GoingMerry's recent activity
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Comment on What are some accidental life hacks you've stumbled into? in ~talk
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Comment on Honey did nothing wrong in ~tech
GoingMerry Link ParentPayPal has a long history of exploiting users and merchants. They are a bad company. It takes a 2 minute google search to find that PayPal owns Honey. If PayPal shows up at your door with “free...PayPal has a long history of exploiting users and merchants. They are a bad company. It takes a 2 minute google search to find that PayPal owns Honey. If PayPal shows up at your door with “free money” you should definitely be suspicious.
I’m not saying consumers should take ALL the blame, I’m saying that nothing about our predatory system changes unless consumers change. There are bad companies out there - unless consumers refuse to do business with them, they will outcompete the ethical companies.
If we always blame companies/government for our situation, we are giving away our power. If we accept responsibility, it means we can do something to change the system. I’d rather have some power than be powerless.
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Comment on Honey did nothing wrong in ~tech
GoingMerry Link ParentI agree it’s not easy to understand all of these complicated business models. And I also think it’s possible to try to use your dollars in a way that matches your values. It doesn’t have to be for...I agree it’s not easy to understand all of these complicated business models. And I also think it’s possible to try to use your dollars in a way that matches your values. It doesn’t have to be for every product or service you consume, even taking a couple of minutes to do a google search on a browser extension is more than what 90% of people do.
If everyone demands everything should be free, then stuff like Honey is inevitable. I’m not saying that consumers are the only ones to blame, but c’mon - trusting ANY browser extension which is owned by PayPal is pure folly. Consumers have to take some responsibility, or none of this changes.
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Comment on Honey did nothing wrong in ~tech
GoingMerry Link ParentWe can (and do!) make any number of excuses for users, but this predatory behaviour won’t change until users are willing to change. So yeah we can say “average users don’t understand that you...We can (and do!) make any number of excuses for users, but this predatory behaviour won’t change until users are willing to change.
So yeah we can say “average users don’t understand that you don’t get something (coupon codes) for nothing” or “average users don’t understand that when you install something on your computer it can do malicious things”, but IMHO that’s not very productive.
I’d rather take responsibility than give it away to private companies who will exploit it 100% of the time.
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Comment on Honey did nothing wrong in ~tech
GoingMerry LinkI’m surprised (and also not) at the reaction from Tildesians on this one. Most are quick to point out that Honey did something wrong but I see zero admission of fault for users. In my eyes, if you...I’m surprised (and also not) at the reaction from Tildesians on this one. Most are quick to point out that Honey did something wrong but I see zero admission of fault for users.
In my eyes, if you are a user who:
- doesn’t want to pay for content
- wants to save money without doing anything
- doesn’t vet browser extensions you install
You are just as culpable as Honey for “stealing” this affiliate revenue (and I personally don’t see it as stealing).
The ad industry is adversarial; it always has been. It’s cut throat because users are fickle and have always chosen convenience over quality, privacy, and fairness.
The only way we get out of this is by changing the culture of users. It’s easier to blame Honey but more productive to look at ourselves. This is an opportunity to do that, but it won’t happen unless users take some of the blame, here.
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Comment on Honey did nothing wrong in ~tech
GoingMerry Link ParentI’ll +1 this. I was in the affiliate industry for awhile and understood exactly what Honey was doing. Users install browser extensions. If they don’t understand what those browser extensions do it...I’ll +1 this. I was in the affiliate industry for awhile and understood exactly what Honey was doing.
Users install browser extensions. If they don’t understand what those browser extensions do it it’s kind of on them. Im glad the video “exposing” Honey came out, so users can choose to uninstall it if they like, but im not hopeful this will actually change anyone’s behaviour of installing shady browser extensions.
But it’s 100% standard practice and I don’t believe Honey is “stealing” or anything. It’s their traffic because they got the users to install their shitty extension.
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Comment on Are there any guides that properly explains the crypto space? in ~finance
GoingMerry LinkI’m a proponent of crypto and work in the space and still can’t recommend it to friends and family. They’ll get scammed. And yet the technology itself is relatively simple and potentially...I’m a proponent of crypto and work in the space and still can’t recommend it to friends and family. They’ll get scammed.
And yet the technology itself is relatively simple and potentially profound. I believe it’s on par with the internet itself in terms of potential change to society.
You may want to check out Read, Write, Own by Chris Dixon which attempts to separate “the computer” from “the casino”. The industry right now is >90% casino…so you’ll have to look carefully for people who are building for the right reasons.
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Comment on Addressing the cause of collapsing fertility: status in ~life
GoingMerry LinkHaving moved from Quebec (highest birth rate in Canada) to Ontario (middling birth rate), I have some anecdotal observations. In Quebec women have children younger, and there’s been...Having moved from Quebec (highest birth rate in Canada) to Ontario (middling birth rate), I have some anecdotal observations.
In Quebec women have children younger, and there’s been state-sponsored daycare for almost 30 years, and more generous parental leave (for both parents) than Ontario. The attitude towards having children in Quebec is, « if you want them, have them » whereas in Ontario it’s, « I have to create stability before I have kids ».
My friends in Quebec trust they’ll be able to find childcare, housing, and schooling for their kids. My friends in Ontario stress out about finding daycare, multi-bedroom housing, and being in good school districts.
Anecdotally it also feels like my friends in Ontario are having a much harder time trying to conceive in the first place. My wife and I also went through this - it took us over a year to conceive, and ultimately it came down to the fact that my wife was just stressed.
What do all these anecdotes mean? I feel like the society we have created (work-first, dopamine-driven, hyper-capitalist) has created an environment where it feels less psychologically safe to have kids.
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Comment on Donald Trump whisked off stage in Pennsylvania after apparent gunshots rang through the crowd in ~society
GoingMerry Link ParentI think trying to fit everything into one of two categories (left/right) really reduces the universe of all possibilities so far that an analysis starts to become a useless exercise.I think trying to fit everything into one of two categories (left/right) really reduces the universe of all possibilities so far that an analysis starts to become a useless exercise.
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Comment on I tried ditching my vehicle and doing the no-car thing. It was awful. in ~transport
GoingMerry LinkThis post feels like rage bait. You describe active city activists as « anti car », admit in the comments that you are annoyed by anyone who advocates for anything, and did literally zero research...This post feels like rage bait. You describe active city activists as « anti car », admit in the comments that you are annoyed by anyone who advocates for anything, and did literally zero research on both the changes you say you are testing out AND your actual experiment.
On the off chance you are being sincere, I’ll share my point of view. I grew up with a car. I love driving. I love cars. I don’t own a car, nor have I had one for the last 5 years.
Cars are convenient. And why not - city planning in North America has centered around the car for half a century. We actually had pretty good public transit in North America in most cities before the advent of the car, but that transit was systematically destructed in favour of the car. This means that in pretty much every North American city, driving a car will be cheaper and more convenient for an individual than any alternative.
Unfortunately, the aggregate costs to society are much higher than alternatives. Roadway maintenance, traffic productivity loss, and environmental issues are some of the costs bourne by society for individual car usage. Individuals typically don’t pay these costs - sometimes the government pays, but in general it’s society that is paying by having a crappier society with more pollution, gridlock, and money going to road maintenance rather than something else.
Advocates for alternative forms of people movement are advocating to set up the system so that these aggregate costs are minimized. They aren’t anti-car, it’s just that the car has had so much preferential treatment over the last 50 years that drivers have become accustomed to governments throwing tons of money/space at them, and don’t like to be told that a rebalance needs to happen.
If you care about building a society in North America that will handle more people while still being a great place to live, you should look into what these advocates are actually asking for. This is a « solved problem » for the most part, what’s missing is the political will to make it happen.
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Comment on What's a life lesson you've applied that has changed your life? in ~life
GoingMerry Link ParentOscar Wilde said, « everything in moderation…including moderation! » Which means it’s also ok to cut loose sometimes!Oscar Wilde said, « everything in moderation…including moderation! »
Which means it’s also ok to cut loose sometimes!
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Comment on Does anyone have experience or advice on cutting sugar consumption? in ~health
GoingMerry LinkI cut down 40 lbs by eliminating sugar and refined carbs. What worked for me: eat a lot of the good stuff. For me, black beans was my « core filler », but in general when I had cravings I would...I cut down 40 lbs by eliminating sugar and refined carbs. What worked for me:
- eat a lot of the good stuff. For me, black beans was my « core filler », but in general when I had cravings I would try to eat something « good » first.
- related to above: when you are having a craving, stop and think. Force yourself to think a few seconds about what you’re about to do. Are you actually hungry or just eating because you are bored/used to it? Is there something else you can eat/drink? Most domino eating happens because you aren’t giving yourself time to think
- don’t stock bad things, keep somewhat better alternatives stocked. I was able to cut cravings using 90% dark chocolate and apples
- accept hunger as part of the human condition. It’s not bad or good to feel hungry, it’s just what you feel. I find most people think hunger is bad and immediately work to stop that feeling, but if you accept it, you can just wait until the next meal and eat more rather than snack
Keep at it! The more you avoid sugar the less you will crave it!
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
GoingMerry Link ParentI think this is false. By your logic isn’t the internet/host the 3rd party between you and someone who wants to view your site? There’s a lot of levels of trust in serving a simple website. You...A web server serving files from your PC requires no trust or validation from anyone.
I think this is false. By your logic isn’t the internet/host the 3rd party between you and someone who wants to view your site? There’s a lot of levels of trust in serving a simple website.
You have trust technology standards like HTML and TCP/IP are being faithfully implemented so that users will find your site and see what you intended them to see. This is not always the case - ISPs will traffic shape, block sites (DMCA takedowns), and even inject their own data in packets running through their servers.
As a consumer, you have to trust the content you’re getting is actually legitimate (something that can be solved with cryptographic signing of content, which is easy on blockchain).
A chain being run by one person is a database that generates more heat.
People probably thought that computers doing calculations that people could do by hand a more expensive way to do calculations at one time as well. The benefit of blockchain isn’t tracking transactions, but in allowing anyone to have access to global consensus without Billions in capital and political connections.
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
GoingMerry Link ParentReplying to this comment but wanted to thank @paolia @weldawadyathink and @jess for responding in good faith as well. Personally I think the people who are in the space are the ones who “need” it...Replying to this comment but wanted to thank @paolia @weldawadyathink and @jess for responding in good faith as well.
Personally I think the people who are in the space are the ones who “need” it for one reason or another. They can’t use the traditional financial system (ex: criminal, unbanked, poor) or they bought in early and have their identity wrapped into it or they are true believers for whom blockchain is the change they want to see in the world (I’m in that last camp btw).
Outside of those who need it, of what use is blockchain? None at all. You can say this about ANY technology (ie I don’t yet need AI), blockchain is just early enough that the use cases aren’t there yet for a mass audience.
That being said, I do believe those use cases are coming, eventually. I look at our institutions and it feels like they have failed us. COVID and climate changes are “solved problems” scientifically and economically- and yet the way society’s incentives are set up we can’t actually take optimal long-term paths for these global issues.
I’m building a project that is simply NOT VC-fundable. It’s a public good (non-profit). I could have decided to walk away, but instead I harnessed the energy in the blockchain community to make it work. Now we are in public beta. Many other creators in blockchain are like me - non-VC backable. I find energy in being around people with similar struggles.
I’ll stop here, but I’ll just say I understand the criticism of blockchain but I still don’t understand the negative emotion in most online comment threads. Maybe that’s more about online comment threads than blockchain, though.
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
GoingMerry Link ParentYup, and blockchain was never a solution in search of a problem - people used it immediately to start sending money p2p without interference. And many people said the internet was a solution in...Yup, and blockchain was never a solution in search of a problem - people used it immediately to start sending money p2p without interference.
And many people said the internet was a solution in search of a problem despite all the people using networked computers. I lived through it. For a long time it was just a thing nerds used to send pictures and documents (and porn) to each other. Not worthy of notice of “normal people” - perhaps worthy of scorn.
The way people talk about blockchain feels the same as they way they talked about internet, to me. I’m just one person tho.
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
GoingMerry Link ParentI’m with you buddy. TBH I am not sure why ANYONE would defend our existing system of verifying things. Banks are objectively terrible. Identity systems (government-issued, credit ratings, cookie...I’m with you buddy. TBH I am not sure why ANYONE would defend our existing system of verifying things. Banks are objectively terrible. Identity systems (government-issued, credit ratings, cookie tracking) are objectively terrible.
The idea that blockchain is a lateral move in terms of capability is a red herring. The benefit isn’t additional capability (even though blockchain definitely allows more capability), the benefit is to have open, public systems instead of closed, private systems.
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
GoingMerry Link ParentRight? Tildes was founded on some of the same espoused values on web3 (self-sovereignty, transparency), so you’d think you’d find more users here. There seems to be irrational hatred for it. I’m...I have to admit this thread was a little tougher than I expected lol.
Right? Tildes was founded on some of the same espoused values on web3 (self-sovereignty, transparency), so you’d think you’d find more users here.
There seems to be irrational hatred for it. I’m not sure why. Even with AI doing things like taking people’s jobs and IP, discussions never seem to get as emotional as quickly as when you talk about blockchain.
Why do you think that is?
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
GoingMerry Link ParentHaha maybe I am in the minority as a dabbler and Tildian. Strange - many of the ideals of web3 are similar to the ones behind the creation of Tildes, so I thought I’d find more blockchain users...Haha maybe I am in the minority as a dabbler and Tildian. Strange - many of the ideals of web3 are similar to the ones behind the creation of Tildes, so I thought I’d find more blockchain users here.
Re: closed system, the people who use it have been locked out of the traditional system in some way. Criminals, yes, but also those who didn’t fit in for other reasons. For instance many Latin American users who don’t have bank accounts or guarding against inflation. African users who can code/design websites but can’t do video chat because of bandwidth issues. Startup founders who had ideas that couldn’t be funded by traditional VCs.
The blockchain space is full of misfits. Misfits and dreamers. As a technologist, I look at the culture in blockchain and compare it against other tech cultures and sub-cultures: Silicon Valley, VC, AI, and more. The culture in blockchain wins every time for me. From the outside, you see crypto bros, but inside are some of the most inspiring people working today. For me, anyway.
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
GoingMerry Link ParentThis is very confusing to me. You CAN connect your laptop to the internet and start publishing things on-chain. You CAN start a new chain. You don’t have to ask 3rd parties to do it - you can do...This is very confusing to me. You CAN connect your laptop to the internet and start publishing things on-chain. You CAN start a new chain. You don’t have to ask 3rd parties to do it - you can do it yourself.
Of course it’s not as easy to do as publishing a website…which speaks more to the tools that exist to make this possible. Also - your website can be blocked in any number of ways, so it’s not as decentralized as it may have been in the past.
I remain confused at this example.
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
GoingMerry (edited )Link ParentIn general I agree with you - you need governments to “back” any physical asset for ownership. Or have another way to stop people taking those assets by force. This is what people in crypto call...In general I agree with you - you need governments to “back” any physical asset for ownership. Or have another way to stop people taking those assets by force. This is what people in crypto call “real world asset” use case (or RWA). I’m not very interested in this use case (yet).
But there ARE ways to own digital assets using blockchain right now. You can own currency. You can own access to digital goods and spaces. You can own vaults which hold currencies and digital keys. And that last one enables is ownership of online communities which is what really interests me. Essentially you can make a smart contract that will disburse stored assets whenever certain rules are met (ie at least 50% of tokens vote to disburse).
That’s pretty cool! Because the rules are programmable, you can start to experiment with different kinds of communities and token mechanisms. That’s what’s really interesting to me.
Regarding RWA: I’ll be honest and say EVENTUALLY I believe governments/institutions (including banks) will use blockchain to “back” real-world assets. Perhaps a blockchain that has not yet been invented. Why? Global consensus. People say blockchain could be replaced with a $5 AWS server, and technically that is true…but you would be hard-pressed to find anyone willing to trust that $5 server to hold their transaction records. Banks currently spend billions of dollars securing their own networks and connecting to other bank networks. It’s a hodge podge of technology to allow you to transfer value from one bank to another (even in the same country).
Global consensus is a solved problem on Bitcoin and Ethereum. And it’s an environmentally-friendly solved problem on Ethereum.
So yeah, I am still bullish on RWA long term. And short term the current use cases are really interesting to me anyway.
I gave up news in 2020 and was much happier for it. I realized then that every time
I picked up my phone I was enraged. Deleted Reddit and social media from my phone, stopped reading news sites, and my life was better for it.