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Do you support all Chinese government laws? How about all US laws? Do you support all laws of all governments? Many here are fairly libertarian, at least regar

Do you support all Chinese government laws? How about all US laws? Do you support all laws of all governments? Many here are fairly libertarian, at least regarding drugs. Do you agree with every classification of every drug in US law and that all punishment for them is perfectly appropriate? In the past you’d be denied banking for the color of your skin or treated differently based on genitalia. Illegal is only defined by imperfect governments. So yes, it allows for illegal things, that’s a great thing. It also means you won’t have an account closed for thoughtcrime, or cheering the wrong political party. It means an authoritarian government can’t keep you locked there. And it means you can avoid myriad kafka-esque dystopic mishaps of “the system”, nightmarish AI flagging slip ups that close your account or prevent you from sending money to a relative in need in another county because it’s Sunday or you forgot to renew you drivers license. Not to mention you can now use code to manipulate your money, give early users real equity in your company and design fully digital co-ops, avoid some of the burden of blatant classist laws like accredited investors, and design incentive mechanisms for your startup that are guaranteed in code.

randmeerkat 6y ago
There’s a technology out that you might like as a libertarian. The tech is untraceable, doesn’t have a built in chain of ownership logged on the internet, and everyone measures the value of their latest blockchain based off of it. It’s called cash.
- nwienert 6y ago
  Not a libertarian just a guy who doesn’t agree with every law everywhere. Monero and other privacy coins don’t have a traceable ledger. Now clear this up for me... how do you send a ton of cash anywhere in the world in minutes without risk? Is it easy to smuggle out of an authoritarian gov? Can you manipulate it with code? Cash is a great way to pick up bitcoin anonymously though, you make a good point.
ineedasername 6y ago
Maybe if someone can't remember to renew a license that asserts their competency in operating lethally dangerous machinery then they should also not be trusted with financial transactions until they resolve that situation.
thedufer 6y ago
Interesting that all of the pro-cryptocurrency folks read this as an attack. I quite carefully did not place value, positive or negative, on it. Perhaps the fact that you read it that way reveals your true thoughts on the matter. No, I don't support all laws in pretty much any regime. But I do believe that the ability to enforce laws is important. The only thing that consistently works more poorly than having rules is not having any rules at all. You are of course welcome to move to a lawless state if this is really what you want, but I suspect you would not find it to be the utopia you dream of.
- nwienert 6y ago
  > I guess doesn't sound as nice. How is this anything but dismissive? Your whole post was insinuating it’s only utility is for illegal things, in context implying that’s what makes it non-valuable. If you weren’t making that claim, then there’s no point to your post. Don’t hide from your own claim and act coy now. It was obviously dismissive, and now just looks like you’re backsliding. Not to mention the straw man turning “some laws are bad and you should be able to resist them” into “live in a lawless state”. Or that you ignore the litany of non-illegal uses I added. In fact, I’m skeptical of 99% of the field, I believe without PoS it should fail and isn’t worth the cost, and I was a harder skeptic until recently and changed my mind because I honestly believe I’ve seen some truly interesting uses now outside of being a freer currency. Get outside of “pro” or “anti” box and think in terms of utilities and specifics, and if you reply reply to my specific claims.
NicoJuicy 6y ago
So every contract can become backdoored and confirmations happen by chinese miners for 65%. Thanks, but no thanks.

randmeerkat 6y ago

There’s a technology out that you might like as a libertarian. The tech is untraceable, doesn’t have a built in chain of ownership logged on the internet, and everyone measures the value of their latest blockchain based off of it. It’s called cash.

nwienert 6y ago
Not a libertarian just a guy who doesn’t agree with every law everywhere. Monero and other privacy coins don’t have a traceable ledger. Now clear this up for me... how do you send a ton of cash anywhere in the world in minutes without risk? Is it easy to smuggle out of an authoritarian gov? Can you manipulate it with code? Cash is a great way to pick up bitcoin anonymously though, you make a good point.

ineedasername 6y ago

Maybe if someone can't remember to renew a license that asserts their competency in operating lethally dangerous machinery then they should also not be trusted with financial transactions until they resolve that situation.

thedufer 6y ago

Interesting that all of the pro-cryptocurrency folks read this as an attack. I quite carefully did not place value, positive or negative, on it. Perhaps the fact that you read it that way reveals your true thoughts on the matter. No, I don't support all laws in pretty much any regime. But I do believe that the ability to enforce laws is important. The only thing that consistently works more poorly than having rules is not having any rules at all. You are of course welcome to move to a lawless state if this is really what you want, but I suspect you would not find it to be the utopia you dream of.

nwienert 6y ago
> I guess doesn't sound as nice. How is this anything but dismissive? Your whole post was insinuating it’s only utility is for illegal things, in context implying that’s what makes it non-valuable. If you weren’t making that claim, then there’s no point to your post. Don’t hide from your own claim and act coy now. It was obviously dismissive, and now just looks like you’re backsliding. Not to mention the straw man turning “some laws are bad and you should be able to resist them” into “live in a lawless state”. Or that you ignore the litany of non-illegal uses I added. In fact, I’m skeptical of 99% of the field, I believe without PoS it should fail and isn’t worth the cost, and I was a harder skeptic until recently and changed my mind because I honestly believe I’ve seen some truly interesting uses now outside of being a freer currency. Get outside of “pro” or “anti” box and think in terms of utilities and specifics, and if you reply reply to my specific claims.

NicoJuicy 6y ago

So every contract can become backdoored and confirmations happen by chinese miners for 65%. Thanks, but no thanks.