Oddbean

Hoping this works. I am really sad to report that my talk was censored at Baltic HoneyBadger. As best as I know, here's what happened (please read my nostr-based article using one of the following options given below). My talk is on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gGw464vVTY On nostr: nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzq47yajg409s43jlqkamr7mwsltwtzay44r7cmwxj0uqjyyt9qs3jqq25ym3ef9vhyanfvyk5u5z32an5kwt4fa5y5newzg8 Habla link: https://habla.news/a/naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzq47yajg409s43jlqkamr7mwsltwtzay44r7cmwxj0uqjyyt9qs3jqq25ym3ef9vhyanfvyk5u5z32an5kwt4fa5y5newzg8

This is so spicy. #Nostr and #Bitcoin need the spice. nostr:nevent1qqsgpwwt29dqgrta8cj9j7lsj54pk776qkp3f373uswkm55lnv949hcpremhxue69uhkummnw3ez6ur4vgh8wetvd3hhyer9wghxuet59upzq47yajg409s43jlqkamr7mwsltwtzay44r7cmwxj0uqjyyt9qs3jqvzqqqqqqy78zd6j

Personally I think perhaps people should be considerate of others, but seems not everyone is all the time. How is this any different to “free speech” and lack of censorship most people here and at ‘Nostr world’ conferences apparently want?? Seems utterly hypocritical. Do you all just pick and choose who can say what and it be ok? 🤣🤣🤣

Bullshit mate. No-one needs permission to call someone something, particularly a public figure, and it was quite obviously done here for provocative effect, which is fine for a public talk. British debating tradition does this all the time, which you should know as an Aussie and someone who shouldn't be infected by the 'commie scare' derangement that so many US Americans suffer from (and which is so fucking tedious for the rest of us).

Some context: "To realize we're all already communists when working on a common projects, all already anarchists when we solve problems without recourse to lawyers or police, all revolutionaries when we make something genuinely new.” ― David Graeber, Revolutions in Reverse: Essays on Politics, Violence, Art, and Imagination nostr:note1szuuk526qsxh603yt9alp9f2rdaa5pvrznrareqadhfflxct2t0sdlyyvm

I really enjoyed this message Margot. While I admit there may have been a few knee-jerk reactions to terms used in somewhat more broad and encompassing ways than I am used, I appreciated your call to action. While I might argue that we don't live in a purely capitalist state (I'm sure you might agree), we are trending towards the singularity where technologically-driven deflationary abundance clashes with our inflationary monetary system and the scarcity mindset our species has held for its entire history. I don't know where we end up past that point, be it a "communist" post-scarcity Star Trek-esque system where the means of production are collectively owned as profits have fallen to the marginal cost of production (or simply that no one has any need of profit...), or a slave state where centralized surveillance ensures this abundance does not reach the average man. Either way, at present, the Fed ensures that abundance does not "trickle down" to those who need it most, by silently robbing them of their purchasing power. Bitcoin is the bridge that reconnects the common man to the bounty of technological deflation. And nostr? Well, if we want to have any hope of joining together and having a say in what future we wish to inhabit, we will need communications channels that cannot be shut down. Free speech is the way we find consensus on the future and the way we, as average people, progress towards it. I've written far more than I intended, so I will end this by just saying thank you. Thank you for the time you have put into this, and for the courage to share the way you see the world, even knowing that others may oppose it. We need to he challenged, enlightened, and provoked to grow and find consensus. This is the way. https://m.primal.net/JTtk.webp

I want to thank Alex Gladstein for reaching out to me. It appears that what happened was the result of a mistake in judgment of one staffer and not what HRF's bitcoin team would have approved of, if they had known. It was really shocking to be told by a conference organizer that my talk was not allowed if it was going to be controversial (because I referred to someone as a communist), so I'm grateful that this was an error of judgment and nothing more. nostr:note1szuuk526qsxh603yt9alp9f2rdaa5pvrznrareqadhfflxct2t0sdlyyvm

Seems like a sensational & untasteful title to me. More interesting than a thousand times repeated lecture about sound money, though. Will check it out. Class act from Ben judging by this description.

nostr:nprofile1qqstwf6d9r37nqalwgxmfd9p9gclt3l0yc3jp5zuyhkfqjy6extz3jcpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhszythwden5te0dehhxarj9emkjmn99uq36amnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wvf5hgcm0d9hx2u3wwdhkx6tpdshs44v7p0 You have to check out the talk for the actual detail. Title was a little bit of clickbait but def q bit over the top to censor!! Human sensitivity is a feature and bug!!

I watched the video. Most of the actual content was good. However, calling nostr:nprofile1qydhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytn0wfskuem9wp5kcmpwv3jhvtcpremhxue69uhkummnw3ez6ur4vgh8wetvd3hhyer9wghxuet59uq3wamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwdehhxarj9e5kuen09uq3samnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwvd6hyun9de6zuenedyhszrthwden5te0vfexytnfduhsz8rhwden5te0dehhxarj94c82c3wwdjk66tndakzuer9wchszrnhwden5te0dehhxtnvdakz7qghwaehxw309ahx7um5wghx7mnnv968xtn0wfnj7qg4waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxummnw3ezucn89uq36amnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wvf5hgcm0d9hx2u3wwdhkx6tpdshszxnhwden5te0dehhxarj9eax2cn9v3jk2tnrd3hh2ep0qyvhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnndehhyapwwdhkx6tpdshszgrhwden5te0dehhxarj9emkzmrvv46x7ennv96x7umgdyhxxmmd9uq32amnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwv3sk6atn9e5k7tcprfmhxue69uhhyetvv9uk2u3wve5kzar2v9nzucm0d5hsz9nhwden5te0v4jx2m3wdehhxarj9ekxzmny9uq3zamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wwa5kuef0qqsg86qcm7lve6jkkr64z4mt8lfe57jsu8vpty6r2qpk37sgtnxevjcf2zh9n a communist because he believes Bitcoin will usher in untold abundance is ridiculous. That is not what communism means, and is borderline defamatory. Communism is NOT everything becoming so abundant that there is no need to have private property, and that will never happen anyway. That simply is not what communism is. Rather, it is defined by state ownership of the means of production. Without that, it's not really communism at all, and therefore inaccurate to characterize Jeff Booth as a communist. When you characterize someone as a communist when they absolutely are not, but actually believe in the principles of private property and free markets, that isn't just click-bait. That's being intentionally dishonest for attention.

I've watched it and it's obvious that you intended to be provocative and I think you managed, without going over the top. Content-wise, the Marxist analysis is completely wrong, as it's been proven time and time again through history, that much is true. That said, I would never censor your talk for being provocative and wrong. Let me add though that I would also be OK with a talk titled "Satoshi was a true Aryan National-socialist warrior" that tried to sell to the audience how Bitcoin is about bringing down the Global Jew, or some other such complete nonsense. Yeah, that's where my bar is as far as free speech is concerned. Well, my point is that I don't think I have one, I'm a free speech absolutist. Going back to your specific case, it's likely that being in a Baltic country, the organizers have a much lower tolerance threshold towards (perceived?) pro-communist speech. Again, if I put myself in their Baltic victim of communism shoes, I would still not censor your talk, but I would probably have had a counter-talk immediately after, even if I had to improvise it, or I would have asked you to not give the talk and invited you to a debate instead. Silly and wrong views should not be suppressed but exposed and countered in public with arguments.

Censorship guarantees that the only form of speech allowed is the form that is beneficial to the censor. Since power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then we are guaranteed that the power of censorship will lead to only corrupt speech. On the other hand if a free exchange of ideas is tolerated -- even ideas that are terrible and hateful, then we can evaluate them all together and select those we wish to adopt. The bad idea will fall to the wayside as the better ideas gain success. From: (supdave98) at 08/27 12:49 > It has been said that the solution to hate speech or bad speech isn’t censorship but more speech. Analyze and engage. CC: hh

Ok, from the talk, she lost me at the idea that you can have value without scarcity. Built-in scarcity, proof of work, and halving the block reward over time prevents the inflationary pressures we see in state fiat currency. Abundance results from free market efficiency that rewards the best product at the cheapest price showing that deflation from efficiency is a sign of a healthy economy. See televisions. But this presupposes a hard money. The decentralized price system from a web of interconnected individual choices using hard money produces abundance and efficiency instead of the Communist ideal of a command and centralized economy, which had produced shortages, corruption and rampant inflation in every case and in every culture it has been tried. Analysis and engagement.

"communist" is so often used as a insult on bitcoin social media for anyone even slightly to the left of center, that without context the title comes across as well, a nasty and childish thing to say of someone. But for what it's worth i think your talk is very interesting (definitely not what i expected given the title 🙂 ), and it's unfortunate that it resulted in it being cancelled. And the way they communicated is ludicrous.