2024-05-21 05:56:07
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by npub180c…h6w6
The Lightning Network was beautiful for a while because it met all these requisites, and it had a chance of working, but unfortunately that wasn't meant to be. Drivechains could also meet these standards, as they would necessarily have to be tacitly approved by the community at large in order to work, but I don't know what else.
Maybe Liquid and Rootstock get enough lindyness on them after so many years that they become dissociated from the companies and start to be perceived more as public goods, and that causes them to be more used? I don't know. Mercury statechains could also be a very nice neutral scaling solution if more than one company started to run a signer server.
2024-05-21 05:47:14
by npub180c…h6w6
I feel like these new Bitcoin L2s can never go anywhere, even those that aren't scams, because they are tied to companies and centrally controlled, even if not strictly custodial. This is probably valid for Ethereum L2s too, zk-rollups and whatnot.
If you're an external individual or company you shouldn't really be investing time and energy and your brand into a thing that is just another company with zero network-effect. You would have to be part of that growing network-effect and you shouldn't do that organically and for free (this is probably why these things always do a lot of "partnerships"), and we need that organic stuff for Bitcoin to work.
2024-05-21 02:33:08
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by npub180c…h6w6
The last time I went through their docs there was a _requirement_ for all hubs to host all the data from everybody (for some definite period of time). I didn't understand how that requirement was being enforced, but it doesn't make much sense. I went on their developers group and asked how would a hub deal with a government takedown notice or something like that that would cause hubs to behave differently towards some type of content, the person who was there providing support refused to answer because they thought I was from Nostr.
Even though they started with a different idea, much closer to Nostr, they later changed their hubs to be these behemoths and now, in practice, they will be like Bluesky BGSes (now renamed to "relays", c'mon) and have their number reduced to 1.
2024-05-21 02:25:51
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by npub180c…h6w6
I don't remember saying that about Farcaster. I think Farcaster is a bad idea, but its marketing at least feels more honest than Bluesky's.
It's very bad in the sense that it is expected that all "hubs" have to store all the data from everybody for a certain time, which is not very decentralizated.
To run an app on Farcaster you have to gather all that data yourself in your own hub and then connect that to your own server that translates it into feeds for your users via a normal internal API -- again, very centralizing.
It will probably end up like Bluesky: with a single company hosting everything, providing the main app and feeds that 99% of users will use. And maybe that's what they want? -- or what they can't avoid --, since the thing was created by a VC-funded company and is being pushed almost solely by that company.
2024-05-20 19:23:47
by npub1xts…kk5s
the future of damus is a marketplace of turing complete, sandboxed edge algorithms powered by nostrdb. edge algorithms means no relay overhead. efficient, private, scalable, where new algorithms can be created, shared and sold without limits.
I just figured out a solid plan on how to make this happen. I’ve started building it today. This may be bigger than zaps 💥
2024-05-20 18:37:51
by npub10vl…sp42
One of the biggest reasons people don't succeed is because they don't know what they want. Yes, everyone wants a lot of money, an attractive partner and so on, but what's your priority? What do you really want? Those other desires, the *results* are generally very vague and therein lies the problem. Your goals are not specific enough and your vision not clear.
That's why you lack passion. Because it hasn't come from you, it's come from envy of others.
2024-05-20 16:02:55
by npub18am…p424
Lurking on Nostr is fine. Many people love to just lurk, scroll, read, etc. The lack of algos and ads make lurking on Nostr a much more palatable experience. That said, Nostr is a Proof-of-Work protocol too. If you want social interaction and engagement, you'll need to also put in the effort to make that happen.
2024-05-20 11:08:20
by npub1mzn…6mak
Okay Nostr peeps we need to talk. I know Ive been on here for like 5 minutes and Im already complaining but hear me out.
Id really like to publish my newsletter directly on Nostr. You dont need to worry about clicking an extra link, I dont need to worry about writing a stupid summary, everyone is happy.
But here‘s the problem. Iris shows link previews and organizes pics where they are placed in the text. Primal does the same, but doesnt show link previews. Damus shows link previews, but organizes pics in a carousel. If I post both pics and link previews, the content repeats and gets unnecessarily long. If I dont, everything is all over the place.
Can you guys like get together and have a standard for this or something? Because that would be pretty helpful. Thanks!
2024-05-20 01:38:49
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by npub1csa…z4x9
Generally (USA specifically), I feel as if the overall disgust with the government in the recent year had a major influence. The unwillingness of gen z to want to vote at all for the upcoming election, due to the powers that be severing any trust the youth had left with the institutions (financial and political), they are now in the state vs us mindset. This is when bitcoin comes in.
The fact that bitcoin is the easiest and most accessible investment option for the youth, those who majority aren’t interested in stocks, and probably don’t even know how the stock exchange works, Bitcoin is far easier to understand and easily invest in.
@npub1cas…dg5l is immensely popular with the youth, they have perfected the UX, and have made bitcoin digestible and normalized for the average user. With a simple and aesthetically pleasing design that is able to attract the younger user. If you go on TikTok, there are an abundance of videos showcasing the ease of stacking sats on cashapp, an app people already have on their phones. (Venmo is more popular with older gens, as it is far more formal)
Personally, my own friends who already used cashapp, have just bought bitcoin on the app just to try it out, despite it being in small amounts they still are getting that taste of financial freedom. I haven’t really forced bitcoin on my friends, that’s just corny when finance isn’t what we talk about at all, so having more and more friends come to me knowing i stack sats everyday which they think is a “hobby”, they are able to see me invest in my future and own a “stock” (that’s how i explain it to my friends) but its stock without the dirty money and antics the gov can pull. It’s freedom from the government that has wronged us.
Just as I am an early adopter of nostr among my peers, (they will come, they just aren’t ready yet), they are just now finally old enough to understand Bitcoin since they are finally in charge of their finances.
Gen z wants to make a change, their ideals and revolutionary ideology, despite what many assume, are absolutely exactly the same as those of Bitcoin. They just haven’t made the connection to the money yet. They are now, slowly but surely.
2024-05-19 20:35:47
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by npub1ajv…tppj
You should stop assuming things... like I said, most Christians disagree with my views.
Take all the magic out of the story. Make Jesus a carpenter who was born in total povery to a mom that whored herself to some rich "wise men" behind Joseph's back. Jesus grows up poor & has to fix everything to have anything. Then being a builder & someone who had to figure out how things really work, went around teaching people how to live better lives & how to better cultivate crops & catch fish & to heal ailments that people thought couldn't be healed (carnivores are doing similar things today, it doesn't have to be magic). And his popularity & unconventional thinking were eventually seen as a threat to people in power so he was tortured & killed by govt & religious authorities for disobeying the law by helping someone on the wrong day. But his execution ultimately backfires & dramatically shifts popular opinion about the nature of govt & established religious authorities. So much so that our dates are built around him, people deified him & still worship him thousands of years later.
Compress the stories, play the telephone game, translate & re-translate, realize that govts don't want normies to follow the example set by Jesus & normies don't want the responsibility of having to stand up for anything, so everyone want him to be larger than life so they can say but "who am I to do what he did" or "but who are you." Twist the story to incorporate some previously held religious beliefs that were over taken by Christianity. And I think you get roughly the mess we have today.
But when you take all the magic out of the story does it become more or less meaningful? I think it becomes more meaningful. Much like Julian Assange, or Snowden, or Ulbrict, a man tried to show people reality in defiance of authority & he was killed for it. If we place that story in the position of highest importance and remember that we don't want to be on the side that kills or persecutes innocent people, then the world is more likely to become a better place.
2024-05-19 16:18:33
by npub1qex…82qk
Ever wonder what it was like working for a Bitcoin company in the early days? Did you know users back then were part crazy, part generous?
I started working at BitInstant late 2012, which allowed people to buy Bitcoin with cash. In the fall of 2013, I joined Blockchain(dot)info (BCI). The early days at BCI is what I want to focus on here.
BCI was the biggest non-custodial web wallet & the most used block explorer. I wore many hats as the first employee, but my main job was handling the support tickets.
My first day at BCI was chaos. I logged into Zendesk and saw THOUSANDS of tickets as old as January 2013. There was one guy, Ben Reeves, doing everything since inception. Support wasn't the highest priority.
After initially feeling overwhelmed, I decided to clean things up. I closed all tickets older than a few weeks, and included a message apologizing for the lack of response. I assured people this would no longer be the norm, and to open a new ticket if their issue was ongoing.
I had free reign over my job, and became obsessed with making sure users received help in a reasonable amount of time. It started as a goal to respond within 24 hours of a new ticket, which turned into 12 hours. Within a few months, the average response time was down to 2-4 hours, only because I had to sleep at some point! 😂
I didn't realize how little I knew about Bitcoin until I had to answer tickets about the Bitcoin network itself. After all, we weren't just a web wallet, but a block explorer! I spent many late nights digging around on BitcoinTalk, trying to learn more, so I could help users with their questions. Learning about Bitcoin back then wasn't impossible, but it wasn't easy.
Many early users were shocked to receive a response to their questions. To hear back so quickly was unheard of. There were many Bitcoin projects back then, but most didn't have dedicated support staff. If you received a response, it would be from the founder or some other developer. These guys didn't have the resources to tackle support, especially in a timely manner.
I quickly learned about the generosity of bitcoiners. Many users requested a btc address from me so they could send a tip for the help provided. Even when I told them it was unnecessary, as I was a paid employee, they insisted on tipping.
Many of these users were nuts. 😂 Here's an example that didn't happen frequently, but it happened:
A user opens a ticket during the time I'm actively watching the queue. I see it come in, respond within minutes with a solution, and he insists on tipping. I'm like, "Bro it's cool, don't sweat it," but this madlad won't leave me alone until he tips me.
I look at my tip jar - 0.5 BTC, which is worth a few hundred USD at the time. WTF, ARE YOU INSANE?! 🤯
Part of this generous attitude was about saying thank you, but I believe a bigger part was about the early proliferation of Bitcoin.
We preach the HODL mentality today, but Bitcoin wouldn't be what it is without the generosity of early adopters. So many bitcoins were given out freely so people could learn about it firsthand.
I believe many of the tips I received were from people who, at one point, also received free btc. It felt wrong to HODL these tips, so I paid it forward. I purchased work related items so I could do my job better. I tipped people on Reddit. I donated towards bitcoin-backed fundraisers, including when Andreas fundraised for Dorian Nakamoto. I did everything I could to keep that spirit of giving alive.
The landscape today has changed, but that spirit of generosity lives on. The best example is zapping on Nostr, where people are tipping each other via LN for posts and comments. It's beautiful to see!
Thank you, early adopters, for your generosity. You're a big part of why Bitcoin is what it is today. 🧡
Be kind, be generous, and be a little crazy. 😄
2024-05-19 14:34:53
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by npub1h8n…rpev
Agreed. I think that’s essentially the same as claiming we won’t get adoption of #Bitcoin by extolling the principles of sound money and separating money from state. Sure mass adoption won’t happen because of that, but we won’t even have a single die hard fanatic who holds through 90% drawdowns without finding the people who care about those principles and understand the mission of fixing the money.
Same story with Nostr: We don’t need to pitch this for mass adoption yet, we need to find all the dissidents, privacy advocates, those censored from centralized platforms, and everyone who cares about the *purpose* of Nostr. Thats millions and millions of people who would put up with more limitations, bugs, or lack of numerous features because they care about what it *means,* not what it is at this particular moment. And they will stay and build everything they want it to be.
You’ll never overtake centralized incumbents with detached users who just arbitrarily like some feature of an app. But if you can start a movement, the game is very, very different.
2024-05-19 12:45:27
by npub1mzn…6mak
Three weeks ago I wrote an article on the EU's new AMLR in Bitcoin Magazine, detailing how the EU passed ALM laws restricting the use of Bitcoin privacy tools without any data to back up their claims that privacy heightens money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
Alex Stachtchenko took it a step further and ran the numbers. For every Euro confiscated, 200€ are spent. This means that the EU's AML compliance costs of 144B Euro exceeds all money ascribed to crime per year at 110B Euro – and still, 99% of criminal profits escape confiscation.
Despite their absolute inefficiency AML laws continue to be expanded, subjecting all EU citizens to total financial surveillance for the price of catching 1%. It is a system that has grown completely out of control and is in no way proportionate to the right to privacy enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It's a long read, and its in French so you'll need to translate it, but I guarantee that it will be worth every minute of your time.
BM article:
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/legal/eu-parliament-adopts-aml-laws-regulating-bitcoin-based-on-questionable-assumptions
Alex' article:
https://medium.com/@AlexStach/les-d%C3%A9rives-de-la-surveillance-financi%C3%A8re-menacent-nos-d%C3%A9mocraties-323fbdc1ccbf
https://image.nostr.build/0d7632afe0b2d12e5c537683aeea5a2eab16f94acbb1842d1303e17e030b5e22.png
https://image.nostr.build/514287cc9ae1fe3d36a5de492cae8516d80643a9e56fb3cd4d4727ca344d90d2.png
2024-05-18 23:13:28
by npub1xts…kk5s
Pairing a nostr query with a nostrscript(wasm) filter makes a lot of sense: the nostrscript can be jit-compiled and cached, and the query plan is determined from the base nostr query so that the results can start returning instantly and efficiently. I think I just came up with a new kind of database powered by nostr 🤔
Arbitrary but fast sandboxed code execution to query a database sounds really cool, and it can be really fast, fast as strfry.
What if instead of just filtering, we pass a reducer, so you could effectively do map-reduce over nostr data 🤔 this can be used for counting and grouping nostr notes in arbitrary ways, directly from a query, efficiently. Holy shit.
2024-05-18 18:58:15
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by npub180c…h6w6
You clearly don't know what you're talking about since everybody knows Mastodon has a much better UX than Nostr.
Also PGP has a better UX than Nostr, using Linux has a better UX than Nostr, running a Lightning node has a better UX than Nostr, running your own email server has better UX than Nostr, having popcorn stuck in between your teeth has a better UX than Nostr, getting punched in the face has a better UX than Nostr.
2024-05-18 18:33:40
by npub1ajv…tppj
IMO the God of the old testament represents an effort to illustrate that the laws of nature are harsh & unforgiving.
Gravity doesn't give a shit about how much you want to fly or how good your intentions are. If you do not accept that you have to work within the constraints of reality, then reality will crush you. Plagues & floods & economic catastrophes happen, or are most destructive, when people have not properly learned from those who came before them, or when people simply refuse to see the warning signs.
The lesson of Noah & others is that sometimes there are people who see things you cannot see. There are a lot of people today who have been warning of the coming monetary disaster. A disaster that is inevitable because there are people in powerful positions who insist on trying to defy the laws of economics. Unfortunately, most of the world won't listen, & when it happens many of the normies will probably blame the very people who tried to warn them.
If your idea of truth comes from human authority then you will be wrecked right along with everyone else. If your idea of truth extends from your own efforts to develop some independent understanding of reality no matter what other people think, then you are more likely to hear what others have to say, & to recognize the warning signs, so your chances are better.
#Bitcoin
2024-05-18 02:05:46
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by npub1mzn…6mak
Im not sure I understand your argument re cjs, is it that CISA makes batching in general cheaper with cjs being a byproduct, meaning that private txs would have no economic benefit over batched txs and, assuming cjs will continue to be centrally coordinated in a fee model, cj txs continue to be less economically favorable to non-cj txs even with CISA?
If I understand this correctly I agree that CISA doesn't technically address your OP. Practically I think I disagree if we assume that the tx gets cheaper the bigger it gets with full aggregation – reaching sizes of 400+ inputs will likely mostly be unachievable for single signers, so i think cjs practically would have an economic benefit over non-private txs excluding fees (at least until there is non-private CISA collaboration).
Do you have any proposals in mind that would explicitly make privacy cheaper than non-privacy?
2024-05-17 20:12:48
by npub1xts…kk5s
the most eye opening think I’ve ever experienced design-wise was adding a new note pop-up feature that always popped up at the top of your timeline when you were scrolling, that showed when new notes have arrived.
It did this on every new note in realtime. It would keep popping up over and over, this was so stressful and jarring that it made me realize I have a huge amount of power to cause stress just from small design decisions.
This made me think: there is a large landscape of possible design decisions that can greatly increase or decrease user stress.
One example in damus is that I just show a dot on the home button, but I don’t show the number of new notes. Some people will consider this less helpful, but it’s damus’ way of saying: just chill, there are new notes, don’t worry about how many.
Saving the scroll position is another subtle design choice: it enables a way for people to scroll up to see every note they missed since last session. Is this necessarily a good thing? To me this is stressful, it’s like obsessively making sure I don’t miss any note.
We will still likely add this feature, at least to notedeck/android, but it does have some stress-level difference in the way the app is used.
Something to think about. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.
2024-05-17 17:58:42
by npub1jt0…6q3n
I am so blessed to have found the best group of wonderful girlfriends here in Hawaii. Interestingly, all but one are divorced so dating is a common topic of discussion. My 2 cents is always this:
Don’t focus solely on what the man brings to the relationship. Look at what you bring. Be as concerned about your significant other’s happiness and well being as much if not more than your own. That is something you can control and if you are with the right person, they will feel the same way which results in a loving, deeply fulfilling relationship.
*All this being said, despite the fact that these women are all gorgeous and financially secure, dating in your 40s still sucks and that is especially true on the islands. https://image.nostr.build/c5c013dda6e8a2171e95f8c5dac24b1da1cae6e494576ddcba64d9cbecf07204.jpg
2024-05-17 17:44:44
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by npub1mzn…6mak
I fundamentally disagree with this for several reasons.
First, re counterparty risk, this is what reputation scores are for, and in my experience they work fairly well. Second, I think we are speaking from extremely different perspectives here. When I dont have a means of payment (say bc my bank blocked my account), I really dont care weather I'll pay a premium on my tx because my plan is not do engange in degen trading but to have money to live. Comparing a P2P marketplace necessary for people to transact in private (or even at all) to broker interfaces is not the right approach here imoo.
The point is also not that people are 'lazy users' – of course its nice for stuff to work at the click of a button, but the point is that people can easily be overwhelmed when facing complex systems, keeping them from using them at all – not because they are lazy, but because they dont understand them, which then also speaks to the liquidity issue.
Lastly, and again speaking to perspective, Im not talking about people doing six figure trades here. Im talking about people who earn their income in bitcoin or have no other means of payment and need to pay their bills, who will be facing complete financial exclusion unless they are willing to submit themselves to full surveillance tyranny.