31 karma · joined July 20, 2020
Bitcoin was the result of cypherpunks going back to the drawing board to create a decentralized solution. Unfortunately bitcoin sacrificed unlinkability for decentralization. Modern "privacy" cryptocurrencies utilizing zero-knowledge proofs are advancing the state-of-the-art in terms of having both properties.
A decentralized DBC "mint" is theoretically possible. However there are two more downsides to blind signature approach: (1) auditing is impossible because there is no history so detecting if mint-node(s) have colluded to cheat or catching an inflation bug is unsolved problem. (2) Arbitrary amounts are not supported so it is necessary to create fixed denomination "notes", which then add size and complexity to every transaction.
source: been there, done that. bought the t-shirt.
blog post: https://neptune.cash/blog/mutator-sets/
technical paper: https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1208.pdf
Don't forget XML-RPC :-)
They couldn't replace a few spark plugs?
big pharma? government lobbied by big pharma? universities given grants from government lobbied by big pharma?
actually though, the soviets did do serious research into the science/benefits of fasting. Too bad it never really made it to the west.
Watch the video: "The Science of Fasting" for an overview.
Stirling engines are quite tricky to get right, as I understand it. And that sounds like you'd need a good sized one, not a toy.
In a truly entrepreneurial society, anyone can operate a small business open to the public right out of their house. Not so in the US states/counties I've ever been to.
In other words, does conciousness/spirit precede and shape matter, or does matter precede and shape conciousness/spirit?
Modern/western science is pretty firmly entrenched in a materialist view. Although it seems more are questioning that these days.
Personally I think that the brain is probably closer to a radio than a CPU. In other words, it is the bridge that enables our ethereal spirit/conciousness to experience and interact with the material world.
Just as hackernews does not exist in my laptop, neither does my "self" exist in my brain. Rather my laptop and my brain are each providing a terminal to a remote realm.
No amount of examining and dissecting my computer will reveal the code that runs hackernews, youtube, google, etc. It would be foolish to suggest it.
Yet that is exactly what neurologists try to do... with predictably miserable results.
Regardless, people are not using the term "misinformation" in that way. They are using it for phenomena we cannot all readily observe for ourselves, and for which there is a claimed, but not actual consensus.
800 years ago it was "misinformation" to claim that the Earth orbited the Sun. Today it is "misinformation" to claim that germ theory is incorrect or that vaccines are not always "safe".
But the people using and spreading the "misinformation" meme are human and have imperfect knowledge just like everyone else. Indeed, they seem closed-minded and intolerant of others' opinions. For me, if a person uses that term, it is a clear signal that the person is wedded to a particular worldview and it is pointless to even engage them in conversation on the topic in question.
No one has a monopoly on the truth. No one is omniscient. No one actually knows how life works, or the fundamental nature of the universe.
So how can any of us presume to define for everyone else what is true or not?
The most we can do is have our personal understanding and beliefs. This makes all information subjective. In the eye of the beholder.
To think otherwise is megalomaniac insanity.
fungibility means that two units are interchangeable/equivalent. Legality doesn't enter into it.
anything that makes unit A perceptibly different from unit B can cause humans to value unit A more less than B.
Some units may be perceived as "better" than average and carry a premium. Others may be perceived as "bad" or "tainted" and trade at a discount.
Such differences are generally considered undesirable in a money.
ftfy.