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Topic: The new political dimension of Bitcoin (Read 455 times)

hero member
Activity: 728
Merit: 500
March 25, 2017, 10:18:51 AM
#9
Thanks for reminding me of Satoshi's statement, seems very prescient now.


   Sorry, but I don't know how to interpret those pie charts, but if someone has time to explain I have time to listen.
legendary
Activity: 3430
Merit: 3080
March 24, 2017, 09:25:16 AM
#8
Bitcoin was inherently political from the original Satoshi White Paper and the Genesis Block, Satoshi concetrated on code and engineering, but that code is a political statement in it's own right


In 2008, the Bitcoin White Paper stated that Bitcoin would take back freedoms that governments were gradually removing, if only for a few years


In 2009, the Genesis Block had a now well known plaintext message encoded, partly to establish proof it was created after a certain date, but the choice of text was about the politics of money "The Times 3/1/2009 - Chancellor Approves 2nd bailout for the banks", which is an indirect condemnation of Gordon Brown's (British Chancellor at the time) actions

legendary
Activity: 868
Merit: 1006
March 24, 2017, 09:22:22 AM
#7
    BU is sort of like a bloodless proto-coup attempt.

A coup implies that somebody is in charge. If somebody is in charge of Bitcoin, then Bitcoin is doomed.

Someone is in charge of BU:



Chinese state-funded good Jihan Wu, Bribed Ver and CIA agent Gavin Andresen want to obviously turn bitcoin into a political machine. Remember this?

http://coinjournal.net/gavin-andresen-mike-hearn-will-be-the-benevolent-dictator-of-bitcoinxt/

Same shit all over again. Too bad it will never work. Users will reject the buggy trojan horse software AND the miners that support said buggy trojan horse software:

hero member
Activity: 994
Merit: 544
March 24, 2017, 09:17:46 AM
#6
   The BU schism has made me realize that anything with this much money involved is bound to get really political. This reminded me of the stories of the dread pirate roberts hiring hells angels to eliminate the people trying to blackmail him on silk road. When you have millions upon millions of dollars, and someone tries to take them, often the best solution, or the only is to eliminate the threat. Eat or be eaten, as they say.

     It's interesting because this recent drama kind of reminds me of an organic system of checks and balances, with the power of the exchanges as a check to the power of the miners. If bitcoin were ever to reach the volume of a major currency like GBP or RUB, there is no doubt that there would start to be intrigues of people trying to threaten and destroy the network for personal gain.

   There are many people at this point whose livelihood depends on bitcoin, and when I saw someone suggest that a large number of transactions of the bitcoin network were fake, in order to make people believe that BU was necessary and force a fork, the next thought that occured to me would be to trace the source of these fake transactions and simply destroy the computers of those causing them.

     Basically in this scenario bitcoin becomes a nation with no borders, with the early adopters as the aristocracy. Forks would have to be defended against with a full army, including intelligence, counter intel, propaganda department, and and international strike force with bases in every country. Sounds a lot like a state for a project initially beloved by libertarians.

     BU is sort of like a bloodless proto-coup attempt.

   This has big implications for bitcoin as an alternative to the global banking cartel. As the power of the bitcoin market increases, the aristocracy is likely to face the same temptation and corruption that the present elite face. As some have observed before, bitcoin is not a fix for human nature.

   What does this mean for your average bitcoin user/believer? How are we supposed to chart our course in this increasingly politicized bitcoin space?

     

   

If you did not mentioned about spam attacks made to make bitcoin unlimited necessary for the bitcoin system then I would not thought of it at all. It is just a sad view to think that peoples greed will cause bitcoin network to suffer. There are many people whose jobs is bitcoin based like me will be affected a lot and its all because of the whim of the greedy individuals who have big influence on the bitcoin network.
legendary
Activity: 1652
Merit: 1088
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March 24, 2017, 09:08:12 AM
#5
     BU is sort of like a bloodless proto-coup attempt.

A coup implies that somebody is in charge. If somebody is in charge of Bitcoin, then Bitcoin is doomed.

Ever since the Bitcoin Foundation (remember them?) in 2013, bitcoin has been intensely political with various people claiming that tehy are in charge and trying to steer the project.

IMO things were most stable when Gavin was taking the lead, he had some decent diplomatic skills, and it's all gone to pot since he stepped away circa 2014.
legendary
Activity: 1241
Merit: 1005
..like bright metal on a sullen ground.
March 24, 2017, 09:01:30 AM
#4
     BU is sort of like a bloodless proto-coup attempt.

A coup implies that somebody is in charge. If somebody is in charge of Bitcoin, then Bitcoin is doomed.

   That's just it, the power dynamic is emerging and we are seeing bitcoin is far from an egalitarian ecosystem. Both an oligarchy and an absolute monarchy or dictatorship have someone in charge, but in an oligarchy power is more distributed.

The thing is they need to attract "peasants" to use their system.  The early adopter aristocrats better be careful not to take this for granted.  They seem to remember their libertarian roots, but forget that the overthrowing of established power systems might be an even deeper foundation for BTC.  That kind of spirit seems to be stronger in the alt community these days.
hero member
Activity: 728
Merit: 500
March 24, 2017, 06:38:09 AM
#3
     BU is sort of like a bloodless proto-coup attempt.

A coup implies that somebody is in charge. If somebody is in charge of Bitcoin, then Bitcoin is doomed.

   That's just it, the power dynamic is emerging and we are seeing bitcoin is far from an egalitarian ecosystem. Both an oligarchy and an absolute monarchy or dictatorship have someone in charge, but in an oligarchy power is more distributed.
legendary
Activity: 4466
Merit: 3391
March 24, 2017, 02:32:13 AM
#2
     BU is sort of like a bloodless proto-coup attempt.

A coup implies that somebody is in charge. If somebody is in charge of Bitcoin, then Bitcoin is doomed.
hero member
Activity: 728
Merit: 500
March 24, 2017, 02:05:29 AM
#1
   The BU schism has made me realize that anything with this much money involved is bound to get really political. This reminded me of the stories of the dread pirate roberts hiring hells angels to eliminate the people trying to blackmail him on silk road. When you have millions upon millions of dollars, and someone tries to take them, often the best solution, or the only is to eliminate the threat. Eat or be eaten, as they say.

     It's interesting because this recent drama kind of reminds me of an organic system of checks and balances, with the power of the exchanges as a check to the power of the miners. If bitcoin were ever to reach the volume of a major currency like GBP or RUB, there is no doubt that there would start to be intrigues of people trying to threaten and destroy the network for personal gain.

   There are many people at this point whose livelihood depends on bitcoin, and when I saw someone suggest that a large number of transactions of the bitcoin network were fake, in order to make people believe that BU was necessary and force a fork, the next thought that occured to me would be to trace the source of these fake transactions and simply destroy the computers of those causing them.

     Basically in this scenario bitcoin becomes a nation with no borders, with the early adopters as the aristocracy. Forks would have to be defended against with a full army, including intelligence, counter intel, propaganda department, and and international strike force with bases in every country. Sounds a lot like a state for a project initially beloved by libertarians.

     BU is sort of like a bloodless proto-coup attempt.

   This has big implications for bitcoin as an alternative to the global banking cartel. As the power of the bitcoin market increases, the aristocracy is likely to face the same temptation and corruption that the present elite face. As some have observed before, bitcoin is not a fix for human nature.

   What does this mean for your average bitcoin user/believer? How are we supposed to chart our course in this increasingly politicized bitcoin space?

     

   
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