Bitcoin is not another tulip mania, as it has unique properties that surely others have already pointed out. Paul Krugman and others do not see the whole point

Bitcoin is not another tulip mania, as it has unique properties that surely others have already pointed out. Paul Krugman and others do not see the whole point. What is money? Money is information. That's all it is. Who owes what to whom. So we could have a giant centralized computer system that tracks everyone's move. If we want a car, the computer could tell us how much we would have to work and serve society in order to deserve that car. Now if we want to live in a somewhat free society, we obviously don't want to be tracked that way. In a free society, there will be different concepts to approach the money-as-information idea, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, and people would choose freely what to use. For example, there is Ripple: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple_monetary_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripple_monetary_system , a peer-to-peer credit system. When its base unit is set to "hours of unskilled labor", it comes very close to an information system. While it makes much sense for steady business-to-business and buyer/supplier relationships, it is necessarily trust- and reputation-based, and thus may not appeal to everyone and be applicable in every scenario. Also some seem to be concerned that it might destroy friendships. ;) Bitcoin's approach is different. It's obviously only information as well, but simulates a commodity, thus ensuring privacy to a large degree. So let people understand and choose.