Why no press/PR re: the London Conference?

[crazy_rabbit]

to which Stallman replied "because the state protects the poor from the rich."

Was he then laughed off the stage?

Lol.

Yes, the poor are so well represented in seats of power around the world.

Not a crazy idea at all. The poor in industrialized countries with strong governments are far more protected from the rich then you might think. No more slavery for example, or indentured servitude in western countries, or companies with small private militias killing their workers. All not so distant history examples.

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[crazy_rabbit]

I should also add the Conference was great. The lack of internet sucked, but I think in the end it was nice to have people focusing on meeting other people in person rather then checking email. Excellent event!

[LightRider]

to which Stallman replied "because the state protects the poor from the rich."

Was he then laughed off the stage?

Lol.

Yes, the poor are so well represented in seats of power around the world.

Not a crazy idea at all. The poor in industrialized countries with strong governments are far more protected from the rich then you might think. No more slavery for example, or indentured servitude in western countries, or companies with small private militias killing their workers. All not so distant history examples.

Right! Now the slaves are paid, and the police who kill the workers are now publicly funded, but controlled by private interest. Much better!

[crazy_rabbit]

to which Stallman replied "because the state protects the poor from the rich."

Was he then laughed off the stage?

Lol.

Yes, the poor are so well represented in seats of power around the world.

Not a crazy idea at all. The poor in industrialized countries with strong governments are far more protected from the rich then you might think. No more slavery for example, or indentured servitude in western countries, or companies with small private militias killing their workers. All not so distant history examples.

Right! Now the slaves are paid, and the police who kill the workers are now publicly funded, but controlled by private interest. Much better!

hahaha, I didn't say they have MUCH more protection by the government, just that there exists some. For example, you can't kill one of your workers anymore arbitrarily with violence. Whether or not you can work them to death while letting them handle deadly chemicals without proper protection....well that's something for your surviving relatives to sue in court about.

[Ichthyo]

to which Stallman replied "because the state protects the poor from the rich."

Was he then laughed off the stage?

Not a crazy idea at all. The poor in industrialized countries with strong governments are far more protected from the rich then you might think....

Thats true.

And incidentally, so many people and especially Libertarians confuse "the state" with the government, which is only one of the
forces within the state. You shouldn't forget that legislative and especially jurisdiction can and will effectively protect the weaker
members of the state, even if there seems to be massive "public interest" turning against them.


We shouldn't forget further, that tyranny, mafia, manipulation and exploitation aren't created by "evil forces", they are just natural altogether. There will always be yet another twist, which creates yet another twist. Erecting something for the better is uttermost against nature, and is constantly endangered to turn back into tyranny itself.


In the end it boils down to realizing that the state isn't about "them" (the government) --
rather the state is us, amongst others, and we shouldn't stop trying to convince those others 

[Severian]

And incidentally, so many people and especially Libertarians confuse "the state" with the government, which is only one of the
forces within the state. You shouldn't forget that legislative and especially jurisdiction can and will effectively protect the weaker
members of the state, even if there seems to be massive "public interest" turning against them.

This leaves out the simple fact that in the past 100 years, the power of states and governments have been responsible for the deaths of well over 150 million people:

The Hemoclysm

Centralized power is and always has been an extreme danger to humanity. I have belief in the fact that decentralization will continue to be an evolutionary trait of human societies.

[tvbcof]

The question that elicited the most cheers was one that was asked of Richard Stallman after his talk: "You seem like a guy who values freedom, who loves freedom a lot. So why do you love the state?", to which Stallman replied "because the state protects the poor from the rich."

I think he got his answer backwards.

You mean the state protects the rich from the poor?

If so, I would say that you are both right.  Without a state, there is a cyclic loop whereby the rich enslave the poor until they've had enough and break out the pitch-forks.  The one thing one rarely sees in such a world is 'freedom' except in the most primitive hunter/gatherer societies (which are deeply 'commie' to their core since that's the most effective survival setup in such an environment.  Your typical Libertarian would last a matter of days in one if he stuck to his principles.)

While I feel that most stated degenerate over time (with mine..the US...being a poster child for the phenomenon) I do see very distinct advantages to having one and having it work as well as can be hoped for...For the good of the poor, the rich, and those in between.  Clearly having a state and having a fair degree of 'freedom' are not mutually exclusive, but it is just as clear that a balance is hard to achieve on an ongoing basis.

[Gareth Nelson]

Maybe there was just nothing interesting going on.

Stallman is usually good for a mention on a geek blog.

Stallman was there? I would have went out of my way to attend if i'd known that, would love to meet the guy.

[mintymark]

I agree there has been a lack of press coverage, and online coverage, just as there was last year, and certainly this is an opportunity missed.  I could not go to all the talks and that's regrettable.

I was there and I can tell you, I felt the speakers were in the main awesome, I really enjoyed meeting and talking to people that I know online. It was a great experiance which will stay with me for a long time.

I was not at last years conference, and for a while I didn't get it. To experience it you need to come to it!! I also happen to belive that bitcoin conferences like this are a fairly transitory thing - the way things are going, in 5 years time bittcoin will be way too big to have this style of conference.

Having said that I think it would be a worthwhile aim for the next one if video cameras where set up, and that evening some minimal indexing and editing was done, and the aim was to have talks on line by next day - say within 6 hours of the end of the last talk, probably served from a specially set up server not at the hotel location. This would be a great thing to do in my opinion.


The comments about Bruce Wagner and earlier ones about Intersango I understand, but life goes on and Bitcoin is way bigger and more important than either of these two. I would, very much like to thank Amir Taaki and the other organisers for making this happen, overall I think they did a stunning job, and I am sure at times this was stressful. You know organising an international conference in your spare time is not such an easy thing.

For next year, I feel possible changes could be:
  * More online of the presentation.
  * More press and TV interface locally. No BBC report? Bah!!
  * The auctions were great fun, and I think this ought to be expanded. Its clear that a more professional approach to the auctioning would be useful, perhaps with pre registration, or at the very least your ticket comes with an auction registration number. I'd like to see this as a bigger item with more items for auction and more parties involved.
  * The stalls we had were great, but we need more of them and perhaps a separate room for "The Market" as it did interfere with talks going on in the same room.
     I think a lot could be done with the sale of bitcoin "novelties"

Once again I want to say Amir, thank you for doing this.

[lenny_]

Searching google for bitcoin reveals nothing in the news or on blogs about the London Conference.

What's up with that?

Nefario found one (in other thread): http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/printable-guns-grey-matters-and-masked-hackers

[yokosan]

Searching google for bitcoin reveals nothing in the news or on blogs about the London Conference.

What's up with that?

Nefario found one (in other thread): http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/printable-guns-grey-matters-and-masked-hackers

lol, the guy goes there after hearing about buying drugs, guns, explosives on silkroad.

First thing he sees is a guy that wants you to be able to print guns.

Yeah...

[Gabi]

Searching google for bitcoin reveals nothing in the news or on blogs about the London Conference.

What's up with that?

Nefario found one (in other thread): http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/printable-guns-grey-matters-and-masked-hackers

"omg they want to make guns, it's dangerous  "

/facepalm

[Grouver (BtcBalance)]

Just FYI: Streaming was impossible since the WIFI (ofcourse) was loaded and would not make up for a highish quality stream.
What do you want with 400~ computer people at one place. It would not suprise me if the hotel guests where complaining there internet sucked that weekend.

[Mjbmonetarymetals]

London conference, uk hasn't even got a functioning exchange, I'm tying to trade using bitcoins and cant even sell them. I must be missing something, not quite cutting edge more blunt spoon 

[yossarian]

London conference, uk hasn't even got a functioning exchange, I'm tying to trade using bitcoins and cant even sell them. I must be missing something, not quite cutting edge more blunt spoon 

Maybe you're not trying hard enough. I had a handful of trades during the weekend, most of which came through https://localbitcoins.com/

[Mjbmonetarymetals]

I see, this is face to face with cash ? The profit on the stuff I sell is so slim, to cash my bitcoins by siting in a coffee shop with a red carnation waiting for a face to face would blow any profit out of the water  it's true I haven't looked into it closely as of yet I just need bitcoins to cash in a couple of mouse clicks

[SgtSpike]

London conference, uk hasn't even got a functioning exchange, I'm tying to trade using bitcoins and cant even sell them. I must be missing something, not quite cutting edge more blunt spoon 

You are missing something:  Bitcoin is still VERY young.

[kiba]

Come on! This is a laughingstock. It's a fricking technology conference. They should be able to stream this thing live!

[Mjbmonetarymetals]

Need to move to the US  Wait hang on ..... I think not  working exchanges should be pretty high on the to-do list

[SgtSpike]

Need to move to the US  Wait hang on ..... I think not  working exchanges should be pretty high on the to-do list

On whose priority list?