[Arm-netbook] Urgent statement on Cryptocurrency ethics

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

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crowd-funded eco-conscious hardware: https://www.crowdsupply.com/eoma68


On Thu, Mar 22, 2018 at 10:29 AM, Philip Hands <phil at hands.com> wrote:

>>  so let's think about that case for a minute... PGP/GPG were designed
>> for encrypting / signing static data.  if that was all that was
>> involved, crypto-currencies would have been replaced by people using
>> PGP/GPG to sign static text files containing "money" or the digital
>> representation of the same.
>
> You miss my point completely.

 mmm ... more that i've not made mine clear (apoligies)

> What I was saying was that we have the existing experiment of a
> decentralised system, capable of providing a significant benefit to the
> public, if only they were willing to take some responsibility.

 yes, i agree, and understand your point completely.  however look at
the steps that are required, that the users are required to take, to
achieve the same result.  it's too much for the average person to cope
with, isn't it?  20+ years shows that it's too much...

 ... yet put pretty much the exact same crypto-primitives from OpenSSL
into a crypto-currency wallet, and suddenly they're interested...
because it's *convenient and easy*.


> We ran the experiment for decades, and the point at which it partially
> succeeded was when the likes of whatsap provided people with a way of
> avoiding responsibilty.

 there's another one... what's it called... telegram?  that has become
extremely popular amongst libertarians because of the convenience.

l.