Liraz Siri's picture

Tim, I'm actually a big Bitcoin supporter, for many of the reasons you stated. It's why I quietly took over maintenance of BlockExplorer a couple of years ago from Theymos, the Bitcoin forums and reddit moderator.

Yes, there are probably bigger problems in the world than binary options scams. Global warming & environmental destruction, repressive regimes, war & famine, the refugee crisis, the death of millions by preventable diseases, and yes - a dangerously crash-prone and unjust international finance system based on fiat currencies under opaque centralized control...

But to keep our society healthy enough to battle the big issues we need to care about its other ills as well. To do otherwise would be like sending every single soldier to the most important battle, leaving everywhere else undefended. You'll win the battle but lose the war. Evil is a hydra monster. By the time you're done cutting off the largest head all the smaller heads will have grown to replace it.

So even if you could redirect every discussion to The Most Important Issue I don't think that kind of exclusive attention would be a good thing.

Corruption and moral decay are dangerously malignant. We should strive to nip evil as close to the bud as possible. Big problems start as smaller problems. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.