This morning I woke up to find that one of the few folks I admire may very well be taken care of for life. This makes me really happy. Let's talk about why.
Gummo is someone I really admire. They first came to the attention of online audiences when they gave this absolute banger of an interview on Soft White Underbelly a little over a year ago. Soft White Underbelly is a youtube channel that does interviews with some of the types of folks our society would much rather ignore and "Hacker Interview - Gummo" is their masterpiece.
As someone who has always felt on the outskirts of things this interview really touched me. It's not the wonderful hacking stories about reprogramming CCs, stealing gas, or phreaking the phonelines that bring me back to an earlier era of the internet I miss ... it's ol' Gummo breaking down in tears when he talk about someone, anyone, believing in him when he was at his lowest. Shit man, I've been there and feel that in my bones. To me, it's inspiring to hear about someone making it from homeless hacker to happy and healthy.
So I hope this little backstory helps explain why I was so happy to see this news this morning.
Hacker claims to own $7 billion in Bitcoin ranking as the world’s 369th richest
It sounds to me like Gummo has successfully gone from making $5/hr to being, well, at very lease set for life.
What do I take from this as someone who just wants to have enough and be left alone? Shit man, the constant pursuit of wealth in cryptocurrency drives me crazy. I'm not trying to get a lambo. I'm trying to get off the capitalist conveyer-belt and get my time back. As someone who feels like an outsider, I'm really glad to see one of us win.
Cheers Gummo! I'm chuffed to hear you're going to be able to take care of yourself and those around you as you see fit. I hope this small blog post is in some way helpful or inspiring to others. Have a wonderful morning friends.