
Balaji Srinivasan's plan to save journalism - davidgerard
https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2020/08/08/balaji-srinivasans-plan-to-save-journalism/
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chordalkeyboard
> The goal here is the Silicon Valley dream of automating away the human
> element.

this doesn't seem to be an accurate characterization of the plan proposed by
Srinivisan.

> There is no shortage of raw data — people read news at all because you’re
> using narrative to explain why these facts are noteworthy.

This idea seems more targeted at the proliferation of false information than
the lack of information. Another relevant consideration would be the
democratization of the narrative shaping process.

> And McCrum relied utterly on the backing of the Financial Times, a strong
> paper with strong opinions on frauds in the market — particularly when the
> “checked aggressively” was private investigators following him, and the
> German regulator trying to prosecute him for looking too deeply into the
> fraud.

Hence the movement to broaden participation in journalism by creating
technology that allows everyone to participate rather than rely on the
existence of powerful institutions that are favorable to your cause.

> But I’m also not so sure Srinivasan would think taking down the Wirecard
> fraud is the sort of thing journalists should even be doing

Part of the allure of the blockchain is that, in theory, neither Srinivasan
nor anyone else would be able to stop randos from publicizing their
attestation to the occurrence of frauds etcetera in real time in a way that
their claims could be independently vetted by other people, all of whose
reputations would be attached to their output.

> Dr. Srinivasan is a smart dumb guy, not a dumb dumb guy. But this is idiot
> nerd nonsense that’s been tried repeatedly — it’s a stupid ICO idea, that
> multiple ICOs tried variations of. This is the particular species of dumbass
> that a crypto guy comes up with.

Theres a lot of bad shit in the blockchain world but this is not a good take.
Gerard seems to be more motivated by his dislike of certain personalities
mentioned and his disdain for blockchains than anything else.

I'd like to see someone with less baggage critically engage with these issues
because its interesting and would be a public service. I'm disappointed that
this article wasn't able to do this. Looking at the author's background, he
seems to be a "bitcoin critic" and hopefully Srinivasan et al publish a more
formal statement of their proposal and perhaps Gerard can engage critically
with the actual proposal instead of what he did here.

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eat_veggies
balaji is a clown

