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No, mathematics makes it outside of existing law. There is nothing a government can do to stop or alter Bitcoin.

s73v3r 11y ago
This comment has nothing to do with the topic at hand.
gnaritas 11y ago
Law is social, nothing is outside of existing law and being math can't change that because law is based on what is or isn't mathematically preventable.
techdragon 11y ago
And murdering someone is just applied physics... Of course they can do things to regulate mathematics. Hell they can regulate Knowledge itself, just look up the "born secret doctrine". Through the sanctioned monopoly on violence, the government is given final rights over everything via their ability to leverage the threat of violence.
- irixusr 11y ago
  "the government is given final rights" Well not according to the US' citizenship test which states that the constitution is the top law whilst defining the rule of law as no entity, including the government, being above the law. That's the theory anyways. In reality, might makes right now more than ever (there's a very interesting article from MIT about if technology fosters democracy. They conclude no)
  - gnaritas 11y ago
    The constitution is what grants them that power. The executive branch is charged with enforcing the laws of the legislative branch according the main body of the constitution and the 16th amendment says they can tax your income. Taxing bitcoin is something the constitution says they can do.
- jsprogrammer 11y ago
  What could a government do to prevent or alter Bitcoin? Shut down the Internet?
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - gnaritas 11y ago
    You miss the point, they don't regulate Bitcoin, they regulate citizens. Just because you can't stop something completely, doesn't mean you can't outlaw it. Bitcoin, like all commodities now and in the future is taxable under current law because the law taxes all income of any form except things we say you can deduct. That means it covers new forms of assets as well as existing ones. Not paying your taxes is illegal and is more than enough threat—as it always has been—to make citizens obey the law.
    - jsprogrammer 11y ago
      You miss the point. Bitcoin is not necessarily income. It's simply a chain of integers bound through certain mathematical operations.
  - Synaesthesia 11y ago
    They cannot destroy it but they can hinder it in major ways and drive it underground. For example if major governments announced that they're banning bitcoin it would drive off a lot of users and we would have to find ways around their legislation. Major exchanges will have to go underground, it would be a lot harder to buy bitcoin, maybe the value would drop.
    - jsprogrammer 11y ago
      Exchanges are peripheral noise. What would 'banning bitcoin' even mean? All that is required is the computation of a number and its transmission to the blockchain. It's impossible to block such a message without blocking all other communications.

This comment has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

Law is social, nothing is outside of existing law and being math can't change that because law is based on what is or isn't mathematically preventable.

techdragon 11y ago

And murdering someone is just applied physics... Of course they can do things to regulate mathematics. Hell they can regulate Knowledge itself, just look up the "born secret doctrine". Through the sanctioned monopoly on violence, the government is given final rights over everything via their ability to leverage the threat of violence.

irixusr 11y ago
"the government is given final rights" Well not according to the US' citizenship test which states that the constitution is the top law whilst defining the rule of law as no entity, including the government, being above the law. That's the theory anyways. In reality, might makes right now more than ever (there's a very interesting article from MIT about if technology fosters democracy. They conclude no)
- gnaritas 11y ago
  The constitution is what grants them that power. The executive branch is charged with enforcing the laws of the legislative branch according the main body of the constitution and the 16th amendment says they can tax your income. Taxing bitcoin is something the constitution says they can do.
jsprogrammer 11y ago
What could a government do to prevent or alter Bitcoin? Shut down the Internet?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- gnaritas 11y ago
  You miss the point, they don't regulate Bitcoin, they regulate citizens. Just because you can't stop something completely, doesn't mean you can't outlaw it. Bitcoin, like all commodities now and in the future is taxable under current law because the law taxes all income of any form except things we say you can deduct. That means it covers new forms of assets as well as existing ones. Not paying your taxes is illegal and is more than enough threat—as it always has been—to make citizens obey the law.
  - jsprogrammer 11y ago
    You miss the point. Bitcoin is not necessarily income. It's simply a chain of integers bound through certain mathematical operations.
- Synaesthesia 11y ago
  They cannot destroy it but they can hinder it in major ways and drive it underground. For example if major governments announced that they're banning bitcoin it would drive off a lot of users and we would have to find ways around their legislation. Major exchanges will have to go underground, it would be a lot harder to buy bitcoin, maybe the value would drop.
  - jsprogrammer 11y ago
    Exchanges are peripheral noise. What would 'banning bitcoin' even mean? All that is required is the computation of a number and its transmission to the blockchain. It's impossible to block such a message without blocking all other communications.