[PostOnce]

Beginning to wonder if convenience is the root of all evil, and not money. Money's just a proxy for convenience.

More of us should learn to do things the hard way more often, and to be familiar with less-convenient things. There are life-changing advantages to doing things the hard way at least some of the time.

[noosphr]

The root of all evil is that we don't have a functioning micro transaction network and we don't know how to build one.

For the user there is no way to pay the 0.0000001c that it takes to load a web page, for the web master there is no way to get paid the $10,000 it takes to serve the users. So we settled on advertising which can somewhat cover those costs since each individual add is basically worthless but an add campaign isn't.

[anjel]

AI fixed that by calling it a token...

[landgenoot]

The lightning network supports transactions starting from 1 Satoshi.

One Satoshi is currently worth $0.000713.

[guiambros]

And how do you actually identify who should pay that $0.000713? And who should receive it? How do you make the process effortless, so the user doesn't have to spend 5 minutes registering on a website, just to send $0.000713?

Now make it work 10,000 times per day, for every page you visit, posts, news, short form content you scroll, long form video you watch. And multiply this by billions of users.

And once you've done that, how do you deal with spam, bots? How do you prevent invalid traffic? Fraudulent chargebacks? And how do you take quality into consideration (NYT prob want to charge more than my crappy personal blog)?

Transferring money is one small element of large and complex equation.

Advertising is not perfect, but it's the best alternative for a free and open web I have seen in my 30+ years online. Subscription works for large ticket items (and for the affluent minority), but it doesn't solve the other 95% of cases.

[noosphr]

So what's the transaction fees to make 1e9 one satoshi payments and how long until they clear?

[godelski]

I know it's a cliché, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. People forget, most evil is created by good people trying to do good. The biggest trick the devil played was making us all believe evil is (always) easy to identify. But all the sayings are about how the devil is sly, tricks you, and sneaks up on you. All of that is to remind us how hard it is to do good. You don't have to be an evil person to create evil. Often you don't have to do anything at all, as inaction is still an action. Pull the lever or not, you've still made a decision.

The problem is so complex that every action you take compounds and extends far beyond what you realize. Especially as we're living in such a connected world. Those ripples propagate through all the ponds we've connected together.

I don't think it's money, convenience, or any of that. I think it's just that the world is getting more and more complicated. That our actions and inactions have larger and larger effects. We've done a lot of good, but we've also made it a lot easier to feel the flapping of a butterfly's wings on the other side of the planet.

[not_kurt_godel]

> most evil is created by good people trying to do good

Citation needed.

[godelski]

Look at your username then look at mine.

You ask me to prove something essentially unprovable. Prove to me that most evil is created by people trying to do evil. It'll be equally as difficult to prove as you can't look in the minds of those doing evil. And you also can't trust what's coming out of their mouth.

I gave you some evidence in indirect form. I'll give you another saying: "for the greater good." There's no doubt people doing wrong want to justify their actions so that they do not view themselves as evil. So go ahead and look at your username and look at mine, then follow the line of logic

[not_kurt_godel]

Ok, since you don't care about evidence-based reasoning, I say: You are wrong. Most evil is created by people trying to do evil.

[godelski]

If you're going to troll, do better. You can't just pretend to be illiterate. You know I gave evidence lol

[not_kurt_godel]

Ah my apologies, I forgot to cite my source, which is the devil (just a coincidence it's the same as yours).

[trinsic2]

Yeah I have been doing that for years now. I do most things the hard way. I forgot exactly how it started. I think it started when I decided I wanted to develop my own sense of discipline. I think right after I read the constructive living book by David K. Reynolds. The premise, as I understand it, is that depression is a direct result of not taking full responsibility and immediate action in your life.

Looking back, I realize that started me on the path of not doing things the easy way. It was really hard a first, but over time it got easier. Most people in my line of work don't take accurate notes of what has transpired, don't keep a proper history of business exchanges and don't have clear agreements and contracts in place that spell out what is expected. Once I started this process of improving my life, I realized the more I made the effort to keep detailed track of everything I do/did, my life and business started to improve. I think you are right, taking to the most convenient path in life is a sure way to bring about pain and suffering.

[Scrounger]

> I know it's a cliché, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

"Kindly let me help you, or you will drown, said the monkey as it put the fish safely up a tree"

—Alan Watts

[trinsic2]

Wrong parent?

[JumpCrisscross]

> if convenience is the root of all evil

Convenience is how we describe efficiency when it applies to non-classically “productive” endeavors. (Analogous to how we rebrand efficiency as sustainability when it applies to material and energy inputs.)

[Scrounger]

> Beginning to wonder if convenience is the root of all evil, and not money.

Self-deception is actually the root of all evil, not money nor convenience.