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The busses have refused cash for years now, mostly for security reasons. But the other day one of my favorite cafés also declined the kingly payment method. A g

The busses have refused cash for years now, mostly for security reasons. But the other day one of my favorite cafés also declined the kingly payment method. A good sign indeed. :) A perhaps even better one is that one of the lunch places I go to no-longer requires my pin code when I pay by card. :D Progress! :)

ginko 10y ago
This sounds horrifying.
- bogomipz 10y ago
  How long before health insurance companies are able to track your diet or habits and adjust your premiums accordingly. I'm picturing a text message from the insurance company that tells me I've gone over my donut allowance for the month.
  - mike-cardwell 10y ago
    "health insurance company" - What sort of backwards society is this?
mike-cardwell 10y ago
So not only can you not get on a bus without your movements being logged in a commercial database, but now you can't even buy a coffee without that happening too. And you call that "progress" ?
ams6110 10y ago
TBH buses in most places haven't accepted cash on board in quite some time. You have to buy tokens or a bus pass and use those. Even tokens I think are not much used any more because in bulk they are heavy and expensive to transport and account for.
miend 10y ago
It sounds downright Orwellian. The government, its banks, payment processors all having the ability to instantly lock you out of the economy and watch your every transaction, leaving you totally out of options should you get on their bad side? That just sounds like another building block in the surveillance Panopticon, psychological assurance that you'll never become dissentious because your continued existence in the economy essentially depends upon the state's grace. It changes the way people act, and even the way they think. It's the disturbing new reality that Snowden, Greenwald, et al. have sought to do something about, and here Swedes seem to be embracing it openly. It sure sounds like this service could offer some great conveniences to daily living, but is it worth such a heavy price? The erosion of the will to dissent, and the power of the individual over their own lives? Are these an acceptable trade for the comfort of never having to see a coin again?
- bjornsing 10y ago
  > The erosion of the will to dissent, and the power of the individual over their own lives We Swedes are way past that. We live as humble subjects of our government, cuddled from cradle to grave, bowing to their authority much as we once bowed to the king. :P But every four years the people is abolished and the government choses a new one, so it's still a democracy! ;P
  - bjornsing 10y ago
    I'm only half joking here, and I'm definitely not saying you're wrong. Just trying to explain why we Swedes probably don't think about the cashless society in the same way as americans do. And by the way, most of my friends would probably describe me as "a borderline libertarian" (by Swedish standards), "fixated" on individual liberties and similar.

ginko 10y ago

This sounds horrifying.

bogomipz 10y ago
How long before health insurance companies are able to track your diet or habits and adjust your premiums accordingly. I'm picturing a text message from the insurance company that tells me I've gone over my donut allowance for the month.
- mike-cardwell 10y ago
  "health insurance company" - What sort of backwards society is this?

mike-cardwell 10y ago

So not only can you not get on a bus without your movements being logged in a commercial database, but now you can't even buy a coffee without that happening too. And you call that "progress" ?

ams6110 10y ago

TBH buses in most places haven't accepted cash on board in quite some time. You have to buy tokens or a bus pass and use those. Even tokens I think are not much used any more because in bulk they are heavy and expensive to transport and account for.

miend 10y ago

It sounds downright Orwellian. The government, its banks, payment processors all having the ability to instantly lock you out of the economy and watch your every transaction, leaving you totally out of options should you get on their bad side? That just sounds like another building block in the surveillance Panopticon, psychological assurance that you'll never become dissentious because your continued existence in the economy essentially depends upon the state's grace. It changes the way people act, and even the way they think. It's the disturbing new reality that Snowden, Greenwald, et al. have sought to do something about, and here Swedes seem to be embracing it openly. It sure sounds like this service could offer some great conveniences to daily living, but is it worth such a heavy price? The erosion of the will to dissent, and the power of the individual over their own lives? Are these an acceptable trade for the comfort of never having to see a coin again?

bjornsing 10y ago
> The erosion of the will to dissent, and the power of the individual over their own lives We Swedes are way past that. We live as humble subjects of our government, cuddled from cradle to grave, bowing to their authority much as we once bowed to the king. :P But every four years the people is abolished and the government choses a new one, so it's still a democracy! ;P
- bjornsing 10y ago
  I'm only half joking here, and I'm definitely not saying you're wrong. Just trying to explain why we Swedes probably don't think about the cashless society in the same way as americans do. And by the way, most of my friends would probably describe me as "a borderline libertarian" (by Swedish standards), "fixated" on individual liberties and similar.