Ever since the invention of the Prius the auto industry has debated about whether hybrids will need to serve as a bridge to pure EV's until the tech gets more advanced. The Prius has been in production for more than 20 years now. Toyota just came out with their fifth generation of the vehicle. And we're still nowhere near mass adoption of the EV. I think this can serve as an allegory for bitcoin adoption, as there are lots of similarities to EVs. Both face deeply entrenched legacy infrastructures that are simply the most convenient option for the majority of people. Both are are on the bleeding edge of technology and can be difficult to use. Expectations for the new thing to behave like the old thing can often lead to bad outcomes. Both tend to be more expensive to use. All this will change over time but I think considering the bitcoin version of the hybrid vehicle is valuable. Long term, these might not be ideal ways for people to use bitcoin but maybe they can serve as a bridge to lead us to better options down the road.

This is pretty eye-opening. Whittaker looks at the widespread adoption of cryptography through the lens of how it powered secure commerce on the internet, which enabled business to flourish online. What started out as privacy tech ended up laying the foundation for surveillance at scale

Smarch is the cruellest month

Artists have a totally valid argument that gen-AI is built on their work and it's a form of property infringement. They have every right to fight this. At the same time, I'm not convinced government intervention will be effective in wrangling this freight train. It’s left the station. In the long run, people will decide. And if AI-generated music takes over the world and dominates every mainstream way of listening to music, that’s on us. And no, it’s not a fair fight, which is why I think any attempt to level the playing field is reasonable. But laws alone aren’t the answer. We need more tools to enable creative work outside the mainstream. And my optimistic side still thinks there’s some kid out there who’ll figure out how to master these new tools to make incredible, original music. I’d like to give ourselves the best chance to see that happen. https://artistrightsnow.medium.com/200-artists-urge-tech-platforms-stop-devaluing-music-559fb109bbac