4 ms·

You got this backwards: just transfer the bitcoins to your private wallet, and you have no need whatsoever for regulation. People keeping their bitcoins in onl

You got this backwards: just transfer the bitcoins to your private wallet, and you have no need whatsoever for regulation. People keeping their bitcoins in online wallets are trusting MtGox et al. A libertarian trusts nobody but himself - and specially not the state.

jusben1369 13y ago
A libertarian trusts nobody but himself? In general or just with his/her money?
- clavalle 13y ago
  Well, I think there would be a level of interpersonal trust. That wouldn't go away. But there is much in day-to-day life that we all trust to at least a Lowest Common Level that would no longer exist in a Libertarian world. For example, did you visit an office building today? How do you know it won't fall in on you? Today you know because it was built to certain specifications set forth in regulation. You know the builders were certified and that the inspectors made sure no corners were cut (at least in a well functioning system as we generally have in the U.S.) In a Libertarian world that might be taken over by some sort of for profit certification body...or it might not. The onus would be on you to find out before you walk through the door and put your life in the hands of people you've never met.
  - wpietri 13y ago
    That's a great example. The typical rejoinder to which is "enlightened self-interest!" That you can trust people to do the right thing because in the long term that works out for the best. But it turns out we tried that on a massive scale with the best and brightest, and it got us the Great Recession. Even St. Greenspan had to admit it didn't work. There's a great section on that here: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/jamie-dimons-raise-proves-u-s-regulatory-strategy-is-a-joke-20140130 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/jamie-di...
clavalle 13y ago
Merely thinking about the absolute lack of trust for everybody and everything in a Libertarian world, and what that would mean for day-to-day life, exhausts me.
- gonvaled 13y ago
  Not trusting anybody / anything does not mean that you can not risk a relationship. It's a cost/benefit analysis. In the case of MtGox, a libertarian would trust it with a small percent of their holdings, no more. Because a libertarian recognizes that the world is inherently risky/hostile, as a basic strategy he is not willing to risk too many eggs on a single basket. Whatever the basket - specially if it is a basket guaranteed by the state with a business plan based on a pyramid-scam, like, "we are guaranteeing all bank accounts although we have absolutely no money to do that".
  - clavalle 13y ago
    It is not a cost/benefit analysis. It is an explosion of cost/benefit analysis. It is replacing a tree structure (government) with a directed graph with no further constraints (agreements between individuals and groups). Sure, it is more flexible but at a cost of a huge reduction in efficiency. That is why it seems exhausting to me. A base level of trust that we rely on every day, a system of trust that works so well most of the time that we don't even realize it is there unless we think about it, would not exist.
dublinben 13y ago
>A libertarian trusts nobody but himself No wonder libertarians are so unpopular.

jusben1369 13y ago

A libertarian trusts nobody but himself? In general or just with his/her money?

clavalle 13y ago
Well, I think there would be a level of interpersonal trust. That wouldn't go away. But there is much in day-to-day life that we all trust to at least a Lowest Common Level that would no longer exist in a Libertarian world. For example, did you visit an office building today? How do you know it won't fall in on you? Today you know because it was built to certain specifications set forth in regulation. You know the builders were certified and that the inspectors made sure no corners were cut (at least in a well functioning system as we generally have in the U.S.) In a Libertarian world that might be taken over by some sort of for profit certification body...or it might not. The onus would be on you to find out before you walk through the door and put your life in the hands of people you've never met.
- wpietri 13y ago
  That's a great example. The typical rejoinder to which is "enlightened self-interest!" That you can trust people to do the right thing because in the long term that works out for the best. But it turns out we tried that on a massive scale with the best and brightest, and it got us the Great Recession. Even St. Greenspan had to admit it didn't work. There's a great section on that here: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/jamie-dimons-raise-proves-u-s-regulatory-strategy-is-a-joke-20140130 http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/jamie-di...

clavalle 13y ago

Merely thinking about the absolute lack of trust for everybody and everything in a Libertarian world, and what that would mean for day-to-day life, exhausts me.

gonvaled 13y ago
Not trusting anybody / anything does not mean that you can not risk a relationship. It's a cost/benefit analysis. In the case of MtGox, a libertarian would trust it with a small percent of their holdings, no more. Because a libertarian recognizes that the world is inherently risky/hostile, as a basic strategy he is not willing to risk too many eggs on a single basket. Whatever the basket - specially if it is a basket guaranteed by the state with a business plan based on a pyramid-scam, like, "we are guaranteeing all bank accounts although we have absolutely no money to do that".
- clavalle 13y ago
  It is not a cost/benefit analysis. It is an explosion of cost/benefit analysis. It is replacing a tree structure (government) with a directed graph with no further constraints (agreements between individuals and groups). Sure, it is more flexible but at a cost of a huge reduction in efficiency. That is why it seems exhausting to me. A base level of trust that we rely on every day, a system of trust that works so well most of the time that we don't even realize it is there unless we think about it, would not exist.

dublinben 13y ago

>A libertarian trusts nobody but himself No wonder libertarians are so unpopular.