ideasfromtheedge

As you read Emil Cioran's essays and aphorisms, you're not just “reading” to find answers. Instead, you're entering into a dialogue with a brilliant madman who seems to understand the deep-seated unease we sometimes feel about life's inherent contradictions.

There’s no fluff in his writings, no appeasement, no desire to reinforce the illusions we’ve all grown accustomed to. But, he also understood that many of us “last only as long as our fictions.”

Cioran's words resonate with the dark side of who we are—the part that sometimes wonders if it's all worth it—the daily grind, the pursuit of meaning, the endless striving. He’s not for the faint of heart, but his bleak insight is laced with a strange beauty.

[Read more](https://poeticoutlaws.substack.com/p/emil-cioran-the-tired-intellectual?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true)

Emil Cioran: The Tired Intellectual

movies

Is America the greatest country on world?

B_for_Bitcoin

America is so in love with itself that it is too blind to see, that it's not everybody's darling. There are other nations, other cultures, other volks out there with their own greatness.

Socrates: “Every wrongful act stems from ignorance, and the mind does not commit errors.”

Ignorance isn’t the only reason men do wrong. Some know better and still take the bad road because it’s easy, because it pays, because they want to. The mind isn’t perfect. It fools itself. It justifies what it shouldn’t. A man can stare truth in the face and still turn away.

Aristotle: “Most human actions arise from the non-rational parts of the soul.”

Men don’t live by reason alone. They act from hunger, from fear, from things buried deep. They tell themselves they have reasons, but often, it’s just the body talking. It’s the old instincts, the old habits, the pull of comfort. A man fights this or he doesn’t.

Spinoza: “Desires are the source of actions, and the mind succumbs to the power of desire.”

Desire is a hard thing. It moves men. It makes them weak, makes them strong, makes them fools. But the mind isn’t helpless. A man can turn his back on desire. He can hold the line. He can train himself to want better things. But it takes work. It takes knowing himself.

Schopenhauer: “Human actions cannot be predicted, for they stem from a blind, purposeless will.”

Men aren’t leaves in the wind. They have patterns. They have ways. If you watch them long enough, you see it. They think they act on a whim, but their past, their nature, their choices—these things steer them. The world is not blind. It just doesn’t care.

Freud: “The mind manifests as an influential actor when satisfying instincts; all human actions have instinctual roots.”

Instinct runs deep, but a man is more than hunger and lust. He can choose. He can suffer for something bigger. He can walk away from what his body screams for. Some men do. Some men don’t. That’s what makes the difference.

Dostoevsky: “Man does not act out of knowledge as much as he does out of habit.”

A man is his habits more than his thoughts. He may know better, but he will still wake, eat, drink, and sin as he always has. Change is slow. Hard. Some never do it. They live the same day over and over until they die.

Nietzsche: “The mind that does not destroy the old world—the world entrenched in the depths of the universal mind—is slavery. The mind tethered to a stake…”

If a man never breaks the chains of old ideas, he stays a slave. The world is built on the past, but a man must tear it down if it holds him back. He must burn the old gods, the old rules, and make his own way. Otherwise, he is not free.

Slaves to the past or masters of ourselves?

Stacker Saloon

saloon

Your life is like a coin.
You can spend it however you want.
But only once…

Positive and optimistic people attract everyone. After all, who wouldn’t want to be around someone with a radiant aura, a constant smile, and an energy that lights up the room? Someone whose mere presence lifts your spirits, guaranteeing a good time? Someone who always sees the glass half full, finds a ray of light even in darkness, and holds onto it?

Such a person has so much to offer. Isn’t their example alone a source of inspiration? Doesn’t it make you want to adopt parts of their mindset? Why? Because life gets better that way! You learn to rely on yourself, trust your own strength, and take life as it comes—without negativity or defeatism. You know you’ll find something positive in every situation and take what it has to offer. After all, challenges and setbacks are often the most constructive experiences.

Today, I met someone like that. They filled my day with light and joy. I feel like a better person today.

I feel like a better person today

Last evening, during my afternoon walk, I heard the voice of a child coming from the veranda of the neighboring villa.

"I have a bicycle," said the silhouette of a girl, perhaps 5 or 6 years old.

I told her that the bike was so beautiful, even though it was dusk, and I could barely make out the silhouette of the bicycle.

"I's my birthday today. And my dad bought it for me," said the little girl. I wished her a happy birthday and told her that good girls always receive gifts.

With the pleasant feeling that this little exchange created, I continued on my way. If she had been a bit older, say 10 or 12 years old, I thought to myself, she likely wouldn’t have spoken to me to share the joy of her day with a random stranger.

And I couldn’t quite explain why, as time passes, the childlike inclination to speak about one's emotions, to share happiness or sadness with others, fades or even disappears.

Anyone who has an answer—or even a guess—is kindly invited to tell me.

Why does our childlike urge to share emotions fade over time?

AskSN

One that comes to my mind is this: governments may attempt to impose tighter controls (although without results) on these technologies to protect their own financial systems. 


What are the biggest challenges that Bitcoin and Nostr can face in future?

"Later"
 -Talk to you later.
 -I'll call you later.
 -See you later.
 -We'll walk later.
 "I'll tell you later."
 We leave everything for later, but forget that "later" does not belong to us.
 Later, our loved ones are no longer with us.
 Later, we don't hear them and we don't see them.
 Later, they are just memories.
 Later, the day becomes night, the force becomes helpless,
 the smile becomes a grimace, and life becomes death.
 "Later" becomes "too late."

Later

War spreads across the world. It is a simple thing, how it moves from place to place, leaving death behind. In Africa they fight. In Europe they wait to fight. The big men in their offices talk of strategy while people die. They do not care. They never have.

The corporations take what they want. The hungry stay hungry. The rich get richer. That is how it has always been. But now it is worse. Now the people are desperate. When people are desperate they pick up guns.

Russia watches and waits. They know about nuclear weapons. The West pretends not to see what it has done. Their newspapers write clean words about dirty wars. The bombs do not care who they kill.

It is all connected now. Each bullet fired makes the next one easier. The men who call themselves leaders speak of freedom while they count their money and their dead. They build walls of lies to hide behind.

We must choose. We can die in their war or we can fight for something true. There is no middle way anymore. That is finished.

No good way to die

On Humanity:

Dostoevsky: "Man is a living being who walks on two legs, yet is ungrateful."

Nietzsche: "Man is nothing but a being that must be surpassed."

On Life:

Dostoevsky: "Every person in this world must love life, not try to understand it."

Nietzsche: "Life is nothing but a smile on a dead man’s lips."

On Happiness:

Dostoevsky: "I am searching for happiness, but: where is it?"

Nietzsche: "We have invented happiness as an invention."

On Contentment:

Dostoevsky: "At first, they cried; then they adapted and got used to it. Man can adapt to anything… how despicable."

Nietzsche: "In truth, I hate those who see everything as good and this world as the best of worlds. These are merely the contented ones who accept everything and savor it without true taste."

On Reason:

Dostoevsky: "Reason guides me, and that is precisely what has destroyed me."

Nietzsche: "The most deeply rooted beliefs in the mind are those things that seem unbelievable."

On the Heart:

Dostoevsky: "He fell victim to his great belief in the nobility of the human heart."

Nietzsche: "I love only what man has written with his blood… desire runs deeper than heartbreak."

On Homeland:

Dostoevsky: "The days are gone when our parents worried about us abroad. Now, in our estrangement, we fear for them at home."

Nietzsche: "Every homeland has its own hypocrisy, which it calls its virtues. As for its best qualities, it is ignorant of them and refuses to know them."

On Children:

Dostoevsky: "The soul is healed by being with children."

Nietzsche: "No nation can thrive if the roots of its children are corrupted."

On Love:

Dostoevsky: "He loved her greatly but hated that absurd excess in showing emotions. He despised those feelings that resembled the emotions of cattle."

Nietzsche: "There is not enough love and goodness in this world for us to abandon either to imaginary beings."

A Philosophical Duel Between Dostoevsky and Nietzsche

bitcoin

The value of Bitcoin is distinct from its price, as is the case with any other currency, whether fiat or alternative. Value is an intrinsic measure determined by the defining characteristics that compose the nature and functionality of a currency, whether it is fiat or alternative. Price, on the other hand, is influenced by external factors beyond the qualitative characteristics of the currency. The value of Bitcoin is what gives meaning to its functionality and its use by many users worldwide. The question is, what factor breathes life into this value?

This value does not stem from the fact that each unit of Bitcoin represents a certain value of fiat money in digital form. It is not backed by any tangible asset, such as fiat currencies like the US dollar, the euro, etc. While it may express such a value, it remains independent of the conditions of existence and circulation of fiat money. To be concise, the real value of Bitcoin primarily depends on its utility and secondarily on its scarcity.

In contrast to price, the value of Bitcoin is not a fluctuating measure influenced, for instance, by adoption levels or speculations regarding its use and strength in the transactional market compared to other currencies. Bitcoin is supported not by any asset but by its core Code and its utility, which is a derivative of this Code and the Blockchain ledger.

The fact that Bitcoin is not a centralized network driven by a single issuing authority or a trusted third party, but rather a decentralized and distributed network across many users, relying solely on its Code as an automated, programmed, and programmable "authority," is what empowers the currency. Its independence from any entity, particularly an organization with specific policies imposing restrictive terms on the currency's functionality, coupled with its ongoing programmability, is precisely what creates Bitcoin's utility.

As a programmable currency, it can have various functionalities—from a simple payment method or investment medium to independence from the international banking system and any intermediary in all types of transactions. This includes the creation of DACs (Decentralized Autonomous Corporations), the first decentralized companies that operate without actual labor provided by employees. Bitcoin’s flexibility has resulted in the community continuously discovering new uses for the currency.

The scarcity of Bitcoin comes second, primarily because, without its utility, Bitcoin would not have achieved the adoption and growth it has seen. Scarcity, as a measure, is mainly related to the limited number of bitcoins that can ever be produced. The total number of bitcoins cannot exceed 21 million. Every four years, the number of bitcoins produced is halved until it reaches the maximum limit of 21 million, which is the ultimate cap for now.

The value of Bitcoin is distinct from its price

Fun Fact Friday - Best Fun Fact Gets 5,000 CCs

Before erasers were invented, people used bread to remove pencil marks.

![](https://m.stacker.news/73410)

news

The "freedom of expression" touted by the tech moguls is a blatant fraud. Behind their hypocritical proclamations of free speech lies repression, censorship, and authoritarianism. A striking example is the case of Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes, whose cartoon was censored for the first time since she began working at the newspaper in 2008. The cartoon depicted billionaires bowing down to Trump.

As Ann Telnaes herself noted in a post:

>The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump. There have been multiple articles recently about these men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-lago. The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.

https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/why-im-quitting-the-washington-post

Censorship…

culture

Missing the Point: Vote the Bums Out!

kepford

Well said. Focusing on politicians as if they’re the root of the problem misses the bigger picture.

Christmas greeting card v2 [100x gift inside]

030e0dca83

Christmas is a moment to reflect on our gifts and express our affection. Wishing a blessed Christmas season to all! 

food_and_drinks

It's That Time Of Year

siggy47

Show HN: Bitcoin Piñata, the first-ever piñata that pays you bitcoin!

supertestnet

Ideologies were invented so non-thinkers could have opinions. I see it everywhere these days - people confidently spouting views they've never really questioned, just because their chosen ideology handed them a pre-packaged set of beliefs.

It's like having a mental fast-food menu. Why bother analyzing complex issues when you can just check what your ideology says about it? Left or right, conservative or liberal - just pick your team and you get all your opinions served on a silver platter. No critical thinking required.

Take Bitcoin for example. It's almost comical watching people at parties passionately argue about cryptocurrency when they clearly don't understand blockchain basics. They're just regurgitating buzzwords they heard on social media or from some influencer - "decentralization," "hedge against inflation," "the future of money" - without having a clue how any of it actually works. Their conviction isn't built on understanding; it's borrowed from whatever crypto guru they follow.

Maybe it's time we all stopped outsourcing our thinking to ideologies and started forming opinions the hard way - by actually thinking for ourselves.

Ideologies were invented so that men who do not think can give their opinions

alter_native

A picture with deep meaning!

The values and treatment we provide to children will ultimately shape their future character and actions. So let's sow love and kindness in our children.

![](https://m.stacker.news/66694)