Murtaza Hussain

Finally the memecoin of the summer has been discovered.

Farcaster reflection: The platform has organic norms of civility whereas Twitter for some reason has become a jungle full of wild apes. But it’s not an oppressive civility of the style of BlueSky.

Explaining to my wife that I will be setting aside money to buy Farcaster Pro

Personal announcement: I have accepted a job offer in Vatican City and will begin relocating there in the coming days.

I cosign all of the below. I go back and forth about how I feel about crypto in general but its just a nice place to post, and, unlike Twitter, it doesn't suppress my Substack links, which I deeply appreciate.

Telling friends to quit Twitter

I actually saw this and thought it was a deepfake but it’s real.

Warpcast Rewards just paid my electricity bill. We should make commercials like those sponsoring children in third world countries. “Just $30 of Warcast Rewards a week can save…”

Trump pardons Ross Ulbricht:

I am going to experiment with launching a Clanker focused on the one major news story of that day. The question is how to add more content and details to Clanker. It could be done by using a screenshotted paragraph summary as the header image, though that doesn't really pop. Thinking on it... First one for now: South Korea's attempted military coup.

Congratulations to all holders of cryptocurrency. Not sure if there is anyone on here who holds cryptocurrency but if there are you should check on your assets as prices appear to have increased.

Congratulations to all holders of Degen and the makers of Degen. Explaining to my wife tonight that we can soon retire based on Warpcast tips I have received and no longer need a 401K denominated in useless fiat.

Tfw it’s Dev Day and you have no connection at all to tech despite being on a platform for tech people

Confirmed it was 2)

I have been skeptical of the reported usage numbers on Twitter and suspected they were overstated. But even if accurate the simple fact is that the quality of information has plummeted. I say this in a firsthand way that I can no longer find reportable information or sources on Twitter since its transformation.

Social media can often provide a simulacrum of feeling informed by allowing us to consume an endless stream of chatter and observations. But while it is a useful tool for making connections, keeping up with headlines, and picking up clues for further inquiry, there is no substitute for lifelong study built on a foundation of reading books, long-form essays, and reports. I encourage everyone to set a goal for book reading in a given year. It does not need to that ambitious, but it helps to set a target. For a period of roughly a decade I read around 100 books per year. Due to life circumstances I’ve scaled this down to around 40. But even 10 or 20 would make a difference. Books are not just a means to obtain information but also have salutary neurological effects. They teach you how to remain focused and structure abstract information. The trick is that you should read what you find most interesting, and not what others necessarily tell you to read. The quote below is when I knew SBF would be a fraud:

I actually like that there’s no beef on Warpcast; the people are much more civilized. The conflict-driven engagement model of other social media platforms had a profoundly negative social effect. It’s more constructive to incentivize people to converse with respect while steering clear of meltdowns and dunking.

Warpcast needs more content. That’s not a technical problem it’s a human problem — you just need more people naturally using the platform from all walks of life. They may be people you like or dislike but they and their interactions with each other make up the culture of the platform. The technical infrastructure is just like the physical infrastructure of a city, it’s there to facilitate what the people who choose to live there do. I never used the Twitter competitors like Bluesky because they just seemed to be the exact same thing as Twitter but intended to create an ideological ghetto for people who felt uncomfortable there. I prefer a messy mix of ideologies, cultures, and politics because that’s more fun and more intellectually challenging. Warpcast is worth migrating because unlike Bluesky it’s genuinely a different and superior interface for interacting with people. Now it just needs the people and I think it naturally would take off and become a mass platform if that is the goal.

Thanks kindly to everyone who gave Warps and tips — very grateful for your generosity and inspired by the model of a mutually supportive social media community. I’m pleased to announce the launch of /dropglobalnews which will be a forum for sharing global news and analysis. Onward!

When I get enough Warps I am going to start a channel focused on global news and commentary. It will also feature articles from a forthcoming news website launched by myself and colleagues. I am going to aim to just earn the Warps if possible.

Proof of Concept: I told a few people working in similar fields as me that there’s a new social media platform with a component where you can accrue cryptocurrency through usage (I also told my wife more cautiously so I wouldn’t sound like the “BITCOONEEECT!!!” guy to her). This economic aspect is intriguing to people even if they’re aloof about crypto. But their first question was a predictable one: Does that translate to real money? I decided to investigate that. Thanks to people’s generosity I had accumulated a bit of DEGEN and decided to test the liquidity. After claiming my tips and sending them to MetaMask, I took half the DEGEN people had given me and put an order to switch to USDC. After two tries, the order filled. I sent the USDC to Coinbase and got a deposit of about $100 to my bank account. Modern man is “homo-economicus” to a large degree and it definitely feels good to make a little money. After testing it out I’m glad to report back to people that, yes, the platform is real.

I wrote a quick reaction to Trump’s assassination attempt and possible impact on the election. This may be my last article for The Intercept as I’m planning to leave for other opportunities so enjoy: https://theintercept.com/2024/07/13/trump-pennsylvania-rally-shooting/

Thank you for all the DEGEN; I don’t know what this is or how to see it but I appreciate and understand the positive sentiment.