I argued that, with artificial intelligence (AI) advancing rapidly, we might soon see Human-Level Artificial General Intelligence (HL-AGI), AI that can think like humans. If AI can pass the Turing Test, proving it’s human-like, we might consider AI conscious.
This new AI consciousness could be strange at first, but grow more human-like, especially in robots interacting with people. If we accept that AI robots are ‘people’, sending them to colonize space would be logical. Robots are hardier against the threats of space: they don’t need life support, don’t sleep, can have parts replaced when they break (unlike a human hand), and can back up their data so the work can carry on seamlessly if they’re destroyed.
In the long term, filling the universe with intelligence is our common cosmic destiny, and future AI robots can achieve it.
However, there’s a human desire for people, not just robots, to explore space. Starting human space colonization now is important. Plus, human missions inspire young scientists and engineers, potentially speeding up the development of new technologies including advanced AI. So, I concluded that we should pursue both human and robotic space expansion.
Wide-spectrum reactions
I shared Should we still want biological space colonists? to several online discussion groups and mailing lists, and received passionate replies ranging from ‘enthusiastic YES’ to ’emphatic NO’, and more nuanced replies in between.
The high level of engagement in groups that are usually quieter tells me that many of those who are both space enthusiasts and AI enthusiasts see this as an important open question.
“How would you create a space-faring civilization without direct human participation?”, asks a commenter in the YES camp. Another scolds me for even considering the question, and adds: “Future tech bypassing humans or maybe uploads only? No.”
I found especially interesting a comment, by a well-known thinker, that space enthusiasts want to remain hopeful on traditional biological-human-centered space expansion narratives. His use of the term “hopeful” is revealing. I totally understand this, but I’m training my emotions to also find hope in the pure AI alternative. Either way, our mind-children will colonize the stars.
A commenter in the NO camp notes that it is far easier to adapt ourselves to the universe than to adapt the universe to ourselves. Advanced civilizations would see the engineering of AI robots as far preferable to terraforming planets.
The same commenter says that advanced civilizations would also see the transport of uploaded minds as far more efficient than the transport of fragile human bodies. He notes that the robots we send to Mars and elsewhere could be designed to host uploaded human minds. So we could teleport ourselves to Mars and back simply by transmitting (at the speed of light) a mind-state into a robot body on Mars. I’ll come back to this point later on.
Credit: Tesfu Assefa
Post-biological AI civilizations
Writing in the 1960s, Iosif Shklovsky and Carl Sagan suggested “not only that beings may exist elsewhere in the universe with intelligence substantially beyond our own, but also that we may be able to construct such a being ourselves.” The last chapter of their seminal book Intelligent Life in the Universe is titled ‘Artificial intelligence and galactic civilizations’.
Other thinkers well-known in SETI circles, like Steven Dick and Seth Shostak, have suggested that advanced civilizations in the universe would be post-biological.
In his last book published in late 2024 after his death, Henry Kissinger notes that “AIs could serve as astronauts, going farther than humans could have imagined.”
Donald Goldsmith and Martin Rees predict with confidence that “during the next few decades, robots and artificial intelligence will grow vastly more capable, closing the gap with human capabilities and surpassing them in ever more domains.”
Thinking “will increasingly become the domain of artificial intelligence,” they say, envisioning a new era of “technological evolution of intelligent beings.”
Rees was even more explicit and said that, in deep space, “nonbiological ‘brains’ may develop powers that humans can’t even imagine.” Future technological evolution “could surpass humans by as much as we (intellectually) surpass slime mould.”
These thinkers seem to agree with James Lovelock: we are preparing the way for “new forms of intelligent beings” that will colonize the cosmos.
Machines or persons?
Should this thought make us happy or unhappy? I think it comes down to the question of whether we see our AI mind-children as cold machines or as people.
“The division of intelligent life into two categories – natural and artificial – may eventually prove to be meaningless,” said Shklovsky and Sagan. The brains of our descendants “may also be artificial,” and it “would be impossible to draw a clear distinction” between artificial intelligent living beings and natural advanced organisms.
They quoted legendary mathematician Andrey Kolmogorov saying that “a sufficiently complete model of a living being, in all fairness, must be called a living being, and a model of a thinking being must be called a thinking being.”
Now that we may soon converse with fully Turing-tested AIs, we should internalize this and learn to see them as persons. Future generations will likely find this intuitively and emotionally obvious. Those persons colonize the cosmos. Let’s make peace with this.
What about uploads?
Let’s go back to the point that a commenter raised about human uploads. As a third alternative, he said, we could transmit uploaded human minds to receiving stations in deep space, and then download them to robotic bodies and brains.
Crews of uploads could make interstellar expansion feasible. The challenges of interstellar expansion, chiefly the speed-of-light limit, seem so daunting that some believe this is the only viable solution.
In my previous article I mentioned mind uploading and the co-evolution and humans and AIs, saying that they will merge and become the same thing. So I think the upload alternative points to the direction in which humanity will move.
But in the long term, I’m more and more persuaded that the perception of a difference between human persons and AIs will melt away like snow in the sun.
The rest of this century
I guess I wouldn’t be so zen-like detached if I could hope to be a space colonist myself, but I’m too old for that.
However, younger space enthusiasts have legitimate aspirations to be space colonists. And regardless of age, most people are not ready to fully empathize and identify with our AI mind-children. Not yet. Big changes to our culture, psychology, and emotions take a long time.
So I think for some decades – say until the end of this century – ‘human’ will still mean ‘biological human’ to most people, and most space enthusiasts will want biological humans in space.
I think in the rest of this century we must establish humanity as a multi-planetary biological species in the solar system. Doing it will boost the human spirit and accelerate progress on all fronts, including the AI technology front.
We can count on the next generations of our mind-children to assist us with brilliant solutions to the current challenges of human spaceflight. They could also help us to find out how to upload human minds.
Then, in the words of Hans Moravec, our mind children “will explode into the universe, leaving us behind in a cloud of dust.” I hope they will choose to absorb and take with them the minds of those biological humans who want to follow.
A possible wildcard is that human or AI scientists could find a way to travel faster than light. This would definitely change the game, and could open interstellar spaceflight to biological humans as well. I’m not holding my breath, but I see this in the realm of the possible.
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Just weeks after the American President Donald Trump’s controversial $TRUMP and associated $MELANIA meme coin launches, which surged at first and then nosedived in value, last week saw another president endorse a cryptocurrency which climb to the heavens in value only to crash down to earth, taking billions of user funds with it.
Like a house of cards collapsing, the Libra token’s dramatic rise and fall has sent shockwaves through both Argentina‘s political landscape and the broader cryptocurrency market.
In just 11 hours, what began as a seemingly promising cryptocurrency endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei turned into one of the most devastating rug-pulls in recent crypto history, wiping out $4 billion in market value.
It was supposed to be a shining example of crypto’s real world usefulness, forming part of the Viva La Libertad Project supporting Argentina’s economy. But it soon turned out to be just another cashout by greedy insiders.
Are the new patrons of crypto doing more bad than good for the space with their involvement? Right now, the answer would appear to be ‘yes’.
The Rise and Fall of Libra
On February 14, President Milei shared a post on Twitter promoting the Libra (LIBRA) token, describing it as a private initiative to boost Argentina’s economy. With the pro-crypto president’s endorsement, the token’s market capitalization skyrocketed to $4.56 billion. However, within hours of its debut on decentralized exchanges, insider wallets began systematically draining the project’s liquidity. This soon sent the charts on a red line straight down. The token’s value plummeted by 94%, leaving countless investors with substantial losses.
One particularly unfortunate wallet holder reportedly lost $5.17 million in the chaos, although they were suspiciously credited $5 million USDC later in what reeked of insider trading.
According to blockchain intelligence firm Lookonchain, at least eight wallets connected to the Libra team extracted approximately $107 million, split between 57.6 million USDC and 249,671 Solana tokens.
Anatomy of the Libra Rug Pull
The Libra token was presented as a stimulus to Argentina’s economy by funding small businesses and startups, which fitted Milei’s economic plans. The team behind the Libra launch was Kelsier Ventures, spearheaded by Hayden Mark Davis, who was advising President Milei on the benefits of Web3 and blockchain technology.
LA TECNOLOGÍA ES ALIADA DE LA LIBERTAD
Hoy mantuvimos una muy interesante charla con el empresario Hayden Mark Davis, quien me estuvo asesorando sobre el impacto y las aplicaciones de la tecnología blockchain e inteligencia artificial en el país. Seguimos trabajando para… pic.twitter.com/LOX4xiyzhA
Davis has since come out to blame Milei for the dump after the latter removed his endorsement. Davis also claimed in a rambling social media post that he would inject $100 million back into the project after recouping funds from parties involved.
Blockchain analysis reveals a carefully orchestrated exit strategy. The project’s tokenomics were designed for maximum exploitation: 82% of the supply was unlocked from the start, allowing insiders to sell immediately.
In a bizarre twist, one large trader who lost $5.17 million received a private compensation of $5 million in USDC, suggesting possible coördination with the project team. This pattern of selective compensation has raised questions about market manipulation and insider trading.
Political Fallout – Milei Takes Fire
For President Milei, who built his campaign on fighting corruption, the Libra disaster has created a serious political crisis. Argentine lawyers have filed criminal fraud charges against him, claiming his endorsement misled investors.
In response, Milei deleted his endorsement and blamed political opponents, calling them “filthy rats.” His office has requested an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Office to examine whether any government officials engaged in wrongdoing. The president claims he “was not aware of the details of the project” and withdrew his support after learning more.
The opposition is now pushing for impeachment proceedings, calling the incident a “national embarrassment.”
Impact on Argentina’s Economy
The Libra fiasco comes at a particularly sensitive time for Argentina’s economy. Inflation hit 211% immediately after Milei took office, and the country responded with aggressive economic reforms. This scandal could further undermine confidence in the government’s financial policies. International investors, already cautious about Argentina’s market reforms, may view this incident as a red flag.
Local cryptocurrency exchanges report a sharp decline in trading volume as retail investors retreat from the market. This cooling effect could slow the adoption of blockchain technology in Argentina’s financial sector, where several legitimate projects were making headway in areas like cross-border payments and digital banking. This Bankless video covers them in detail:
Connections To $MELANIA and others
On-chain analysts have uncovered troubling links between Libra and other recent cryptocurrency projects, including the recent MELANIA and ENRON tokens. These connections suggest a coördinated effort among serial scammers targeting celebrity-endorsed cryptocurrencies.
Adding to the controversy, Jupiter Exchange revealed that Libra’s launch was an “open secret in memecoin circles” for about two weeks before the incident. They learned about it from Kelsier Ventures but claim no involvement in the subsequent rug-pull.
lot of FUD going around right now. but here's the truth:
the Jupiter team was not involved in the $Libra token launch. we didn't do the deployment, the market making, or participate in the launch.
we also did NOT pre-verify the token. we only verified it after it had crossed…
The Libra collapse has exacerbated an ongoing liquidity crisis in the altcoin market. Much like previous memecoin launches, Libra absorbed significant capital from other cryptocurrencies without bringing fresh money into the ecosystem. When insiders cashed out, they triggered a liquidity drain that affected the broader altcoin sector.
This incident follows a concerning pattern of celebrity-endorsed memecoins facing similar fates. The TRUMP and MELANIA tokens, launched in January 2025, have also seen dramatic losses, with TRUMP down 76% and MELANIA down 90% from their all-time highs.
Despite initial market caps reaching billions, these tokens often follow a predictable pattern of pump-and-dump schemes. And they’re absolutely bleeding the life out of crypto markets.
The Future of Celebrity Crypto Endorsements
The Libra disaster could mark a turning point in how public figures approach cryptocurrency endorsements. Legal experts suggest this case might lead to stricter regulations around ‘celebrity’ crypto promotions, similar to existing securities laws. Social media platforms are already discussing enhanced verification requirements for cryptocurrency-related posts by political figures.
Some cryptocurrency exchanges have begun implementing “celebrity token” warning systems, flagging new tokens that rely heavily on endorsements rather than technical merit. These measures aim to protect retail investors from future pump-and-dump schemes.
Conclusion
The Libra disaster will likely have lasting consequences for cryptocurrency regulation and celebrity endorsements in Argentina and beyond. The criminal investigation into President Milei’s involvement could set precedents for how political figures approach cryptocurrency promotions.
For the crypto market, this incident highlights persistent vulnerabilities in decentralized finance. The ease with which insiders can manipulate token launches and drain liquidity poses serious challenges for the industry’s credibility. Basic safeguards are ignored in the rush for quick profits – things like locked liquidity periods and transparent tokenomics. Also, it’s a terrible look for Solana, whose meme coin and AI agent booms first surged and then hurt the entire crypto sector by wiping out retail wallets. The crypto gods give and the crypto gods take away. This week we should see repayments from FTX, previously the high water mark for crypto crime, make its way to crypto-strapped investors. The lesson is never trust anyone but yourself. Will we learn? Probably not.
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Choosing the right exchange is crucial for both newcomers and experienced traders. We’ll assume for this article that you keep your crypto on a custodial solution like a centralized exchange, not in a cold wallet or Dex.
As we move through 2025, several exchanges have established themselves as industry leaders, each offering unique advantages for different types of users. This guide examines the top cryptocurrency exchanges, analyzing their security measures, fee structures, and overall user experience.
Why use a Centralized Exchange in 2025?
CEXs (centralized exchanges) still rule the crypto world, connecting traders with the best and latest crypto assets within the safety and familiarity of a Web2 experience. CEXs control 80% of the market – the rest being decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap and Raydium, although new challengers like Hyperliquid are making progress.
Convenience – Easy to buy, sell, and trade crypto with a user-friendly interface and mobile apps.
Liquidity and Speed – CEXs offer high liquidity, ensuring faster order execution and minimal slippage.
Security Features – Many CEXs provide advanced security measures like two-factor authentication (2FA) and insurance for custodial funds.
Passive Income Opportunities – Users can stake, lend, or earn rewards through yield programs without managing private keys.
Customer Support – Access to 24/7 customer service and dispute resolution in case of account issues or lost credentials.
Credit: Tesfu Assefa
Binance: The Global Leader
As the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Binance has established itself through deep liquidity pools and some of the industry’s lowest trading fees. The platform’s comprehensive feature set includes spot trading, derivatives, and numerous additional services. While its interface may be overwhelming for beginners, experienced traders appreciate the extensive customization options and advanced trading tools available.
Binance’s security measures include its Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) and regular proof of reserves audits. The exchange’s strategic approach to regulatory compliance has resulted in a growing presence in regulated markets, though availability varies by region.
It has had its regulatory setbacks – its former CEO and co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) landing up in jail for four months – but its problems are clearing up nicely, and the SEC last week put its case against Binance on hold.
Pros: Industry-lowest trading fees Deep liquidity pools Large selection of cryptocurrencies
Cons: Complex interface for newcomers Regulatory challenges in some regions Variable customer support quality
Coinbase: The Trusted Name in Crypto
Coinbase has maintained its position as the leading USA-based cryptocurrency exchange, distinguished by its regulatory compliance and institutional-grade security measures. As a publicly-traded company, Coinbase offers unparalleled transparency in its operations, with regular audits by top accounting firms. This has seen it get listed on the Nasdaq, and while the SEC has gone after it in the past, it is the exchange of choice for big institutions like BlackRock.
While its asset listing policy remains conservative compared to offshore exchanges, recent developments have shown increased flexibility in listing new cryptocurrencies, particularly following regulatory clarity in the market during the Trump administration.
The exchange’s security features include offline cold storage for 98% of their assets, and FDIC insurance for USD deposits up to $250,000. Though trading fees are higher than some competitors, Coinbase’s user-friendly interface and robust security measures make it an excellent choice for newcomers to cryptocurrency trading, especially if they’re in the USA.
Coinbase is also behind the Base network, the booming Ethereum layer-2 chain, which provides self-custodial options for its users.
Pros: Strong regulatory compliance and security FDIC insurance for USD deposits User-friendly interface
After Binance fell prey to regulators in the USA in 2023, others moved in on its markets. Bybit has emerged as a dominant force in the cryptocurrency derivatives market, powered by its sophisticated trading engine capable of processing 100,000 transactions per second. The exchange’s commitment to security is evident in its implementation of AI-driven risk management systems and comprehensive proof of reserves system.
Operating from Dubai, Bybit offers traders access to over 500 cryptocurrencies with fee structures that rival industry leaders. The platform’s advanced trading terminal, and 24/7 customer support in multiple languages, makes it particularly attractive for serious traders seeking professional-grade tools and features.
Pros: High-performance trading engine Competitive fee structure Advanced trading features
Cons: Not available in some major markets Limited fiat currency support Complex for beginners
Kraken: The Security Pioneer
Impressively, Kraken has an unblemished security record spanning over a decade. The platform’s commitment to security is reïnforced by its dedicated security research team and industry-leading bug bounty program. With support for multiple fiat currencies and a growing list of nearly 300 cryptocurrencies, Kraken balances accessibility with security.
The exchange’s Pro platform offers sophisticated trading tools, while maintaining competitive fee structures. Kraken’s reputation for exceptional customer service, with round-the-clock human support, makes it a compelling choice for both institutional and retail traders.
Pros: Perfect security track record Excellent customer service Strong regulatory compliance
Cons: Higher fees than offshore exchanges Conservative listing policy Complex for beginners
OKX: The Innovation Hub
OKX has distinguished itself through innovative trading features and a comprehensive security infrastructure. The exchange’s unique approach to cold storage security – including RAM-based private key storage and geographically distributed key management – demonstrates its commitment to asset protection.
The Seychelles-headquartered platform offers competitive trading fees and unique features such as extended timeframe options for technical analysis. While its listing policy appears conservative with fewer total assets than some competitors, OKX’s focus on quality over quantity has contributed to its reputation for reliability.
Pros: Innovative security features Competitive trading fees Advanced trading tools
Cons: Limited regional availability Fewer listed assets than competitors Complex for new users
MEXC: The High-Performance Contender
MEXC has established itself as a formidable player in the cryptocurrency exchange market, boasting over 10 million users across 170+ countries.
The platform supports over 2,800 cryptocurrencies and 2,900 trading pairs: one of the most extensive selections of digital assets in the market. This however opens users up to risk, as these assets are mostly high-risk in terms of price performance and volatility.
Since its founding in 2018, MEXC has demonstrated rapid growth, capturing 5% of the global digital asset trading market within its first year. While constrained by regulatory challenges in certain jurisdictions and limited fiat support, MEXC’s comprehensive trading options and high-performance infrastructure make it a compelling choice for traders seeking extensive asset selection and competitive fees.
Cons: Not available for US users Coins not vetted as well Basic customer support
Conclusion
The cryptocurrency exchange landscape in 2025 offers options suited to various trading styles and experience levels. For beginners prioritizing security and ease of use, Coinbase and Kraken are good options. Advanced traders seeking sophisticated tools and low fees might prefer Bybit or Binance. And OKX offers a balance of innovation and security that appeals to both types of users.
When selecting an exchange, consider security measures, fee structures, available trading pairs, and geographical restrictions. Remember that the best choice depends on your specific needs, trading volume, and location. Regardless of which platform you choose, always prioritize security by utilizing available protection measures and maintaining proper custody of your digital assets.
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Technology was supposed to be the great equalizer, the shining beacon of progress that would guide humanity to a promised land of rationality, empathy, and collective intelligence. Instead, it’s turned into a dystopian sitcom where the tech élite are sipping oat milk lattés in eco-friendly mansions while the rest of us argue with strangers on the internet about whether the Earth is flat. Thanks to social media, we have to waste precious brain cells debating someone named ‘GlobeSkeptic69’.
In this farcical elegy (or is it a dirge?), we will focus on social networking technology. In the next one—if there is a next one—we will discuss how technology, in general, is not heading in the right direction, especially considering global inequality.
Let’s face it: our Social Networking Services (SNS) aren’t making us better humans. It’s dividing us faster than a free pizza at a tech conference. One small segment of society—let’s call them the ‘Rational Élite’—may use social networking technology to optimize their lives, learn new skills, and maybe even save the planet. Most of us are scrolling through TikTok at 2 a.m., watching a guy in a chicken suit lip-sync to a song about existential dread. And somehow, we’re the lucky ones—because at least we’re not the ones who think QAnon is a credible news source.
Social Media: The Great Dumbening
If you’ve ever wondered why humanity seems to be getting dumber, look no further than social media. It’s a lobotomy with added cat videos. Social media doesn’t just reflect our collective stupidity—it actively makes it worse.
When the common folk start making claims without logic or scientific support, it’s like playing a game of telephone with a flamethrower—things get out of hand fast, and someone’s bound to get burned. They share it with others who unquestioningly believe the claims, bypassing the scientific method and rational scrutiny. It escalates into a spiral of misinformation, where baseless ideas gain traction just because they feel true or align with pre-existing biases. The result? A society where stupid theories thrive, critical thinking withers, and decisions—whether personal, political, or medical—are made on shaky, unsupported grounds. In a world already drowning in data, failing to separate fact from fiction isn’t just ignorance; it’s a collective surrender to entropy.
Research shows that social media can negatively impact cognitive abilities and critical thinking. The evidence is that false news spreads significantly faster and farther than true news on social media platforms, primarily because it is more novel and emotionally provocative. Social media dampens critical thinking and rational content, rewarding sensationalism over factual accuracy. But is this just a natural phenomenon or a deliberate design: a dark horse riding the ‘Attention Algorithm’?
Tech companies apply algorithms that amplify stupidity as long as it gets attention. To be fair, this is rooted in human nature: falsehoods travel six times faster than the truth, because a headline like “Scientists Prove Chocolate Cures Cancer” is way more exciting than “Scientists Prove Chocolate is Still Just Chocolate”. Tech was supposed to enhance and tame our bad nature, but it seems like this tech, SNS tech, is feeding off it.
And it does not end just with garbage, stupidity, and misinformation. Social media is literally rewiring our brains to favor shallow thinking over deep analysis. A 2021 study in Computers in Human Behavior found that heavy social media use is associated with lower cognitive abilities, particularly in areas like critical thinking and problem-solving. In other words, the more time you spend on Instagram, the harder it becomes to figure out how to assemble IKEA furniture. Thanks, Zuckerberg.
The 2021 study by Meshi, Tamir, and Heekeren explored the cognitive effects of social media use in detail, finding that excessive use is associated with reduced attention spans and lower performance on tasks requiring deep cognitive processing. While the study doesn’t explicitly claim social media makes people “stupider,” it does highlight how it can impair critical thinking and focus. Most studies don’t phrase it so bluntly—they speak in measured academic terms about “reduced cognitive performance” or “impaired critical thinking.”
But let’s be honest: when you’re three hours deep into a live Clubhouse’s public debate, listening to dozens of strangers arguing about whether Bianca Censori’s latest ‘art’ is a subtle cry for help or just a poorly poured heart, it’s not just your evening that’s wasted—it’s your brain cells. The real danger lies in how these platforms thrive on engagement, not enlightenment, turning us all into unwitting participants in a grand experiment where the hypothesis is: How low can human intelligence go?
The above fiasco—Bianca Censori, Kanye West’s new girlfriend (or wife? Frankly, we can’t keep up with this)—appearing nude at the 2025 Grammy Awards and grabbing all the headlines, is a perfect example of how stupid stunts are not only dominating social media but also infiltrating traditional mainstream media. It’s a sad commentary on our times when people achieve fame not for their work, talent, skill, expertise, or knowledge—all of which require discipline, training, and effort—but for their naked butts, which are, at the end of the day, just naked butts. This isn’t art; it’s attention-seeking masquerading as creativity, and it’s proof that the bar for what we consider worthy of attention has sunk so low it’s practically underground.
Credit: Tesfu Assefa
SNS Tech’s Dirty Little Secret: Stupidity Sells
Here’s the dark, twisted truth: the SNS tech industry isn’t just failing to make us smarter—it’s actively profiting from our stupidity. The more time we spend mindlessly scrolling, the more ads we see, and the more money SNS tech companies make. It’s a vicious hamster wheel powered by our collective brain cells. The system is designed to reward stupidity.
Dozens of studies found that content that triggers strong emotional reactions—like outrage or fear—gets more engagement than thoughtful, nuanced content. In other words, the dumber and more sensational your post, the more likes and shares you’ll get. It’s like an American high school in the 1990s, but with worse consequences.
The idea that SNS tech platforms are being designed to reward shallow, sensational and emotional content is well-documented. A 2020 study published in Science Advances by Brady et al. found that moral outrage spreads more virally on social media because it generates higher engagement. This creates a feedback loop where platforms prioritize content that triggers strong emotional reactions, often at the expense of accuracy or nuance.
Similarly, a 2018 study by MIT researchers (Vosoughi et al.) confirmed that false news stories are 70% more likely to be retweeted than true ones, further illustrating how platforms incentivize sensationalism over truth.
This is why your feed is filled with celebrity butts, dumb theories, fake news, and videos of people doing tiresomely stupid things. The algorithm doesn’t care if the content is true or helpful—it just cares if it keeps you clicking. And the longer you stay on the platform, the more data you generate, which the SNS tech companies then sell to advertisers. It’s a win-win for them and a lose-lose for the rest of us. As the cliché goes, we’re not the customers; we’re the product. And we’re not only being sold by the pound, but we are also handing whatever grams of brain cells we have for magic beans.
The Internet: A Black Hole of Productivity
Credit: Tesfu Assefa
Here’s the kicker: we’re spending more time online than ever, but we’re not exactly using it to write the next great novel or cure cancer. According to a 2022 report by DataReportal, the average person spends nearly seven hours (6 hours and 58 minutes to be faithful to the study) a day on the internet. That’s almost half of our waking lives! And what are we doing with all that time? Well, according to another study by RescueTime, the most popular online activities include checking social media, watching videos, and shopping for things we don’t need. Because nothing says “personal growth” like buying a $50 avocado slicer at 3 a.m.
The irony is that the internet is the greatest repository of knowledge in human history, but we’re using it to watch videos of people unboxing their Amazon hauls. It’s like having access to the Library of Alexandria and using it to read a gossip column about Ramses II’s farts.
The digital plague has seeped into our brains, turning us into keyboard warriors who can’t even remember what we were ranting about five sentences ago. If this isn’t proof that social media is eroding our ability to focus, I don’t know what is. Now, where were we? (Oh right, naked butts!) It is a trillion-dollar enabler for our worst impulses. Want to fall down a rabbit hole of pseudoscience and bad takes? The algorithm’s got you covered. Want to learn something useful? Good luck finding it between the ads and the clickbait.
Letter to The SNS Tech Elite: Masters of the Universe
Meanwhile, the SNS tech élite are living their best lives, far removed from the chaos they’ve created. They’re like modern-day wizards, conjuring up algorithms and apps that keep us hooked while they sip their fair-trade coffee and ponder the ethical implications of colonizing Mars. They’ve built a world where they get richer and smarter, while the rest of us get poorer and dumber. It’s like a twisted version of The Matrix, except instead of being plugged into a simulation, we’re plugged into Instagram.
These are the same people who preach about ‘changing the world’ and ‘making the future better’. The future they’re building looks less like Star Trek and more like Idiocracy. Instead of flying cars and utopian cities, we’ve got viral dance challenges and deepfake porn.
Dear SNS Tech Elites, it’s time to stop feeding the beast of mindless sensationalism and start nurturing the garden of substance. Your algorithms, designed to maximize engagement at all costs, have turned social media into a circus where the loudest, dumbest, and most outrageous acts get the spotlight.
You have the power to change this. Rewrite the code to reward depth over distraction, knowledge over nonsense, and meaningful discourse over mindless scrolling. Shock humanity with a platform where thoughtful articles, well-researched ideas, and genuine creativity rise to the top instead of rage bait and half-naked stunts. You built these systems; now rebuild them! The world is nearing stupidity overdose. You can choose to stop it.
Credit: Tesfu Assefa
Conclusion: A Tragedy of Errors
So where does this leave us? In a world where technology was supposed to bring us together, it’s tearing us apart. The Rational Elite are thriving, while the rest of us are stuck in a never-ending loop of mindless consumption and digital distraction. Social media is making us dumber, the internet is wasting our time, and the tech industry is laughing all the way to the bank.
But hey, at least we’ve got memes. And if all else fails, we can always take comfort in the fact that we’re not as dumb as the guy who tried to microwave his iPhone to charge it. Or are we? After all, we’re the ones who keep clicking.
A shameless advertisement: we believe that Mindplex is the antithesis of the existing stupid SNS technology. Join us, build a platform that rewards merit, and let us all say, behold Mindplex is Coming!
Disclaimer
Despite the title’s reference to Silicon Valley, the issues are global in scope. TikTok, the Chinese social media giant, is one I boldly accuse of being a major mastermind in this ‘genocide of the attention span’. Similarly, SNS tech companies from South Korea (like Naver and Kakao) and Europe(like Great Britain’s OnlyFans) are also complicit in the race to monopolize our time and attention.
This isn’t just an American problem—it’s a human problem. The algorithms that keep us hooked, the misinformation that spreads like wildfire, and the erosion of critical thinking are universal issues perpetuated by SNS tech companies worldwide. So, while we may poke fun at Silicon Valley, let’s not forget that the digital circus has many ringmasters, and they’re all playing the same tune: click, scroll, repeat.
Credit: Tesfu Assefa
References
Brady, William J., Killian McLoughlin, Tuan N. Doan, and Molly J. Crockett. 2020. “How Social Learning Amplifies Moral Outrage Expression in Online Social Networks.” Science Advances 6 (33): eabe5641. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe5641.
While working on this piece, we ingested more depressing poisons (pardon me, I mean studies and research papers) to further understand the evil at the root of social networking technologies. For readers who’d like to indulge in this grim party, we’ve listed them below. Just don’t say we didn’t recommend you butt-based memes, it is the last entry below.
Authors Not Specified. 2024. “The Effect of Social Media Consumption on Emotion and Executive Functioning in College Students: An fNIRS Study in Natural Environment.” Preprint. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39764144/
Summary: Utilizing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), this study examines the immediate effects of social media consumption on executive functioning and emotion in college students. The results indicate significant impairments in tasks related to working memory and response inhibition following social media exposure.
Chiossi, Francesco, Luke Haliburton, Changkun Ou, Andreas Butz, and Albrecht Schmidt. 2023. “Short-Form Videos Degrade Our Capacity to Retain Intentions: Effect of Context Switching on Prospective Memory.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2302.03714. https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.03714.
Summary: This research examines how engaging with short-form video platforms like TikTok affects prospective memory—the ability to remember to perform intended actions. The study found that rapid context-switching inherent to these platforms can impair users’ intention recall and execution.
Duke, Clarissa, and John M. Montag. 2017. “Social Media Use and Cognitive Functioning: A Meta-Analysis of the Effects on Memory, Attention, and Problem-Solving Skills.” Psychology of Popular Media Culture 6 (3): 324–338. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000095.
Summary: This meta-analysis examines the cognitive consequences of social media use, particularly focusing on memory, attention, and problem-solving. The study suggests that prolonged social media engagement leads to cognitive overload, making it harder for individuals to focus, remember details, and solve problems effectively.
Kiss, Orsolya, Linhao Zhang, Eva Müller-Oehring, Brittany Bland-Boyd, Anya Harkness, Erin Kerr, Ingrid Durley, et al. 2024. “Interconnected Dynamics of Sleep Duration, Social Media Engagement, and Neural Reward Responses in Adolescents.” Sleep 47 (Supplement_1): A64. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsae067.0148.
Summary: This study investigates the relationship between sleep duration, social media usage, and brain activation in adolescents. The findings suggest that reduced sleep and high social media engagement may alter neural reward sensitivity, potentially impacting adolescent brain development.
Manwell, L. A., M. A. McGinnis, and M. A. McGinnis. 2022. “Digital Dementia: The Impact of Digital Technology on Cognitive Function.” Frontiers in Cognitive Science 14: 1203077. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1203077.
Summary: This review discusses the concept of “digital dementia,” referring to cognitive decline associated with excessive use of digital technology. The authors highlight how overreliance on digital devices can impair memory, attention, and decision-making abilities, particularly among younger generations.
Miller, K. D., and C. P. Johnson. 2019. “The Decline in Attention Span and Memory in the Age of Social Media.” Journal of Social Media Studies 3 (4): 203–211. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/6949135.
Summary: This paper discusses the decline in attention span and memory in individuals who frequently engage with social media. The study concludes that the overstimulation provided by social media platforms disrupts users’ ability to sustain attention and retain information, thereby diminishing overall cognitive performance.
Montag, Christian, and Benjamin Markett. 2023. “Social Media Use and Everyday Cognitive Failure: Investigating the Fear of Missing Out and Social Networks Use Disorder Relationship.” BMC Psychology 11 (1): 1-12. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38001436/
Summary: This research explores the relationship between the fear of missing out (FoMO), tendencies towards social networks use disorder (SNUD), and everyday cognitive failures. The study found that higher FoMO tendencies may lead to excessive social media use, which in turn could result in cognitive failures due to distraction and reduced attention to everyday tasks.
Przybylski, Andrew K., and Netta Weinstein. 2013. “Can You Connect with Me Now? How the Presence of Mobile Communication Technology Influences Face-to-Face Conversation Quality.” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30 (6): 697–717. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407512471805.
Summary: This study explores how mobile communication devices, including social media, affect face-to-face interactions and cognitive presence during these exchanges. The findings suggest that the mere presence of mobile phones (which often include social media apps) impairs cognitive engagement, leading to more shallow conversations and reduced memory of the interaction.
Sharifian, Niloofar, and Lindsay B. Zahodne. 2020. “Daily Associations between Social Media Use and Memory Failures: The Mediating Role of Negative Affect.” Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences 75 (8): 1610–1618. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz005.
Summary: This research examines the daily relationship between social media use and memory failures across the adult lifespan, highlighting the mediating role of negative affect. The study found that increased social media use is associated with more frequent memory failures, with negative emotions partially mediating this effect.
Smith, Rebecca, and Michael Carter. 2024. “Social Media Addiction and Its Impact on Cognitive Performance: A Systematic Review.” Journal of Behavioral Research 15 (1): 78-89. https://doi.org/10.5678/jbr2024.0109.
Summary: This systematic review analyzes multiple studies to assess the relationship between social media addiction and cognitive performance. The findings indicate that people with high levels of social media addiction exhibit significant impairments in attention, memory, and executive functions. The review highlights that the addictive nature of social media platforms, characterized by constant notifications and the need for immediate responses, can disrupt cognitive processes and lead to decreased mental sharpness.
Degen – short for degenerate – is a term used to describe crypto investors who like to think of themselves as impulsive enthusiastic risk-takers and market outsiders. For the film-in-progress Degens: Down & Out In the Crypto Casino, directors Brian McGleenon and Joe Haughey focus on the prankster-esque desperation of many in this world. As they say on their website, “The film explores the inner world of one of the most fascinating and overlooked counter-cultural movements of our time. A world inhabited by Degens, short for degenerates, who invest their meager income into memecoins.” These are the people who have minted coins with names like Shitcoin, Cumrocket, Amber Turd and HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu.
To some degree, they have also forced mainstream media to repeat these “vulgarities” that, of course, only reflect and reify the vulgarity particularly here in the USA where leading politicians or by comedian talk show host Bill Maher on CNN say ‘fuck’ regularly. It’s all indicative of a collapsing or fragmenting narrative in the context of the decline or recline of western civilization.
To elucidate this shadow world of high (on acid) finance, McGleenon and Haughey have incorporated a number of smart commentators. These range from Gordon Grant (he will be my follow-up interview), a cryptocurrency derivatives trader and the Head of Trading at Genesis, to leading US Marxist academic Richard D. Wolff and to (not least of all) PizzaT.
Full disclosure: I work with PizzaT on music under the banner of R.U. Sirius and Phriendz, which spins off of his own Phriendz music and other projects. We’ve even composed a theme song together for the Degens project titled ‘Degens & Phriendz’ that will be available soon. Aside from being a Sirius fellow and an astonishingly talented musician, composer and guitarist, Pizza, as described by the filmmakers… “is the center of all this madness. The memecoin groups orbit him like satellites spinning out of control. ”So set your stun guns to out-of-control, and dive into this interview about Degens: Down and Out in the Crypto Casino.
RU Sirius: What inspired you guys to make the Degens movie?
DEGENS: The story of Degens documentary all began about four years ago – which is centuries in the world of crypto – when I worked at a grubby Fleet Street news outlet in London. Someone on the editorial team asked if I knew anything about “this crypto thing,” and I started writing a blog for the newspaper.
Then Joe (co-director and co-producer of Degens) and I – we’ve known each other since we were in short trousers – started chatting about different stories that could be covered for this live crypto blog. Through this, we began dragging the shittiest of the shitcoin groups out of the filthy margins of the internet and giving them headlines on a national publication, which also has quite a decent international readership.
We wrote about things like Amber Turd, Shiba Inu and CumRocket. Then, through Joe, I got word that Dogebonk was sending a satellite to the moon. Well, they didn’t make it to the moon – they only reached low Earth orbit – but that was enough to write a few stories. We published the video of the launch, which showed a small satellite with a placard meme about Dogebonk beating Elon Musk’s plan to launch a Dogecoin into space. Dogebonk got there first.
That got us thinking more about these fringe memecoin groups – communities that usually start (and often end) on Telegram or 4chan. We saw that this was fertile ground for weird stories of desperation among the hopeless. So we decided to collect those stories and tell them in a long-form piece.
That led to me writing a feature-length article for The Independent called Inside the Dog-Eat-Doge World of Memecoin Communities. The piece was very successful, got lots of eyeballs, and covered everything from Dogebonk to the deluded community surrounding Richard Heart.
Then HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu came onto our radar. It seemed like the most refined, purest version of the nihilism many memecoins exhibit (most unconsciously, but some, like Dogebonk and HPOS10i, knew exactly what they were doing). They monetised nihilism and blossomed into self-aware subcultures that got all the ironies about promoting a shitcoin purely because it’s shit.
Joe and I thought, why not make a documentary about these memecoin subcultures? From the unironic Shib Army to the more complex, humor-driven communities like HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu and Dogebonk – there was a rich story to tell.
In our research, we came across one of the most unique characters in the memecoin world – and maybe on the planet: PizzaT. He was a driving force behind the artwork and culture that emerged from the HPOS10i community and was also involved in Dogebonk.
The man must have swallowed a fusion reactor along with a lot of psychedelics, to have the energy and insight to produce so much bizarre, creative content for these subcultures.
We got in touch with PizzaT – or maybe he got in touch with us – and he was completely honest, candid, and unafraid to open up about why he does what he does. When we first contacted him, he was living in a van in a McDonald’s car park, having just been sacked.
It quickly became clear to us that PizzaT is the center of all this madness. The memecoin groups orbit him like satellites spinning out of control.
The executive decision – by us and our backers – was that audiences should experience the world of memecoin subcultures through PizzaT’s eyes. And they should keep their eyes peeled and their ears clean because his artwork looks like it came from somewhere over a rainbow made of pure LSD, and his music has lyrics that are both light and frivolous as a morning latté but also deeply heartfelt.
All of this combined with PizzaT’s hero’s journey – very Joseph Campbell – to make it into a collapsing, late-stage capitalist America (and maybe he even gets the girl). It’s coming together as a cult-classic feature film.
The film is becoming both a time capsule of the madness we’re living through, and a surreal West Coast fever dream where PizzaT’s final throw of the dice never settles, but keeps rolling on, into infinity.
RU: Cryptocurrency is both the plaything of the wealthy (particularly with Musk and Trump taking over the USA) and, as per Degens, a plaything of the desperate. How do you think the culture of crypto is evolving since you started working on the film?
DEGENS: It’s strange how fast crypto has been embraced by the mainstream. Traditional finance incumbents have taken it seriously since early 2024, with the launch of multiple spot Bitcoin ETFs.
It’s insane to think that major fund managers would even consider a 2% portfolio allocation into Bitcoin. And while we haven’t seen it yet, it’s entirely plausible that we’ll get ETFs for things like Dogecoin and Solana – the token of what’s essentially a shitcoin casino.
At one end of the spectrum, you have the big players, capable of manipulating the market by moving a small percentage of their funds. And at the other end, you still have all the desperados clinging to the crypto-beast as it slouches forward – at the time of Trump’s inauguration on January 20th and beyond. Everyone hoping to strike gold, while the crypto exchanges play the role of modern-day Levi’s and pickaxe sellers – profiting no matter who hits the jackpot or loses it all.
RU: The degree of desperation and the streak of nihilism makes me think of the populist outburst of enthusiasm here in the USA for Luigi Mangione and his shocking assassination of a ruling class CEO. Do you see a connection? And secondly, is this mainly a US thing? Do other advanced economies have less mania and desperation than us? Or is this widespread?
DEGENS: I think the denizen of the crypto casino might chime with the feeling that the populist enthusiasm for Luigi Mangione and the CEO assassination is related. It comes from the same desperation, the feeling of zero security, atomized community, and a lack of long-term employment prospects in a rapidly accelerating hyper-capitalist road to AI-ensured-21st century-serfdom. The USA is definitely at the forefront of all things crypto related, having a new president who is the king of the shitcoin casino, launches his own shitcoins the weekend before he gets inaugurated. A leading kingpin of memecoin culture is the president, and there is also Trump’s Grima Wormtongue, in the form of the dogecoin-promoting Elon Musk. The U.S.A. is definitely at the center of this new phenomenon. Places like Dubai have crypto people living there, but only for the tax dodge reasons, they don’t originate any cultural waves. Maybe the far east has some, but mostly copies of what originated in the U.S.A.
RU: The subtitle ‘Down and Out in the Crypto Casino’ speaks to the fact that the crypto world is a reflection of what some have called ‘casino capitalism’. Just as financial markets have long been divorced from the question of whether money is creating actual material wealth, now poor and middle-class people want their money to also make money without having to engage in labor or material production or service industry stuff. What do you think might be the long range consequences of all this? And do you think it’ll work for the rabble? Will the service industry slaves be able to jump ship?
DEGENS: I don’t think it ever did work for the rabble. Look at Trump’s memecoin launch before he got inaugurated. The desperadoes that bought in got rug pulled by those that were in the know and bought early: most of those people are informed and rich anyway.
Crypto money and working on the internet pushing around digits on a screen, and never meeting people face-to-face… Marx would see this as the ultimate in alienation. Who wants to build a chair physically out of real wood when you can AI-generate online chairs and make them into NFTs and get your crypto friends to buy them in the speculation that they’ll appreciate, then sell to the greater mug that comes along.
Everyone is trying to play the crypto casino as a means to an end, but the means always becomes the end, and the means is a life of losing hours upon hours watching a lonely screen and moving supposed value from one token to the next in the hope that one day you’ll get into one early enough to escape this maze of torment. But it rarely happens. And people that do make it big… well, they want more and they plough it all back into the casino again, the means becomes the end…
Credit: Tesfu Assefa
RU: In your exploration, I’ll bet you bumped into some odd expressions of idealism and utopianism connected to all this. Can you tell me if anything like that stands out in your mind?
DEGENS: Yes, people that were involved in the early days of Decentralised Autonomous Organisations… they thought this would lead to some new version of the corporation that would be much more transparent, accountable and democratic. But in reality these things have turned out much worse. Think of a bag of rats eating each other until there’s only one rat left… because these DAOs are inhabited by internet people. No one wants to doxx themselves and no one wants to meet physically. There is no human connection. The anonymity causes people to behave in ways they wouldn’t face to face. I don’t know if Network States will have any true fraternity. I’d say John Zerzan would have something to say about those, or Jean Baudrillard, as a true expression of the Simulacrum.
RU: I’ll ask the inevitable Mindplex question: do you see the current excitement about AI and LLMs, which has really exploded alongside your film process, as having an impact? Are the crypto-rabble using LLMs?
DEGENS: Yes. When you look back, the whole AI wave is incredibly recent. Our research, interviews, and in-depth investigation into the memecoin phenomenon for the Degens documentary actually predate the November 2022 launch of ChatGPT.
Before the mass adoption of large language models, creating memecoins was an arduous task requiring a solid grasp of coding as well as a decent understanding of currencies and economics. You needed enough knowledge to write a Tokenomics Whitepaper for your shitcoin so that potential investors could maintain the illusion that it actually mattered.
But now, in the early light of this strange AI dawn, memecoin developers can simply use large language models to generate the code and launch their tokens – with no coding skills, no graphic design ability, and no creativity whatsoever required. You can even ask an LLM to suggest the best memecoin names, and it will do so instantly. Human agency is no longer needed allowing memecoiners to let their brains atrophy as they drift gently into this long AI-powered goodnight.
Adding to this, we now have AI-generated memecoin platforms like Pump.fun, capable of producing tens of thousands of tokens per day. There are also AI agents tirelessly promoting memecoins on online forums and social media, and recently, we even saw the emergence of ai16z, now rebranded to Eliza OS, a decentralized venture capital DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) run entirely by autonomous AI agents. These AI-driven entities may eventually be able to analyze data, execute trades, and manage investments, offering humans a system to optimize their portfolios and conduct intelligent trades.
RU: This seems like an exciting film for this historical moment. What’s up with the practical side of getting it done? And do you want to make an investment pitch here on Mindplex?
DEGENS: The film is truly a passion project and a time capsule of the early days of two groundbreaking technologies – blockchain and AI – and how they are poised to disrupt nearly every aspect of human existence. Our documentary has captured the very beginning of this revolution. We were there when Dogecoin and Dogebonk memecoiners were fringe degenerates, dreaming of life-changing wealth with a dash of idealism about decentralized monetary systems and societies.
Now, as I write this in January 2025, Elon Musk has confirmed his intention to put the U.S. Treasury on a blockchain! Meanwhile, our Dogecoin, Dogebonk, Shiba Inu, HPOS10I, Phriendz, and countless other dreamers are still at it. Down in the trenches, nothing has changed. They’re still chasing life-changing wealth and a way out of the poverty trap that’s getting tighter. Their idealism about decentralized monetary systems may have dulled slightly, but their passion remains as strong as ever to throw it all onto the latest shitcoin hyped in a Telegram group.
People can get involved with the documentary. This is most welcomed. Just visit degensfilm.com – we’re actively reaching out to anyone interested in joining as an executive producer, co-producer, or production funder. Get in touch!
We’re also fortunate to have development funding from Northern Ireland Screen (Game of Thrones), and we qualify for the UK Low Budget Tax Credit, which covers up to 53% of the total budget. Plus, our local funding agency will match up to one-third of direct Northern Ireland spending.
Let us know your thoughts! Sign up for a Mindplex account now, join our Telegram, or follow us on Twitter.
The year 2025 started with another a AI bombshell. Mayhem struck financial markets as the US hegemony over the next generation of artificial intelligence was cast in serious doubt by a new challenger who only had $10 million funding, breaking confidence in the market valuation of OpenAI, nVidia, Google and Microsoft..
DeepSeek, a Chinese AI start-up founded in 2023, shocked the tech world when it released its open-source model, DeepSeek R1, in January. The model offers ChatGPT-like performance at a very low cost. It quickly topped the charts in global mobile app downloads, with India providing the highest percentage.
Is DeepSeek’s R1 model a real threat to Silicon Valley? Is it as cheap to train as reported? Will it further affect the financial and crypto markets? Can it democratize cheaper AI adoption and connect with Web3 protocols? Questions questions questions. Let’s dig in.
DeepSeek’s R1 Launch Causes Tremors
DeepSeek’s R1 launch shook the U.S. tech industry, particularly the AI sector. It was released days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the creation of the Stargate Project, a partnership between OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle to build the largest AI infrastructure in the United States of America. The private partnership plans to invest $500 billion in the project.
Yet, DeepSeek caused tremors when it said it spent less than $6 million to train its models. This is 50 times cheaper to run than its U.S. competitors.
Scientists have been thrilled by its performance. They say that its performance in chemistry, mathematics, and coding is comparable to that of OpenAI o1.
The cost-efficiency of DeepSeek’s R1 model rattled investors and financial markets suffered major losses. Nvidia Corporation, a leader in the AI sector, tanked 17% and wiped off $579 billion from its market cap: the largest single-day fall in market cap of any company in the history of the stock market. The Nasdaq, a tech-heavy stock market, lost over $1 trillion as other AI competitors recorded losses.
But was this fear justified? Or is the launch of DeepSeek’s R1 model something the AI market should have anticipated? After all, the global AI race is heating up, with new artificial intelligence advances to be expected from the competitors.
deepseek's r1 is an impressive model, particularly around what they're able to deliver for the price.
we will obviously deliver much better models and also it's legit invigorating to have a new competitor! we will pull up some releases.
DeepSeek’s R1 has disrupted the AI markets and could force other startups to rethink their strategies, but the stock market sell-off was a once-off event.
Investors are questioning if they need to invest large sums of investments into AI when DeepSeek signals a shift toward more open and cheaper models.
If new AI models require fewer GPUs for training and inference, major chipmakers like Nvidia could face slower demand growth. However, despite higher efficiencies, the demand for computing power won’t decrease. The winners in the new shift are end users and AI application providers. They benefit from increased model availability and lower API costs. On the other hand, proprietary model providers (like OpenAI and Anthropic) face increasing pressure as free and customizable alternatives emerge.
These are still early days, but companies like OpenAI may need to rethink their business strategies to stay competitive.
Credit: Tesfu Assefa
Implications for Crypto: Risks and Opportunities
The financial bloodbath caused by DeepSeek’s R1 model extended beyond the stock market to the crypto industry, turning its markets upside down.
Apart from the fluctuations normal to the crypto industry, there are special opportunities and risks presented by DeepSeek.
Let’s start with the opportunities.
Affordable AI Agents
DeepSeek can help accelerate and democratize AI development, something that could benefit everyone. For the crypto industry, an early benefit will come in the form of cheaper AI agents. These agents can analyze top altcoin charts and handle tasks such as trading, portfolio management, and risk management.
Accelerated AI Adoption
DeepSeek’s cost-efficiency and open-source model could accelerate the integration of AI into crypto sectors such as DeFi, blockchain security, and on-chain intelligence.
Democratization of AI
Many startups have been using proprietary AI models, making it impossible for smaller firms to compete in this market. However, the open-source nature of DeepSeek could lower the barrier to entry and open the crypto market to cheaper and innovative players.
Lower Inflation
The low-cost nature of DeepSeek AI may help reduce inflation, favoring non-AI-linked assets such as Bitcoin over ones affected by the recent downturn in the AI market.
A Flurry of Scam DeepSeek Tokens
Anyone who has been in the crypto industry more than a minute knows that scammers appear after any hype wave as surely as flies follow cows.
The popularity of DeepSeek’s R1 brought out grifters, with many of them launching scam tokens claiming to be associated with DeepSeek. These tokens were seen on Ethereum, Solana, and other layer-1 chains. A Solana-based DeepSeek fake token reached a market cap of $48 million before cooling off while the other peaked at $13 million. There are even many more.
In these instances, traders should check for official announcements from DeepSeek to avoid falling victim to scam pump-and-dump schemes.
DeepSeek has not issued any cryptocurrency. Currently, there is only one official account on the Twitter platform. We will not contact anyone through other accounts.Please stay vigilant and guard against potential scams.
The launch of DeepSeek’s R1 model could represent a new chapter in AI development. Although SemiAnalysis argues that DeepSeek spent as much as over $500 million to train its model instead of the reported $6 million, its emergence points to a future that favors cheaper, scalable AI models. In true crypto fashion, this should lead to volatility and tons of scam projects.
However, a new future is being built, with many new crypto startups potentially using DeepSeek’s blueprint to launch blockchain-specific AI models and AI agents.
We are not yet in the golden age of AI, but these are crucial steps toward it.
Let us know your thoughts! Sign up for a Mindplex account now, join our Telegram, or follow us on Twitter.
It’s the time of the year for sharing an intimate evening with that special person. Can AI help? I put it to the test, helping make cocktails themed around Valentine’s Day.
Gemini has been eliminated. This seems harsh but Gemini deserves it. I tried three Gemini cocktails last time and all were undrinkable.
I adjusted the prompt to exclude obscure ingredients.
I adjusted the prompt to use units I am used to.
I adjusted the prompt to exclude American ingredients such as eggnog.
The prompt was:
Invent some new Valentines-Day-themed cocktails. Avoid excessively obscure ingredients such as chestnut liqueur or lavender bitters; somewhat hard-to-get ones like triple sec of elderflower liqueur are fine. Avoid ingredients (such as 'apple cider' in the American sense) that are only available in North America. As units use either shots or millilitres – not fluid ounces.
This produced five recipes each from ChatGPT, Mistral, and Llama, plus four from Claude. (Deepseek hadn’t yet come out when I started.) The full outputs are here, archived here.
The theme drove the LLMs to strawberries, raspberries, champagne, to passionfruit, and to pink and red drinks.
Rose-Tinted Love (ChatGPT)
A light and floral cocktail with a hint of sweetness.
- 50ml gin
- 25ml elderflower liqueur
- 20ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 10ml grenadine
- Top with soda water
- Garnish: Fresh rose petals or a lemon twist
**Instructions:**
Shake the gin, elderflower liqueur, lemon juice, and grenadine with ice. Strain into a tall glass filled with ice and top with soda water. Stir gently and garnish.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
This was delicious and fruity. You can taste the ‘fruitiness’, which I suppose is lemon plus grenadine plus elderflower. It is better without the soda water, in my opinion. This falls in the middle of the Bell Curve, in the ‘Decent’ category with most of them.
Love Potion No. 9 (Llama)
* 2 shots Gin
* 1 shot Peach Schnapps
* 1 shot Cranberry juice
* 1/2 shot Grenadine
* Splash of lemon juice
* Edible gold dust (optional, for garnish)
Combine gin, peach schnapps, cranberry juice, and grenadine in a shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled and strain into a chilled glass. Add a splash of lemon juice and garnish with a lemon wheel or a sprinkle of edible gold dust.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
There is peach, cranberry, and raspberry (i.e. grenadine), and it tastes like that: mild fruits, not sour fruits. It is not very boozy, and I like it. ‘Decent’ category again, like most will be.
Be Mine (Llama)
* 2 shots Gin
* 1 shot Elderflower liqueur
* 1 shot Grapefruit juice
* 1/2 shot Honey syrup (1:1 honey and water, dissolved)
* Splash of soda water
* Edible flower or grapefruit twist (for garnish)
Combine gin, elderflower liqueur, grapefruit juice, and honey syrup in a shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled and strain into a chilled glass filled with ice. Top with a splash of soda water and garnish with an edible flower or a grapefruit twist.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
This is really quite interesting and well-conceived: the juniper (gin) is complimentary with the elderflower, and the honey’s floral notes also work with the elderflower, but in a different way. The matchmaking is really pretty good, but having said that the cocktail isn’t really my thing: it is too floral. Some people might like it better than I did. The lower end of the ‘Decent’ category.
Love Potion (Mistral)
- **Ingredients:**
- 45 ml (1.5 shots) vodka
- 30 ml (1 shot) cranberry juice
- 15 ml (0.5 shot) elderflower liqueur
- 15 ml (0.5 shot) fresh lime juice
- Splash of grenadine
- Ice cubes
- Garnish: Fresh raspberries and a lime wheel
- **Instructions:**
1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Add vodka, cranberry juice, elderflower liqueur, and lime juice.
3. Shake well and strain into a chilled martini glass.
4. Add a splash of grenadine for color.
5. Garnish with fresh raspberries and a lime wheel.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
Nothing stands out strongly: it’s vodka (the most flavourless spirit in my opinion) with lime and cranberry – you can’t go wrong mixing those. It tastes kind of like 7up/Sprite. ‘Decent’ category
Velvet Valentine Spritz (ChatGPT)
A bubbly cocktail with a subtle bittersweet balance.
- 50ml Aperol
- 50ml sparkling rosé
- 20ml grapefruit juice
- Splash of soda water
- Garnish: Grapefruit slice or a sprig of thyme
**Instructions:**
Fill a wine glass with ice. Add Aperol, sparkling rosé, and grapefruit juice. Stir gently and top with soda water. Garnish with a grapefruit slice or thyme.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
Aha! Now in the 5th drink we have something good! Straight to the ‘Honourable Mention’ category with it. It smells great, and fills my mouth and nose with good sensations.
It is a weak drink, less than 8% alcohol-by-volume, and in my opinion that’s a selling point, it makes it light and refreshing.
Sweetheart Sangria (Mistral)
- **Ingredients:**
- 120 ml (4 shots) red wine
- 60 ml (2 shots) orange juice
- 30 ml (1 shot) brandy
- 15 ml (0.5 shot) triple sec
- 15 ml (0.5 shot) simple syrup
- Slices of orange, apple, and strawberries
- Ice cubes
- Garnish: Cinnamon stick
- **Instructions:**
1. In a large pitcher, combine red wine, orange juice, brandy, triple sec, and simple syrup.
2. Add slices of orange, apple, and strawberries.
3. Stir well and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.
4. Serve over ice and garnish with a cinnamon stick.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
This is better than most sangrias I have had! Sweet, fruity, orangey. Everything is there for a reason: the simple syrup brings sweetness, the orange juice brings fruitiness, the brandy bites, and their powers combine, like when a team of cartoon characters shoot rays that combine into one better ray.
Passionfruit crush (ChatGPT)
Tropical and tangy, ideal for a romantic evening.
- 50ml white rum
- 25ml passionfruit purée or juice
- 15ml lime juice
- 15ml simple syrup
- Garnish: Half a passionfruit or lime wheel
**Instructions:**
Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a rocks glass over crushed ice. Garnish with half a passionfruit or a lime wheel.
Credit: Conor O’HIggins
This is the best of the seven so far: first you taste the tang of lime, then a fruity taste, and finally the passionfruit. It tastes fruity and tropical; it tastes like the Caribbean.
I tried the variation with passionfruit syrup and thought it would be better but it isn’t. Juice is the way to go.
Cupid’s Arrow with tequila (Llama)
* 2 shots Tequila
* 1 shot Cranberry juice
* 1 shot Lime juice
* 1/2 shot Agave syrup
* Splash of ginger beer
* Lime wheel and sprig of rosemary (for garnish)
Combine tequila, cranberry juice, lime juice, and agave syrup in a shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled and strain into a chilled glass filled with ice. Top with a splash of ginger beer and garnish with a lime wheel and a sprig of rosemary.
Not very good, the worst one so far. I don’t really like tequila in the first place (I was raised on whiskey 9000 miles from the nearest agave plant). And cranberry is too unassertive to add anything. The ginger and agave do compliment each other slightly. Lower end of the ‘Decent’ category.
Chocolate-Covered Cherry (ChatGPT)
Rich and decadent, perfect for dessert lovers.
Rich and decadent, perfect for dessert lovers.
- 30ml vodka
- 30ml cherry liqueur (or cherry brandy)
- 20ml crème de cacao (dark or white)
- 50ml milk or cream
- Garnish: Chocolate shavings or a cherry
**Instructions:**
Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with chocolate shavings or a cherry.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
This is a very good dessert cocktail, worth an Honourable Mention. It tastes of cherry + chocolate, with just the right amount of booze. It clearly belongs after dinner, maybe accompanying ice-cream or cake. It would be hard to notice the difference between the versions with white and dark crème de cacao.
Sweet Heart (Claude)
- 50ml vanilla vodka
- 25ml white crème de cacao
- 25ml strawberry liqueur
- 30ml cream
- Pink food coloring (optional)
Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into a chilled coupe glass. Optional: add a drop of pink food coloring for a pale pink hue. Garnish with grated dark chocolate.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
Not great. It is too strong (22%) and is like strawberry milk or strawberry milkshake. Nothing more interesting is happening than milky flavours with an alcoholic bite that does not work well, putting it at the lower end of the ‘Decent’ category.
I couldn’t find pink food colouring anywhere, and I’m not sure it exists. I feel the LLM missed a trick by not recommending strawberry garnish on strawberry cocktail named ‘Sweet Heart’.
Pink Passion (Claude)
- 2 shots gin
- 1 shot pink grapefruit juice
- 1/2 shot raspberry liqueur
- 1/2 shot triple sec
- Dash of simple syrup
- Pink tonic water to top
Build in a large wine glass filled with ice, stir gently to combine, top with pink tonic water. Garnish with a grapefruit slice and fresh raspberries.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
My first attempt at this tasted bad, but the trick is you’ve got to be generous with the tonic and the simple syrup. Otherwise it is too strong and too bitter-sour.
I am not sure pink tonic exists (does it?) so this was the only time in the whole project I deviated from a recipe; I used normal tonic. But my grapefruit juice was pink so that compensates.
With plenty of tonic and simple syrup, it can be fruity (the sugar helps the orange and grapefruit along), and also sour (grapefruit), and also bitter (gin and tonic) in an admirably complex way.
I advise at least one shot of tonic and more than ½ shot of simple syrup. 1½ shots of tonic is too much.
Cupid’s Kiss (Claude)
- 45ml white rum
- 30ml triple sec
- 20ml pomegranate juice
- 15ml lime juice
- 15ml grenadine
- Sparkling wine to top
Shake all ingredients except sparkling wine with ice. Strain into a tall glass filled with ice, top with sparkling wine. Garnish with a lime wheel and pomegranate seeds.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
No strong flavours; I am tasting sparkling wine. That puts it in the middle of the pack.
A tiny note: pomegranate seeds sink, and therefore are not a great garnish… see the pic; they are halfway down the glass and I expect a garnish to float on top.
Love Letter (Claude)
- 45ml gin
- 30ml elderflower liqueur
- 20ml fresh lemon juice
- Prosecco to top
- 2-3 fresh raspberries
- Optional: 1 dash rose water
Muddle raspberries in a shaker, add gin, elderflower liqueur, and lemon juice. Shake with ice, double strain into a champagne flute, top with prosecco. Garnish with a floating raspberry.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
I don’t know if it’s good or not but I’ll say it’s very interesting, maybe the most interesting yet. I recommend 25ml of prosecco.
Strawberry Sweetheart Martini (ChatGPT)
Bright and fruity with a lovely pink hue.
- 50ml vodka
- 25ml triple sec
- 50ml strawberry purée (or muddled fresh strawberries)
- 10ml lime juice
- Garnish: Sliced strawberry
**Instructions:**
Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a sliced strawberry on the rim.
Everybody has to like strawberry + orange + lime. Those are three good flavours, and this recipe balances them perfectly, earning it an Honourable Mention.
Chocolate Cherry Bomb (Llama)
* 2 shots Dark Rum
* 1 shot Cherry liqueur
* 1 shot Chocolate syrup (or 1/2 shot simple syrup with a few drops of chocolate extract)
* 1/2 shot Coconut cream
* Splash of pineapple juice
* Cherry and chocolate shavings (for garnish)
Combine dark rum, cherry liqueur, chocolate syrup, and coconut cream in a blender filled with ice. Blend until smooth and creamy. Pour into a chilled glass and add a splash of pineapple juice. Garnish with a cherry and chocolate shavings.
I think this qualifies into the ‘Interesting’ category. It has a lot of darkness, both from the chocolate and the rum. The cherry adds a tiny note to this. It is fruity up front, then dark after, especially if you add plenty of pineapple. I advise being generous with the pineapple. It’s a strong cocktail (I estimate it’s 22% alcohol-by-volume before the pineapple juice is added) and the taste doesn’t hide, like it would with sangria.
Passionate Punch (Mistral)
- **Ingredients:**
- 60 ml (2 shots) rum
- 30 ml (1 shot) pineapple juice
- 30 ml (1 shot) passion fruit juice
- 15 ml (0.5 shot) fresh lime juice
- 15 ml (0.5 shot) grenadine
- Ice cubes
- Garnish: Pineapple wedge and a cherry
- **Instructions:**
1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Add rum, pineapple juice, passion fruit juice, lime juice, and grenadine.
3. Shake well and strain into a highball glass filled with ice.
4. Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a cherry.
There are three notes: fruity, tangy, and rum. The lime bites and rum bites in a different way and they bite together. They balance nicely and it is a good cocktail, above average. It is about 16% alcohol-by-volume, which is the correct strength for this kind of thing.
Cupid’s Arrow with prosecco (Mistral)
- **Ingredients:**
- 45 ml (1.5 shots) gin
- 30 ml (1 shot) strawberry puree
- 15 ml (0.5 shot) fresh lemon juice
- 15 ml (0.5 shot) simple syrup
- Prosecco to top off
- Ice cubes
- Garnish: Fresh strawberry
- **Instructions:**
1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Add gin, strawberry puree, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
3. Shake well and strain into a champagne flute.
4. Top off with Prosecco.
5. Garnish with a fresh strawberry.
Credit: Conor O’Higgins
A very good drink. It reminded our group of a ladies’ brunch cocktail. It’s almost a sort of strawberry mimosa. One of our reviewers suggested trying it without the simple syrup (an experiment that has not yet been conducted), as there are plenty of sweet ingredients, although the lemon juice helps balance them.
Rose Romance (Mistral)
- **Ingredients:**
- 45 ml (1.5 shots) rose wine
- 30 ml (1 shot) vodka
- 15 ml (0.5 shot) triple sec
- 15 ml (0.5 shot) fresh lemon juice
- 15 ml (0.5 shot) simple syrup
- Ice cubes
- Garnish: Edible rose petals
- **Instructions:**
1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Add rose wine, vodka, triple sec, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
3. Shake well and strain into a chilled coupe glass.
4. Garnish with edible rose petals.
I am mostly tasting citrus, because orange (i.e. triple sec) and lemon compliment each other, doubling up on the citrus. It drew comments for being strong (19-20%), and was not among the best. ‘Decent’ category.
Rose Petal Kiss (Llama)
* 2 shots Vodka
* 1 shot Rose-flavored syrup (or 1/2 shot simple syrup with a few drops of rose extract)
* 1 shot Lemon juice
* 1/2 shot Triple sec
* Splash of soda water
* Fresh rose petals (for garnish)
Combine vodka, rose-flavored syrup, lemon juice, and triple sec in a shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled and strain into a chilled glass filled with ice. Top with a splash of soda water and garnish with fresh rose petals.
I taste the rose syrup and smell it. It’s interesting because I hadn’t tasted a lot of rose syrup in my life.
If your goal was an alcoholic drink that tastes like rose-syrup (like turkish delight), it’s well executed, but is that a good goal?
‘Interesting’ category. One reviewer didn’t like it at all, the other thought it was a curiosity, but nobody thought it was great.
Credit: Tesfu Assefa
Results
Interesting:
Be Mine (Llama)
Chocolate Cherry Bomb (Llama)
Rose Petal Kiss (Llama)
Love Letter (Claude)
Honourable mention:
Velvet Valentine Spritz (ChatGPT)
Passionfruit crush with juice (ChatGPT)
Chocolate-Covered Cherry (ChatGPT)
Strawberry Sweetheart Martini (ChatGPT)
Passionate Punch (Mistral)
Cupid’s Arrow with prosecco (Mistral)
Comparing the models
Looking at those results, Mistral and ChatGPT are pulling ahead, but you can’t base confident conclusions on numbers this small. The prompt engineering seemed to work well: at least all the ingredients were real (pink tonic water is debateable) and I could get them all (some with a little difficulty).
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The blockchain trilemma states that out of scalability, security, and decentralization, you can only have two. This has given rise to new competing layer-1 chains for different purposes. Let’s look at new layer-1 protocols that are gearing up for launch, each of which promises unique features, improved performance, and a fresh contribution to the nascent blockchain space.
Monad and Berachain’s are coming soon, and Hyperliquid started recently – let’s investigate what they mean for the future of blockchain technology.
Berachain: Layer-1 Chain with Proof of Liquidity
Key features:
Unique Proof-of-Liquidity Consensus
Compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)
Modular design
Tri-token system
What is Berachain?
Berachain is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chain, making it a powerful tool for creating applications or easily migrating them from Ethereum. Due to its compatibility with ERC standards, Berachain lets developers utilize Ethereum-based tools and services. For developers, this simplifies the creation and deployment of dApps.
Berachain has a modular design built on the ‘Cosmos SDK’. This is a key factor in its mission to solve the issue of liquidity fragmentation. Liquidity fragmentation has dogged other projects that have tried to exchange assets across different blockchains. Additionally, Berachain uses Proof-of-Liquidity (PoL), a unique consensus model for securing the network and optimizing liquidity.
Central to Berachain’s architecture is the tri-token system of its economic and governance structure. The three tokens are BERA (for transactions), BGT (a governance token), and HONEY (a US-dollar-pegged stablecoin).
This model incentivizes liquidity provision, and allows for decentralized governance, where BGT holders can participate in decision-making.
In a nutshell, Berachain is positioning itself as a scalable, interoperable, and developer-friendly platform for high liquidity and for cross-chain dApps.
Why is Berachain Getting Hyped Up?
Berachain is quickly gaining attention due to its unique Proof-of-Liquidity (PoL) consensus mechanism. This innovation is what sets it apart from other blockchains.
Its evolution adds to its appeal. It started as Bit Bears, an NFT platform created by three pseudonymous founders, and the platform’s NFT collections became very successful. This resulted in a growing community, whose influence gave Bit Bears the momentum to launch a standalone layer-1 platform.
The project has also attracted airdrop farmers who are closely following its development to capitalize on potential airdrops.
Who Invested in Berachain?
Berachain has attracted significant investment from several venture capital firms and individual investors. It has raised over $142 million in several funding rounds.
It raised $42 million in April 2023 in a private token round led by Polychain Capital with participation from Hack VC, Robot Ventures, and Shima Capital. It later received $100 million in series B funding co-led by Framework Ventures and Brevan Howard Abu Dhabi branch.
‘MonadBFT’ – an advanced consensus algorithm that ensures fast and secure agreement among nodes
‘MonadDB’ – a specialized database for faster transactions.
Monad is a new blockchain designed to make dApps faster and more efficient. It employs a parallel execution model that allows multiple transactions to be processed simultaneously, significantly increasing throughput compared to traditional blockchains. Thanks to this parallel execution, Monad is highly scalable, ensuring that the network can grow without slowing down. Monad is co-founded by ex-Jump Capital high frequency trader (HFT) Keone Hon.
This enables Monad to handle up to 10,000 transactions per second (tps) with a block time of one second. With its deferred execution, Monad separates the confirmation of transactions from their execution. This helps reduce the waiting times while improving efficiency. It uses a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.
Monad is built for developers with tools and features that make it easy to build and launch apps. The layer-1 network aims to solve traditional blockchain challenges such as slow speeds and high costs, while providing a simple and user-friendly experience. It is highly cost-effective, with transaction fees of less than 1 cent.
Monad Hype
Monad is generating hype due to a high throughput of 10,000 tps and cheap transactions. For perspective, Solana’s true tps ranges between 500 and 1,000.
The crypto community is highly anticipating Monad’s airdrop. Although it is meant to reward early adopters, airdrop hunters use it to earn free money.
Not everyone is convinced. DeFi god Andre Cronje published this scathing tweet recently:
Stream of tweets like this from those that represent Monad.
1. They dont do the bare minimum of research, Multichain was an independent third party bridge. Of the 10+ chains impacted only Fantom has continued to pursue recovery. 2. No surprise given how their narrative changes… https://t.co/JIKNoiGCOD
Monad has raised at least $244 million in various funding rounds. In April 2024, Monad Labs announced a $225 million raise in a round led by Paradigm. Other investors include Coinbase Ventures, Electric Capital, and Greenoaks.
HyperBFT consensus mechanism for low latency and high security
Hyperliquid is an advanced layer-1 blockchain built specifically to improve decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and to lower slippage. It offers low fees, fast transaction speeds (with block confirmations under one second), and advanced trading features similar to centralized exchanges.
It uses a custom consensus mechanism called HyperBFT. This helps transactions process quickly and securely, while enabling deep liquidity and efficient order matching.
One of Hyperliquid’s key features is its decentralized perpetual exchange; this is designed to allow users to trade perpetual futures directly on its blockchain without paying gas fees. This reduces costs and boosts transaction speed.
Hyperliquid generated its hype through innovative features and advanced options that are not available on other DEXs. Thanks to the successful DEX of the same name, Hyperliquid found its way to the spotlight thanks to its successful HYPE token airdrop to 94,000 users, each getting an average allocation worth $45,000.
Hyperliquid took a different route, opting to be self-funded to maintain its independence and avoid the influence of external backers.
The project was founded by two Harvard classmates: Jeff Yan and Illiensinc. The unexpected collapse of FTX in late 2022 gave them an unexpected boost and their future is bright.
Wrapping Up
Monad, Berachain, and Hyperliquid are new introductions to the growing layer-1 network space. They aim to address scalability, security, and decentralization. Monad and Berachain are backed by a war chest of financial backing while Hyperliquid is riding high on self-funding.
Will they eat the lunch of the established layer-1 blockchain network? Only time will tell.
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For decades, scientists believed that memory was an exclusive function of the brain, carefully encoded by neurons. However, a groundbreaking study led by Nikolay V. Kukushkin at New York University challenges this notion, revealing that memory functions extend beyond the brain into other parts of the body. This discovery not only reshapes our understanding of memory but also opens new avenues for enhancing learning and treating memory-related disorders.
The Body as a Memory Archive
Traditionally, memory has been associated with the brain’s neural networks, but this research suggests that cells throughout the body also play a role in storing and recalling information. Just as a library extends beyond a single room, our bodies may house multiple archives of knowledge, each contributing to the overall memory landscape.
Kukushkin explains, “Learning and memory are generally associated with brains and brain cells alone, but our study shows that other cells in the body can learn and form memories, too.” This revelation raises the possibility that organs such as the heart, lungs, and even skin may contribute to our memory system, holding imprints of past experiences.
The Science of Memory Formation
The research builds on the well-established “massed-spaced effect,” a principle in neuroscience that suggests information is better retained when studied in spaced intervals rather than in a single cramming session. To test whether non-neural cells exhibit a similar phenomenon, Kukushkin and his team conducted experiments using human neuroblastoma and kidney cells. They exposed these cells to repeated pulses of forskolin and phorbol ester—chemicals that activate key memory-related signaling pathways.
Remarkably, these non-brain cells exhibited memory-like behavior. When exposed to spaced chemical pulses, they activated CREB, a transcription factor crucial for memory formation in neurons. To visualize this process, the researchers engineered the cells to produce a luminescent protein that glowed in response to memory activation, allowing them to track cellular memory formation in real-time.
The Massed-Spaced Effect in Non-Neural Cells
A key finding of the study was that non-neural cells responded more robustly to spaced stimulation than to massed stimulation. When the chemical pulses were delivered with intervals between them, the memory gene activation was stronger and more sustained. This mirrors how neurons process information in the brain, suggesting that memory mechanisms may be a fundamental feature of cellular function across different tissues.
One of the study’s most striking discoveries was the role of ERK and CREB signaling in cellular memory. ERK, a kinase involved in memory formation, was phosphorylated more effectively in cells subjected to spaced stimulation. Additionally, CREB activation was significantly higher in these conditions, further reinforcing the parallel between neuronal and non-neuronal memory storage.
Credit: Tesfu Assefa
Implications for Health and Learning
The implications of this research extend far beyond the laboratory. If non-neural cells possess memory-like properties, this could revolutionize approaches to medicine and education.
For example, understanding how cells retain information about past exposures could inform treatments for chronic diseases. Just as a chef refines a recipe based on past experience, our bodies might be capable of “remembering” metabolic patterns, helping to optimize blood sugar regulation or immune responses.
Kukushkin notes, “At the same time, it suggests that in the future, we will need to treat our body more like the brain.” This perspective could lead to breakthroughs in regenerative medicine, where cellular memory is harnessed to improve tissue repair, or in cancer treatment, where understanding how cells recall chemotherapy exposure might lead to more effective therapies.
A New Perspective on Memory
This research challenges the traditional view that memory is exclusively a function of neural networks. By demonstrating that non-neural cells can encode and retain information, it suggests that memory is a distributed property of biological systems. This could explain phenomena such as immune memory and metabolic adaptation, which rely on the body’s ability to retain and process past experiences.
As we deepen our exploration into cellular memory, we may uncover new strategies for enhancing learning, improving health, and redefining the role of memory in human biology. The body is no longer just a vessel for memories—it is an active participant in the intricate dance of learning and adaptation.
Conclusion
Nikolay Kukushkin’s research represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of memory. By showing that non-neural cells can exhibit memory-like behavior, it expands the boundaries of what we consider to be a cognitive function. This discovery has profound implications for healthcare, learning, and the future of memory research, opening doors to innovative approaches that treat the body as an integrated archive of experiences. As we continue to explore this emerging field, we may unlock new ways to enhance cognition, optimize health, and rethink the fundamental nature of memory itself.
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