May 2023 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Cryptocurrency: The Declaration Of Monetary Independence
by grarpamp 20 May '23

20 May '23

https://declarationofmonetaryindependence.org/  Sign the Declaration The Declaration of Monetary Independence How It Works Read it Sign it Share it Preamble What follows is a document co-authored by several contributors to Bitcoin Magazine and proud members of the Bitcoin community. While many people believe that money has always exclusively been a creation of government, this is untrue. There have been many periods throughout history where governments were not the custodians of the money supply. Unfortunately, today almost every nation employs a central bank that has a monopoly on what currency is allowed to be used within their domain. The original signatories to this document believe that central banks and governments throughout the world have abused their exorbitant privilege of printing money. This document proposes a new way of doing things. We are not calling for an end to the U.S. dollar or any other fiat currency — we are asking to bring an end to monopoly money in every country. Give citizens a choice. Let market forces and participants decide if they want this new form of “magic internet money” that is based on rules, not rulers. Bitcoin benefits the entire planet. Those who sign believe bitcoin is a peaceful revolution that favors the billions, not billionaires. We urge you to read it and sign it if you are so inspired. The Declaration of Monetary Independence When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the monetary bonds which have enslaved them to a fiat system of government decree and to assume complete sovereignty over their own monetary freedom, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to this dissolution. Central Banks have abused their privilege of printing money. Each monetary unit printed debases the existing monetary supply. The printing of these units is a form of theft or hidden tax. The printing of these units are exclusionary and confer privilege on those closest to the central bank — Cantillon effect. Many American Founding Fathers were staunchly opposed to central banks and the type of power governments have today. The internet has made it easy for governments to control and surveil its citizens for minimal cost and without our knowledge. Allowing the few to distort price signals utilized by the many is more akin to communism than capitalism. These units make price discovery and free markets impossible, thus disrupting the ability of consumers to make relevant economic decisions. These units are a poor medium for storing our value, life force and essence of our labor over time. These units enable the financing of endless wars and conflict without representative public support. These units are created from debt and have led to unsustainable levels of government, corporate and individual debt. These units are poor mediums for conservation of energy and negatively impact the environment. These units disincentivize the use of inexpensive, abundant and renewable energy. These units induce inequality, poverty and wealth disparity. These units move value too slowly across international borders in a globalized, digital age. These units were once backed by hard assets like gold and silver but are now backed only by empty promises. These units are forced upon citizens without any alternative constituting a monopoly on the medium of exchange. These units have been weaponized to sow the seeds of hatred and division around the world. These units are manipulated by a ruling class whose incentives are not aligned with the best interests of the governed. The current monetary policy encourages infinite consumption and growth on a finite planet. The current monetary policy leads to bailouts, bail-ins and socialized losses. The current monetary policy fosters a misallocation of capital. The current monetary policy leads to financial repression and excessive government. The current monetary policy leads to authoritarian rule and crony capitalism. The current monetary policy enslaves the human spirit and stifles technological innovation. The current monetary policy encourages and incentivizes short-term thinking (a high time preference) over long-term thinking (a low time preference). The U.S. dollar ($USD), held as world reserve currency, has been used to destabilize other national currencies. And so, as of January 3, 2009, there came into existence a monetary asset and monetary protocol that separated money from state and it holds these properties: This monetary network, known as Bitcoin, is capped at 21,000,000 units. This monetary network is decentralized and allows anyone to verify the integrity of the unit ownership and transfer. Each unit is divisible into 100,000,000 pieces called satoshis. That anyone, without permission, can own a subunit as small as one satoshi. The Bitcoin Protocol / Lightning Network Protocol (LNP/BP) is the first native monetary layer of the internet. This monetary network is not controlled by and does not favor any government. This monetary network is a provably and verifiably scarce digital asset. Each security node (miner) in the network is incentivized to find the cheapest, most abundant energy sources on the planet. This monetary network uses a timechain mechanism and proof of work to verify transactions and create new units. This monetary network reaches ownership consensus approximately every 10 minutes and validates every transaction dating back to the Genesis Block on January 3, 2009. This monetary network is backed by the largest, most secure single-use computer network in history. This monetary network has had a historic 99.98% uptime and is the only monetary network of its size that has never been hacked or compromised. This monetary network is an embodiment of American founding principles with regard to individual freedoms, private property and human rights. This monetary network treats all participants the same. This monetary network is in a constant state of price discovery. This monetary network is based on consensus rules, math and cryptography; not by the subjectivity of rulers, power and preference. This monetary network is based on software that is free and open source. This monetary network is able to move value across space and time with minimal loss of energy and at low cost. This monetary network is accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This monetary network contains no barriers to entry for the masses — permissionless. This monetary network revived the time-honored freedom of saving as a wealth accumulation strategy, regardless of race, creed or nationality. This monetary network prioritizes safety and security. This monetary network rewards those actors who secure the network and incurs significant costliness to would-be bad actors. This monetary network is able to efficiently store value created from your labor and life force. This monetary network enables a new store of value vehicle and settlement technology for billions of unbanked and persecuted people worldwide. This monetary network disincentivizes financially oppressive state policies. This monetary network utilizes unforgeable costliness to reach global consensus without relying on a central authority. This monetary network disincentivizes the barbaric use of physical, political and economic coercion as a means of conflict resolution. This monetary network promotes freedom, cooperation and working toward mutual benefit, providing a path for Peace. Therefore, in full consideration of the above, we urge all citizens of Earth who value freedom and property rights to adopt Bitcoin as an insurance policy against central bank and government overreach. Signed this 31st day of October, in the year 2021 [Block height 707575]. Whether buying a few satoshis, starting a business or running a node, the Bitcoin Network is directly impacted by your decisions. We call upon all participants of the Bitcoin community, if it is safe for you to do so, to sign your name in support of this document. The beauty of this decentralized network is that it operates on willful cooperation. In the same manner as this document, it is not a contractual memorandum of understanding or agreement. You may contest or disagree with some elements and that is expected. Our goal is for outreach and empowerment through time, space and perspective. If there is even one thing agreeable to you in this document, for the sake of a show of strength and solidarity, provide your written support. Let the world know that we are here, we are many and we are united! Sign the Declaration Original Signers Mark Maraia Author Mike Hobart Author Ulric Pattillo Author Aaron Segal American HODL Andrew Fink Ben Prentice Bitcoin Actuary Brady Swenson Brandon Quittem Bryce VonZurmhuelen C.J. Wilson Casey Carrillo Christopher Friedl CK Colin Crossman Cory Klippsten Craig Deutsch Dennis Porter General Kenobi Guy Brandon Guy Malone Guy Swann Heidi Porter Hermann Vivier Humble Warrior Jay Gould Jeff Ross Jessica Payne Jessicahodl Joe Carlasare Johnathon Alpart Josh Doña Kaily Buemi Kristen Cozad Lamar Wilson Lauren Sieckman Lawrence Madelyn Matt Mohline Matthew R. Ball Mike Alfred Neil Jacobs Nick Fonseca Pedro Solimano Peter McCormack Rick Poach Robert Breedlove Sam Cargo Sean Shawn Amick Shinobi Silva Suhail Tomer Strolight Sign the Declaration Sign the Declaration © Copyright 2021 | Declaration of Monetary Independence | All Rights Reserved

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Fwd: [tiactivism] Obituary | Julianne McKinney of Roseville, Michigan | Harold W. Vick Funeral Home, Inc.
by Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One Victim & Survivor of Many 19 May '23

19 May '23

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Jane M via groups.io" <eastbayapartments=yahoo.com(a)groups.io> Date: Fri, 19 May 2023 14:35:53 +0000 (UTC) Subject: Re: [tiactivism] Obituary | Julianne McKinney of Roseville, Michigan | Harold W. Vick Funeral Home, Inc. To: "tiactivism(a)groups.io" <tiactivism(a)groups.io> This is one of the contributions Julianne made: MICROWAVE HARASSMENT AND MIND-CONTROL EXPERIMENTATIONMicrowaves and Mind Control | | | | Microwaves and Mind Control | | | On Friday, May 19, 2023 at 04:02:38 AM PDT, Eleanor White <ewraven1(a)sympatico.ca> wrote: From: "Dr. M Black" <mgrace321(a)gmail.com>Date sent: Thu, 18 May 2023 22:26:58 -0500Subject: Obituary | Julianne McKinney of Roseville, Michigan | Harold W. Vick Funeral Home, Inc.To: Max Williams <mindovermonster2020(a)yahoo.com>, "ewraven1(a)sympatico.ca" <ewraven1(a)sympatico.ca> > Is this our Julianne?> > https://www.vickfuneralhome.com/obituary/julianne-mckinney> > RESERVING ALL RIGHTS> Dr. Millicent Black, M.M.F.T I would say yes. I have Julianne's address and that funeral home isn't far from there. Many of us may have noticed that Juliannehad fallen silent on the email circuit, eventhough a number of issues which wouldhave interested her were being posted. I had some personal contact with her, andshe had some rather serious medicalissues going on for some time. I would say Julianne is now soaring aboveus, and it's only a guess, but it may bethat certain perps are now getting what-forpokes from the spirit world! Enjoy Heaven, Julianne! Eleanor White -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#1796): https://groups.io/g/tiactivism/message/1796 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/99009628/6048544 Group Owner: tiactivism+owner(a)groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/tiactivism/leave/10206373/6048544/1587734859/xyzzy [gmkarl(a)gmail.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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Sam Altman - Dead Man Walking
by professor rat 19 May '23

19 May '23

The reviews are coming back, Sam. " Hang him high " they say. Sorry. Its been real. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35960125&p=2 Reposts not bloody public executions William Wallace style

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[ot] scraping websites undetectably in python
by Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One Victim & Survivor of Many 19 May '23

19 May '23

may not address captchas and behavior profiling https://github.com/ultrafunkamsterdam/undetected-chromedriver/issues/998#is… spending time adjacent to that free-gpt community i learned the modern way to do this is a package called “undetected chromedriver” which purportedly bypasses server detection of selenium, and comes inside seleniumbase which purportedly has some autoinstall procedures haven’t tried it, but it’s interesting to learn after selenium displaced phantomjs in a vendor-directed manner for so long some of the people in these communities are quite experienced at web scraping; there’s a movement to go back to pure http requests, deobfuscating and replicating browser javascript to make speedy clients

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" . . . embody the wholesome values of anarchy (democracy, equality, freedom, order, mutual-aid)
by professor rat 18 May '23

18 May '23

Or spam this list with Gramps style garbage &/or Semich dribbling bullshit - money badger don't care https://www.anarchistnews.org/content/radon-journal-issue-4-available-now Reposts not snot endorsements

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The Banking Crisis Has Produced Extraordinary Testimony about Land Mines Lurking in the U.S. Banking System
by Gunnar Larson 18 May '23

18 May '23

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/05/the-banking-crisis-has-produced-extr… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 18, 2023 ~ Martin Gruenberg, Chair, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Martin Gruenberg, Chair, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) On Wednesday, March 8 of this year, the holding company for the federally-insured Silvergate Bank announced it was winding down the bank. It had little choice but to do so. It was experiencing a bank run and had incinerated its reputation by focusing on deposits from crypto companies, including those majority-owned by indicted crypto kingpin, Sam Bankman-Fried. According to testimony from the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Martin Gruenberg, before the Senate Banking Committee on March 28, “in the fourth quarter of 2022, Silvergate Bank experienced an outflow of deposits from digital asset customers that, combined with the FTX deposits, resulted in a 68 percent loss in deposits – from $11.9 billion in deposits to $3.8 billion.” Silvergate Bank’s primary regulator was the San Francisco Fed. Two days later, on Friday, March 10, Silicon Valley Bank was put into receivership at the FDIC following an unprecedented bank run that saw $42 billion in deposits leave the bank on just the day of March 9, with another $100 billion in deposits queued up to leave the next day – which would have represented the vast majority of its deposits taking flight in 48 hours. That testimony was delivered to the Senate Banking Committee on March 28 by the Vice President for Supervision at the Fed, Michael Barr. Silicon Valley Bank’s primary regulator was also the San Francisco Fed. Two more bank failures followed in short order: Signature Bank on March 12 and First Republic Bank on May 1. Both were experiencing bank runs as a result of a loss of confidence by their customers. The primary regulator of both was the FDIC. First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank were the second, third and fourth largest bank failures in U.S. history, respectively. The largest failure was Washington Mutual during the financial crisis of 2008. JPMorgan Chase, officially the riskiest U.S. bank, was allowed by its regulators to take over Washington Mutual in 2008 and First Republic Bank on May 1 of this year. Senator Elizabeth Warren at May 17, 2023 Hearing on Fed Accountability Yesterday, the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy, which is chaired by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), held a hearing on the lack of accountability at the Fed and proposals to reform its structure. Senator Warren said this in her opening remarks: “The rapid collapse of three banks — Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank — was a shock. These three bank failures together put more assets at risk than the 25 bank failures in the 2008 crash. “Silicon Valley Bank’s failure was another symptom of what has become a predictable string of failures in the governance of the Federal Reserve. SVB’s collapse and other bank failures it triggered forced the FDIC, the Treasury Department, and other regulators to rush to the rescue to avoid implosion of our banking system. So far, the FDIC Insurance Fund has suffered billions of dollars of losses, and, as a result of the bailouts, America’s biggest too-big-to-fail bank just got $200 billion bigger.” (Senator Warren is referring to JPMorgan Chase’s takeover of First Republic Bank.) During yesterday’s hearing, the Fed’s support of 2018 legislation that resulted in the rollback of prudential regulation on banks with assets under $250 billion was examined as contributing to the recent bank collapses. In written testimony, Dr. Peter Conti-Brown, Associate Professor of Financial Regulation, Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, offered this analysis: “In 2018, after many months of debate, President Trump signed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. In an era of omnibus bills, often hundreds or thousands of pages long, one of the most impressive feats of the EGRRACPA (or S. 2155, as it is more commonly known), is its length: the entire bill is just 75 pages long. The part that is relevant to the present banking crisis, Title IV of that act, is just five pages long. In those five pages, entitled ‘Tailoring Regulations for Certain Bank Holding Companies,’ Congress changed the $50 billion [asset] threshold [for prudential regulation of banks] to $250 billion [in assets]… “Over the last two months, three of the twenty banks within that band of $100 billion to $250 billion have failed. (In the somewhat absurd vernacular of banking, we call these banks ‘regional banks.’). We do not know how many of the remaining seventeen would have failed but for the emergency declarations and concomitant liquidity support that the federal government’s extraordinary actions facilitated thereafter. “Thus, while the focus is often on Silicon Valley Bank, the fact is that we have had an intolerable failure of a market segment – when 15% of banks fail within the very class that Congress deregulated in 2018, we have enough smoke to inquire about the presence of fire.” Another key focus of the hearing was on what Senator Warren calls a “culture of corruption at the Fed.” Over the past two years, under Fed Chair Jerome Powell, the Fed has experienced a string of scandals, including the unprecedented trading scandal by Fed officials, where they were trading in their own brokerage accounts in stocks and other instruments while sitting on confidential market moving information at the Fed. Powell referred the trading scandal investigation to the Inspector General of the Federal Reserve, Mark Bialek, on October 4, 2021. It took Bialek just nine months to clear Powell and former Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida of violating “the laws, rules, regulations, or policies” of the Fed. Bialek has remained mum for the past 19 months on the biggest suspect in the trading scandal, former Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan. (See our reports: Robert Kaplan Was Trading Like a Hedge Fund Kingpin for Five Years while President of the Dallas Fed; a Dozen Legal Safeguards Failed to Stop Him and Dallas Fed President Kaplan Was Making Bold, Market-Moving Statements to Media During 2020 Crisis; the Same Year He Traded Tens of Millions of Dollars in Stocks and S&P 500 Futures.) Kaplan apparently feels he has nothing to fear from Bialek. Kaplan appeared on Bloomberg TV on May 3, actually giving advice to the Fed on monetary policy. Mark Bialek, Inspector General, Federal Reserve Board Mark Bialek, Inspector General, Federal Reserve Board Under questioning from Senator Warren, Bialek revealed that his salary as Inspector General is $377,800. Warren said that this is the highest salary for any employee of the Federal Reserve Board. It is not higher, however, than what Presidents of the 12 privately-owned Federal Reserve regional banks make. For example, John Williams, the President of the New York Fed – where the Federal Reserve Board serially outsources its bailouts of Wall Street’s mega banks – was making $506,300 in 2020 according to the Fed’s 2020 Annual Report. Williams got a bump up in salary to $513,400 according to the Fed’s 2021 Annual Report. (See Table G.12 at this link.) The President of the United States and Commander in Chief, who is elected by the people, makes $400,000. Senator Warren and Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) suggested that perhaps Bialek is getting this high salary as an incentive to perpetually wear a blindfold about wrongdoing at the Fed. Scott said this during his questioning of Bialek: Senator Rick Scott at Senate Hearing May 17, 2023 “There’s 23,000 people I think that work at the Federal Reserve. There’s not a report you’ve done since 2011 that you know of any person that’s been fired; there’s nobody on the Board that’s ever done anything wrong; we don’t have any information – good information – on what happened on these stock trades; and you think that we should be happy that we don’t have an independent, presidentially-appointed Inspector General. This doesn’t make any sense. And it [the Federal Reserve] has a balance sheet of $8.6 trillion…Name another agency that has that big a balance sheet in the federal government.” The Fed has a balance sheet of $8.6 trillion, which has resulted from its serial Quantitative Easing (QE) programs where it buys up trillions of dollars of government-backed debt securities, creating demand that would not otherwise exist, in order to drive down interest rates to prop up an economy crippled by serial bank crises. While the Fed has a balance sheet of $8.6 trillion, it actually has an expense budget of $6.2 billion. (See Table D.1 below from the Fed’s 2021 Annual Report. Notes for the chart are available in the 2021 Annual Report.) That $6.2 billion budget (combined for both the 12 regional banks and the Fed Board of Governors) includes the tiny amount of $36 million to run the Office of Inspector General that is expected to police the activities of 23,000 people. Bialek testified at yesterday’s hearing that he has a total staff of 130 people to investigate wrongdoing at the Fed. The Fed’s 2022 budget is offering to let him hire three more people. There is no better insight into the culture of corruption at the Fed than the 2018 tome by one of its own former bank examiners, Carmen Segarra. Her book, Noncompliant: A Lone Whistleblower Exposes the Giants of Wall Street, describes the culture inside the largest of the Fed’s regional banks — the New York Fed – as follows: “…nothing I had seen during my decade of legal work had prepared me for what I witnessed in just a few short months at the New York Fed. “In those months I discovered a disorienting world full of hidden clues, where people said one thing but meant another. Beneath the public face of the Fed laid a web of incompetence, corruption, rampant mismanagement, secrets, and lies. In the ‘fake work’ culture of the Fed, where supervision was a job title, not a job, the most important thing was to control the process to serve the ultimate master. The New York Fed was not simply failing to stop the banks; it was actually enabling their bad behavior.”

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Fwd: [Webinar replay] Safety in digital asset compliance
by Gunnar Larson 18 May '23

18 May '23

Jokes. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Paxos <insights(a)paxos.com> Date: Thu, May 18, 2023, 10:05 AM Subject: [Webinar replay] Safety in digital asset compliance To: <g(a)xny.io> Watch the replay to learn how blockchain builds on the strength of traditional compliance programs [image: Paxos Logo] <https://c2JCk04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RC+113/c2JCk04/VXh8HK6nLkpmW2D9Vgs…> [image: Safety in digital asset compliance webinar] <https://c2JCk04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RC+113/c2JCk04/VXh8HK6nLkpmW2D9Vgs…> Hi Gunnar, We hope you joined us for the “Safety in Digital Asset Compliance” webinar, where legal, compliance and partnership leaders at Paxos discussed how blockchain enhances traditional compliance programs. In case you missed it, here is a link to the replay <https://c2JCk04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RC+113/c2JCk04/VXh8HK6nLkpmW2D9Vgs…> where you can hear the Paxos team discuss: - How traditional compliance and regulation apply to blockchain - Real-world examples of digital asset compliance at work - How to evaluate and leverage partnerships to enhance your compliance programs *Watch the replay* <https://c2JCk04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RC+113/c2JCk04/VXh8HK6nLkpmW2D9Vgs…> As you look to join (or continue to build in) the digital asset ecosystem, understanding the role of compliance in managing digital assets is key to protecting consumers and building safe, transparent products. We hope you enjoyed the session (or plan to watch the replay <https://c2JCk04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RC+113/c2JCk04/VXh8HK6nLkpmW2D9Vgs…>) and look forward to connecting with you again soon! -Team Paxos PS: No time to watch the replay? Here’s a quick recap on the blog. <https://c2JCk04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RC+113/c2JCk04/VXh8HK6nLkpmW2D9Vgs…> [image: Twitter] <https://c2JCk04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RC+113/c2JCk04/VXh8HK6nLkpmW2D9Vgs…> [image: LinkedIn] <https://c2JCk04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RC+113/c2JCk04/VXh8HK6nLkpmW2D9Vgs…> [image: Website] <https://c2JCk04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RC+113/c2JCk04/VXh8HK6nLkpmW2D9Vgs…> Paxos, 450 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10017 | <https://hs-424565.s.hubspotemail.net/hs/manage-preferences/unsubscribe-all?…> Unsubscribe <https://c2JCk04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RC+113/c2JCk04/VXh8HK6nLkpmW2D9Vgs…> | <https://hs-424565.s.hubspotemail.net/hs/manage-preferences/unsubscribe-all?…> <https://c2JCk04.na1.hubspotlinks.com/Ctc/RC+113/c2JCk04/VXh8HK6nLkpmW2D9Vgs…>

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" That cypherpunk code is best which we never write "
by professor rat 18 May '23

18 May '23

epicenterbtc · May 17 In the dawn of a new tech era, one has two options: fight it or embrace it. @el33th4xor is proposing a new @avax subnet that replaces code with #AI (#GPT) neutrality: no-code blockchain. ‘It’s either a great idea, or a terrible one!’ Entire discussion👇 https://epicenter.tv/episodes/495/

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Eric Hughes as a fraud on the public
by professor rat 18 May '23

18 May '23

Cypherpunks write . . . govt-protected code? Get the fuck out of here. prestonjbyrne · 14h I cannot think of one example where pure code published for bona fide discussion purposes is liable to be restrained by regulation in the USA. People could publish code for smart contract assassination markets and, qua discussion pieces, it would be protected speech. twitter.com/msw/status/1… Show this thread Reposts not craven coward conformists called Eric Hughes

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Sam Altman needs killing ( My 2k Sats )
by professor rat 18 May '23

18 May '23

Sam Altman needs killing ( My 2k Sats ) Fool just signed his own death warrant.

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