One of the disappointments of being in my late 50s is watching young people having to learn the hard lessons of life all over again, instead of learning from history only a generation or two old. Especially now, where events before the Internet seemingly never happened, and events after the Internet get endlessly memed or propagandized into whatever currently fashionable ideology benefits the status quo. There has been a thin thread of rebellion against this that has survived in the form of cypherpunk activism of the 80s and 90s through the invention and proliferation of Bitcoin in the 2010s and now the advent of distributed, uncensorable communication networks such as Nostr. And yet, it's not clear to me whether this nascent drive towards individual freedom will survive. Too much of the public discourse is consumed by "strategic reserve" this, "legal tender" that, and in general the tying of Bitcoin to its relation to the State. Politicians seek political favor by making noises allying themselves to the Bitcoin community, and to great benefit. The vast majority of Bitcoin movement is between exchanges, not individuals. I won't even go into the absurdities on display at conferences ostensibly about Bitcoin but have turned into promotional grounds for grifters and influencers. We are at a unique point in history where we have both the technology and the motivation to establish direct, peer-to-peer, mutually beneficial, and most importantly, voluntary, non-coercive relationships among each other that bypass existing systems of surveillance and control. Let's do this.

Sometimes it feels like being a small mouse dodging the feet of dinosaurs fighting each other for power, all the while a massive meteor is inbound. You know mammals will emerge triumphant eventually, you just have to avoid the collateral damage long enough. Be the mouse, not the dinosaur.

Sometimes I am convinced that sociopaths in suits with flag-themed lapel pins will be the end of us. Other times I see the work that is happening in this space and get some modicum of hope. Cypherpunks write code.

One of the very defining characteristics of the entire Bitcoin ecosystem is its voluntary participation by everyone involved. Users choose to transact in bitcoin, what node software to run, and what valid transactions to propagate on the network. Developers choose what node software and features to contribute their time and energy working on, and offer up that node software to users. Miners choose to purchase electricity, which transactions to include, and when to enter into the proof of work lottery of producing a block. The crucial difference in all of these is that nobody is made to, by force or threat of force, to act in any capacity. Thus, in the absence of force, the *only way to influence the actions of others* is through persuasion, argument, and discussion. This is what is happening right now in the heated back and forth going on with the OP_RETURN configuration setting, and we should be celebrating the fact that nobody can be dictated to here. So, welcome to cryptoanarchy, come on in, the water is fine.

Have been recently working in Rust helping on an open source project completely unrelated to my professional work. It's nice to have a side project to spend time on again, and Rust brings the joy back into bare metal programming.

Writing code is great but have you ever fixed your neighbor's seven year old daughter's bike and watched her face light up when she finds out she can go outside and ride again?

I've spent the last few days buried in equations, simulations, and presentations. Now it's time to crack a cold one and get back to that sweet, sweet code vibing 😂

I've been away, but still kicking. Sometimes a break from the craziness is needed to regain one's equilibrium 😎

Fighting corruption the way it is being done right now in the US government is like having a river of gasoline feeding a fire and the fireman are pointing their hoses at one burning agency at a time. Sure, you're gonna find stuff, and lots of it--but the problem will remain raging out of control. That river of gasoline is the Fed-printed dollars that allow unrestrained deficit spending. The normal feedback mechanism of literally running out of money forces normal organizations to prioritize and eliminate waste and fraud. Without this, it's just one big party on a runaway train that can only end in hyperinflation and tears. Fix the money, fix the world, as they say.

I'm old enough to remember a time when all you had to do was turn off the TV to quiet the screeching of politics and outrage. Now it has seeped into every little nook and cranny of daily life. That cabin in the woods has never looked more enticing.

Politicians, by their very nature, cannot create any value; they can only take what some have created and give it to others. And in this way they pit man against man, all hoping to pick the pocket of those who have more than them, forgetting the hordes of people who are trying to pick theirs. The only winning move is not to play.

GM ☕ Live long enough for your childhood memories to feel like they happened to someone else. Then realize, they did.