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@ BTC/Zero
2025-05-08 19:33:24
It’s not about OP_RETURN, it’s much more…
I’ve been thinking about this latest fiasco with core and spam on the network, and I have a feeling that it is an irreconcilable conflict that ironically resembles the differences we have with western liberals as a whole.
Let’s paint the picture. There are ppl who do questionable things on the network, things that ultimately harm the network and harm those who use the network. But we have two different approaches
1) “We can’t stop it so let them just pay the fees of their stupidness, they will eventually stop, it’s an open market, and who are you to even decide what is good or bad, let the market decide”
2) “This network has a purpose, we all know this purpose; and that which is not from that purpose is by definition ‘bad’ and ‘spam’, and we need to confront bad actors to defend the integrity of the network, even though we know we cannot entirely stop it, that doesn’t mean we do nothing”
Now switch your thinking away from Bitcoin and towards life itself. You have people who want to do zina; Ribaa, and all sorts of vice, and the liberal be like “let them get on with it, if they want to pay for the consequences”, and those who say “no, there is something that is called ‘bad’ that affects all of us somewhere down the line, and we can’t just sit by and do nothing while they destroy the world around us”.
It’s not only about Bitcoin, it’s about ‘right and wrong’, if there is ever such a thing, and what should we do about it now we’ve agreed it exists. It’s no surprise to me that Luke is leading the charge on this matter, being a religious man who deeply believes in the concept of ‘right and wrong’, and why Todd, a man who is so immoral that he supports mass murder and genocide, is on the other side.
To conclude, this issue does remind me of what Ibn qayyim said about the definition of oppression/Thulm where he said “it is to place something in other than its proper place”. This is literally the situation we have now. A network born to be money, but now ppl want to put non-monetary things in place of its only purpose. The counter argument is that Bitcoin is amoral, it is just code and has no inherent ‘right and wrong’, and that is true of the simple code, but Bitcoin is more than simple code which is why a fork of Bitcoin is not Bitcoin. Bitcoin is what node runners have a consensus on, by technical design and by white paper definition. So based on the Islamic maxim
الأصل بقاء ما كان على ما كان
“The default position is that something remains on what it was originally on.”
Until we have consensus that Bitcoin is no longer simply money and that it’s now a database for anything, including monkey JPEGs and Pepe pics, then we should not try to break consensus and act in accordance to the original consensus. But I suspect node runners will ultimately decide where this goes, and it’s up to ppl to decide where they sit in this discussion. If you’re not a node runner, and you care about the Bitcoin you use and hold, then maybe it’s time to consider running a node and taking your vote. 🗳️