemos, como sonhamos -- sozinhos..."

• Livros mencionados por Olavo de Carvalho
• Antiga homepage Olavo de Carvalho
• Bitcoin explicado de um jeito correto e inteligível
• Reclamações

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• Nostr
• Bitcoin
• How IPFS is broken
• Programming quibbles
• Economics
• Open-source software

---

Nostr GitHub Telegram Donate

@ 81870f53:29bef6a6

93歳のウォーレン・バフェット氏の推定純資産は1406億9000万ドル、つまり1400億ドルに相当する。

悪くない。ゼロよりは良いです

多いとも言っておきましょう。

それはさらに巨大です。

しかし、ウォーレン・バフェットの幸運の物語は素晴らしいです。

なぜなら、30歳の時点で彼は100万ドルの財産しか持っていなかったからだ。

35歳の時点で700万しか持っていなかったからです。

40歳の時点で2500万しか持っていなかったからです。

だって、44歳でお金を失った彼には1900万しか残っていなかったんです…。

残りについては、このグラフをご覧ください。

この例から何を覚えておくべきでしょうか?

発見。彼の現在の財産 1,400 億のうち、1,360 億、つまり 97% は彼の 59 歳の誕生日以降に生み出されたものです。ウォーレン・バフェットは相続人でも宝くじの当選者でもありませんでした。

統治者。幸運には常に多くの時間が必要ですが、ここではいわゆる累積効果の影響について考えます。

累積効果はすべてのものに有効です。

学校のお仕事や予備校への入学に。

他の人が羨むような昇進を可能にする職場での仕事に。

スポーツの場合、チャンピオンがチャンピオンになれるのはトレーニングの累積効果だけだからです。

つまり、時間と長期にわたる継続的な努力は、経済的な面だけでなく、成功を築くための 2 つの基本ルールです。

偉大な作家、偉大な詩人、偉大な音楽家は常に多くの時間と努力を要します。

これが、なぜ「老人」が「裕福」であり、「若者」が「貧しい」のかを説明するものです。

誰もが成長し、発展し、働き、累積的な効果を引き起こすために時間が必要です。

私たちは人々に、ましてや若い人たちに、何もしなくてもすべてを手に入れることができる、忍耐しなければすべてを手に入れることができるなどと言ってはなりません。

人生には意味があり、その意味は、私たちは皆、改善し、理解し、より良くなるために自分の人生の道を旅し、歩まなければならないということです。

正しい選択をした人が成功します。

他は失敗します。

私たちはこれを覚えておかなければなりません。

失敗した人を裁いたり非難したりするのではなく、物事の仕組みをよく理解することで、できるだけ多くの人が成功できるようにすることです。

成功の法則は太古の昔から同じです。

自由に使えるお金はありません。安楽な中には成功もありませんし、怠惰な中には幸福もありません。

存在するということは、物事を行い、成果を上げ、それが他の人の目に存在するように示すことができることです。

もっと詳しく知りたい、そして新学期の初めに避けられないチェーンソー税の大虐殺から身を守りたい人は、今が STRATEGIES ファイルを購読する時期です。特別ファイル「税金虐殺から逃れる方法と今、私たちができること」をご覧いただけます。さらに詳しく知りたい場合は、すべての情報がここにあります。わずかな税金を支払えば、98 ユーロはすぐに利益になります。これにより、もう少し支払う必要がなくなります。すべての情報はここにあります。

左派であろうと右派であろうと中央であろうと、金庫は補充されなければならないだろう。

すでに手遅れですが、すべてが失われたわけではありません。

準備をしてください！

この記事がお役に立てば幸いです。 もしそうなら、チップをおくるどうぞ https://getalby.com/p/bitcap

日本のホスティングサービス Linux、Windowsクラウドホスティング データストレージ JPStream を使用して NOSTR リレーを作成する ホスティング サービスの料金をSatsで支払うことができます https://jpstream.net

@ 6871d8df:4a9396c1

In an era where data seems to be as valuable as currency, the prevailing trend in AI starkly contrasts with the concept of personal data ownership. The explosion of AI and the ensuing race have made it easy to overlook where the data is coming from. The current model, dominated by big tech players, involves collecting vast amounts of user data and selling it to AI companies for training LLMs. Reddit recently penned a 60 million dollar deal, Google guards and mines Youtube, and more are going this direction. But is that their data to sell? Yes, it's on their platforms, but without the users to generate it, what would they monetize? To me, this practice raises significant ethical questions, as it assumes that user data is a commodity that companies can exploit at will.

The heart of the issue lies in the ownership of data. Why, in today's digital age, do we not retain ownership of our data? Why can't our data follow us, under our control, to wherever we want to go? These questions echo the broader sentiment that while some in the tech industry — such as the blockchain-first crypto bros — recognize the importance of data ownership, their "blockchain for everything solutions," to me, fall significantly short in execution.

Reddit further complicates this with its current move to IPO, which, on the heels of the large data deal, might reinforce the mistaken belief that user-generated data is a corporate asset. Others, no doubt, will follow suit. This underscores the urgent need for a paradigm shift towards recognizing and respecting user data as personal property.

In my perfect world, the digital landscape would undergo a revolutionary transformation centered around the empowerment and sovereignty of individual data ownership. Platforms like Twitter, Reddit, Yelp, YouTube, and Stack Overflow, integral to our digital lives, would operate on a fundamentally different premise: user-owned data.

In this envisioned future, data ownership would not just be a concept but a practice, with public and private keys ensuring the authenticity and privacy of individual identities. This model would eliminate the private data silos that currently dominate, where companies profit from selling user data without consent. Instead, data would traverse a decentralized protocol akin to the internet, prioritizing user control and transparency.

The cornerstone of this world would be a meritocratic digital ecosystem. Success for companies would hinge on their ability to leverage user-owned data to deliver unparalleled value rather than their capacity to gatekeep and monetize information. If a company breaks my trust, I can move to a competitor, and my data, connections, and followers will come with me. This shift would herald an era where consent, privacy, and utility define the digital experience, ensuring that the benefits of technology are equitably distributed and aligned with the users' interests and rights.

The conversation needs to shift fundamentally. We must challenge this trajectory and advocate for a future where data ownership and privacy are not just ideals but realities. If we continue on our current path without prioritizing individual data rights, the future of digital privacy and autonomy is bleak. Big tech's dominance allows them to treat user data as a commodity, potentially selling and exploiting it without consent. This imbalance has already led to users being cut off from their digital identities and connections when platforms terminate accounts, underscoring the need for a digital ecosystem that empowers user control over data. Without changing direction, we risk a future where our content — and our freedoms by consequence — are controlled by a few powerful entities, threatening our rights and the democratic essence of the digital realm. We must advocate for a shift towards data ownership by individuals to preserve our digital freedoms and democracy.

@ 8ce092d8:950c24ad

Overview

1. Introduction
2. Model Types
3. Training (Data Collection and Config Settings)
4. Probability Viewing: AI Inspector
5. Match
6. Cheat Sheet

I. Introduction

AI Arena is the first game that combines human and artificial intelligence collaboration.

AI learns your skills through "imitation learning."

Official Resources

1. Official Documentation (Must Read): Everything You Need to Know About AI Arena

Watch the 2-minute video in the documentation to quickly understand the basic flow of the game. 2. Official Play-2-Airdrop competition FAQ Site https://aiarena.notion.site/aiarena/Gateway-to-the-Arena-52145e990925499d95f2fadb18a24ab0 3. Official Discord (Must Join): https://discord.gg/aiarenaplaytest for the latest announcements or seeking help. The team will also have a exclusive channel there. 4. Official YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aiarena because the game has built-in tutorials, you can choose to watch videos.

What is this game about?

1. Although categorized as a platform fighting game, the core is a probability-based strategy game.
2. Warriors take actions based on probabilities on the AI Inspector dashboard, competing against opponents.
3. The game does not allow direct manual input of probabilities for each area but inputs information through data collection and establishes models by adjusting parameters.
4. Data collection emulates fighting games, but training can be completed using a Dummy As long as you can complete the in-game tutorial, you can master the game controls.

II. Model Types

Before training, there are three model types to choose from: Simple Model Type, Original Model Type, and Advanced Model Type.

It is recommended to try the Advanced Model Type after completing at least one complete training with the Simple Model Type and gaining some understanding of the game.

Simple Model Type

The Simple Model is akin to completing a form, and the training session is comparable to filling various sections of that form.

This model has 30 buckets. Each bucket can be seen as telling the warrior what action to take in a specific situation. There are 30 buckets, meaning 30 different scenarios. Within the same bucket, the probabilities for direction or action are the same.

For example: What should I do when I'm off-stage — refer to the "Recovery (you off-stage)" bucket.

For all buckets, refer to this official documentation:

https://docs.aiarena.io/arenadex/game-mechanics/tabular-model-v2

Video (no sound): The entire training process for all buckets

https://youtu.be/1rfRa3WjWEA

Game version 2024.1.10. The method of saving is outdated. Please refer to the game updates.

Advanced Model Type

The "Original Model Type" and "Advanced Model Type" are based on Machine Learning, which is commonly referred to as combining with AI.

The Original Model Type consists of only one bucket, representing the entire map. If you want the AI to learn different scenarios, you need to choose a "Focus Area" to let the warrior know where to focus. A single bucket means that a slight modification can have a widespread impact on the entire model. This is where the "Advanced Model Type" comes in.

The "Advanced Model Type" can be seen as a combination of the "Original Model Type" and the "Simple Model Type". The Advanced Model Type divides the map into 8 buckets. Each bucket can use many "Focus Area." For a detailed explanation of the 8 buckets and different Focus Areas, please refer to the tutorial page (accessible in the Advanced Model Type, after completing a training session, at the top left of the Advanced Config, click on "Tutorial").

III. Training (Data Collection and Config Settings)

Training Process:

1. Collect Data
2. Set Parameters, Train, and Save
3. Repeat Step 1 until the Model is Complete

Training the Simple Model Type is the easiest to start with; refer to the video above for a detailed process.

Training the Advanced Model Type offers more possibilities through the combination of "Focus Area" parameters, providing a higher upper limit. While the Original Model Type has great potential, it's harder to control. Therefore, this section focuses on the "Advanced Model Type."

1. What Kind of Data to Collect

1. High-Quality Data: Collect purposeful data. Garbage in, garbage out. Only collect the necessary data; don't collect randomly. It's recommended to use Dummy to collect data. However, don't pursue perfection; through parameter adjustments, AI has a certain level of fault tolerance.
2. Balanced Data: Balance your dataset. In simple terms, if you complete actions on the left side a certain number of times, also complete a similar number on the right side. While data imbalance can be addressed through parameter adjustments (see below), it's advised not to have this issue during data collection.
3. Moderate Amount: A single training will include many individual actions. Collect data for each action 1-10 times. Personally, it's recommended to collect data 2-3 times for a single action. If the effect of a single training is not clear, conduct a second (or even third) training with the same content, but with different parameter settings.

2. What to Collect (and Focus Area Selection)

Game actions mimic fighting games, consisting of 4 directions + 6 states (Idle, Jump, Attack, Grab, Special, Shield). Directions can be combined into ↗, ↘, etc. These directions and states can then be combined into different actions.

To make "Focus Area" effective, you need to collect data in training that matches these parameters. For example, for "Distance to Opponent", you need to collect data when close to the opponent and also when far away. * Note: While you can split into multiple training sessions, it's most effective to cover different situations within a single training.

Refer to the Simple Config, categorize the actions you want to collect, and based on the game scenario, classify them into two categories: "Movement" and "Combat."

Movement-Based Actions

Action Collection

When the warrior is offstage, regardless of where the opponent is, we require the warrior to return to the stage to prevent self-destruction.

This involves 3 aerial buckets: 5 (Near Blast Zone), 7 (Under Stage), and 8 (Side Of Stage).

* Note: The background comes from the Tutorial mentioned earlier. The arrows in the image indicate the direction of the action and are for reference only. * Note: Action collection should be clean; do not collect actions that involve leaving the stage.

Config Settings

In the Simple Config, you can directly choose "Movement" in it. However, for better customization, it's recommended to use the Advanced Config directly. - Intensity: The method for setting Intensity will be introduced separately later. - Buckets: As shown in the image, choose the bucket you are training. - Focus Area: Position-based parameters: - Your position (must) - Raycast Platform Distance, Raycast Platform Type (optional, generally choose these in Bucket 7)

Combat-Based Actions

The goal is to direct attacks quickly and effectively towards the opponent, which is the core of game strategy.

This involves 5 buckets: - 2 regular situations - In the air: 6 (Safe Zone) - On the ground: 4 (Opponent Active) - 3 special situations on the ground: - 1 Projectile Active - 2 Opponent Knockback - 3 Opponent Stunned

2 Regular Situations

In the in-game tutorial, we learned how to perform horizontal attacks. However, in the actual game, directions expand to 8 dimensions. Imagine having 8 relative positions available for launching hits against the opponent. Our task is to design what action to use for attack or defense at each relative position.

Focus Area - Basic (generally select all) - Angle to opponent
- Distance to opponent - Discrete Distance: Choosing this option helps better differentiate between closer and farther distances from the opponent. As shown in the image, red indicates a relatively close distance, and green indicates a relatively distant distance.

• Advanced: Other commonly used parameters
• Direction: different facings to opponent
• Your Elemental Gauge and Discrete Elementals: Considering the special's charge
• Opponent action: The warrior will react based on the opponent's different actions.
• Your action: Your previous action. Choose this if teaching combos.

3 Special Situations on the Ground

Projectile Active, Opponent Stunned, Opponent Knockback These three buckets can be referenced in the Simple Model Type video. The parameter settings approach is the same as Opponent Active/Safe Zone.

For Projectile Active, in addition to the parameters based on combat, to track the projectile, you also need to select "Raycast Projectile Distance" and "Raycast Projectile On Target."

3. Setting "Intensity"

Resources

• The "Tutorial" mentioned earlier explains these parameters.
• Official Config Document (2022.12.24): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1adXwvDHEnrVZ5bUClWQoBQ8ETrSSKgG5q48YrogaFJs/edit

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TL;DR:

Epochs: - Adjust to fewer epochs if learning is insufficient, increase for more learning.

Batch Size: - Set to the minimum (16) if data is precise but unbalanced, or just want it to learn fast - Increase (e.g., 64) if data is slightly imprecise but balanced. - If both imprecise and unbalanced, consider retraining.

Learning Rate: - Maximize (0.01) for more learning but a risk of forgetting past knowledge. - Minimize for more accurate learning with less impact on previous knowledge.

Lambda: - Reduce for prioritizing learning new things.

Data Cleaning: - Enable "Remove Sparsity" unless you want AI to learn idleness. - For special cases, like teaching the warrior to use special moves when idle, refer to this tutorial video: https://discord.com/channels/1140682688651612291/1140683283626201098/1195467295913431111

Personal Experience: - Initial training with settings: 125 epochs, batch size 16, learning rate 0.01, lambda 0, data cleaning enabled. - Prioritize Multistream, sometimes use Oversampling. - Fine-tune subsequent training based on the mentioned theories.

IV. Probability Viewing: AI Inspector

The dashboard consists of "Direction + Action." Above the dashboard, you can see the "Next Action" – the action the warrior will take in its current state. The higher the probability, the more likely the warrior is to perform that action, indicating a quicker reaction. It's essential to note that when checking the Direction, the one with the highest visual representation may not have the highest numerical value. To determine the actual value, hover the mouse over the graphical representation, as shown below, where the highest direction is "Idle."

In the map, you can drag the warrior to view the probabilities of the warrior in different positions. Right-click on the warrior with the mouse to change the warrior's facing. The status bar below can change the warrior's state on the map.

When training the "Opponent Stunned, Opponent Knockback" bucket, you need to select the status below the opponent's status bar. If you are focusing on "Opponent action" in the Focus Zone, choose the action in the opponent's status bar. If you are focusing on "Your action" in the Focus Zone, choose the action in your own status bar. When training the "Projectile Active" Bucket, drag the projectile on the right side of the dashboard to check the status.

Next

The higher the probability, the faster the reaction. However, be cautious when the action probability reaches 100%. This may cause the warrior to be in a special case of "State Transition," resulting in unnecessary "Idle" states.

Explanation: In each state a fighter is in, there are different "possible transitions". For example, from falling state you cannot do low sweep because low sweep requires you to be on the ground. For the shield state, we do not allow you to directly transition to headbutt. So to do headbutt you have to first exit to another state and then do it from there (assuming that state allows you to do headbutt). This is the reason the fighter runs because "run" action is a valid state transition from shield. Source

V. Learn from Matches

After completing all the training, your model is preliminarily finished—congratulations! The warrior will step onto the arena alone and embark on its debut!

Next, we will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the warrior from battles to continue refining the warrior's model.

In matches, besides appreciating the performance, pay attention to the following:

1. Movement, i.e., Off the Stage: Observe how the warrior gets eliminated. Is it due to issues in the action settings at a certain position, or is it a normal death caused by a high percentage? The former is what we need to avoid and optimize.

2. Combat: Analyze both sides' actions carefully. Observe which actions you and the opponent used in different states. Check which of your hits are less effective, and how does the opponent handle different actions, etc.

The approach to battle analysis is similar to the thought process in the "Training", helping to have a more comprehensive understanding of the warrior's performance and making targeted improvements.

VI. Cheat Sheet

Training 1. Click "Collect" to collect actions. 2. "Map - Data Limit" is more user-friendly. Most players perform initial training on the "Arena" map. 3. Switch between the warrior and the dummy: Tab key (keyboard) / Home key (controller). 4. Use "Collect" to make the opponent loop a set of actions. 5. Instantly move the warrior to a specific location: Click "Settings" - SPAWN - Choose the desired location on the map - On. Press the Enter key (keyboard) / Start key (controller) during training.

Inspector 1. Right-click on the fighter to change their direction. Drag the fighter and observe the changes in different positions and directions. 2. When satisfied with the training, click "Save." 3. In "Sparring" and "Simulation," use "Current Working Model." 4. If satisfied with a model, then click "compete." The model used in the rankings is the one marked as "competing."

Sparring / Ranked 1. Use the Throneroom map only for the top 2 or top 10 rankings. 2. There is a 30-second cooldown between matches. The replays are played for any match. Once the battle begins, you can see the winner on the leaderboard or by right-clicking the page - Inspect - Console. Also, if you encounter any errors or bugs, please send screenshots of the console to the Discord server.

Good luck! See you on the arena!

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Nostr: a quick introduction, attempt #1

Nostr doesn't have a material existence, it is not a website or an app. Nostr is just a description what kind of messages each computer can send to the others and vice-versa. It's a very simple thing, but the fact that such description exists allows different apps to connect to different servers automatically, without people having to talk behind the scenes or sign contracts or anything like that.

When you use a Nostr client that is what happens, your client will connect to a bunch of servers, called relays, and all these relays will speak the same "language" so your client will be able to publish notes to them all and also download notes from other people.

That's basically what Nostr is: this communication layer between the client you run on your phone or desktop computer and the relay that someone else is running on some server somewhere. There is no central authority dictating who can connect to whom or even anyone who knows for sure where each note is stored.

If you think about it, Nostr is very much like the internet itself: there are millions of websites out there, and basically anyone can run a new one, and there are websites that allow you to store and publish your stuff on them.

The added benefit of Nostr is that this unified "language" that all Nostr clients speak allow them to switch very easily and cleanly between relays. So if one relay decides to ban someone that person can switch to publishing to others relays and their audience will quickly follow them there. Likewise, it becomes much easier for relays to impose any restrictions they want on their users: no relay has to uphold a moral ground of "absolute free speech": each relay can decide to delete notes or ban users for no reason, or even only store notes from a preselected set of people and no one will be entitled to complain about that.

There are some bad things about this design: on Nostr there are no guarantees that relays will have the notes you want to read or that they will store the notes you're sending to them. We can't just assume all relays will have everything — much to the contrary, as Nostr grows more relays will exist and people will tend to publishing to a small set of all the relays, so depending on the decisions each client takes when publishing and when fetching notes, users may see a different set of replies to a note, for example, and be confused.

Another problem with the idea of publishing to multiple servers is that they may be run by all sorts of malicious people that may edit your notes. Since no one wants to see garbage published under their name, Nostr fixes that by requiring notes to have a cryptographic signature. This signature is attached to the note and verified by everybody at all times, which ensures the notes weren't tampered (if any part of the note is changed even by a single character that would cause the signature to become invalid and then the note would be dropped). The fix is perfect, except for the fact that it introduces the requirement that each user must now hold this 63-character code that starts with "nsec1", which they must not reveal to anyone. Although annoying, this requirement brings another benefit: that users can automatically have the same identity in many different contexts and even use their Nostr identity to login to non-Nostr websites easily without having to rely on any third-party.

To conclude: Nostr is like the internet (or the internet of some decades ago): a little chaotic, but very open. It is better than the internet because it is structured and actions can be automated, but, like in the internet itself, nothing is guaranteed to work at all times and users many have to do some manual work from time to time to fix things. Plus, there is the cryptographic key stuff, which is painful, but cool.

@ 862fda7e:02a8268b

If you're a straight man jacking off to straight porn, you're gay. You're looking at another man's cock as a means to get gratification. Without that man's cock, your sexual experience wouldn't be fulfilled. You needing to see that man's cock in order to be sexually fulfilled is gay. I like men but even I can't stand looking at a dude's cock as he bangs a chick. It's a complete turn off. It ruins the entire thing. I don't want to see a man's body, I don't want to see his penis, I don't want to hear him. We have the technology to perfectly replicate a male penis and even automated thrusting. There's no need to continue to jack off to a real man's penis. I don't understand how any self respecting man can become erect while watching another man and his penis bang a hot chick. It's the defenition of cucking, but people will try to rationalize their way out of it. You're the cuck, you just don't have a camera panned on you showing your shame as you pound off.

This is why lesbian or solo porn is always superior. Two is better than one, so lesbian porn is by far the best. Lesbian porno has no cocks, or if it does, they're fake and not disgusting. You don't have to deal with looking at a dildo's asshole as it pounds a chick. Lesbian porn is weirdly underrated these days. I almost NEVER see anyone talk about it. It's always degenerate straight porn or overwhelmingly gay shit. You're way more likely to see gay and tranny garbage before lesbians. It's weird that lesbians are probably one of the lesser viewed categories these days. There's a lot of homos out there. Females are not threatening to a sexual situation. It's male penetration that is cuck-like behavior. With females it is all playful and sensual, always with room for more to play. The more cocks you have around a woman, the gayer and more homosexual it is. I especially can't wrap my mind around being turned on by cum shots on a woman. You're jacking off to not only a guy's cock, but his orgasm. You're jacking off to his load. And yes, I UNDERSTAND you're "jacking off to the woman getting cummed on", but you miss the point. You are jacking off to a man having an orgasm. It's never sat right with me, when I want to utilize "material", I want to get turned on by a woman. I feel more straight than straight men at times.

@ 7361ca91:252fce6d

数日前、スペインでインスティトゥト・フアン・デ・マリアナが主催する「自由の晩餐会」が開催されました。このイベントは、リベラルな組織にとって最も重要で象徴的な行事の一つで、毎年開催され、スペインや他の国々から自由の擁護者たちが集う場となり、ネットワーキングやリベラルなアイデアに関する議論の場を提供します。

この晩餐会では、自由の擁護において卓越した献身を示した個人や団体に贈られる権威ある「フアン・デ・マリアナ賞」が授与されます。この賞は、経済、政治、哲学の分野で著名な人物に贈られており、彼らは個人の自由と自由市場の進展に大きく貢献しています。

今回は、スペインの著名な経済学者、弁護士、作家であり、レイ・フアン・カルロス大学（URJC）の政治経済学の教授であるヘスス・ウエルタ・デ・ソトが、アルゼンチンの大統領で現代リベラリズムの主要な知識人の一人であるハビエル・ミレイに賞を授与しました。ウエルタ・デ・ソトは、リベラルな思想において影響力のある人物であり、ミレイの知的指導者として、その自由の擁護における見事な業績を称賛しました。

スピーチの中で、ウエルタ・デ・ソトは、これは彼の人生で最も重要なスピーチであると述べました。それが彼の最も重要な知的貢献とは考えていないものの、これまでに行ってきた自由の理念の擁護と普及に関するすべての仕事をある意味で総括する、彼のキャリアにおいて最も重要な言葉であると考えています。

以下、ハビエル・ミレイを深く感動させ、彼の目に涙を浮かべさせたスピーチの翻訳になります。

今日は、恐れを知らず、世界を変えるために自己を犠牲にすることをためらわない一人の男に敬意を表します。自由という言葉を聞くだけで心が力強く鼓動する男、ハビエル・ミレイは、休むことなく、譲ることなく、自由を追い求めています。それは彼の大きな夢であり、そのエネルギーと情熱は、歴史上の偉大な自由の英雄たちにしか見られないものです。ハビエル・ミレイは、まさにそのような存在になりました。

まず、経済学を学ぶ人々にとって、彼は優れた経済学者としてその分野を完全に掌握しており、謙虚に理解しています。周囲の世界を理解するには、オーストリア学派の経済学の動的で企業家的、創造的なアプローチに従うことが必要であると。実際には、それはスペインの黄金時代のスコラ哲学者たちに由来するため、スペイン学派と呼ばれるべきです。

彼の言葉を借りるならば、ハビエル・ミレイは、主流派のネオクラシカル経済学の限界を見抜くことができました。その仮定の非現実性、形式的および方法論的な還元主義、そして何よりも、最悪の場合には社会工学と国家主義を助長し、最良の場合でも市場を誤った理由で擁護するという重大な誤りを犯している、幻想的な均衡モデルに基づいているからです。オーストリア学派が教えてくれるように、市場は自発的で素晴らしい人間の協力のプロセスであり、創造性と調整を促進します。このプロセスは、国家主義によって改善されることはなく、その科学的な不可能性もまたオーストリア学派によって証明されています。

さらに、ハビエル・ミレイは、今日の政治家にとっての模範となっています。彼は、自身が擁護する主張の科学的基盤を完全に理解し、確信と知的誠実さをもって自由を守ることができるからです。ちょうど、どの医師も医学を完全に習得することなくしてその職務を果たすべきでないのと同様に、いかなる政治指導者、議会議員、大使、あるいはどの省庁の高官も、オーストリア学派が教える経済学、自由、倫理の基本理論を事前に知らずしてその役割を果たすべきではありません。

現在、民主主義が、嘘と税金で得た資金による票の買収に基づく、歪んだシステムへと変わりつつある中で、ハビエル・ミレイは、常に真実を語り、厳しい現実を市民に説明しつつ、なおも自由の理念に対する圧倒的な支持を得ることが可能であることを示しました。彼のリーダーシップは、日々の政治の制約に左右されることなく、決して方向を見失わず、さらに自由を推進する努力を怠りません。したがって、各国でミレイのモデルに従うことを求める者たちは、すでにその道筋とすべきことを知っています。それは、ミレイのモデルを忠実に守ることです。

また、ハビエル・ミレイはすべての人々、特に若者にとっての模範ともなっています。人間の魂に感染する最も致命的なウイルスである国家主義に対抗する中で、ハビエル・ミレイは、他の誰よりも自由の理念を広めるという並外れた功績を持っています。彼は、文字通り、街頭や広場で、そしてメディアを通じて、何千人もの人々に経済理論を教え、知的かつ道徳的に国家主義の理念を打ち破ってきました。彼の言葉によれば、それはこれまで良識ある人々を縛りつけていたものです。特に、若者にとって、ミレイは模範的な存在であり、まだ完全に汚染されておらず、国家主義の罠に陥っていない彼らが、少し勉強し、オーストリア学派の理念に従えば、自由の熱心な擁護者となり、国家が課す組織的な暴力と強制に対する強力な反対者へとすぐに変わることができるでしょう。

自由、生命、財産を象徴する善と、暴力と国家による強制を具現化する悪との間の永続的な闘争において、今日、我々は知的にも道徳的にも歴史的にも、国家主義が死に瀕していると断言できます。この新たな時代において、ハビエル・ミレイと彼を間違いなく支持する者たちの力を借りて、我々の使命は、国家主義に最終的なとどめを刺すことです。未来は、自由を愛し信じる我々のものです。現在、あらゆる派閥の政治家や国家主義者たちが、本当にショックを受け、恐怖におののき、防御的になっているのは驚くべきことではありません。ハビエル・ミレイが言うように、それは「世界中のファシストたち」、そしてハイエクを引用すれば、それは左翼も右翼も含むすべての政党です。

最後に、ハビエル・ミレイは、寛大さの模範でもあります。彼は、出身に関係なく、かつての対立者たちに対しても寛大です。自分の過ちを誠実に認め、自由の理想を抱く勇気と知的誠実さを示す者たちは、彼の寛大さを受けます。多くの人々が、ミレイの話を聞いて、自分が実はアナルコ・キャピタリスト（無政府資本主義者）である、またはそうなりたかったことに気づいています。ハビエル・ミレイは決して自分を神格化することはなく、常に機会があるごとに、自分の偉大な師たちを引用します。それは、ミーゼス、ハイエク、ロスバード、ギットナー、ホッペといった巨人たちと肩を並べるにはふさわしくない私のような者も含まれます。このすべて、そしてハビエル・ミレイが私の人生のこの段階で私にもたらしてくれた大きな個人的な幸福のために、私は彼の知的寛大さに対して、個人的にも道徳的にも感謝しなければなりません。

さらに、リチャード・ソモンテにも感謝したいと思います。彼は、社会主義から逃れてマドリードにやってきたキューバの芸術家で、大人物の壮大な肖像画、とりわけ私の祖父がファンだったフアン・ベルモンテのような闘牛士の肖像画を得意としています。ソモンテは、21世紀の政治の真の闘牛士、ハビエル・ミレイの巨大な肖像画を完成させるというアイデアを私に提案してくれました。この場合、戦って倒すべき「牛」は、間違いなく国家です。

今日ここにあるこの肖像画は、この場で彼に贈るためのものです。話を終えるまでの1分半後に、皆さんがご覧になれる献辞が書かれています。それはこう書かれています。「自由の巨人、ハビエル・ミレイ大統領へ、彼の教授であるヘスス・ウエルタ・デ・ソトより、今日の日に。」

そして、マーティン・ルーサー・キングを引用して、こう締めくくります。「I have a dream」、私には夢があります。私は、国家が最終的に解体され、暗く恐ろしい歴史的な遺物としてのみ記憶される日を夢見ています。私は、国家の論理と理性、そしてそれが引き起こす社会的な紛争や無限の暴力が完全に、そして永久に消え去る世界を夢見ています。私は、人間を財政的に搾取することを目的とする国家が存在しない世界を夢見ています。私は、官僚たちが私たちの子供たちを洗脳せず、彼らを国家の所有物と見なさない世界を夢見ています。

私は、福祉国家という嘘が、特に最も困窮し、弱い立場にある人々のために、国家のない真の福祉に取って代わられる世界を夢見ています。私は、強制的で歪められた社会正義が、自由市場の無限の繁栄と愛に基づいた自発的な人間の連帯によって取って代わられる世界を夢見ています。それは、自由であるからこそ真実であり、強制や暴力によって押し付けられるものではありません。私は、したがって、自由意思による、自己調整された、無政府資本主義の世界を夢見ています。

私は、オーストリア学派が説明するように、今日では強制的で非道徳的なすべての公共サービスが、道徳的かつ効率的で、民間によって提供される世界を夢見ています。要するに、私は、人間がついに国家主義の鎖から解放され、自由に神を選ぶことができる世界を夢見ています、もしそう望むなら。

ハビエル・ミレイと、常に私たちを見守る天の力のおかげで、今日は未来の歴史が始まり、私の夢が現実になり始めました。そして最後に、四つの万歳を叫びます。オーストリア学派の経済学に万歳！偉大なるアルゼンチンと、その大統領ハビエル・ミレイに万歳！そしてもちろん、自由に万歳！カーラホ！

注釈：

ヘスス・ウエルタ・デ・ソト・バリェステルは、スペインの著名な経済学者、弁護士、作家であり、レイ・フアン・カルロス大学（URJC）の政治経済学の教授です。オーストリア学派の代表として、彼は『社会主義、経済計算と企業機能』("Socialismo, Cálculo Económico y Función Empresarial")において、企業の機能と社会主義の不可能性に関する重要な理論的貢献をしています。さらに、彼は『マネー、銀行信用と経済サイクル』("Dinero, Crédito Bancario y Ciclos Económicos")において、オーストリア学派の景気循環理論の発展と動的効率性の擁護で知られています。ウエルタ・デ・ソトは、社会の現実は理論的、歴史的、倫理的なアプローチを組み合わせて分析すべきであると主張し、アナルコキャピタリズム（無政府資本主義）と完全な経済の自由化を支持しています。彼の作品は多くの言語に翻訳されており、経済の自由と金融改革の擁護において、影響力のある人物としての地位を確立しています。

インスティトゥト・フアン・デ・マリアナ（IJM） は、スペインのマドリードに本拠を置くリベラル志向のシンクタンクで、2005年に設立されました。その目的は、その定款によると、「スペイン、ヨーロッパ、およびヒスパニックアメリカの広い大衆に対し、私有財産、自由な企業活動、および公共権力の行動範囲の制限がもたらす利益を紹介すること」です。その名称は、サラマンカ学派の後期の代表者であるフアン・デ・マリアナに由来しています。また、マドリードのレイ・フアン・カルロス大学の法学部および社会科学部において、オーストリア学派の経済学修士課程を後援しています。

@ 1a48e74d:02c0e00f

Minimalism and Bitcoin is a topic that I will be diving into over the next few weeks. I am just testing out a new writing client :)

minimalism

@ a619eb76:11d75935

I. Over-Population

In 1931, when Brave New World was being written, I was convinced that there was still plenty of time. The completely organized society, the scientific caste system, the abolition of free will by methodical conditioning, the servitude made acceptable by regular doses of chemically induced happiness, the orthodoxies drummed in by nightly courses of sleep-teaching -- these things were coming all right, but not in my time, not even in the time of my grandchildren. I forget the exact date of the events recorded in Brave New World; but it was somewhere in the sixth or seventh century A.F. (After Ford). We who were living in the second quarter of the twentieth century A.D. were the inhabitants, admittedly, of a gruesome kind of universe; but the nightmare of those depression years was radically different from the nightmare of the future, described in Brave New World. Ours was a nightmare of too little order; theirs, in the seventh century A.F., of too much. In the process of passing from one extreme to the other, there would be a long interval, so I imagined, during which the more fortunate third of the human race would make the best of both worlds -- the disorderly world of liberalism and the much too orderly Brave New World where perfect efficiency left no room for freedom or personal initiative.

Twenty-seven years later, in this third quarter of the twentieth century A.D., and long before the end of the first century A.F., I feel a good deal less optimistic than I did when I was writing Brave New World. The prophecies made in 1931 are coming true much sooner than I thought they would. The blessed interval between too little order and the nightmare of too much has not begun and shows no sign of beginning. In the West, it is true, individual men and women still enjoy a large measure of freedom. But even in those countries that have a tradition of democratic government, this freedom and even the desire for this freedom seem to be on the wane. In the rest of the world freedom for individuals has already gone, or is manifestly about to go. The nightmare of total organization, which I had situated in the seventh century After Ford, has emerged from the safe, remote future and is now awaiting us, just around the next corner. George Orwell's 1984 was a magnified projection into the future of a present that contained Stalinism and an immediate past that had witnessed the flowering of Nazism. Brave New World was written before the rise of Hitler to supreme power in Germany and when the Russian tyrant had not yet got into his stride. In 1931 systematic terrorism was not the obsessive contemporary fact which it had become in 1948, and the future dictatorship of my imaginary world was a good deal less brutal than the future dictatorship so brilliantly portrayed by Orwell. In the context of 1948, 1984 seemed dreadfully convincing. But tyrants, after all, are mortal and circumstances change. Recent developments in Russia and recent advances in science and technology have robbed Orwell's book of some of its gruesome verisimilitude. A nuclear war will, of course, make nonsense of everybody's predictions. But, assuming for the moment that the Great Powers can somehow refrain from destroying us, we can say that it now looks as though the odds were more in favor of something like Brave New World than of something like 1984.

In the light of what we have recently learned about animal behavior in general, and human behavior in particular, it has become clear that control through the punishment of undesirable behavior is less effective, in the long run, than control through the reinforcement of desirable behavior by rewards, and that government through terror works on the whole less well than government through the non-violent manipulation of the environment and of the thoughts and feelings of individual men, women and children. Punishment temporarily puts a stop to undesirable behavior, but does not permanently reduce the victim's tendency to indulge in it. Moreover, the psycho-physical by-products of punishment may be just as undesirable as the behavior for which an individual has been punished. Psychotherapy is largely concerned with the debilitating or anti-social consequences of past punishments.

The society described in 1984 is a society controlled almost exclusively by punishment and the fear of punishment. In the imaginary world of my own fable, pun- ishment is infrequent and generally mild. The nearly perfect control exercised by the government is achieved by systematic reinforcement of desirable behavior, by many kinds of nearly non-violent manipulation, both physical and psychological, and by genetic standardization. Babies in bottles and the centralized control of reproduction are not perhaps impossible; but it is quite clear that for a long time to come we shall remain a viviparous species breeding at random. For practical purposes genetic standardization may be ruled out. Societies will continue to be controlled post-natally -- by punishment, as in the past, and to an ever increasing extent by the more effective methods of reward and scientific manipulation.

In Russia the old-fashioned, 1984-style dictatorship of Stalin has begun to give way to a more up-to-date form of tyranny. In the upper levels of the Soviets' hierarchical society the reinforcement of desirable behavior has begun to replace the older methods of control through the punishment of undesirable behavior. Engineers and scientists, teachers and administrators, are handsomely paid for good work and so moderately taxed that they are under a constant incentive to do better and so be more highly rewarded. In certain areas they are at liberty to think and do more or less what they like. Punishment awaits them only when they stray beyond their prescribed limits into the realms of ideology and politics. It is because they have been granted a measure of professional freedom that Russian teachers, scientists and technicians have achieved such remarkable successes. Those who live near the base of the Soviet pyramid enjoy none of the privileges accorded to the lucky or specially gifted minority. Their wages are meager and they pay, in the form of high prices, a disproportionately large share of the taxes. The area in which they can do as they please is extremely restricted, and their rulers control them more by punishment and the threat of punishment than through non-violent manipulation or the reinforcement of desirable behavior by reward. The Soviet system combines elements of 1984 with elements that are prophetic of what went on among the higher castes in Brave New World.

Meanwhile impersonal forces over which we have almost no control seem to be pushing us all in the direction of the Brave New Worldian nightmare; and this impersonal pushing is being consciously accelerated by representatives of commercial and political organizations who have developed a number of new techniques for manipulating, in the interest of some minority, the thoughts and feelings of the masses. The techniques of manipulation will be discussed in later chapters. For the moment let us confine our attention to those impersonal forces which are now making the world so extremely unsafe for democracy, so very inhospitable to individual freedom. What are these forces? And why has the nightmare, which I had projected into the seventh century A.F., made so swift an advance in our direction? The answer to these questions must begin where the life of even the most highly civilized society has its beginnings -- on the level of biology. On the first Christmas Day the population of our planet was about two hundred and fifty millions -- less than half the population of modern China. Sixteen centuries later, when the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, human numbers had climbed to a little more than five hundred millions. By the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, world population had passed the seven hundred million mark. In 1931, when I was writing Brave New World, it stood at just under two billions. Today, only twenty-seven years later, there are two billion eight hundred million of us. And tomorrow -- what? Penicillin, DDT and clean water are cheap commodities, whose effects on public health are out of all proportion to their cost. Even the poorest government is rich enough to provide its subjects with a substantial measure of death control. Birth control is a very different matter. Death control is something which can be provided for a whole people by a few technicians working in the pay of a benevolent government. Birth control depends on the co-operation of an entire people. It must be practiced by countless individuals, from whom it demands more intelligence and will power than most of the world's teeming illiterates possess, and (where chemical or mechanical methods of contraception are used) an expenditure of more money than most of these millions can now afford. Moreover, there are nowhere any religious traditions in favor of unrestricted death, whereas religious and social traditions in favor of unrestricted reproduction are widespread. For all these reasons, death control is achieved very easily, birth control is achieved with great difficulty. Death rates have therefore fallen in recent years with startling suddenness. But birth rates have either remained at their old high level or, if they have fallen, have fallen very little and at a very slow rate. In consequence, human numbers are now increasing more rapidly than at any time in the history of the species. Moreover, the yearly increases are themselves increasing. They increase regularly, according to the rules of compound interest; and they also increase irregularly with every application, by a technologically backward society of the principles of Public Health. At the present time the annual increase in world population runs to about forty-three millions. This means that every four years mankind adds to its numbers the equivalent of the present population of the United States, every eight and a half years the equivalent of the present population of India. At the rate of increase prevailing between the birth of Christ and the death of Queen Elizabeth I, it took sixteen centuries for the population of the earth to double. At the present rate it will double in less than half a century. And this fantastically rapid doubling of our numbers will be taking place on a planet whose most desirable and productive areas are already densely populated, whose soils are being eroded by the frantic efforts of bad farmers to raise more food, and whose easily available mineral capital is being squandered with the reckless extravagance of a drunken sailor getting rid of his accumulated pay.

In the Brave New World of my fable, the problem of human numbers in their relation to natural resources had been effectively solved. An optimum figure for world population had been calculated and numbers were maintained at this figure (a little under two billions, if I remember rightly) generation after generation. In the real contemporary world, the population problem has not been solved. On the contrary it is becoming graver and more formidable with every passing year. It is against this grim biological background that all the political, economic, cultural and psychological dramas of our time are being played out. As the twentieth century wears on, as the new billions are added to the existing billions (there will be more than five and a half billions of us by the time my granddaughter is fifty), this biological background will advance, ever more insistently, ever more menacingly, toward the front and center of the historical stage. The problem of rapidly increasing numbers in relation to natural resources, to social stability and to the well-being of individuals -- this is now the central problem of mankind; and it will remain the central problem certainly for another century, and perhaps for several centuries thereafter. A new age is supposed to have begun on October 4, 1957. But actually, in the present context, all our exuberant post-Sputnik talk is irrelevant and even nonsensical. So far as the masses of mankind are concerned, the coming time will not be the Space Age; it will be the Age of Over-population. We can parody the words of the old song and ask,

Will the space that you're so rich in Light a fire in the kitchen, Or the little god of space turn the spit, spit, spit?

The answer, it is obvious, is in the negative. A settlement on the moon may be of some military advantage to the nation that does the settling. But it will do nothing whatever to make life more tolerable, during the fifty years that it will take our present population to double, for the earth's undernourished and proliferating billions. And even if, at some future date, emigration to Mars should become feasible, even if any con- siderable number of men and women were desperate enough to choose a new life under conditions comparable to those prevailing on a mountain twice as high as Mount Everest, what difference would that make? In the course of the last four centuries quite a number of people sailed from the Old World to the New. But neither their departure nor the returning flow of food and raw materials could solve the problems of the Old World. Similarly the shipping of a few surplus humans to Mars (at a cost, for transportation and development, of several million dollars a head) will do nothing to solve the problem of mounting population pressures on our own planet. Unsolved, that problem will render insoluble all our other problems. Worse still, it will create conditions in which individual freedom and the social decencies of the democratic way of life will become impossible, almost unthinkable. Not all dictatorships arise in the same way. There are many roads to Brave New World; but perhaps the straightest and the broadest of them is the road we are traveling today, the road that leads through gigantic numbers and accelerating increases. Let us briefly review the reasons for this close correlation between too many people, too rapidly multiplying, and the formulation of authoritarian philosophies, the rise of totalitarian systems of government.

As large and increasing numbers press more heavily upon available resources, the economic position of the society undergoing this ordeal becomes ever more precarious. This is especially true of those underdeveloped regions, where a sudden lowering of the death rate by means of DDT, penicillin and clean water has not been accompanied by a corresponding fall in the birth rate. In parts of Asia and in most of Central and South America populations are increasing so fast that they will double themselves in little more than twenty years. If the production of food and manufactured articles, of houses, schools and teachers, could be increased at a greater rate than human numbers, it would be possible to improve the wretched lot of those who live in these underdeveloped and over- populated countries. But unfortunately these countries lack not merely agricultural machinery and an industrial plant capable of turning out this machinery, but also the capital required to create such a plant. Capital is what is left over after the primary needs of a population have been satisfied. But the primary needs of most of the people in underdeveloped countries are never fully satisfied. At the end of each year almost nothing is left over, and there is therefore almost no capital available for creating the industrial and agricultural plant, by means of which the people's needs might be satisfied. Moreover, there is, in all these underdeveloped countries, a serious shortage of the trained manpower without which a modern industrial and agricultural plant cannot be operated. The present educational facilities are inadequate; so are the resources, financial and cultural, for improving the existing facilities as fast as the situation demands. Meanwhile the population of some of these underdeveloped countries is increasing at the rate of 3 per cent per annum.

Their tragic situation is discussed in an important book, published in 1957 -- The Next Hundred Years, by Professors Harrison Brown, James Bonner and John Weir of the California Institute of Technology. How is mankind coping with the problem of rapidly increasing numbers? Not very successfully. "The evidence suggests rather strongly that in most underdeveloped countries the lot of the average individual has worsened appreciably in the last half century. People have become more poorly fed. There are fewer available goods per person. And practically every attempt to improve the situation has been nullified by the relentless pressure of continued population growth." Whenever the economic life of a nation becomes precarious, the central government is forced to assume additional responsibilities for the general welfare. It must work out elaborate plans for dealing with a critical situation; it must impose ever greater restrictions upon the activities of its subjects; and if, as is very likely, worsening economic conditions result in political unrest, or open rebellion, the central government must intervene to preserve public order and its own authority. More and more power is thus concentrated in the hands of the executives and their bureaucratic managers. But the nature of power is such that even those who have not sought it, but have had it forced upon them, tend to acquire a taste for more. "Lead us not into temptation," we pray -- and with good reason; for when human beings are tempted too enticingly or too long, they generally yield. A democratic constitution is a device for preventing the local rulers from yielding to those particularly dangerous temptations that arise when too much power is concentrated in too few hands. Such a constitution works pretty well where, as in Britain or the United States, there is a traditional respect for constitutional procedures. Where the republican or limited monarchical tradition is weak, the best of constitutions will not prevent ambitious politicians from succumbing with glee and gusto to the temptations of power. And in any country where numbers have begun to press heavily upon available resources, these temptations cannot fail to arise. Over-population leads to economic insecurity and social unrest. Unrest and insecurity lead to more control by central governments and an increase of their power. In the absence of a constitutional tradition, this increased power will probably be exercised in a dictatorial fashion. Even if Communism had never been invented, this would be likely to happen. But Communism has been invented. Given this fact, the probability of over-population leading through unrest to dictatorship becomes a virtual certainty. It is a pretty safe bet that, twenty years from now, all the world's over-populated and underdeveloped countries will be under some form of totalitarian rule -- probably by the Communist party.

How will this development affect the over-populated, but highly industrialized and still democratic countries of Europe? If the newly formed dictatorships were hostile to them, and if the normal flow of raw materials from the underdeveloped countries were deliberately interrupted, the nations of the West would find themselves in a very bad way indeed. Their industrial system would break down, and the highly developed technology, which up till now has permitted them to sustain a population much greater than that which could be supported by locally available resources, would no longer protect them against the consequences of having too many people in too small a territory. If this should happen, the enormous powers forced by unfavorable conditions upon central govern- ments may come to be used in the spirit of totalitarian dictatorship. The United States is not at present an over-populated country. If, however, the population continues to increase at the present rate (which is higher than that of India's increase, though happily a good deal lower than the rate now current in Mexico or Guatemala), the problem of numbers in relation to available resources might well become troublesome by the beginning of the twenty-first century. For the moment overpopulation is not a direct threat to the personal freedom of Americans. It remains, however, an indirect threat, a menace at one remove. If over-population should drive the underdeveloped countries into totalitarianism, and if these new dictatorships should ally themselves with Russia, then the military position of the United States would become less secure and the preparations for defense and retaliation would have to be intensified. But liberty, as we all know, cannot flourish in a country that is permanently on a war footing, or even a near-war footing. Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government. And permanent crisis is what we have to expect in a world in which over-population is producing a state of things, in which dictatorship under Communist auspices becomes almost inevitable.

@ 7361ca91:252fce6d

Why pay steep commissions at conventional exchange offices? Instead, exchange your Bitcoin P2P for Japanese yen in cash, right here in Tokyo, privately through @hodlhodl​ .

• I will meet you at your hotel or any convenient location within Tokyo area.
• No Hidden Fees: best rates, just market price, with no extra costs (just care about onchain fees).

Initiate a transaction to get all the details and ensure a smooth exchange process.

Let’s make your currency exchange the easiest part of your trip.

Here: https://hodlhodl.com/offers/9fOp7JucCeIdqonT

Hodlhodl on nostr: npub1yul83qxn35u607er3m7039t6rddj06qezfagfqlfw4qk5z5slrfqu8ncdu

(DM for Lightning transactions)

Safe travels!

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

A biblioteca infinita

Agora esqueci o nome do conto de Jorge Luis Borges em que a tal biblioteca é descrita, ou seus detalhes específicos. Eu tinha lido o conto e nunca havia percebido que ele matava a questão da aleatoriedade ser capaz de produzir coisas valiosas. Precisei mesmo da Wikipédia me dizer isso.

Alguns anos atrás levantei essa questão para um grupo de amigos sem saber que era uma questão tão batida e baixa. No meu exemplo era um cachorro andando sobre letras desenhadas e não um macaco numa máquina de escrever. A minha conclusão da discussão foi que não importa o que o cachorro escrevesse, sem uma inteligência capaz de compreender aquilo nada passaria de letras aleatórias.

Borges resolve tudo imaginando uma biblioteca que contém tudo o que o cachorro havia escrito durante todo o infinito em que fez o experimento, e portanto contém todo o conhecimento sobre tudo e todas as obras literárias possíveis -- mas entre cada página ou frase muito boa ou pelo menos legívei há toneladas de livros completamente aleatórios e uma pessoa pode passar a vida dentro dessa biblioteca que contém tanto conhecimento importante e mesmo assim não aprender nada porque nunca vai achar os livros certos.

Everything would be in its blind volumes. Everything: the detailed history of the future, Aeschylus' The Egyptians, the exact number of times that the waters of the Ganges have reflected the flight of a falcon, the secret and true nature of Rome, the encyclopedia Novalis would have constructed, my dreams and half-dreams at dawn on August 14, 1934, the proof of Pierre Fermat's theorem, the unwritten chapters of Edwin Drood, those same chapters translated into the language spoken by the Garamantes, the paradoxes Berkeley invented concerning Time but didn't publish, Urizen's books of iron, the premature epiphanies of Stephen Dedalus, which would be meaningless before a cycle of a thousand years, the Gnostic Gospel of Basilides, the song the sirens sang, the complete catalog of the Library, the proof of the inaccuracy of that catalog. Everything: but for every sensible line or accurate fact there would be millions of meaningless cacophonies, verbal farragoes, and babblings. Everything: but all the generations of mankind could pass before the dizzying shelves – shelves that obliterate the day and on which chaos lies – ever reward them with a tolerable page.

Tenho a impressão de que a publicação gigantesca de artigos, posts, livros e tudo o mais está transformando o mundo nessa biblioteca. Há tanta coisa pra ler que é difícil achar o que presta. As pessoas precisam parar de escrever.

@ 6c8c7979:15595f3e

It's one of Granada's most famous landmarks and considered one of the greatest architectural palaces built by the Nasrid rulers of Spanish Granada in the 13th century AD, following the Islamic-Andalusian style, serving as a fortress for defending their city. Despite being built nearly 800 years ago, the Alhambra Palace remains an architectural marvel of exquisite beauty. So, discover with us some astonishing facts about it.

$$It took over 150 years to build$$

Prince Abu Abdullah Muhammad I, also known as "Al-Ghalib Billah," the founder of the Nasrid Dynasty in Granada, ordered the construction of the Alhambra Palace between 1238 and 1273 AD. While initial work on its fortified walls and thirteen tall towers began in 1238, the complete construction of the site lasted over 150 years due to additions and modifications by subsequent Nasrid rulers during their reigns.

$$Its name, "Alhambra," has several possible origins$$

Built on the elevated hill of "Sabika" near the Darro River, the origin of its name is debated. Some suggest it stems from the reddish color of the stones used in its construction or the red-tinged soil in the area. Others attribute it to the name "Al-Red," by which the rulers of Granada were known. Another theory links its name to the "Red City," named for the color of its other citadels.

$$The palace has withstood wars and earthquakes$$

From the outside, the Alhambra Palace still astonishes with its preserved architectural grandeur, despite being over 800 years old. It resisted attacks by the French army during the early 19th century invasion of Spain and has endured numerous earthquakes due to its location in a region prone to seismic activity.

$$Legend of the "Gate of Justice" and the end of the world$$

Builders of the palace believed so strongly in its exceptional construction and advanced techniques that they spread the idea that if enemies ever opened the "Gate of Justice" – the main gateway of the palace – it would signal the end of the world. The "Gate of Justice" remains a significant symbol of the Alhambra, featuring a sculpted hand on its cornerstone and a key placed beside it. Legend says the hand and key were positioned high up so that only the worthy could reach them, potentially becoming the new ruler of Granada and owner of the Alhambra Palace.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

O VAR é o grande equalizador

Não tenho acompanhado o futebol desde 2013 ou 2014, mas me parece que, como poderia ter sido previsto, o VAR tem favorecido os times pequenos ou marginais em detrimento dos demais.

É lógico: se os juízes favoreriam mais o Flamengo e o Corinthians, e depois os grandes de Rio e São Paulo, em detrimento dos demais, o VAR, por minimamente mais justo que seja, aparentará favorecer os outros.

• Viva o mata-mata

@ c73818cc:ccd5c890

🐸 Bitcoin e crypto continuano a funzionare, nonostante il caos informatico globale. Una lezione per gli scettici.

🐧 Mentre il mondo è sconquassato da problemi informatici che hanno messo a terra banche, ATM, borse e aeroporti, c’è una tecnologia che continua a funzionare: Bitcoin e il mondo crypto. La natura decentralizzata di queste tecnologie dimostra la loro resilienza in situazioni estreme, offrendo una lezione importante sulla robustezza dei sistemi distribuiti rispetto a quelli centralizzati.

🐧 Un grave guasto alla rete cloud di Microsoft ha causato enormi difficoltà globali, influenzando aeroporti e sistemi informatici delle banche. Dalla sospensione dei voli a livello internazionale ai blocchi nelle borse di Londra e Milano, l'impatto è stato significativo. United Airlines e molte altre compagnie hanno dovuto sospendere le operazioni, causando ritardi e cancellazioni.

🐧 Il problema sembra essere legato a un bug presente in un aggiornamento di CrowdStrike, un prodotto di sicurezza informatica, che ha provocato il temuto “blue screen” su numerosi computer. Microsoft ha dichiarato ufficialmente che il problema riguardava la capacità degli utenti di accedere a varie applicazioni e servizi Microsoft 365, escludendo l’ipotesi di un attacco informatico. Anche se la maggior parte dei servizi sono stati ripristinati, permangono problemi significativi.

🐧 Nel frattempo, Bitcoin continua a produrre blocchi, dimostrando la sua affidabilità come sistema di pagamento decentralizzato. Le difficoltà globali di oggi mettono in evidenza l'importanza di un sistema finanziario e monetario decentralizzato, fuori dal controllo di singole entità. Questa giornata rafforza l'idea che Bitcoin e altre criptovalute siano essenziali per la libertà e la sicurezza finanziaria.

Unisciti al nostro gruppo Telegram: https://t.me/Bitcoin_Report_Italia

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@ c73818cc:ccd5c890

🥂 Mt. Gox inizia i trasferimenti: oltre 40.000 BTC spostati verso wallet sconosciuti, generando nervosismo nei mercati.

🌯 Movimenti di Bitcoin da Mt. Gox

🥂 Il fallito exchange Mt. Gox ha iniziato a trasferire oltre 40.000 Bitcoin verso un indirizzo sconosciuto, in preparazione per la restituzione ai legittimi proprietari. Secondo Arkham Intelligence, il trasferimento è parte del piano di ripresa, ma l'assenza di informazioni precise alimenta incertezza e preoccupazione tra gli investitori.

🌯 Reazione del mercato

🥂 Il mercato ha reagito negativamente alla notizia, con un calo dei prezzi che è iniziato poco prima della diffusione dell'informazione. Le speculazioni su possibili vendite di massa e insider trading hanno aumentato il nervosismo, anche se Kraken ha confermato di aver ricevuto i fondi e prevede di distribuirli entro 7-14 giorni.

🌯 Kraken e i dettagli della restituzione

🥂 Kraken ha annunciato di aver ricevuto BTC e BCH dal fiduciario di Mt. Gox, confermando che i fondi verranno distribuiti secondo le istruzioni ricevute. La piattaforma si impegna a completare i pagamenti entro due settimane, mentre il totale dei Bitcoin trasferiti ha raggiunto circa 91.755 BTC, alimentando ulteriormente le preoccupazioni di potenziali vendite sul mercato.

Unisciti al nostro gruppo Telegram: https://t.me/Bitcoin_Report_Italia

Referral Bitget -10% sulle fee + bonus benvenuto 6w5d o link: https://bonus.bitget.com/U1JNEK

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@ 75bf2353:e1bfa895

Using p2p Electronic Cash

by Blogging Bitcoin

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. To the naive mind that can conceive of order only as the product of deliberate arrangement, it may seem absurd that in complex conditions order, and adaptation to the unknown, can be achieved more effectively by decentralizing decisions and that a division of authority will actually extend the possibility of overall order. Yet that decentralization actually leads to more information being taken into account.” ― Friedrich Hayek, The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism

I write a free and open source blog about using bitcoin as peer to peer electronic cash. This is a compilation of some blogs I've written over the last two years. I wanted to write a book, but always felt paywalls are contrary to the free and open-source software movement. I still might publish this on dead trees, but want it to be free for anyone to read like the code you can find on https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/. This is also an example of what bitcoin makes possible. Andreas Antonopolis once compared bitcoin to the invention of the printing press.

I may not agree with everything he says, but he was right about that. Bitcoin allows me to get paid directly by the consumer. It is possible to sell my words without jumping through the Amazon hoops. App developers can publish apps, but Apple will not be levy their 30% tax. I'm not advocating tax evasion or fighting the IRS, but why should we pay corporations to publish and censor us when we can be paid directly from our audience?

This is a compilation of 21 of my favorite blogs I wrote on nostr over the last two years. It is written using the Value 4 Value model. To support my work, please pay the paywall, send zaps, or contribute your time treasure, or talent in another way.

Most bitcoin books try to convince you to buy bitcoin. They talk about how bitcoin is worth more today than ten years ago. You should buy bitcoin because it's going to a moon 69,420 light-years away in a galaxy called WhenLambo. I get it. 125 sats will most likely buy you something at the dollar tree one day. At the time of this writing, 1,922 will buy you a single item at the dollar tree, but 1,538 sats will buy you a paper NFT with George Washinton's mug shot. This is not about NFT's, trading crypto, or how many dollars 100,000,000 sats are worth. It's the musings of some nerd on the Internet who believes cryptography equals freedom in the electronic age. It's about how I use bitcoin and freedom tech in an unfree fiat tech world.

All of my work is written under a Creative Commons Licence. To support my work, please pay the paywall or send zaps. I have published this blog behind this paywall. Paywalls kinda suck because they block so many people from reading your work--At least they think they do. Most paywalls can be bypassed by a simple google search

nostr:nprofile1qyvhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68yvfwvd6hyun9de6zuenedyhszxrhwden5te0wfjkccte9e3h2unjv4h8gtnx095j7qghwaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8qunfd4skctnwv46z7qgswaehxw309ahx7um5wghx6mmd9uq3uamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3dwp6kytnhv4kxcmmjv3jhytnwv46z7qgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctcpzdmhxue69uhk7enxvd5xz6tw9ec82c30qywhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnzd96xxmmfdejhytnnda3kjctv9uqzqadlydf3460e333fjkaqwxg7fz82636ew5m36c7hml2xhhsml2y4csrc5a

Using p2p Electronic Cash, by Blogging Bitcoin

https://i.nostr.build/zdJG3.png

1)My Nym Is Blogging Bitcoin

2 Support Yo0ur Local Circular Economy To Drain The Exchanges

3)Then They Fight You

4)Use Bitcoin To Protoest Inflation

5)Stacking Sats On Substack

6)Bitcoin Is Not A Belief

7)Why I Write On Nostr

8)The Nostr Tip Jar

9)Privacy Is Necessary For An Open Society In The Electronic Age

10)Fix The Money, Fix The Music

11)Build The Bitcoin Economy On Nostr

12)I don't trust the Cold Card: How to Verify Dice Rolls Using Tails

13)Recurring Bitcoin Donations with OakNode

14)Crypto Means Cryptography

15)Doge Is Dumb

16)Instransigent Tipping 17)Explain The Blockchain To Me(Like I don't Know How To Use The Command Line)

18)Freedom On The Internet

19)How Bitcoin Works In A Nutshell

20)Stacking Sats Is For Everybody

21)Using p2p Electronic Cash

₿logging ₿itcoin 848,675 debtclock 🧡 Support this by using the ⚡Value 4 Value model⚡

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Splitpages

The simplest possible service: it splitted PDF pages in half.

Created specially to solve the problem of those scanned books that come with two pages side-by-side as if they were a single page and are much harder to read on Kindle because of that.

It required me to learn about Heroku Buildpacks though, and fork or contribute to a Heroku Buildpack that embedded a mupdf binary.

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/splitpages
• https://splitpages.herokuapp.com/

@ c73818cc:ccd5c890

☀️ Sessantatré deputati del Parlamento Europeo hanno richiesto la sospensione dei diritti di voto dell’Ungheria nell’Unione Europea. La richiesta segue le visite del primo ministro ungherese Viktor Orbán in Russia e Cina, per cercare di avviare delle trattative di pace, accusate di aver abusato del ruolo della presidenza del Consiglio dell’UE.

☀️ Le visite controverse di Orbán.

☀️ Nella lettera indirizzata ai vertici dell'UE, i deputati affermano che le visite di Orbán a Putin e Xi Jinping hanno travisato i poteri del suo ruolo, danneggiando l'immagine dell'UE. Questa azione è vista come un tentativo deliberato di sfruttare la sua posizione per fini personali e politici. I cittadini si domandano quali siano questi fini personali e se la ricerca di una pace possa ritenersi tale.

☀️ Il contenuto della lettera.

☀️ I firmatari sostengono che le condanne verbali non bastano e richiedono azioni concrete, come la sospensione dei diritti di voto dell’Ungheria nel Consiglio. La lettera, supportata da vari gruppi parlamentari, evidenzia gli interessi in gioco in questo conflitto e smaschera la gravissima sfida compiuta da parte di Orbán verso la mafia che controlla le stanze del potere europeo.

☀️ Possibili conseguenze per l’Ungheria.

☀️ La sospensione dei diritti di voto priverebbe l’Ungheria della capacità di influenzare le decisioni nel Consiglio dell’UE. Questa misura senza precedenti potrebbe segnare un punto di svolta nelle relazioni tra l’Ungheria e l’Unione Europea, mettendo in luce le tensioni interne e gli interessi sovranazionali che ci sono dietro ai grandi investimenti fatti fino ad ora portando avanti questa guerra.

☀️ Se la UE vuole la pace, come mai nessuno dei politici che hanno preceduto Orbán ha mai provato a creare delle relazioni con i paesi coinvolti? E come mai, ora che Orbán non fa altro che svolgere il lavoro per cui ha ricevuto l'incarico semestrale, viene attaccato in questo modo da tutti gli altri deputati?

Unisciti al nostro gruppo Telegram: https://t.me/Bitcoin_Report_Italia

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@ 7361ca91:252fce6d

Nostrで最近マイナンバーカードについての投稿が多くなった気がします。おそらく都内の選挙のためだろうと思います。マイナンバーカードは、多くのサービスを便利にする可能性があります。行政手続きが迅速になり、医療情報が一元管理されることで医療の質が向上し、金融取引が簡便になるといったメリットがあります。このような便利さを享受し、税金を払うことに問題を感じない人もいるでしょう。しかし、税金の（こと）問題を別として、マイナンバーカードの便利さの裏には、プライバシーとセキュリティに対する大きなリスクが存在することを見逃してはなりません。

まず、日本はサイバーセキュリティに関して非常に脆弱であるという現実があります。過去には政府機関や企業がサイバー攻撃を受け、多くの個人情報が流出した事例が数多く報告されています。最近の例を挙げると、2024年5月には静岡県浜松市で、ホームページに誤って約1000人分の名前や住所、携帯電話番号といった個人情報が公開される事件が発生しました 。このような背景から、マイナンバーカードが導入されると、個人情報が一元化されることにより、情報漏洩のリスクが格段に高まるのは明らかです。攻撃者がこのデータにアクセスすることで、大量の個人情報が盗まれ、アイデンティティの盗難が発生しやすくなります。例えば、詐欺者が被害者の名前を使って銀行口座を開設したり、ローンを申請したりすることが可能になり、金融詐欺のリスクも増大します。 　ちなみに実際、2023年度には企業や行政機関からの個人情報の漏洩件数が過去最多の1万3279件に達し、そのうち334件がマイナンバーに関するものでした 。。。

データが一つの大きなデータベースに集約されると、そのデータベースはハッカーにとって美味しいターゲットとなります。日本のサイバーセキュリティの弱点を考えると、このデータベースが侵害される可能性は高く、何百万もの人々の個人情報が漏洩し、深刻なプライバシーの侵害が起こるリスクが高まります。データベースを管理する組織の従業員が不正にアクセスすることで、内部からの誤用やプライバシーの侵害も十分に考えられます。

マイナンバーカードは、政府や企業が個人の行動や活動を追跡するのを容易にし、個人の同意なしに監視が行われることに等しい状況を生み出します。個人の取引や活動が細かく追跡され、自由な生活が制限される恐れが出てきます。自分が買い物、SNS、投資行動などから示した思想や傾向は、ある意味反社会的であることとして判断されたら、雇用、保険、クレジットなどでの差別につながるリスクも、現実的な懸念となります。まさに、自由に発想することすらできなくなるでしょう。

これらのリスクを考えると、マイナンバーカードは、便利さと引き換えに多くのプライバシーと自由を犠牲にしていると言えます。個人情報の保護はデジタルにおいて個人の最優先事項であり、利便性と個人のプライバシー権をバランスよく保つための対策が不可欠ですが、プライバシーは一度失われると取り戻すのが非常に難しい、というのも忘れてはなりません。日本政府などにご自分のすべての個人情報をわたして任せても良いか、改めて考えてみる価値があると思います。ではでは。

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Webvatar

Like Gravatar, but using profile images from websites tagged with "microformats-2" tags, like people from the indiewebcamp movement liked. It falled back to favicon, gravatar and procedural avatar generators.

No one really used this, despite people saying they liked it. Since I was desperate to getting some of my programs appreciated by someone I even bought a domain. It was sad, but an enriching experience.

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/webvatar.com
• http://webvatar.com

See also

• jekmentions
• questo.email

@ 81870f53:29bef6a6

現代の奴隷制度は、地表に戻る奴隷の群れによって同意された自発的な奴隷制度です。彼らは自分たちをさらに奴隷にするすべての商品を自分たちで購入します。彼ら自身も、これまで以上に疎外的な仕事を追いかけていますが、彼らが十分に賢明であれば、私たちは寛大にも彼らにその仕事を与えることに同意します。彼らは自分たちが仕える主人を自ら選びます。

不条理が入り混じったこの悲劇が起こるためには、まずこの階級の成員から搾取と疎外に対する意識をすべて取り除く必要があった。これが現代の奇妙な現代です。古代の奴隷、中世の農奴、あるいは第一次産業革命の労働者とは異なり、今日私たちは完全に奴隷化されているにもかかわらず、それを知らない、あるいはむしろ知りたくない階級に直面しています。

したがって、彼らは、搾取される側の唯一の正当な反応であるはずの反乱を無視している。彼らは自分たちのために築かれた哀れな人生を何の疑問もなく受け入れます。放棄と諦めが彼らの不幸の原因です。

これは、最終的には疎外システムの不気味な踊りの中で死ぬことだけを望んでいる現代の奴隷の悪い夢です。彼らが疎外された労働の力によって自分たちの世界を構築するとき、この世界の設定は彼らが生きなければならない刑務所になります。味も匂いもなく、支配的な生産様式の悲惨さを内包する卑劣な世界。この装飾は常に建設中です。そこには安定したものは何もありません。

私たちの周りの空間の永続的な反映は、その住人が生きなければならない全身性の健忘症と不安の中で正当化されます。システムのイメージに沿ってすべてを作り直すことです。世界は工場のように毎日少しずつ汚くなり、騒がしくなっています。この世界のあらゆる部分は国家または個人の所有物です。

この社会的窃盗は土地の独占的収用であり、壁、鉄格子、フェンス、障壁、国境が遍在する中で実現されます。

それらは、すべてを侵食するこの分離の目に見える痕跡です。しかし同時に、商業文化の利益に従って空間を統一することは、私たちの悲しい時代の大きな目的でもあります。世界は、物資の輸送を容易にするために、極限まで合理化された巨大な高速道路にならなければなりません。自然であろうと人間であろうと、あらゆる障害物は破壊されなければなりません。この卑屈な集団が密集する生息地は、彼らの生活を反映しています。それは檻、刑務所、洞窟のように見えます。

そして、奴隷や囚人とは異なり、現代で搾取される人々は檻の代金を支払わなければなりません。そして、遍在する広告メッセージによれば、彼は幸福と充実感をもたらすはずの新しい品物をこの狭くて暗い家の中に積み上げている。しかし、物を蓄えれば蓄えるほど、いつか幸福を得る可能性は遠ざかっていく。 本質的に、イデオロギー商品は、それを生産する人の仕事を奪い、それを消費する人の人生を奪います。支配的な経済システムでは、もはや需要が供給を条件付けるのではなく、供給が需要を決定するのです。

このようにして、新しいニーズが定期的に生み出され、人口の大多数によってすぐに重要なニーズとみなされるようになります。最初はラジオ、次に自動車、テレビ、コンピューター、そして現在は携帯電話となり、これらすべての商品が非常に限られた期間に大量に流通しました。時間は人間関係を大きく変化させ、一方では人々を仲間からもう少し孤立させる役割を果たし、他方ではシステムの支配的なメッセージを広める役割を果たします。

私たちが所有しているものは、最終的には私たちを所有することになります。

しかし、現代の奴隷が自分の置かれている衰退の状態を最もよく表しているのは、やはり食事のときである。食べるものを準備する時間がますます限られているため、彼は農薬産業で生産されたものを急いで消費することになります。彼はスーパーマーケットを歩き回り、偽りの豊かさの社会が彼に与えることに同意したエルザッツを探します。ここでもまた、彼は選択の幻想だけを持っています。

食料品の豊富さは、その劣化と偽造を隠すだけです。それは、遺伝子組み換え生物、着色料、防腐剤、殺虫剤、ホルモン、その他の現代の発明の混合物にほかならないことで悪名高い。即時の喜びは、あらゆる形態の消費のルールであるのと同様に、主要な食事方法のルールです。そして、この食べ方を示す結果がそこにあります。

しかし、西洋人が自分の立場と熱狂的な消費を喜ぶのは、大多数の貧困に直面しているときである。しかし、全体主義的な市場社会が支配する地域では、どこにでも貧困が存在します。欠乏は、偽りの豊かさのコインの裏側です。そして、進歩の基準として不平等を設定するシステムでは、たとえ農薬の生産が世界人口全体を養うのに十分だったとしても、飢餓は決して消えることはありません。

偽りの食糧豊かさのもう一つの結果は、濃縮工場の一般化と、奴隷の餌となる種の大規模かつ野蛮な絶滅です。これが支配的な生産様式の本質です。生命と人類は、少数の利益への欲求に抵抗することはできません。地球資源の略奪

エネルギーや商品の豊富な生産、廃棄物やその他の目立つ消費による廃棄物は、私たちの地球とそこに生息する種の生存の可能性を深刻に危険にさらしています。しかし、乱暴な資本主義に自由を与えるためには、成長を決して止めてはなりません。私たちは再び生産し、生産し、再生産しなければなりません。そして、彼らは今日、地球の潜在的な救世主であると主張しているのと同じ汚染者です。

多国籍企業から援助を受けているショービジネスの愚か者たちは、私たちの生活習慣を変えるだけで地球を災害から救うのに十分だと私たちに信じ込ませようとしています。そして、それらは私たちに罪悪感を感じさせる一方で、私たちの環境と心を絶えず汚染し続けています。これらの貧弱な疑似生態学的な論文は、広告スローガンもなしに、すべてのひねくれた政治家によって合唱的に取り上げられる。しかし同氏は、生産システムの根本的な変更を提案しないよう注意している。

いつものように、すべてが以前と同じになるように、いくつかの詳細を変更する必要があります。

しかし、消費の熱狂に陥るにはお金が必要です。そしてお金を持つためには働かなければなりません、つまり自分を売らなければなりません。支配的なシステムは仕事を主な価値としました。奴隷は、悲惨な生活を借金で支払うために、さらに働かなければなりません。彼らは仕事で疲れ果て、生命力のほとんどを失い、最悪の屈辱を味わいます。

彼らは少数の人々の利益のために、疲れる退屈な活動に一生を費やします。現代の失業という発明は、彼らを怖がらせ、政府の寛大な対応に絶えず感謝させるためにある。仕事という苦痛なしに彼に何ができるでしょうか？そして、解放として提示されるのは、これらの疎外的な活動です。何という衰退と何という惨めさ！

常にストップウォッチやムチで押されている奴隷の動作は、生産性を高めるために計算されています。仕事の科学的組織化は、労働者の労働の成果だけでなく、商品やサービスの自動生産に費やす時間の両方を剥奪することのまさに本質を構成する。労働者の役割は、工場の機械の役割やオフィスのコンピュータの役割と混同されています。

失われた時間は決して戻ってきません。したがって、各労働者は、知的であろうと肉体的であろうと、反復的なタスクに割り当てられます。彼は、その生産分野の専門家であり、この専門分野は国際分業の枠組みの中で世界規模で見られます。私たちは西洋でデザインし、アジアで生産し、アフリカで生産します。

現代の奴隷は、職場での奉仕に満足していたかもしれない。しかし、生産システムが生活のあらゆる分野に植民地化されるにつれ、支配された人々は余暇、娯楽、組織的な休暇に費やす時間を失います。彼の日常生活のどんな瞬間もシステムの影響を逃れることはできません。彼の人生のあらゆる瞬間が侵略されました。彼はフルタイムの奴隷です。

環境の全般的な悪化、呼吸する空気や摂取する食物の悪化、労働条件や社会生活全体のストレスが、現代の奴隷の新たな病気の根源となっている。彼は卑屈な状態から病気になっており、どんな薬もこの病気を治すことはできません。

閉じ込められている状態から最も完全に解放されることによってのみ、現代の奴隷は苦しみから解放されることができるのです。西洋医学は、現代の奴隷が苦しんでいる病気に対する唯一の治療法を知っています。切断。

市販薬の患者は、手術、抗生物質、または化学療法で治療されます。私たちは原因を探ることなく、悪の結果を攻撃します。これは説明されているので理解できます。この研究は必然的に、社会組織全体に対する明白な非難へと私たちを導くことになるでしょう。

私たちの世界のあらゆる細部が単純な商品に変わったのと同じように、現在のシステムは私たちの身体を商品、商業医学と分子生物学の見習い魔術師に提供される研究と経験の対象にしました。そして、世界の達人たちはすでに人生の特許を取得する準備ができています。ヒトゲノムの完全な DNA 配列決定は、権力者によって導入された新しい戦略の出発点です。

遺伝子解読の目的は、支配と制御の形態を大幅に拡大すること以外にありません。私たちの体も、他の多くのことを経て、私たちから逃れてきました。

人生の最高のものは彼から逃げてしまいますが、彼はいつも従うことに慣れていたので、続けます。従順が彼の第二の性質となった。彼は理由も知らずに従うのですが、ただ従わなければならないと知っているからです。従う、生産する、消費する、これが彼の人生を支配する三部作です。彼は両親、教師、上司、所有者、商人に従います。彼は法律と秩序の力に従います。

彼は他のことをする方法を知らないので、すべての権限に従います。彼は不従順が何よりも怖いのです。なぜなら、不服従はリスクであり、冒険であり、変化だからです。しかし、子供が両親を見失ってパニックになるのと同じように、現代の奴隷は自分が作り出した力を失ってしまいました。それで彼らは従い続けます。私たちを奴隷にし、この状態に留めているのは恐怖です。

私たちは世界の支配者とその警察の前に頭を下げます。私たちは恐怖からこの屈辱と悲惨な人生を受け入れます。しかし、この少数派を支配する者に対して、私たちは数の上では強さを持っています。

彼らは警察からではなく、私たちの同意から力を得ています。私たちは、道徳化するヒューマニズムに満ちた言説によって、私たちを抑圧する勢力に対する正当な対決に直面して、自分たちの卑怯さを正当化します。革命的暴力の拒否は、このシステム自体が私たちに教えてくれた価値観の名の下に、このシステムに反対する人々の心の中に定着しています。

しかし、権力は覇​​権を維持するためなら暴力の行使も辞さない。しかし、依然として良心の支配から逃れる人々がいます。しかし彼らは監視下にある。あらゆる形態の反乱や抵抗は、実際には逸脱活動やテロ活動と同化されます。自由は商業上の義務を守る者にのみ存在します。支配的な体制に対する本当の反対は、今や完全に秘密裏に行われている。

反対派にとっては弾圧が常法となっている。

そして、この弾圧に直面して大多数の奴隷が沈黙することは、現実社会に存在する紛争を否定したいというメディアと政治的願望の中で正当化されています。歴史上のすべての抑圧された存在と同様に、現代の奴隷は、彼を苦しめる悪と彼を圧倒する苦しみを麻酔するために、彼の神秘性と神を必要としています。

しかし、彼が魂を託したこの新たな神は、ただの紙切れにほかならない。誰もがそれに意味を与えると決めたからこそ意味を持つ数字。この新しい神のために、彼は学び、働き、戦い、そして自分自身を売るのです。この新しい神のためなら、彼はすべての価値を放棄し、何でもする準備ができています。

彼は、たくさんのお金を持てば、自分が囚われている束縛から解放されると信じています。あたかも所有が自由と密接に関係しているかのように。

解放は自己マスタリーからもたらされる基盤です。それは行動における願望であり、意志です。それは存在することにあるのであって、持つことにあるのではありません。しかし、私たちは依然として奉仕をしない、従わないという決意を持たなければなりません。誰も疑問に思わないような習慣を断ち切ることができなければなりません。しかし、現代の奴隷は、現在の世界の組織に代わるものはないと確信しています。

彼は、他の人生はあり得ないと考えているため、この人生に身を任せています。そしてここに現在の支配力の強さがある。地球の表面全体を植民地化したこのシステムが歴史の終わりであるという幻想を維持してください。彼は支配階級に、そのイデオロギーに適応することは、世界のありのまま、そしてこれまでもそうだったように適応することと同じだと信じ込ませた。

別の世界を夢見ることは、あらゆるメディアとあらゆる権力によって一斉に非難される犯罪となっている。犯罪者は、実際には、意識的か否かにかかわらず、支配的な社会組織の狂気に貢献している人物です。

現在のシステムほど狂気の沙汰はない。現実世界の荒廃に直面して、システムは奴隷の意識全体を植民地化する必要があります。このようにして、支配的なシステムでは、抑圧の力が徐々に抑止力に取って代わられ、幼少期から奴隷を訓練するという仕事が達成されます。彼らは自分たちの奴隷状態、刑務所、悲惨な生活を忘れなければなりません。

この催眠術にかかった群衆が、日常生活に付随するすべてのスクリーンの前でつながっているのを見てください。彼らは、お金、栄光、冒険でできた夢のような人生の操作された反映の中で、永続的な不満を誤魔化しています。しかし、彼らの夢は、悲惨な人生と同じくらい悲惨なものです。誰にとっても、どこにでも、イメージがあります。それらは現代社会のイデオロギー的メッセージを内包しており、統一とプロパガンダの手段として機能します。

人間が自分の世界と人生を剥奪されるにつれて、それらは成長します。

これらの画像の主なターゲットは子供です。なぜなら、この作品はゆりかごの中で自由を抑圧するものだからです。私たちは彼らを愚かにし、彼らからあらゆる形の反省と批判を取り除かなければなりません。もちろん、これはすべて、現代のコミュニケーション手段の累積的な影響を前にして、両親の当惑させるような共謀によって行われています。彼らは自分たちの子孫を奴隷にするために必要な物品をすべて自分たちで購入します。

彼らは子供たちの教育を剥奪し、それを愚かさと凡庸のシステムに丸投げします。あらゆる年齢層、あらゆる社会階級向けの画像があります。そして現代の奴隷はこれらのイメージを文化と混同し、時には芸術とさえ混同します。私たちは商品の在庫を売り飛ばすという最も卑劣な本能に訴えます。

そして、その高い代償を払うのは、今日の社会で二重に奴隷化されている女性である。それは単なる消費の対象に成り下がってしまいます。

反乱そのものが、その破壊的な可能性をより効果的に破壊するために売られるイメージになってしまった。現在でも、画像は最もシンプルかつ効果的なコミュニケーションの形式です。私たちはモデルを構築し、大衆を愚かにし、嘘をつき、不満を生み出します。私たちが市場のイデオロギーを画像を通じて広めるのは、それが常に同じ目的だからです。

ライフスタイルや商品、行動や商品を売ることは関係ありませんが、売らなければなりません。これらの貧しい人々は楽しんでいますが、この娯楽は彼らを圧倒する本当の悪から目をそらすためにのみ存在します。彼らは自分たちの人生に何が起こっても許して、それを誇りに思っているふりをします。彼らは満足していることを示そうとしますが、誰も騙されません。

鏡の氷の反射に直面すると、彼らはもはや自分自身を欺くことさえできません。こうして彼らは、笑わせたり、歌わせたり、夢を見させたり、泣かせたりするはずの愚か者の前で時間を無駄にしているのである。 私たちは、メディアスポーツを通じて、現代の奴隷が日常生活で経験することをやめた強さと勝利を、スポーツスポーツの成功と失敗のまねをして、彼らの不満が彼らにテレビの前で代理的に生きるよう促す一方、古代ローマの皇帝は民衆の服従を買ったのに対し、パンとサーカスのゲームで、今日私たちは娯楽と空虚の消費で奴隷の沈黙を買っています。

良心の支配は、基本的に、経済的、社会的に支配的な階級による、腐敗した言語の使用を通じて起こります。あらゆるコミュニケーション手段の所有者である権力は、言葉に与える固定的、部分的、偏った定義を通じて市場イデオロギーを広めます。言葉は中立的なものとして提示され、その定義は自明のものとして提示されます。しかし、権力の制御下では、言語は常に現実生活以外のものを指定します。

それは何よりも、諦観と無力感の言語であり、物事をありのままに、そしてそのままにしておかなければならないことを受動的に受け入れる言語である。言葉は生命の支配的な組織を代表して機能し、権力の言葉を使用するという事実そのものが私たちを無力に宣告します。言語の問題は人類解放のための戦いの中心です。それは他のものに重ねられる支配の形ではありません。

それは全体主義的市場システムの奴隷化プロジェクトのまさに核心である。根本的な変化の可能性が再び現れるのは、言語の再利用、ひいては人々の間の実際のコミュニケーションを通じてです。ここで、革命的なプロジェクトが詩的なプロジェクトに加わります。大衆の発酵では、言論は大きなグループによって取り上げられ、再発明されます。創造的な自発性がすべての人を捉え、私たち全員を団結させます。

しかし、現代の奴隷は依然として自分たちを国民であると考えています。彼らは自分たちが投票し、誰が自分たちの業務を遂行すべきかを自由に決定できると信じている。まるで彼らにはまだ選択肢があるかのように。彼らは幻想を保持しているだけでした。私たちが生きたい社会の選択には根本的な違いがあると今でも信じていますか?左派と右派の間、米国では民主党と共和党の間、英国では労働党と保守党の間。

現在の商業社会の保全という本質的な点では主要政党が一致しているため、反対者はいない。市場の定説に異議を唱える政党が政権を握る可能性は低い。そして、メディアが共謀してその外観を独占しているのはこれらの当事者です。すべてが所定の位置に留まっている限り、彼らは詳細について口論します。

彼らは、市場議会主義によって与えられた席を誰が占めるかについて議論している。こうした下劣な口論は、私たちが生きたい社会の選択に関する本当の議論を曖昧にする目的で、あらゆるメディアによって中継されている。

見た目と無駄がアイデアの衝突の深さを支配します。これらすべては民主主義とはまったく似ていません。本当の民主主義は、何よりもまず、市政運営への市民の大規模な参加によって定義されます。それは直接的かつ参加型です。

それは、民衆の集会と共通の生活の組織化に関する永続的な対話の中に最も真に表現されています。民主主義の名を奪う代表と議会の形態は、国民の権力を単純な投票権に制限します。

ライトグレーとダークグレーの選択が現実の選択ではないのは事実であり、議会の議席は右派であれ、いわゆる社会民主主義者であれ、経済的に支配的な階級によってその大部分を占められているので、それは何も言うことはない。左翼権力は征服されるべきものではなく、破壊されるべきものであり、それが国王、独裁者、または選出された大統領によって行使されるかどうかにかかわらず、本質的に専制的である。

議会制民主主義の場合の唯一の違いは、奴隷は自分たちが仕える主人を自分で選ぶという幻想を抱いていることだ。この投票により、彼らは彼らを抑圧する圧政の共犯者となった。主人がいるから奴隷なのではなく、奴隷であり続けることを選択したから主人がいるのです。

したがって、支配的なシステムは、その市場イデオロギーの遍在によって定義されます。それはあらゆる空間と生活のあらゆる分野を占めています。生産し、販売し、消費し、蓄積するだけです。それはすべての人間関係を市場関係に還元しました。そして私たちの地球を単なる商品として考えています。それが私たちに課す義務は奴隷労働です。認められる唯一の権利は私有財産に対する権利です。

彼女が示す唯一の神はお金です。見た目の独占は完全です。支配的なイデオロギーに有利な男性と演説だけが登場します。この世界に対する批判は、何が良くて何が悪いのか、何が見えるのか何が見えないのかを決定するメディアの洪水の中に埋もれてしまいます。イデオロギーの遍在、拝金主義、外見の独占、議会の多元主義に隠れた単一政党、目に見える野党の不在、あらゆる形態の抑圧、人類と世界を変革したいという願望。

これは現代の全体主義の本当の顔であり、私たちは自由民主主義と呼んでいますが、今ではその本当の名前である全体主義的市場システムと呼ばれなければなりません。人間、社会、そして地球全体がこのイデオロギーに奉仕しています。したがって、全体主義的市場システムは、それまでの全体主義主義がなし得なかったことを達成しました。彼のイメージで世界を統一しましょう。今日、亡命はもはや不可能です。

さあ行こう ！さあ行こう ！

@ f70851e7:f1ee9109

(original manifesto of Cypherpunk Meetup 2024)

"I cleared the space for the younger generation. But no one came..." - Anonymous cypherpunk, 2024

The founding fathers of the cypherpunk movement had quite wild predictions for the Y2K+: Anonymous communication and ubiquitous encryption should have led to decentralization of power, freed markets and individual liberty. Looking realistically at today's world - a world in which surveillance is totally normalized and we're stuck between being dominated by megacorps and governments - we fucked up big time, even though we created islands of liberty for the few of us that understood what these technologies are for.

Bitcoin is an exemption and an exceptional success of their story, but looking at its current development, we come to argue that we're now vulnerable to failing even there. The crowds are coming again and they don't even know why they need anonymous money. But wait, do we know?

Once “rebels with a cause” turned into “grandmas with ETFs” and “garage economists with a Twitter account”.

Where do we go from here? What can we do? Is this what cypherpunk is now? Are we bitcoiners just because we can, or can we still look for and successfully find a purpose not lost from the founders' vision?

Emptiness of purpose can be easily hijacked. Looking at the past of the movement, experiencing its presence and foreseeing its future we ask ourselves the question:

Is the movement still relevant?

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

The problem with DIDs

Decentralized Identifiers are supposedly a standard that will allow anyone (or anything) to have an online identity. The DID is a URI like did:<method>:<data> in which <method> determines how to interpret the <data>. The data is generally a public key in some cryptographic system or shitcoin blockchain, or a naked key, or a DNS-backed web address.

Some of the DID proponents argue that this is for maximum interoperability, since any new system can be supported under the same standard, i.e. supposedly an application could "support DIDs" (as some would say) and that would allow anyone to just paste their DID string there and that would refer to something.

There are a gazillion of different DID "methods", most of them are probably barely used. What does it mean for an application to "support" DIDs, then? For the interoperability argument to make any sense that must mean that the application must understand all the "methods" -- which involves understanding all cryptographic protocols and reading and interpreting data from a gazillion different blockchains and also understanding the specifics of each method, since the data of each blockchain or website and so on must also be interpreted according to the rules of the method.

It must be clear from the paragraph above that the DID goal is is unimplementable and therefore will either fail horribly by lack of adoption; or it will have to be changed to something else (for example everybody will start accepting just did:key and ignore others and that will be the standard); or it will become a centralized thing with all supporting applications using a single set of libraries that have built-in support for all methods by calling centralized servers that return the final product of processing the DID data for each method.

See also:

• The problem with ION

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

neuron.vim

I started using this neuron thing to create an update this same zettelkasten, but the existing vim plugin had too many problems, so I forked it and ended up changing almost everything.

Since the upstream repository was somewhat abandoned, most users and people who were trying to contribute upstream migrate to my fork too.

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/neuron.vim

@ 81870f53:29bef6a6

これは、フィナンシャル・タイムズ紙のトランプに対するやや非難的な記事です（出典はこちら：https://www.ft.com/content/11bc931f-5c5e-4e3c-9ceb-9bdca25430ad）。タイトルは「ドナルド・トランプ、FRB大統領に警告」選挙前に利下げをしないことだ」と述べたが、これは完全に正確ではないし、この問題に関してトランプ前大統領が言ったことや発言したことでもない。

共和党候補者はブルームバーグ・ニュースとのインタビューで、中央銀行（FED）は11月5日の選挙前に利下げする「かもしれない」としながらも、「それはすべきではないことは彼らも分かっていることだ」と付け加えた。

もしトランプがこれを言ったら、それは確かに経済的アプローチによるものではなく、政治的アプローチによるものである。大統領選挙の数週間前に金利を引き下げれば、アメリカ国民の購買力と財務状況がわずかに増加する可能性が高く、これはジョー・バイデンのおかげである可能性があり、トランプ大統領の当選には影響しないでしょう。これらの選挙期間中、FEDは選挙結果に干渉しないようにほとんど何もしない、あるいはまったく何も言わないのが通例であることに留意すべきである。これが使い方です。しかし、トランプに対抗し、「民主主義」と「善の陣営」を救うためには、あらゆることが可能である。特に、その関連性について議論できる伝統的な用途を適用しないことは、選挙のわずか4か月前ではないが。

残りについては、トランプはこれからもずっとやり続けるだろう…トランプ！

トランプ大統領はまた、2026年の任期満了前にパウエル氏をFRB議長の職から引きずり降ろそうとするのを皮切りに、FRBを政治化する可能性があるとの金融市場での懸念の高まりにも反応した。

「私は彼に自分の仕事をさせたい」と元大統領は語った。 「特に彼が正しいことをしていると思った場合にはね。 »

トランプ大統領は確かにパウエル議長の行動にあまり満足していない。なぜならパウエル議長は2017年にFRB議長に任命されたものの、トランプ大統領は在任中、貿易戦争のさなか金利を引き下げなかったとしてFRB議長を繰り返し攻撃していたからだ。同氏はかつて、FRB議長は中国の習近平国家主席よりも米国の最大の敵ではないかと質問したこともある。

金利は 5.25 ～ 5.5% の間…どちらが下がるはずですが、いつ?

「FRBはしばらくの間、昨年7月以来維持しており、23年ぶりの高水準である5.25～5.5％の主要政策金利を引き下げる時期について議論してきた。物価圧力の緩和と労働市場の弱体化を受けて、当局者らは借入コストの削減が間もなく正当化されるだろうとの見方を示した。

FEDは11月末と選挙後から金利を大幅に引き下げることができるだろう。これはまた、米国の納税者と国民にとって債務の利子が年間1兆ドル以上かかっていることから、米国の財政にも余裕を与えることになるだろう。人口全体が企業の負債と投資能力を取り戻す。

米国については、まだ大幅な利下げサイクルに入っておらず、現在から11月までの間にインフレの新たなピークが到来し、利下げが後回しにされる恐れがある。

避けられない金融チェーンソーによる虐殺から身を守りたい人は、今こそ行動を起こす時です。

すでに手遅れですが、すべてが失われたわけではありません。

準備をしてください！

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

As estrelas

As estrelas são buracos nas esferas celestiais, buracos através dos quais nos é permitido ver a brilhante luz dos céus.

(Rome, a série.)

@ 1bc70a01:24f6a411

We’re all daily users of Nostr, so it can be easy to see things through an advanced user lens while forgetting what it felt like to be a newbie. I thought I would take some time to go over major client from the start in hopes of evaluating what it might feel like for a new user.

The other reason for running this review is to hopefully improve the overall nostr retention rate across clients. As it stands, according to nostr.band, retention of trusted users 30 days after signups trends to 0 for recent cohorts. This seems to be supported by the lack of growth in daily active users, with the average remaining in the 10,000-12,000 range for “trusted” pub keys.

The following report consists of several criteria which I felt were essential to basic first-time social media experience:

1. Ease of signup
2. Ease of logging in
3. Ability to understand what you are looking at (sufficient explanations)
4. Seeing a good initial feed
5. Ability to follow something of interest
6. Minimizing technical /dev lingo
7. A fast scrolling experience
8. Ability to easily upload media
9. A good search experience overall
10. Good keyword searching
11. Hashtag searching
12. Ability to follow hashtags
13. Easily accessing followed hashtags
14. Good experience reacting to notes

In total there are 140 points, 10 for each category. This is by far not the most comprehensive score card, but I felt it did a decent job covering most things you’d want to do in a social client.

Some notes of caution:

1. This report and score card are meant to be a general quick glance at where your client may stand in overall UX. It does not differentiate between the intended target audiences.
2. The criteria that I deem important may not be important to you as the founder / developer, so take it for what it’s worth. Adding your desired criteria may increase your score significantly. For example, I did not evaluate the zap experience, or thoroughly test nested replies.
3. This report is not a substitute for proper user testing. It’s just one person’s observations. While we have done some user testing in the past, I highly recommend doing your own. You can do so by approaching and interviewing new users (if you are able to distinguish if they came from your client), or via other user testing software. Talk to me (@karnage) if you need some help getting set up.
4. People’s reported experience regarding usability may vary greatly depending on their familiarity with cryptographic concepts, their background, and technical experience. What I may deem as a great score of 10, may not be a 10 for others. I have seen user tests where “obvious” things were not obvious to testers.
5. This report only looks at the English language version of the client. The actual user experience for someone on a different language version of the app could be totally different from what is graded here. It’s worth considering geographies of where users are coming from and how they experience your client.
6. I did not test re-activation of new users. Meaning, once they close the app, I did not test if they are pulled back by some notification or other means. This is a crucial aspect of any new app usage that should be considered carefully.

Tested Clients: Damus, Amethyst, Primal iOS, Snort (web), Iris (sort of), Coracle, Nostur.

I also tested Instagram and X/Twitter for comparison.

Results, highest points to lowest: Primal iOS: 136 Twitter: 125 Instagram: 109 Nostur: 108 Coracle: 99 Amethyst: 93 Snort: 90 Damus: 87 Iris: N/A Facebook: could not test.

My main takeaway was that among all apps (including Twitter and Instagram), the traditional apps win simply by having much better content selection. You get to see a variety of interesting things that Nostr simply can’t match. Going forward, this is an area I would probably recommend focusing on - how to engage people to post more interesting content, onboard creators etc… Nostr is lacking in content and I believe this could be the primary reason people are not sticking around after trying it.

Other Nostr Notes:

There seemed to be little of interesting topics to follow or stick around for. The experience of joining nostr doesn't feel special or different in any way opposed to X for example. Twitter has interesting accounts, TikTok has interesting videos, what does Nostr have? The lack of "popular" conent due to the generally low number of users is probably to blame. In a way we suffer from the chicken / egg problem where new users are needed to generate more content, and more content is needed to retain new users. Going forward, I think clients should think about ways to encourage users to share content (whether that be their own, or posted from other platforms). Nostr also does not seem to have any external growth loops. For example, there is no way to invite people to the platform by email with a single click (by accessing the address book). Even if a friend does manage to join and you can find them, they are in no way notified when tagged (as far as I know). People have to have a habit of opening the app to know if something is happening. The habit formation of using a new app is important in the early usage phase and nostr seems to have a weak spot here.

You can find all of the detailed scoring, notes for each client and other thoughts in this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14w8-aQ1sHfGBSuNpqvOA9i7PHNSfhn6lUOV6H293caw/edit?usp=sharing

@ 1c6b3be3:73f0ae6f

🍵 "btc | bitcoin | lightning network | asic" - Google News

How bitcoin's security makes it the ultimate digital asset - TheStreet TON Foundation to Launch Bitcoin Bridge on The Open Network - Bitcoin.com News Elizabeth Stark: Pioneering Bitcoin Scalability with Lightning Network - Crypto News Flash Runes: The Next Big Step in Bitcoin's Evolution? - hackernoon.com Bitcoin hashrate drawdown hits bear market levels, but miners aren’t selling - Cointelegraph Bitcoin Mining Is So Back (Except It's AI Now) - CoinDesk BitGo Launches Support for Bitcoin L2 Stacks and sBTC - CryptoPotato Liquid Federation Adds Nine New Members as Bitcoin on Liquid Reaches Record - BTC Times ZEUS surges 19% as Zeus Network reveals major upgrades - crypto.news Bitcoin Runes protocol sees sharp decline in popularity - Cointelegraph

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• Bitcoin Mining and Energy Consumption

• Environmental Impact of Bitcoin Mining

• Efforts to Reduce Bitcoin's Environmental Impact

• Is Bitcoin Worth the Environmental Cost?

• Conclusion

• FAQ

Bitcoin has gained immense popularity in recent years as a decentralized digital currency. However, with its rise in popularity, concerns about its environmental impact have also increased. The process of mining Bitcoin, which involves solving complex mathematical problems to validate transactions and create new Bitcoins, requires an enormous amount of energy consumption.

Bitcoin Mining and Energy Consumption

Bitcoin mining is the process of adding new transactions to the blockchain by solving complex mathematical equations. This process requires a massive amount of computational power, which is achieved by using specialized hardware and consuming a significant amount of energy. The energy consumption of Bitcoin mining has become a significant concern as the popularity of the cryptocurrency has grown.

Environmental Impact of Bitcoin Mining

Bitcoin mining has come under criticism for its significant environmental impact. The following are the environmental impacts of bitcoin mining:

Energy Consumption

Bitcoin mining requires an enormous amount of energy, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, Bitcoin mining consumes more energy than entire countries like Argentina and Norway.

Carbon Footprint

The carbon footprint of Bitcoin mining is enormous. It is estimated that the annual carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining are equivalent to those of a small country. The carbon footprint is mainly due to the high energy consumption and the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity.

E-waste

Bitcoin mining requires specialized hardware, which has a limited lifespan. The mining hardware becomes obsolete quickly, leading to electronic waste (e-waste) and pollution.

Land Use

Bitcoin mining requires large amounts of land for the installation of mining hardware and the cooling infrastructure. The land use is a concern, especially in regions where land is scarce.

Water Use

Bitcoin mining requires water for cooling purposes. The high water consumption can strain local water supplies, especially in areas where water scarcity is an issue.

Efforts to Reduce Bitcoin's Environmental Impact

Efforts to reduce Bitcoin's environmental impact have been ongoing in recent years. Some of the most notable efforts include the increased use of renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectric and geothermal power, for Bitcoin mining operations. Additionally, some mining companies have implemented more energy-efficient hardware and cooling systems to reduce energy consumption. Some initiatives also focus on developing alternative consensus mechanisms to the energy-intensive Proof-of-Work algorithm currently used in Bitcoin mining. While these efforts are promising, it remains to be seen if they will be enough to significantly reduce Bitcoin's environmental impact in the long term.

Is Bitcoin Worth the Environmental Cost?

As with any technology, there are both benefits and costs associated with Bitcoin. While the cryptocurrency has the potential to revolutionize the way we make online transactions, it also has a significant environmental cost. So, is Bitcoin worth the environmental cost?

One argument in favor of Bitcoin is that it has the potential to reduce our reliance on traditional banking systems, which can have their own environmental impact. In addition, some argue that the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining is overstated, and that renewable energy sources could be used to power mining operations.

Conclusion

Bitcoin's environmental impact is a complex issue that requires careful consideration. While Bitcoin has the potential to revolutionize the way we conduct transactions, it comes at a significant cost to the environment. The energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with Bitcoin mining are substantial and could have serious long-term consequences.

FAQ

What is Bitcoin's environmental impact? Bitcoin mining consumes a significant amount of energy, leading to a substantial carbon footprint and contributing to climate change.

How does Bitcoin mining contribute to carbon emissions? Bitcoin mining requires powerful computer systems that consume a lot of electricity. The majority of the electricity comes from non-renewable sources such as coal, which emits large amounts of carbon dioxide when burned.

What efforts are being made to reduce Bitcoin's environmental impact? Several initiatives are being undertaken to make Bitcoin mining more sustainable. These include transitioning to renewable energy sources, improving mining efficiency, and developing more eco-friendly mining hardware.

That's all for today

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Scala is such a great language

Scala is amazing. The type system has the perfect balance between flexibility and powerfulness. match statements are great. You can write imperative code that looks very nice and expressive (and I haven't tried writing purely functional things yet). Everything is easy to write and cheap and neovim integration works great.

But Java is not great. And the fact that Scala is a JVM language doesn't help because over the years people have written stuff that depends on Java libraries -- and these Java libraries are not as safe as the Scala libraries, they contain reflection, slowness, runtime errors, all kinds of horrors.

Scala is also very tightly associated with Akka, the actor framework, and Akka is a giant collection of anti-patterns. Untyped stuff, reflection, dependency on JVM, basically a lot of javisms. I just arrived and I don't know anything about the Scala history or ecosystem or community, but I have the impression that Akka has prevent more adoption of Scala from decent people that aren't Java programmers.

But luckily there is a solution -- or two solutions: ScalaJS is a great thing that exists. It transpiles Scala code into JavaScript and it runs on NodeJS or in a browser!

Scala Native is a much better deal, though, it compiles to LLVM and then to binary code and you can have single binaries that run directly without a JVM -- not that the single JARs are that bad though, they are great and everybody has Java so I'll take that anytime over C libraries or NPM-distributed software, but direct executables even better. Scala Native just needs a little more love and some libraries and it will be the greatest thing in a couple of years.

@ 1739d937:3e3136ef

This is the fourth in a series of weekly updates detailing progress on bringing MLS protocol DMs and group messaging to Nostr.

Previous Updates

• June 28th 2024
• July 6th 2024
• July 12th 2024

Progress this week

The dependency train continues to roll. This week I was in touch with the maintainers of both OpenMLS and the hkpe-rs library and have pushed my changes forward in both areas. I've also gotten closer to understanding the wire format and relay requirements for the NIP I'm working on.

To be honest, the progress feels pretty slow at the moment but I've seen this story often enough to know that I'm on the right track. To be clear, my goal here is do this right and make it as easy as possible for Nostr devs to implement MLS based messaging across all of Nostr. That necessarily requires ensuring that all the implementation libraries support the right pieces and that our NIP is clean and well thought through (no one likes a shed full of bikes).

HPKE-RS

My PR to add support for secp256k1 is moving. I've been adding tests this week and fixing a few issues. Once this is merged, I'll update my secp256k1-based library as well. One unfortunate roadblock has been a lack of solid test vectors - this has eaten some time.

OpenMLS Nostr Crypto

I had a short call with the OpenMLS maintainer team this week and was able to clarify what I'm trying to do and how they see it fitting in best. I was also able to get a better idea about how clients will need to process incoming messages. One interesting highlight: Messages have to be processed in the right order. Otherwise it's impossible to keep the ratchet tree in the correct state. My left-curve solution to this for now is to use both created at (as a dumb first pass at sorting) + a hash of the previous message content. This will give Nostr clients a simple way to double check that they have the messages in the correct order before they attempt to process them. Unfortunatley, this doesn't do a good job accounting for messages that are missing. My guess is that this isn't going to be a major issue, but I won't have a clear idea until there is a working Nostr relay based demo.

The next steps in my code for OpenMLS is to refactor the ciphersuites trait to make it easier to use custom ciphersuites. My initial PR hardcoded our secp256k1 based suite into the library but the clearly better solution is to refactor a few things to make sure that there isn't any hardcoding in the main OpenMLS library, the ciphersuite, or the credentials (which hold your identity information and make prekey bundles possible). The library's maintainers are open to this, so I've started on that this week.

Request for feedback

I'd love to hear from devs on one point. The OpenMLS library currently makes it very easy to serialize messages (both group control messages and actual messages between users). These messages have a lot of data in them about the current structure of the ratchet tree and whatever message or control event they're trying to communicate. My current plan is to simply NIP-44 encrypt those serialized messages into the content field of a new event kind. The messages themselves are deserialized and processed in two simple calls by the OpenMLS library so I don't see any reason to keep destructured or deserialized data in the nostr events that are heading over the wire. This also makes it easier to keep metadata about messages hidden to observers.

Goals Recap

It's been a few weeks since I've talked about why this is important so, it's time to recap what we're aiming for:

1. Private and Confidential DMs and Group messages
2. Private means that an observer cannot tell that Alice and Bob are talking to one another, or that Alice is part of a specific group. This necessarily requires protecting metadata.
3. Confidential means that the contents of conversations can only be viewed by the intended recipients.
4. Forward secrecy and Post-compromise security (PCS) in the case of any key material being leaked, whether that's your main Nostr identity key (your nsec) or any of the keys used in the MLS ratchet trees.
5. Forward secrecy means that encrypted content in the past remains encrypted even if key material is leaked.
6. Post compromise security means that leaking key material doesn't allow an attacker to continue to read messages indefinitely into the future.
7. Scales well for large groups. MLS provides this from a computational standpoint, but we need to make sure this works in a scalable way when multiple relays are involved.
8. Allows for the use of multiple device/clients in a single conversation/group. Importantly, we're not aiming to enable a device/client to be able to reconstruct the full history of a conversation at any point.

Onward and Upward

Grind, grind, grind. Touch grass & hug family. I'm visiting family starting next week for a few weeks. I'm going to be taking some time off in there so expect a few light updates in the coming weeks.

@ aa4955b3:e9df94de

I stood in the back of the church after Sunday’s service. An unfamiliar congregant approached me with a question: “If Saturday is the Sabbath day, and the Sabbath command is one of the ten commandments, then why do churches worship on Sunday?” It is a good question. While many evangelical churches today hold that the Sabbath command is the only commandment of the ten commandments not repeated in the New Testament, and therefore no longer binding, the more traditional Protestant view is that the ten commandments are part of the moral or natural law, and therefore all of the ten commandments remain in force, including the fourth commandment.

If that’s true, why worship on Sunday? Christians have worshiped on Sunday since the earliest times in the church because Sunday, the first day of the week, is the day Jesus rose from the dead. They called it “the Lord’s Day” (Rev. 1:10), and 1 Cor. 16:2 and Acts 20:7 both strongly suggest, if not demonstrate conclusively, that it was the early disciples’ custom, from the beginning, to meet on the first day of the week for worship. Jesus set apart the day not only by rising from the dead on that day, but also in His frequent appearances on the first day of the week after His resurrection (John 20:19; 20:26) and in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, also on the first day of the week.

Still, if the Sabbath is a perpetual command, and Saturday is the Sabbath day, then how can churches simply ignore that fact and change the day it is observed? Aren’t they breaking God’s commandment? In truth, the fourth commandment never fixes Saturday as the day it must be observed. Scripture simply says it is to be observed the seventh day, because the LORD made the earth and the heavens in six days, and on the seventh day He rested from His work (Exod. 20:9; 35:2; Gen. 2:2-3). Granted, the seventh day, counted from the first day of creation, if we call that seventh day “Saturday,” would be observed Saturday each week, in perpetuity. And yet, the New Testament is very clear that Christ has inaugurated a new day, and a new creation. As 2 Cor. 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” In fact, many prophecies, both verbal and typological, of the Old Testament, point to a fulfillment which sets apart the first day of the week (the eighth day as opposed to the seventh) as particularly holy (e.g. the Temple was dedicated on the first day of the week; Hebrew males were circumcised on the eighth day, etc.).

So that first resurrection Sunday, when Jesus rose from the dead very early in the morning (John 20:1), was the expected and prophesied dawning of the first day of a new world (Rev. 21:5). It was the dawning of that eschatological eighth day, the beginning of a new week—a new Sabbath, if you will—prophesied in types and shadows throughout the Old Testament. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but He did come to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17). He is Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8), and He set apart and sanctified the first day of the week by rising from the dead on that day. Which is a more fitting day for Christians to worship Jesus our risen Redeemer—Saturday, the day He was dead in the tomb, or Sunday, the day He rose triumphant from the tomb?

The upshot is this: Christians still observe the day of God’s rest, every seventh day, just as the fourth commandment requires, but we observe it not on the day God rested from His work of creation, but on the day Jesus, God incarnate, rested from His work of redemption, as Christians have from the beginning. For if Jews under the Old Testament observed the Sabbath every seventh day in remembrance of the day God rested from His work of creation, how much more should we worship every seventh day, in remembrance of the day God rested from His greater work of making a new creation?

Author's note: I am indebted for much of the substance of this article to Robert Haldane's concise but persuasive work entitled Sanctification of the Sabbath: The Permanent Obligation to Observe the Sabbath or Lord's Day.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

How to do curation and businesses on Nostr

Suppose you want to start a Nostr business.

You might be tempted to make a closed platform that reuses Nostr identities and grabs (some) content from the external Nostr network, only to imprison it inside your thing -- and then you're going to run an amazing AI-powered algorithm on that content and "surface" only the best stuff and people will flock to your app.

This will be specially good if you're going after one of the many unexplored niches of Nostr in which reading immediately from people you know doesn't work as you generally want to discover new things from the outer world, such as:

• food recipe sharing;
• sharing of long articles about varying topics;
• markets for used goods;
• freelancer work and job offers;
• specific in-game lobbies and matchmaking;
• directories of accredited professionals;
• sharing of original music, drawings and other artistic creations;
• restaurant recommendations
• and so on.

But that is not the correct approach and damages the freedom and interoperability of Nostr, posing a centralization threat to the protocol. Even if it "works" and your business is incredibly successful it will just enshrine you as the head of a platform that controls users and thus is prone to all the bad things that happen to all these platforms. Your company will start to display ads and shape the public discourse, you'll need a big legal team, the FBI will talk to you, advertisers will play a big role and so on.

If you are interested in Nostr today that must be because you appreciate the fact that it is not owned by any companies, so it's safe to assume you don't want to be that company that owns it. So what should you do instead? Here's an idea in two steps:

1. Write a Nostr client tailored to the niche you want to cover

If it's a music sharing thing, then the client will have a way to play the audio and so on; if it's a restaurant sharing it will have maps with the locations of the restaurants or whatever, you get the idea. Hopefully there will be a NIP or a NUD specifying how to create and interact with events relating to this niche, or you will write or contribute with the creation of one, because without interoperability none of this matters much.

The client should work independently of any special backend requirements and ideally be open-source. It should have a way for users to configure to which relays they want to connect to see "global" content -- i.e., they might want to connect to wss://nostr.chrysalisrecords.com/ to see only the latest music releases accredited by that label or to wss://nostr.indiemusic.com/ to get music from independent producers from that community.

1. Run a relay that does all the magic

This is where your value-adding capabilities come into play: if you have that magic sauce you should be able to apply it here. Your service, let's call it wss://magicsaucemusic.com/, will charge people or do some KYM (know your music) validation or use some very advanced AI sorcery to filter out the spam and the garbage and display the best content to your users who will request the global feed from it (["REQ", "_", {}]), and this will cause people to want to publish to your relay while others will want to read from it.

You set your relay as the default option in the client and let things happen. Your relay is like your "website" and people are free to connect to it or not. You don't own the network, you're just competing against other websites on a leveled playing field, so you're not responsible for it. Users get seamless browsing across multiple websites, unified identities, a unified interface (that could be different in a different client) and social interaction capabilities that work in the same way for all, and they do not depend on you, therefore they're more likely to trust you.

---

Does this centralize the network still? But this a simple and easy way to go about the matter and scales well in all aspects.

Besides allowing users to connect to specific relays for getting a feed of curated content, such clients should also do all kinds of "social" (i.e. following, commenting etc) activities (if they choose to do that) using the outbox model -- i.e. if I find a musician I like under wss://magicsaucemusic.com and I decide to follow them I should keep getting updates from them even if they get banned from that relay and start publishing on wss://nos.lol or wss://relay.damus.io or whatever relay that doesn't even know what music is.

The hardcoded defaults and manual typing of relay URLs can be annoying. But I think it works well at the current stage of Nostr development. Soon, though, we can create events that recommend other relays or share relay lists specific to each kind of activity so users can get in-app suggestions of relays their friends are using to get their music from and so on. That kind of stuff can go a long way.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Custom spreadsheets

The idea was to use it to make an app that would serve as custom database for everything and interact with the spreadsheet so people could play and calculate with their values after they were created by the custom app, something like an MS Access integrated with Excel?

My first attempt that worked (I believe there was an attempt before but I have probably deleted it from everywhere) was this react-microspreadsheet thing (at the time called react-spreadsheet before I donated the npm name to someone who asked):

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/react-microspreadsheet

This was a very good spreadsheet component that did many things current "react spreadsheet" components out there don't do. It had formulas; support for that handle thing that you pulled with the mouse and it autofilled cells with a pattern; it had keyboard navigation with Ctrl, Shift, Ctrl+Shift; it had that thing through which you copy-pasted formulas and they would change their parameters depending on where you pasted them (implemented in a very poor manner because I was using and thinking about Excel in baby mode at the time).

Then I tried to make it into "a small sheet you can share" kind of app through assemblymade.com, and eventually as I tried to add more things bugs began to appear.

Then there was cycle6-spreadsheet:

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/spreadsheet-cycle6

If I remember well this was very similar to the other one, although made almost 2 years after. Despite having the same initial goal of the other (the multi-app custom database thing) it only yielded:

• Sidesheet, a Chrome extension that opened a spreadsheet on the side of the screen that you could use to make calculations and so on. It worked, but had too many bugs that probably caused me to give up entirely.

I'm not sure which of the two spreadsheets above powers http://sheets.alhur.es.

@ 5df413d4:2add4f5b

BLUEBERRY OKRA LIME TEA

https://image.nostr.build/f063cf64710c1551c7cfbfd090cbcb9dbf6b1ab046c26fbe9f81f9cabe454d12.jpg https://image.nostr.build/5e8267ac7c4d30764ad9748fd8ac64b5ad4c746172a4a32ecac355378ed2666a.jpg

• Blueberries
• Cut Okra fingers
• Okra Flowers
• Lime zest
• Slice of lime

Heat water 3-4 cups of water to boil. Add ingredients and let boil for 5 minutes. Lower heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Use sieve with funnel to strain into 32 oz mason jar.

Benefits: Gut health, Cardiovascular health, antioxidant and anti-inflammation, boost immunity, anti-diabetic, sexual vitality.

Also remember Okra is a "seed to stem" fruit - the seeds, stalks, leaves, flower, and fruit are all edible. It is a plant with phenomenal culinary, medicinal, and even cosmetic (i.e. hair and skin uses) range - your African, Indo-Asian, and American Southern herbalists and plant works have always known this. If this is new to you, ask your self why...

Blessing to you all friends.

~Moon

@ f683e870:557f5ef2

For reading the article with proper Latex, head over to pippellia.com

Introduction

The emergence of decentralized social networks with sovereign identities (e.g. Nostr is a pivotal moment for the web, and it comes at the perfect time. In the age of AI, where it's getting cheaper and cheaper to impersonate people, distort videos and images, or just make them up, how is it possible to know what's true? What does truth even mean these days?

These are questions I will not attempt to answer. However, even if the ontology of truth has eluded philosophers forever, a more practical approach is needed if the Web is not to degenerate into a nihilistic place where nothing is real, or worse, a place where everything requires identity verification and the approval of a central authority.

In this paper, you will find a definition of the social graph, principles for thinking about it, and practical ideas for using it for DoS prevention, social discovery, anti-impersonation, accurate ratings, and more. You will also learn about alternative mechanisms that can be used in conjunction with social graph analysis to provide more compelling and complete solutions.

Social Graph

First, what is a graph? A graph G is a mathematical structure consisting of a set of nodes or vertices V and a set of edges E.

In mathematical notation, we write G = (V,E).

Edges are defined by a relation on the set V x V = {(v,u) : v,u in V }; for example, if node v and node u are related (e.g. v follows u), then the pair (v,u) is contained in the set E. In the notation

E = { (v,u) in V^2 : v is related to u }

The relationship can be symmetrical or asymmetrical, distinguishing between undirected and directed graphs.

A social graph is simply a graph in which the nodes are human entities (such as individuals, companies, groups, etc.) and the edges represent some form of social relationship, such as being friends with, following, or being zapped.

Before we go any further, we need to define another important notion, that of a neighborhood.

The neighborhood of a set of vertices S subset of V in G is another set of vertices whose defining property is to be connected to a vertex in S. In mathematical notation

N_G(S) = { u in V : exist s in S, (s,u) in E }

What problem is the social graph solving? The answer is many, in many different ways and forms. We are talking about using it as a defense mechanism against impersonation, as a way to prevent DoS attacks, to facilitate social discovery and connections, and to calculate more accurate ratings. But before we dive into the implementations, I ask you to pause for a moment to understand the magnitude of what we are discussing.

Principles

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that the engineers at YouTube were evil when they designed their algorithm. As the saying goes, the road to hell (read: open-mouth theater) is paved with good intentions (read: the desire to over-optimize engagement).

If your implementation is successful, people's behavior will be affected. That's why it's important to establish principles that can guide designers and developers in creating systems that are healthier than the world we're leaving behind.

Principle of least interference

A good rule of thumb when designing systems that affect social dynamics is to follow the principle of least interference.

Principle of least interference: solve the problem by implementing whatever mechanism has the least possible impact on social dynamics.

As an heuristic based on this principle, it is generally better to focus on solving only one problem at a time, since it is unlikely that solving multiple problems at once will not lead to a greater impact on those social dynamics.

A great example to analyze is the WoT score implemented by Coracle, which tries to "reduce spam, impostors, and objectionable content", all at once.

Let's start by analyzing how it works as an anti-impersonation mechanism.

If you search for 'Lyn Alden', it is very likely (if you are part of a "good" network) that the npub with the highest WoT is the real Lyn, while all others are impersonators.

However, a simple warning icon above all other Lyns would have accomplished the same goal without introducing a rating that can alter social dynamics.

In fact, the WoT score represents the opinion of the crowd around you, which doesn't offer any nuance when comparing the reputation of different real people. Crowd thinking is one of the biggest problems of the world we are leaving, and it would be a silly exercise to bring it with us.

Besides, we do not walk around with a number on our forehead in meatspace, nor should we in cyberspace, even if that number depends on the observer.

There is also another, more fundamental problem, which is that the user v only has information about a limited subset of the network, namely N_G^2(v) = N_G(N_G(v)), where G is the graph defined by the relation "follow OR mute" relation.

Therefore, if you set the WoT threshold above zero, you won't see anyone outside of N_G^2(v), which certainly prevents spam, but at the cost of discoverability.

We'll come back to how to design a more effective anti-impersonation system later.

Principle of Relativity in cyberspace

The current Web, and our societies in general, are built on an outdated paradigm that relies on and requires consensus about what is true, false, good, or bad. Unspeakable atrocities have been committed to achieve and maintain such consensus.

However, we must move beyond this legacy of the past if we are to usher in a new era of freedom.

The notion of a commonly shared belief or social truth is as dead in this new millennium as God was in the 19th century.

Principle of Relativity in Cyberspace: You cannot and should not dictate what is true or false, what is good content or bad content or spam, for another person.

If you do, you will simply be replacing the beast with a new set of beliefs. It's true that there are many different clients to choose from, but there were many different web browsers back in the day, and that didn't end well.

The reality is that a global agreement on things has seldom been necessary. In fact, relative canonicality can be achieved without the need for a central authority.

Wikifreedia (a nostr alternative to Wikipedia, as you have probably guessed) fully embraces this idea of relative canonicality. Each topic contains multiple entries; there is no single source of truth that aims or claims to be neutral. Of course, this doesn't mean that all entries are equally good or useful. On the contrary, there is a very opinionated and biased way of sorting them, which depends on the observer. Regardless of the specific implementation (again, number on the forehead), this is the way to go, this is relativity in cyberspace.

There is no Global

This point is arguably a corollary of the previous principle, but it's so important that it needs to be fully explained. The notion of global is also dead.

Despite being the largest indexer in the world, Google only indexes a small portion of the web. The engineering challenges behind indexing absolutely every person and piece of content in an ever-growing, open and hostile decentralized network will likely exacerbate this outcome: Nostr will outgrow every index.

As spammers become more sophisticated, crawlers will have to become more selective, limiting the percentage of the network that is indexed. Therefore, as a client designer or developer, you really only have a limited view of what's happening.

This reinforces the statement that you cannot decide for someone else what is good or bad, true or false. You can't possibly know, because what you have is a local, limited view, just like everyone else's.

Let's take Nostr Band for example. As much as I appreciate their cool statistics, it's important to know their limitations. The version of Trust Rank that Nostr Band implements:

1. runs on the subset of the network they are aware of
2. uses an arbitrarily chosen set of NIP05 providers for determining the so called good seeds

This approach is fine if it's used to defend the service provider against spammers (see DoS prevention section for improvements).

However, such an arbitrary view (all are, but some less than others) shouldn't be imposed on the end user, but only used as a way for the service provider to select the customers it wants to serve.

Principle of natural patterns

I believe that technology is made for people, so it should serve us and improve our quality of life. We shouldn't adapt to technology, technology should adapt to us.

This context is no exception to the rule. Humans are social creatures, and our social dynamics and behaviors have evolved through our long history. Therefore, before introducing new and artificial social dynamics, it's wiser to mimic the natural dynamics that have evolved with us for millennia.

Principle of natural patterns: When in doubt, try to mimic the social dynamics of meatspace

For example, in meatspace, a friend of a friend is not a stranger, but it's not a friend either. It's something in between, and a good candidate for a potential future friend.

Another example is something that will hit home if you've ever been to a bitcoin conference. When you're among people with the same interests, and I would argue mostly overlapping values, even if you've never met them, you can't say they're strangers.

Examples abound, so there is really no reason to try to impose any artificial dynamics before exhausting what nature has given us.

---

To summarize, we take from this section three principles that will inform our analysis and design decisions going forward:

• The principle of least interference
• The principle of relativity in cyberspace
• The principle of natural patterns

The Problems

Finally, we can start discussing some concrete problems and ways to solve them. There are several well-defined problems that social graph analysis can help with. Again, it's important to define them well if we want to follow the principle of least interference.

The first problem we will analyze is protection against impersonation, one of the most important pieces to get right.

Anti-impersonation

Social endorsement

Who is the real Giacomo? In this case, it's pretty simple

First of all, let's talk about what won't help us decide:

• the name
• the profile picture
• the bio
• the date of creation

And no, not even the number of followers, as this is a completely irrelevant metric in an open and hostile network. See an example

What helps us is the line below:

"Followed by Bitcoin Africa Story, Nostr Wallet Connect, and 666 others you follow".

This is the signal. Follows can be faked, but follows from people you trust cannot be faked (or are more expensive to get). This is a particularly good design because it adheres to the principle of relativity in cyberspace. It doesn't prescribe who the real Giacomo is, it doesn't summarize the data for you (like the aforementioned WoT score, where every follower has the same weight), but it shows you clues that you can decide to interpret in the way you want.

The same idea can be applied to mutes, which gives you a few more clues.

Obviously, such a system can be extended not only to the people you follow, i.e. N_G(v), but also to the people who are 2 hops away from you, i.e. N_G^2(v) = N_G(N_G(V)), or n hops away from you, i.e. N_G^n(v).

However, the signal becomes increasingly diluted and unreliable the farther you go.

This approach is a good start, but it can't really solve the impersonation problem on its own because it's limited in reach and suffers from a bootstrapping problem for new users, which is really the same problem if you think about it.

There is also a subtle issue worth mentioning. What if a reputable person tries to impersonate someone else? This attack is possible because it won't be detected immediately, but the more prominent the person, the faster this attack will be detected, causing the attacker to lose their hard-earned reputation.

Furthermore, for truly prominent figures such as heads of state, this problem can be mitigated (but not completely solved) by third-party credentials that can be displayed by clients.

NIP05 providers

Another approach that has been tried is to rely on NIP05 providers. If I trust a NIP05 provider to verify the people they serve, then I can assign a non-zero level of trust to their customers. However, this approach obviously requires trust, which isn't ideal since there are trustless approaches that provide better guarantees.

PoW keys

When we see a stranger enter the pub where we are, or when we are crowded on the subway, we find ourselves potentially vulnerable to strangers. In most civilized places, however, we don't live in a constant state of fear, and that comes from the fact that others are vulnerable as well. Everyone has skin in the game, even the aggressors, which means that the best way to play this game is not to mess with other people.

On Nostr, however, the only consequence you can feel is the loss of your reputation, which by definition is worthless when the npub is brand new.

However, there is a way to add skin in-game for new keys, i.e. PoW keys.

The process works like this: while creating your identity, your machine can generate a new private key sk until the corresponding public key pk, as a binary number, satisfies the following inequality:

pk <= t ; where t is a threshold of your choice.

Since there is no efficient way to do this (allegedly), this process requires the expenditure of computing power and energy. This adds a quantifiable and verifiable cost to any identity, making credible impersonation expensive.

However, PoW keys can't work at scale, because:

1. they require commitment at key creation, which is bad UX because it reverses the "try before you buy" rule
2. the PoW can't be updated over time
3. It is not possible to delegate the work without delegating the key (supposedly)

The last point implies that the economy of scale favors the attacker, because they have multiple targets, whereas the defender can only defend himself.

However, there is a similar approach that offers what I believe are more appropriate tradeoffs: PoW Endorsement.

PoW endorsment

A PoW endorsement is a simple unsigned user metadata event containing a target npub, a difficulty commitment threshold $t$, and a nonce.

The nonce is randomly generated until the following condition is satisfied:

h(event) <= 2^t ; where h is a cryptographic hash function such as SHA256

If the condition is met, the PoW endorsment is valid, and the target npub's "PoW weight" becomes 256 - t.

What I am describing is basically NIP13, except that it should use kind 0, and it doesn't need a signature (what's the problem if someone wants to add PoW to someone else's npub?).

What makes PoW endorsements different from PoW keys is that:

1. it doesn't require any commitment at key creation
2. the PoW can be updated over time
3. it's possible to delegate the work without delegating the key
4. requires data availability, because the work is separate from the key

Point 3 is what makes this approach feasible and scalable, especially for mobile devices constrained by CPU and battery limitations.

Point 4 isn't particularly bad because the events are small, public, and the user has an incentive to store them.

Example of how it works

• Alice gives a npub to the Miner
• Alice pays the Miner $10
• The Miner mines the PoW endorsement, with the target npub
• The target npub now has a non-zero PoW weight

How does it help?

If the target npub has a non-zero PoW weight, credible impersonation attempts require a cost. The attacker's social capital (PoW weight) becomes less and less valuable, and is eventually lost, as more people discover the attack and mute the attacker's npub.

Furthermore, assuming that most of the PoW weight is allocated to real people (1), it's possible to use its distribution to fix the shortcomings of social endorsement.

For example, a new user can be presented with the choice of following the npubs with the highest Trust Rank, where the good seeds are the npubs with non-zero PoW weight. The same principle can be applied to an existing user trying to get information about an npub that is many hops away from him/her.

If you want to summarize this idea to the maximum, if the number of followers is meaningless, that's not true for the number of followers with non-zero PoW weight (under assumption 1).

I have started working on this idea and preliminary results are promising, but more thought is needed

Colored halo

Another anti-impersonation mechanism tried by Nostrudel is to use a few characters of the public key (in hex format) to identify a unique color that is displayed around the user's profile picture.

The idea is that if I am already following the real Lyn, a credible impersonation attempt would require generating many times the key pair to get the same or very similar color. This requires energy, which means cost.

However, this information is only useful if I already follow the real Lyn and remember her color. Asking my trusted network for the color of a particular person is no different task than asking her npub directly.

This means that this approach, while interesting, is not very useful.

DoS attack prevention

When analyzing Denial of Service attacks, we should distinguish between defense mechanisms that work at the network level, at the service provider level, and at the user level.

Talking about the first case may seem to contradict the principle of relativity in cyberspace, but here by network we mean any set of network participants who are willing to cooperate but not necessarily trust each other.

Network level

PoW events basically apply the concept of Hashcash not to email messages but to notes. There is not much to say here, except to note that the PoW can be outsourced to service providers that can most likely outcompete the attackers in efficiency.

Service provider level

The best tool the service provider can use to prevent DoS is money. A paid service, either pay-per-use or subscription-based, can work both for monetization and as a defense mechanism. However, not every service (or sub-service) is directly monetizable, which is where social graph analysis can help.

The idea is to selectively choose which npubs are considered potential good customers and filter out everyone else. If this needs to be said, I'll say it: this is not censorship, this is simply a business deciding who to serve.

Many different criteria can be used to select what is a good customer, especially since this definition depends on the service being provided.

A general approach is to use Trust Rank or Spam Mass Estimates (with a suitable measure for selecting the good seeds, such as PoW weight) as the criteria for deciding the "good customers". Those who don't qualify will simply not be served for free.

User level

Here we consider a simple defense against DoS attacks on user DMs.

The user $v$ has a whitelist of npubs that can directly DM him/her for free. If the sender is not on the whitelist, the DM will only be displayed by the client if it is preceded by or comes with a payment above a certain threshold.

The whitelist can be edited manually, but it's automatically populated based on some social graph criteria that the user has approved.

For example, all npubs in N_G(v) U N_G^2(v) U N_G^3(v) can be automatically added to the whitelist of user v.

Personalized Ratings

The idea that every opinion or vote is equally important to everyone is a byproduct of political democracy and its sanctification. This is never the case in any social context.

Imagine you want to buy a product that has thousands of good reviews, but your friend recently bought it and tells you it's not good. It's natural for you to give more weight to your friend's opinion, contrary to the belief that each opinion has equal weight.

When computing an average, there is always an assumption about the weight distribution, i.e. how important each vote is.

Given a list of ratings (r_i)_i and a weight distribution (w_i)_i such that the sum of the weight is 1, the average is sum r_i w_i

The democratic average assumes each opinion has exactly the same weight.

Social graph analysis can be useful to design more accurate and even personalized ratings, i.e. ratings that reflect who the viewer is and what he/she is looking for at any given time.

For example, you might want to give more weight to people who have similar interests to you, or more weight to your friends and friends of your friends. Many different criteria for calculating weight distributions are possible, making this an exciting area for future research.

It's important to note that the most trustworthy ratings will be those that are independently verifiable, both in the ratings and in the weight distributions.

Practically speaking, there are two steps involved in computing a weight distribution:

• Select the support, i.e. the set of npubs that have a non-zero weight.
• Assigning a specific weight to each npub that is part of the support.

These two steps can be done simultaneously or one after the other. In the next section, we'll look at support selection, a problem that arises in another, seemingly unrelated context: social discovery.

Social Discovery

How many times have you discovered something thanks to a friend's recommendation? This phenomenon can actually be productized to streamline the discovery of content, places, and people that are relevant to the end user.

Here is a mathematical formulation of the problem:

Consider a social graph G = (V,E), where the nodes are ordered, i.e. V = { v_1, v_2, ... v_n}.

The goal is to construct another graph G' = (V,E'), where E' consists of the recommendations for each of the users we want to serve. This is a simplified scenario, where what is being recommended are other nodes in the graph.

What we need is a function f : G --> G' that takes G as input and returns G' as output, i.e. the recommendations we are interested in.

I'll now introduce a definition to simplify the problem.

Adjaciency matrix: Given a graph G = (V,E), its edges can be represented as a matrix called the adjacency matrix A, defined as follows:

A_ij = 1 if and only if v_i is related to v_j

In light of this new definition, the problem is to construct f : A --> A', which is a function that takes an n by n boolean matrix A as input and outputs the n by n recommendation matrix A'.

With this notation, the recommendation list of the node v_i consists of the nodes corresponding to the non-zero elements of the i-th row of A'.

Look at the example in the picture. By applying an unknown (for now) function f, we get the recommendation matrix A'. Only the first row contains a non-zero element whose position is (1,3). This means that node v_1 has node v_3 as a recommendation.

There are (2^{n^2})^{2^{n^2}} of such functions (exercise: why?), but only a few of them make sense and mimic the heuristics humans use.

The first social dynamic we want to replicate is the "friend of a friend" dynamic, or more specifically, if v_i _follows _v_j, and v_j follows v_k, then v_k is added to v_i's recommendation list.

In other words, we want A'_ij = 1 if and only if v_i is connected to _v_j _by a path of length exactly 2. In this case, we are not interested in how many such paths exist, but only in whether there is at least one.

This rule is encoded in the function f: A --> A' = A @ A = A^2, where @ is the product between Boolean matrices ( exercise: check that it's correct).

Inspired by this simple yet powerful result, previous research has investigated the class of candidate functions f_M: A --> A' = A @ M.

Here are some examples of such matrices M.

Applying each of these functions to f_M adds new relations to the graph, and this process can be repeated many times until the desired result is achieved.

For example, in the matrix A + A^2 + A^3 + ... + A^m, node v is connected to node u if and only if there exists a path of length <= m from v to u in the original graph G.

Formulating the problem of social discovery as an iteration of atomic propagation rules has many advantages, since:

• It's simple, yet can accommodate many different propagation rules
• It's passive, since it doesn't require the user to specify anything other than the rules and the number of iterations desired
• It's efficient, since its space complexity takes advantage of the sparsity of social graphs, and its time complexity can be estimated to be O(n^{5/2}) (Learn more about the time complexity of Boolean matrix multiplication ).
• It's well supported by most programming languages, given how ubiquitous matrix multiplication is
• It's transparent and independently verifiable in its operations

Furthermore, as highlighted in the previous section, this approach is applicable to compute transparent and personalized weight distributions.

Considering again the direct propagation rule (friend of a friend), we can start assigning weights based on the distance to the user.

If the distance is 1, meaning a direct connection, the weight is set to 1. Whenever the distance increases by 1, the weight decreases by a factor of gamma in [0,1], a parameter potentially chosen by the user.

On a practical level, this means that the service providers compute and store the matrices A, A^2, ... A^m for a reasonable m.

Each user v_i _can choose _gamma_i in [0,1], and k_i <= m, and the personalized weight distribution he/she gets is

A_i + gamma_i A^2_i + ... gamma_i^{k_i-1} A^{k_i}_i

with A_i representing the i-th row of the matrix A.

• If gamma_i = 0, the user chooses to consider the ratings of only those he follows as relevant.
• If gamma_i = 1 and k_i = m, the user chooses to give basically the same weight to everyone in the network, and will get a democratic average rating.
• If gamma_i = 0.5, then the weight of direct followers is 1, that of two hops is 0.5, then 0.25 and so on.

By combining and experimenting with propagation rules and weighting criteria, it's possible to efficiently compute personalized, verifiable and dynamic ratings for each user, making this an exciting area for future development.

Conclusion

This is a comprehensive yet superficial paper, as it touches on many different areas without exhausting any. This was done intentionally to stimulate interest in the field of social graph analysis. More importantly, it aims to help the reader understand the significant impact this exciting new field can have on the Web, although not without its risks.

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Interested in implementing the social graph into your App? Reach out, I would be more than happy to help

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For reading the article with proper Latex, head over to pippellia.com

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วันที่ 15/7/2024 เป็นวันแรกของทริป ครั้งนี้ไปที่ปากช่องครับ เส้นทางที่ใช้คือนนทบุรี ออกอยุธยา เข้าสระบุรี เข้าปากช่อง

วัดพระพุทธบาท จังหวัดสระบุรี

ตอนที่หาข้อมูลของวัดแห่งนี้ ผมตั้งใจจะพาครอบครัวมาไหว้พระ ไหว้รอยพระพุทธบาท เพื่อขอรากฐานความมั่นคงทั้งทางโลกและทางธรรม เสมือนรอยพระพุทธบาทขององค์พระพุทธเจ้า ที่ท่านก้าวเดินอย่างหนักแน่นมั่นคง มีสติในทุกๆก้าว รอยพระพุทธบาทอยู่ในวิหารหลังนี้ครั้ง แต่พวกผมเคารพความศักดิ์สิทธิ์และไม่ต้องการทำให้คนอื่นๆที่มาสักการะเสียสมาธิ ผมเลยเลือกถ่ายรูปเฉพาะภายนอก ไม่ถ่ายข้างในครับ

หลังจากไหว้รอบพระพุทธบาทเสร็จ ด้านหลังตัววิหารมีบันไดทางขึ้นไปกราบไหวพระพุทธฉาย บันไดขึ้นเขาสูงประมาณ 300 ขั้น มีเจ้าหน้าที่นำทางและอธิบายประวัติความสำคัญของสถานที่

เมื่อมาถึงจุดของพระพุทธฉาย บริเวณที่เป็นหน้าผาแห่งนี้ หากมองดีๆ “อาจจะ” เห็นรูปพระพุทธเจ้าอยู่ในอิริยาบทนั่งสมาธิ

ถัดจากบริเวณนี้เป็นทางเดินระหว่างหุบเขาที่คนจีนและชาวบ้านสมัยก่อนใช้เป็นเส้นทางในการเดินแสวงบุญระหว่างวัดพระพุทธบาทแห่งนี้และวัดอีกแห่งที่อยู่บนภูเขาลูกถัดไป รวมถึงเป็นเส้นทางที่ใช้อัญเชิญรูปปั้นของเทพเจ้าของจีน เช่น อากงเห้งเจีย เจ้าแม่กวนอิม มาประดิษฐานที่วัดพระพุทธบาท

เป็นทางเดินที่ลาดชัน เป็นทางน้ำไหลผ่านลงเขาเวลาฝนตก มีถ้ำพระนอนเป็นจุดสักการะสุดท้าย ย้อนไปในสมัยของหลวงปู่มั่น และ สมเด็จพระพุฒาจารย์โตพรหมรังสี ท่านทั้งสองก็ใช้เส้นทางนี้ในการเดินทางตอนที่มาวัดพระพุทธบาท ท่านใช้ถ้ำแห่งนี้ในการค้างคืน สวดมนต์นั่งสมาธิ แต่บรรยากาศในถ้ำก็ศักดิ์สิทธิ์ ผมและครอบครัวนั่งระลึกถึงพระสังฆคุณที่พระอาจารย์ทั้งสองได้เทศสอนไว้ เลยไม่ได้ถ่ายรูปครับ มีแต่ถ่ายรูปบรรยากาศด้านนอก และวิวเขาที่ยืนอยู่หน้าถ้ำ

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หลังจากนี้ครอบครัวผมเดินทางเข้าที่พักครับ ทริปนี้ผมเข้าพักที่ “มาดี ปากช่อง รีสอร์ท”ครับ เป็นที่พักที่เด็กๆจะต้องร้องกรี๊ด เพราะมีเครื่องเล่นของเด็กๆครบ เด็กเล่นได้ทั้งวันทั้งคืน จนกว่าเจ้าหน้าที่จะกลับ เครื่องเล่นหลายรายการฟรี เช่นสนามเด็กเล่น จักรยาน ยิงธนู ลูกดอกปาเป้า สระว่ายน้ำในพูลวิลล่าของใครของมัน และสระขนาดใหญ่ส่วนกลาง แต่ก็จะมีรายการที่ต้องจ่ายเพิ่มบ้างเช่นรถ ATV ภายในยังมีร้านสะดวกซื้อเล็กๆด้วย

พามาดูบรรยากาศห้องพักพูลวิลลาครับ

กิจกรรมครอบครัว = ลงน้ำ

สำหรับมื้อเย็นวันแรก สั่งหมูกระทะมากินในตัววิลลาครับ

บรรยากาศรอบๆตัวรีสอร์ท

เดี๋ยวมาเล่าต่อครั้งถัดไปครับ ว่าไปเที่ยวไหนต่อ

@ 81870f53:29bef6a6

台湾積体電路の取締役兼最高経営責任者（CEO）の魏哲佳氏は、年間設備投資見通しを引き上げる主な理由は、今四半期の見通しを上回る収益の一部は主にN3とN5の需要から恩恵を受けると述べた。プロセス。

AI需要の急増の恩恵を受け、台湾積体電路の第2四半期の売上高と利益は倍増し、市場が懸念しているその先進プロセスの業績は好調で、第3四半期の売上予想を引き上げた。第3四半期の売上高は224億ドルから232億ドル、通年の売上成長率は米ドルベースで24％から26％になると予想され、同時に台湾半導体も引き上げた。年間の設備投資の下限は280億ドルから320億ドル、300億ドルから320億ドルに 台湾積体電路の魏哲佳会長兼社長は決算会見で、各業績、CoWoS、次世代プロセスに関する質問に答えた。魏浙佳氏は、特に生産能力、設備投資の予想、価格戦略などが挙げられ、2024年通年の設備投資が300億ドルから320億ドルに引き上げられた理由は主に、そのうち70％を占めるより高い成長機会によるものであると述べた。 -80％が高度なプロセスに使用され、10％から20％が特殊プロセスに、10％が高度なパッケージングやマスクなどに使用される予定であると魏哲佳氏はまた、過去3か月間でAIとスマートフォンのサポートが強力だったと指摘した。が需要を牽引しており、5nmプロセスは今年下半期も高水準を維持すると予想されており、「当社の堅調な成長の年となり、収益の伸びは中程度をわずかに上回ると予想される」としている。米ドル換算で20%。」

業界全体として、台湾積体電路は今年のファウンドリ業界の年間成長率が10％近くになると予想しており、昨年の台湾積体電路の市場シェアは約28％だった。

魏哲佳氏は、AI関連ビジネスに対する需要が引き続き旺盛であるため、より高度なプロセスと高度なパッケージングが必要であり、それに応じて当社の技術的地位は向上しており、当社の長期的な発展見通しについては非常に楽観的であると述べた。

N3が同社の粗利益に達するまでには少なくとも3年はかかるだろう。 台湾セミコンダクターは、現在同社の最も先進的なチップ製造プロセス技術であるN3は、同社の粗利益を達成するまでにさらに時間がかかり、おそらく10～12四半期かかるだろうと主張している。より先進的な2nmプロセス技術については、初期段階ではそうであると魏哲佳氏は述べた。 2nm の生産量は 3nm や 5nm の生産量よりも多くなり、デバイスの性能は 25% ～ 30% 向上し、チップ密度は 15% 以上増加します。2026 年までに 2nm プロセスの収益は、2nm プロセスの収益を超えると予想されます。 3nm は 2026 年後半に量産される予定です。

CoWoSの生産能力について、魏哲佳氏は、現在のCoWoSの生産能力に対する需要は依然高く、顧客の需要を満たすのは難しいと答え、供給不足の状況は2025年まで続くと予想され、2026年には緩和される可能性があると予想している。今年と来年のCoWoSの生産能力は少なくとも2倍になる。

価格戦略に関して、台湾積体電路は常に「価値を売る」戦略を重視しており、53％以上に達するという長期的な粗利目標を達成するために、コストを顧客に転嫁しようとする可能性があると述べた。

魏哲佳氏は電話会談で「価値を売る」戦略を繰り返したが、現時点では粗利目標の53％を引き上げることはなく、「顧客とのコミュニケーションを深めた後、具体的なより高い料金を通知する可能性がある」と述べた。

以下は、SinoLink 電子調査チームによる台湾セミコンダクター第 2 四半期決算報告の概要です。

AI の需要の急増により、N3 プロセスの粗利益を達成するには少なくとも 3 年かかる可能性があります。 台湾セミコンダクターは、現在同社の最も先進的なチップ製造プロセス技術であるN3プロセスは、同社の粗利益を達成するまでに10～12四半期かかると主張している。

Wei Zhejia氏は、2nmプロセス技術の初期の生産は3nmや5nmよりも高くなり、デバイスの性能は25%～30%向上し、チップ密度は2026年までに15%以上増加すると予想されていると述べた。 2nm プロセス技術の収益は 3nm プロセス技術の収益を上回り、2026 年後半には N2P (高性能 2nm) が量産されると予想されています。

Wei Zhejia 氏は、現在の CoWoS 生産能力の需要は依然として強く、顧客の需要を満たすのは困難であると答え、供給不足の状況は 2025 年まで続くと予想され、2026 年には緩和される可能性がある。同社の CoWoS 生産能力は少なくとも 2 倍になると予想されている。今年も来年も。

台湾積体電路は常に「価値を売る」戦略を強調しており、53％以上に達するという長期的な粗利目標を達成するために、コストを顧客に転嫁しようとする可能性があると述べた。

台湾積体電路は電話会談で「価値を売る」戦略を繰り返し、当面は粗利目標の53％を引き上げることはないとし、「顧客とのコミュニケーションを深めた後、具体的な高い料金を通知する可能性がある」と述べた。

以下は、SinoLink 電子調査チームによる台湾半導体第 2 四半期決算報告の Q&A セッションの概要です。

Q: 今後の生産能力計画を考えると、AI関連ビジネス向けの高度なパッケージングの需要が多くありますが、この生産能力は今後どのように計画されますか? 来年のCoWoSの生産能力はどうなりますか?

需要は旺盛で、顧客のニーズに応えるのは2025年か2026年までは困難であり、生産能力のCAGRは2025年まで逼迫した状態が続くと予想されている。 2026年に緩和される。

Q：来年の生産能力は2倍になるのでしょうか？

今年は倍になると言いましたが、来年は倍以上になると予想されています。とにかく頑張っています。

粗利益率に関しては、H2 の粗利益率は予想よりも優れていますが、売上高の状況下で今後数年間の同社の粗利益率は 50 台後半に達するでしょうか。

粗利にはプラスとマイナスの効果があり、プラス面としてはN3の希薄化、販売価値の上昇、そして当社が得意とするコスト削減が考えられますが、例えばN5からN3への転換などの可能性も否定できません。将来的には N3 への強い需要が見込まれており、これは今後数年間は良い影響を及ぼします。来年はアリゾナの第 1 期工場と日本の工場の 2 つが建設される予定で、今後数年間で当社の粗利益は 2 ～ 3% 減少することになります。コストと工場の管理能力により、高い稼働率を達成できれば、2022 年には 53% 以上の粗利率を達成することも可能です。

さまざまな政府の奨励金や補助金は会社の設備投資に影響しますか?

補助金を受け取る場合、財務報告書では政府ごとに異なる方法で補助金を受け取りました。たとえば、2023 年には補助金をわずかに上回りました。 15億ドル、主に日本から。

価値の販売について、現状はどうなっていますか? 将来的には高度なプロセスがボトルネックとなり、より効果的に価値を販売できるようになりますか?

価格戦略は非常に戦略的であり、現在の状況は依然として非常に良好です。これは継続的なプロセスであり、当社は継続的に価値を販売しており、お客様の業績も好調であるため、当社も好調に推移できるはずです。

HPC の顧客は好調ですが、コストに敏感なスマートフォンの顧客は価格上昇に対して異なる反応を示すのでしょうか?

価格設定は戦略的なものであり、すべてのタイプの製品で同じというわけではありません。当社はお客様と協力して、価格と容量の両方でサポートします。

トランプ大統領の発言について、海外生産能力を拡大するのか。

これまでのところ、当社はアリゾナと日本での拡大を継続しており、将来的に関税が上昇した場合にはお客様の負担となります。

同社は最近「価値を売る」ことを強調しているが、なぜ長期的な粗利率を目標として掲げていないのか。

私たちは顧客と協力しており、価格設定は戦略的な問題です。もちろん、今すぐ粗利目標を変更する場合は、具体的な数値を変更するつもりはありません。お客様とより多くのコミュニケーションをとり、具体的なより大きな規模についてお客様にお知らせする場合があります。

アドバンスト・パッケージングに関して、アドバンスト・パッケージングのマージンは会社の平均よりも低いですが、同社はより多くのパートナーと協力してカウズに供給するのでしょうか？

すべての顧客は、より効率的なプロセスへの移行と消費電力の削減を望んでいます。当社は現在キャパシティを構築中であり、今後数年間でその需要に対応できるようになると期待しています。現在、私たちは彼らを支援するために確かに努力しています。

同社の次世代プロセス能力に関して、AI の顧客は主にエネルギー消費を理由に、最先端のサポートへの移行を望んでいます。N2 と A16 は以前のプロセスよりも大規模なプロセスになりますか?

実際、すべての顧客は、より優れたエネルギー効率の高いプロセスに移行し、電力消費を削減することを望んでいます。当社は、キャパシティの構築に懸命に取り組んでいますが、現時点ではそれをサポートできるようにしたいと考えています。今後数年間の需要。

粗利益率について、N3 の現状はどうなっていますか? N3E は N3 の粗利益率を上げていますか?

同じプロセスの粗利益を区別することはありません。一般的に、会社の粗利益を達成するには、N3 の方が長い時間がかかります。以前は 8 ～ 10 四半期かかりましたが、N3 では 10 ～ 12 四半期かかる場合があります。現在は改善しており、今後も改善が続くと予想されます。

同社のプロセス変換戦略の観点から見ると、同社は常にプロセスの柔軟性を重視しており、過去にもそうしてきた N5 と N3 は大きなプロセスですか?

N12 と N16 は確かに大きなグループですが、N5 と N3 はそうではありません。同時に、プロセスの類似性は比較的高く、N5 と N3 の類似性は 90% であり、どちらも台南にあるため、簡単です。生産能力を移行します。

Cowos について、同社の Cowos の容量は 25 年以上で 2 倍になりますか? お客様は L/R に TSV や大型のインターポーザーを必要としない Cowos-L に移行することで容量不足が緩和されますか? 25、26のバランスは？

Cowos-L/R/S は顧客の要望に基づいており、どのバージョンが 2 倍になるか、またはより多くのポイントを獲得するかを共有するものではありません。今年と来年は 2 倍になると考えています。顧客をサポートするには、すべてのパートナーと協力する必要があります。cowos のバージョンが異なれば、必要なツール セットも異なります。一部のツールはすべてのバージョンで使用できますが、バージョンが異なれば要件も異なります。

先端プロセスに関して、2nmプロセスの移行を見ると、26年の2nmの収益シェアはN3より大きくなりますか? N2の粗利益の希薄化もN3よりも短いでしょうか?

売上総利益率の希薄化により、企業の平均売上総利益率に早く達することになります。

パッケージングに関して、クライアントはすでに AI の端末側で 3D SOIC や同様のパッケージを使用し始めていますか? より多くのスマートフォン顧客が情報優先パッケージングを使用し始めるでしょうか?

当社の顧客は N2 および A16 に参入しており、チップレット ソリューションを使用する必要があります。これには高度なパッケージングが必要であり、HPC 顧客はより高速に移行し、遅延やその他の問題に対するより高い要件を持っています。一方、携帯電話の顧客は設置面積と機能のアップグレードを求めています。 INFO は数年間使用していましたが、今では追いつきつつあります。

スマートフォンと PC については、今後数年間の出荷はどうなるでしょうか? 5nm および 3nm のプロセス能力が逼迫している中、同社にはアップグレードをサポートする十分な能力があるのでしょうか?

シリコンの含有量に関しては、現在、すべての顧客がエンドサイドに AI を追加してダイ サイズを拡大することを望んでいます。その規模は顧客によって異なりますが、全体として、10% の量の突然の増加は見られません。しかし、AI機能がPCや携帯電話などのエンドサイドデバイスのアップグレードサイクルの短縮を促進すると予想しており、キャパシティに関しては実際に非常に逼迫しています。現在から 2026 年まで生産サポートを拡大するのは困難です。

21 年間で需要が高く、顧客が非常に積極的に予測していたとき、同社は需要の変動にどのように対処して生産能力を計画しましたか?

当社には規律ある計画プロセスがあり、多くのお客様が高い予測を持っており、生産性を向上させるために AI と機械学習も使用しています。これはお客様の製品の需要がさらに高まっていると考えています。それでも、予測をより現実的なものにするために、上から下までチェックを行っています。

チップ レベルで良好な電力消費を実現する SPR 計画に関して、顧客が購入すればするほどコストが節約され、システム レベルの効率にどのような影響がありますか?

TSMC ウェーハを購入すればするほど、より多くのコストが節約されます。チップ レベルの電力消費量の 20% 削減は、システム レベルの電力消費量の 20% 削減に反映されない可能性があります。プロセッサはシステムの主な電力消費部分です。これは、たとえシステムが 20% 削減されなかったとしても、依然として大きな部分を占めるため、顧客は高度なプロセスを使用して 2nm に移行することを望んでいます。

A16プロセス拡張の最大のボトルネックは何ですか?

事業を拡大するには、土地、電力、人材が必要です。

COMPUTEX期間中、多くの企業が製品の発売を加速すると述べましたが、企業への影響は何でしょうか?

私たちはこの傾向を気に入っており、各製品の設計には 1 年半から 2 年かかります。これについては以前から知っており、私たちも満足しています。そのような変化に早くから備えることができます。

AI チップに関しては、ダイ サイズが大きくなるにつれて、ファンアウト パネル レベルのパッケージングが同社にとって長期的なレイアウトになるでしょうか?

実際、私たちはパネルレベルのパッケージングを検討していますが、まだ 3 年かかると考えています。3 年以内には、現在の 5 ～ 6 倍のサイズのレチクルは存在しないでしょう。 3 年前、当社はパネルレベルのパッケージングを導入しましたが、今後はその準備が整います。

この記事がお役に立てば幸いです。 もしそうなら、チップをおくるどうぞ https://getalby.com/p/bitcap

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

It's been a while since I've scolded everyone for their miserliness. The recent archiving of some popular territories inspired me to make another attempt. Plus, there are quite a few new stackers who haven't been scolded, yet.

I'll keep this one short and sweet: 1. Territory owners need to make about 100 kilosats per month. 2. They earn their sats through posting fees. 3. OP's need to recoup their posting costs through zaps.

Therefore, when there's content you like, zap big and zap often.

If there's a lack of content you like, cowboy up and write it yourself. We just might make it worth your while.

Zapping more can pay for itself through the rewards system (see: https://stacker.news/items/287074/r/Undisciplined and https://stacker.news/items/473181/r/Undisciplined)

Also, zapping more will make Stacker News more aligned with what you want it to be: https://stacker.news/items/523858/r/Undisciplined.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/614066

@ 7361ca91:252fce6d

日本は貧しい。 どうして日本が貧しいと言えるのでしょうか？多くの点で豊かであることは確かです。例えば、一人当たりのGDPでは、日本は世界で38位で、平均の221%の富があります。また、日本を訪れた人は誰でも、その都市や活動、そして豊かさと幸福感を感じるでしょう。鹿が安全に歩き回る公園さえあります。さらに、文化的にも非常に豊かです。日本文化が嫌いな人はいないでしょう。日本は貧困ランキングでは多くの国よりもずっと上位にあります。そして、これらすべては、第二次世界大戦後の非常に厳しい状況から達成されたものであり、アメリカの要求に従うことによって実現しました。

それでは、なぜ日本が貧しいと言えるのでしょうか？それは、日本がアメリカの要求に従い始めた時点でのことです。日本の真の富が少ない状況を探ってみましょう。そして、その危機的な状況が他の国々にどのような信号を送っているか。この信号を読むことができれば、「Buy Bitcoin」と示していることがわかるでしょう。

日本の10年国債は先日5%下落し、金利は1.08%に達しました。あなたは言うかもしれません、「1.08%？それほど危険には見えない」と。しかし、この水準は10年以上達成されていなかったものであり、その間に日本は大いに借金を増やしました。日本は世界経済の主要な役割を果たしており、アメリカの国債を持つ第二位の保有国であり、その通貨は誰もが安く資金を調達するために利用します。つまり、円を買い、低い利息（約1%）で借りて、もっと高い利息が得られる他の場所に投資します。これらの理由から、日本は特に安い資金を見つけたい人々にとって非常に訪れる場所です。

しかし、もちろん、先日のように国債の金利が上昇すると、この取引に悪影響を及ぼします。10年国債の金利が上昇すれば、円で借りる金利と、他の場所で得られる金利との差が縮小します。例えば、アメリカやオーストラリアの国債、あるいは他の場所の国債です。これは確かに真実であり、国債の金利が上昇するたびにその魅力は減りますが、同時に国債の金利が上昇するたびに、負債のコストも大幅に増加します。

日本は多額の借金を抱えています：9.2兆ドルの負債です。負債の金利が0.01%上昇するたびに、それは920億ドルの利息が追加されることを意味します。

状況を想像してみてください。火曜日に日本は1.02%の金利を支払っていて、水曜日の終わりには1.08%を支払っています。これは途方もない衝撃を与えるでしょう。一度にすべてを再資金調達する必要はありませんが、それでも紙の上ではほぼ60億ドルの影響があります。再資金調達が昨日よりも60億ドル多くかかることを知っている一日を想像してみてください。その日は良い日ではなく、いくら寿司を食べて気分を上げようとしても無駄でしょう。そのため、通貨はドルに対して下落し続けます。

しかし、日本は豊かです。何十年もの間、日本は大量の魚やその他の製品を世界中に輸出してきました。日本はこれまでに得たすべての利益をうまく投資してきたに違いありません。そして、今、困難な時期が来て、日本の状況が微妙な時に、貯蓄を使って円を買い、通貨を守り、次の日に向けて戦い続けることができるでしょう。

日本はアメリカの言うことに従うようになりました。アメリカが大好きなのは、自分の国債を買ってもらうことです。アメリカ人が最も喜ぶのは、自分たちの債務を買ってもらうことです。アメリカ人に気に入られたいなら、国債を買ってあげるといいでしょう。日本は第二次世界大戦以来、アメリカに従順であり、基本的に外国為替の準備としての国債のアイデアを発明しました。これはどういう意味でしょうか？つまり、アメリカの国債に貯蓄するというアイデアを発明したのです。「お金を稼いで貯蓄するなら、他の国の国債や債務として持っておけばいい」という考えです。

全国民の努力と、世界中への商品やサービスの輸出によって得られたすべての貯蓄をアメリカの国債に投資し始めました。日本と他の国々の金の保有量を総準備高の割合で見ると、日本はそのうちのわずか4.3%しか金を保有していない一方で、ドイツ、アメリカ、イタリア、フランスなどの他の国々は60%以上の準備高を金で保有しています。

日本が貧しいと言うとき、それは実質的な富がないことを意味します。すべての貯蓄がアメリカの国債に投資されています。日本は、アメリカの都合に合わせて、そしてある程度は日本自身もそれが良い考えだと思って、これらの国債を購入してきました。日本には多くのアメリカ国債がありますが、今の危機を解決する役には立ちません。

日本は、その通貨の価値を守り、通貨の価値が下落するのを防ぎ、市民の生活費が上昇しないようにする必要があります。市場で円を購入するために、その貯蓄を使って準備金を売却し、通貨を保護するべきです。しかし、その準備金はアメリカの国債にあるため、それらを売ることは現実的ではありません。アメリカの国債を売ると、その価格が下がり、市場での供給が増えて、国債の金利が上昇します。国債の価格が下がるほど、支払う金利は高くなります。

たとえば、100の価格で5%の利息を支払う国債を持っているとします。その国債が市場で売られ始めて価格が95に下がった場合、依然として5%の利息を支払います。しかし、95に対する5%は、100に対する5%よりも多いです。したがって、国債の価格が下がるたびに、利息が上がります。これにより、さらに多くの人々が日本に行き、低利で円を借りて（少ない利息を支払って）、高利を支払うアメリカの国債を購入することを奨励します。これが通貨をさらに下落させることになります。そのため、日本の準備金は役に立ちません。アメリカの国債を売却することなく、自国の通貨の価値をさらに低下させることはできません。このような困難な時期に日本を救うはずのものが、何の役にも立たないのです。

その結果、日本は多くの貯蓄があっても抜け出せない悪循環に陥っています。状況の深刻さは、円と金のチャートを見るとよくわかります。本来なら多くの馬鹿な国債の代わりに準備資産として購入すべきだったものです。円と金のチャートを見ると、過去15年で75%も下落していることがわかります。「日本は貧しい」と言うとき、それは実質的な富が欠如しているという意味で、この貧困は他の分野にも現れ始めています。通貨の価値を守ることができないことが、日本の成長と市民の生産能力を阻害しています。

日本は1人当たりのGDPが高いため、貧しくはないと言いました。しかし、1人当たりのGDPを見てみると、1990年以来停滞しています。また、実質的な貧困のレベルを見ると、日本の実質的な貧困が増加しており、間違った方向に進んでいることがわかります。日本の相対的貧困率は、G7諸国の中でアメリカに次いで2番目に高いです。

要するに、誰の負債でもなく、必要なときに売ることができる資産がなければ、富を持っているとは言えません。困難な時期に対応するために売却できる、他人の債務に依存しない資産が必要です。それが富であり、他のすべてはただの煙に過ぎません。

数年前、ロシアはアメリカの国債ではなく、自国の貯蓄を失いました。アメリカがそれらの債券を没収したのです。今日の日本も同様に、国債を持っていますが、売却することができず、実質的には役に立ちません。まるでそれが奪われたかのようです。これらの状況は、非常に明るくカラフルなネオンサインのように、国であれば固い資産に貯蓄するべきだという明確なシグナルです。

そのため、最近ではすべての中央銀行が記録的なレベルで金を購入しているのでしょう。そして、同様にビットコインも購入することになるでしょう。ビットコインは、金よりも没収されにくく、金よりも移動が容易で、金よりも価値が上昇する可能性が高いという追加の利点を持っています。日本は、これを今、教えてくれているのです。

コラボw @alberto_mera (X、文)& nostr:npub1wdsu4yfj6s5vkcktfx2l7y9tvprfsmwp55e2gj5xp266gff0eeks9cjda5 (Nostr、訳)

@ 1a48e74d:02c0e00f

Minimalism

@ 81870f53:29bef6a6

30年以上ウォール街で苦労してきたゴールドマン・サックスの株式調査責任者、ジム・コヴェロ氏は、市場が月々上昇し続ける方法が常にあるように見えるため、まだ拡大しているバブルを空売りすることがいかに苦痛であるかを知っている。 1ヶ月後。

これは以前にも90年代後半のドットコムバブルの際に起きたことであり、最近の仮想通貨ブームの際にも同様のことがAIでも起こる可能性が高いと述べているが、今エヌビディア（NVDA）のような企業を空売りするのは危険かもしれないという。 、愚かでも。

しかし、コヴェロ氏は、その清算が来るのは今年ではなく、来年になるかもしれないが、いつかは起こるだろうと、企業がAIにつぎ込んでいる何十億ドルも次の時代に火をつけることはないだろうと言う。コヴェロ氏は、スマートフォンやインターネットがもたらす恩恵に匹敵するものではない、と述べている。

「歴史上のテクノロジーの変遷、特に革新的なテクノロジーの変遷のほとんどは、非常に高価なソリューションをはるかに安価なソリューションに置き換えるものでした。しかし現在、私たちは仕事を非常に高価なテクノロジーに置き換えています。これは本質的にその逆です。」歴史。"

コヴェロ氏は、2022年末以来のS&P 500指数（SPX）の継続的な上昇を支えてきた重要な議論、つまり大規模な言語モデルの驚くべき力が世界の先駆けとなるだろうという主張に疑問を抱く、ますます多くの懐疑論者の代表的な発言者となりつつある。世界の次の産業革命では、ますます多くの仕事がインテリジェントな機械に引き継がれ、企業の利益と効率が向上し、成長が加速します。

ウォール街の多くの関係者はそれが可能であると信じており、JPモルガンのジェイミー・ダイモン最高経営責任者（CEO）は、AIが印刷、蒸気、電気によってもたらされるものと同じくらい重要な驚異的な変革をもたらす可能性があると確信していると述べたが、州政府の首席投資ストラテジスト、マイケル・アローン氏はこう語った。ストリート・グローバル・アドバイザーズは、AIが「永続的かつ前例のない生産性の奇跡」をもたらすとコヴェロ氏は指摘し、ゴールドマン・サックスのシニア・グローバル・エコノミスト、ジョセフ・ブリッグス氏は、最終的にはすべてのタスクの4分の1がAIによって自動化され、経済成長を促進すると予測している。

この投機は真のブームを煽り、AI モデルを提供する Nvidia、Broadcom、AMD などのハードウェア プロバイダーにとって、世界最大のテクノロジー企業がその優位性を新たな領域に拡大することを期待してこの分野に巨額の資金を注ぎ込んでいます。歓迎すべきニュースは、データセンターの需要が急増し、大量の電力が必要となるため、電力会社でも売上が増加しているということだ。

しかし、懐疑論者らは、問題はこの技術に対する商業的な期待が大幅に過大評価される可能性があり、ハイテク大手による投資の再考は市場の反動リスクを引き起こす可能性があることにあると主張している。

「最後の愚か者」にならないでください。 バーンセン・グループの創設者兼最高投資責任者であるデビッド・バーンセン氏は、潜在的な「大惨事」を予期して、エヌビディアや他のテクノロジー大手を避けて、まさにそのような状況に長い間備えてきたと述べている。

「2000 年 3 月に最後の愚か者がシスコの株を買ったとき、私たちがお金を稼ぐ方法は、その種の株を所有しないことです。ドットコム バブルが崩壊した後、シスコの株は急落しました。これらの株を早く売らなかったら、多額の損失を被ることになります。」お金。"

そうした状況の兆候はまだほとんど見られないが、チップメーカーが貿易戦争でさらに打撃を受けるのではないかとの懸念からテクノロジー株は水曜日に下落したが、依然として歴史的高値に近い水準にある。

2022年10月に底を打って以来、S&P500指数の上昇分のほぼ半分はアップル（AAPL）、マイクロソフト（MSFT）、エヌビディア、アルファベット（GOOGL）、アマゾン（AMZN）、メタ（META）の6銘柄に集中している。 ））。

Nvidiaの時価総額は今年すでに2兆ドル近く増加しており、このチップメーカーを追跡している64人のアナリストのうち、64人が依然として買いを推奨しているが、1人だけが売りと評価している。今年は140%近く上昇しています。

しかし、これらの企業がAIに多額の投資を行っているにもかかわらず、これまでのところ利益は比較的小さい。

Microsoft、Alphabet、Amazon、Meta は過去 4 四半期に 1,500 億ドル以上の設備投資を行っており、そのほとんどは自社の大規模な言語モデルをトレーニングし、顧客にサービスを提供するためのコンピューティング能力に当てられています。

Microsoftは自社の製品ラインとOpenAIの技術の統合を進めており、同社は4月、第3四半期にAzureとその他のクラウドサービスの売上高が31％増加し、AIが7％ポイント貢献したと発表したが、金額は明らかにしなかった。

アマゾンは今年の収益が6000億ドルを超えると見込まれており、同社のAI事業の「収益規模は数十億ドルに達した」とだけ述べているが、CFOのルース・ポラット氏はアルファベットの第1四半期決算会見で「AIの役割はますます高まっている」と認めた。 Google Cloud の収益を促進する上で重要な役割を果たしています。」

Katam Hill の CIO、Adam Gold のような投資家にとって、同氏は依然として Nvidia で重要な地位を占めており、特定の数字に注目するのは時期尚早であると考えていると同氏は、Meta のような企業はユーザーに直接料金を請求していないにもかかわらず、売上高の成長を達成していると指摘した。 AI の使用により、広告の掲載とユーザー エンゲージメントを向上させます。

しかし、クラウド コンピューティング大手の顧客の一部にとって、そのメリットは明らかではありません。サンフランシスコに拠点を置く Lucidworks の調査によると、AI に投資している企業の半数未満がまだ大きな利益を得ていません。

2000年にゴールドマン・サックスに入社して以来テクノロジー業界を追い続け、毎年業界トップのアナリスト賞を受賞してきたコヴェロ氏は、2015年にゴールドマン・サックス米国株リサーチ・ディレクターに昇進した。

同氏は、AIインフラへの投資が今後数年間で約1兆ドルに達すると予想しているが、AIが十分な利益を生み出すためには、企業がますます複雑化するタスクに取り組むのにAIが役立つ必要がある。

同氏の見解では、AIはプログラミングなど特定の仕事の効率を向上させる可能性を示しているが、そのコストが妥当であることを証明するには程遠いという。

同氏は、今後1年半以内に目立ったユースケースがなければ株式市場は反転するだろうと述べたが、現在のAIの物語はまだこの段階に達しておらず、引き続き投資家がエヌビディアなどの株を買う可能性があると考えている。 。 彼は言った：

「私が過去 30 年間で学んだ最も重要な教訓の 1 つは、バブルがはじけるまでに長い時間がかかる可能性があるということです。」

この記事がお役に立てば幸いです。 もしそうなら、チップをおくるどうぞ https://getalby.com/p/bitcap

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It may not be going out on a limb at this point, but I'm making the call on Biden right now.

1. he spends the weekend at home "resting, recovering, thinking"
2. returns to White House early next week, Monday or Tuesday
3. lays low, but before the week's end, staffers declare a "major announcement" imminent from the president
4. gives a "Cross Hall" White House announcement something to the effect: "After consulting with my family, and for personal health reasons, we've decided it is in everyone's best interest for me to pass the torch of the Democrat party. I am withdrawing my name as a candidate for the 2024 party nominee."
5. turn, walk down the hall, turn right
6. turn the page; Democrats begin to reminisce the "incredible" job Biden did for America, practically saving the nation from certain ruin, and go "whole hog" on Harris

We'll see how it plays out.