Yanis Varoufakis is now writing and warning us about digital feudalism, seemingly based on his learnings at his Valve tenure.
Valve, as a digital feudalist, generates funds, practically for free, from both transactions of items and the lootboxes. It operates the markets on which digital goods are traded, taxes all sales occurring on these platforms.
Just print more money, it's a matter of national security. If the US is in a distrustful state, it's a good investment for the government, military or non-military (e.g. global trade getting more expensive for various reasons).
Except it isn’t money at all; only suckers call it ‘money’.
It’s considered a security; a representation of value for sure. Move it around all you want until you’re blue in the face.
But money still has to come out of an exchange and through some sort of bank. So it’s all a shell game that’s decidedly not anonymous or protected at all.
That’s why so many have concluded that crypto is a scam; we might as well be smuggling Egyptian grave goods.
What organizes labor are the specifics. This is what math doesn't get, math isn't timeless, it's trapped in exact moments where it appears real. The arbitrary is simply a conduit metaphor, not only not real, but entirely illusory, prone to primate biases and exploitation. And all metaphors eventually fail, that's a bio-ecological certainty. Show me a currency from 700AD still traded on arbitrary markets. There are no limitless molecules or homeostatic climate. The system is already bust in numerous indexes, we're just riding the arbitrary fan out.
Also "banking the unbanked": giving financial infrastructure to anyone with internet access, even if local banking infrastructure doesn't exist or isn't accessible.
Which is great when applied to rural areas of underdeveloped countries. But realistically it's more about financial infrastructure for criminals, outcasts, scammers and rich people in counties with strict financial controls
Stablecoins are interesting, but they're closer to company scrip than to decentralised currency. Anyway, stablecoins are apparently becoming important financial infrastructure, so that's something.
Bitcoin is completely useless as a currency since its value does not decline with time, thereby making it an investment vehicle instead of a currency. An asset can't be good at being both a medium of exchange and an investment. Only criminals use bitcoin as currency, and they do it because the alternative for them is moving cash around in suitcases.
Well, stuff that's popular is plastered everywhere. Think about artworks we see in movies, TV shows, billboards, album covers, book covers, basically everywhere around us.
I would argue that most art around us is current pop art or classical/realist/romantic art, not modern/postmodern/abstract expressionist art.
I think the idea is that if you have a nice bubbly froth and some proteins/RNA type thing end up inside and help reinforce the bubble wall through electrostatic forces you get a symbiotic relationship. The soup inside reinforces the bubbles around it.
And everything that we hold dear happens after that.
I don't object to this explanation of the world, but I reckon it's an uphill battle convincing people that all of the living natural world, and all of human history, their culture, their religions and their science and all the beliefs in-between had their origin in some electrostatic forces. I'm of the opinion that even well-informed people of science haven't had time to fully adjust their world-view during the handful of decades we have known this much.
Dunno about everyone else, but if that is the origin of everything that lives on this planet, I'd find relief. One less question in an ever increasing sea of questions is better than just an ever increasing sea of questions.
The source code of life is recorded and transmitted using physical matter.
Physics very much matters to matter.
For development of any information storage systems made of molecules, there must be a supportive development environment.
To even start the process of doing anything like what we see happening in a cell, homeostasis must be achieved first, and not inelegantly, its not good enough to have a complete cell wall if it has no ports for entry and exit of nutrients and waste product, thats also known as a coffin.
Both the walls and the gates and the information / physical systems to reliably exploit those features must be present at the same time to enable abiogenesis.
Not necessarily. The primitive cell wall could have used other mechanisms. For example simple protrusion of the membrane does not have to resulr in catastrophic collapse, if done slowly enough membrane allows substances to enter and exit and still remain intact by closing up quickly after wall is broken
If you play around with soap bubbles carefully you can observe phenomena like this.
Congratulations. Now go and read the literature and learn how this might've occurred. You're not the first person to raise these objections. Biologists aren't morons.
I see where you're coming from, but I think you're thinking across too far over the boundary. Quantum mechanics aren't ordinarily affected by non-sentient life, they're just primitive to the environment at the macro level.
Quantum mechanics is a well defined theory and sentience, however you define it, has nothing to do with it. Your reasoning is akin to saying "gravity affects everything so you can't rule out it has some connection to sentience". It's a meaningless statement.
Correct. My apologies that my comment was unclear such that from my comment's content one could not distinguish particle accelerators built by sentient life and woo-woo New Age claims of "The Secret" or manifesting.
Part of what makes RNA world so compelling is the RNA is both code and hardware. Yes, central dogma is not the end all be all. RNA structures can be catalytic just like enzymes.
I feel like (or thought that) I had the ability to listen and read at the same time, until I heard that line, and it hit me like a bag of bricks. I absolutely cannot read and listen simultaneously! I can type and listen on the other hand, although it feels like I buffer the keystrokes than consciously typing out new sentences...
Hyundai is a massive conglomerate doing a ton of different things. Having a side bet on hydrogen isn't bad, especially considering it's potential potential in applications such as aviation.
It was also the Korean automaker’s best July sales month since launching its first vehicle in 1986.
The growth was mainly driven by electrified vehicles, including EVs and hybrids (HEVs).
I don't think you have to waste your money or time on a cruise.
Just being on a boat does it, in fact a blow-up boat for three people (for a good friend and cooler bag with snacks and drinks) will completely detach you from the realities of land life.
Valve, as a digital feudalist, generates funds, practically for free, from both transactions of items and the lootboxes. It operates the markets on which digital goods are traded, taxes all sales occurring on these platforms.