Can crypto change the world? Can it break the power of the banks? Or is it just a runaway train of individually selfish actions that will ultimately just lead us back where we started?

I don’t imagine many people have dreams about proof of stake algorithms, but evidently I do.

Last night I dreamed I was on a train arguing about crypto. An elevated line through the city. Sparks flying at every corner. Rushing past beautiful old buildings as the conversations in the back carriage started to heat up.

Specifically, it appears, we were arguing about the lightning network. The…

A smoke filled cafe just outside the headquarters of the Italian Democratic Liberal Party (PLD) , Rome, November 1923.

The Acerbo law has just been passed, setting up Mussolini’s fascist party to take complete power in the upcoming election of 1924.

Included amongst this group, socialists, PLD members, and some communists. Cast of characters includes Ezra, Enrico, Pietro.

Ezra: Anyone that voted for the nationalists is a racist and a bigot !

Enrico: OK, yes, that’s true. But we need to realise that many Catholics also supported him because of the promises he made around church education. …

(last updated July 2015)

Neighbourhoods To Wander Around..

This will overlap a bit with stuff below but some thoughts about specific neighborhoods below. Not sure why it’s in this order. Also, I somehow forgot whole areas like Lower East Side. Guess it’s a bit hard to summarize NYC but here’s some places to maybe check out while wandering around..

Walking is best

The best things are the things you discover by accident and you’ll maximise chances by walking so my first suggestion is that you aim to do lots of that. Anywhere south of 14th street — east village, lower east side, and west village — can…

the modern, evolved human brain is one of Nature’s most spectacular accomplishments.

Let’s just assume for a second that the above statement is true — and that conscious human sentience really did evolve entirely within and on top of that stack of brain and meat we call a body.

Well then, of course we will one day be obsolete. Terrifying as the supposition may be, if we assume the above there can be no doubt.

On nature’s time scale, humankind will eventually be surpassed and replaced by what we would today describe as ‘machines’.

Because what are…

I read something in the paper the other day about process oriented vs results oriented thinking.

I guess I’ve tended to be a results oriented person. And that sucks. Because by ‘results oriented’ I don’t mean thatI actually get results — just that I spend most of my time orienting myself towards the results I would like instead of worrying about what kind of person I need to be if I’m going to get where I want to go. …

This simple sentence :

… after gaining power Tito quickly created a ruthless secret police force and used it to crush any hint of independence coming from the six republics ...

.. reminds us of the real reason why unfettered power for the NSA is like a loaded gun in the hands of future presidents. It must be opposed, now, and long into the future.