Linux Inventor Says He Doesn’t Believe in Crypto : technology

[+] [email protected] -78 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Meh, I'm still making a shit load off of cryptocurrency I've held for a while, idgaf

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[+] [email protected] -41 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I fucking guarantee that Linus Torvalds DOES believe in cryptography. Stop calling cryptocurrency "crypto", because "crypto" is short for cryptography, not cryptocurrency.

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[+] [email protected] -97 points 11 months ago (12 children)

Well, I guess big name figures have a right to be wrong. Surprising since he is the creator of such a foundational piece of open source software that he would not like another piece of open source software just seems a bit hypocritical in my opinion

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[+] [email protected] -54 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yep, this is news worthly

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

Based

[+] [email protected] -43 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Why does the headline say "Crypto" but then snippet says "cryptocurrencies"? Do people not realize these are not the same thing? The inventor of Linux does believe in crypto, that's why it's in Linux!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (10 children)

"Crypto" has become a widely used abbreviation for "cryptocurrency," even though "crypto" itself refers to the general field of cryptography and its encryption techniques. This informal usage reflects how cryptocurrencies have become the most recognizable application of cryptography for most people.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago

It's the most annoying thing of these enthusiasts: they glorify cryptocurrencies and blockchain while glossing over the massively important and actually useful cryptography discipline in the background.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 11 months ago (3 children)

They don't. Just like "AI" has been co-opoted to mean "algorithm".

Large groups of humans turn everything they touch into shit.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

I'm old enough to remember when algorithm was co-opted to be a fancy word replacement for "computer programming" or "software".

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[–] [email protected] 475 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (19 children)

It’s interesting to see Torvalds emerge as a kind of based tech hero. I’m thinking here also of his rant not long ago on social.kernel.org (a kernel devs microblog instance) that was essentially a pretty good anti-anti-leftism tirade in true Torvalds fashion.

EDIT:

Torvalds's anti-anti-left post (I was curious to read it again):

I think you might want to make sure you don’t follow me.

Because your “woke communist propaganda” comment makes me think you’re a moron of the first order.

I strongly suspect I am one of those “woke communists” you worry about. But you probably couldn’t actually explain what either of those words actually mean, could you?

I’m a card-carrying atheist, I think a woman’s right to choose is very important, I think that “well regulated militia” means that guns should be carefully licensed and not just randomly given to any moron with a pulse, and I couldn’t care less if you decided to dress up in the “wrong” clothes or decided you’d rather live your life without feeling tied to whatever plumbing you were born with.

And dammit, if that all makes me “woke”, then I think anybody who uses that word as a pejorative is a f*cking disgrace to the human race. So please just unfollow me right now.

[–] [email protected] 232 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (25 children)

It’s interesting to see Torvalds emerge as a kind of based tech hero.

It's just that almost everyone else that could do it ended up being fucking ghouls of people.

Torvalds can be... brusque, sure. But he doesn't support child labor, he doesn't cheat on his wife, and he isn't some crazy cult leader waging a war against workers' rights.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (16 children)

he doesn’t cheat on his wife

he doesn't cheat on his wife so far.

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[–] [email protected] 170 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The modern tech industry needs the old Linus to pay it a visit. Too many grifts

[–] [email protected] 85 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (22 children)

I for one would love for Linus, probably Woz, and a third party yet to be decided(this would be Aaron Schwartz in a better world) to be given free reign to gut the whole industry and rebuild it into something isn’t wholly based on ad revenue and grift

Edit: a bunch of good suggestions of people I need to read about for position three. If anyone can think of a digital equivalent to Marshall McLuhan I think we desperately needs input of that sort

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Bill Joy.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

Old Linus with Woz and Schwartz is a dream.

I understand why Linus wanted to clean up his act with people he works with. That is a good and admirable thing to do. I wish he would have kept his smoke for companies though.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

John Gilmore is around

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[–] [email protected] 182 points 11 months ago

Smart man!

[+] [email protected] -140 points 11 months ago (16 children)

Right, his talk about how he's not very good at computers is pretty funny. I don't understand the crypto hate on Lemmy. Although I guess I don't understand a lot of why things are hated here. I guess crypto is too close to capitalism maybe? Freedom is frowned upon here.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

the idea of crypto on its not bad on its own, its just there are a lot of bad actors agressively trying to prop up the value of some arbitrary crypto without actually selling a good or service in order to make a quick buck.

at least teams like the one behind Axie Infinity offered a product/service. Most don't, which is the problem.

if your marketing essentially has to relate to other people buying into buying it, then theres a big problem.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago

Which is primarily the reason that I will only use Monero. It actually offers something that other cryptocurrencies do not. And that's privacy. If you need to see which crypto to buy or use, look at the government's efforts. The government has Wall Street accepting Bitcoin and put in people's retirement accounts. Why? Because they can control it. Where with Monero, they're trying to purposely get it delisted from every single exchange they can possibly get away with. Why would they be so willing for you to have Bitcoin? But not willing at all for you to have Monero? Simple. Because with Bitcoin, they can see everything you spend at all times and see your balance at all times. Where with Monero, they can't control it and they know it. Monero is what Bitcoin people thought they bought.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 11 months ago (3 children)

If crypto had pivoted to freedom and prioritized mass-adoption, it would have been great. Instead, almost everyone who invested got more people to buy in, dumped it, and got their payday. So yes, very much like capitalism.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I would like to introduce you to my friend Monero. It actually gets used as a currency and has people who believe in human freedom using it, which is why the government's hate it so much and purposely try to get it delisted from as many exchanges as they possibly can because they do not want normals like us to have it.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Really, the only crypto that comes anywhere near :

If crypto had pivoted to freedom and prioritized mass-adoption

Is Monero. Unfortunately, it falls short when it comes to mass-adoption. Still, it's just as volatile as any other crapto-currency, so using it as an investment vehicle is a bad idea. It seems almost like crapto-currency is fundamentally incompatible with stock market style investments.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (9 children)

I agree with you. I think people are using it wrong. It's a currency for a reason. It's meant to buy and sell goods and services. I should be able to buy a house with it. I should be able to buy a car with it. I should be able to go to the doctor and pay the doctor with it or buy some eggs from the farmer's market with it. But instead, people want to treat it like a stock market thing. And that's not what it was designed to be. It was designed to be an ultimate check on the government's authority to steal from their citizens through inflation. And anybody who tells you different is either a damn liar or has an agenda.

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[–] [email protected] 150 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Crypto is hated because it’s an MLM for terminally online people.

It gains value because people want it and people want it because it gains value is both a perfect description of cryptocurrency and scams.

[+] [email protected] -39 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

It gains value because people want it and people want it because it gains value is both a perfect description of cryptocurrency and scams.

Or gold, or any other precious metal, or any other currency really for that matter….

[–] [email protected] 59 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Tangible items can have utility in the real world, where cryptocurrencies can never be anything more than numbers on a display.

Gold can be used in electronics, and I get that people are mad that currencies are just something we all mutually agree have value, but generally speaking powerful governments back those up. Cryptocurrency is backed up by people promising it’s totally gonna be a real currency any second now. Please ignore that crypto can wildly fluctuate in value which generally a horrible thing for a currency to do.

[+] [email protected] -23 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

Haven’t multiple governments accepted it as real currency at this point? The arguments are valid, but fall flat when you actually look into each.

Hell diamonds are valuable because of artificial scarcity, so that’s a wrench in every precious metal argument….

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

No, no major government has completely adopted cryptocurrency as legal tender. El Salvador became the first country in the world to do so in September 2021, but there have been significant challenges :

Volatility: Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are known for their price swings, making them less than ideal for everyday purchases.
Consumer protection: Concerns exist about the risks faced by Salvadoran consumers, especially those unfamiliar with the complexities of cryptocurrency.
Business adoption: Businesses have been slow to embrace Bitcoin due to technical hurdles and a lack of customer demand.

Cryptocurrencies are still considered too volatile and risky by most governments for everyday transactions.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yeah, El Salvador, people from there told me quite recently that it's not at all what the government propaganda is trying to sell. Nobody uses Bitcoin and it is only accepted by a few state institutions. As for Venezuela, we had Petros for a while, now the shitcoin has been completely phased out and discontinued since nobody but a few oligarch used it to launder money.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 11 months ago

The only two countries that accept bitcoin as a legal tender are noted powerhouses El Salvador and the Central African Republic… not exactly world leaders.

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Oh yeah? Then explain this!! /s

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

👏.

[+] [email protected] -105 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I guess we should all get rid of our bitcoin that's worth hundreds of times more than when we bought it, because an operating system kernel developer doesn't like it.

Linus is awesome but he's not a god, his opinion of things outside the Linux kernel is just the opinion of a guy. Stop worshipping him, he doesn't even like it.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 months ago

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