Origins

[Joseph Frazier]

Pleasure to meet you Viz and welcome to the community. -joe

*Joseph Frazier*
*Relentlessly Focused Action*


On Sat, Nov 18, 2017 at 12:57 AM, "Odd:IOstreams" <
oddiostreams at protonmail.com> wrote:

> Hey everyone.
>
> This origin post will be a bit lengthy but successive posts will be more
> consise and less about ME and more about pressing community issues.
>
> I'm new to this mailing list and wanted to express where I'm at in my
> journey through cyberspace, amongst fellow explorers of the landscape. I've
> always been inclined towards computer science - dad brought the first
> computer home when i was 4, so I've grown up with the machines. It was only
> last year that I took a deeper plunge and began learning to code in C and
> C++ (for DSP - to build software synths) which opened up pandoras box, and
> its been an amazing journey of development so far.
>
> Bitcoin is the reason I am here - writing this message, feeling these
> feelings and thinking these thoughts. I have become a far more aware
> individual in the way I use a computer because of it. Bitcoin made
> cyber-security an important subject to consider - even from a very high
> level - regular user perspective. Data = value. If you don't realize it,
> someone else who has, WILL capitalize. From a very fundamental user
> perspective cyber security is simply *'stay vigilant!'. *Even security in
> general, if you behave like an idiot in public, a metaphorical fist is just
> around the corner and directed right at your face! Don't download random
> shit you cant trust - do you really NEED this thing? There are several ways
> of verifying the authenticity of data you download from the internet - from
> checking hashes if provided - to using and anti-virus is you're on MS.
> Speaking of MS, balance must be reestablished with a few words on Linux.
> Privacy. The trust model in Linux and other open-source && || free software
> projects follows a natural law of distribution and decentralized ownership.
> If enough people use it, and enough professionals have audited it for their
> own personal sake, we place trust in these communities of individuals who
> themselves are using these products and therefore incentivized to support
> its development into its most efficient version. Technology built upon our
> current broken economic platform is bound to do a lot of damage - and with
> something as powerful as computers (intelligence) the consequences can be
> BAAAD. Our minds are under attack! Our virtues and humanity is being slowly
> corroded. This is why the free software movement is possibly the only hope
> humanity has from protecting us from ourselves and our manipulative nature.
> With companies in such a rush to push out new software to market and make
> profits - we are forgetting about certain fundamentals. Free software might
> not be as easy to use and pretty as their prop counterparts but does not
> come with the gigantic invisible opportunity cost of convenient proprietory
> software. This is changing the more developers join the community - and
> this is the need of the hour. MORE OPEN SOURCE DEVS! We have lost our sense
> of community! Lately, I've been on the hunt for work to build up some
> savings so I can travel again. I recently joined a blockchain company in
> India and ended up leaving within a week because like every other Tom Dick
> and Harry - these guys are just creating more shitcoins and unnecessary
> blockchain products that is just trying to ride this wave. No one at this
> company had ever mined a crypto or run a full node! I came in as a
> community member who wants to support the ecosystem - which starts with
> running a node. I understand them as a business, their interests are
> different but the least you can do is try to solve a real world problem. In
> their defence they do have a few good projects based on Lumens that aid in
> remittances which is an important service for India - but again, we've got
> bigger problems to be addressed in India. We need to work towards creating
> a better interface for the lowest class to get on the blockchain! I managed
> to get one of the guys at work to run a node and even that was just a VTC
> node - small sized blockchain so not too much of a deal breaker. Its a
> start, but it always comes back to BTC! With BTC under constant attack
> these days we need more honest nodes and more honest miners. It is because
> of Bitcoin that today I run a Linux only machine and pay attention and work
> on staying more vigilant about my behaviour online (in still lazy in many
> aspects, we get stronger in time).
>
> Bitcoin represents much more than just digital cash. Its a fundamental
> shift in the way we think about interacting with each other over
> cyberspace! Its ironic how free-software and open source is historically
> known to be financially a very unattractive path to take - and here we are
> with the same principles and ideologies building an entire new economic
> platform that is slowly and steadily providing financial independence to
> millions. Hopefully the community doesn't burn out and lose sight of the
> original mission. Its about decentralizing financial power. Centralized
> control is one of the major causes of poverty in our world! The solution
> has never been to throw more money at the problem - it required a
> fundamental change in the economic model that gives individuals FULL
> control over their capital! Currently the only way to achieve that is by
> running a crypto full node. BE your own bank! Your voice and validation is
> required for consensus!
>
> Ill close it here with a mention of the question I keep asking my self in
> computing. Do we really need it? For the regular computer user, what is the
> degree to which you really need the services you have subscribed to? I'm an
> electronic music producer by profession - ive been using Ableton Live for 9
> years - so thats pretty strong reason to stay on Windows or Mac but I have
> still pushed my self to learn Bitwig (at the cost of slowing down my
> production rate and benefit of becoming a more flexible producer) just to
> stay Linux-only and fuck off the constant surveillance. If you are a
> professional in what you do, you get the fundamentals and should be able to
> pick up new tools. If I can do that, a regular user who just uses their
> computer to use Office and Browse the internet should seriously have a
> sitdown with the self and rethink their relationship with their computer
> and why they use it. You don't need to be a programmer with OS's like
> Ubuntu and Mint. Guided installations, beautiful UI's and GUI Software
> managers have you covered. As intimidating as the cmd-line might seem at
> first, even on these OS's a noob will end up experimenting, loving and end
> up using the cmd-line regularly (even for tasks you were used to using via
> the gui). If anything Bash is a great way to start learning programming
> since it is essentially a very high-level language where keMake sure you
> have a BIOS password to protect from physical access. Only download from
> trusted sources + Browse with a vpn, and as a regular user you have done
> tons for your own cyber - security already. If anyone has more basic
> security tips, please share - i am a noob myself - still skimming the
> surface.
>
> To summarize  -  Think! Be vigilant.
> Convenience in tech comes at a high invisible opportunity cost.
> For yourself, and the community.
> <3
>
> Best,
> Viz.
>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/html
Size: 8724 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/attachments/20171118/b28d5967/attachment.txt>