I will be meeting a friend from L.A. in Chicago next weekend. He also is a bitcoin peer and we would definitely eat at any restaurant that accepts bitcoin. I visit Chicago regularly. Two weeks ago I went to the symphony to see Bolez conduct Stravinsky, for example. Because of this I keep Rashid's number in my phone. If I need a cab, he is my first choice.
I appreciate your enthusiasm for bitcoins! At this point, the best thing you can do is go to the Facebook links I provided and comment on my posts that you'll "be there next weekend and would visit their restaurant if they accepted bitcoin." Will do. I have to use my wife's FB account. I don't have one.  |
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So I've been watching and reading Penrose and/or Hameroff, and I've been somewhat fond of what they've been saying, but in my most recent foray into their ideas, it seems I'm hearing them say exactly what I suspect. It's this:
Consciousness (or more precisely qualia) is a fundamental component of the Universe. Even more specifically, they're saying (and I've said this as well in conversations with others), a conscious moment, or at least the fundamental building block of a conscious moment is the collapse of the quantum wave function.
So there you have it.
I think Stuart Hammeroff is on to something big, something that not only explains the conscious state but also what life is. I simplify his theory like this. Living things use structures in the cytoskeleton to create a quantum state of superposition. This allows a momentary sidestep around decay, a sort of trick that puts effect ahead of cause. When the wave collapses the "live state" is maintained by knowing the most advantageous outcome. This basic research so important. As a biology teacher I talk a lot about life. But I can't tell my students the difference between a dead bird and a live bird. So, WTF do I know? All my physicist friends talk about a unified theory that includes the very big and the very small. To my mind any unified theory MUST include an explanation of what life and consciousness are. If you cant explain that, you have only a piece of a picture. |
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Pfft. The "Internet". It's just a fad, like color TV or women's rights.  |
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... I just believe it’s more likely that the average gun owner would shoot themselves cleaning their gun or have a kid find it and shoot another kid than successfully defend a surprise attack against their home.
End troll - carry on.
One would think so, but that is not what is shown statistically. Many more people are intentionally killed by guns than accidentally killed. I carry every day and I seriously doubt that I will ever need to pull my weapon where I live now. Having said that I used to live in St. Louis when it was the most dangerous city in the USA. My neighbor across the street was shot through the neck and died on his doorstep, he was a school principal who told me guns were dangerous and he would never carry. My girl friend was "afraid" of guns, and twice was the victim of a home invasion. I was almost a victim myself when I watched a guy hide by my door while his lady friend tried coaxing me to let her in, claiming she was alone and scared. When I answered the door with my AK47 she changed her story. They were arrested later that night for assault and home invasion. Not counting war, I have had two friends shot and one died. You are going to have a hard time convincing me that not having a gun is safer. |
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I will be meeting a friend from L.A. in Chicago next weekend. He also is a bitcoin peer and we would definitely eat at any restaurant that accepts bitcoin. I visit Chicago regularly. Two weeks ago I went to the symphony to see Bolez conduct Stravinsky, for example. Because of this I keep Rashid's number in my phone. If I need a cab, he is my first choice.
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Assuming you are a U.S. citizen, you are likely to be required to pay capitol gains. So if you bought 1 bitcoin at $5 then sold or spent it at a value of $8, you would owe taxes on the $3 appreciation in value. The "good" news is that capitol gains are taxed at only 15%. You get to pay less than you do for your earned wages, just like Montgomery Burns!  You are also correct that the government may have no way of knowing what you owe. So, again like Mr. Burns, you could just hide it. |
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So your argument is that bitcoin is dead if the price stabilizes? Because speculators can't make as much money?
yep, speculation keep this alive and bots bring liquidity on this world before you say is good for merchants remember this we get mtgox volume data each day same for other exchange house also from bitcoinica, what we get from merchants ? nothing, bit-pay do release daily merchant volume ? nope, if you cant measure it does not existdoes the line if you cant measure it does not exist is to hard ? well yes but that cut all the BS and voodoo numbers about merchant volume Speculators play a role, but to say it's dead just because speculators can't make easy money isn't a compelling argument. I do not find this very compelling either. I do not really speculate and could not care less about big players. If they want to liquidate to smaller players, it will strengthen the market, IMO. |
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Please, please, please, can we have a no begging policy. Actually, I don't care. |
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Mine gets ordered tonight! I think this will be one of my favorite toys!
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Why not just buy stuff you need with BTC? You already have money.  |
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Thanks for your contribution to the community Tux!  |
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Watching this. I would love to buy an AR-15 with bitcoin.
This discussion may seem strange to my Euro friends. But in the U.S., buying guns is like buying toys.
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Supply - demand That is all you need to know. If the supply is less and demand remains the same, then the price increases. The value of a bitcoin is irrelevant just as the price of an ounce of gold does not matter. That's why people buy gold in amounts smaller than 1 oz. now that prices are high. If demand continues to go up there may come a day when people say; "You own a whole bitcoin!!!"  |
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Chaos math is not primarily to do with randomness, in fact chaotic systems run in a clockwork universe (for our purposes).
It is more that a chaotic system has a large change in output for a terribly small change in input. In the real world we cannot measure these inputs with infinite precision making the output unpredictable.
Markets are chaotic because there is no way to know all the actors and their motivations. We cannot predict that tomorrow a bitcoin proponent will win the lottery and pump a load of advertising into the world.
Equally... some large player with 50k coins could have his finger over the mouse button right now and reading this post distracts him for 30 seconds, long enough for the phone to ring and him to leave his desk. Small input large output.
Mathematical chaos is not literary chaos.
Well stated. |
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What I do is this. My "savings" wallet is encrypted and stored on more than one USB stick. Both hidden at my property and a copy is with a trusted friend. My spending wallet is encrypted using the client and a backup is stored encrypted and hidden online, I don't keep much there.
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You might try this: http://btcnearme.com/It is a service to help you find bitcoin peers near you, and trade in real life. |
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Gabriel Prokofiev is a London based DJ who is a friend of mine. He staying with me last week and, as always, he was impressive. Here is some of his awesome mix of classical and electronica. His grandfather was Sergie Prokofiev, a very famous composer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mz9vD6-WYk |
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Just like those whiners in Syria. All those bullets are just in their head. [insert sick joke here]
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Appreciate your suggestions Kohta. You are correct in identifying this a a problem in the bitcoin economy. The tricky part is that those in the economy tend to understand that all security systems are just fallible, exploitable, ignorable ideas for and by rule followers.
One could rely on paypal verification or whatever, but to me it's just 1's and 0's with no meaning or value. I know how to create a fake identity and use it to get credit, and I'm not that smart.
I just see no way around doing your own due diligence.
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