- Bitcoin’s Taproot activation debate is still contentious; kanzure linked to a blog post (http://www.erisian.com.au/wordpress/2021/05/18/sturm-und-drang-und-taproot-activation) that maaku criticized as biased and historically inaccurate, noting that unbiased summaries can be found in the Bitcoin Optech newsletter and mailing-list meeting logs.

- Participants discussed how “price-gouging” laws during shortages (e.g., gasoline after the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack) can be circumvented by running local, real-time auctions instead of fixed retail pricing, although no turnkey platform for neighborhood-scale auctions currently exists.

- The group highlighted the WHO and CDC’s year-long delay in acknowledging aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 despite 2004 literature showing SARS-CoV spread over 60 m, and lamented that indoor masking guidance still relied on an arbitrary 1-meter rule.

- Evidence-based early-treatment options (glutathione, zinc, vitamin D) identified during the original SARS outbreak were largely ignored in favor of vaccine-centric strategies that allow governments and pharma companies to externalize accountability via liability shields and indemnity agreements.

- The 21st Century Cures Act was cited as permitting researchers to waive informed consent for “minimal-risk” clinical testing, raising concerns that the statutory definition of “minimal risk” may conflict with basic human-subject protections.

- A MIT Technology Review piece (2018) on a fictional man-made pathogen wiping out the U.S. and a New York Times op-ed on pharma-industry indemnity during the 1976 swine-flu vaccination campaign were shared as cautionary background reading.

- Discussion of India’s use of Garuda Aerospace drones to spray disinfectant over Bengaluru was framed as an example of ineffective “hygiene theater” that ignores aerosol science and may even worsen viral dispersion.

- Overall sentiment: the pandemic has reinforced the view that large institutions are run by “sadistic children” (Lord of the Flies analogy), with high-functioning, evidence-driven individuals remaining rare and largely excluded from decision-making roles.