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>> ""Would you rather trust a government or a mathematical algorithm?"." Most people can understand government fiscal policy (to a useful extent anyway). Very

>> ""Would you rather trust a government or a mathematical algorithm?"." Most people can understand government fiscal policy (to a useful extent anyway). Very few can understand an algorithm even when it's explained to them. They vote in the government and currency in it's current form (e.g. USD) has worked for generations. Trusting the government seems much safer. Also with Bitcoin you are trusting more than an algorithm. You're trusting exchanges. You're trusting in the security of a digital system that can be hacked and you don't understand how to secure properly. With physical currency security is simple and understandable. With digital currency it's not.

ben0x539 13y ago
When a government fucks up, you can vote to change it or sue them. When the algorithm eats your savings, there's no recourse. I'll put my trust with the concept that isn't claimed to be infallible here.
- dnautics 13y ago
  have you ever tried suing the government? My dad did. It's taken him 10 years, and he's probably lost about $2M in assets. Status of his suit is still unresolved. As for voting...
vijucat 13y ago
> Most people can understand government fiscal policy (to a useful extent anyway). Very few can understand an algorithm even when it's explained to them. They vote in the government and currency in it's current form (e.g. USD) has worked for generations. Trusting the government seems much safer. Do you know what people trust more than anything else? Other people. Trust in government feels so fundamental, but actually it is based on the fact that OTHER people trust the government, too. People trust a lot many things they don't understand, too. People trust https, for example. They feel safe because "everybody else is trusting it, too". IMHO, this kind of normative ethics ("it is correct because everyone else says so") is why many societies have totally acceptable behaviours which are obviously wrong to outsiders : whipping women if they dare to drive in Saudi Arabia, ignoring abject poverty as it stares you in the eye in India (or even the West), punishing non-religious or sexually "deviant", etc; Coming back to BitCoin : the burgeoning community that believes in BTC has the potential to reach critical mass and create the kind of numbers that will serve as a foundation for the kind of trust that the government, for example, or religion (despite being provably nonsensical), enjoys today. TL;DR : it's not that people trust the government, they trust what other people trust. A good enough number of people trust BitCoin.

ben0x539 13y ago

When a government fucks up, you can vote to change it or sue them. When the algorithm eats your savings, there's no recourse. I'll put my trust with the concept that isn't claimed to be infallible here.

dnautics 13y ago
have you ever tried suing the government? My dad did. It's taken him 10 years, and he's probably lost about $2M in assets. Status of his suit is still unresolved. As for voting...

vijucat 13y ago

> Most people can understand government fiscal policy (to a useful extent anyway). Very few can understand an algorithm even when it's explained to them. They vote in the government and currency in it's current form (e.g. USD) has worked for generations. Trusting the government seems much safer. Do you know what people trust more than anything else? Other people. Trust in government feels so fundamental, but actually it is based on the fact that OTHER people trust the government, too. People trust a lot many things they don't understand, too. People trust https, for example. They feel safe because "everybody else is trusting it, too". IMHO, this kind of normative ethics ("it is correct because everyone else says so") is why many societies have totally acceptable behaviours which are obviously wrong to outsiders : whipping women if they dare to drive in Saudi Arabia, ignoring abject poverty as it stares you in the eye in India (or even the West), punishing non-religious or sexually "deviant", etc; Coming back to BitCoin : the burgeoning community that believes in BTC has the potential to reach critical mass and create the kind of numbers that will serve as a foundation for the kind of trust that the government, for example, or religion (despite being provably nonsensical), enjoys today. TL;DR : it's not that people trust the government, they trust what other people trust. A good enough number of people trust BitCoin.