4 ms·
That's NO different than what the "Federal reserve" does. Creates paper money out of thin air.
by X86BSD 10y ago
That's NO different than what the "Federal reserve" does. Creates paper money out of thin air.
- matt4077 10y agoConsidering programmers almost exclusively deal in abstract ideas, and even their manifestation is in the realm invisible to the naked eye, it's surprising how hard it appears for many to grasp concepts such as "law", "culture", or "trust". So here we have a bunch crypto-anarchists with their usual "fiat is fiction"-spiel. Let me ask you to put your worthless paper money[0] where your mind is: I have drawn this wonderful $1 note, and will add as many zeros as you wish, giving you a 10-for-1 payout for useless US treasury fiat. oh well. At least every time one of these great new ponzi schemes finds a new way for provable-secure technology to be insecure, we can enjoy the knowledge that another $100mill is in the hands of a more worthy owner. [0] most of it isn't even paper, but apparently paper is a better symbol for evanescence than "electric charge" or "a linen/cotton-blend"
- dwaltrip 10y agoI think it's because it's difficult for even programmers to deeply grasp the slippery nature of the small scale abstractions we use in software projects. This is why design patterns are so easily misused. It's tricky stuff. The large scale, society-level abstractions and shared fictions, such as money, are a whole different beast.
- matt4077 10y agoI don't think the principle of money is actually that difficult. We've all had that moment in middle school where we realised that money would be worthless if everyone stopped caring about it. It's just that some people stopped running around wide-eyed telling others about this revelation a few days later. I guess we did get lucky in that the object of obsession they chose wasn't the law. Please don't tell them that murder is only a crime because enough people believe it to be or they'll throw us all in blockchains.
- dwaltrip 10y ago> money would be worthless if everyone stopped caring about it. Sure, on the surface this is easy to understand. But what might it look like for such a process to unfold? How do the fundamental dynamics and primary characteristics of a money system change over time, and why? Honestly, I can't really answer those questions in any kind of sophisticated way. A lot of discussions involving the Fed and broad macroeconomic policies feel fairly hand-wavy to me. Sure, the basics of runaway inflation caused by reckless money printing is not too hard to understand. But that's just one of many scenarios.
- arithma 10y agoIf everyone became a plant feeding off the sun, we won't "need" money, greatly reducing its value at least.
- petre 10y agoWell money wouldn't really work without trust. A currency without confidence is worth nothing. So if Zerocoin got hacked and someone created money out of thin air, confidence drops and zcoin is now worth less. The principle is the same as with state backed fiat.
- nickodell 10y agoI mean, at least they do it on purpose.