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Topic: Stefan Molyneux Bitcoin vs. Political Power (Must see if you haven't yet) - page 2. (Read 7903 times)

sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
Finally got around to watching it today. His words sound like some of the brightest speakers in the run up to the American Revolution. I suspect this technology will finally finish what they started.
Well spoken. Please share the vid with anyone you care about.

Thanks! Your signature is awesome as well by the way. I was forced to read Voltaire in college and got hooked on his writings. It is nice to see a literature reference in this reality tv driven time.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
https://youtu.be/PZm8TTLR2NU
Finally got around to watching it today. His words sound like some of the brightest speakers in the run up to the American Revolution. I suspect this technology will finally finish what they started.
Well spoken. Please share the vid with anyone you care about.
sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
Finally got around to watching it today. His words sound like some of the brightest speakers in the run up to the American Revolution. I suspect this technology will finally finish what they started. 


"Bill the warmongers!!"
full member
Activity: 162
Merit: 100
I thought this was the best talk about bitcoin I've ever seen. And I've gone pretty crazy for some btc talks that I've seen. (Andreas!) Awesome thread too. It's so nice to read from other people who also appreciate & understand the incredibly important stuff he is talking about. Some just get lost in obscure details but it's the essence of what he is saying is that is so inspirational. I'm actually really happy if 50% of the posts in this thread like the video. Just as the printing press transformed society, so can cryptocurrencies.
newbie
Activity: 22
Merit: 0
yes I have seen this video, very informative.
member
Activity: 260
Merit: 10
Wow, stunning talk, fresh perspective, incredible points. His youtube account was taken down after this talk, it's back up now but he certainly hit a nerve with this talk. Keep it up & Thanks Stefan.
member
Activity: 97
Merit: 10
Such an epic speech.  Molyneux is one of the greatest thinkers of our time
legendary
Activity: 1050
Merit: 1002
The single biggest problem for me was his assertion that the 19th century was some sort of island of financial stability due to gold backing the currency. Really?

how about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1866 or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1857

All of those events can be linked to leaving a metal standard:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1857

Quote
In Britain, the Palmerston government circumvented the requirements of the Peel Banking Act of 1844, which required gold and silver reserves to back up the amount of money in circulation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1866

Quote
The Panic of 1866 was an international financial downturn that accompanied the failure of Overend, Gurney and Company in London, and the corso forzoso abandonment of the silver standard in Italy.

When you leave a sound money (hard metal) standard it affects the market. The greater the deviation/inflation the greater the potential boom bust cycle. Those first Panic events didn't last long:

Quote
In about a year, much of the economy in the north and the entire south recovered from the [Panic of 1857]

Quote
The [Panic of 1866] led to a sharp rise in unemployment to 8% [in Britain] and a subsequent fall in wages across the country.

However, the U.S. went off the gold standard and inflated for the Civil War in 1862. Which initially led to a boom, partially responsible for full recovery from the Panic of 1857, but ending in a bust causing the Long Depression spanning 1873 to 1879.

Similarly, the U.S. inflated for World War I which resulted in an initial boom ushering in the "roaring twenties" but ending in a bust causing the Great Depression in 1930 lasting into the 1940's.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
https://youtu.be/PZm8TTLR2NU
The single biggest problem for me was his assertion that the 19th century was some sort of island of financial stability due to gold backing the currency. Really?

how about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1866 or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1857


Is there a TLDR version of how gold backing can cause a crisis?
Gold backing never caused any crisis. Greed caused every crisis.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Cryptocurrency did not create capitalism's self-destructive tendencies, and it is not going to solve them.
hero member
Activity: 854
Merit: 1000
Bitcoin: The People's Bailout
The single biggest problem for me was his assertion that the 19th century was some sort of island of financial stability due to gold backing the currency. Really?

how about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1866 or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1857


Is there a TLDR version of how gold backing can cause a crisis?
member
Activity: 145
Merit: 10
I'd like to see how many people had their hands up when Stefan asked: "How many people here are interested in bitcoin?"
full member
Activity: 147
Merit: 100
I could go on, but you get the idea. Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, but this crap that gets pushed by these extreme libertarians/gold bugs about how wonderful things were in the 19th century is really annoying.
full member
Activity: 147
Merit: 100
The single biggest problem for me was his assertion that the 19th century was some sort of island of financial stability due to gold backing the currency. Really?

how about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1866 or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1857
full member
Activity: 147
Merit: 100
I was highly unimpressed by his talk. He seems to assert things as facts without evidence.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
https://youtu.be/PZm8TTLR2NU
Good to see this thread back on page 1 where it belongs.

Quote
"Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. "Patriotism" is its cult. It should hardly be necessary to say, that by "patriotism” I mean that attitude which puts the own nation above humanity, above the principles of truth and justice; not the loving interest in one’s own nation, which is the concern with the nation’s spiritual as much as with its material welfare — never with its power over other nations. Just as love for one individual which excludes the love for others is not love, love for one’s country which is not part of one’s love for humanity is not love, but idolatrous worship."
-Erich Fromm, in The Sane Society (1955)

The Sunset of the State
sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
This may be the best thread I have read here. SM was one of the people that got me excited about bit coin in the first place.
hero member
Activity: 854
Merit: 1000
Bitcoin: The People's Bailout
Molyneux believes the world needs his show for its survival

Molyneux believes the world will be better off without coercive force and fraud.
full member
Activity: 224
Merit: 100
Professional anarchist
To the top you go, little thread.

And deservedly so. The ramifications of a fixed (or decaying) supply currency cannot be underestimated. This must be understood.

Other important fact:

At just 2% annual inflation, a currency loses 75% of its value over a lifetime. Great investment.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
https://youtu.be/PZm8TTLR2NU
To the top you go, little thread.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
https://youtu.be/PZm8TTLR2NU
Very good. Every human is fundamentally anti war, do what you can do abolish this war state which exists to provide revenue to the big defense contractors, fuck them all.
Well said. The warmongers and murder-profiteers will extract every last drop of blood-profit they can from humanity, until we strip them of all power. Bitcoin just happens to be the first effective way to achieve this goal.

Quote
"I can see now that the Game reflects my own efforts to negotiate those old primal categories: individual, community, nation, planet. Inevitably, then, the Game comes with an attractive lure to be nationalistic, tribalistic, and provincial. It forces students to go through the process that we all go through as adults, in which we must examine, as I had done, the local cultures we come from and the world culture we might one day join. The Game makes it clear that, sooner or later, if students remain solely within their own cultures, loyal only to their "own kind," they will put the planet at grave risk. But if they embrace a larger vision, they have the opportunity to heal the planet and create peace. Students learn, in other words, that without a total collaborative effort, no one can succeed.

Of course, it's tempting to hold to an individualistic view and pursue short-term gains. It's certainly possible, over the arc of the Game, to seem to be winning: to increase your territory and your assets; to enter into alliances that benefit you and hurt your adversaries; to expand your military influence; to amass wealth and power at others' expense. But these victories are only apparent. You seem to be winning, but you're actually losing. The Game forces you to learn interdependency. If you behave as an island unto yourself, ultimately you will be isolated. And no matter how many resources you might have accrued, the planet as a whole will not achieve the global peace and prosperity that are the Game's definition of victory."

-John Hunter, World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements



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