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The Phony Comforts of AI Optimism (wheresyoured.at)
25 points by JumpCrisscross 9 months ago | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments


> Roose's "Latecomer's Guide To Cryptocurrency" never really makes any argument about anything, other than explaining, in a "cautiously optimistic" way, the "features" of blockchain technology, all without really having to make any judgment but "guess we'll wait and see!"

> While it might seem difficult to write 14,000 words about anything — skill issue, by the way — Roose's work is a paper thin, stapled-together FAQs about a technology that still, to this day, lacks any real use cases

Whenever I read something like this I'm amazed at how unimaginative and close-minded someone can be while also being so smug. The Silk Road demonstrates one use case (permissionless money) extremely well. If you can't see that, you shouldn't be writing about it publicly.


The net benefit to society compared to the energy, money, and time put into everything blockchain related has yet to be positive.

If your biggest example is facilitating illicit commerce (which you spin as permission-less money), well that’s a problem.


illicit commerce is in fact still commerce! Moralizing doesn't change that fact




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