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While you raise a legitimate point, I think you discount the basic fact that, on balance, most individuals behave in a trustworthy manner. Society depends on t

by cubes 16y ago

While you raise a legitimate point, I think you discount the basic fact that, on balance, most individuals behave in a trustworthy manner. Society depends on this fact. We trust people to drive cars, and not intentionally run people down. Stores trust that most individuals will not shoplift. Will there eventually be a large scale case of someone untrustworthy duping people via crowdsourcing? Probably. Does that mean the model is fundamentally flawed? No. Plus, crowdsourcing spreads the risk around so the loss is minimized. It's not like Bernie Madoff who insisted that investors invest all their funds through him.

GrandMasterBirt 16y ago
It only takes one guy to play on that and steal millions. Yes not millions at a time, but pitch 20 ideas as different aliases and have 200k investments in each. Its not hard to appeal to desperation and mass fear.
- cubes 16y ago
  The average Kickstarter is not pulling down anywhere near 200k, and it would take a remarkably clever con to pull off what you propose. Why would a clever con target Kickstarter, something that is trivially traceable? Also, why target a large group of smart, motivated individuals who know quite a bit about how to track people down on the internet?
arbitraryperson 16y ago
We don't just "trust" anyone to drive a car properly nor do we trust that people will not shoplift. There are laws in effect that intend to prevent underaged people from driving without consequence (as well as anyone who has demonstrated they can't be trusted to drive properly in the past). And stores often use some sort of system to detect when people walk away with things they did not purchase. I agree that on a certain level, we operate in a way where we assume people are trustworthy. As far as I know, there are no strict laws on how bank queues work, and there probably don't need to be. But crowdsourcing? I see it as having plenty of problems, and I can't agree that we just trust people or corporations to accept what is more of an investment under the guise of a donation in a responsible manner. They need to be held accountable for the money they accept. On the other hand, I feel little sympathy for people who throw their money at projects like this. I wouldn't invest in a flying car if it was just an idea presented to me with no working progress.

by cubes 16y ago

GrandMasterBirt 16y ago

It only takes one guy to play on that and steal millions. Yes not millions at a time, but pitch 20 ideas as different aliases and have 200k investments in each. Its not hard to appeal to desperation and mass fear.

cubes 16y ago
The average Kickstarter is not pulling down anywhere near 200k, and it would take a remarkably clever con to pull off what you propose. Why would a clever con target Kickstarter, something that is trivially traceable? Also, why target a large group of smart, motivated individuals who know quite a bit about how to track people down on the internet?

arbitraryperson 16y ago

We don't just "trust" anyone to drive a car properly nor do we trust that people will not shoplift. There are laws in effect that intend to prevent underaged people from driving without consequence (as well as anyone who has demonstrated they can't be trusted to drive properly in the past). And stores often use some sort of system to detect when people walk away with things they did not purchase. I agree that on a certain level, we operate in a way where we assume people are trustworthy. As far as I know, there are no strict laws on how bank queues work, and there probably don't need to be. But crowdsourcing? I see it as having plenty of problems, and I can't agree that we just trust people or corporations to accept what is more of an investment under the guise of a donation in a responsible manner. They need to be held accountable for the money they accept. On the other hand, I feel little sympathy for people who throw their money at projects like this. I wouldn't invest in a flying car if it was just an idea presented to me with no working progress.