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That's a half definition. The other half of "private" is 'centrally controlled by a single organization.' Are the open seas private because the government doesn

That's a half definition. The other half of "private" is 'centrally controlled by a single organization.' Are the open seas private because the government doesn't control them? This is all just silly word games anyways. You (should) well know the basics of how at least Bitcoin works and how it cannot be reasonably controlled by anyone (barring state violence against users) if you are to speak on it at all.

otterley 5y ago
Private does not mean control by a single entity. I don’t know where you got that from. Ownership of private property is massively distributed across the population. (Consider everyone’s clothing, mobile phones, homes, cars, food.)
- mattwilsonn888 5y ago
  Yes many people privately own things. They alone control them, or as a private group. The point is that calling Bitcoin private in the sense of property or in the sense of business is simply ignorant. Any participant can get involved in Bitcoin's protocol with less barrier to entry than any stock exchange, and (I can't believe I have to type this) Bitcoin is not controlled by any single person or private group of people. So please explain how Bitcoin is private or close to it, or cede the point.
  - otterley 5y ago
    The question is whether or not the public, through its duly-elected representatives according to a constitution, has created the thing and has put the duly-elected executor in majority control over it. If that is the case, I would call that a public thing. Other things, I would call private. Just because a group of people got together and made a thing -- even if that thing is usable by the public -- doesn't make that thing a public thing, if the public has no ability to make a binding decision through its democratic processes to change it.
    - mattwilsonn888 5y ago
      Great well we can cut definitions all day but in effect the comparison I just challenged you on which you ignored and is the crux of a fourth of the blog post isn't going to be more illuminated by pedantism. It's clear Bitcoin behaves completely unlike a private good in total.

otterley 5y ago

Private does not mean control by a single entity. I don’t know where you got that from. Ownership of private property is massively distributed across the population. (Consider everyone’s clothing, mobile phones, homes, cars, food.)

mattwilsonn888 5y ago
Yes many people privately own things. They alone control them, or as a private group. The point is that calling Bitcoin private in the sense of property or in the sense of business is simply ignorant. Any participant can get involved in Bitcoin's protocol with less barrier to entry than any stock exchange, and (I can't believe I have to type this) Bitcoin is not controlled by any single person or private group of people. So please explain how Bitcoin is private or close to it, or cede the point.
- otterley 5y ago
  The question is whether or not the public, through its duly-elected representatives according to a constitution, has created the thing and has put the duly-elected executor in majority control over it. If that is the case, I would call that a public thing. Other things, I would call private. Just because a group of people got together and made a thing -- even if that thing is usable by the public -- doesn't make that thing a public thing, if the public has no ability to make a binding decision through its democratic processes to change it.
  - mattwilsonn888 5y ago
    Great well we can cut definitions all day but in effect the comparison I just challenged you on which you ignored and is the crux of a fourth of the blog post isn't going to be more illuminated by pedantism. It's clear Bitcoin behaves completely unlike a private good in total.