Your argument against crypto is one of the more compelling I've read. I like the "deep local optimum" visual you painted. I definitely agree if you're comparing "crypto" directly to centralized companies doing traditional things -- they're not going anywhere.
However, I think it solves a different problem. It's a geopolitical problem. Blockchain technology provide a bulletproof (so far) way of exchanging value across borders without having to trust any middlemen.
There's a quote, I believe by Erik Voorhees, saying roughly: "Bitcoin is separation of money and state".
But currently this only works in third world countries where the government lacks resources or care to combat it. Plus their is still a middleman if you don't mine the cryptocurrency yourself. I still have to pay a exchange if I cannot find someone willing to take cash/check from me. You also have the opposite effect where you need the exchange and a bank account to turn that coin I sent into usable cash.
Most of the world's population lives in third and second world countries. You're absolutely right that the centralized fiat gateways are the obvious, censurable bottlenecks of crypto-currency, and there's no good way around that, but crypto-currency itself is still an attractive way for many people, to move their money out of very restrictive regimes. The centralized exchange problem is mainly a problem of creating a black/grey market economy, with crypto-currency as it's main unit of value transfer, which of course is a whole other can of worms.
Correct, but you only have to trust a centralized company within your own country. You don't have to trust a bank or money transmitter in a foreign country. In the case of people in countries where they don't have an adequate level of government protection over financial transactions, I think it becomes more interesting. In cases like those, it's possible they don't even value their own local currency as a store of value and might feel a cryptocurrency has better odds of being worth more than zero by the time they need to spend it.
Maybe that's enough of a use case for an established following that supports a long-term 'market' for cryptocoins. Maybe the ideal (or something closer to ideal) would be that people in too-strong States got to use it; but there are enough people in too-weak States with dreams of authoritarianism
> about my language there's more info at https::/darklang.com.
I find it slightly reassuring that someone is actually working on a language/compiler with PaaS features built in. I'd thought of doing that and jotted it down in my notebook.. assuming it was just a crazy idea.
When do you plan to release an alpha version? I'd be interested in seeing it!
Alpha is probably out this year. We send periodic announcements to our mailing list, there's a link at the bottom of Darklang.com. Also, we're hiring: http://darklang.com/careers
I know HN is rather negative toward cryptocurrency in general, but for me it's fun. I run a small mining farm in my basement. It keeps my sysadmin skills sharp and more than pays my electric bill.
On a side note: none of this is really passive.. mining, real estate, and drop-shipping are all very active income streams. Unless you were born with a silver spoon, you probably won't find truly passive income.
My farm consists mainly of rx 580 graphic cards. Due to depressed markets, my returns are just okay right now. Luckily my equipment has been paid off since December. To put things in perspective, a single 8GB rx 580 costs around $400 (if you're lucky) and only makes $0.80/day. During the peak at the end of last year, they were making well over $3/day each.
Thanks for posting this! I'm always interested in other people's experience with anxiety. I'm slightly jealous yours has an origin story though. I've been anxious for as long as I remember and can't recall any traumatic experiences nor come up with any logical explanations.
It's important to remember that anxiety and panic are neurochemical responses and can have strong physical and genetic components, they don't always need to have a psychological "cause."
One thing I'd suggest, if you haven't already, is look into your family history for any for signs of it. In my case, there's a very clear hereditary line of panic disorder and other similar ailments that came down through the generations, eventually landing in me as well.
We like to think of our "mind" as something that exists completely separate from the physical reality of the brain, but in the end it's an organ like any other, and any malfunctions within it can affect us in subtle ways. For example, during the run up to a panic attack, I tend to get very irritable and easily frustrated. I've come to recognize it as a sign of what's to come and take steps in advance to try to curb it.
> It's important to remember that anxiety and panic are neurochemical responses and can have strong physical and genetic components, they don't always need to have a psychological "cause."
Agreed. Members of my mother's side are especially known to be "worriers". Sporadic levels of anxiety on my father's as well.
> I've come to recognize it as a sign of what's to come and take steps in advance to try to curb it.
Via therapy, I've discovered my own version of this, mostly around breathing. I tend to hold my breath as I start to go into my head. If I catch myself doing this, I can sometimes reduce most of the physical effects by focusing on breathing again. It's easier said than done.
I get what you're saying, but your math is a bit misleading. As far as I know, the missing 4m are a subset of the 16m already mined. That still leaves ~5m to be acquired in the future, albeit rather slowly.
