In the plains of the American Steppe‚ a company charts a decentralized future.Canonic.xyz‚ the online marketplace where you can buy and sell books in Bitcoin‚ zigged where the hodlers and hypebeasts zagged: instead of playing for the pump or platforming gif speculators‚ the site doubled down on building commerce driven by lasting‚ tangible goods created by real people for real people. Amid the scattered flecks of the crypto bubble‚ Canonic stands out — for reasons that run deeper than standard tech savvy or business acumen. We plumbed the depths with Canonic cofounder @rdnxyz over DM and email.RETURN: Crypto projects have come and gone over the past few years. Canonic has outlasted them by publishing and selling books for Bitcoin. What’s the lesson there for founders‚ investors‚ and ordinary people trying to size up the opportunity?RDN: Bitcoin is sui generis. Our current mental models for what Bitcoin constitutes — and the mental models we borrow from the adjacent tech business culture to push Bitcoin’s adoption — are inadequate. This misunderstanding offers us an opportunity to think about a trait that might not be presently associated with company founders: humility. Investors and founders need to find a source of humility. There are few things that are more important and stressful to folks than the concepts of money and God. They are shrouded with a sense of mystery. Debt and repayment are concepts that pressure us to question whether we have been behaving well in our lives and deserve just rewards. Despite the respect that we have to show to people's resistance to adopting Bitcoin in the face of these uncomfortable mysteries‚ Bitcoin's stability reminds us that its value is shown to those with low time preference. So the act of unceremonious survival should take precedence over short-term‚ publicizable wins. I think Bitcoin veterans understood that the last bull market did not have good fundamentals. If it’s hard to predict the nonlinear behavior of vanilla financial derivatives‚ it’s impossible to predict the behavior of crypto derivates. To me‚ playing in that field meant you were not a legitimate actor.But‚ being so thirsty for innovative leaders‚ people are still making excuses for the state of the crypto market even after the spectacular‚ but predictable‚ implosions that began after the signal came from the Fed for a new tightened monetary regime. I think founders and investors will be better served by thinking in terms of the older and slower business cultures of yesteryear. Value investing is out of fashion in today’s drive-by meme attention economy‚ and yet it is exactly what Bitcoin needs. Regardless of the fact that its most famous practitioners‚ Munger and Buffet‚ are religiously opposed to understanding it. In a way‚ the same applies to people without expertise. The allure of making money will confuse you more than enlighten you. Instead‚ look at Bitcoin as a key that opens up learning opportunities. The more you learn‚ the more access to information you earn‚ and the more you can take risks with exposure. Think about using it‚ not investing. We build Canonic.xyz to allow the average user to start using Bitcoin by selling ebooks and audiobooks. Canonic lowers the amount of work required to use Bitcoin. It allows you to earn Bitcoin and create a network of Bitcoin paying customers while helping safeguard the accuracy and provenance of your information. You are able to cryptographically sign the data you put on the Bitcoin chain and prove that the content existed at a particular point in time. These capabilities will increasingly be more valuable as the symbols that make our [whole world] erode through “AI” et al. RETURN: Albanians seem to be everywhere these days‚ from Martin Shkreli to Mira Murati. You’ve warned that the U.S. is turning into Albania — something Curtis Yarvin has commented on as well. What’s happening‚ and how should Americans react?RDN: Although I don’t think the meaning I am conveying is the same as that of a guy who writes poetry to MiloÅ¡ević in his free time‚ seeing that I once had the distinction of being called the third-most interesting Albanian in the world‚ I have a sense of responsibility to navigate this question slowly. The competition between the tower and the bazaar‚ the hierarchical and the rhizomatic‚ doesn’t produce an e/acc future nor so-called "Brazilification". Rather‚ it reintroduces the problems so neatly hidden under the term Balkanization.There’s a saying: the Croats look to the Vatican‚ the Bosnians to Mecca‚ the Serbs to Moscow‚ and Albanians to the State Department. Clearly‚ the one that doesn’t belong is Albania. Why and how does it apply to our present situation? Albania was formed as a political union where blood and language served as the strange attractor. Very quickly‚ the new political union was mired in political struggles that masked the underlying religious rift. Although modern Albania prides itself on the lack of religious struggle among its Catholic‚ Orthodox‚ and Muslim communities‚ this track record was probably only sustained due to the collapse that came with the First World War.How you govern a populace with competing metaphysical hierarchies is essentially the same problem as that of the tower and the bazaar. It has been answered differently by the different Balkan countries. On one side‚ we have the Turkish‚ Greek‚ and Yugoslav answer. On the other‚ we have the Albanian one. The former decided they will not have competing hierarchies‚ and they “exchanged” populations with the goal of preserving the religious hierarchy within their geographies. Albanians couldn’t resort to this option. The metaphysical multiplicity was governed at the end of World War II with a communist rationalist bureaucracy that in due time‚ outlawed all religion. What started as a being superior to religious leaders — the enlightened bureaucrat that would bring us progress through industry — ended up eating these positions and forming a religious body itself. What we learned at the end of those 46 years of rabid scientific-progressive communism is that once you think all you see is all there is‚ very soon you will start seeing even less. Rationalism and materialism is an ourobouros‚ a self-eating snake. The Albanian answer was to create a new abstraction‚ give it a different name‚ and pass to it the duties and governing parameters that were previously the duty of traditional religious bodies. When that abstraction failed abysmally in its role‚ we supplanted it with the U.S. State Department. One could argue very effectively that only the branding changed and the essence of the Albanian Politburo was kept alive with the State Department.Nothing is more telling about what is now the de facto religious body of the waning "postwar" world order than the way NATO chooses to justify the tragedy that is unfolding in Ukraine:This televisual boomer priesthood is at the same place Greece‚ Turkey‚ and Yugoslavia were. They have to make a choice. But whereas Greece and Turkey and Yugoslavia had the option to avail themselves of a border and continue their traditional worship‚ the U.S.‚ like Albania‚ doesn’t have that luxury. Will America‚ therefore‚ start worshiping the State Department as the Albanians were forced to? Has it started already? RETURN: Americans used to be very confident about their relationship to their technology. Now‚ they often seem helpless or frightened or simply resigned to whatever unfolds. Big plans meant to revitalize the American spirit fall flat. What’s it going to take to restore confident action that doesn’t unleash fresh horrors?RDN: The total illumination of the digital has created a severe spiritual drought. There’s an underlying lie that we in the West have "solved" metaphysics. I think many intuit that re-engaging in metaphysical discourse opens up dangers we are not prepared to withstand. However‚ I don’t think we have a choice. We either come clean with ourselves or we will be made to confront this reality. The late Antonin Scalia used to say that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution would be only a paper guarantee without the underlying separation of powers. Our system cannot continue to function without some level of Mexican standoff at certain levels of governance. However‚ this separation of powers becomes an illusion impossible to sustain in the digital age when everyone can see that something called the “establishment” controls the political infrastructure‚ the economy‚ the media‚ the tech companies‚ the military-intelligence complex‚ the public schools‚ the universities and the large urban areas. The only alternative left is to export our political conflict and start talking about war with China‚ Russia‚ and Iran. And of course‚ many are considering this coming conflict as the cauldron that will forge and purify a new American spirit. I think Bitcoin‚ being at the center of money‚ technology‚ media‚ energy‚ and local/global governance trade-offs‚ offers us a chance for a particular mixture of humility and courage to emerge‚ which can allow for a sincere and delicate conversation in the "Global American Empire" about our metaphysical roots. Tucker Carlson freely admits that America’s Protestant rudder has come undone. Yet no one seems to have a follow-up question to his statement that “I became convinced of God’s existence. We grew up in the Episcopal church. But I would never send my kids again to the Episcopal church. Our whole world collapsed."Of course‚ this problem doesn’t apply only to the Episcopal church. But no one of note wants to go through the trouble of generalizing the problem. Ultimately‚ I don’t think our current “Judeo-Christian” pastiche or pithy quotes from online gurus will quench many souls of their spiritual thirst as the digital medium continues to burn away the once-comfortable illusions of the boomer imagination. RETURN: A recent infographic showed a dividing line in Europe roughly where the Iron Curtain used to be — east of which support for the sex-and-gender rainbow was low‚ and west of which it was high. (Albania was especially low.) Relatedly‚ the Financial Times recently ran an illustration for a column about how Ukraine became a flashpoint in the “culture war” with two tanks blasting each other — one shooting out the rainbow‚ the other the Orthodox cross. Why are the battle lines shaping up this way‚ and what’s really the war?RDN: "All world religions‚ the genetic code of the planet’s key civilizations‚ are under attack." Longtime Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote that in June of 2021. When Americans are presented with these words‚ they tend to quip with questions about the veracity of Russia's newfound religious piety. Far be it [from] me to throw stones in a glass house‚ but I think we have more pressing concerns here at home. We can question who is leading this attack the same as we can question who is really in control of the U.S. government‚ but questioning whether this attack is emanating from the American Empire would be deeply insincere.It’s instructive to see how powerless we have been in stopping the manipulation of foundational ontological categories like woman and man‚ mother and father. We all tend to intuit that “there be dragons” in this enterprise‚ but the “tools” we have at hand are not up to the task of congealing a meaningful polity against it. In November 2014‚ the British Times reported that Putin "had annexed Crimea and sent his forces into eastern Ukraine‚ but the moment when Angela Merkel finally became convinced that there could be no reconciliation with Vladimir Putin was when she was treated to his hardline views on gay rights.” Of course‚ this conflict must be reasonable. Right? About something like geopolitics or realpolitik or history? Or it might be about something that people in the East still remember clearly and the American graybeards shouldn’t have allowed us to forget: there’s actually very little about sex that is private. RETURN: Many Americans who take the “new civil war” idea seriously probably ultimately reject it because it would hit them where it hurts — their standard of living. [What] do you think about the risk of serious unrest and how to hedge against it?RDN: I’ll spare readers the “Bitcoin solves this” ritual and other tactical advice‚ which they can find freely on the internet. I think that beyond the necessary measures — every citizen should take responsibility for his family and community — there is little you can do. That’s why it behooves us to have the difficult conversations as soon as possible. As we sit in this inescapable situation‚ with no exit in sight‚ hopefully‚ we will be reminded that the only hedge we have left is the simple devotion to the Source of that normality we all claim to want back. RETURN: You’re a refugee of sorts from Google. What should ordinary citizens [who worry] about the future know about what goes on there and why?RDN: I joined Google in 2014. At that time‚ the company had already become a juggernaut and was going through the expected s-curve dynamics. The early employees were exceptional people at the top of the talent hierarchy. They were the “think different” types‚ and the company was dominated by a risk-taking engineering and tinkering culture.Last decade‚ this started to change. The culture of the company began to be dominated by the more “conservative” culture of lawyers and Human Resources. Around 2015‚ some of these new cohorts would freely admit that the company was in process of transforming into a public utility. The hiring of Ruth Porat‚ a seasoned Wall Street veteran‚ permanently sealed the cultural transition from apex tech predator to a relaxed public utility. In the American political discourse‚ there’s too much import put on the categories of private vs. public and not enough on large vs. small. Google has nine products with more than one billion monthly active users. At this level of scale‚ a "public" corporation is more akin to a governmental organization. The barrage of voices attesting to the lowering standards of Google Search is a reminder of this reality. The key point is that AI and algorithms without Bias are a logical impossibility. The only question is about the aesthetic the defacto priesthood wants to optimize.This means folks should look at Google with the same mix of nonchalance and cosmic horror that they feel when they are at the DMV. RETURN: What’s next for Canonic?RDN: The future of Bitcoin will be decided among the plumbers‚ electricians‚ construction workers‚ and priests of the American Steppe. That’s where you will find us.

A homeowner is shaken up after he wrestled with a man who broke into his Indiana home and then shot the suspect to death with his own gun. Brent Smith spoke to WRTV-TV about the incident that police say was a thwarted home invasion attempt on Tuesday in Indianapolis. Smith says he had just returned to his home on Marseille Road from the grocery store when he saw a young man go up to his front door and put on a ski mask. He said the incident happened so quickly he didn't realize what was happening until he was hit by the assailant. "He hit me in the head with his gun‚" Smith said. "I yelled out‚ 'He is robbing me‚' thinking my neighbors would hear me." Smith says he wrestled with the thug for the gun‚ and then the intruder ran out of the house. When Smith shot at the man‚ he heard more gunshots being fired at him from outside. "At this time‚ I started hearing what felt like thousands of shots‚" he continued. He says he fired outside with the intruder's gun and then with his own gun. He saw a group of people speed away in a car. The Marion County Coroner's Office later identified the dead intruder as 22-year-old Damon Swanigan Jr. Smith was emotional when he recalled the moment he realized he had shot and killed the intruder. "That didn't make no sense‚ man‚ I didn't want to do that!" he said while wiping away tears. "I didn't want to do that." WRTV reported that there were more than a dozen gunshots around the man's home‚ including some that shattered his windows in the home and a window in a car parked in front of the home. Smith was detained and questioned but released by police. The Marion County Prosecutor's Office is reviewing the case‚ but it is unlikely he will face charges‚ according to a gun rights attorney who spoke to WRTV. "Y'all need to find something productive to do‚" Smith said. "You don't need to rob me. I keep to myself. The first thing I noticed was the kid had on brand-new Jordans. You're trying to rob me‚ but you got brand-new Jordans on‚ man? I just don't get it." Here's the interview with Brent Smith: Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Joe Rogan and New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers were both castigated by the media during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic for questioning the origins of the virus‚ the effectiveness of facemasks‚ and‚ of course‚ the vaccine. Now their critics look remarkably stupid as nearly everything Rogan and Rodgers originally said has now been proven true. Dave Rubin plays a clip of the two discussing previous events on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “Science that can't be questioned anymore isn't science. ... It's propaganda‚” Rodgers told Rogan‚ who agreed wholeheartedly. “There was questioning [during the pandemic]‚ but it wasn’t allowed‚” Rodgers continued‚ explaining that anyone who dared to question the narrative was immediately labeled as an “antivaxxer‚ flat-Earth‚ crazy‚ white‚ right-wing conspiracy theorist.” “That's what I said when I made that video to Neil Young when Neil Young was getting all his music removed from Spotify because I was promoting misinformation‚” Rogan recalls. “I said‚ ‘What you say is misinformation today is not going to be misinformation in the future.”’ During the height of COVID-19‚ “saying that masks don't work or saying that the vaccine won't stop transmission or saying that the virus came from a lab — all those things would get you kicked off of social media initially‚ [but] those have all been proven to be true‚” Rogan continued‚ noting that the lab-leak theory has technically not been proven true but rather that “most people believe it to be true.” “If you question anything‚” says Dave‚ “the machine then puts out comedians‚ late-night hosts‚ [and] 'journalists' ... to label everybody all of these awful things‚ and it just marches on.” Want more from Dave Rubin?To enjoy more honest conversations‚ free speech‚ and big ideas with Dave Rubin‚ subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America‚ defend the Constitution‚ and live the American dream.

Grime isn't the kind of game I'd usually pay much attention to‚ but it's becoming impossible for me to ignore its unique aesthetic‚ boss design‚ challenging combat‚ and wicked weaponry. Clover Bite has crafted an unforgettably horrifying experience with Grime and continues to work on the Metroidvania with updates and a coming sequel. If it caught my soulslike-averse eye‚ it may just catch yours with the new Definitive Edition and free expansion. Continue reading Surreal 9/10 soulslike gets a definitive edition and free expansion MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best RPG games‚ Best action-adventure games‚ Best indie games

Rust isn't going to die out any time soon‚ after going strong for well over a decade now. Facepunch Studios' unique multiplayer survival game has all the essentials to make for a challenging‚ chaotic experience and will only continue to have more fun features as the developer now reveals a variety of other upcoming additions to Rust's content. Fans have asked for both backpacks and pets for a while now‚ and we now know we'll see both drop in updates. Continue reading Rust dev finally adds highly requested backpacks‚ says pets are coming MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best survival games‚ Rust commands‚ Rust vehicles

The calendar is one of more than 600 relics unearthed at the immaculately well-preserved tomb‚ which dates to the Western Han dynasty. The post An Ancient Wooden Astronomical Calendar Was Just Discovered In A 2‚000-Year-OId Chinese Tomb appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Texas governor Greg Abbott has sent migrant to blue cities across the country in an effort to share the burden of the border crisis with states up north.

Rabbi Avremi Zippel told NR that things were going smoothly until Irving gestured toward him.

Four years after the pandemic hit‚ officials are just starting to tell the truth about their panicked and destructive reaction to it.

Trump and his supporters may be nursing legitimate grievances. Do you know what other president’s partisans decried injustices to their guy? Let’s review.