View quoted note → Here’s why you shouldn’t ask AI about finance or cryptography, and most notably, the technical aspects of Bitcoin. I asked because it didn't make sense to me, and the AI responded with a lengthy and complex explanation. If you just go along with it, it sounds plausible, but no matter how much I thought about it, the answer didn't seem right. Eventually, I asked someone knowledgeable, and they said there probably wasn't a special reason for it. It was just one of Bitcoin's many oddities that was originally designed that way and now can't be changed. If these AI systems don’t know, they should just say so. Instead, even when they don't know, they throw out all these sophisticated words, making it sound convincing.

When signing a Bitcoin transaction, there's a space within the transaction data reserved for the signature itself. Obviously, since the signature hasn't been created yet, we can't fill in the actual signature at this point—we create it later and insert it. The issue is that instead of just leaving this space empty, it's filled in with the locking script (scriptPubKey) of the UTXO being spent. Does anyone know why it's done this way? Is there some vulnerability that would arise if we left it blank when signing, or did Satoshi just design it this way arbitrarily, and now it's too late to change? I asked an AI, but either I asked poorly or it just gave me nonsense answers. #asknostr #devstr #bitcoin

I've been wondering why many Nostr web apps that support NIP-46 "Bunker Login" only seem to support the case where the bunker initiates the connection. When a user isn't logged in, there's no easy way to transfer the token created by the bunker (unless you use an external messenger or email, which is a clunky solution). It seems much more convenient for the client to create the token, display it as a QR code, and have the signer(@Amber) scan it. I recently learned while working on Jumble's code that the reason for this was a lack of support in nostr-tools for the client-initiated token creation method. Now that nostr-tools supports this feature, supporting the login flow to allow the client to create and send the token to the bunker would make the entire process much smoother.

This is true. If you believe that some kind of taxation is "necessary," or at least a necessary evil, then it can be said that Bitcoin will never be used completely freely as money. Of course, outright banning Bitcoin is not an easy task even for governments. But there's a much easier way. Rather than tampering with the internet, governments could simply make it illegal not to issue (government-reportable) receipts when someone pays via Bitcoin (or cash, gold, silver—anything enabling payments that don't leave a trace on the state's surveillance network). Then offer rewards for reporting or informing on others, and you'll have self-righteous Gestapo-like citizens scurrying around, eager to snitch, believing they're contributing to a just society. The result would be a society where citizens monitor other citizens. If you truly understand what fiat money is, then you can understand what kind of entity a government is that forces us to use it—and understanding that allows you to grasp what taxes really are. Anyone who believes taxes and the state are in some way necessary thereby contributes to building a surveillance and control society. There are even self-proclaimed "Bitcoiners" who loudly cry out for freedom when the government obstructs them, but cheer when it tramples on those they dislike; people who shout that inflation is theft when criticizing Democrats, yet stay silent when Republicans engage in money printing. Isn't that amusing? View quoted note →

I've muted my phone, but alarms and other sounds still go off. This whole system of separate volume controls for different categories is completely pointless. Who actually manages their sound settings that way? 'Mute' should mean MUTE for everything. It's a completely idiotic feature.

Is there a way to run something on a Windows computer that would make it operate as a Tor exit node with just one double-click, and that could automatically restart even after the computer reboots? Setting this up on neglected public computers in public institutions—where management is lacking—might actually work well.