5 days agoThe Bitcoin BullYou have probably heard that Bitcoin is the new gold. But we can do better than that. I say Bitcoin is the new Bull. Crypto is the new cattle. Why cattle? Because cattle were the primary form of wealth for people who practiced nomadic pastoralism. A large part of human…Agriculture4 min read
Published in Icewater·May 15Collateral DamageIn the aftermath of the Terra collapse, those of us interested in stablecoins should start to take stock of what was learned. One of the lessons you will hear is that a stablecoin should be backed by external collateral. Before we assess this advice, let’s start with some preliminary definitions: …Stablecoin Cryptocurrency6 min read
Published in Icewater·May 12Icewater v1The Icewater team is about to launch our first mainnet token, v1. Given the ironically volatile history of stablecoins, we will not be engaging in any large-scale sale or distribution of tokens. …Stable Coin6 min read
Published in Icewater·May 7How to Cheat Death (Spirals)You may have heard the phrase “death spiral” with respect to algorithmic stablecoins. Here I will attempt to describe what this means, and how to avoid it. Defining Death Spiral The death spiral we are talking about here is specific to a particular type of stablecoin, namely, algorithmic stablecoins based on the “seigniorage…Stable Coin4 min read
Published in Icewater·Apr 25Quasi-DAOsA DAO (for Decentralized Autonomous Organization)is a new form of business organization that is native to the blockchain. What is it? well, the Ethereum foundation has this handy chart: Corporations But to really understand the nature of a DAO, we need to better understand the “traditional organization”, the corporation. The corporation…Decentralization6 min read
Published in Icewater·Apr 21Icewater Development UpdateThe waters may seem calm, but we’re about to make waves. 2022 is going to be a big year for the Icewater protocol, so it’s a good time to stop and take a look at where we have been, where we we are, and where we are going. …Cryptocurrency3 min read
Published in Icewater·Mar 24How can a DAO get a Bank Account?As new digital communities emerge, questions arise about how these autonomous communities (i.e., DAOs) can interact with traditional institutions. Here is a basic model of how this can happen in a way that preserves the autonomy of the organization. First, a few caveats. This is just a model. It’s not…Dao5 min read
Mar 20A Serious Critique of Jordan PetersonThe other day I went to a presentation by Jordan Peterson (JP). It is the second one I have been to (the other was a few years ago, pre-health breakdown). TLDR: JP has lost a bit of edge since the last time I heard him speak The “nested subroutine” model…Jordan Peterson8 min read
Mar 4The Shared Reality ParadigmMysterious Collapse Yesterday I read an article arguing that around 8,000 years ago the number of reproducing men (not women) experienced a precipitous collapse.Consciousness10 min read
Feb 22Thoughts on SimulacraRecently I cam across this post by the Zvi explaining Simulacra (an image or representation). He provides the following indirect quote from this person: 1. First, words were used to maintain shared accounting. We described reality intersubjectively in order to build shared maps, the better to navigate our environment. I…Simulacra5 min read
