Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against blockchain technologies

Re:Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against bl... by sudosysgen on Friday January 28, 2022 @06:03PM (#30121706)

For social capital, the statement is tautological and has no meaning. Social capital is generally defined as the set of all interpersonal relationships and shared or individual ideas. This isn't a paperclip maximizer nor is it meaningful that groups of people are compelled to act in ways that follow what people in that group believe, do, and how they interact with each other; it's a tautology.

I think that the fact that this applies to capital in general and to abstract SHA256 capability in particular is much more interesting. After all, a bitcoin ASIC is not an interpersonal relationship or a goal of anyone or any group of people.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against bl... by dnautics on Friday January 28, 2022 @06:42PM (#30122064)

If you don't think that maximization of social capital doesnt lead people to do dumb shit things allow me to introduce you to real stuff with escalating degrees of real consequence over millennia like TikTok, eating competitions, luxury yachts, most of Hollywood, Jeffrey Epstein, various wars over the course of milennia like Assad murdering his citizens in Syria to dumb wars in Europe for centuries, crusades, pol pot, e.g.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Tell HN: We have a responsibility to speak out against bl... by sudosysgen on Friday January 28, 2022 @06:53PM (#30122166)

Yeah I just don't understand how any of those things are bizarre or non-obvious. People want to be entertained, have power over other people, have more resources, etc...

[ Parent | on HN ]