A Laudatory Philosophy of Life in Cypherspace She left an indelible mark on me. It is my privilege to have known her. I would not trade that experience for any money in the world.
Known her.. Like??
🐈👈🏻
LOL, “In my dreams.” So: Like one knows a disembodied spirit. Although I not infrequently flirted with her, or tried to, I still do not even know if she was a “she”. (Yes, that question still drives me crazy.)
For a rough analogy—to be applied
mutatis mutandis, and not overextended:
Gold is a tangible thing of value. Gold is
the canonical embodiment of tangible money. It has been so for millennia. So always shall it be.
Bitcoin is intangible, disembodied value communicated in cypherspace. You can’t see it. You can’t touch it. You can’t hold it in your hands.
People will always have bodies and real-world relationships, like gold will always be valuable.
A cypherpunk Bitcoiner should understand the pure meeting of minds—encrypted communication between spirits known only by their nyms and public keys. Those who would assume that such a thing cannot be valuable will also be unable fully to understand why Bitcoin is valuable. And to be sure, most forum relationships are like shitcoins: Easy come, easy go—shallow; ultimately meaningless—try to enjoy them while they last, if you bother with them at all.
I think it is no accident that I met Lauda on the Bitcoin Forum. She was a Bitcoiner. Her
mindset was Bitcoin. Her quintessential Bitcoinism reflected in her personal interactions. Observe that Bitcoin is reliable and incorruptible; but it demands responsibility, it has strict rules, and it is extremely harsh if you mess up!
A very few people had the vision to mine Bitcoin in 2009, and hold it to this day. I didn’t, but I saw Lauda for what she was. Accordingly, I valued her without regard for the fact that I could never meet her; and losing her hit me as hard as losing someone IRL ever could.
I know that she touched many people’s lives here. She was one of the most active community contributors, briefly on staff—no doubt, she must have had numerous other forum contacts that I never knew about because they are
none of my business. Some will forget that, like they would sell BTC to “cash out” and “take profit” in central bank fiat shitcoins. Some never will.
I would not trade that experience for any money in the world. [...]
What about all the bitcoins in the world?
Not even for 21 million BTC. I know you jest kindly here; but it is a serious principle to me. I have known, and sometimes been betrayed by the types of people who would sell out all their family and friends—oftentimes, for shockingly small amounts of money.
I think Lauda would be more than happy if someone took the lead in the even distribution of bitcoin on a global scale.
![Shocked](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/shocked.gif)
Well, perhaps I should take up mining?
![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
Although nothing is perfect, mining is the fairest way yet invented to distribute newly-issued coins. Miners face stiff competition, and they need to sell on thin profit margins to cover their high costs. It is not a “rich get richer” system.
I am pretty sure that the two have not met in person, assuming they are different people.
To this day, I have never admitted or denied the allegations that I am Lauda’s sockpuppet. That was a popular refrain in some quarters, in 2018 and in early 2020. No comment. My refusal to answer such questions is a personal policy, which I have rarely ever broken for any reason whatsoever.