this post was submitted on 20 May 2024
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  • Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, does not believe in cryptocurrencies, calling them a vehicle for scams and a Ponzi scheme.
  • Torvalds was once rumored to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, but he clarified it was a joke and denied owning a Bitcoin fortune.
  • Torvalds also dismissed the idea of technological singularity as a bedtime story for children, saying continuous exponential growth does not make sense.
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[–] erwan@lemmy.ml 144 points 6 months ago (9 children)

Crypto means cryptography, stop using it to talk about cryptocurrency.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 99 points 6 months ago

good luck, I'm sure this comment will change how everyone talks from now on.

[–] oce@jlai.lu 60 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Crypto means hidden, stop using it to talk about cryptography.

[–] SOB_Van_Owen@lemm.ee 19 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It's also sometimes used as shorthand for crypto-orchidism -undescended testicles.

[–] ExFed@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago

Ahh, so... crypto, which is based on crypto, can be used to pay for treatments to crypto.

Got it.

[–] erwan@lemmy.ml 15 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Crypto currencies doesn't mean "hidden currency", it means currency based on cryptography.

[–] ExFed@lemm.ee 4 points 6 months ago

Do you mean to say that crypto is based on crypto? Crazy!

[–] TheFriar@lemm.ee 3 points 6 months ago

They meant that choosing one possible definition and saying it’s what the word means is stupid. Words mean pretty much what everyone agrees they mean. Look at all the words that have basically flipped definitions since their inception. Just because the modern derivative of a word means something literally everyone understands but is slightly different than what it used to mean doesn’t mean the oldest answer is the correct one. Unwad your jock.

[–] MalachaiConstant@lemmy.world 49 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Is it not clear which definition of Crypto he's using?

Linus coming out against cryptography seems so unrealistically silly to me that it's not even worth considering.

[–] Magnetar@feddit.de 18 points 6 months ago

The security of Linux 2000 will be based entirely on steganography, Linux founder announces

[–] englislanguage@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Yeah, that headline is very misleading. Crypto(graphy) is essential for the digital world to exist whereas the other stuff is a pyramid & money laundering scheme.

[–] retrieval4558@mander.xyz 28 points 6 months ago (2 children)

It's not "misleading," because the vast majority of people understand what the current colloquial use of crypto is.

[–] Screemu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 6 months ago

Not the nerds on Lemmy.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

A certain irony in a synonym for "secret" being a term everyone's implicitly familiar with.

[–] Emmie@lemm.ee 14 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

It’s useful for buying drugs online on the dark web so I for one like it

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

All the fentanyl you can snort.

[–] SHOW_ME_YOUR_ASSHOLE@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago

Which market are people using nowadays? I haven't kept up to speed over the last few years.

[–] dQw4w9WgXcQ@lemm.ee 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

"Have you invested in crypto?"

Do you think anyone anywhere will misunderstand this as investing in cryptographic research/development?

The mainstream usage of the word isn't always aligned with what is good for society or even the original usage of the word.

[–] englislanguage@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 6 months ago

I guess I'm getting old then 😜

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Cryptocurrency is a currency based on cryptographic keys.

[–] shotgun_crab@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

That's like asking people to say kilograms instead of kilos

[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Ok based upon one dude's opinion I'll purposely create a communication problem between me and anyone who ever tries to discuss this stuff with me.

Or I could just toss this opinion in the garbage...

Decisions decisions

[–] suction@lemmy.world -3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

Never heard it commonly used as a short form for "cryptography". But did hear it commonly used for "Cryptocurrency". Why not let the morons have it? Do you have a scam running that relies on "Crypto" being short for "Cryptography"? Using "cool" brevs is the mark of the amateur anyway, if someone said "crypto" to me when he meant cryptography, I'd forever judge them as a silly person.

[–] Natanael@slrpnk.net 13 points 6 months ago

Before 2010 it was almost exclusively used to refer to cryptography, outside of some even more niche fields (parts of biology, political sciences, etc)

I run /r/crypto on reddit, for cryptography, and the spam is horrendous and the flood of idiots is never ending

[–] Cosmicomical@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You are aware that the "crypto" part of cryptocurrency is short for cryptographic, right?

[–] suction@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] Cosmicomical@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago
[–] 11111one11111@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Wait.. whose the moron here? Lol