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>will be driven by mining fees. Or maybe it won't errm. >The easiest way of rent-seeking for billionaire monopolists would be to buy Bitcoin and just wait and

by nwah1 9y ago

>will be driven by mining fees. Or maybe it won't errm. >The easiest way of rent-seeking for billionaire monopolists would be to buy Bitcoin and just wait and reap the rents. Pretty much all of them realize that the speculative bubble is built on nothing.

tom_mellior 9y ago
> errm. Please elaborate your objection? I'm happy to reiterate that it's clear that we can't predict the future, but that it's intellectually dishonest to suggest that we don't have plans when in fact we do. (It's fine to criticize the plans, but that's not what Charlie did.) > Pretty much all of them realize that the speculative bubble is built on nothing. That's no reason not to profit from it while it lasts, if you're a rent-seeking billionaire who can afford to lose their investment. It's strange to suggest that greedy rent-seekers would not be greedy in this one specific instance.
- nwah1 9y ago
  >Please elaborate your objection? I was just noting that you didn't seem to have an especially clearer picture than Charlie did, while claiming he was wrong to say the future was unclear. >It's strange to suggest that greedy rent-seekers would not be greedy in this one specific instance. You don't seem to understand what rent-seeking is. Rent-seeking is when you seek out particular privileges that enable you to gain an advantage. A "sure thing" if you will. By controlling asymmetric information, the levers of government, cornering the market, or controlling exclusive rights over naturally scarce opportunities. They are greedy, but not stupid. A greedy person may play slot machines, but would not be intelligently directing their avarice. This is ultimately what you are suggesting they do.
  - tom_mellior 9y ago
    > I was just noting that you didn't seem to have an especially clearer picture than Charlie did I'm not sure what to tell you if you don't see a difference between "there are clear plans for the future, but of course plans are no guarantee for what will happen in the year 2100" (my point) and "there is no plan for the future, nobody has any idea how to incentivize mining, what a bunch of idiots" (Charlie's statement). In fact, the plans do not only exist as plans. They are implemented in software that is deployed on a huge network of machines.

by nwah1 9y ago

tom_mellior 9y ago

> errm. Please elaborate your objection? I'm happy to reiterate that it's clear that we can't predict the future, but that it's intellectually dishonest to suggest that we don't have plans when in fact we do. (It's fine to criticize the plans, but that's not what Charlie did.) > Pretty much all of them realize that the speculative bubble is built on nothing. That's no reason not to profit from it while it lasts, if you're a rent-seeking billionaire who can afford to lose their investment. It's strange to suggest that greedy rent-seekers would not be greedy in this one specific instance.

nwah1 9y ago
>Please elaborate your objection? I was just noting that you didn't seem to have an especially clearer picture than Charlie did, while claiming he was wrong to say the future was unclear. >It's strange to suggest that greedy rent-seekers would not be greedy in this one specific instance. You don't seem to understand what rent-seeking is. Rent-seeking is when you seek out particular privileges that enable you to gain an advantage. A "sure thing" if you will. By controlling asymmetric information, the levers of government, cornering the market, or controlling exclusive rights over naturally scarce opportunities. They are greedy, but not stupid. A greedy person may play slot machines, but would not be intelligently directing their avarice. This is ultimately what you are suggesting they do.
- tom_mellior 9y ago
  > I was just noting that you didn't seem to have an especially clearer picture than Charlie did I'm not sure what to tell you if you don't see a difference between "there are clear plans for the future, but of course plans are no guarantee for what will happen in the year 2100" (my point) and "there is no plan for the future, nobody has any idea how to incentivize mining, what a bunch of idiots" (Charlie's statement). In fact, the plans do not only exist as plans. They are implemented in software that is deployed on a huge network of machines.