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" < [email protected]> 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. >
