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> There are interesting conversations to have around bitcoins but I can't quite put my finger on why they tend to get so intense. It's because it's more a reli

> There are interesting conversations to have around bitcoins but I can't quite put my finger on why they tend to get so intense. It's because it's more a religious discussion than a rational debate. You see the exact same pattern of phrasing used by proponents of Bitcoin, by American fundamentalists and spinoffs, and by atheists who are actively pushing for the complete removal of religion. I've given up learning anything useful about Bitcoin since I don't find any of the people talking about it trustworthy.

kordless 13y ago
So it's a chicken and the egg problem...Bitcoin provides a platform of trust, but you don't trust anyone enough to explain it to you. Edit: I hear you below! :) I should have clarified that Bitcoin will GIVE WAY to a way to trust people through their monetary transactions. Think credit agencies and lobbyists.
- saraid216 13y ago
  Bitcoin doesn't provide a platform of trust for explaining concepts. It provides a platform of trust for monetary transactions. It's like a preacher once told me. God is good because the Bible says so. The Bible is right because God says so. At no point is there anyone qualified to say, "Look. This is God and this is what he's doing. Come to your own conclusion." Edited to add: > I should have clarified that Bitcoin will GIVE WAY to a way to trust people through their monetary transactions. Think credit agencies and lobbyists. That's still a different problem. If I give someone a million dollars, that doesn't make me trust them to teach me truthful information; it makes me trust them to teach me the truth as they know it. A preacher will tell me God is good whether or not I've given them a million dollars. That doesn't actually verify that God is, in fact, good.
baddox 13y ago
Why not just read about Bitcoin itself, on a technical level? All politics and economics aside, it's a remarkable technical achievement, even if you just phrase the problem it solves as "how can we coordinate and agree upon a list of arbitrary transactions without a central authority that we have to agree to trust?" Obviously, anyone who realized that Bitcoin provides a solution to this problem will immediately theorize that it could potentially replace things in the world they don't like (and thus really like Bitcoin), and anyone who likes those things which could be replaced will really dislike Bitcoin, and maybe most of them will be so passionate that they become untrustworthy. But still, the technical marvel of Bitcoin is still there and can still be enjoyed.
- saraid216 13y ago
  The technical side of Bitcoin isn't interesting to me, unfortunately. For a programmer, I am woefully cursed with an interest in social issues. I kinda wish we had a Castronova-style petri dish virtual world to experiment with, but that still doesn't isolate variables well enough, nor would it be quite inclusive enough, to form conclusions I'd accept as legitimate.

kordless 13y ago

So it's a chicken and the egg problem...Bitcoin provides a platform of trust, but you don't trust anyone enough to explain it to you. Edit: I hear you below! :) I should have clarified that Bitcoin will GIVE WAY to a way to trust people through their monetary transactions. Think credit agencies and lobbyists.

saraid216 13y ago
Bitcoin doesn't provide a platform of trust for explaining concepts. It provides a platform of trust for monetary transactions. It's like a preacher once told me. God is good because the Bible says so. The Bible is right because God says so. At no point is there anyone qualified to say, "Look. This is God and this is what he's doing. Come to your own conclusion." Edited to add: > I should have clarified that Bitcoin will GIVE WAY to a way to trust people through their monetary transactions. Think credit agencies and lobbyists. That's still a different problem. If I give someone a million dollars, that doesn't make me trust them to teach me truthful information; it makes me trust them to teach me the truth as they know it. A preacher will tell me God is good whether or not I've given them a million dollars. That doesn't actually verify that God is, in fact, good.

baddox 13y ago

Why not just read about Bitcoin itself, on a technical level? All politics and economics aside, it's a remarkable technical achievement, even if you just phrase the problem it solves as "how can we coordinate and agree upon a list of arbitrary transactions without a central authority that we have to agree to trust?" Obviously, anyone who realized that Bitcoin provides a solution to this problem will immediately theorize that it could potentially replace things in the world they don't like (and thus really like Bitcoin), and anyone who likes those things which could be replaced will really dislike Bitcoin, and maybe most of them will be so passionate that they become untrustworthy. But still, the technical marvel of Bitcoin is still there and can still be enjoyed.

saraid216 13y ago
The technical side of Bitcoin isn't interesting to me, unfortunately. For a programmer, I am woefully cursed with an interest in social issues. I kinda wish we had a Castronova-style petri dish virtual world to experiment with, but that still doesn't isolate variables well enough, nor would it be quite inclusive enough, to form conclusions I'd accept as legitimate.