hackingforfun

> I can't remember which book it was but the comedic/tragic depiction of an unexperienced sister and two brothers overloading a sled, unwilling to give up useless comforts, so much so that the dogs couldn't move the sled, stuck in my mind.

That's from The Call of the Wild.

Give away your money and build a new company if that's the purpose you need to fulfill in life.

Being altruistic can be immensely rewarding.

You have tremendous privilege. Go help some people with that money.

Don't just think of yourself.

Try taking up meditation. Balance your mind. Try to stop your thoughts.

You are super lucky.

Also, consider your death. No matter how much money you have, you can't take any of it with you. One day you're going to die. It's all going away. Enjoy what you have now and ideally help some others. That will bring you purpose.

> It's been the same with crypto, for that matter. None of the reasonable people I know ever saw any grand value in crypto. Researching myself, it always just seemed to be a bullshit fractal.

I consider myself to be a pretty reasonable person and I think the value in something like Bitcoin is as a backup or alternative to the traditional system. Similar to how someone would invest in gold. Except Bitcoin is much easier to transfer, requires much less space to store, etc., vs gold. I think 95% of crypto is bullshit though, and there are a lot of scams.

If you look at recent bank collapses, high inflation, etc., I think a reasonable person might question how long modern monetary theory can go on like this. I'm not a gloom and doom person. I still hold fiat, haven't given up on banks, still invest in US treasuries, stocks, etc. But I think holding some in crypto and gold, etc., also makes sense.

It's possible CBDC's will only be launched in certain countries. I'm hoping at least America will embrace crypto instead of pushing it offshore (and of course also figure out the regulatory aspects to reduce/eliminate the bad actors in the space). Time will tell.

My interest in Bitcoin (since 2014) has never been because I thought it was private. My interest is because of its potential to transform the financial system. I actually think the public auditability of Bitcoin is one of its strengths as a technology.

I always appreciate reading your comments even though I don't necessarily agree with the position you take.

However, I'm wondering, how would "1. An annual wealth tax on crypto holdings to fund (a) a victims’ compensation fund and (b) an enforcement agency;", make any sense? Why would someone who owns, say, Bitcoin, be required to pay a "wealth tax"? What is the rationale? Just because there are other people who use the Bitcoin system illegaly? If USD is used illegally, should everyone who holds USD pay a "wealth tax"?

In terms of "3. Reporting requirements for crypto transactions, crypto-fiat or DeFi, above $10k, individually or in aggregate. Civil fines for first time violators. Criminal referrals for repeat, large-scale violators.", how do you propose reporting works for personal wallet addresses, or DeFi protocols? It seems to me like the implementation of that would be a nightmare, not to mention the concerns with privacy.

No concept of ownership is a stretch. If you have the keys to a Bitcoin wallet, you own that Bitcoin wallet. If you lost physical cash or gold, it would be like losing your keys to a Bitcoin wallet. No one would replace your physical cash, gold, or Bitcoin, if you lost it. However, that doesn't mean that you don't own that physical cash, gold, or Bitcoin, at least while you have it in your possession.

Direct ownership is the point though. Bitcoin allows direct ownership. Also, being the biggest, it can be considered the safest crypto.

I think a sufficiently advanced algorithm can over time.

Bitcoin is an example of a system of trust that has worked pretty well so far (although it requires a lot of electricity, but that is the trade off). There are also people on the Bitcoin core team, so there is some trusted element there.

Crypto will likely continue to innovate on algorithms, given the chance.

I think there can be trust in people, plus algorithms, with algorithms taking over more over time. This is already happening even in traditional finance, i.e. giving more control over to algorithms that participate in HFT. People do monitor those, but people monitor crypto, too, and maybe the failures in crypto so far mean too much control has been given.

I would argue that some more things in finance can be automated, without things being so black and white (i.e. no control vs total control given to algorithms). I do think the trust model given to governments and traditional finance gatekeepers can be iterated on, with some regulation involved too. I don't think we've figured everything out yet.

Do you ever feel that way normally?

I've felt it a bunch of times, but I've worked through it with meditation (without drugs)...

I think psychedelics just bring out deeper parts of the mind. I don't do them anymore, but I used to, so I have some experience. I'm not a teetotaler, I still drink alcohol and smoke weed sometimes, but I'm done with psychedelics for the time being.