Blog - Topi Kettunen

N26 Goes Into Crypto

Posted on 17th of January 2023 | 134 words

While moving to Berlin, naturally I needed to open a new bank account. Friend of mine recommended N26 to me, and, all things considered, it has treated me fine. Unfortunately I just stumbled upon the following news: German online bank N26 to expand crypto trading … Am I going to regret my decision?

German online bank N26 said on Tuesday that it would expand the list of countries where its customers may trade cryptocurrencies to include those in Germany and Switzerland. […]
The prices of major cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether have fallen sharply over the past year as a broader downturn in global markets prompted investors to ditch risky assets and following the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.
N26 said it would roll out the expanded trading gradually over the coming weeks.

Internet Is Empty and Devoid of People

Posted on 7th of January 2023 | 152 words

Proving you’re a human on a web flooded with generative AI content

Humans who want to engage in informal, unoptimised, personal interactions have to hide in closed spaces like invite-only Slack channels, Discord groups, email newsletters, small-scale blogs, and digital gardens. Or make themselves illegible and algorithmically incoherent in public venues. […]
We’re about to drown in a sea of pedestrian takes. An explosion of noise that will drown out any signal. Goodbye to finding original human insights or authentic connections under that pile of cruft.
Many people will say we already live in this reality. We’ve already become skilled at sifting through unhelpful piles of “optimised content” designed to gather clicks and advertising impressions. […]
As the forest grows darker, noisier, and less human, I expect to invest more time in in-person relationships and communities. And while I love meatspace, this still feels like a loss.

Am I even real anymore?

We're Here on Earth to Fart Around

Posted on 6th of January 2023 | 233 words

Stumbled upon a great PBS interview between David Brancaccio and Kurt Vonnegut and found a great life rule to live by:

DAVID BRANCACCIO: There’s a little sweet moment, I’ve got to say, in a very intense book– your latest– in which you’re heading out the door and your wife says what are you doing? I think you say– I’m getting– I’m going to buy an envelope.
KURT VONNEGUT: Yeah.
DAVID BRANCACCIO: What happens then?
KURT VONNEGUT: Oh, she says well, you’re not a poor man. You know, why don’t you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I’m going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don’t know. The moral of the story is, is we’re here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don’t realize, or they don’t care, is we’re dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we’re not supposed to dance at all anymore.

Luddite Teens

Posted on 5th of January 2023 | 184 words

I stumbled upon this recent New York Times article which, to be honest, was one of the most heartening things I’ve read in a long time. Especially during these times of discussion about technology addiction.

For the first time, she experienced life in the city as a teenager without an iPhone. She borrowed novels from the library and read them alone in the park. She started admiring graffiti when she rode the subway, then fell in with some teens who taught her how to spray-paint in a freight train yard in Queens. And she began waking up without an alarm clock at 7 a.m., no longer falling asleep to the glow of her phone at midnight. Once, as she later wrote in a text titled the “Luddite Manifesto,” she fantasized about tossing her iPhone into the Gowanus Canal. […]
“I still long to have no phone at all,” she said. “My parents are so addicted. My mom got on Twitter, and I’ve seen it tear her apart. But I guess I also like it, because I get to feel a little superior to them.”