Stephen Diehl (@smdiehl) / X

Stephen Diehl

34.4K posts

Stephen Diehl

@smdiehl

Left this hellsite for BlueSky. bsky.app/profile/www.st…

Joined June 2010

Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Feb 1, 2022
Evergreen tweet.
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Oct 6, 2021
Lets finally talk about how NFTs are a giant scam. (1/) 🧵
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Jan 17, 2021
Let's discuss the environmental cost of bitcoin. Because despite all the push for sustainable and green investment in the tech sector, there's a giant smoldering Chernobyl sitting at the heart of Silicon Valley which a lot of investors would prefer you remain quiet about. 🧵 (1/)
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Jan 30, 2023
NFTs are all dead. Web3 is dead. Crypto is dying. Nature is healing.
880K
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Jan 26, 2023
The "web3" bubble was one of the most bizarre events I've witnessed. In the span of a week people and tech press started to hallucinate about a technology which patently did not exist and which no one could describe. Only comparable is like the dancing manias of 17th century.
675K
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Oct 6, 2021
Replying to @smdiehl
Like all crypto scams, the essence of the NFT grift is in recruiting new believers by convincing them a blessed database is an authoritative registrar of value. Just like star naming the grift isn't about utility it's simply a shared delusion in a get rich quick scheme. /fin
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Jul 13, 2023
A 14-line Python script using gzip outperforming a 345m parameter transformer model is probably the most hilarious result I've seen all year. aclanthology.org/2023.findings-…
1.4M
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Oct 6, 2021
Replying to @smdiehl
NFTs impart no legal ownership, give no rights to the artwork, are non-unique, and provide nothing of intrinsic value except the sign value of owning bragging rights to announce to other crypto bros about a shared collective delusion about database entries. (12/)
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Dec 31, 2021
This is the most basic argument against crypto that I tell all the people who call me. The tech doesn't work, and the fundamental idea is ahistorical and flawed. Writing it down so I don't have to repeat myself all the time. The Case Against Crypto stephendiehl.com/blog/against-c…
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Oct 6, 2021
Replying to @smdiehl
There is one comparable market to NFTs: The Star Naming Market. Back in the 90s some entrepreneurs found you could convince the public to buy "rights" to name yet-unnamed stars after their loved ones by selling entries in an unofficial register. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internati… (3/)
en.wikipedia.org
International Star Registry - Wikipedia
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Oct 6, 2021
Replying to @smdiehl
In the above scenario Person A, B, C are the same person shuffling money between anonymous accounts. And Person D is a sucker tricked by artificially fake demand. This is known as wash trading and it's illegal in most other markets. (14/)
en.wikipedia.org
Wash trade - Wikipedia
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Oct 6, 2021
Replying to @smdiehl
First let's talk about what the NFT market actually is. Unlike buying bonds, equities, real estate, or actual art you're not buying something with any tangible existence, rights or utility. You're buying an expensive entry in someone else's database. (2/)
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Oct 6, 2021
Replying to @smdiehl
Artists are like hamsters in a wheel that powers a giant casino for crypto bros to gamble on these signed URLs in the hopes that they can flip their purchase around to greater and greater fools for a profit. (11/)
every.to
NFT Projects are just MLMs for Tech Elites
A somewhat impartial review of current NFT business models
Stephen Diehl
@smdiehl
Oct 6, 2021
Replying to @smdiehl
NFTs are the evolution of this grift in a more convoluted form. Instead of allegedly buying a star, you're allegedly buying a JPEG from an artist. Except you're not buying the image, you're buying a digitally signed URL to the image. (7/)