EP4 - 1 Dec 2022 - Crypto as a tool for freedom? What is money? Humans, imitation, communication, and reflexivity.

Two Degens (resources, interviews, on all things crypto and some AI)

Recorded 1 Dec 2022 Kevin's thoughts

• Market seems to have stabilized; selling some NFTs to move a bit more into ETH; I want to start making some degen bets soon, but not sure what / where (seems activity on L2s
• Deleted Twitter 3 days ago - adjusting to new info diet
• Content links
  • Haseeb thread: https://twitter.com/hosseeb/status/1590945514903965696
    • 13/ Crypto is about freedom, and that's why we're all here in the end. Freedom from what? Freedom from *other people*. Crypto frees you from having to trust others. Freedom from being under the thumb of another human being, a dictator, or a corrupt financial institution.
  • Book of Satoshi: https://kevinhabits.com/highlights-from-the-book-of-satoshi/
    • I think the traditional qualifications for money were written with the assumption that there are so many competing objects in the world that are scarce, an object with the automatic bootstrap of intrinsic value will surely win out over those without intrinsic value. But if there were nothing in the world with intrinsic value that could be used as money, only scarce but no intrinsic value, I think people would still take up something.
  • Jon Stokes on AI / content: https://www.jonstokes.com/p/how-big-content-will-win-the-generative
    • An entire alternate branch of the evolution of consumer internet hardware, software, and services was simply wiped out, like a meteor wiping out the mammals instead of the dinosaurs. Again, this didn’t happen because the experience of running your own file server sucked or required specialized expertise — it absolutely did not suck, and in fact, the nascent P2P ecosystem was quite painless from a user admin point-of-view. Rather, it happened because without a centralized authority that the RIAA could sue or the feds could threaten with prison, people would have just shared whatever the heck they wanted with whoever the heck they wanted, /and we just couldn’t have that/
  • Bukele doubling down: https://time.com/6236899/el-salvador-bukele-bitcoin-crash
    • At home, Bitcoin is a key part of the narrative that Bukele is pushing, both of El Salvador—as a rejuvenated, innovative country, delivering new opportunities for young Salvadorans—and of his presidency. He presents himself not as a classic strongman, but as a provocative young visionary challenging the Western financial elite.
  • Misc: Edge of Tomorrow; all you need is kill - manga

George's thoughts

• Content
  • January 10, 2021: On Reflexivity & Imitation, Part 2 https://insights.deribit.com/market-research/on-reflexivity-and-imitation-part-2/
    • "Imitation is a form of communication. Humans are built to imitate. As stated in the first part of this essay, imitation enables reflexivity to shape the world according to our will. Humanity could not exist without imitation." Act accordingly