Love to hear the old-timers' opinions. It's only been like 6 years, but 2009 seems so long ago in bitcoin-time.
My faith in humanity has already been shaken and that's why I don't leave my abode much. I shall make this my reading for tonight--I didn't know who Mike Hearn was and why all these threads had been created based on what he's been spouting. Oh well, people come and go.
count me in on wanting to hear from old school bitcoiners. I do not know enough technically about some of the issues he brings up to understand 100% of it.
Fixing the blocksize does not require check-pointing and circumventing traditional means of consensus. Mike Hearn intended to force a change in bitcoin's behavior (hard fork) using a term he called the "economic consensus." This term can be used interchangeably with the word "banks."
Mike thought all he needed was banker-owned Coinbase (any perhaps Bitpay) to support his "bitcoin frankenstein" and the fork would proceed. His attitude was - screw mining consensus - and screw the miners in China. There is even a video on YouTube of him saying that, "if the Chinese miners don't like it, they should start their own Altcoin."
These types of statements, intentions, and beliefs are dangerous, and certainly not in the spirit of Satoshi's bitcoin.
Great! thanks, I get it. Given that China holds the most Bitcoin and does the most mining he had to have been crazy to say those things - or else this is some kind of plan to give BTC bad press.
Again, said it in other threads, will say it again now, he just wants to feel important again. His wants to bad-mouth Bitcoin and be a dick about it because he isn't relevant anymore. The Bitcoin foundation broke up, and now he's just a normal person.
It's a sad factor of human nature, but a very true factor, that he has to say bad things so people will look at him again and he'll get his mental superiority complex back on track.
Ignore him, he wants this to happen but it is not going to and thus there is no reason to give it any more attention. He's over and done with, and just looking for attention.
Happens with every company, every stock, and every aspect of society. He's nothing new.