Right-wing Crypto Assets and Left-wing Artificial Intelligence: Reflections on the Thoughts Behind Vance's Speech

Written by: Dao Talks Blockchain

I have never been very interested in this conference attended by politicians and businessmen, because I can easily guess what they will say.

However, Vance’s speech at the conference impressed me greatly.

Deep Tide published the full translation of this speech. This speech quotes three points that refreshed my perspective and resonated strongly with me:

“Cryptocurrency is essentially a conservative or right-wing technology, while artificial intelligence is fundamentally a left-wing or centralized technology.”

Many smart right-wing tech talents are attracted to Bitcoin, while many smart left-wing tech talents are devoted to AI.

“I don’t want the development of AI to negatively impact U.S. national interests. And the best way to ensure that smart and visionary people are involved in this AI dialogue is to make the Bitcoin community a part of the AI conversation.”

Right-wing and left-wing

Before sharing my views, let me first introduce the Western traditional definitions of the right and left.

In more general terms:

The right advocates for a small government, values individual effort, and promotes a free economy, while being highly vigilant against centralization, control, and intervention. The right is also referred to as conservatives.

The left advocates for a large government, values government control over society, and promotes government interventionist economics. The left is also known as the liberals.

In modern society, pure right-wing and left-wing ideologies no longer exist; there is just a difference in whether there is a bit more right or a bit more left.

The viewpoint that Bitcoin attracts the right and artificial intelligence attracts the left, as quoted by Wans, immediately reminds me of some very typical figures in these two ecosystems.

Wei Dai, one of the pioneers of Bitcoin, buried a seed in his heart after witnessing his grandfather’s tragic experiences during the Cultural Revolution: the hope to create a society where individuals are free from the oppression of power through technology.

Satoshi Nakamoto has tried every possible way to conceal his presence online and not reveal his whereabouts.

Observation on the values of the crypto ecosystem

Among the friends I’ve interacted with in the crypto ecosystem over the years, I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon: whenever the conversation gets deeper, I can often guess their values and, in turn, infer their true attitudes towards Bitcoin. When I carefully inquire about their operations with Bitcoin, I almost always find a common point:

Almost without exception, participants with strongly right-leaning views will firmly hold a portion of Bitcoin. Although they may also engage in swing trading, there is always a part they keep and never sell. They passionately refer to this practice of holding some and not selling as a tribute to Satoshi Nakamoto.

Therefore, I have always believed that investing in the crypto ecosystem, without the support of values, is unlikely to obtain relatively rich returns. I don’t believe that Changpeng Zhao sold his house and bought bitcoin purely out of commercial considerations, and did not have any faith in values as support and drive.

Artificial Intelligence and Cryptography

My impression of the artificial intelligence participants is almost entirely encompassed by Ultraman. His close cooperation with the U.S. government and the project requiring participants to exchange their irises for tokens vividly reflect this person’s worship of power and desire for control.

Another typical figure in the tech world, sharing the same fate as Ultraman, is Zuckerberg.

Most articles and media on the market highly praise artificial intelligence, almost immersing themselves all day in the joy brought by this technology’s rapid advancements in efficiency and user experience, while few express concern about the consequences that would arise if artificial intelligence were to fall into the hands of evil.

Most articles and media on the market that look down upon cryptographic technology almost invariably discuss its shortcomings and uselessness solely in terms of efficiency, costs, etc. They never understand the great significance of cryptographic technology for humanity in achieving financial freedom and breaking away from centralized control.

Several times I was curious and looked for other articles by authors of this kind, and I almost always found that they were inherently filled with that kind of elite control over the masses and the pleasure of crawling under power.

Only in the crypto ecosystem do I see explorers like Vitalik constantly exploring which aspects to work on to achieve maximum decentralization and how to improve in order to find ways for Ethereum to survive attacks from powerful sovereign nations.

About two years ago, I wrote in an article that I attended a roadshow in Hong Kong and saw a foreign team proposing a method to train artificial intelligence using decentralized datasets. Although the plan had many issues and looked rather immature, such ideas and perspectives are something I mostly only see in the crypto ecosystem.

Of course, the top technologist who vigorously promotes artificial intelligence will also pay attention to encryption technology. Altman issued his Worldcoin and Layer 2 expansion, and Zuckerberg is on the verge of restarting his stablecoin program. But their core purpose is not for human freedom, but to control more users, more resources, and provide more value to their ecology.

These two types of people are fundamentally different.

Perhaps this is what Vance quoted: “Many smart right-wing tech talents are attracted to Bitcoin, while many smart left-wing tech talents are engaged in AI.”

In a previous article, I also shared my expectations for the best scenario of AI + Crypto integration: that is to use the decentralized approach of cryptography to decentralize the computing power and data of artificial intelligence, preventing this revolutionary invention from being controlled by any centralized institution. Only in this way can it truly benefit all of humanity and become a great invention that humanity can be proud of; otherwise, it is likely to create disasters and become a weapon for the destruction of humanity.

Vance expressed in his speech that he doesn’t want AI to have a negative impact on the United States, and that he wants the Bitcoin community to join AI is exactly how I would expect these two technologies to come together.

The viewpoints cited by Vance, in my opinion, are the best annotation of the values represented by both blockchain technology and artificial intelligence, as well as the best interpretation of the complementarity between these two technologies.

My inherent impression of politicians is that they only speak lies, clichés, and empty words, but Vance was unexpectedly able to quote / express such brilliant viewpoints.

A person without a background in science and engineering can understand the values behind these two cutting-edge technologies to this extent, which surpasses the vast majority of participants in these two ecosystems.

I now somewhat understand why Peter Thiel from Silicon Valley has been long-term funding Vance and tirelessly supporting him.

If such a person becomes the President of the United States in the future, then cryptocurrency technology and artificial intelligence will only accelerate wildly on that land.