Reality seems to be diametrically opposed to human comprehension
It’s generally assumed that physics provides us with objective truths about reality. The general consensus seems to be that we are slowly but surely figuring things out, getting gradually closer and closer to understanding everything there is to know about the universe, and all of reality may someday be understood through the unbiased lens of a perfect, objectively truthful “Theory of Everything.”
This optimistic outlook, unfortunately, is completely unfounded. There is no objectively truthful way of describing reality on a fundamental level, and there never can be.
To understand why, we…
The digital counterfeiters have provided an unprecedented insight into their own fraudulent scheme, but their supporters are still too clueless to be concerned.
In my article on the Coinbase direct listing, I gave a run-down on the enormous counterfeiting scheme being run by Tether Limited, the shady company behind the enormously popular stable-coin USDT. For those who aren’t up-to-date, I’ll try to make a long story short:
Tether Limited is “minting” billions of dollars worth of USDT, a crypto “stable-coin” which is ostensibly a digital dollar. USDT is pegged at a value of 1 USD, and this valuation is only possible because traders believe that Tether Limited possesses physical assets which amount in USD value to the total amount of outstanding Tether. When…
A shady group of digital counterfeiters engineered a crypto bull market in the lead-up to Coinbase’s direct listing IPO
If you followed the news last week, you might have noticed that the popular American crypto-exchange Coinbase just had a blockbuster IPO. For years, they have been the go-to exchange for American crypto investors, as they have complied with regulatory instructions and given an outward impression of both transparency and accountability. They provide forms to help you pay your capital gains taxes, they have a fairly responsive support team, they have a reputation for avoiding so-called “shitcoins” — a derogatory term for useless or ponzi-scheming digital currencies — and, while they might charge outrageous transaction fees, they’ll give you free…
Paradoxes derived from the classic thought experiment shed light on fate, free will, and the fundamental structure of reality
I have always been fascinated by parables of fate and free will, because when done properly they are timeless. The “moral” of these stories is never some minor ethical quandary but a metaphysical truth which applies to all of us, always and forever.
In an ancient parable from the Babylonian Talmud, a man sees Death in a Baghdad market place. When death makes a “threatening gesture,” he takes off toward Samarra to escape. Death later confesses that she didn’t make a threatening gesture at all, but a jolt of surprise.
“I was astonished to see him in Baghdad,” she says…
And why the future of American capitalism may hang in the balance
** UPDATES AT BOTTOM OF ARTICLE! (12:40 EST, 1/28)**
As I write this first line, it is 1:41 P.M. EST on Tuesday, January 26th, and GME — the stock of retail video game seller GameStop — is flying past $115. It was at $100 at the start of the hour, $88.56 at the start of the day. That’d be great news for the average investor on a long call, but today is anything but average. For the traders driving this surge, they want $1000 per GME or nothing, total victory or crushing defeat. …
And it seems like there’s nowhere to go from here
Like most people my age, I spend a lot of time looking at social media, but I’m in it less for the “social” media as I am for the memes.
In the plainest terms, I’m a crackhead for them. I look at them intermittently the whole day long, and I catch myself doing it compulsively, almost subconsciously. One moment I’m working on something important, the next moment I’m reading words like “Stonks” and “Pupperino” and “Lämp” and my eyes glaze over as I become practically hypnotized by the bizarre, meaningless purgatory (or is it a heaven? a hellscape?) that is…
Theodore Greenbaum
Essayist, Fiction Writer, Occasional Humorist
