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I fully agree with your analysis. But cryptocurrencies are just the latest tool that will serve well the interests of the demagogues. Technocracy will not impro

by o- 9y ago

I fully agree with your analysis. But cryptocurrencies are just the latest tool that will serve well the interests of the demagogues. Technocracy will not improve affairs that we don't resolve as a society in the first place. More powerful tools means just more power to those who can afford the longest lever. Any other interpretation is just a blatant neglect on the history of technology.

Jabanga 9y ago
Cryptocurrencies, growing pains aside, will arrest the trend toward economic centralization. They are not just more powerful tools. They are tools that shift the control over money from large trusted third parties to individuals. They literally allow an individual to be their own bank. They are a counter-force against the trend toward eliminating cash, and with it, financial privacy [1]: >Any future cashless bank-payments society will be the outcome of a deliberate war on cash waged by an alliance of three elite groups with deep interests in seeing it emerge. These statements from an executive at MasterCard are a great window into the company's designs on cash and its electronic corollaries: >There's huge interest in cryptocurrencies and what perhaps they can create in the market place. Now we at MasterCard are not completely comfortable with the idea of cryptocurrencies largely because they go against the whole principle that we've established our business on which is really moving to a world beyond cash and ensuring greater transparency.. If you think about it, cash is a problem for a number of countries. Cash really facilitates anonymity, it facilitates illegal activity, it facilitates tax avoidance and a range of other things that aren't going to drive efficiency in an economy -https://youtu.be/bO4jHXjCXw8?t=2m57s https://youtu.be/bO4jHXjCXw8?t=2m57s >If it's an anonymous transaction, that sounds like a suspicious transaction. Why does somebody need to be anonymous? -http://youtu.be/bO4jHXjCXw8#t=4m12s http://youtu.be/bO4jHXjCXw8#t=4m12s [1] https://aeon.co/essays/if-plastic-replaces-cash-much-that-is-good-will-be-lost https://aeon.co/essays/if-plastic-replaces-cash-much-that-is...
- wdewind 9y ago
  > They literally allow an individual to be their own bank. The main function of banks is issuing debt, not holding cash.
  - andrepd 9y ago
    Both are central functions of banks, debt is not the main one.
    - wdewind 9y ago
      Saying that bitcoin allows users to act as their own banks is like saying a mattress with your cash under it is your own bank. It's not meaningful in anyway. Debt is the meaningful differentiator.
      - erikpukinskis 9y ago
        No, ability to issue a controlled lot of physical currency is the meaningful differentiator, which is why the relation to banks is irrelevant. I can buy $1 worth of Bitcoin, declare it ErikCoin, acceptable only in my stores at a 1/1,000,000 denomination, and I instantly "minted" $1,000,000 in cryptocurrency, using only the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin doesn't let people be banks, it let's people be the mint.
        wdewind 9y ago
        How is that different from virtual currency in video games?
        erikpukinskis 9y ago
        - Blizzard can't wipe your balance - You can't destroy anyone's balance after you've issued them currency - Balances are publicly verifiable - Balances can be stored in one's mind ... lots of things. Tons of affordances differ from a game currency.
        wdewind 9y ago
        But you can just choose to stop accepting ErikCoin at any time right?
- erikpukinskis 9y ago
  > They are tools that shift the control over money from large trusted third parties to individuals. They literally allow an individual to be their own bank. You're not thinking big enough. All I need to be a bank is some money to lend, or safe to put deposits in. Cryptocurrencies let people be their own nation state.
  - Jabanga 9y ago
    You're right. You can live in Cuba, and yet virtually live in a cyber nation using nothing other than an internet connection.

by o- 9y ago

Jabanga 9y ago

Cryptocurrencies, growing pains aside, will arrest the trend toward economic centralization. They are not just more powerful tools. They are tools that shift the control over money from large trusted third parties to individuals. They literally allow an individual to be their own bank. They are a counter-force against the trend toward eliminating cash, and with it, financial privacy [1]: >Any future cashless bank-payments society will be the outcome of a deliberate war on cash waged by an alliance of three elite groups with deep interests in seeing it emerge. These statements from an executive at MasterCard are a great window into the company's designs on cash and its electronic corollaries: >There's huge interest in cryptocurrencies and what perhaps they can create in the market place. Now we at MasterCard are not completely comfortable with the idea of cryptocurrencies largely because they go against the whole principle that we've established our business on which is really moving to a world beyond cash and ensuring greater transparency.. If you think about it, cash is a problem for a number of countries. Cash really facilitates anonymity, it facilitates illegal activity, it facilitates tax avoidance and a range of other things that aren't going to drive efficiency in an economy -https://youtu.be/bO4jHXjCXw8?t=2m57s https://youtu.be/bO4jHXjCXw8?t=2m57s >If it's an anonymous transaction, that sounds like a suspicious transaction. Why does somebody need to be anonymous? -http://youtu.be/bO4jHXjCXw8#t=4m12s http://youtu.be/bO4jHXjCXw8#t=4m12s [1] https://aeon.co/essays/if-plastic-replaces-cash-much-that-is-good-will-be-lost https://aeon.co/essays/if-plastic-replaces-cash-much-that-is...

wdewind 9y ago
> They literally allow an individual to be their own bank. The main function of banks is issuing debt, not holding cash.
- andrepd 9y ago
  Both are central functions of banks, debt is not the main one.
  - wdewind 9y ago
    Saying that bitcoin allows users to act as their own banks is like saying a mattress with your cash under it is your own bank. It's not meaningful in anyway. Debt is the meaningful differentiator.
    - erikpukinskis 9y ago
      No, ability to issue a controlled lot of physical currency is the meaningful differentiator, which is why the relation to banks is irrelevant. I can buy $1 worth of Bitcoin, declare it ErikCoin, acceptable only in my stores at a 1/1,000,000 denomination, and I instantly "minted" $1,000,000 in cryptocurrency, using only the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin doesn't let people be banks, it let's people be the mint.
      - wdewind 9y ago
        How is that different from virtual currency in video games?
        erikpukinskis 9y ago
        - Blizzard can't wipe your balance - You can't destroy anyone's balance after you've issued them currency - Balances are publicly verifiable - Balances can be stored in one's mind ... lots of things. Tons of affordances differ from a game currency.
        wdewind 9y ago
        But you can just choose to stop accepting ErikCoin at any time right?
erikpukinskis 9y ago
> They are tools that shift the control over money from large trusted third parties to individuals. They literally allow an individual to be their own bank. You're not thinking big enough. All I need to be a bank is some money to lend, or safe to put deposits in. Cryptocurrencies let people be their own nation state.
- Jabanga 9y ago
  You're right. You can live in Cuba, and yet virtually live in a cyber nation using nothing other than an internet connection.