Margot Paez / jyn urso

I read today that only 8% of people in El Salvador occasionally use bitcoin for the exchange of goods and services.

Kind of sounds like top-down bitcoin adoption is a fool's errand. Just a thought for some of you thirsty statists.

🚨✨CONCUSSION RECOVERY UPDATE:

I'm now in week four of recovery. Overall, a lot better. Working memory is slowly getting better, but it's kind of like a foggy feeling of having to retrain myself to remember things. The best way I can describe it is like this, "What did I eat for breakfast? I don't know, that's too hard to remember. Wait, maybe I know... Let me try. OK, it was yogurt with fruit and nuts."

I'm doing cardio still. It was helping and also leaving me feeling fatigued, so I have only been able to do 3 times a week. My normal is exercising 4–5 times a week. Going to try to hit 4 days this week.

Over the last several days, I have transitioned onto a keto diet. There's enough studies out there that show that the ketogenic diet is really useful for recovering from a TBI/concussion. So far, carb cravings are the hardest thing about this diet. 🤣 But that seems to be leveling off. Excuse to eat more fat? Yes, please.

I still need a lot of sleep. I have a lot of 10.5 hour nights, which isn't common for me. I tend to average 7.5 hours per night. Last night I got ~9.5 hours. I often wake up feeling sad. I think this is partly due to circumstance (sudden life change, routine disruption, can't engage in my favorite activities) and partly due to my neurons being stretched and injured. I'm grateful for my friends, they have gone above and beyond in terms of trying to keep me happy.

Today is my first day back to work. I consider it a positive sign that I have so far spent the morning trying to organize my browser tabs. Messy browser tabs is very bad!

Hopefully soon, I can get back to posting savage takedowns and controversial insights about bitcoin. Until then, thanks for your support!! 🧡

🔥 Help Us Reach the $15K Goal for Fire Relief! 🔥 My cousin's family lost everything in the devastating SoCal Eaton fire. We're so close to our $15,000 goal—currently at $11,766!

💛 Every donation counts. ☀️ Donate here: GodFundMe: https://gofund.me/fc4d708b Bitcoin: https://btcpay.foragoodcause.xyz/apps/3DFcpQhfnkVGgnKWSEzGa2E9WzRi/crowdfund

📢 Please share and spread the word. Let's hit $15K together!

⚡ Open a BTCPay channel: 039888440655674fe6c4f57fcf66fd9165bd25b6225826c42781bdd4b61030f9f4

Bitcoin doesn’t belong to any one person. But there are plenty who will try to take ownership of it. Why would you try to make it easier for them? Some narratives sound good on face value, but they are empty and designed to trick you into relinquishing your ability to decide the future of bitcoin.

In this techno-dystopian landscape, we must all become cypherpunks. Both online and in the physical. I do not believe that knowing how to code is necessary, nor sufficient to see the mission to completion. We need a philosophy to guide us.

The narratives lately have been lacking a cohesive philosophical line. So many drunk on short-term power trips and NGU gains. But these are short-term and will not win in the long run.

I will fight for the bitcoin that empowers the many over the few. Privacy for the weak. Freedom to transact for the vulnerable. A way out for those who want it, but for a more free, sustainable, and egalitarian future, not oligarchic enslavement.

I am not the only one.

Good morning.

Happy Holidays!

This is my best podcast interview yet.

https://primal.net/e/note14gquw2m3w3crz3y3qt2qn88x4fw69eux2q5a32l5848c3y5ssqjq3j5yhr

Still sick.

So…I have the flu.

Did we make history? https://image.nostr.build/b80c14391a8e329ec58cb0c6f355e58ec5a7cb7d69bb43e1a42b37b76e387bcd.jpg

Is this really happening? My hat was a joke for the last couple of years and now it’s almost not… https://image.nostr.build/60d5c2bf97753e275e01cda26beea80e4ee59ecaab87d1d6988677287685d32d.jpg

Well, now that Trump has won, I guess I can wear this shirt. Free Ross. https://image.nostr.build/04b09437ce4119c655ab1312488b419679fc2d0b11fdf35b3b3ae5dcfc3f5850.jpg

I'm old enough to remember when bitcoiners were about separation of money and state, not for the consolidation of bitcoin and state.

Here’s my I have only had 5 hours of sleep take on Donald Trump’s win.

This election was about class. Once upon a time, class and identity were separated as the neoliberal era took hold. Democrats capitalized on identity and it worked for a while. But as our guest on @TPBPod, Alan Minsky, noted… Neoliberalism is dead. We have to realize that these new alliances that are forming under Trump are not only odd bedfellows, but because they are, they signify a new cultural and political power shift.

I have been watching this happen since Bernie ran in the 2016 primary. The coalition is building beyond race among the working class. A unity that the left could only dream of. Yet, this is not an empowerment of the working class in the way that we’d envision. I don’t believe that this will end in a worker revolution where the proletariat owns the means of production.

I don’t because this is a coalition of the working class with a different faction. This isn’t the traditional corporate-state-capitalist alliance that has coalesced in the Democratic party. This is an alliance of those who feel powerless, with those who want absolute power.

I am not sure where we are headed, but if Lawrence Wilkerson is right, this is dark.

The liberals will have yet again made it possible for the worst outcomes to happen. The left progressives (a wide umbrella that covers a coalition of socialists and center-left), unable to unite to stop the Democrats, are at their most powerless.

I really ask Democratic supporters, to wake up. We are a country that has been living three different experiences simultaneously. And just now, two roads have merged into one.

I have traveled so much around the US and the world this year. I truly believe that in the US, we have two countries in one. There’s two cultures thar have developed as a result of rural isolation and gross economic inequality. For those who have, identity issues are the only remaining issues. For those who do not, identity is the least important. It makes sense. Then we have the ultra rich, who saw an opportunity to exploit this. This where the danger now exists.

I wish I could tell you what happens next. But, what I do know is that the probabilities of socio-economic and political disasters are much higher now than ever before.

The left must find a way to bring the workers back. But I am afraid that the left has become mainly the highly educated who do not understand the worker’s plight.

And what of bitcoin? Bitcoin works no matter what but also because of what happens next. It is both a deterrent and an accelerant. We have skin in the game.

Cosplaying as political news analyst. Literally living a childhood dream right now. @BitcoinMagazine https://image.nostr.build/44dcfdf48a2ce0b90158d7bf76c57def59c0fa53f0bc49ee5a65a4e926fe0211.jpg

Yay love live journalism.

Hey! We did it. We put out our first episode and the podcast lives on!

I’ll be part of Bitcoin Magazine’s election coverage tomorrow! Live stream begins at 3pm ET.

“Impaired social interaction is bidirectional,” Dumas said. “But we never say that a neurotypical person has a deficit in social cognition when they have a hard time understanding a person with autism. When an interaction is more difficult, the responsibility lies with everyone involved.”

https://scitechdaily.com/autism-isnt-an-individual-disorder-new-study-uncovers-unique-brain-sync-patterns/

Yes, this is me. Baby me, but still me all the same. I'm serious about the work I do, whether it's journalism, climate change, or bitcoin FUD. I bring that energy to everything I do. I hope I still have what it takes! Our full promo is out everywhere podcasts are found! New episode coming soon.

OK, we're back! Here's a teaser.

Lol. https://image.nostr.build/dfb953dc44bc3d084db9592f8394ec16516468bf828b2413bff6b5ab2903b54e.jpg

"A lot of what we think of as culture are actually social revolutions that won. So it shows that revolutions happen all the time." - David Graeber.

The world exists of a series of crises of injustice perpetrated by all of us against all of us. We willfully allow those who hold the reins of power to dictate to us what is acceptable to say or do. We willingly let others take our ability to choose away from us. We are cowards until we are not. Those who make history are the few who could take back their agency, even if for just a moment. Why couldn’t that be you?

We are so lucky to have David Byrne in this world.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy is an excellent album.

Still blows my mind that the worst bitcoin mining FUD is from commentaries--scientific journal articles that are advocating for a certain POV--and not novel research. Mora et al., with figures removed, is probably only a page long.

Climate change is really happening. These hurricanes are not man-made, beyond the reality that climate change is man-made. There's no weather seeding going on.

I read an article today about how booming the US natural gas industry is right now. I'm really curious when we might start openly talking about how we were never ever going to get rid of fossil fuels with the addition of wind and solar without batteries capable of fully replacing natural gas plants.

I need Andrew Dessler (who is not on Nostr) to talk me down from this very pessimistic ledge.

I am worried for the family of the person HBO is about to claim is Satoshi. What do we gain through these witch hunts? Nothing. Bitcoin is beyond anything Satoshi could have imagined. It doesn’t belong to h them anymore. In many ways, Satoshi is irrelevant. That’s a good thing.

I think I am finally old enough to really appreciate Bob Dylan’s music.

"According to data from TheMinerMag, Foundry USA Pool and MARA Pool mined 18% of all bitcoin blocks in January 2022. As of August 2024, that figure has risen to 33.6%, and that doesn’t include U.S.-based hashrate connected to Chinese pools."

https://theminermag.com/news/2024-09-26/china-bitcoin-mining-dominance/

Good morning. I'm still the new interim host of @`The Progressive Bitcoiner'.

You're probably an anarchist if you support this.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/06/hurricane-helene-mutual-aid

Direct action isn’t petitioning the government authorities to do better or fix things that are broken. Direct action is saying, “screw it, we’ll do it ourselves” or, “we can stop this without them”.

The first step toward freedom is acting like you are already free.

This is also known as anarchism, btw.

K bai.

How can you not love David Graeber’s ideas on anarchism, anthropology, and the exploration of human possibilities?

Two bitcoin conferences in the span of a week. Life forever changed. Left last Thursday for MN for the Mining Conference where I had the honor to introduce Daniel Batten’s recorded keynote, proved to everyone I am a sadist for loving how brutal mining is, and talked about the importance of supporting our work at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and my research on bitcoin mining! Then, back in Nashville, TN for an incredible Human Rights Foundation bitcoin summit. Met the most incredible humans from around the world. And somewhere in between, I became the next host of

!

Just another week…

As new host of

, I think we should do a bitcoiner version of, “here it is, your moment of zen” that provides a little savage levity… I dunno, thinking Saifedean’s show probably has a lot of material to pull from.

Good morning, everyone. I take no prisoners.

As new host of

, I'm going to need some help! I'm looking for a volunteer who can manage our social media accounts. If that's you, please send me a DM!

I can confirm this is true. I'll be on as interim host until a permanent host can be found. Going forward, we'll be putting out an episode a month.

Losing the only prominent left bitcoin podcast at this unique moment is just not fathomable. Thank you again, Trey, for doing your part, I'll do my best to live up to your work!

We got to hear directly from Julian Assange today for the first time in years. This happened not because the system works, but because he plead guilty to journalism.

https://x.com/wikileaks/status/1841006889682780288?s=46&t=Y5zXLZzOj5Dh0FMJlu4BFA

Talking bitcoin mining at The Mining Conference in Baxter, MN. https://image.nostr.build/de06673dbc23d0bdd283c6c2437bb67c5d26026795e26cc07b3997edb9d99844.jpg

It kind of makes you think…

Insane story unfolding with what happened to Swan’s bitcoin mining operation.

https://blockspace.media/insight/swan-bitcoin-sues-former-employees-over-alleged-theft-of-bitcoin-mining-business/

https://x.com/chrislynnhedges/status/1837248786818863355?s=46&t=Y5zXLZzOj5Dh0FMJlu4BFA

Replacement noise canceling headphones arrived, so relieved.

Uh, oh. Cramer thinks more data centers is a bad thing. Time to go all in on data centers.

"Jim Cramer expressed his frustration over Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL)'s plans to potentially add another 1,000 to 2,000 data centers on top of its existing 162. He raised concerns about the environmental impact of such expansion, noting that data centers currently consume about 4% of the world's energy.

'What drives me crazy is that Oracle has 162 data centers and is considering adding another 1,000 or 2,000. What does that do to the planet? If you think about it, data centers use about 4% of all energy today, and if that doubles to 8%, we need to control the 30% that's wasted.'"

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jim-cramer-expressed-frustration-over-084807924.html

Recorded my final

interview with

earlier today. Bittersweet to say the least but I finished the conversation feeling hopeful about the future of our left movement within bitcoin and I think Trey likely brought new people into the space who will pick up the torch that he carried after Mark stepped down.

The struggle continues!

So, not a surprise to some, but Microsoft (and other large tech companies like it) are also/also becoming energy companies.

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/09/re-opened-three-mile-island-will-power-ai-data-centers-under-new-deal/

Pretty sure that doing a PhD adversely affected my mental health. But...it was really a result of the inherent power imbalance between PhD advisor and advisee. There are ways to limit that without limiting the freedom of the advisor, but departments seem unwilling to build on more sustainable models.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanwai/2024/09/19/can-pursuing-a-phd-impact-mental-health/

I admit I am a degrowther but I am starting to think that what I consider degrowth is maybe not what many other degrowthers see it to mean. There is a lot of ignorance around energy and technology the is pervasive in aspects of the degrowth/climate movement that is also mixed with doomer vibes.

1. As Baidrillard pointed out, we cannot escape capitalism as thus we cannot escape the technological advances that we have created as a result. But what we can do, imo, is find the communist, find the anarchist, elements that exist simultaneously in contradiction and build on these aspects to find a way out. The whole concept of the falling rate of profit (which Kliman argues is temporal and thus why many misunderstand it including Marxists) is one that can be also interpreted through creative destruction. When taken to its limit, we can see where a post-work, degrowth world could actually arise.

I say this with respect, but it angers me to see rejection rather than embrace of the full spectrum of possibilities as the only way forward for so many of my colleagues in the climate movement.

Lastly, Israel proved you can’t escape through low-fi tech to avoid surveillance and attacks. So QED.

https://x.com/aashisjo/status/1836411875137065027

This is devastating and also a reminder that we need decentralized platforms, there is no other way forward.

My noise canceling headphones broke yesterday. Crazy glue arrives today, pray to the plastic gods that this is repairable. I have really been struggling without them. https://image.nostr.build/53cd8362c8dc8d1af3863728c0415dd860f267bc913fb94b5b9a919742504e88.jpg

Happy for Trey, but this is sad news for me. I still think we need more content that takes a different perspective on bitcoin and which also challenges existing mythologies around bitcoin that exist within and outside of the bitcoin community. Honored to be the last episode, let’s make this a memorable one, Trey.

You look like a perfect fit For a girl in need of a tourniquet But can you save me?

Come on and save me If you could save me From the ranks of the freaks Who suspect they could never love anyone

'Cause I can tell you know what it's like A long farewell of the hunger strike But can you save me?

Come on and save me If you could save me From the ranks of the freaks Who suspect they could never love anyone.

You struck me dumb, like radium Like Peter Pan, or Superman You have come to save me

Come on and save me If you could save me From the ranks of the freaks Who suspect they could never love anyone Except the freaks Who suspect they could never love anyone But the freaks Who suspect they could never love anyone

Come on and save me Why don't you save me? If you could save me From the ranks of the freaks Who suspect they could never love anyone Except the freaks Who suspect they could never love anyone Except the freaks Who could never love anyone

Today I learned about zombie servers in data centers.

"Inactive servers (also referred to as comatose or 'zombie' servers), represent obsolete or unused servers that consume electricity but provide no useful information services. Previous studies have estimated that inactive servers represent 10%–30% of servers in US data centers [28–31]." (Shehabi et al., 2018)

I can't imagine that these exist in a bitcoin mining facility. Zombie bitcoin miners sucking up electricity but not generating bitcoin?? The crazy thing is the 10-30% figure for non-crypto data centers. That's a lot of waste.

"Instead, she’ll pursue her campaign against Riot from afar—and widen her scope. She has joined the National Coalition Against Cryptomining, a protest group that backs a nationwide ban on crypto mining. “When we leave things up to each state, it’s like playing whack-a-mole,” says Sawicky. 'We need a big federal law.'"

Wow, I did not know there was a national coalition against bitcoin mining...

https://www.wired.com/story/the-worlds-biggest-bitcoin-mine-is-rattling-this-texas-oil-town/

I'm autistic, and I've experienced a lot of unnecessary hardship in my life because I didn't know I was on the spectrum, but even after knowing, I wasn't taught what to do to better understand how my brain works so that I could navigate the world. Through autistic-centered therapy, I've learned a lot over the past several years, and I have many thoughts...

I've been thinking a lot about the importance of early intervention in autism. Temple Grandin and others emphasize how important this is. But what does that even mean? I think it does not mean teaching autistics to be like neuroypticals. The problem for me and others on the spectrum is that we've been taught to understand the world as if we had a built-in intuitive system. A heuristics way of managing sensory input, one might say. But the problem is that autistic people don't have such well-developed systems, but we do have strong analytical systems.

My theory is that every disabling aspect of autism is because of information overload and trauma. We get more information in every domain compared to neurotypicals. So we can't make intuitive guesses with limited data, we actually have too much data, so we need to take a more cognitive and analytical approach. Yet, through cognitive approaches, we can actually make better decisions/observations/connections than neurotypicals.

So I think any kind of intervention should reflect this. Whether it is in childhood or adulthood. It should be focused on interpreting, navigating, and managing sensory inputs. For those on the spectrum, this means it will be cognitive processing the vast majority of the time. Teaching autistic people to sense their bodies and learn how to cognitively interpret them will go a long way.

Interventions for helping those who are non-speaking who have trouble controlling their body--to me--should focus on increasing the signal-to-noise ratio in motor systems. But also teaching them how to communicate through letter boards and typing as early as possible is essential to avoid trauma and worsening sensory overload. There's cutting edge research showing a direct connection between emotion and sensory overload in the brain.

Finally, we need acceptance. Autistic people experience so much abuse through their lives, one study reported 9 in 10 autistic women experienced some form of sexual abuse. They concluded the targeted abuse of those on the spectrum had no relation to perceived diagnostic "deficits" but rather, autistic people are singled-out because we are different. Nothing more, nothing less. Teach your kids to accept those who are different. Autistic people have higher rates of suicide. Therapy for those on the spectrum is mostly about undoing all the harm neurotypicals did to us. Most autistic people are traumatized, but it doesn't have to be that way.

Autism is a neurotype and a spectrum. It can be both abling and disabling, depending on how severe the information overload is. But I think if we reframe how we look at it, and we address the foundational challenges, we can make it so that no aspect of autism is disabling.

Don't try to cure us. A different way of interpreting the world can only benefit society, not harm it.

The Democrats rebrand is to take a Neocon imperialist ideology and package it within a hip, younger, and culturally diverse wrapper. They aren’t stupid. This isn’t a real win for struggles against oppression. This is just system capture. When your own identity becomes reified and sold back to you, it looks like you but something is missing. Sense it. Act on it.

Bitcoin for me right now is about finishing my PhD on bitcoin mining. It’s a lot of work but I am as close as I have ever been to being able to defend my thesis. I have a lot of educating to do among the academic community about why any of this even matters. It’s not an easy task. But we have a good story to tell, so I am fully committed and putting all my energy into this.

I wish the Twitter/X algorithm wouldn't only pick up on my most "controversial" posts. But it seems like most people only want to engage with posts that push their primal, primate emotional buttons.

When a Nobel Prize winner gets 13 retractions on their peer reviewed publications...Ugh. Grateful that there are other scientists fact checking, but still, this is such a problem. The incentives are misaligned.

https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/13/nobel-prize-winner-tallies-two-more-retractions-bringing-total-to-13/