irrelevant. he knew what he was talking about. and the shit done to him, the playbook used to take advantage of him and subsequently isolate him, was, in my opinion/observation, done to a decent number of people.

I also have an "I should have left" moment at a startup. It was a month in, when one of the folks with influence told me "I enjoy pitting people against each other." No lies were detected in this statement.

Sorry, did you not read the bit about me opposing these things? Maybe try rereading it a little more carefully.

Oh. You're one of the "hate ourselves" folks. I don't have time for that.

It's never "The West". It's "This group of people in the west" while others in the west have opposed them. I will not take credit for all of the bad things when I have not done them and I and others I know have opposed it. We are also the west.

Cultural genocide is not genocide if people choose to adopt the stuff of the other culture. Much of the western culture is not "imposed" on others, it's adopted by individuals who enjoy it. Even in muslim countries who claim it's imposed, a lot of the adoption of western culture is from individuals who just enjoy it and want to emulate it and live it. That's not genocide.

Anyway. This is not a degrading society; https://x.com/Chesschick01/status/1842016503677251804

There's something in what you just said; I have not experienced it. People and countries that have experienced such defeat and enslavement are usually hegemonic. Sure, it's more comfortable. But it's weaker.

The rise of individualism gives power for individuals to contribute. Collective societies tend to fall behind. That's what happens when you trample the rights of individuals.

There's an excellent book called "The Geography of Genius". One of the points is that much of the things you mention are exactly the environment in which geniuses such as Mozart or Beethoven, Socrates, etc etc are forged in. These environments push humanity forward. Especially the reduced unity of belief. That's a huge positive. Although like it says in the book, it's unpleasant, not fun to live in, but highly beneficial to society and humanity. It's not comfortable though.

It's not society.... it's specific areas of society that have the family breakdown etc. There are other places doing really well. I mean gosh, folks might think all years after bitcoin were a cultural incline, when they look back through the eye of history.

Oh? Like the one that stole from us by taking us off the gold standard, knew they were screwing us over, and did not give a shit?

Again, there was always moral degradation. Even the effects of communism have happened before, but it's always localized and there are always other bright areas. And even under tyranny you get some of the strongest heroes.

I suppose I'm just looking at a longer time frame and a bigger picture and wider geography.

Dude..... what are you talking about?

I don't think it's ever stagnant. I see no stagnation, tbh.

Exactly!!

But we're also getting healthier. You've got more medical knowledge (perhaps hidden behind a ton of noise) than ever before in history. You've got RFK and folks like bitcoiners caring about health, and that'll catch on. And health in the past was AWFUL. Cholera, typhoid, 1918 flu, on and on.

Define cultural decline

Well, feelings are always an excellent indicator of truth. By all means, carry on.

Ecclesiastes 7:10 Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

All generations are weak. It's just that the strong ones are the ones who have a memory that persists through time, so people think previous generations were better. They weren't. Humans are human.

Interesting. Tests with no results, or false negatives..... meaning a lot more people probably had COVID than were reported from this lab.

I guarantee you that cost lives.

There's this thing called the Qur'an

There is genuinely a LOT going on in bitcoin. But a lot of the government folks will literally tell you they are. Then you have the retired NSA folks doing research for the VCs. You've got business espionage. Honestly, there is a lot going on. But that said, paranoia is something else. Something that will be used against you.

Here's the thing though. Paranoia can be developed as a weapon. An agent can come in, make it clear they are a spook, then disappear. Then a week or month later, someone else can come in and say something. Little papercuts. And next thing you know, you're ranting and raving about spooks and looking crazy, and honestly are being driven a little bit crazy. I could see this being a very effective tactic to completely discredit someone, but also make them so paranoid they are ineffective.

While you can never know if someone is a spook or not, there ARE people in your life that you can KNOW are not. That crazy sweet nutty low-IQ lady down the street next to your parents since you were a kid. The child playing soccer in the street. These folks are your grounding.

The rest, don't guess too hard. It would only be used against you. They might be, they might not. And don't plot violence. ;) Easy enough.

I have no doubt there are government folks in bitcoin. Many are easy to see. Many will just tell you. Many are just working for VCs. There's a lot more besides. There's a hell of a lot going on in bitcoin. But paranoia is not going to help you.