Original author: Casey Rodarmor
Original compilation: Deep Tide TechFlow
Casey Rodarmor, founder of the Bitcoin protocol Ordinals, wrote that the current paradigm of criticism of inscriptions is not wise enough, hoping that Bitcoin extremists will put aside their complaints about inscriptions and suggest that they ignore them because more valuable use cases in the future will obsolete most of them. The following is a compilation of the full text.
If you ask me about my attitude, my views are almost indistinguishable from those of Bitcoin ideological extremists. I am disgusted with the state, do not respect authority, and believe that Bitcoin is the way out of the depravity that fiat currencies have caused to our lives and civilization.
However, I don't consider myself an ideological Bitcoin extremist, mainly because ideologies often don't survive when they come into contact with reality.
Ideological Bitcoin extremism, with its accompanying shallow culture, is currently in an unpleasant position: contact with reality that does not correspond to them.
This article contains advice for ideological Bitcoin extremists that will hopefully help them stop self-inflicted and unforced mistakes. In other words, how to stop them from being losers.
First of all, I will say that the article was not written in defense of the Ordinals and inscriptions. They don't need to be defended. Things have happened, the inscription is already there, and no one will be able to make the inscription die.
Now, let's take a look at the recommendations.
My first suggestion is that complaining about the inscription will make you and Bitcoin look weak. It is contradictory to believe that Bitcoin is an unstoppable Internet currency and that posting small pictures on-chain is mentally retarded. We all know the fact that, as a last resort, the former is right and the latter is wrong. Bitcoin is the unstoppable Internet currency, and a small picture on the chain is an inconsequential issue. But if you support both views, you're undermining any argument you make that Bitcoin can resist the state.
Despite a lot of complaints on Twitter, no one was able to do even the slightest damage to the Oridinals and the inscriptions. So, given that we still have important work to do in terms of destroying Fiat Currency, perhaps you should stop complaining about things you can't change and adapt to the reality that small pictures on the chain have come to Bitcoin. There is no doubt that the inscription will not be the last time people start doing unpleasant things on Bitcoin, so it will be a good exercise to start accepting Bitcoin now. You can then refocus your efforts on more important things, such as spreading Satoshi Nakamoto, and helping as many people as possible learn how to use Bitcoin.
Complaining about inscriptions will only make more people aware of them and make inscription developers more enthusiastic about developing inscriptions, just to make you guys look like fools. If the average person likes to do something, then you don't make any friends by scolding them for doing so, or make progress in anything.
If you still insist on complaining about the inscription, at least take the time to understand it so you can let go of your bad arguments. These include:
- Anyone can right-click to save an Non-fungible Token in JPEG form. Everyone who buys the inscription knows this, is everyone. Accepting this and updating your worldview will bring it closer to reality.
- The inscriptions are not real, they are just a collective hallucination. I've basically been saying this since day one, and I've been saying since day one that Ordinals and inscriptions are a selective perspective on Bitcoin. If you think that the inscription is some kind of devastating revelation about Bitcoin, it will make you look like an idiot. In addition, it shows that you have misunderstood one of the most basic things about human beings, civilizations, and cultures: everything that matters is just social customs. In fact, Bitcoin is just a social convention. Or to put it another way, it's not the software or the data that matters, it's the social conventions that surround it. Inscriptions are no exception.
- You can store data off-chain. People value on-chain data, and it makes inscriptions scarce, greatly improving reliability and user security. All other Non-fungible Token ecosystems use off-chain data, and users who don't know the truth will delegate their trust to a file custodian on FIL, who may stop hosting at any time. And on-chain data greatly increases credibility, which as far as I know, is also highly valued by Bitcoin extremists.
- The inscription is illegal. There's a clear difference between something that's not legal like state violence and something you think is stupid. Thinking that something is illegal because you don't like or understand the purpose of it makes you look like you're mentally retarded.
- The inscription is an attack on Bitcoin. Somehow, you see Non-fungible Tokens and shitcoins on other chains, understand that they exist because of passion, demand, fraud, and depravity, and don't think these things are state attacks on Ethereum, and then turn around and think they are state attacks on Bitcoin?
Trying to review an inscription is exactly the same as trying to review other types of transactions. Any mechanism you put in place, or the public support you get, will immediately support the review of Bitcoin. Luckily, dealing with transactions that are considered illegal is exactly what Bitcoin is all about, so you're going to fail in the end, but we're all going to be better off if you don't try to convince people that censoring Bitcoin transactions is something they should try.
So, what should you do with inscriptions?
Ignore them. A more valuable use case would make most of the inscriptions lose their price advantage. There will always be some high-value inscriptions, but they can't compete with hard currency and unverifiable transactions. Bitcoin's fate is high fees, embrace it.
