23 April, 2017
There is a huge argument going in the Bitcoin world right now, including some (apparently) very devious dealings.
If you’re interested at all, please listen to this magnificent podcast.
Afterward, you can see this important article on the seemingly devious dealings… combined with invoking the violent arm of the state.
For What It’s Worth…
For whatever they’re worth, my thoughts on this subject are:
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The more angrily people fight about this, the less we should listen to them. Bitcoin needs to grow up, and not degenerate into politics… because politics is pollution.
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The only purpose worth pursuing is a scaling, thriving Bitcoin. Those of us who lose some relative advantage will simply have to suck it up and adapt. What’s the point of all this, anyway? Is this about status and dominance? About winning? Getting the most money? Anyone looking for those things should go into government or central banking, and leave Bitcoin alone.
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SegWit seems a good step to me. Imperfect, of course, but manageable. We can do better in the future.
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Disabling ASICBOOST is the right thing to do until the patent is withdrawn. Inserting state force into the Bitcoin universe was perverse, and massively contrary to Satoshi’s model of conduct.
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If the 95% approval number is too high, then we’ll have to bring it down to perhaps 70 or 75 percent. If some people want to scream and pout about it, let them.
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I’d like blocks sizes to get smaller rather than larger (centralization is Bitcoin’s Kryptonite), but I’m not aware of any practical way to do that. So, disabling ASICBOOST and putting in SegWit is a way to move forward with minimal damage. Again, we can do better next time.
I’ve said this before and no doubt will again: The true value of Bitcoin is that it opens space for the future to take shape. (Guv-space is utterly hostile to any serious innovation.) We can either grow up and enter the future, or we can fight like greedy children and deserve to fail.
And if the Bitcoin crowd can’t act like adults, the alt coins will adapt to prevent Bitcoin’s failures. And then we can move along to something better.
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Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com