An interesting take on Google vs Apple. I would have loved to hear at least something about Alexa. I’m a hardcore Apple and Amazon user (plenty of Google too). I see myself staying imperfectly hybrid for awhile.
(Edit:) the observation of post-screen being a way to be connected but not distracted was a real revelation. Would love that....
When it comes to Bitcoin, I think of Linux as an analogy. When it first emerged, many people questioned it's basic premise: "why is there a new operating system? Everyone uses Windows, or Mac". People didn't know or understand the idea of open source: "Doesn't that just mean people will find bugs and ways to hack it?" "Without a company behind it, how do I know I can trust it in the long term?"
At first it's usability sucked. It took forever to get it up and running. It was confusing and hard to learn.
It had a small, rabid fan base who kept obsessing about desktop adoption rates and wondering when it would take over.
That is all kind of the same vibe as Bitcoin. But just as Linux showed, you don't need a monolithic, centralized entity to back it, it can start slowly and improve over time.
"linux on the desktop" basically failed (cue all the linux desktop heads on HH....!) but it completely took over the whole back end of the Internet. Every server runs it. And it then morphed and took over almost all mobile/tablet/smartTV/etc/etc devices. I think something similar could easily happen with Bitcoin. It has securely held Billions of USD equivalents in value for years. The software continues to evolve. Its core technology has morphed into many other formats. And like Linux on the Desktop, maybe the early idea of digital cash will change into another idea, like a settlement layer. who knows?
But I remain pretty optimistic about it.
This is such a fascinating (and disturbing) situation. And quite mysterious. High frequency ultrasound is used routinely in medicine and has never been shown to change brain tissue. Infrasound has some effect on tissue but its probably overstated. (the infamous 'brown note' [1]. Other sonic weapons rely on volume/amplitude. None of this seems to be the case here.
Another really interesting point is the description of the hyper localized nature of the sound -- present in one part of the room and not another. Its really hard to localize a sound signal, as anyone who has worked with parabolic speakers can attest. Yes, there can be focal points, but the sound definitely drifts out to the surrounding areas to a significant degree.
One example of hyperlocalized sound perception is Lamont Young's 'Dream House' installation in NYC [2] Although not captured in video documentation, there are distinct and significant microtonal shifts that are easily perceptible as you move through the space caused by standing waves produced through the interaction of the tone generators and the architecture. But this happens within the context of a loud drone that fills the whole room. Not at all what is described by the diplomats and family members.
I hope they can get to the bottom of this and I hope that more information is made public.
Back in 2012/2013 there was something called "Mt Gox codes". It was a USD transfer mechanism that was supported by Gox, btc-e, early bitfinex and others.
You could magically and instantly get a USD balance transferred from one exchange to the other. It was pretty crazy to see in operation as funds would instantly flow from Japan to Hong Kong to Russia/Bulgaria/wherever-btcE-was.
It was shut down by US authorities sometime in the Spring of 2013 as I recall. Tether is playing a similar inter-exchange roll today. At least now there is some kind of public ledger, but that may not be saying much.
I also think it could be seen as realpolitik. I depends on how strongly you take "we create our own reality". Even Postmodernism has a kind of 'classical' version that emerges historically from Hegel, Kierkegaard, Marx and Nietzsche.
That is a fantastic quote from a truly great American thinker.
You could add to it the quote from Ron Suskind's article from an unnamed Bush administration official:
"The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' [...] 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do'" [1]
This is a very 'postmodern' statement, but coming from the Right and from a government official able to wield the power of the State rather than a poor undergraduate or marginalized assistant professor of humanities.
Arguably postmodernist thought has been so effective in describing contemporary social reality that it has been fully absorbed by the cultural/political Right. Claims of "fake news" alt-right social media memes, totalizing institutional critique -- these all are 'weaponized' forms and tactics from the postmodern Left, but now as mainstream tool of right-wing political action.
The Ethereum Foundation owns and controls the trademarks of Ethereum. While they cannot dictate the code the various participants on the network run, they get to explicitly decide which version of the code gets to be called "Ethereum". That's how they maintain control.
But you are essentially staking "off chain" by buying the gear in fiat money. So there is a built-in exchange rate arbitrage. And the on-chain velocity of value is not slowed down. This isn't true in ETH POS.
Using analog techniques there is a famous set of photographs of films playing in movie theaters by Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. In this work a long duration time-lapse photo of the film renders the screen glowing white with a pale outline of the theatre around it. https://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/new-page-7