The Treasury Is Expanding the Patriot Act to Attack Bitcoin Self Custody

Re:The Treasury Is Expanding the Patriot Act to Attack Bitco... by banku_brougham on Friday September 12, 2025 @11:27AM (#45223174)

>I feel like I can't possibly live in the stupidest era in world history.

Your statistical intuition is sound, and while there are many historical sources describing very stupid events (VSE) dating as far back as recorded history, it is difficult to appreciate the outer bounds of the stupidity range because what has been written is a small fraction of the history that people have lived for at least 100,000 years.

So while I feel we are living in the stupidest era in history (the SEIH), I must conclude that we don't.

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Re:The Treasury Is Expanding the Patriot Act to Attack Bitco... by tormeh on Friday September 12, 2025 @11:37AM (#45223305)

I generally agree, but if we assume that the amount of history scales proportional to the number of humans, then it's not so clear cut, as there's never been more humans alive than now. In other words, there's just more history to be dumb in, nowadays, than before.

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Re:The Treasury Is Expanding the Patriot Act to Attack Bitco... by rkomorn on Friday September 12, 2025 @11:32AM (#45223238)

I think the speed at which the impact of stupidity can spread in current times is unrivaled throughout history, though.

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Re:The Treasury Is Expanding the Patriot Act to Attack Bitco... by viridian on Friday September 12, 2025 @12:13PM (#45223714)

I think what's more important, is that you have a device that will broadcast you a personalized feed of whatever the most engaging stupidity in the world is, at that very moment, 24/7. The magnitude of this passive exposure is far greater than even the rate of spread.

[ Parent | on HN ]