i don't know exactly how, but there is some kind of connection between people who suck at baseball watching baseball in comfortable AC while criticizing anyone who would be visibly uncomfortable in 100 degrees, and...crypto
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Tuesday, June 14, 2022 4:31 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
sociopathy, the masculine flavor
― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 15:40 (one year ago) link
maybe instead of lobbing internet bombs at each other, maybe we could just drive into work, reconnect with our teammates, keep the complaints internal, push the praise eternal, and make a lil' bit of pocket change on the side, as it were, as we deserve
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 15:41 (one year ago) link
i predict that the btc meltdown, or not-meltdown, will contribute to making inequality even worse either way. take that to the bank! haha
― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 15:45 (one year ago) link
… the blood bank.
― Antifa Sandwich Artist (Boring, Maryland), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 15:47 (one year ago) link
that seed was planted when people who couldn't afford to lose the money invested in crypto in the first place. It's not the meltdown that will worsen inequality, it's the entire phenomenon of crypto. The sooner it dies, the fewer people it will harm.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 15:48 (one year ago) link
this whole thing is extremely funny, to me, but i do think this has the ring of truth
https://inthesetimes.com/article/the-ticking-bomb-of-crypto-fascism
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 15:51 (one year ago) link
it's the entire phenomenon of crypto
maybe even something bigger than crypto just spit balling here
― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 15:52 (one year ago) link
The most Sigma move I've ever seen was SBF describing yield farming as a textbook Ponzi on a podcast, then saying that he's still bullish because he sees a bunch of institutional money about to come in.— Luke Metro (in SF 6/17-20) (@luke_metro) June 12, 2022
https://t.co/zW49Z7N22Z— Luke Metro (in SF 6/17-20) (@luke_metro) June 12, 2022
Matt: (27:13)I think of myself as like a fairly cynical person. And that was so much more cynical than how I would've described farming. You're just like, well, I'm in the Ponzi business and it's pretty good.Joe Weisenthal: (27:27)At no point did any of this require any sort of like economic case, it’s just like other people put money in the box. And so I'm going to too, and then it's more valuable. So they're gonna put more money in, and at no point in the cycle, did it seem to like, describe any sort of like economic purpose?SBF: (27:42)So on the one hand, I think that’s a pretty reasonable response, but let me play around with this a little bit. Because that's one framing of this. And I think there's like a sort of depressing amount of validity…Matt: (27:53)Can you comment on like the sustainability of that? Because, you know, on the one hand you're like, well, a trillion dollars of institutional money is going to come into Bitcoin. And on the other hand you're like basically there are a lot of Ponzis that have done really well.
Joe Weisenthal: (27:27)At no point did any of this require any sort of like economic case, it’s just like other people put money in the box. And so I'm going to too, and then it's more valuable. So they're gonna put more money in, and at no point in the cycle, did it seem to like, describe any sort of like economic purpose?
SBF: (27:42)So on the one hand, I think that’s a pretty reasonable response, but let me play around with this a little bit. Because that's one framing of this. And I think there's like a sort of depressing amount of validity…
Matt: (27:53)Can you comment on like the sustainability of that? Because, you know, on the one hand you're like, well, a trillion dollars of institutional money is going to come into Bitcoin. And on the other hand you're like basically there are a lot of Ponzis that have done really well.
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 15:55 (one year ago) link
Presumably that's from Odd Lots?
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 15:58 (one year ago) link
the link has the words "odd lots" on the page so yes i think it is
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 15:58 (one year ago) link
the sad irony of crypto is that people who felt like the mainstream financial system is designed to fleece them, which it largely is, were driven to crypto which is a system that is completely designed to fleece them
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 14 June 2022 15:59 (one year ago) link
gonna stop myself before i get too trenchant in this tech-prioritizing thread but a market is just a state-backed ponzi scheme so. afaict this whole thing is just a power struggle between tech worshippers who feel like they deserve power and trad elites who have been in a process of doubling down on the "trad" part for a while now.
as far as "crypto will lead to fascism" goes that's another one of approx. 54,000,000 blame shift takes imo.
― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:04 (one year ago) link
theres nothing "just" about being state backed
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:06 (one year ago) link
should also be noted that say the stock market refers to companies that do actual things, obvs theres a lot of uh froth in there, but selling oatmeal that people then eat is real, oatmeal is not a ponzi scheme
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:08 (one year ago) link
that's true to an extent. some people, very gullible, suckers, etc.
i also think about a friend of mine, though, who has always been a libertarian, even before he had heard of it. a couple weeks ago he called me a "people policer". anyway, of course he's really into crypto. but his current life/job idea is to a) auto-generate music and b) sell this auto-generated music to people for their Unity games. i asked him if he made the auto-generator or if he's using someone else's. someone else's, of course. then i asked him why someone would buy auto-generated music if they could auto-generate it themselves. we ended by agreeing that there was a short window of time in which this plan might be plausible, and he redoubled his efforts to make some money on it while it's still possible.
keep in mind, all of this is putting aside how awful auto-generated music is and what an insult it is to use it in your game, especially when there are millions of people who "human generate" music whose main life accomplishment would be achieved if someone, ANYONE out there would just use their shitty, human music in a real, shitty, game, even with zero compensation.
that's ALSO a lot of the crypto audience. it's the hunt for energy created by perpetual motion, alchemy shit
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:14 (one year ago) link
games with generative landscapes, generative resources, generative creatures, generative skies, practically limitless, are on the same wavelength as crypto, i think. it's suspended disbelief and faith that generative worlds really will lead to "infinite growth", while completely ignoring how hollow the "content" is
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:17 (one year ago) link
eh, it's not a terrible plan https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-01/how-to-make-money-on-spotify-a-white-noise-podcast-could-bring-you-big-bucks
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:17 (one year ago) link
yeah i mean its just greed im not trying to defend the people who were tweeting have fun staying poor a month ago or whatever, but also fundamentally they represent a societal class of losers constantly being manipulated by winners right down to the sad greedy ideologies theyre fed through instagram hustle memes or whatever
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:18 (one year ago) link
idk why anyone would use machine generated music when you could just put on some lofi beats to study/chill
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:19 (one year ago) link
xp lol caek
yeah, for real though! i'm not exactly the most effective person to criticize the employment activities of other people, but it's amazing how many people just sit around thinking "how can i scam people and make money for something that contributes absolutely nothing at all to the world?"
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:22 (one year ago) link
tbf most regular jobs contribute nothing to the world so i can understand it, tho the scamming people part is not forgivable, scamming big corps on the other hand
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:24 (one year ago) link
― lag∞n, Tuesday, June 14, 2022 11:08 AM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
Yeah, people sometimes call the stock market a "ponzi scheme" because some part of the value is dependent on more money flowing in than flows out, but it's at least potentially tied to something that can actually produce and grow in a meaningful way. Most of the market is, in fact, companies that produce things and have earnings, and even though the market has tended to eschew dividends in favor of price appreciation, at bottom the value of a stock should still bear some relationship to the future cash flows it represents.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:26 (one year ago) link
theres obvs a tremendous amount of scammy fake shit in finance but its still way less fake and scammy than crypto
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:33 (one year ago) link
― lag∞n, Tuesday, June 14, 2022 12:24 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
excuse me!
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 17:58 (one year ago) link
It's hard for me to imagine loving material wealth so much that you would think "How can I literally just screw people out of their money while contributing no value to the world whatsoever so I can drive around in a fancy car."
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 14 June 2022 18:41 (one year ago) link
that "everyone calm down, it’s possible that this is just the bank experiencing a liquidity crisis" reminded me of this part:
One of the things you’ve said, if I recall, is that the cryptocurrency space is “speed-running 500 years of financial history.” By which I take you to mean that all of the financial disasters of centuries past are playing out in short order, and then they have to rediscover the solutions that were put in place for those things not to happen. So you start off thinking, “Oh, wouldn’t it be fantastic if there were no central authority?” and then all of a sudden you realize, “Actually, it really would be nice if we had a central authority to regulate fraud and such” and you rediscover the virtue of banks and government.
of this interview https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/05/why-this-computer-scientist-says-all-cryptocurrency-should-die-in-a-fire
― corrs unplugged, Wednesday, 15 June 2022 07:27 (one year ago) link
that's a yaow
https://web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=kraken-crypto-exchange-announces-culture-overhaul
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Wednesday, 15 June 2022 16:10 (one year ago) link
sounds like everythings going great over there
― lag∞n, Wednesday, 15 June 2022 16:33 (one year ago) link
That’s a unique way to announce layoffs
― Antifa Sandwich Artist (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 15 June 2022 16:36 (one year ago) link
lol yeah
― lag∞n, Wednesday, 15 June 2022 16:37 (one year ago) link
He's also trying to frontrun that there will be a "hit piece" coming out soon and "don't believe the news"My dude, you've just made whatever this "hit piece" will be pretty believable. pic.twitter.com/JT4uccTmYX— Molly White (@molly0xFFF) June 15, 2022
― lag∞n, Wednesday, 15 June 2022 16:55 (one year ago) link
The culture document goes on to say that "Someone Must be Offended, Some of the Time":"Krakenites are welcome to request (and deny) personal language and communication preferences of each other"Everyone is responsible for their own feelingsBeing offended doesn't necessarily make you rightBeing offended doesn't necessarily make you "harmed"Words nor silence are ever "violence"We do not call someone's words toxic, hateful, racist, x-phobic, unhelpful, etc.
"Krakenites are welcome to request (and deny) personal language and communication preferences of each other"Everyone is responsible for their own feelingsBeing offended doesn't necessarily make you rightBeing offended doesn't necessarily make you "harmed"Words nor silence are ever "violence"We do not call someone's words toxic, hateful, racist, x-phobic, unhelpful, etc.
"someone must be offended, some of the time" tells you all you need to know. whoever wrote that is someone who offends at least one person every single time they do anything, and had to move mountains and time and space in order to come up with a theory of the world that accounts for how awful they are while completely absolving them from any responsibility
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 15 June 2022 16:59 (one year ago) link
HEY THERE, STOP! We do not call someone's words hateful around here. That is not our culture.
totally separate issue but the corporate world's swift and total appropriation of the word "culture" is fucking bonkers
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 15 June 2022 17:00 (one year ago) link
corporate culture is important to the functioning of a company but its funny how the bosses think its something they can control by decree
― lag∞n, Wednesday, 15 June 2022 17:03 (one year ago) link
theres a glimmer of insight thats immediately subsumed into management mind
― lag∞n, Wednesday, 15 June 2022 17:04 (one year ago) link
tho tbf there are tons of bosses out there who do understand culture better
― lag∞n, Wednesday, 15 June 2022 17:05 (one year ago) link
presumably as the bubble pops and you can no longer effectively market crypto as a way to get rich nor as a way to get revenge for the financial crisis by replacing the international banking system with a subreddit there's gonna be a lot of pivoting to marketing it as a way to own the libs (tho if i wanted to own the libs i would just buy a rude t-shirt; then i could have it and see it and wear it and be happy, instead of losing a bunch of money on crypto). nevertheless as the mainstream fad passes this feels like the inevitable next step to retain and deepen the loyalty of some portion of the faithful, who are after all just about to get dolchestossed again.
― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, 15 June 2022 17:47 (one year ago) link
i sure as hell have never worked for one xp
― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Wednesday, 15 June 2022 18:01 (one year ago) link
here's the piece the kraken ceo was trying to get ahead of https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/technology/kraken-crypto-culture.html
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Wednesday, 15 June 2022 18:52 (one year ago) link
The sheer mind-pretzel of people are responsible for their own feelings and no one has a right not to be offended BUT ALSO you can't call people's words toxic, racist, homophobic, etc.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 15 June 2022 18:55 (one year ago) link
lol what
Those who disagreed could quit, Mr. Powell said, and opt into a program that would provide four months of pay if they affirmed that they would never work at Kraken again.
― lag∞n, Wednesday, 15 June 2022 18:56 (one year ago) link
promise to never come back here
Mr. Powell, who attended California State University, Sacramento, started an online store in 2001 called Lewt, which sold virtual amulets and potions to gamers. A decade later, he embraced Bitcoin as an alternative to government-backed money.In 2011, Mr. Powell worked on Mt. Gox, one of the first crypto exchanges, helping the company navigate a security issue. (Mt. Gox collapsed in 2014.)
In 2011, Mr. Powell worked on Mt. Gox, one of the first crypto exchanges, helping the company navigate a security issue. (Mt. Gox collapsed in 2014.)
looool
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Wednesday, 15 June 2022 18:57 (one year ago) link
(Mt. Gox collapsed in 2014 because of a security issue.)
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Wednesday, 15 June 2022 18:59 (one year ago) link
good piece of this kind of boss https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/galaxy-brain/62a7fbc951acba00209259f5/elon-musk-brian-armstrong-coinbase-crypto/
hahaha
"In the time between me scheduling this newsletter and its publication, Coinbase:
Laid off 18 percent of its workforce. Fired employees were given no notice and woke up locked out of their email.Ran an ad during the NBA finals mocking tweets saying that crypto is dead. (Bitcoin has fallen 25.32 percent in the past five days.)"
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 15 June 2022 19:02 (one year ago) link
Bleeding. Another $700 million withdrawn from Tether, following a like amount yesterday. Nearly $13 billion in a month. The peg can’t get to $1.00. Won’t allow an audit. Won’t disclose their CP/US T-bill custodian. Says they redeemed Celsius positions with no realized losses. 1/ pic.twitter.com/sNAqM8pVeR— Christopher Bloomstran (@ChrisBloomstran) June 15, 2022
― lag∞n, Wednesday, 15 June 2022 19:40 (one year ago) link
guess well see if tether actually has those reserves
It went below 20k
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Saturday, 18 June 2022 11:26 (one year ago) link