Right-wing cryptocurrency and left-wing artificial intelligence: the clash of technology and values

The 2025 Bitcoin Conference is in full swing in the United States.

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

But Vance's speech at the conference impressed me.

Deep Tide published a full translation of this speech (see the reference link after the article).

This speech quoted three viewpoints that were refreshing and resonated strongly with me:

"Cryptocurrency is essentially conservative or right-wing technology, and artificial intelligence is essentially left-wing or centralized technology"

"Many smart right-wing technical talents are attracted to Bitcoin, while many smart left-wing technical talents are engaged in AI."

"I don't want the development of AI to have a negative impact on the national interests of the United States. The best way to ensure that smart and visionary people participate in this AI dialogue is to make the Bitcoin community part of the AI ​​dialogue"

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

To put it in a more general way:

The right wing advocates small government, advocates personal struggle, and advocates free economy, and is highly wary of centralization, control, and intervention. The right wing is also called conservative.

The left wing advocates big government, advocates government control over society, and advocates government intervention-style economy. The left wing is also called liberal.

In modern society, pure right and left no longer exist, it is just a difference between more right or more left.

Vance's quote that Bitcoin attracts the right and artificial intelligence attracts the left immediately reminds me of some very typical figures in these two ecosystems.

Wei Dai, one of the pioneers of Bitcoin, witnessed his grandfather's tragic experience during the Cultural Revolution and thus planted a seed in his heart: he hopes to use technology to create a society where individuals are free from power oppression.

Satoshi Nakamoto tried every means to hide his whereabouts on the Internet.

......

Among the friends who have participated in the crypto ecosystem in my contact over the years, I found an interesting phenomenon: whenever the topic is discussed in depth, I can often guess his values, and then guess his true attitude towards Bitcoin. When I carefully asked him about his operation of Bitcoin, I almost found a common point:

All participants with strong right-leaning views will almost without exception firmly hold a part of Bitcoin. Although they will also do swing trading, there is always a part of it in their hands that they never sell. For this operation of keeping a part and not selling, they will say excitedly that this is a tribute to Satoshi Nakamoto.

Therefore, I have always believed that if you invest in the crypto ecosystem without the support of values, it is unlikely to obtain relatively rich returns. I don't believe that Zhao Changpeng sold his house to buy Bitcoin purely out of commercial considerations, without any belief in values ​​as support and drive.

My impression of the participants in artificial intelligence is almost completely captured by Ultraman. His attitude of closely cooperating with the US government and the project that requires participants to exchange their irises for tokens vividly reflect this person's worship of power and desire for control.

Another typical example of being in the same boat with Ultraman in the technology circle is Zuckerberg.

Most of the articles and media on the market that highly praise artificial intelligence are almost immersed in the pleasure brought by the rapid progress of this technology in efficiency and physical sensation, and few of them worry about the consequences of artificial intelligence being controlled by the devil for human beings.

The vast majority of articles and media on the market that disdain encryption technology almost without exception only talk about the shortcomings and uselessness of encryption technology from the aspects of efficiency and cost. They never understand the great significance of encryption technology for human beings to obtain financial freedom and get rid of centralized control.

A few times I was curious and found other articles by several authors of this type of article. Almost all of them found that they were full of the feelings of the elite controlling the masses and the pleasure of crawling on power.

Only in the crypto ecosystem do I see explorers like Vitalik constantly exploring what efforts should be made to decentralize as much as possible, and what improvements should be made to find ways to keep Ethereum from being attacked by powerful sovereign states.

About two years ago, I wrote in an article that once I participated in a roadshow in Hong Kong, I saw a foreign team propose a method to train artificial intelligence with a decentralized data set. Although that plan has many problems and seems immature, I can only see such ideas and perspectives in the crypto ecosystem.

Of course, the top technology streams that vigorously promote artificial intelligence will also pay attention to encryption technology. Ultraman issued his world currency and second-layer expansion, and Zuckerberg is eager to restart his stable currency plan. But their core purpose is not for human freedom, but to control more users, more resources, and provide more value for their ecology.

These two types of people are fundamentally different.

Perhaps this is what Vance said: "Many smart right-wing technical talents are attracted to Bitcoin, while many smart left-wing technical talents are devoted to AI."

In my previous article, I also shared my expectations for the best scenario of combining AI + Crypto: that is, to use the decentralized method of encryption technology to decentralize the computing power and data of artificial intelligence, so that this revolutionary invention of artificial intelligence is not controlled by a centralized organization. Only in this way can it truly benefit all mankind and become a great invention that mankind is proud of; otherwise, it is likely to create disasters and become a weapon to destroy mankind.

Vance expressed in his speech that he does not want AI to have a negative impact on the United States, and hopes that the Bitcoin community will join AI, which is exactly the combination of these two technologies that I expect.

In my opinion, these views quoted by Vance are the best annotations to the values ​​behind the two technologies of encryption technology and artificial intelligence, and the best interpretation of the complementarity of the two technologies of encryption technology and artificial intelligence.

My inherent impression of politicians is that they can only tell lies, clichés and empty words, but I was surprised that Vance could quote/express such wonderful views.

A person with a non-science and engineering background can understand the values ​​behind these two cutting-edge technologies to this extent, which is better than most participants in these two ecosystems.

I now understand why Peter Thiel of Silicon Valley has been funding Vance for a long time and has spared no effort to help him all the way.

If such a person becomes the president of the United States in the future, encryption technology and artificial intelligence will only accelerate in that land.