VMG

77 ms·

1. 931.▲
   by VMG 11y ago

   Or sell other goods and services.
2. 932.▲
   by VMG 11y ago

   Why not? You just calculate the refund amount based on the USDBTC rate.
3. 933.▲
   by VMG 11y ago

   Do you mean cash or Paypal & Co?
4. 934.▲
   by VMG 11y ago

   Their wealth depends on bitcoin keeping the properties it currently has. For instance they could try to merge a code change that doubles the balances for early adopters, but it would immediately destroy their wealth because people would sto
5. 935.▲
   by VMG 11y ago

   With "normal" currencies you mean the ones issued by central banks?
6. 936.▲
   by VMG 11y ago

   It's doing pretty well actually. It's still less centralized as all viable alternatives.
7. 937.▲
   by VMG 11y ago

   Interesting. Does the technical definition of the term allow for a "free market" where there are restrictions on the accumulation of capital?
8. 938.▲
   by VMG 11y ago

   I know, I'm challenging the idea of "capitalism != free market". In my opinion it is.
9. 939.▲
   by VMG 11y ago

   I agree with you. That's why I'm questioning GP's idea of "Free Markets without Capitalism" for any reasonable definition of "Free".
10. 940.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    I guess it's possible that GP meant "drag things around without any effect".
11. 941.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    I'm not sure how "free" a market can be if you're not free to acquire capital.
12. 942.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    People who defend it usually don't.
13. 943.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    Thanks! The link is missing a trailing `y`.
14. 944.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    Just tried drag-and-drop in my gnome-terminal. Didn't work.
15. 945.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    Careful with Postel's Law: it brought us a lot the mess we have with web standards. Quoting wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robustness_principle : > In RFC 3117, Marshall Rose characterized several depl
16. 946.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    And for a lot of applications trusted third parties are completely sufficient, but in many instances you're better off without.
17. 947.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    Do you think money is useful? How about digital money?
18. 948.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    > Well their citizens have the option of using an alternative currency such as the USD or Euro or whatever if their leaders really screw up Only on the black market, realistically. I'm sure the leaders will do a much better job if t
19. 949.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    That requires a central registry match cryptographic identities with physical ones. That is overhead and a trusted third party. An idea like this was also often brought up in spam prevention, which interestingly is also the origin of proof-
20. 950.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    Do you know any other "imaginary points" that are scarce and can be transacted in an open system?
21. 951.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    Would you say the suspicion is justified in, say, Venezuela or Zimbabwe?
22. 952.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    Believe it or not, people have thought about these things. Mining wasn't chosen because the developers love destroying the environment, but because it's the only way to bootstrap the system and keep it going. It's a system to
23. 953.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    Even then, you'd still need a fair way of distributing the initial value. Mining provides censorship-resistance and transparent issuance.
24. 954.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    I guess it's political in the same was as encryption is. Encryption makes it difficult for the government to make certain kinds of decisions as well.
25. 955.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    > Because that point is just silly, far more energy is burned on the old system making paper bills than on bitcoin; Plus they still manage to destroy economies with hyperinflation. They're more wasteful in providing a worse produc
26. 956.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    These "imaginary points" have very useful properties that cannot be achieved any other way. Bitcoin mining is still vastly more efficient and sustainable than gold mining. Edit: dear downvoters, rebuttals are welcome
27. 957.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    > Punch line: the best place to be a Bitcoin profiteer is in the libertarian bastion of the People's Republic of China. Why is that a punch line? I don't see the contradiction.
28. 958.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    The difference being that others accept these "chick tracts" in exchange for goods and services. I'm not in the mood to register with some service and hand out my CC data to give the author a buck. In contrast I'd scan a
29. 959.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    I'll just leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHzKQdX-_KA
30. 960.▲
    by VMG 11y ago

    It isn't. I remember it being sort of an interesting way to describe linear relationships.