New York culture and especially their art scene come off as what'd I'd expect to find if I were to open a magazine off the shelf and look through the ads. IMO stagnate and incestuous [1] [2] [3] ? Maybe I am not aware of the full breadth of NY's art scene?
It seems like Berlin [4], Los Angeles [5], Hong Kong/China & Japan all have much livelier melting pots of subcultures that may have been washed away in NYC due to cookie cutter art schooling or aspects of the local (sub)cultures?
Someone please make these bike parking structures [1] and put them everywhere. I would gladly pay to park my bike in one of these knowing it's secure, and not having to carry a heavy lock around everywhere.
Bandcamp digital pay-what-you-what, live shows/festivals/events, and artwork bundles with album sales seem to be the model of most of my favorite dedicated musicians.
>Bitcoins/Altcoin "mining" creates coins out of thin air
Yes, but not at a whim; that's the important distinction. The precise creation schedule for all bitcoins ever is known in advance (and Bitcoin creation is slowing, and eventually will stop). This is distinct from any fiat currency, where the minting authority can arbitrarily decide to inflate all your cash holdings out of existence. This has happened many times throughout history. See the German Papiermark.
It seems like if there are people willing to pay for expensive locks, if there was some sort of secure enclosure installed in various parts of the city that could be rented out just like parking lots - this would help more than locks.