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Gold is found in nature. We can’t manufacture it or change its atomic number. Bitcoin is human code run on human machines. If society or the powers that be see

by hudon 6y ago

Gold is found in nature. We can’t manufacture it or change its atomic number. Bitcoin is human code run on human machines. If society or the powers that be see fit to generate infinite Bitcoin, they can (ie forks are political power plays and we can’t control how the powerful will coopt Bitcoin in the future).

dTal 6y ago
We can't manufacture it or change its atomic number, but the powerful can (and have) manipulated its "value" in all the same ways as they could manipulate bitcoin. They can buy up supply, insist that taxes be paid in it, or threaten to lock up anyone who mysteriously comes across a large amount of it. Gold's status as a physical element is basically irrelevant. Bitcoin is basically gold you can email.
tim333 6y ago
>If society or the powers that be see fit to generate infinite Bitcoin But not real ones. It's like saying you can make infinite Mona Lisas with a colour photocopier.
- ForHackernews 6y ago
  Who decides what is a "real" bitcoin? This is the point parent commenter is making. The only difference between Bitcoin OG and Bitcoin Cash or Segwit or any of the others is some kind of vague consensus that everyone agrees to pretend one magic bean is more special and valuable than the other, less-special magic bean with the same name.
  - jcbrand 6y ago
    The real Bitcoin will be the one that the market prefers. Why is Gold coins more valuable than copper coins? Why is the original Bitcoin more valuable than any of its forks?
    - ForHackernews 6y ago
      You're agreeing with me and the grandparent comment.
      - jcbrand 6y ago
        It's not some kind of vague consensus, just like it's not some vague consensus that gold coins are worth more than copper coins.
        ForHackernews 6y ago
        > the one that the market prefers What do you think markets are? They're a method for people to come to a vague consensus about the value of something.
- hudon 6y ago
  No. Real ones. The supply cap is just decided by a coded algorithm. That algorithm can change and the social consensus can and will accept that change. Democracies moved off of the gold standard didn’t they?
  - jcbrand 6y ago
    It won't be the real one, it will be a fork. Not everyone will accept such a change, so the original 21 million version of the network will still exist and will by many be considered the real bitcoin.
    - hudon 6y ago
      Sure, and I can try paying for gas with gold but at some point I’m forced to do what the herd is doing, and the herd doesn’t care about arguments of “sound money”, they’ll just follow whatever monetary policy the ruling class decides is best. The herd coming into Bitcoin as we speak implies a weakening of its founding values.
      - jcbrand 6y ago
        You can buy gas in a depreciating currency and save in something else, like people have been doing with gold for thousands of years.
adventured 6y ago
Nature created Bitcoin. There's absolutely no reason why humans can't create a store of value with superior qualities vs gold. Humans are of nature. Everything we do is of nature accordingly. There is no separating humanity from nature, we are contained within it and we were created by it. Nature = that which exists, all encompassing, no exceptions. It's not a technicality, it's the fact of what nature actually is (versus what some people like to pretend it is: fantasy pristineness, perfection, devoid of humans).

by hudon 6y ago

dTal 6y ago

We can't manufacture it or change its atomic number, but the powerful can (and have) manipulated its "value" in all the same ways as they could manipulate bitcoin. They can buy up supply, insist that taxes be paid in it, or threaten to lock up anyone who mysteriously comes across a large amount of it. Gold's status as a physical element is basically irrelevant. Bitcoin is basically gold you can email.

tim333 6y ago

>If society or the powers that be see fit to generate infinite Bitcoin But not real ones. It's like saying you can make infinite Mona Lisas with a colour photocopier.

ForHackernews 6y ago
Who decides what is a "real" bitcoin? This is the point parent commenter is making. The only difference between Bitcoin OG and Bitcoin Cash or Segwit or any of the others is some kind of vague consensus that everyone agrees to pretend one magic bean is more special and valuable than the other, less-special magic bean with the same name.
- jcbrand 6y ago
  The real Bitcoin will be the one that the market prefers. Why is Gold coins more valuable than copper coins? Why is the original Bitcoin more valuable than any of its forks?
  - ForHackernews 6y ago
    You're agreeing with me and the grandparent comment.
    - jcbrand 6y ago
      It's not some kind of vague consensus, just like it's not some vague consensus that gold coins are worth more than copper coins.
      - ForHackernews 6y ago
        > the one that the market prefers What do you think markets are? They're a method for people to come to a vague consensus about the value of something.
hudon 6y ago
No. Real ones. The supply cap is just decided by a coded algorithm. That algorithm can change and the social consensus can and will accept that change. Democracies moved off of the gold standard didn’t they?
- jcbrand 6y ago
  It won't be the real one, it will be a fork. Not everyone will accept such a change, so the original 21 million version of the network will still exist and will by many be considered the real bitcoin.
  - hudon 6y ago
    Sure, and I can try paying for gas with gold but at some point I’m forced to do what the herd is doing, and the herd doesn’t care about arguments of “sound money”, they’ll just follow whatever monetary policy the ruling class decides is best. The herd coming into Bitcoin as we speak implies a weakening of its founding values.
    - jcbrand 6y ago
      You can buy gas in a depreciating currency and save in something else, like people have been doing with gold for thousands of years.

adventured 6y ago

Nature created Bitcoin. There's absolutely no reason why humans can't create a store of value with superior qualities vs gold. Humans are of nature. Everything we do is of nature accordingly. There is no separating humanity from nature, we are contained within it and we were created by it. Nature = that which exists, all encompassing, no exceptions. It's not a technicality, it's the fact of what nature actually is (versus what some people like to pretend it is: fantasy pristineness, perfection, devoid of humans).