@cstross@rosamundi
Although I do have to admit it has been good for my CV as I have a business model: As an academic I was able to mine the space for comedy godl [sic] and turn it into academic and non-academic writing.
@ncweaver@rosamundi@cstross I have been tweeting critically about the risks and disadvantages of cryptocurrencies for at least seven years myself. But it's also true that I have received a lot of pushback, mostly from people who didn't understand either the technology or the economics particularly well, but were eager to believe the hype. It's the magic of "number go up", I guess.
@stefanieschulte@ncweaver@rosamundi The magic of "number go up" is why con men like Sam Bankman-Fried can pick their pockets. (It's also a symptom of existential despair at the prospect of ever becoming comfortably-off through traditional routes. The middle class is dying, and the cause of death will be recorded as murder.)
@cstross@stefanieschulte@rosamundi
And it hasn't helped that regulators for the past 40 years have been afraid of "Stifling innovation", and so when something is so clearly old-school fraudulent but wrapped in technobabble they do NOTHING.
How much grief could the SEC have solved by just going after every early ICO as being an unregistered security?
@ncweaver@stefanieschulte@rosamundi It's funny, isn't it, how that reluctance to go after grifters came roaring in during the Thatcher and Reagan administrations ...
(No, it's not funny: but that's the direct cause for the ramp-down of anti-trust/monopoly enforcement.)
@tanyatussing@ncweaver@stefanieschulte@rosamundi The "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic re-enactment age"? Because: apres moi, le deluge. (And literally so, as the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melt.)
How about the Externality Age. Because all the externalities that the governments have refused to address due to kleptocratic symptoms are all catching up to us at once?
@zdl@rosamundi
When I first heard about BitCoin, I was excited about the concept. But, as soon as I heard that there were people investing in it, I realized that it was all speculation and should stay far away.
@rosamundi@zdl Many con artists say that smart people are easier to con. Part of a well performed con is getting people to convince themselves, and smart people are generally much better at coming up with rationalizations for what they want to believe.
@blogmywiki@rosamundi we need to stop normalizing getting grifted and start framing stuff in ways that helps people be skeptical of the next one.
Like "SBF is an obvious crook. We knew from the jump. Why didn't you? We'll help you avoid it next time with this critical thinking checklist."
There is nothing gained by telling the world there is no way to prevent it, and assuming this guy is THE ONLY grifter in a large group of long-con men in a fake industry built for criminal money laundering.
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