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What if people disagree and just keep using the old currency among them ? Yeah, I guess they'll get shot. Also, the mention of "closed-circuit system that fee
by joss82 17y ago
What if people disagree and just keep using the old currency among them ?
Yeah, I guess they'll get shot.
Also, the mention of "closed-circuit system that feeds into speakers in homes and on streets but can't be monitored outside the country" reminds me so much of Brave New World/1984/Big Brother stuff.
- josefresco 17y agoWould be scary if NK had more power. Fortunately for us (and unfortunate for their people) the country is very poor and relies almost entirely on aid from other countries (China) to keep things going.
- thaumaturgy 17y agoThey have nuclear weapons -- or want the world to believe they do -- and likely intend to use those weapons to ensure that they get an unlimited supply of aid from other countries. That was all over the mainstream U.S. news not that long ago, even. Poor? Maybe in terms of GDP. But certainly not powerless.
- rbanffy 17y agoI guess China could carpet-nuke NK if they ever got tired of aiding them.
- jrockway 17y agoBut then North Korea nukes Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Nuclear war has no winners.
- gloob 17y agoSeoul, definitely. I would be mildly surprised if it actually managed to hit Shanghai or Tokyo. North Korean military hardware is not known for it's quality. On the upside, North Korea isn't suicidal, and it's not like China was going to stop giving them aid anyway, so it probably makes little practical difference anyway.
- gchpaco 17y agoMuch more likely is they just engineer a coup and quietly shoot Der Leader.
- drcode 17y agoNot only that, but the speakers don't have an off switch either (although they do graciously provide a volume knob)
- jplewicke 17y agoThis actually happened in Iraq after the first Gulf War: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Swiss_dinar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Swiss_dinar . Since the government was no longer printing the older currency, it was then immune to inflation by Saddam's government. The old currency appreciated against the newer, inflated currency until we deposed Saddam. It's amazing how little you need to back a currency, and how unbacked ones can be stronger than fiat currency.
- eru 17y agoA fascinating example. I recently talked with someone about fiat currencies being backed by the taxation power of the issuing state, to get their worth. It seems that once the system is booted this help may be no longer necessary.
- wmf 17y agoDidn't the same situation exist in Neuromancer where all governments had abandoned paper money but criminals continued to use it?
- joeyo 17y agoYet another example of Gibson's disturbing prescience.
- listic 17y agoRe: 1984 My first thought was "How wicked!" Second thought was "Hey, but we have those thingies in Russia too!" There is a wired radio system in Russia, established way back in the Soviet era, which transmits three radio channels. Simple receiver can consist basically of a loudspeaker and variable resistor as a volume knob, while more complicated receiver can receive one of 3 channels. There's a simple receiver on the wall next to me as I write this. Interestingly, I couldn't find any pictures of my exact model, so here's my (lame) attempt: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22022497@N04/4154137046/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/22022497@N04/4154137046/ There's another, 3-channel one, of the latest incarnation (late 80's or early 90's) in the kitchen. When my dad bought it, I remember everyone coming to our house thinking it's a VCR, so that should say something of its size and form factor. It still sits up there near the ceiling mainly because of its large luminiscent clock on the front panel. We don't turn these radios on except maybe twice a year out of curiosity :) These things fit the description "closed-circuit system that... can't be monitored outside the country" if by that you mean "wired"
- asciilifeform 17y agoThanks for the photo. One of my earliest childhood memories is falling asleep to one of these things.
- steve19 17y agoWhat do they play on these channels?
- listic 17y agoMusic and various programes; nothing special.
- joss82 17y agoThanks for the picture. I think I saw one in Poland as well. So that's what those are for ! Also, an obvious hack to monitor this "close-circuit" system: just attach a satellite transmitter to the output of a receiver. Even cheaper: make a web radio out of one of these. Wait, you need internet access to do that...
- pvandehaar 17y agoV for Vendetta.