Video journalist and commentator at Reason
Zach Weissmueller @Weissmueller - 1y
Rainbows might be fleeting, but Nostr events are forever.
"If bitcoin has the potential to serve as the foundation for a new global monetary system, Nostr could do the same for communication and identity in the digital sphere..." - nostr:npub1trr5r2nrpsk6xkjk5a7p6pfcryyt6yzsflwjmz6r7uj7lfkjxxtq78hdpu https://youtu.be/lp-BlTbTmqA
France really out there requiring cryptography licenses. What a joke country. http://at-ica.com
Soon
Kamala Harris' first concrete policy: Federal price controls on food. Related: I own some chickens and will accept sats for eggs. https://m.primal.net/KAYK.png https://reason.com/2024/08/15/kamala-wants-price-controls/
For sure. I think between UK madness, EU overreach, and whatever's going to unfold in the lead-up to the 2024 US election, there's a lot of potential for major shifts in the social media landscape soon.
Yeah, that's a bummer. I remain convinced that one key to success for Nostr will be somehow cultivating a reputation as a place for dissident speech. Network effects are hard to overcome, though!
Is there a big European presence on Nostr yet? Curious if people are discovering it as a censorship-free alternative given the crackdowns and threats. Would love to read some commentary from accounts on here if they exist.
Nice. Didn't know about Duck.ai. That is fantastic.
Anyone experimented with any open source LLMs? I know they are out there, but curious if any are even close to on-par with the big boys.
Funny you mention that. We'll be having Bob Murphy on our podcast soon, and I'll bring this up!
Gonna experiment with posting this here because the interface for inserting screenshots is better than on X, and I think this might be a more receptive audience anyway. Now that Krugman has invoked the name of F.A. Hayek to defend Kamala Harris' policies, I must effortpost. Unfortunately, it seems to me that this is once again a case of a progressive quote-mining Hayek to make a point he almost certainly wouldn't have agreed with. https://m.primal.net/JygS.png First, let's look at the paragraph that follows. Krugman says Harris is not a full-on communist (true). She just wants to expand welfare, not fundamentally change the role of govt. Harris did support single-payer health care but now doesn't. But even if she did, says Krugman, it's not that radical or dangerous ("un-American")! Hayek would disagree. https://m.primal.net/JygU.png Hayek on "social insurance" from The Constitution of Liberty, more detailed than the The Road to Serfdom quote Krugman links: Progressives rarely mention the part in red, where he says that while the aim of govt providing a safety net is philosophically defensible, the actual methods are the problem, and as we'll see, a likely inescapable one in Hayek's telling. https://m.primal.net/JygW.png He continues on to say that opposition to govt welfare is entirely defensible, just not purely on human freedom grounds. To understand this, you have to grok that Hayek defined freedom as the absence of coercion and placed a high value on prohibiting government monopolies. He does not accept the "taxation is theft" maxim, which is why many libertarians dislike him. What he opposes is government action that prevents people from trying new experiments and competing with the state or state-connected actors to provide "essential" services. https://m.primal.net/JygX.png Image What Hayek is saying about "social insurance" is that in theoretical terms a state-supported welfare program could achieve its ends without threatening freedom. The more sound reason to oppose it, he argues, is that the state apparatus that administers welfare in the modern world inevitably becomes a coercive and monopolistic one. There are strings attached to that money, always: Strings that serve the plans of the bureaucrats, not the individuals receiving the money. https://m.primal.net/Jyge.png It's fantasy ("illusion") to imagine a government machine powerful enough to administer welfare at nation-state scale while being kept in check against liberty violations. "Democratic control" ain't gonna cut it. History shows the administrative state certainly never checks itself. This is why the recent Chevron reversal was so crucial. It allows courts, rather than "democracy," to exert more direct constitutional restraint on these agencies, likely to be more effective than Congress "doing something" (LOL). https://m.primal.net/Jygg.png THE GREATEST DANGER TO LIBERTY TODAY, writes Hayek, comes from the expert class running the bureaucracy for the "public good." https://m.primal.net/Jygk.png It is INEVITABLE, he says, that such an apparatus will become self-willed, uncontrollable and hegemonic. https://m.primal.net/Jygn.png Agree or disagree with Hayek's analysis, but does this sound like a guy who endorses anything close to resembling our modern welfare state? Or does it sound like a nuanced thinker conceding that the state could theoretically subsidize welfare in some non liberty-threatening way that he never quite specifies? Hayek would almost certainly recognize massive problems with the way our current top-down welfare system distorts the market, coercively suppresses competition, and immiserates people. And to invoke him anywhere proximal to single-payer health care is a joke. I get the criticism from libertarians that Hayek could've been more clear to avoid mischaracterization, or should've been more "hardcore" about opposing all taxation. I'm not arguing that he's that kind of libertarian. And that's OK. But it's hard for me to see the way Krugman is quoting him here as anything other than a disingenuous way to normalize Harris' proposed expansion of social engineering and an intrusive welfare state.
Also nostr:npub1vrrvevxq2w8k7td6tyycu3qxdd6lgmf7f93kaa0nr76hkcwg8ajsjqe70u!
What a great profile on the origins, growth, and awesome potential of Nostr for Reason by nostr:npub1trr5r2nrpsk6xkjk5a7p6pfcryyt6yzsflwjmz6r7uj7lfkjxxtq78hdpu. Let’s go 🔥🔥🔥 https://reason.com/2024/08/13/can-nostr-make-twitters-dreams-come-true/
I’m not claiming to have any special knowledge of what’s going on. But… it is a very fucking weird way for the president to drop out. Lyn is completely right that we’ve rapidly entered a new era where cryptographic verification is the only guard against catastrophic fakery. nostr:note10ff5kurf3a2h5d8umneuq5dcgznlhcfreyvk34c946z25mlzk38qxccydr
Nostr has several value propositions. One is that it’s a viable check on corporate social media. If X leadership is ever tempted to abandon its current values and turn the network censorious, they’ll have to consider the existence of an uncensorable alternative as a competitor.
My reflections on the awful plea deal that Julian Assange was forced to take in exchange for his freedom and the threat it presents to freedom of the press. And the good news: Assange definitively proved that information does, indeed, want to be free. https://youtu.be/N9wivGE6qUI?si=3iAveoEmgDQ8rPTZ
Badass
Latest episode of my weekly podcast JUST ASKING QUESTIONS examines the latest economic data out of Argentina six months into Javier Milei’s presidency. In short, monthly inflation rate down, consecutive monthly budget surpluses, bond market recovering, major bill just passed Senate, approval ratings still positive despite extremely rough economy. Looks like the wild Libertarian presidente might know a thing or two about governing after all… https://youtu.be/h1rD3CYyQO8
