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Openness is not the issue. I think algorithmic feeds are the root of a lot of the problems. They tend over time to favor sensational and negative content because that's the easiest way to drive engagement. Valuing "engagement" over all other metrics has caused a lot of the problems with this generation of social platforms IMO.

I guess I'd describe Bitcoin as more naive than toxic. The failure of its designers to see that it would mostly be used as a platform for money laundering is more a liability of an excessive faith in technology to solve human problems than it is the kind of cynical exploitation of human nature that drove Facebook.



Getting off-topic, but don't you think it's interesting how parallel the main problem of modern "democracies" is? The quinquennial election game is purely about engagement, over all other metrics.

To come back to Bitcoin, I certainly agree that it is naive, but I don't see it as a failure.

It's too simplistic to be a replacement for fiat currencies or be the new world currency™, yes. But it had to be simple. Before even thinking about macroeconomics or social impact, it had to prove it could function at all as a trustless medium of exchange. It did so very well for a long time, now scaling the model to the world is another problem.


> The failure of its designers to see that it would mostly be used as a platform for money laundering

Is there a source on this? I have a hard time believing that's what it's "mostly" used for.




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