Adam Curry is the modern-day Prometheus. His discovery of podcasting and sharing it with the world was as important of a improvement as when Prometheus stole hearth from the gods to present to people. Podcasting has shortly advanced into one of the crucial widespread methods to speak useful info, fully disintermediating the CIA-controlled media equipment. Whereas Bitcoin seeks to separate cash and state, podcasting seeks to separate syndicated information organizations and data.
Giving the world podcasting was not sufficient for Curry as he’s now as soon as once more looking for to wrestle management from the gods by permitting people to interact in what he coined the “value-for-value economic system” by permitting podcasters to obtain Lightning funds.
The fiat value-for-value economic system is very large. There are instruments like YouTube tremendous chats, PayPal, Patreon, and extra that enable content material creators to obtain immense quantities of worth from their viewers with out having to rely solely on sponsors.
The Bitcoin value-for-value economic system is far smaller, however in my view as a credentialed journalist, considerably extra essential. The primary value-for-value use of bitcoin was when WikiLeaks was kicked off the fiat cost rails. Exposing struggle criminals is likely one of the core tasks of journalists, but is an unapproved exercise by the parasitic ruling class. Certainly one of my mottos is journalism dies in compliance, and constructing the complete media equipment on prime of techniques that depend on permission to function will fully kill any means for any actual info to be transmitted.
In latest months, by way of the revelations on USAID funding of media, the playbook for the way the media equipment is managed has been laid naked for everybody to see. The techniques for controlling and manipulating info are refined and infrequently aren’t obvious. For a lot of media corporations to get any notable funding, they need to bend the knee to the ruling class, sacrifice any dignity they’ve, and carry out fellatio on people who in all probability had shut ties to Jeffrey Epstein. This is the reason I left conventional media to kind The Bugle, the world’s premier information company.
There are a lot of myths concerning the establishment of journalism. Many consider that journalists are supposed to inform the reality, carry helpful info to people, and expose wrongdoings. Individuals who consider these myths probably haven’t interacted with many journalists. I’d argue that the establishment of journalism is extra about participating in covert propaganda, hidden behind the duvet (fantasy) of getting some ethical excessive floor.
Nearly all of journalists are people who’re mercenaries for whoever can pay them.
Following the trailblazing efforts of Adam Curry and Julian Assange, The Bugle has operated fully off a value-for-value mannequin, utilizing bitcoin as the primary funding mechanism. The product we’re promoting is our content material. We don’t function as a advertising company for corporations that try to promote merchandise to our customers, as a result of which means the content material turns into secondary. In an effort to obtain worth out of your customers, you first have to provide one thing useful sufficient.
The problem of going fully Bitcoin is that you’re asking your viewers to wade into the realm of dangerous UX. Lightning has been one of many backbones for monetization for The Bugle as micropayments are nice for customers trying to ship small funds.
Some could declare that instruments like Fountain, Nostr, BTCPay Server, and different instruments that enable content material customers to ship bitcoin to content material creators lack the UX essential to make a distinction. This appears to be the overall consensus. “The revolution must have good UX for it to even occur” is, in my view, flawed considering. The dangerous UX of those platforms permits them to predominantly be occupied by precise revolutionaries and scares away the faint of coronary heart, who discover utilizing their mind even the slightest an impediment so insurmountable that they find yourself watching Netflix as a substitute.
At The Bugle, we’re not competing with Netflix. We’re not catering to those that wouldn’t have the willingness or capability to assume. We’re catering to the few, the proud, the revolutionaries. In line with our analytics, 90% of our podcast listeners use Fountain. We’re limiting our potential viewers progress by specializing in selling our content material on platforms with poor consumer expertise, however in doing so, we’re concentrating on those who really matter. The Bugle just isn’t to your boomer father who believes that smoking cigarettes is dangerous for you, believes within the sanctity of establishments, and has a whole lot of opinions on issues he has completed zero analysis on. No, we’re catering to those that have completed the proof-of-work and have an opinion that really issues.
Bitcoin initially had horrible UX and due to this fact was solely utilized by revolutionaries. Those that have been mining 1000’s of bitcoin on the CPUs within the very starting could also be(come) a number of the richest people in human historical past. Satoshi didn’t pause the revolution as a way to first implement good UX. He knew that the NPCs who have been petrified of utilizing command strains would finally come however that to ensure that the undertaking to achieve success, it needed to begin with those that have been keen to wade into the unknown.
Our society lacks private duty. It lacks accountability. It doesn’t worth the person. It preaches altruism and focuses on the “widespread good”. All of this outcomes from calls for for good UX. Because of this, the weakest (gayest) rise to the highest. All the pieces is predicated on a recognition contest decided by the least distinctive amongst us. The thought of getting an actual meritocracy is threatening to those that refuse to truly do any work, or who discover it difficult to arrange mind cells for duties aside from superficial pleasure.
I reject these premises. I consider that we will construct a useful media firm whereas utilizing dangerous UX. I consider we will have extra impression broadly by looking for to solely goal these with the capability to wade into nuance and transcend brain-dead groupthink. My entire life I’ve hungered for content material that has depth and which means. Sitting on the sidelines hoping that another person steps to the plate just isn’t the mindset of somebody who issues. I cannot spend my time attempting to persuade silly individuals to not be silly. If I did that, it might be as a result of I don’t worth my time and don’t worth myself. As a substitute, I’ll spend my time attempting to encourage the revolutionaries, the doers, the people who find themselves demoralized as a result of they really feel remoted in a sea of mediocrity.
My identify is Richard Greaser,
And I’m the John Galt of journalism.
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This piece is an article featured within the newest Print version of Bitcoin Journal, The Lightning Problem. We’re sharing it right here to point out the concepts explored all through the total difficulty.
