Top all-time · #2509
Eli Dourado
Personal blog · elidourado.com · on HN as elidouradoeconomicspoliticsstartups
Eli Dourado's personal blog at elidourado.com covers economics, politics and startups. Since 2010, 33 different Hacker News readers have linked it 51 times, most often “Notes on Technology in the 2020s”. The last post was in 2024, but the archive is still widely read.
Trying to end the Great Stagnation 🚀. Click to read Eli Dourado, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.
Most-linked posts?
- Notes on Technology in the 2020s6 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2020-12-31
- Cargo airships could be big4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-01-30
- The Dawn of the Age of Geoengineering3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2019-08-13
- Heretical Thoughts on AI (2023)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-01-19
- The state of next-generation geothermal energy3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-07-07
- Stop Saying Bitcoin Transactions Aren’t Reversible2 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2013-12-05
- /blog/bitcoin-volatility/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-02-01
- Personal aviation is about to get interesting (2023)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-10-23
- A beginner's guide to sociopolitical collapse2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-05-06
- 50 Years of Silence2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-03-23
What Hacker News says?
What if there is an overarching malaise of dysfunction, inefficiency and apathy towards ambition to build a better nation? 1950’s USA was very different than today. I've worked with some brilliant government orgs (NIST) but more often than not, many have the problem of top-down management and bureaucratic class that has no checks and balances, that is impossible to get rid of, and perpetuate dysfunction, overbilling…
Comment linking /blog/notes-on-technology-2020s/
on “Why America can’t build quickly anymore”Submitted Cargo Airships Are Happening as a story · 222 points
HN discussion> We should absolutely work to reduce, reuse, and recycle, No, we shouldn't. We should primarily work on scaling up our energy production. I was long in favour of nuclear, although apparently there's some exciting development in deep geothermal as well. (inspired by https://elidourado.com/blog/geothermal/ ) We shouldn't even try recycling the plastic, but simply burry it. Oil from the ground, plastic back into the g…
Comment linking /blog/geothermal/
on “Plastic recycling remains a 'myth': Greenpeace study”Submitted Why Does Apple Offer Free Engraving? as a story · 181 points
HN discussionWould $99 + gratitude be enough to motivate you to take that time? I got serious value out of this compendium [0] and have been looking for more. Contact info is in my profile if interested. [0] https://elidourado.com/blog/notes-on-technology-2020s/
Comment linking /blog/notes-on-technology-2020s/
on “'Whitest ever' paint reflects 98% of sunlight”Submitted Stop Saying Bitcoin Transactions Aren’t Reversible as a story · 178 points
HN discussionI think they're aware of all these problems because they do mention almost everything you said in the linked post thinking through the idea: https://www.elidourado.com/p/cargo-airships Obviously that was simply a post thinking through everything hypothetically and I didn't read anything that seemed like they actually had the best solution, but at least they seem to be aware of the challenges to landing and off-loadi…
Comment linking /p/cargo-airships
on “Cargo Airships Are Happening”Submitted Personal aviation is about to get interesting (2023) as a story · 159 points
HN discussionI found Eli Dourado's take on 'Race Against The Machine' quite an interesting analysis and somewhat related to this article http://elidourado.com/blog/technologies-of-control-and-resis... It's mainly how points of control incentivize some of these factors to move faster, or out of step with the other factors.
Comment linking /blog/technologies-of-control-and-resistance/
on “AI are taking jobs”Submitted The Dawn of the Age of Geoengineering as a story · 66 points
HN discussionThereputic Plasma Exchange (ie. exchanging blood plasma with saline and albumin) seems a very promising treatment for aging. [1] [2] "These findings are exciting not only because they represent a scientific advance in understanding aging, but also because they herald the first real anti-aging product that could come to market. Therapeutic plasma exchange is FDA-approved (not for aging, but for a bunch of other condi…
Comment linking /blog/notes-on-technology-2020s/
on “The economic value of targeting aging”Submitted What Would Democracy Look Like if it Were Invented Today? as a story · 48 points
HN discussionSure, arbitration requires a trusted third party. Look though, the situation is a huge improvement over what we currently have: 1. Arbitration services can be decoupled from payment services. With multisig, buyer and seller get to choose an arbiter they trust based on reputation, jurisdiction, experience arbitrating similar kinds of transactions, etc. This is an unbundling of what credit card companies do today and…
Comment linking /blog/bitcoin-arbitration/
on “Frozen Funds”Submitted Notes on Technology in the 2020s as a story · 34 points
HN discussion"Stop Saying Bitcoin Transactions Aren't Reversible" http://elidourado.com/blog/bitcoin-arbitration/ Other commenters here have mentioned n-of-m multisignature transactions. This article describes how multisig works, and how it can be used to implement better arbitration than what's been possible with traditional payment systems. Unfortunately we're in the early days of Bitcoin here: support for multisig isn't commo…
Comment linking /blog/bitcoin-arbitration/
on “Frozen Funds”Submitted Notes on Technology in the 2020s as a story · 15 points
HN discussionThis is not a widespread opinion or pattern as I see it. This is first time I am hearing from someone that we in America "build things fast". I suggest reading Eli Dourado's blog: https://www.elidourado.com/ and his many blog posts on HN: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
Comment linking /
on “Fast”Submitted Heretical Thoughts on AI (2023) as a story · 4 points
HN discussion> But I still see the lack of reversibility of transactions (one of bitcoin's strengths) as the major problem here. "Stop Saying Bitcoin Transactions Aren't Reversible" http://elidourado.com/blog/bitcoin-arbitration/ The n-of-m multisignature facilities described in that article are the future of Bitcoin. You probably don't need multisig arbitration when you buy a coffee or a stick of gum, but you probably do when y…
Comment linking /blog/bitcoin-arbitration/
on “Statement on Mt. Gox”Submitted Notes on Technology in the 2020s as a story · 4 points
HN discussionIt is suspected (and I think reasonably so) that Bitcoin volatility will decrease over time[1]. Regardless, I think with the financial tools we have developed in the past few hundred years we are very well equipped to deal with volatile assets. Perhaps it is you who doesn't want to think longer about Bitcoin than the two seconds it takes to realize that loaning Bitcoins might be a difficult problem. 1] http://elidou…
Comment linking /blog/bitcoin-volatility/
on “Ecuador Turning to Virtual Currency”Submitted Notes on Technology in the 2020s as a story · 4 points
HN discussionWhile you provide some solid arguments, I feel that you are overlooking certain key elements. I myself feel that the likelihood of Argentina switching to BTC after its upcoming financial collapse is quite low. However I feel that certain niche sectors of the economy could well jump to using BTC. The points that you overlook are: [1] The USD is currently being deflated like never before and could potentially collapse…
Comment linking /blog/bitcoin-volatility/
on “As Argentine Peso Falters, President Keeps a Low Profile”Submitted A beginner's guide to sociopolitical collapse as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThe reef, as currently constituted, is a lost cause, assuming neither political nor technological solutions to global warming emerge. Genetically engineered coral or algae is one possibility[1][2]. Another is carbon sequestration by massive production of olivine sand weathering in the ocean[3]. The cost of reversing anthropogenic climate change since the 1750s are about $16 trillion, which if done over 10 years, wou…
Comment linking /blog/dawn-of-geoengineering/
on “Giant Pumice Raft Floating Towards Australia Could Replenish Great Barrier Reef”Submitted The state of next-generation geothermal energy as a story · 3 points
HN discussionWhat are you basing your assertion that most fortune 500 would be in the red on ? Corporate profit (post tax) are at a record high (e.g. http://elidourado.com/blog/the-short-run-is-short/ ).
Comment linking /blog/the-short-run-is-short/
on “Senate report: Microsoft used loopholes to avoid billions in taxes”Submitted The Case for Ethereum Maximalism as a story · 3 points
HN discussionStill awesome, I've thought about this actually, especially for transporting high value goods inland from difficult environments to ports (I'm thinking deep in the DRC or in West Africa during the rainy season when the roads are basically unusable) but hadn't considered the overall replacement of cargo ships with them. I thought this was a fun article: https://www.elidourado.com/p/cargo-airships
Comment linking /p/cargo-airships
on “Launch HN: OutSail (YC W23) – Wingsails to reduce cargo ship fuel consumption”Submitted The Dawn of the Age of Geoengineering as a story · 3 points
HN discussion
