Favoriting Techtonic with Mark Hurst: Playlist from March 26, 2018 Favoriting

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Favoriting March 26, 2018: Explaining cryptocurrency w/Alex George, Popular Mechanics - and Mark on #deletefacebook

Listen to this show: Pop-up listen Pop-up player!


(Above, explosm by Rob DenBleyker. See also this one.)

...or as the joke puts it:
Dad: Timmy, what would you like for your birthday?
Timmy: All I want for my birthday is one bitcoin.
Dad: What? $11,228? Don't you know that $15,475 is a lot of money! What do you need $8,498 for anyway?

This evening, Alex George, who covers technology for Popular Mechanics. (See his articles.) Alex wrote The Beginner's Guide To Bitcoin And Cryptocurrency for the current (April 2018) issue of Popular Mechanics, and he's here to help explain this timely topic.

See also, on bitcoin:

• The John Oliver video on bitcoin.

• And in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Bitcoin Is Ridiculous. Blockchain Is Dangerous by Paul Ford, who argues that like the Internet itself, the cryptocurrency fad is a bubble that will burst, but will eventually yield something useful.

- - -

But first,...

Tech in the past week:

• I deleted my Facebook account last week. I mainly used it to post anti-Facebook articles, but I no longer want to be there at all.

• Billionaire Brian Acton, who sold WhatsApp to Facebook, feels similarly. He posted: It is time. #deletefacebook

• Elon Musk replied to Acton: "What's Facebook?" and then announced that he was deleting Tesla's Facebook presence.

Here's how to delete Facebook, thanks to the helpful site deletefacebook.com. (See also this piece by LibrarianShipwreck, arguing that deleting Facebook is a good start, but we have to do more.)

• Douglas Rushkoff, our first Skeptech speaker last year (and past WFMU host): on CNN.com, I ditched Facebook in 2013, and it's been fine. ("You can ditch Facebook. It's OK. You will survive. And.. your life will get better.") ...and in the Los Angeles Times, How Facebook Exploited Us All:

Facebook figures out who or what each of us fears most, and then sells that information to the creators of false memes and the like, who deliver those fears directly to our news feeds. This, in turn, makes the world a more fearful, hostile and dangerous place. . . .

When Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook, a friend of his expressed surprise that people were surrendering so much personal data to the platform. “I don’t know why,” Zuckerberg said. “They trust me. Dumb ...”

We may have been dumb to trust Facebook with our data in the first place. Now we know they've been using the data to make us even dumber.
• WFMU's own Amanda Nazario posts: "I'm hopeful for a society totally free from Facebook. Without feels so much better than with."

• A research paper explains: in Quitting Facebook Leads to Higher Levels of Well-Being, researchers found that quitting Facebook has "positive effects on the two dimensions of well-being: our life satisfaction increases and our emotions become more positive." (from the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking)

• And by the way, you need to delete Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp. Zuck owns them all. As Zeynep Tufekci put it, "You’d be surprised how many people don’t know that Facebook owns Instagram and WhatsApp."

• TechCrunch's Josh Constine: Facebook has allowed so many worst-case scenarios to come true there’s too many to count, but I’m going to try *deep breath*... see also his accompanying TechCrunch piece.

• Google's Francois Chollet posted an anti-Facebook thread: "If Facebook gets to decide, over the span of many years, which news you will see (real or fake), whose political status updates you’ll see, and who will see yours, then Facebook is in effect in control of your political beliefs and your worldview." Good point, Francois! (And don't worry, we'll get to Google soon.)

• Matt Yglesias puts it well in Vox: The case against Facebook is "not just about privacy; its core function makes people lonely and sad." Yglesias suggests that Zuck "simply walk away from it, shut it down, salt the earth, and move on to doing something entirely new." Unrealistic, yes, but let's state the case: Zuck should just shut down Facebook.

• Unfortunately, Zuck is digging in: it's all someone else's fault! In this NYT interview, Zuck asks: "were there [other] apps that could have.. done something that violated people's trust?" I don't know, Zuck, maybe you should rack your brains to think who might have violated people's trust. As Open Markets Institute's Matt Stoller puts it, Zuck's defense is "increasingly bizarre. He sees himself as the victim here, that he, a powerless man worth $70B+, was tricked. He still thinks Facebook is a 'community'. And he doesn't acknowledge he threatened to sue the newspapers reporting the scandal."

• Then yesterday, Zuck bought a full-page ad in the NYT, WSJ, Washington Post, and six papers in the UK - claiming the breach was caused by "a quiz app built by a university researcher." Lame attempt to reframe the story away from his own culpability. In other words, "pay no attention to my surveillance of you - we're going to punish that bad, bad 3rd party for misusing the data we surveilled!"

• Fact is, Facebook is toxic. As Mike Caulfield put it, forget the tobacco-industry comparisons, as it's more accurate to compare Facebook to Union Carbide: "Facebook is in an industry with a lot of risk and they seek out countries with low regulation and low institutional power to experiment in."

As Kelvin Yu put it, "In retrospect, it might have been a mistake to give Facebook all of my personal information in exchange for seeing what my high school friends eat for dinner"

...and news from TODAY, Monday:

The FTC Is Officially Investigating Facebook for the Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal: The Federal Trade Commission announced on Monday that it has opened an investigation into Facebook and whether it violated its stated privacy policy. Here's the official FTC statement.

- - -

Finally, another thanks for everyone who showed support for Techtonic and WFMU in the recent fundraising marathon: you can still make a pledge to get the first-ever official Techtonic Tshirt (for $10/month or a one-time pledge of at least $75): check the box for a "DJ Premium" and on the following page, you can check the box to choose the Techtonic t-shirt.

Subscribe to the Techtonic podcast to catch up on past episodes.

And go ahead and delete Facebook! (Here's how.)

Artist Track Images Approx. start time
  Explaining cryptocurrency w/Alex George, Popular Mechanics - and Mark on #deletefacebook
Tomaš Dvořák  Game Boy Tune   Favoriting    
  Mark's intro  
Favoriting
 
  Interview with Alex George, Popular Mechanics  
Favoriting
0:17:51 (Pop-up)


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Listener comments!

Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:02pm
listener james from westwood:

Evening, Mark and all! Slow past seven days, huh? :D
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
Michael 98145:

time -does- seem to be accelerating, doesn't it?
  6:03pm
Warren from Australia:

Hey Mark and all Techtonic listeners, from across the pond!
Avatar 6:05pm
βrian:

Damn, I'd forgotten about Popular Mechanics. These days, it almost sounds like some kind of swimsuit issue.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:05pm
foofs:

We're going to have a great time this evening! But first-
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:06pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

There appears to be a new app called Wag! where a person comes to your house, takes your dog for a walk and locks up again when they're done.
Avatar 6:06pm
βrian:

Facebook always smelled funny to me, so I steered clear.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:06pm
queems:

hell yeah
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:07pm
Robert Tables:

@Ken: oops fortune.com...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
Jackie:

This 2010 Zadie Smith piece on fb is as relevant as ever:

www.nybooks.com...
Avatar 6:10pm
βrian:

#DeleteAnyNonOpenSourceSocialMedia
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

@RT - Well, there ya go. What could possibly go wring?
Avatar 6:11pm
herb.nyc:

hi. just tuned in. and fyi: several state attorneys general will write to FB asking when it knew of data leaks. as per wnyc
Avatar 6:11pm
Patty D:

Over the weekend I deleted all facebook and fb related apps off of my phone. The next step will most likely be account deletion.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
queems:

i haven't been able to delete instagram yet
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
queems:

too attached
  6:13pm
Adam West Coaster:

I also made the jump from two disabled accounts to full deletion this past weekend, and know that I will be just fine.
  6:13pm
?:

facebook can chew my hairy nutsack.
Avatar 6:14pm
Patty D:

Too many people that I know rely on fb for planning events and get togethers which is why i am hesitant to delete my account in full. But soon I'll probably just do it anyway and notify everyone that I can not be reached there any longer.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:15pm
listener james from westwood:

Oh, that FB ad in the Times was the weakest of sauce.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:17pm
northguineahills:

Never had FB on my phone. I barely use FB except to connect w/ family, and on my laptop there is more control then w/ my phone.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:17pm
TedfromOakland:

have you had the author of 'Surveillance Valley' on your show? his recent piece in the Baffler: thebaffler.com...
Avatar 6:17pm
Andrew S:

big "amen" so far, let them have it
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:18pm
Buffalo's Tom:

Next Zuck will say he's helping OJ find the real killer.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:18pm
Robert Tables:

@βrian: maybe Usenet could be modernized.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
Michael 98145:

^ :)
Avatar 6:19pm
Hannah:

I've just stopped using Instagram instead of deleting it for now. Looking for a better way to showcase a photo project online
Avatar 6:20pm
Patty D:

What about stay-at-home mom groups who need to post about where to find gluten-free food in the area? Where will they all go?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:21pm
queems:

@hannah i used to use tumblr for more serious photo stuff but i don't really know the status of that anymore
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:21pm
Buffalo's Tom:

Haha, maybe Glutebook?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:21pm
queems:

and by "that" i mean tumblr
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:21pm
Jackie:

@Patty the cesspool that is urbanbaby
Avatar 6:22pm
Hannah:

Thanks @queems
Avatar 6:22pm
Patty D:

@hannah, have you ever considered creating your own website and hosting your photo project there?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Jackie:

@Hannah not sure if free, but there's behance
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

If you trust Yahoo! to not data breach, they have Flikr for photos. www.flickr.com...
Avatar 6:24pm
Hannah:

All good options. Thank uuuu chatboard peeps
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:25pm
queems:

@hannah you're welcome! if you find any good alternatives, please let us know!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:26pm
Robert Tables:

"shitcoins"
  6:26pm
melinda:

We really need to think about viable alternatives. This issue came up in a discussion on my cousin's fbook wall when she brought up the topic of deleting her account, and a couple of people made the point that it had been a lifeline for them in dire times. I have felt the same way but I don't want to let that blind me to the privacy issue, and there was a general sense that no one should expect privacy on the internet, which I found frustrating.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:26pm
Bas NL:

Most I've never even heard of(?)
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:26pm
listener james from westwood:

Such money. Many servers. Wow.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:28pm
Michael 98145:

so much energy consumed generating =wealth=
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Yeah, how many gigawatt-hourss of electrical power are consumed by data mining? How much in the future?
Avatar 6:29pm
Number Six:

Ha! Love the photo! But instead of Data shouldn't it be ZuckerBorg?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:30pm
Michael 98145:

@Ken, a whole lotta clean coal
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:31pm
chris:

i guess Alex just mentioned this, but the winkelvoss twins took zuckerberg's payout from facebook and invested in bitcoin - www.nytimes.com...
Avatar 6:33pm
herb.nyc:

i just bought 5 Hurstocurrency coins. from a guy at washington square park. seriously: 2,3 yrs ago someone had a stand w/sign "get a free bitcoin". i didn't ask how or what.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
Bas NL:

Money and bitcoins work to the same principles.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:36pm
Robert Tables:

There's JavaScript malware which runs in your browser and uses your CPU to mine coins for others, and the criminals profit. krebsonsecurity.com... Simple solution: run an extension like uBlock Origin - it's got a whole category of filters called "Resource Abuse" enabled by default with hundreds of websites in it.
Avatar 6:36pm
βrian:

By the same principles? Is the value of a bitcoin guaranteed to be redeemed by a government at face value? Like, say, one US dollar bill?
  6:37pm
Gregg:

The most important aspect of cryptocurrency is how the distributed ledger pulls the rug out from under the banks. This is as big a deal as the printing press, according to Max Keiser.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
Michael 98145:

wow -- remembering Iceland experienced a drastic financial crash back in 2008 ...
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Bitcoin chart: finance.yahoo.com... Down 3.07% today.
Avatar 6:37pm
βrian:

Sometimes I think *all* javascript is malware.
  6:38pm
Gregg:

Crypto may very well make this world a better place. If Jamie Dymon is worried, it's got to be a good thing.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:39pm
Robert Tables:

Unfortunately in many cases unless you allow _some_ JS all you get is a blank page.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:41pm
Bas NL:

@βrian: How does a government redeem money? Many money systems have exploded in the past..
Avatar 6:41pm
βrian:

@RT: That's what we call catastrophic failure. Fashion in place of good design.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:42pm
Robert Tables:

Yep, back to gopher then!
  6:42pm
Gregg:

The thing about crypto is that it's not fiat. There will only be so many coins made. And it's not controlled by governments/reserve banks. This is huge.
Avatar 6:42pm
βrian:

No, just good design in place of sheer laziness.
  6:43pm
medson:

Great show Mark.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:44pm
Bas NL:

The US dollar for instance isn't controlled by the US government. It's the FED; an external entity.. it is a trust based system, like bitcoin.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:45pm
Michael 98145:

are folks buying gold with bitcoin, and vice versa ?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:45pm
northguineahills:

@Michael: but they also did something about it and drastically changed their banking laws in the Thing, unlike the US Congress.
  6:45pm
moontana:

" . . . the end of the hype cycle . . .?" yer dreamin. Why can't speedier computers keep up with demand by bitcoin miners?
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:46pm
Bas NL:

Hi Mark!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:46pm
Michael 98145:

China is probably trying to corner the bitcoin market
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:47pm
listener james from westwood:

China has experience from Warcraft gold farming.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:50pm
listener james from westwood:

Didn't a hip-hop artist who got paid in a few bitcoin years back suddenly recall he had them, only to realize he was up $$$ since then?
Avatar 6:52pm
TDK60:

I know nothing about this stuff. I'll listen.
Avatar 6:52pm
herb.nyc:

didn't NKorea have people play video games to make money? money then channeled to the govt.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
Michael 98145:

▁ ▂ ▃ ▄ ▅ ▆ Wow. Thanks again for this program.
  6:54pm
JeremyB:

great graphic novel about gold farming in games called In Real Life by Cory Doctorow & Jen Wango
  6:55pm
JeremyB:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2017-11-30/so-it-looks-like-nobel-economics-laureates-don-t-like-bitcoin
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
geo in jc:

Check out this cool archive
archive.org...
Avatar 6:56pm
Andrew S:

great show
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
northguineahills:

Thanks Mark and Alex, getting of work soon!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
listener 126464:

Thanks Mark and Alex!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
chris:

thanks, Mark and Alex!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
melinda:

Thanks Mark!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Bas NL:

Thanks Mark, Alex!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
Tommy in Neversink:

Can we pledge in bitcoin ?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
listener 126464:

heard this somewhere recently...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
melinda:

@Tommy yes
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
Michael 98145:

wonder if ISPs accept bitcoin?
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

I wonder if the adult entertainment industry will be using buttcoins?
Avatar 6:58pm
Mayuko:

This reminded me of an article about a father who issues domestic currency used among him and his sons, which is photographs of baseball players they cut out of magazines and ad flyers. kids pay with this currency to play video games at home. the worth is determine by the size of the photo. sounds more tangible to me than all these cryptocurrencies... enjoyed the discussion nonetheless!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Michael 98145:

stormycoin
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Tommy in Neversink:

The bitcoin peep shows
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Robert Tables:

Great performance at the Hoof and Mouth, Mark!
  6:59pm
herb.nyc:

this is the second time i've ever heard this song. first time was because mark sang it 2 sundays ago. and very well too.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
Tommy in Neversink:

The second time ?? really ?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:01pm
Michael 98145:

time for coin fry
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