Messages

1

Promenade / Re: How to launch a robot to promote houzz

« on: December 01, 2019, 12:13:26 PM »

WTF is houzz?

2

Promenade / Re: Bitcoin is broken

« on: September 22, 2019, 12:04:54 AM »

Bitcoin is broken or  will be broken because of the Grandma Just Button?  Say what?  Something that is obtuse is okay but making it simple destroys it?   Like the automobile and the telephone?  What am I missing here?  Do you want to reserve freedom and the integrity of one's own property only to the intellectually elite?  Wage slaves don't deserve to control their own assets?



Or what am I missing or misconstruing?

3

Communication / Re: Fourth Letter of Reprisal - Draft

« on: September 20, 2019, 07:56:55 AM »

I'm not sure but I maybe posted this in the wrong thread?

4

Promenade / Re: SPAM! SPAM! SPAM!

« on: September 19, 2019, 03:29:40 PM »

I get your point, but he doesn't vet people he simply uses that as a tool to prevent bots.  It seems to work although perhaps some will self sensor by not choosing to send an email request for access.

5

Communication / Re: Fourth Letter of Reprisal - Draft

« on: September 19, 2019, 02:43:22 PM »

Okay, my comments.  First off let me say that I find this whole pirate theme kind of hokey and stupid.  I don't mean to be insulting with that statement, that's just my opinion.  I'd much rather simply discuss philosophy and practicality without the cartoon characters.



That said, the last sentence in your piece is a contradiction in terms as I think I may have already pointed out.  If there is an immutable database of everyone's mistakes and foibles, good deeds and heroics, then it will be available to all and sundry at some point as the ability to see inside of the minds of others is an impossibility, at least at present, and if we had that capability then this database of individuals proclivities would be redundant.   The idea of a con(fidence) game is based upon the ability of some to fool and take advantage of others.  Any reputation system which attempts to retain privacy will fail due to those con artists who can game the system and trust of others in order to gain personal advantage, and once that former private information has been breached there will be no putting it back in the bottle.



As has been said, the only antidote to bad speech is more speech.  All must be open to all and unfortunately that means the sociopaths in power will have access as well.   Of course that also means that we'll be privy to the attempted secrets of said sociopaths as well, the better to inform our choices and decisions.



Trust must therefore be an individual responsibility and that means that the gullible, lazy and mentally inferior are likely to be taken advantage of.   What's the other option, a priesthood of specialists?  We know where that goes, the sociopaths will rule the roost as is the current reality.



As I see it the only choice is greater availability of information from which we must all individually take responsibility for deciding our own sense of trust.  And we will fail at times.  That's the only way anyone ever learns anything.   As has been said,  "Utopia is not an option."

6

Declare Your Independence / Re: Reputation - psychopaths & true believers

« on: September 17, 2019, 12:26:23 PM »

I'm not sure I can contribute much but I'm happy to engage in discussion.  If you wanna do it privately you know where I live.

7

Promenade / Re: New user here

« on: September 17, 2019, 12:07:54 PM »

Welcome from me as well.  I'd caution you to be circumspect about Adam K.  Many feel they've been burned by him.

8

Promenade / Re: SPAM! SPAM! SPAM!

« on: September 17, 2019, 12:02:25 PM »

Marc Stevens handles it by having everyone email him to request a user name for access before they can post.

9

Promenade / Re: Childish?

« on: September 08, 2019, 01:05:17 PM »

Or "our neighbors"?

10

Promenade / Re: The First Letter of Captain Kid

« on: September 07, 2019, 04:53:10 PM »

than i could count... not then

11

Promenade / Re: I've hidden some things in Manitou Springs

« on: September 07, 2019, 04:51:20 PM »

:?: uh... wha?

12

Declare Your Independence / Freedom is only 62 miles straight up... BULLSHIT!

« on: August 30, 2019, 09:11:07 AM »

Ernie's fond of saying that freedom is only 62 miles straight up... because some government dictator has declared the limits of "their" territoriality to end at 62 miles from their claimed land mass.   Does it make ANY sense at all that you will allow someone else to define YOUR freedom?  Huh?  Huh?  Huh?   Come on now.   Get real.



It's the same reason I'm not buying any of Ernie's latest best friend selling "legal" methods of compliance with the I.R.S. rulings on crypto.   All I have to do is TELL THEM everything I'm doing and, pinky swear, they'll never change the laws and eat me for lunch.   Right.  



To quote Ernie,  if the can, they WILL!

13

Declare Your Independence / Reputation - psychopaths & true believers

« on: August 30, 2019, 08:42:01 AM »

Today's discussion between Ernie and Todd on Declare Your Independence revealed to me a serious flaw in thinking. (In my opinion, obviously.) Ernie expressed the need for secure knowledge of an individual's reputation while preventing this information from being collected/ accessed by "the man."  He wants the reputational data to be immutable and accessible by anyone who needs to know for a certainty who an individual is.  



The blockchain is an example of what I see the contradiction to be.   There's a permanent and public record of EVERY transaction.  Proof of the provenance of each and every "coin" in existence.  And it's anonymous.  Except that it isn't.  Once a connection between any transaction and an individual is made there is a thread that, just like a sweater, can be pulled on unraveling the entire structure.  And the seen can never be unseen.



Just like The Brain database on Tragedy and Hope the "seen" connections can (and if they can, they WILL) be used to compile vast interwoven connections from which the entire sweater can be unwound.



There is a small percentage of the human population who are psychopathic, who are incapable of any sense of empathy and respect for the individual privacy and integrity of others.   These people think ONLY of what will give them s personal advantage, regardless of the harms and costs born by others.  In addition to the psychopaths there are those who have a religious belief in some idea or other where "faith" trumps facts and logic, causing them to act in ways which reason would dissuade them from if they weren't blinded by their faith.



Combining these ideas, "seen can't be unseen," immutable databases, and psychopaths means that Ernie's proof- of - who - you - are can never be kept from "the man."



I'd love be shown to be wrong but this is what it looks like to at this moment.



-30-

14

Promenade / Re: Childish?

« on: August 27, 2019, 02:39:08 PM »

Does "our neighborhood" imply ownership?

15

Declare Your Independence / Re: "Manuscrito, Por Favor?" by Vin Sniveltwitcz

« on: August 27, 2019, 02:30:44 PM »

Nor will he be allowed in my bilge.