Why does the left hate crypto so much?

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
Yeah bitcoin is hardly the salvation it is vaunted as, but I do think its significance largely boils down to introducing the technical possibility of a decentralized financial system, if even only somewhat decentralized.

And I have doubts about its prospects as a hedge against inflation, but so long as it preserves popular confidence, it may yet work as a medium of exchange, if even one that doesn't scale globally.

Plus, we have stablecoins, which address some of the issues of Bitcoin and other speculative crypto assets may not be able to, i.e. stable stores of value, and medium of exchange, that can benefit from the T-0 transaction times and lower fees that blockchains can enable.

And yeah coinbase is antithetical to the libertarian knobhead promise, but this is where I think centralization can work, unless coinbase's BTC liquidity pool eventually amasses a significant enough portion of the supply to warrant a convenient "hack".

of what use is a decentralised financial system? We have already reached a maximum level of centralisation and efficiency. Now what we require is material plans for the species which are generated within kind.
 

sus

Well-known member
The point is that you have pockets of voluntary experimentation in small communities, and then allow other areas to self-adopt

That's literally what "states are the laboratory of democracy" means

If you're not familiar with US political theory terms, that's OK, but have some humility instead of presuming I'm advocating literally the opposite of what I'm advocating
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
You really can't read! Like literally can't!

My entire experimentation stance is anti-revolutionary.


For instance, the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution, the Cultural Revolution

There is no such thing as anti-revolution. That's what you fail to understand. Get off your moral soapbox. Human existence is one tragedy after another.
 

sus

Well-known member
There is no such thing as anti-revolution. That's what you fail to understand. Get off your moral soapbox. Human existence is one tragedy after another.
I see, so you've not only redefined "politics" to conveniently describe yourself as "not interested in politics"—you've also redefined "revolution" to stick it to me as "revolutionary."

Sure, whatever gets you off—but I wouldn't pretend anyone's gonna care about an argument form predicated on gerrymandering concepts.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
of what use is a decentralised financial system? We have already reached a maximum level of centralisation and efficiency. Now what we require is material plans for the species which are generated within kind.
My guess is that the utility of a decentralized financial system depends on how it can complement and/or hedge against the dominant centralized one, and I do think the bulk of financial activity needs to be centralized enough to feasibly regulate.

And really I think blockchain can still shine even under centralized parameters, at the very least as a faster and cheaper payment processing system for banks, which may result in the savings being partially passed onto account-holders.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
I'm under the impression that macroeconomics is an immature science in regards to even the "traditional" financial system, yet alone the budding decentralized system which seems to be considerably more complex yet.
 

sus

Well-known member
its not worth it spen. what do you think of hieroglyphic being being into politics.
You know, every time the last six months he directed unprovoked personal attacks/insults at me, I laughed it off as amusing. But all it takes is being in a pissy mood one time when he does it—
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
I see, so you've not only redefined "politics" to conveniently describe yourself as "not interested in politics"—you've also redefined "revolution" to stick it to me as "revolutionary."

Sure, whatever gets you off—but I wouldn't pretend anyone's gonna care about an argument form predicated on gerrymandering concepts.

No. You see revolutions as being defined by the will. I don't. You're not revolutionary, but neither are you anti-revolutionary either (which you could never be.) What you could be is counter-revolutionary. You're simply misapplying concepts you have an incomplete understanding of. hence, (anar)kiddy.
 

catalog

Well-known member
You know, every time the last six months he directed unprovoked personal attacks/insults at me, I laughed it off as amusing. But all it takes is being in a pissy mood one time when he does it—
i know, but trust me, it's not worth it. it's much more useful to spend your time thinking about whether it's a problemativc issue that hieroglyphic being is promoting crypto
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
of what use is a decentralised financial system? We have already reached a maximum level of centralisation and efficiency. Now what we require is material plans for the species which are generated within kind.
This could also depend on what avenues open up into crypto for the unbanked. If there can be a federally regulated crypto exchange that allows users to transfer funds from pre-paid debit cards, rather than just bank accounts, then maybe some serious change can occur in terms of opening up capital markets to some of the working class.

As it is, investing is more open to the middle class than ever, largely thanks to crypto, but bank accounts are still required I'm afraid.
 

catalog

Well-known member
in some ways, confrontsation with thirdform is like iniitation rites or hazing. it's like going through a change curve. it's good actually, i would recommendd it. but i also think it's ok to warn people.
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
This could also depend on what avenues open up into crypto for the unbanked. If there can be a federally regulated crypto exchange that allows users to transfer funds from pre-paid debit cards, rather than just bank accounts, then maybe some serious change can occur in terms of opening up capital markets to some of the working class.

As it is, investing is more open to the middle class than ever, largely thanks to crypto, but bank accounts are still required I'm afraid.

Of what use is opening up capital markets to the working class unless you wanted to expand the middle class?

This has an analog in Thatcher's right to buy scheme of council housing. Far from trickling down it merely generated a renewal of the landlord class.
 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
in some ways, confrontsation with thirdform is like iniitation rites or hazing. it's like going through a change curve. it's good actually, i would recommendd it. but i also think it's ok to warn people.

All worthwhile boards are to some degree intimidating: that was certainly the case on alt.movies.kubrick (on which Padraig and I cut our teeth) when it was good. It was intimidating in the same sense that I used to find the NME intimidating, when Penman and Morley wrote for it. Intimidating in that it demanded something of you, made you want to be more than what you were, made you want to be worthy of it. ILM is intimidating. My problem with ILM is, again, not antagonism, but smugness - the one-liner, one-upmanship culture of getting one over on someone else with no deeper project.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Of what use is opening up capital markets to the working class unless you wanted to expand the middle class?

This has an analog in Thatcher's right to buy scheme of council housing. Far from trickling down it merely generated a renewal of the landlord class.
Don't have a good answer, really, but I do think crypto may open up opportunities to make ones savings work for them, at rates that commercial banks don't seem to generally offer. Some of these opportunities are custodial banks, like Nexo, and others are innate to a given blockchain, like "staking" in Cardano.

It may make people feel somewhat included in the financial system, and maybe that feeling goes a long way, if even at small stakes.
 
Top