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Warren Buffet got his start with pinball machines, which have no inherent value beyond entertainment. His only option was to sell back the pinball machine eith

Warren Buffet got his start with pinball machines, which have no inherent value beyond entertainment. His only option was to sell back the pinball machine either all at once or in pieces at a time through timeshare (quarters for a game).

anon291 4y ago
Entertainment has inherent value in that humans for all of known history and prehistory have engaged in entertainment and expended energy (hence money, whether they knew it or not) to acquire it. Money has no inherent value other than that which you can buy with it, and so far the biggest value of bitcoin is in being able to buy USD, or other fiat.
- notch656a 4y ago
  I find bitcoin entertaining, and incrementally so the more I have.
  - shkkmo 4y ago
    Would it still be entertaining if you owned all the bitcoin and nobody else used it? Pinball can be entertaining without a market for pinball machines, I don't see how bitcoins would be entertaining if there were no market for them.
  - anon291 4y ago
    Great! So long as people like you exist, bitcoin has value .In fact, in my opinion, the entertainment aspect has been the main driver of bitcoin and other crypto value over the past year. In fact, almost any pump and dump is really fun for all players. It only settles in after you end up bag holding. It's like gambling.. People consistently love to lose money. So if you view bitcoin as a consumable you are consuming to provide entertainment to you, that's great. I'd personally take a lower cost source of entertainment, but to each his own.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - babypuncher 4y ago
    Your enjoyment on bitcoin is likely contingent on mass participation. If you owned all of it, your entertainment-per-BTC would probably be a lot lower. Pinball machines are fun with or without this. Warren Buffet is saying he wouldn't want all bitcoin (in this hypothetical scenario where it is 100% concentrated under a single owner) because there is no reason for him to believe he could sell it to anyone. Creating demand for essentially nothing is way harder than creating demand for something that has immediately demonstrable economic value. This is why crypto is so full of scams and pyramid schemes and shady marketing.
bongobingo1 4y ago
I don't quite understand this analogy, can you expand on what you mean?
- babypuncher 4y ago
  I think they mean that there is no value in being entertained and people spending money on it are idiots. If that sounds stupid that's because it is. It's like saying there "is no inherent value" in a textbook because all it does is teach you calculus.
  - notch656a 4y ago
    Bitcoin is entertaining to some people. It also allows you to lower transaction fees in certain situations, or make an electronic irreversible transaction relatively quickly compared to ACH/wire. My point is that Buffet seems to understand non-tangible benefits are still valuable, and not only that he is hypocritical in his reasoning that he would have to sell it back to you.
TylerE 4y ago
They have inherent scrap value at the very least. Copper is really pricey these days and pinball machines have a LOT of wiring. Parting out the visible bits could be lucrative too, especially if it's a desirable machine like No Good Gofers or Attack from Mars.
mrtksn 4y ago
So it comes down to believe that bitcoin trading had an entertainment value of a trillion dollars a few months ago?
shkkmo 4y ago
Pinball machines do have inherent value. They are made up of actual physical components that can be used for something unrelated. Granted, that inherent value is much, much lower than any price you'll see them sold for, but it is there.
babypuncher 4y ago
> have no inherent value beyond entertainment. Entertainment is an inherent value of something.

anon291 4y ago

Entertainment has inherent value in that humans for all of known history and prehistory have engaged in entertainment and expended energy (hence money, whether they knew it or not) to acquire it. Money has no inherent value other than that which you can buy with it, and so far the biggest value of bitcoin is in being able to buy USD, or other fiat.

notch656a 4y ago
I find bitcoin entertaining, and incrementally so the more I have.
- shkkmo 4y ago
  Would it still be entertaining if you owned all the bitcoin and nobody else used it? Pinball can be entertaining without a market for pinball machines, I don't see how bitcoins would be entertaining if there were no market for them.
- anon291 4y ago
  Great! So long as people like you exist, bitcoin has value .In fact, in my opinion, the entertainment aspect has been the main driver of bitcoin and other crypto value over the past year. In fact, almost any pump and dump is really fun for all players. It only settles in after you end up bag holding. It's like gambling.. People consistently love to lose money. So if you view bitcoin as a consumable you are consuming to provide entertainment to you, that's great. I'd personally take a lower cost source of entertainment, but to each his own.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- babypuncher 4y ago
  Your enjoyment on bitcoin is likely contingent on mass participation. If you owned all of it, your entertainment-per-BTC would probably be a lot lower. Pinball machines are fun with or without this. Warren Buffet is saying he wouldn't want all bitcoin (in this hypothetical scenario where it is 100% concentrated under a single owner) because there is no reason for him to believe he could sell it to anyone. Creating demand for essentially nothing is way harder than creating demand for something that has immediately demonstrable economic value. This is why crypto is so full of scams and pyramid schemes and shady marketing.

bongobingo1 4y ago

I don't quite understand this analogy, can you expand on what you mean?

babypuncher 4y ago
I think they mean that there is no value in being entertained and people spending money on it are idiots. If that sounds stupid that's because it is. It's like saying there "is no inherent value" in a textbook because all it does is teach you calculus.
- notch656a 4y ago
  Bitcoin is entertaining to some people. It also allows you to lower transaction fees in certain situations, or make an electronic irreversible transaction relatively quickly compared to ACH/wire. My point is that Buffet seems to understand non-tangible benefits are still valuable, and not only that he is hypocritical in his reasoning that he would have to sell it back to you.

TylerE 4y ago

They have inherent scrap value at the very least. Copper is really pricey these days and pinball machines have a LOT of wiring. Parting out the visible bits could be lucrative too, especially if it's a desirable machine like No Good Gofers or Attack from Mars.

mrtksn 4y ago

So it comes down to believe that bitcoin trading had an entertainment value of a trillion dollars a few months ago?

shkkmo 4y ago

Pinball machines do have inherent value. They are made up of actual physical components that can be used for something unrelated. Granted, that inherent value is much, much lower than any price you'll see them sold for, but it is there.

babypuncher 4y ago

> have no inherent value beyond entertainment. Entertainment is an inherent value of something.