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People had little problem with transportation when all they had was horses and sailboats. Just because you don't technically have a problem doing something now

People had little problem with transportation when all they had was horses and sailboats. Just because you don't technically have a problem doing something now and no one is complaining, doesn't mean there's not a drastically more efficient way to do the thing, and those organizations that start doing the more efficient thing rapidly out compete and make irrelevant those who hold onto the legacy ways.

loceng 5y ago
Bitcoin is the horse and buggy in this comparison - while attempting to naively remove control possibilities and making it "trustless" aka a free for all/wildwest where nations can't use financial levers to try to economically punish known bad actors, e.g. Magnitsky Act.
- anonporridge 5y ago
  I think it's a grand experiment. Perhaps the primary output of bitcoin will be that it lights a fire under the lazy ass of government to actually have a service mindset towards people, because they now have an alternative that they can use however they want. We'll see.
  - loceng 5y ago
    Yes, I agree with you - it's likely been a necessary mechanism as a counterweight to the current corruption and lack of integrity in the system.
- ashwagary 5y ago
  >where nations can't use financial levers to try to economically punish known bad actors, e.g. Magnitsky Act. Probably unknowable but I wonder what has caused more damage to the world, financial crimes or centralized financial levers being used to steal the time/savings/wealth of 8 billion people and redistribute it to a small group of people.
  - loceng 5y ago
    Most of that wealth occurred through policy layers, corruption within systems, or bruteforce/violence - not because there's a financial-transactional later. Also, - $1.9B in crypto currency stolen by hackers last year [that's known about/reporter]; https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/94627-19b-in-crypto-currency-stolen-by-hackers-last-year https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/94627-19b-in-crypt... - Bitcoin extortion: How cryptocurrency has enabled a massive surge in ransomware attacks (Crypto revenues from ransomware surged more than 300% in 2020 from the year before) - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-extortion-how-cryptocurrency-has-enabled-a-massive-surge-in-ransomware-attacks-11621022496 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-extortion-how-cryp... How does that criminal activity keep scaling? And you do you think criminal enterprise won't target to infiltrate organizations who hold large amounts of Bitcoin et al to infiltrate to steal the keys to the vault? Then the only way to counter that is centralized database/service to check all transactions through to make sure the funds didn't originate from criminal activity, and then centralized authority for enforcement, etc. Bitcoin Maximalists or crypto-"currency" enthusiasts skip over, don't respond to such criticism as it doesn't fit into their glossy propagandist narratives that Bitcoin etc al are godsend - they keep the scope of conversation and talking points narrow or cordoned off - which is super obvious with most Bitcoin spokespeople, though the most popular are intelligent ideologues who speak beautifully, poetically, in inspiring way that's motivating - but still lacks the rigor of challenge by peer confrontation; Jordan Peterson recently had a popular Bitcoiner on to speak, it's good he's diving deep into it, let's hope he doesn't get too indoctrinated into an imbalanced/out of balanced doctrine spread by financially motivated individuals; imagine if being part of a religion and proselytizing was financially advantageous - where the earlier on you're in on the pyramid (with contributions to the church to "show your commitment") lead to a potential windfall or promise of such if and once everyone in the world is part of that religion/cult.

loceng 5y ago

Bitcoin is the horse and buggy in this comparison - while attempting to naively remove control possibilities and making it "trustless" aka a free for all/wildwest where nations can't use financial levers to try to economically punish known bad actors, e.g. Magnitsky Act.

anonporridge 5y ago
I think it's a grand experiment. Perhaps the primary output of bitcoin will be that it lights a fire under the lazy ass of government to actually have a service mindset towards people, because they now have an alternative that they can use however they want. We'll see.
- loceng 5y ago
  Yes, I agree with you - it's likely been a necessary mechanism as a counterweight to the current corruption and lack of integrity in the system.
ashwagary 5y ago
>where nations can't use financial levers to try to economically punish known bad actors, e.g. Magnitsky Act. Probably unknowable but I wonder what has caused more damage to the world, financial crimes or centralized financial levers being used to steal the time/savings/wealth of 8 billion people and redistribute it to a small group of people.
- loceng 5y ago
  Most of that wealth occurred through policy layers, corruption within systems, or bruteforce/violence - not because there's a financial-transactional later. Also, - $1.9B in crypto currency stolen by hackers last year [that's known about/reporter]; https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/94627-19b-in-crypto-currency-stolen-by-hackers-last-year https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/94627-19b-in-crypt... - Bitcoin extortion: How cryptocurrency has enabled a massive surge in ransomware attacks (Crypto revenues from ransomware surged more than 300% in 2020 from the year before) - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-extortion-how-cryptocurrency-has-enabled-a-massive-surge-in-ransomware-attacks-11621022496 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-extortion-how-cryp... How does that criminal activity keep scaling? And you do you think criminal enterprise won't target to infiltrate organizations who hold large amounts of Bitcoin et al to infiltrate to steal the keys to the vault? Then the only way to counter that is centralized database/service to check all transactions through to make sure the funds didn't originate from criminal activity, and then centralized authority for enforcement, etc. Bitcoin Maximalists or crypto-"currency" enthusiasts skip over, don't respond to such criticism as it doesn't fit into their glossy propagandist narratives that Bitcoin etc al are godsend - they keep the scope of conversation and talking points narrow or cordoned off - which is super obvious with most Bitcoin spokespeople, though the most popular are intelligent ideologues who speak beautifully, poetically, in inspiring way that's motivating - but still lacks the rigor of challenge by peer confrontation; Jordan Peterson recently had a popular Bitcoiner on to speak, it's good he's diving deep into it, let's hope he doesn't get too indoctrinated into an imbalanced/out of balanced doctrine spread by financially motivated individuals; imagine if being part of a religion and proselytizing was financially advantageous - where the earlier on you're in on the pyramid (with contributions to the church to "show your commitment") lead to a potential windfall or promise of such if and once everyone in the world is part of that religion/cult.