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The anarchist in me wants to believe that cryptocurrency will diminish the power of the state but I don't actually have enough faith in humanity that we will co

by ses1984 8y ago

The anarchist in me wants to believe that cryptocurrency will diminish the power of the state but I don't actually have enough faith in humanity that we will come up with something better than crypto-oligarchy.

usrusr 8y ago
When new technology or some other fundamental change makes enforcement of the rule of law harder, We The People will grant enforcers more privileges to make sure that they are still able to do their job. It's a job We want done. The road to police state is paved with anarchist intentions.
- trophycase 8y ago
  Sort of. Baudrillard seems to argue from a anti-fragility standpoint and asserts that acts of terrorism have the opposite effect as intended and only seeks to strengthen the hold of the incumbent system even more (see PATRIOT act, new TSA screenings). I agree that technology generally amplifies the power of those that already have power, but I wouldn't go as far as you. I think that banking on any one thing is not the way to go, you need to abandon anything that becomes coopted and always seek destabilization in whatever form it appears.
skohan 8y ago
The story of cryptocurrency over the past couple years has been a really interesting case-study in the application of Libertarian principals. It's interesting how something which was built on the idea of decentralization by design has given way to a clear power structure, where those who have the sway to control the fate of the technology have largely used it to pursue their own personal enrichment over the health and success of the system as a whole. To me it's evidence that some form of governance is required to build something which can actually serve the greater good. I also would like to see a stateless currency work out, but there are clearly still quite a few problems to be solved before that will even seem like a possibility.
- pepesza 8y ago
  > It's interesting how something which was built on the idea of decentralization by design has given way to a clear power structure, where those who have the sway to control the fate of the technology have largely used it to pursue their own personal enrichment over the health and success of the system as a whole. Care to elaborate? Some examples?
  - KineticLensman 8y ago
    > design has given way to a clear power structure Example? Community decision making when forks occur. > largely used it to pursue their own personal enrichment I'll let someone else provide examples of that one :)
  - syrrim 8y ago
    The ten MB block size limit lowers the number of transactions that can occur in a single block therefore inflating what miners can charge for a transaction. Increasing the blocksise would require miners to choose to mine a hard fork. See the DAO hack for what can happen with strong governance.
    - solotronics 8y ago
      Without a small block size you would end up with a centralization of nodes onto datacenter servers.
      - PeterisP 8y ago
        We anyway have ended up with a centralization of nodes onto datacenter servers, so it's hard to argue that it would have made a difference.
    - jstanley 8y ago
      The Bitcoin block size limit is not 10 MB.
  - skohan 8y ago
jayd16 8y ago
We'll just see the same powers that be gain power in any specific crypto except now we have less protection laws in place.
jchanimal 8y ago
Why the surprise? BTC is a shallow clone of the bad parts of commodity currency. Nothing new, no new values. Just tightening the same old screws another notch.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

usrusr 8y ago

When new technology or some other fundamental change makes enforcement of the rule of law harder, We The People will grant enforcers more privileges to make sure that they are still able to do their job. It's a job We want done. The road to police state is paved with anarchist intentions.

trophycase 8y ago
Sort of. Baudrillard seems to argue from a anti-fragility standpoint and asserts that acts of terrorism have the opposite effect as intended and only seeks to strengthen the hold of the incumbent system even more (see PATRIOT act, new TSA screenings). I agree that technology generally amplifies the power of those that already have power, but I wouldn't go as far as you. I think that banking on any one thing is not the way to go, you need to abandon anything that becomes coopted and always seek destabilization in whatever form it appears.

skohan 8y ago

The story of cryptocurrency over the past couple years has been a really interesting case-study in the application of Libertarian principals. It's interesting how something which was built on the idea of decentralization by design has given way to a clear power structure, where those who have the sway to control the fate of the technology have largely used it to pursue their own personal enrichment over the health and success of the system as a whole. To me it's evidence that some form of governance is required to build something which can actually serve the greater good. I also would like to see a stateless currency work out, but there are clearly still quite a few problems to be solved before that will even seem like a possibility.

pepesza 8y ago
> It's interesting how something which was built on the idea of decentralization by design has given way to a clear power structure, where those who have the sway to control the fate of the technology have largely used it to pursue their own personal enrichment over the health and success of the system as a whole. Care to elaborate? Some examples?
- KineticLensman 8y ago
  > design has given way to a clear power structure Example? Community decision making when forks occur. > largely used it to pursue their own personal enrichment I'll let someone else provide examples of that one :)
- syrrim 8y ago
  The ten MB block size limit lowers the number of transactions that can occur in a single block therefore inflating what miners can charge for a transaction. Increasing the blocksise would require miners to choose to mine a hard fork. See the DAO hack for what can happen with strong governance.
  - solotronics 8y ago
    Without a small block size you would end up with a centralization of nodes onto datacenter servers.
    - PeterisP 8y ago
      We anyway have ended up with a centralization of nodes onto datacenter servers, so it's hard to argue that it would have made a difference.
  - jstanley 8y ago
    The Bitcoin block size limit is not 10 MB.
- skohan 8y ago

jayd16 8y ago

We'll just see the same powers that be gain power in any specific crypto except now we have less protection laws in place.

jchanimal 8y ago

Why the surprise? BTC is a shallow clone of the bad parts of commodity currency. Nothing new, no new values. Just tightening the same old screws another notch.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]