Null User Object @ nulluser @programming.dev

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72

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297

Joined

2 yr. ago

Per what capita? There's only one global banking system on Earth. That's what makes it global. There's only one Bitcoin blockchain, and it's globally accessible. Trying to subdivide either into arbitrary regions based on geographic or geopolitical borders is meaningless.

I don't disagree with anything you said. Yes, it's confusing and there's no shortage of scammers trying to make it more confusing in order to bamboozle people.

My humble advice is to ignore "crypto". Adopt, at least for now, the philosophy that, "it's either Bitcoin, or shit coin." That'll simplify things immensely for those just getting started, and is true for at least 99.9% of other coins out there (100% if you want my honest opinion).

Maybe, in the distant future, when/if you decide to dive down the rabbit hole and really get comfortable how Bitcoin functions and what gives it value, then you'll be in a better position to judge other coins. More likely, you won't bother because you won't need to.

But, mark my words, nothing is going to replace Bitcoin. Some other coins might manage to fulfill some esoteric fringe use cases that Bitcoin doesn't, and maybe one those use cases will be beneficial to you. If so, awesome. But they're not going to be able to replace Bitcoin.

Layer 2 protocols are tools that operate on top of the (admittedly slow and variable) Bitcoin blockchain. Lightning Network (LN) is currently the most prominent and allows secure transactions that complete in a few seconds with extremely small fees. LN addresses the "it's too slow/unpredictable" argument against Bitcoin.

There are many other Layer 2 protocols running on top of Bitcoin in various stages of development and production addressing different issues and use cases. But, you don't need to know about any of them, honestly. You don't need to pick the winner (there will be many winners doing different things). When any of them catch on and go mainstream, then that will drive more demand for Bitcoin to help power that protocol.

That's layer 1. Read up on layer 2 options. Lightning Network is the best current example, but there are others and will be more. That's where most of the innovation is happening now. The media never talks about it because it's necessarily more technical and they think their readers/viewers are all idiots, so why bother.

But this parallel financial system can also serve a tangible social good, offering an onramp to the financial system for people who would otherwise be left out. ...

Bitcoin could eliminate all these intermediaries, allowing citizens to send digital payments directly to one another, without relying on credit and without incurring multiple settlement fees along the way.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/26/bitcoin-is-poised-to-blow-up-africas-86-billion-banking-system.html

Bitcoin is for everybody.

Apples to apples. One global banking system to one global Bitcoin network.

https://docsend.com/view/adwmdeeyfvqwecj2#

The direct answer to your question starts on page 6, but I recommend starting at the beginning to get the full context.

How much electricity does the world banking system use? (Answer: a whole lot more)

How much of that electricity could be used to simultaneously run the banking system AND turn incredibly ambitious renewable energy project ideas from absurd pipe dreams into economic no brainers? (Answer: none)

No, no, no! Ted Stephens got them all up to speed with his famous "Dump Trucks and Tubes" educational lecture. Now they're all experts.

But these people are not obese. They're already starving to death.

Nutrition screenings conducted at shelters and health centres in the north found that 15.6 per cent – or 1 in 6 children under 2 years of age – are acutely malnourished. Of these, almost 3 per cent suffer from severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, which puts young children at highest risk of medical complications and death unless they receive urgent treatment.

https://www.who.int/news/item/19-02-2024-children-s-lives-threatened-by-rising-malnutrition-in-the-gaza-strip

And that's from nearly three weeks ago.

trickle down authoritarianism

Probably not a great band name, but certainly a good album name.

Now I understand where ChatGPT hallucinations come from.

Got any links to news stories about tourists in Ukraine getting forced into fighting for them.

Take your time. I'll wait.

Or how about Ukraine intentionally targeting missiles at apartment buildings and purely civilian infrastructure with no military value just to murder and terrorize people just trying to live their lives.

If there's anyone here that's a victim of propaganda and indoctrination, you'll find them in the mirror.

These awards and settlements really need to start coming out of the police unions. That's the only way to start getting cops to hold each other accountable.

That's utterly vile, especially considering that India fought against the Nazis during WWII. I can't imagine being one of the soldiers that came back alive and seeing that shit in my own country.

Thank you. I knew it looked/sounded wrong.

We came to visit Russia as tourists

Boy, my sympathy went to 0 pretty damn fast. Might as well have said they went to Nazi Germany as tourists.

edit: grammar

Went through a bout of sleep paralysis episodes many years ago. Started suddenly and stopped a few months later just as suddenly. No idea why. However, my wife now has standing orders that if I'm mumbling urgently in my sleep, she should interpret that as me screaming, "WAKE ME THE FUCK UP!"

Water weight. You still drink water when fasting.

Not having to listen to you talk on the phone while I'm trapped in a seat near you is absolutely going to decrease my air rage.

The free market also dies when unregulated companies destroy their competition to become monopolies, destroy the environment and enslave people.

You're correct in that when companies essentially own politicians and get regulations passed that help them do the above, like the system we seem to have now, then that's a serious problem.

The answer to that isn't to get rid of regulations, though. An unregulated free market isn't going to stop factories from dumping toxic waste into rivers or spewing it into the air. It's not going to stop companies from paying employees slave wages. And it's definitely not going to stop companies from using dirty tactics to drive out their competition and become monopolies, as you seem to be suggesting.

A well regulated free market can both reward innovators that come up with new products or services that society values while also protecting the environment and the workers from exploitation, and ensuring healthy competition.

That's not the system we have now, for sure, but we're absolutely not going to get there by getting rid of regulations. We need to yank control of the government (and thus the laws) away corporations and the wealthy and give it back to the people.

RCV