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> Fundamentally it's the antithesis to democracy. What is this even supposed to mean? Strict state controls on economic activity are more within the realm of
by chroem- 5y ago
> Fundamentally it's the antithesis to democracy.
What is this even supposed to mean? Strict state controls on economic activity are more within the realm of authoritarian regimes, rather than democracies.
- shkkmo 5y agoDemocracies depends on transparency, accountability and the rule of law. Cyrptocurrencies are fundementally more anarchic than democratic.
- Bokkuren 5y agoHmm... They are anarchic in theory but in practice there's a strong hierarchy - few rich guys control the majority of coins.
- chroem- 5y agoDemocracy is primarily about representation and individual freedom. "Rule of law" is one of the main selling points of authoritarian ideologies. Are you sure you didn't drop a minus sign somewhere?
- imtringued 5y agoI prefer laws over guns.
- shkkmo 5y agoAuthoritarian regimes don't have "rule of law". The entire point is that all institutions in an Authoritarian country are under the control of the authoritarian leader/party. If the judicial system has independent power and can hold the rulers accountable when the violate the law, it isn't an authoritarian regime. This is precisely why the US has a system of checks and balances and why the judicial system is an important part of that.
- hackingforfun 5y agoPublic blockchains have way more transparency than existing systems. Please provide an example of an existing democracy you consider to be more transparent, i.e. every single action that is made is public.
- endisneigh 5y agoTransparency is a part of accountability, but accountability is not transparency.
- hackingforfun 5y agoLet's say, hypothetically, that voting for the president was done on a public blockchain, that anyone can audit, and there were cryptographic guarantees that the people voting are who they say they are. Does that not make that voting system more accountable? In this case I think transparency does lead to accountability.
- endisneigh 5y agoYou don't need a blockchain to do that, and there's a reason voting records for individuals are not made public. It's to protect against coercion, among other things.
- hackingforfun 5y agoEach individual can have a unique identifier that is not linked to their identity. It could be a public key that they generate from their private key. We'd have to figure out the details of how that would work exactly, i.e. making sure people cannot vote twice, but that's possible to figure out. I don't think there's any way to do this without giving trust to some central entity without a public blockchain. The public blockchain does become the source of trust, but you need a resource (like energy), that is finite, to secure that network. However, going back to your original comment, you said we are assuming a zero carbon footprint, so that would assume some future where this trust could be put on a network in a way that would be environmentally sustainable. All I'm saying is that there are more possibilities to this technology than I think you are acknowledging.
- ARandumGuy 5y agoCryptocurrencies advertise themselves as democratic, but in reality they're only as democratic as a corporate shareholder vote. Only those with shares can vote, and more shares = more votes. You may view state control on economic activity as authoritarian, but that's a pretty extreme view. I personally think that a democratically elected government should be able to control the economy when necessary, even if I don't always agree on how that control is applied. Otherwise, power will inevitably accumulate in increasingly large corporations, to the detriment of everyone else.
- reedjosh 5y ago> Only those with shares can vote, and more shares = more votes. Only in Proof of Stake. This is wby Proof of Work is still considered the most secure against centralization. > Otherwise, power will inevitably accumulate in increasingly large corporations, to the detriment of everyone else. Pot --- kettle. How then, if democracy and state authority can check the concentration of power, did we end up here?
- spinny 5y agoPeople think PoS is "the future" of crypto, but don't understand that you have to lock something of value in the network worth staking. A PoS crypto only works if there is an initial pre-sale (many of the ICO cryptos), or starting with a PoW period (like Ethereum did, there was also an ICO) and then moving to PoS. Without one (or both) of the above the tokens at stake are worth nothing
- danaris 5y agoPropaganda, regulatory capture, government gridlock, corruption—we got here not because democracy and state authority are worthless and cannot do the job, but because they are imperfect and people found ways to undermine them for their own benefit. If we can get back to democracy and genuine state authority, as opposed to increasingly-gerrymandered districts, voter suppression, and "state authority only when it suits the moneyed interests," which is more or less what we have now, then we'll be in much better shape overall.
- 5y ago
- TomSwirly 5y ago> Strict state controls on economic activity are more within the realm of authoritarian regimes, This is a wildly extreme viewpoint, given that every single country has strict controls on economic activity, where almost every transaction of size needs to be reported.
- tehjoker 5y agoDemocracies can control the economy deliberately. Democracy without economic control is near anarchy and the democracy is debilitated, subject to the whims of the people that own production.
- cwkoss 5y agoThe US currently has a high degree of economic control AND is still subject to the whims of the people that own production.
- tehjoker 5y agoThat's true, and why the real answer is to depose the owners and have common democratic ownership.
- dorgo 5y agoGovernments exist to prevent/fix market failure. The only problem is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_failure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_failure
- joelbondurant 5y agoGovernment Failure is no longer relevant, in the holy name of the Science Ministry we pray.
- tehjoker 5y agoGovernments have existed before capitalist markets and they will exist after them too.