I’m going to be honest here. If someone asks you for Windows help and you comment to tell them to use Linux, you’re an asshole, not clever.

If every year people ask for help because they’ve been weakened by a COVID infection, yet they refuse free vaccinations, then they are the assholes.

Stop defending tax-evading unethical monopolies who don’t give a crap about their users, only their profits. And stop defending lackadaisical people who have the potential to literally change the world by being part of a snowball that could eventually avalanche Microsoft’s monopoly away. Instigating change here could be so easy. For goodness’ sake we’re talking about a change of software, not sacrificing one’s life by taking a bullet or shooting one. Stand up for what you believe in. To hell with Windows. To hell with Microsoft.

Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely. Disregarding all of bitcoin’s shortcomings, a financial instrument that brings out the worst in people—greed—won’t change the world for the better.

I disagree with this statement. Blockchain is only a technology, good or bad is what we humans are doing. It depends how we use BTC and other coins, but that’s a human issue rather than a technological one.

≈ “C₁₀H₁₅N is only a chemical, good or bad is what we humans are doing. It depends how we use crystal meth and other chemicals, but that’s a human issue rather than a technological one.”

As much as I like to refer to Hanlon’s Razor—“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”—I discourage using the word “stupidity” as personal slights. First of all, heated subjects should be met with deescalating vocabulary because it’s already so hard to find common ground. Secondly, everyone is a product of their environment; more often than not ignorance, tradition, inertia, peer pressure, et cetera, is to blame. Not raw incapability of comprehending things.

If an entire parallel economy bloomed around crypto - any crypto - that would make more strides to truly shake governments than anything else.

“[…] In the end, governments aren’t inherently bad, but the people in it can be. And if they can be corrupted by bitcoin then we are merely running uphill on the Titanic.

“Strong currencies are not the solution to poor governance. Good governance and democracy makes a country and its currency strong. Not vice versa.” —halukakin, HackerNews, 2021 [26]

So, governments are not without faults, but likewise not the evil bogeymen as many people make them out to be, and neither are bitcoin enthusiasts. I still think most people mean well, but our ideas cannot account for, nor fathom the complexity of it all. Should the US decrease their disproportionally large defence budget?* Most definitely. Will bitcoin stop that? Probably not. Blame is easy, change is hard, and gambling on crypto“currencies” is not hard. It’s just playing Monopoly with another currency without changing the game. Maybe that’s it. Maybe they don’t want it changed and bitcoin is just a charade. “I don’t care if we have new banks, as long as I am rich.” But let’s not get lost in speculation here as well. […]”

Finally going after vermin instead of schoolchildren. Good. Slow progress is still progress. Hopefully, consequently, toppling the toxic system that produces these vermin in the first place.