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The problem with cash being a thing that keeps working if the lights go out is that there isn't enough of it in circulation to meet the demand if all the lights

The problem with cash being a thing that keeps working if the lights go out is that there isn't enough of it in circulation to meet the demand if all the lights go out. Having a bit of cash means that you can still pay for your purchases if one random shop has a technical glitch with their card reader, but if the card payment system for a whole country falls over then there just isn't enough lying around to cope with everything that we want to do. It's a failover system that isn't adequately scaled.

Xylakant 3y ago
There's a broad space between "a single shop" and "an entire country". Entire cities or states being hit by a technical glitch or a natural desaster (flooding , storms, ...) happens on a moderatly regular basis. Backbone connnections failing and taking certain areas or chunks of the internet population offline is also moderately common. Banks having issues with payouts happens, too. There are a lot of scenarios where having cash as a fallback is great.
- onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago
  There's not enough cash in D.C. for D.C. to function anywhere near normally in a not-short, total blackout. I don't think it makes sense to argue we should all use cash in case some small section of D.C. loses power for 10 weeks. The advantages to the cashless society far outweigh that small benefit to the average person.
  - datadrivenangel 3y ago
    But there is enough cash to partially function. And partial function is better than no function.
  - Xylakant 3y ago
    > The advantages to the cashless society far outweigh that small benefit to the average person. You present that as a fact, but it is far from. The jury is still out. And I would also question whether this is a case where "average" is even the relevant metric - is it ok if a chunk of the population looses access to shopping, because VISA or MASTERCARD decided do cut off their access? Cash is controlled by the state, but digital payment systems are not, and unlike cash, do not ensure equal treatment.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    > The advantages to the cashless society far outweigh that small benefit to the average person. I disagree with this. There are great advantages to having a cashless option, but I see no real advantages that are greater than the disadvantages to having a cashless society. What are they?
- fuzzfactor 3y ago
  >There are a lot of scenarios where having cash as a fallback is great. Experience has shown an even more prosperous outlook from having cash as the mainstay and credit as a fallback.

Xylakant 3y ago

There's a broad space between "a single shop" and "an entire country". Entire cities or states being hit by a technical glitch or a natural desaster (flooding , storms, ...) happens on a moderatly regular basis. Backbone connnections failing and taking certain areas or chunks of the internet population offline is also moderately common. Banks having issues with payouts happens, too. There are a lot of scenarios where having cash as a fallback is great.

onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago
There's not enough cash in D.C. for D.C. to function anywhere near normally in a not-short, total blackout. I don't think it makes sense to argue we should all use cash in case some small section of D.C. loses power for 10 weeks. The advantages to the cashless society far outweigh that small benefit to the average person.
- datadrivenangel 3y ago
  But there is enough cash to partially function. And partial function is better than no function.
- Xylakant 3y ago
  > The advantages to the cashless society far outweigh that small benefit to the average person. You present that as a fact, but it is far from. The jury is still out. And I would also question whether this is a case where "average" is even the relevant metric - is it ok if a chunk of the population looses access to shopping, because VISA or MASTERCARD decided do cut off their access? Cash is controlled by the state, but digital payment systems are not, and unlike cash, do not ensure equal treatment.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > The advantages to the cashless society far outweigh that small benefit to the average person. I disagree with this. There are great advantages to having a cashless option, but I see no real advantages that are greater than the disadvantages to having a cashless society. What are they?
fuzzfactor 3y ago
>There are a lot of scenarios where having cash as a fallback is great. Experience has shown an even more prosperous outlook from having cash as the mainstay and credit as a fallback.