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That's good Bitcoin PR but clicking the link I hoped for a more in-depth analysis of these ten years, the lessons learned and the way forward. This is mostly fl

by simias 8y ago

That's good Bitcoin PR but clicking the link I hoped for a more in-depth analysis of these ten years, the lessons learned and the way forward. This is mostly fluff. >These past ten years might be the earliest days of a new golden era of human flourishing, built upon censorship-resistant, sound money. Good thing they used "might" otherwise I might have scoffed at this grandiloquent and unsubstantiated statement.

clarkmoody 8y ago
Author here. Yep, it's definitely a message to Bitcoin insiders, but that's not a bad thing. Sorry to fail your hopes. > grandiloquent and unsubstantiated statement Once you've studied money from a critical angle, you start to see that unsound money is the root cause of many of the problems with society and government. The first ten years of Bitcoin (plus history leading to it) and sound vs unsound money are both huge topics in their own right. Perhaps it would be useful for me to include a little box at the end of each article with links to books and lengthy posts about these topics.
- pjc50 8y ago
  > start to see that unsound money is the root cause of many of the problems with society and government This is a real "if you have a golden hammer everything looks like a nail" philosophy.
  - hanniabu 8y ago
    Not sure if you're saying you agree with that quote or not.
- mgraczyk 8y ago
  Interestingly, I meet a lot of traditional banking folks who understand how Bitcoin works. It's very rare that I meet Bitcoin/blockchain folks who understand how traditional banking works.
  - sodafountan 8y ago
    Do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing
    - solarkraft 8y ago
      I would assume so, though they could also be neutral.
  - spiorf 8y ago
    Maybe the information asymmetry is part of the problem itself. Banking system is centuries upon centuries of arbitraty constructs. It does not make sense from the ground up.
    - mgraczyk 8y ago
      Yes, there are lots of good Bitcoin/blockchain resources online, while the banking system is more complicated and has fewer easily digestible resources available.
      - EpicEng 8y ago
        Crypto coins aren't really comparable to the banking system though. That's like comparing CPU architecture to the functionality of a website.
      - CaptainZapp 8y ago
        while the banking system is more complicated and has fewer easily digestible resources available I'd wager that the literature on banking and finance far outweighs resources on anything crypto. Specifically compared to papers on crypto coming from a neutral perspective. Your statement is just plain wrong. edit : clarification
        pjc50 8y ago
        Ah, but it's not presented in a droning series of youtube videos that pander to the viewer's prejudices, so it might as well not exist! /s
- simias 8y ago
  I would be more interested to read about these topics, yes. In particular you really need to define what you mean by "sound" vs. "unsound" money and what makes BTC "sounder" than other currencies.
  - clarkmoody 8y ago
    "Soundness" refers to the demand response of the money. Given increased demand for the money, can the supply be increased to absorb that demand while maintaining current purchasing power? Fiat money can be created or destroyed at any time, so it is the most unsound money. As purchasing power rises (falls), the central bank can create (destroy) money at will to counteract the trend. Gold exploration increases as the price rises, causing the supply to grow to meet this demand. Yet it is hard to mine gold, and its scarcity means that the increase of supply relative to the existing stock is small (roughly 2% / yr). Thus it is more sound than other metals, which are easier to mine. It is also much more sound than fiat money. Bitcoin's monetary base increases algorithmically, so there is no supply response to increased demand. On top of that, the monetary inflation rate tends toward zero over time. The supply will reach a maximum and stop increasing. This level of soundness is greater than that of gold in the long run. A great scholarly treatment of money is The Ethics of Money Production[1] [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6520108-the-ethics-of-money-production https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6520108-the-ethics-of-mo...
- EpicEng 8y ago
  >Yep, it's definitely a message to Bitcoin insiders, but that's not a bad thing. Adding more noise to the echo chamber certainly isn't a good thing. I'd be much more interested to hear about the problems surrounding the technology and how you envision them being solved. Most mining is centralized, no one actually uses it as currency, the entire thing is one big speculator market, etc.
  - CaptainZapp 8y ago
    Totally agree. Alas, you left out the quasi-religious (if not to say cultish) aspects of the crypto enthusiast movement.
rdiddly 8y ago
But... but... As a base money settlement system, the blockchain is the anchor for a layered protocol topology!!
jcslzr 8y ago
You don't understand that what we call "money" today its a scam: https://youtu.be/iFDe5kUUyT0 https://youtu.be/iFDe5kUUyT0 BTC will create prosperity we can not even dream of
- simias 8y ago
  I couldn't be bothered to sit through all 30 minutes of this video but it seems to be misrepresenting basic facts about the current monetary system (while claiming that it's somehow hidden from "the people" even though you can read about it on Wikipedia). It also presents opinions as facts (for instance that money should be a store of value). More importantly as far as I can tell it also completely fails to present the reasoning behind inflation and fiat money, instead asserting that it's just all a big conspiracy to steal money from "the people". It's fundamentally dishonest and tries to push an agenda instead of educating the viewer. IMO there are many things worthy of critique in our current economic system but these videos are really not helping your cause, whatever it might be.
- klipt 8y ago
  > BTC will create prosperity we can not even dream of Pyramid schemes always create prosperity for those at the top. Doesn't make them good for society. So far, everyone who made money from bitcoin did so at the expense of someone else losing money. Bitcoin is not a corporation. It makes no profit. It gives no dividends. It can't even liquidate its base assets since it has none.

by simias 8y ago

clarkmoody 8y ago

Author here. Yep, it's definitely a message to Bitcoin insiders, but that's not a bad thing. Sorry to fail your hopes. > grandiloquent and unsubstantiated statement Once you've studied money from a critical angle, you start to see that unsound money is the root cause of many of the problems with society and government. The first ten years of Bitcoin (plus history leading to it) and sound vs unsound money are both huge topics in their own right. Perhaps it would be useful for me to include a little box at the end of each article with links to books and lengthy posts about these topics.

pjc50 8y ago
> start to see that unsound money is the root cause of many of the problems with society and government This is a real "if you have a golden hammer everything looks like a nail" philosophy.
- hanniabu 8y ago
  Not sure if you're saying you agree with that quote or not.
mgraczyk 8y ago
Interestingly, I meet a lot of traditional banking folks who understand how Bitcoin works. It's very rare that I meet Bitcoin/blockchain folks who understand how traditional banking works.
- sodafountan 8y ago
  Do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing
  - solarkraft 8y ago
    I would assume so, though they could also be neutral.
- spiorf 8y ago
  Maybe the information asymmetry is part of the problem itself. Banking system is centuries upon centuries of arbitraty constructs. It does not make sense from the ground up.
  - mgraczyk 8y ago
    Yes, there are lots of good Bitcoin/blockchain resources online, while the banking system is more complicated and has fewer easily digestible resources available.
    - EpicEng 8y ago
      Crypto coins aren't really comparable to the banking system though. That's like comparing CPU architecture to the functionality of a website.
    - CaptainZapp 8y ago
      while the banking system is more complicated and has fewer easily digestible resources available I'd wager that the literature on banking and finance far outweighs resources on anything crypto. Specifically compared to papers on crypto coming from a neutral perspective. Your statement is just plain wrong. edit : clarification
      - pjc50 8y ago
        Ah, but it's not presented in a droning series of youtube videos that pander to the viewer's prejudices, so it might as well not exist! /s
simias 8y ago
I would be more interested to read about these topics, yes. In particular you really need to define what you mean by "sound" vs. "unsound" money and what makes BTC "sounder" than other currencies.
- clarkmoody 8y ago
  "Soundness" refers to the demand response of the money. Given increased demand for the money, can the supply be increased to absorb that demand while maintaining current purchasing power? Fiat money can be created or destroyed at any time, so it is the most unsound money. As purchasing power rises (falls), the central bank can create (destroy) money at will to counteract the trend. Gold exploration increases as the price rises, causing the supply to grow to meet this demand. Yet it is hard to mine gold, and its scarcity means that the increase of supply relative to the existing stock is small (roughly 2% / yr). Thus it is more sound than other metals, which are easier to mine. It is also much more sound than fiat money. Bitcoin's monetary base increases algorithmically, so there is no supply response to increased demand. On top of that, the monetary inflation rate tends toward zero over time. The supply will reach a maximum and stop increasing. This level of soundness is greater than that of gold in the long run. A great scholarly treatment of money is The Ethics of Money Production[1] [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6520108-the-ethics-of-money-production https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6520108-the-ethics-of-mo...
EpicEng 8y ago
>Yep, it's definitely a message to Bitcoin insiders, but that's not a bad thing. Adding more noise to the echo chamber certainly isn't a good thing. I'd be much more interested to hear about the problems surrounding the technology and how you envision them being solved. Most mining is centralized, no one actually uses it as currency, the entire thing is one big speculator market, etc.
- CaptainZapp 8y ago
  Totally agree. Alas, you left out the quasi-religious (if not to say cultish) aspects of the crypto enthusiast movement.

rdiddly 8y ago

But... but... As a base money settlement system, the blockchain is the anchor for a layered protocol topology!!

jcslzr 8y ago

You don't understand that what we call "money" today its a scam: https://youtu.be/iFDe5kUUyT0 https://youtu.be/iFDe5kUUyT0 BTC will create prosperity we can not even dream of

simias 8y ago
I couldn't be bothered to sit through all 30 minutes of this video but it seems to be misrepresenting basic facts about the current monetary system (while claiming that it's somehow hidden from "the people" even though you can read about it on Wikipedia). It also presents opinions as facts (for instance that money should be a store of value). More importantly as far as I can tell it also completely fails to present the reasoning behind inflation and fiat money, instead asserting that it's just all a big conspiracy to steal money from "the people". It's fundamentally dishonest and tries to push an agenda instead of educating the viewer. IMO there are many things worthy of critique in our current economic system but these videos are really not helping your cause, whatever it might be.
klipt 8y ago
> BTC will create prosperity we can not even dream of Pyramid schemes always create prosperity for those at the top. Doesn't make them good for society. So far, everyone who made money from bitcoin did so at the expense of someone else losing money. Bitcoin is not a corporation. It makes no profit. It gives no dividends. It can't even liquidate its base assets since it has none.