Listening to a recent episode of the Solarpunk Presents podcast reminded me the importance of consistently calling out cryptocurrency as a wasteful scam. The podcast hosts fail to do that, and because bad actors will continue to try to push crypto, we must condemn it with equal persistence.
Solarpunks must be skeptical of anyone saying it’s important to buy something, like a Tesla, or buy in, with cryptocurrency. Capitalists want nothing more than to co-opt radical movements, neutralizing them, to sell products.
People shilling crypto will tell you it decentralizes power. So that’s a lie, but solarpunks who believe it may be fooled into investing in this Ponzi scheme that burns more energy than some countries. Crypto will centralize power in billionaires, increasing their wealth and decreasing their accountability. That’s why Space Karen Elon Musk pushes crypto. The freer the market, the faster it devolves to monopoly. Rather than decentralizing anything, crypto would steer us toward a Bladerunner dystopia with its all-powerful Tyrell corporation.
Promoting crypto on a solarpunk podcast would be unforgivable. That’s not quite what happens on S5E1 “Let’s Talk Tech.” The hosts seem to understand crypto has no part in a solarpunk future or its prefigurative present. But they don’t come out and say that, adopting a tone of impartiality. At best, I would call this disingenuous. And it reeks of the both-sides-ism that corporate media used to paralyze climate action discourse for decades.
Crypto is not “appropriate tech,” and discussing it without any clarity is inappropriate.
Update for episode 5.3: In a case of hyper hypocrisy, they caution against accepting superficial solutions—things that appear utopian but really reinforce inequality and accelerate the climate crisis—while doing exactly that by talking up cryptocurrency.
They are also paying more for all other services. No, it’s not theft by them, it’s theft by the government. And yes, you can get a new job. Yes, times are tough, and yes, that’s directly related to poor government choices.
And yes, crypto helps to insulate against those poor government choices, without requiring the government to change, which is a different issue.
I never said I would solve shitty government choices. I said, in other words, that crypto helps to mitigate them.
Look, I don’t think we will come to an agreement if you make excuses for wage-stealing bosses and claim that a tool used for massive fraud and theft is somehow “mitigating” anything. You are just looking for a scapegoat for shit that capitalism does without realizing that the scapegoat you chose is just one of many parts that make capitalism so shit, and that crypto-currencies are part of the problem.
I’m not making excuses for shitty behavior, but there’s a huge difference between not giving raises that match the (exhorbitant) inflation, and actively stealing.
You’re willfully blind if you think some coffeeshop business owner isn’t hit by inflation in a similar manner to (most) everyone else.
Also, if you can’t tell the difference between a tool used for massive fraud and fraud itself, again - you’re just wilfully blind. Most likely hurt and looking for an easy angle on blame. There aren’t generally easy angles on blame - not accurate ones, anyways. But sure, get pissed and break some shit. Blame me, I’m here, and can handle it when someone lashes out.
But, if you ever want to, y’know, just get power over your own life, then there’s that, too. It’s massively difficult, but doable, and worth it.