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Bitcoin was always going to fail because even as a technically competent guy, I could never understand, nor be bothered to understand how the damn thing worked.

Bitcoin was always going to fail because even as a technically competent guy, I could never understand, nor be bothered to understand how the damn thing worked. There was no way in hell a normal, non-tech guy could ever understand it enough to use it everyday. This was a case of tech folks missing the woods for the trees. Even this article will go way over the heads of 99% of people on the planet. Why would you go through all that pain when cash is everywhere, easy to access, and easy to understand?

rmchugh 11y ago
I have to admit, even as a technically competent guy with secondary school economics and a lifelong interest in economics, I have a hard time understanding the monetary system. I don't think people not understanding things fully is an adequate explanation for failure. As Milton Friedman is said to have said, "nobody knows how to make a pencil". Nobody fully understands any system they use, the world is just too complex for that. All they really need to know is how to use a system to get the results they want. By this measure, government issued money is very easy.
- puranjay 11y ago
  The problem is that we use the monetary system right from childhood. We are born in it. There's no need to learn it at all. Asking someone in their 20s or 30s to learn a completely new monetary system, one built on things as "obscure" (to the lay person) as bits and bytes - well, that's asking a bit too much. The current monetary system might be confusing if you dig in, but its implementation is ridiculously simple.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
    It's not simple. Everyday usage is to an extent, but the system is actually very complicated. The same can be said of Bitcoin though. Everyday usage is simple.
RealityVoid 11y ago
It is true, cash is everywhere and easy to access, but it is not easy to understand. It SEEMS it's easy to understand but the underlying system, WHY the cash has value and WHAT that value should be is less than obvious to most of the people on the planet.
toadi 11y ago
Because cash won't be that easy to use anymore. Where I live they want to ban using cash like in a restaurant. Because it's easier for the government to check the restaurant that they pay taxes on the income they have. This means for me as punter that I can't pay with cash anymore and for me the same thing applies. All my money can be checked. I still want to be able to spend money without anybody tracking me. You know because there are privacy concerns. Maybe governments in the future ban buying ice cream and I need to be able to buy my ice cream fix?

rmchugh 11y ago

I have to admit, even as a technically competent guy with secondary school economics and a lifelong interest in economics, I have a hard time understanding the monetary system. I don't think people not understanding things fully is an adequate explanation for failure. As Milton Friedman is said to have said, "nobody knows how to make a pencil". Nobody fully understands any system they use, the world is just too complex for that. All they really need to know is how to use a system to get the results they want. By this measure, government issued money is very easy.

puranjay 11y ago
The problem is that we use the monetary system right from childhood. We are born in it. There's no need to learn it at all. Asking someone in their 20s or 30s to learn a completely new monetary system, one built on things as "obscure" (to the lay person) as bits and bytes - well, that's asking a bit too much. The current monetary system might be confusing if you dig in, but its implementation is ridiculously simple.
- TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
  It's not simple. Everyday usage is to an extent, but the system is actually very complicated. The same can be said of Bitcoin though. Everyday usage is simple.

RealityVoid 11y ago

It is true, cash is everywhere and easy to access, but it is not easy to understand. It SEEMS it's easy to understand but the underlying system, WHY the cash has value and WHAT that value should be is less than obvious to most of the people on the planet.

toadi 11y ago

Because cash won't be that easy to use anymore. Where I live they want to ban using cash like in a restaurant. Because it's easier for the government to check the restaurant that they pay taxes on the income they have. This means for me as punter that I can't pay with cash anymore and for me the same thing applies. All my money can be checked. I still want to be able to spend money without anybody tracking me. You know because there are privacy concerns. Maybe governments in the future ban buying ice cream and I need to be able to buy my ice cream fix?