It’s been a very eventful 2024 for the HonorCode project and on-chain reputation more generally, and 2025 looking even brighter with efforts like Deep Funding picking up. This year-in-review thread is a reference for the main milestones and posts so far:
The Case that America is a Corporate Socialist State
With all the talk about socialism lately, it’s worth a closer look at capitalism today. There is a strong case that America (partially) forces money to flow from average citizens to enhance corporate profits and asset values.
@owocki The main rzn PGF's in a rut is that it should be PG 'Creditation, by pioneering a new value dimension orthogonal to $$, in a reputational space that isn't tied to $$. Then it can DIRECTLY reward actual excellence, not perceived potential, w/$$$ to follow later.
The semi-incomplete news is that the reward flow piece, allowing for actual funds to be distributed, is not in the best state and hasn't been fully deployed. Next step there is to build out proper streaming w/an existing tool. For now it's enough to try out the reputation side!
I'm pleased to finally announce a UI for HonorCode! Available on OP Mainnet here: https://t.co/RbJvktizBG
Implementing basic reputation tracking for projects, I was able to replicate the original allocation in minutes instead of hours.
@Peter_Turchin I've been focused on this tendency of the rich to escape debts & consequences a lot lately. But "wealth pump" sounds a bit too neutral when those systems were designed that way on purpose. Which is why I started calling this state corporate socialism: https://t.co/2FFPsF6VOb
We need to call it out for what it is: #corporatesocialism is a deliberately engineered set of financial policies, institutions, laws, privileges that allow superrich to escape negative consequences. BC what good is all that $$$ if it can't be used to carve out special treatment?
Peter Turchin is one of the few big picture thinkers able to see our society through the light of history and thermodynamics. His recent discussion of the dynamics driving inequality and the breakdown of social cohesion deserves attention.
We need to call it out for what it is: #corporatesocialism is a deliberately engineered set of financial policies, institutions, laws, privileges that allow superrich to escape negative consequences. BC what good is all that $$$ if it can't be used to carve out special treatment?
Certainly we’ll keep seeing wealthy elites & their media stooges concoct excuses for outrageous policies, while claiming the free market is at work. But make no mistake: we’re seeing #corporatesocialism further entrench, which will continue to spew its ugly and poisonous fruit.
This past week, the #FederalReserve cut short-term interest rates in the midst of sky-high stocks and unaffordable homes, low unemployment, and rising inflation. Such a questionable move only makes sense through the lens of metastasizing #corporatesocialism.
By overstimulating the financial sector, rent extraction and asset speculation are allowed to run rampant. Actual productive investment is not incentivized, because it’s simply easier to park capital in a sure thing instead of making a risky bet.
@ProfSteveKeen This is another way of describing corporate socialism: where existing asset holders enjoy their wealth artificially inflated while the masses endure higher costs, especially for shelter. And then they pretend we have free markets. https://t.co/DqmVeYgnz9
The Case that America is a Corporate Socialist State
With all the talk about socialism lately, it’s worth a closer look at capitalism today. There is a strong case that America (partially) forces money to flow from average citizens to enhance corporate profits and asset values.
@glenweyl@curtis_yarvin One very pressing authority-related issue is which system is best at preventing/reversing oligarchic capture of institutions which end up artificially redistributing wealth upward. After all, elites are also part of the demos and extremely adept at shaping the public space.
The Case that America is a Corporate Socialist State
With all the talk about socialism lately, it’s worth a closer look at capitalism today. There is a strong case that America (partially) forces money to flow from average citizens to enhance corporate profits and asset values.
@PeterSchiff Very interesting it takes a libertarian wielding an AI to put the words "corporate socialism" together when it's obvious that it's a major part of the economy/market value, through QE, interest payments, health sector, etc and not only in a few isolated pockets.
@MattPirkowski The problem with assuming that wealth is all freely earned is it ignores state policies that ensure the rich get richer (through QE/interest, i.e. corporate socialism) by raising asset values & housing prices faster than wages. Which is why a wealth tax is a corrective measure.