Pluralistic: 16 Mar 2022


Today's links

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 16 Mar 2022"

Pluralistic: 15 Mar 2022


Today's links

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 15 Mar 2022"

Pluralistic: 14 Mar 2022


Today's links

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 14 Mar 2022"

The Byzantine Premium

On the contradiction at the heart of Bitcoin advocacy

A pumpkin pie with a slice missing. The pie has been overlaid with a pie-chart, in which the pieces are labelled with an icon of a confused businessman, a dollar sign, a circle with the word “NEW!” in the middle, and a “lotto” logo. The tin beneath the missing slice reveals a section of a glittering Bitcoin.
Jakub-gdPL and Famartin/CC BA-SA 4.0; Delwar Hossain, BD/CC BY 4.0; Jernej Furman/CC BY 2.0 — (modified)

When you write critically about blockchain, Bitcoin, speculation, NFTs and DeFi, you get an earful back. Advocates for these things are…well, aggressive is a polite term for how many believers respond to critiques of their financial/philosophical/political/technological project.

Continue reading "The Byzantine Premium"

Pluralistic: 12 Mar 2022


Today's links

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 12 Mar 2022"

Pluralistic: 11 Mar 2022


Today's links

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 11 Mar 2022"

Pluralistic: 09 Mar 2022


Today's links

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 09 Mar 2022"

Pluralistic: 08 Mar 2022


Today's links

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 08 Mar 2022"

Pluralistic: 07 Mar 2022


A tachometer wheel showing the relative speeds of DSL, cable, satellite, and fiber, demonstrating the vast advantages of fiber.

Today's links

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 07 Mar 2022"

What is “Peak Indifference?”

A Theory and a Plan for Change.

A silhouette of a shrugging man in front of a wildfire.
( Cameron Strandberg/CC BY 2.0, modified)

Back in 2016, I coined the term “peak indifference” to describe a political phenomenon, when people who have denied an urgent problem begin to self-radicalize, not because of activists or public education, but because the problem has caught up with them, personally.

As I’ve written here, a neat microcosm of peak indifference is smoking: even if you convince yourself that tobacco isn’t that bad for you, if you keep smoking long enough, you will likely come to understand that it is very bad for you, because Stage 4 lung-cancer is convincing in a way that even the most persuasive talk with your family doctor can never be.

Continue reading "What is “Peak Indifference?”"