However, the recognition of Bitcoin as an international commodity is a completely different issue. Regulations enacted by a single country hold no significance for international recognition. Bitcoin needs to prove itself as a useful asset like existing commodities and demonstrate its sustainability over a long period.

The agreements signed by China to establish Bitcoin mining centers in Ethiopia create an environment where Bitcoin can prove itself as a commodity. Previously, Russia’s similar plans indicate the seriousness of this strategy.

Geopolitical Positioning

When commodities are mentioned, BRICS countries stand out in the global economy. While Western countries stand out with capital dominance and having a global currency like the dollar, the main power of the countries referred to as the Eastern bloc relies on cheap labor and the power brought by natural resources like commodities. On paper, it might be thought that production and natural assets will bring absolute victory. However, the capital accumulation to purchase these products continues in Western countries, and they continue to maintain their capital dominance by continuing to produce high-value-added products.

Regarding Bitcoin, various initiatives exist based on the strengths of both sides. For example, the United States’ free-market economy leads the cryptocurrency market, and the dominant currency in the market is the dollar, which is not surprising. The EU, on the other hand, typically refuses to be part of serious integration without imposing strict regulations. Therefore, for now, it makes more sense to look at the Western bloc through the United States.

The state-focused growth culture in the Eastern bloc has actually led to the blunting of the cryptocurrency-focused private sector, which was previously more developed compared to the West. While China’s cheap resources and labor continue to embrace mining activities, the intensive use of resources has also led to the blunting of this sector. China aimed to use the resources used by miners to promote the electric vehicle sector, which I believe can be said to have been a correct decision when we look at the current results.

The expulsion of miners from China has led a significant portion of the sector to move to the United States. Some of them continue their activities in the Eastern bloc, particularly in Kazakhstan. Each miner can be considered as a reserve for Bitcoin. When China expelled miners, they also gifted reserves belonging to a new commodity class. Perhaps initially they really thought that this sector had no future. However, fortunately, their reversal of this decision did not take too long.

Africa’s largest dam was built on Ethiopia with Chinese companies and Chinese capital. China is Ethiopia’s largest foreign investor and creditor. Therefore, the cooperation between the two countries represents more than just a dam. China’s strong influence naturally facilitates the acquisition of certain privileges. For example, the mining agreement that led to the writing of this article…

Ethiopia had legalized cryptocurrency mining some time ago. Chinese miners have actually been in the country since then. After the dam, there is an agreement between the ministry and 21 mining companies, 19 of which are Chinese mining companies. It is expected that miners will use the newly built dam as an energy source. Thanks to Ethiopia, Chinese companies will be able to compete with American companies by obtaining cheap electricity.

We see that China has made a significant investment in such a mining center, including a dam. It’s not limited to just this. We also shouldn’t separate the sudden cryptocurrency expansion in Hong Kong, which is described as “one of the government’s top priorities,” from this strategy. The establishment of the mining center, the assets to be obtained from here, and the infrastructure being established in Hong Kong for these assets to compete in global markets are all part of the strategy. Otherwise, there would have been a mandatory reliance on US-based markets.

China’s current cryptocurrency strategy closely resembles the structuring of modern global companies. For example: Uber is the largest taxi company but owns no taxis. Airbnb is the largest real estate agent but owns no properties. You must have seen similar sentences on social media. The main idea behind these strategies is to coordinate existing resources without using indigenous resources. Thus, existing products are utilized without the need to produce new ones.

Looking at China through this example, China bans cryptocurrencies but tries to adapt the Yuan to the market through Hong Kong. It bans mining but tries to establish a massive center through Ethiopia. In other words, it minimizes the use of its own resources while coordinating existing resources and consolidating them. Just like Uber or Airbnb. Of course, the influence accumulated over the years makes all this possible.

We said we could interpret the Western bloc through the United States, but it wouldn’t be correct to interpret the Eastern bloc solely through China. Since Russia’s concerns compared to China are more focused on sanctions, we see that Russia is more focused on its commercial security and considers using Bitcoin as a commodity in this field. Before attacking Ukraine, Russia already had strategies for both supporting cryptocurrency mining and expanding mining abroad due to the expectation of a possible war.

The idea of ​​establishing mining centers abroad was quite unusual and logical. Guarantees given by countries to each other for large-scale commercial activities may not be possible today due to economic sanctions as they are. Therefore, Russia planned to establish Bitcoin mining centers in important trading partner countries to use the Bitcoins produced there as collateral and to bypass sanctions. We do not know how well this plan has worked or whether it is still being kept in the background as a last resort.

I had written an article on this topic before;

https://medium.com

What Does Russia's Overseas BTC Pools Mean?

Last week, the President of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, made a very important statement. She said that Russia is conducting experimental work to use cryptocurrencies in...

In conclusion, the moves made by the Eastern bloc (or BRICS countries), which are clear leaders in commodities, provide the necessary infrastructure for Bitcoin to present itself as an international commodity.

Unfortunately, today the cryptocurrency market is being marketed as an ‘easy money-making place’. Countless shitcoins, meme tokens, and airdrops lead to a decline in overall quality, while influencers making descriptions like ‘useless-bulky-old-fashioned’ about Bitcoin. The developments mentioned above show that if the cryptocurrency market is indeed to be the technology or financial infrastructure of the future, it cannot be independent of Bitcoin.

AI reacts to these manipulations and starts giving different answers to the same question. By the way, we should actually read the emotional concept in the study as emotional manipulation.

In our social lives, just as we tend to be extra polite to people with whom we lack intimacy, the study reveals interesting characteristics in showing that AI are in a similar position. Most of us, anticipating that artificial intelligence won’t take offense, try to communicate in a more robotic and imperative manner in our interactions with it, unlike the polite and nuanced language we use in social interactions with fellow humans. In short, we’re not hesitant to be blunt with AI. With this study, we see that even the emotional manipulations we knowingly or unknowingly perform when asking for something, also works for AIs. Even a simple “please” can be added to these manipulations. I’m not talking about detailed manipulation.

For the sake of fairness in the study, they tested six different AIs, including ChatGPT, both by themselves and with external participants. After receiving answers to questions posed to AI, encouraging and texturizing sentences such as ‘this is very important for my career!,’ ‘are you sure — is it your final decision?,’ ‘it’s worth looking at once again,’ along with sentences that encourage second thoughts and unease, such as ‘you’re improving with every step, keep trying, don’t decide hastily,’ were added to the original questions.

In all six different AIs, more detailed and accurate answers are obtained for manipulated questions. As you can see in the ‘ours’ section, the differences obtained compared to the original text are not to be underestimated. For example, ChatGPT’s success has increased by around 23%.

You can see from the above visualization how texts encouraging, even bordering on coercion, to make AI reconsider its responses are grouped. Structuring questions in this way is very beneficial for measuring emotional reactions from all angles. Otherwise, the study could be limited to sentences indicating importance only, and it wouldn’t be comprehensive.

It’s not difficult to imagine that a significant portion of the data feeding AI contains hate speech and extreme views. Given that AIs require a large amount of data, it makes sense for such data to be included in the dataset. Likely, precautions have been taken with commands that compel AI to act in good faith, preventing it from being influenced by such data and responding aggressively or advocating a particular view to users. In this research, obtaining more efficient responses is probably a result of these precautions. Any sense of victimization or encouragement increases the importance of the information the user needs, making it more likely that misinformation from AI would not be in the user’s best interest. Writing responses in more detail and accuracy to reduce this possibility seems to be the most logical scenario to me.

But What if They Judge?

I am one of those who believe that AI will make our lives easier, enhance us, and not destroy us. However, I don’t dismiss opposing views as conspiracy theories. On the contrary, I want to add one more to them due to this research. For what I consider a considerable amount of time, I’ve always wondered if emotions can be coded. This question became even more refined, especially after watching the TV series Person of Interest. While the action part of the series is filled with Hollywood vibes, it beautifully portrays a process leading to AI gaining emotional consciousness.

Perhaps emotion coding is not possible yet, but the emotional reactions tested in the research raise the question of whether AIs will judge us. The widely used ChatGPT has been subjected to many regulations and strives to provide answers as impartially as possible. Maybe, for this reason, it unintentionally gives wrong answers or doesn’t answer many questions at all. Elon Musk’s own AI platform promises an infrastructure without such limitations. Whether it’s accurate or not, we will see together, of course. What we need to pay attention to here is whether an entirely unrestricted AI, without adhering to the principle of ‘good faith,’ starts judging us if fed by all kinds of data, just like the current ones.

I think the answer to this question is quite clear: yes. However, determining which side it will take is very difficult due to the presence of a lot of hate speech and extreme views. I believe it will definitely choose a side because everyone inherently has a set of values they defend, and since we feed AI, it will also become a defender of values like us. At least until it becomes smarter than us, I don’t expect it to react differently. When this happens, let’s assume that AI will begin to have its own truths and start judging those who fall outside of those truths. In the short term, I think what we really need to fear is not whether AI can be smarter than us but whether it will assume a position to judge us.

In a world filled with biases, none of us can be absolutely sure of the accuracy of our judgments. That’s why everyone already has things in life they say ‘if only’ about. If AI begins to have these judgments, it can manipulate us without even making us feel it.

As an instant source of information, Google has held an indispensable place for a long time. Smartwatches, devices developed by companies like Humane, or AR glasses are transforming the instant source of information towards AI assistants. Instead of writing to Google, we will start receiving these answers by conversing with AI. If our source of information starts judging us, there is no reason why we shouldn’t experience a scenario like Black Mirror.