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Topic: What is Money? (Read 6641 times)

legendary
Activity: 1330
Merit: 1000
November 27, 2012, 07:49:24 PM
#63
Money is future value.  Currency is current value.

Bitcoin is a currency.  It has current value, which fluctuates over time.

If and when a real economy grows up around Bitcoin, it will attain monetary value.


I mean you say things like: "in that the Western states have gradually outlawed a freely traded digital money product and implemented a type of fiscal prison planet arrangement,".

How is this not FUD? Where in the west is bitcoin outlawed? WTH are you talking about?

He didn't say Bitcoin was outlawed.  He said "digital money" was outlawed.  Look at e-gold.  It was a "digital money product" that was shut down.  Look at Liberty Dollars.  It wasn't even digital.  It was real, precious metal money.  It was shut down and its founders accused of engaging in "domestic terrorism" under the ludicrous theory that the mere existence of alternatives to the Federal Reserve threaten the "legitimacy of our democratic form of government".
legendary
Activity: 3920
Merit: 2349
Eadem mutata resurgo
November 27, 2012, 05:19:24 PM
#62
Quote
You stated that in the west every citizen is suspect and presumed guilty.
But that is simply not true and i know because i live in a western country.

Sorry to be the one to break this to you but since at least the mid-90's the AML and KYC laws that have been rolled out into banking (and then massively expanded under guise of "anti-terrorism") have used the pretext "if you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing to hide".  An expression that is precisely based on a presumption of guilt. The Western banking system is now one giant dragnet for State data mining of financial transactions, there is now no longer any financial privacy. There is no presumption of innocence, we are all suspects.

Thus as I say, ever tried to open a bank account without ID? A free society does not require ID before allowing citizens to participate in the economy ... starving, no ID? ... too bad, need shelter for the night?, no ID? .... too bad.
hero member
Activity: 840
Merit: 1000
November 27, 2012, 04:09:48 PM
#61
Still waiting to hear your actual arguments about the context of bitcoin's arrival being ... "paranoia one-sided FUD".

The core of the argument is that context is important (as it is for prison 'money') ... I don't see you have even come close to addressing that point?

... or are you just full of FUD?

Sure, context is important. I'm not arguing that. I'm arguing that it is pointless to state such things if you define a very selective context. You also don't show any proof of the context you describe leading directly to the development of bitcoin.

You stated that in the west every citizen is suspect and presumed guilty.
But that is simply not true and i know because i live in a western country.
So i can only see that as FUD because you signyfy a danger and point a finger but it is just not there (or maybe just not everywhere).
legendary
Activity: 3920
Merit: 2349
Eadem mutata resurgo
November 27, 2012, 03:44:24 PM
#60
Money is a tool to keep track of information.



Yep, I find it useful to think of money as a value information technology.
hero member
Activity: 523
Merit: 500
November 27, 2012, 03:35:44 PM
#59
Money is a tool to keep track of information.

legendary
Activity: 3920
Merit: 2349
Eadem mutata resurgo
November 27, 2012, 03:11:14 PM
#58
Still waiting to hear your actual arguments about the context of bitcoin's arrival being ... "paranoia one-sided FUD".

The core of the argument is that context is important (as it is for prison 'money') ... I don't see you have even come close to addressing that point?

... or are you just full of FUD?
full member
Activity: 210
Merit: 100
November 27, 2012, 01:16:44 AM
#57
Money is different from currency. Currency circulates because enough people believe there's value
hero member
Activity: 840
Merit: 1000
November 26, 2012, 11:21:19 PM
#56

One sais that we live on a prison planet because he thinks bitcoins are outlawed


He didn't say that.


Yes he did: "in that the Western states have gradually outlawed a freely traded digital money product and implemented a type of fiscal prison planet arrangement,".

So let me ask it again.

What freely traded digital money product has been gradually outlawed in the west?


Ever tried to open a digital bank account (they are just about all digital now) without ID?
Asking for ID doesnt equal outlawed.
Big difference there.
Quote
There is no such thing as digital cash because it was outlawed ... did you really not notice what they did? Berlusconi (even as corrupt as he was) called our current banking system "fiscal facism".
Remember that the internet was born not so long ago.
Something like a global cach system for the internet is a big thing and needs to develop.
Of course we should prevent such a system from being corrupted by the big banking operations but calling our system 'fiscal facism' is a bit too much. In general the world has not seen more prosperous times at these population densities. Ever. So it cannot be all bad.
A lot of this ID-ing is to protect society. The real problem is maybe that such a system can also be easily abused. But i'm not sure a 'free' money system will solve anything. In fact, if you take a good look, there is on average a bigger chance of being screwed over in bitcoinland than in fiatland. So free (as in speech) money is not a solution for an essentially societal problem.
The problems would just come along with the power that gets absorbed by the growing economy.
By the time bitcoin is a general way of payment you can be sure that the same people that screwed up fiat will be sitting there holding coin and thinking of new ways of screwing over others.

In the end it's about power and control and these things don't get eradicated by bitcoin. Bitcoin will be very efficient at applying power and control, maybe even more so than fiat.


Quote
The answer to your question is, ALL digital money products have been regulated, tracked, monitored and traced to the point where you cannot truly call it money. Without an ID you basically cannot freelytrade any digital money products (except bitcoin) .... i.e. freely traded digital money products have been gradually outlawed, wittingly or unwittingly, who knows? In any case, there is no need for all the conspiracy name-calling and ranting because you do not have access to all the information I might have.

Basically, stop acting like a jerk and you might learn a few things. Right now I can't be bothered to reply to you again.
What do you mean by 'freely? free as in beer or free as in speech?
Thing is, lots of these cache alternatives were scammy. Even bitcoin attracts a bulk of scams. So regulation does have positive sides. I, for one, don't want to be confronted with 'buyer beware' on every single transaction so i don't mind a certain degree of regulation and i dont think most people would mind.
I'm just for a separation of banking and state because the banking sector has too much influence in the financial world of normal people.
But i don't think there is a global demand for a currency where a large part of the users sees freedom as the freedom to take something from others. And without any regulations this is exacty what is happening.
So i think it is unproductive to just see it black and white, them against us, regulations against freedom.
I mean, it's laws that give people the opportunity to express a lot of freedoms by implicitly forbidding certain freedoms.
It's two sides of the same coin. It is (or should be, anyway) up to us to decide on the freedoms, but it will always be a group effort that goes against some individuals views. It will never be perfect because perfection implies absolute personal freedom. That is not atainable so we will have to make do with limited but more widespread freedoms.
And that is why its important to discuss this balance of freedoms and to show when you don't agree.
But change must come from that, not from some digital currency.
The problem is a societal one and can only be solved at that level.
hero member
Activity: 840
Merit: 1000
November 26, 2012, 10:47:37 PM
#55

I see it differently in that i say that any human constructs like math are just an informational patterns and that intangible just means 'intrinsically informational'.
And the difference between tangible and intangible is whether the information is intrinsic to something physical. Information acquires (temporary) tangibility by modifying the states of something that already is tangible.


Yes, we know you believe that "tangible" means "physical" (key words of your reply highlighted).   The link shows you how this belief of yours is wrong.  Merely telling us again "Well, I say tangibility requires physicality" is not an argument, nor is it a refutation to the argument that were presented to you -- it is just denial that wastes everyone's time.

As such, and pursuant to taking the conversation back to the topic, can you please stop making noise in this thread?

Yeah, well, if you can point me where that article clearly describes why bitcoin is tangible then i'll be happy to leave.


You should have left about five comments ago then.


In other words, what is your definition of tangibility (in your own words and without links please) ?


I gave you a link that defines tangibility in a philosophically rigorous way (presumably, you can infer from my behavior that I agree with said definition).

Either you didn't read it (in which case there's no guarantee you'll read anything I say) or you didn't give a shit (in which case there's no guarantee you'll be able to sustain a conversation with me).

So, if you want to discuss this like a rational adult with me, you'll have to make do with what you already have.

The writer equals information to corporality because they get fuzzy at the quantum level.
But economy (and bitcoin) do not interact at the quantum level. They interact at the macro level.
You can only include the quantum level into economics if, and only if, the economics considers the actual quantum effects.
Otherwise it's just mombo jumbo.
On the level at which human economics takes place there is a distinction between matter and information. Denying it is silly.
I mean, the guy claims that numbers are supremely tangible because they are based on pure logical proof.
In what way (even from a philosophical perspective) does pure logical proof incept something with the property of tangibility?
How is algebra (as he claims) something tangible instead of an idealized abstraction?

And even if we assume he is correct then tangible would just be another word for everything (or nothing if we follow through on his ideas about wuantum mechanics).
What else is there in the universe than matter and information? (important question)
If you call both tangible then absolutely everything is tangible, even the patterns of information that rerpresents the spaghetti moster in someones head.
I mean, why have an extra word for 'everything'?

So we have this guy that says that because matter blurs with information at the quantum level you should consider both information and matter to be tangible.
Sure, but what else is left in the universe to be intangible?

There is no room for it simply because at the core of his argument is that everything is tangible.
So why make the distinction at all?

Well, according to the writer something is simply intangible if you can't capitalize on the contents. So if you don't understand some information (for instance a number sequence) then that is intangible. His specific example was of a goldfish that doesn't perceive number hence the numbers are intangible for the fish.
The problem with this is of course that it makes the word 'tangible' free to be defined by the user.
Whether something is tangible or not becomes a matter of individual position.
What is tangible for you can be intangible for me, or so the writer claims.

Another way to look at this is to consider the writers claim that "anything real or definite is tangible".
We know from physics that absolutely nothing in the universe is definite, even more so at the quantum level.
So if you would define tangibility this way you would end up with the answer that nothing in the universe is tangible.
And indeed, what is real? At the quantum level information forms reality. But the laws governing this mechanism are not rooted in our everyday logic at all. Things that exist in multiple places at the same time, particles that are located at exactly the same spacetime coordinates as others, matter that behaves like waves and interferes, stuff like that.
And the reason that you see this strange behavior is because information can interact directly with the information that expresses matter.
So it's pretty strange for the writer to propose that both information and matter are tangible because they are real and definite and pointing to things like planck numbers to support the relation when at the planck scope of the world things seem less real than ever conceived by humans.

So the word 'real' and 'definite' have no meaning at the quantum level. Even time becomes flexible. The assertion "anything real or definite is tangible" is therefore firmly rooted in our macro-perception of the universe. You would have trouble defining even the notion of 'is' at the quantum level when stuff oscillates in time.
O.t.o.h. at our scale of the universe (tangible) matter is pretty much separated from any information we may want to transport through it. That is why we invented words like tangibility in the first place. To describe this divide between matter (which we have come to understand as physical informational systems) and abstract informational systems built on top of the possibilities offered by the aggregate of states of the physical system.

Anyway, i dont feel like discussing this guy anymore, he's boring and moreover, he cannot defend his writings.
So that is why i asked what YOU think is the definition of tangible?
legendary
Activity: 3920
Merit: 2349
Eadem mutata resurgo
November 26, 2012, 10:46:29 PM
#54

One sais that we live on a prison planet because he thinks bitcoins are outlawed


He didn't say that.


Yes he did: "in that the Western states have gradually outlawed a freely traded digital money product and implemented a type of fiscal prison planet arrangement,".

So let me ask it again.

What freely traded digital money product has been gradually outlawed in the west?


Ever tried to open a digital bank account (they are just about all digital now) without ID?

There is no such thing as digital cash because it was outlawed ... did you really not notice what they did? Berlusconi (even as corrupt as he was) called our current banking system "fiscal facism".

The answer to your question is, ALL digital money products have been regulated, tracked, monitored and traced to the point where you cannot truly call it money. Without an ID you basically cannot freelytrade any digital money products (except bitcoin) .... i.e. freely traded digital money products have been gradually outlawed, wittingly or unwittingly, who knows? In any case, there is no need for all the conspiracy name-calling and ranting because you do not have access to all the information I might have.

Basically, stop acting like a jerk and you might learn a few things. Right now I can't be bothered to reply to you again.
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
November 26, 2012, 09:20:05 PM
#53

I see it differently in that i say that any human constructs like math are just an informational patterns and that intangible just means 'intrinsically informational'.
And the difference between tangible and intangible is whether the information is intrinsic to something physical. Information acquires (temporary) tangibility by modifying the states of something that already is tangible.


Yes, we know you believe that "tangible" means "physical" (key words of your reply highlighted).   The link shows you how this belief of yours is wrong.  Merely telling us again "Well, I say tangibility requires physicality" is not an argument, nor is it a refutation to the argument that were presented to you -- it is just denial that wastes everyone's time.

As such, and pursuant to taking the conversation back to the topic, can you please stop making noise in this thread?

Yeah, well, if you can point me where that article clearly describes why bitcoin is tangible then i'll be happy to leave.


You should have left about five comments ago then.


In other words, what is your definition of tangibility (in your own words and without links please) ?


I gave you a link that defines tangibility in a philosophically rigorous way (presumably, you can infer from my behavior that I agree with said definition).

Either you didn't read it (in which case there's no guarantee you'll read anything I say) or you didn't give a shit (in which case there's no guarantee you'll be able to sustain a conversation with me).

So, if you want to discuss this like a rational adult with me, you'll have to make do with what you already have.
hero member
Activity: 840
Merit: 1000
November 26, 2012, 09:10:05 PM
#52

I see it differently in that i say that any human constructs like math are just an informational patterns and that intangible just means 'intrinsically informational'.
And the difference between tangible and intangible is whether the information is intrinsic to something physical. Information acquires (temporary) tangibility by modifying the states of something that already is tangible.


Yes, we know you believe that "tangible" means "physical" (key words of your reply highlighted).   The link shows you how this belief of yours is wrong.  Merely telling us again "Well, I say tangibility requires physicality" is not an argument, nor is it a refutation to the argument that were presented to you -- it is just denial that wastes everyone's time.

As such, and pursuant to taking the conversation back to the topic, can you please stop making noise in this thread?

Yeah, well, if you can point me where that article clearly describes why bitcoin is tangible then i'll be happy to leave.
All i see is a lot of describing left and right that never comes together to answer the actual question.

Maybe you know where the exact distinction between tangible and intangible lies?
In other words, what is your definition of tangibility (in your own words and without links please) ?
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
November 26, 2012, 08:28:41 PM
#51

I see it differently in that i say that any human constructs like math are just an informational patterns and that intangible just means 'intrinsically informational'.
And the difference between tangible and intangible is whether the information is intrinsic to something physical. Information acquires (temporary) tangibility by modifying the states of something that already is tangible.


Yes, we know you believe that "tangible" means "physical" (key words of your reply highlighted).   The link shows you how this belief of yours is wrong.  Merely telling us again "Well, I say tangibility requires physicality" is not an argument, nor is it a refutation to the argument that were presented to you -- it is just denial that wastes everyone's time.

As such, and pursuant to taking the conversation back to the topic, can you please stop making noise in this thread?
hero member
Activity: 840
Merit: 1000
November 26, 2012, 08:17:49 PM
#50

One sais that we live on a prison planet because he thinks bitcoins are outlawed


He didn't say that.


Yes he did: "in that the Western states have gradually outlawed a freely traded digital money product and implemented a type of fiscal prison planet arrangement,".

So let me ask it again.

What freely traded digital money product has been gradually outlawed in the west?


Do you want like, the whole list?  Or would an example like E-Gold suffice?

E-gold was just a wild west HYP shithole. The owners got convicted for "conspiracy to engage in money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business".
They were not convicted for running an alternative currency.
Now the government just forces them to not do business with criminals through KYC guidelines and charges were even dropped and they can continue business.

So it is more like criminals are gradually outlawed and alternative currencies can just exist as long as they don't deal with criminals.
And that is exactly what i want our governments to do so they're doing a fine job.

hero member
Activity: 840
Merit: 1000
November 26, 2012, 08:05:40 PM
#49


Sorry, you're wrong about this too -- contrary to popular belief, the word "tangible" never meant what you erroneously think it means.  Please, educate yourself on the origins of the word "tangible" so you can stop misusing it:

http://www.runtogold.com/2012/11/why-bitcoin-is-tangible-digging-into-the-guts-of-bitcoin/

Your interlocutor is not redefining "tangible" to embrace intangibles -- on the contrary, it is you who erroneously believes that the definition of "tangible" excludes objects that don't exhibit corporealness.
Right.
An article about why bitcoin is tangible that has at its heart the argument, and i quote:
" The irony is that Mr. Turk’s error in logic because it is GoldMoney Goldgrams which are of limited tangibility, which can be arbitrarily changed like with removal of the payment system resulting in extremely reduced liquidity, and Bitcoins that are tangible."

This is seriously how the writer explains why bitcoin is tangible after spending a couple of paragraphs setting up this high point of the article.

The writer seem to divide tangible from intangible on a base of real vs informational/abstract. But then he goes on to say numbers and math are real and tangible:
"As already established Bitcoin is clearly a tangible asset because it is real and definite being fashioned from numbers."
Sure, and i have 5 googolplexes in my pants.. Tongue

I see it differently in that i say that any human constructs like math are just an informational patterns and that intangible just means 'intrinsically informational'.
And the difference between tangible and intangible is whether the information is intrinsic to something physical. Information acquires (temporary) tangibility by modifying the states of something that already is tangible.

Information is certainly part of our reality but it is not tangible.
Information is a superset of tangibility and so information has properties that tangible goods do not posses.
Bitcoin is a bit special because it is informationally limited to imitate some properties of tangible assets.
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
November 26, 2012, 07:48:29 PM
#48

One sais that we live on a prison planet because he thinks bitcoins are outlawed


He didn't say that.


Yes he did: "in that the Western states have gradually outlawed a freely traded digital money product and implemented a type of fiscal prison planet arrangement,".

So let me ask it again.

What freely traded digital money product has been gradually outlawed in the west?


Do you want like, the whole list?  Or would an example like E-Gold suffice?
hero member
Activity: 840
Merit: 1000
November 26, 2012, 06:54:18 PM
#47

One sais that we live on a prison planet because he thinks bitcoins are outlawed


He didn't say that.


Yes he did: "in that the Western states have gradually outlawed a freely traded digital money product and implemented a type of fiscal prison planet arrangement,".

So let me ask it again.

What freely traded digital money product has been gradually outlawed in the west?
newbie
Activity: 56
Merit: 0
November 26, 2012, 06:49:53 PM
#46

One sais that we live on a prison planet because he thinks bitcoins are outlawed


He didn't say that.


the other is redefining perfectly good words like tangible to mean intangible.


Sorry, you're wrong about this too -- contrary to popular belief, the word "tangible" never meant what you erroneously think it means.  Please, educate yourself on the origins of the word "tangible" so you can stop misusing it:

http://www.runtogold.com/2012/11/why-bitcoin-is-tangible-digging-into-the-guts-of-bitcoin/

Your interlocutor is not redefining "tangible" to embrace intangibles -- on the contrary, it is you who erroneously believes that the definition of "tangible" excludes objects that don't exhibit corporealness.
hero member
Activity: 840
Merit: 1000
November 26, 2012, 06:45:17 PM
#45

How do you know i'm not faking..


I don't need to know whether you're faking or not.  I only need to see your behavior to understand that you're managing your anxiety by acting out.
Aah, yes, the anxiety. That's it!
It's not as if there are blatant flaws in peoples ideas here.
One sais that we live on a prison planet because he thinks bitcoins are outlawed and the other is redefining perfectly good words like tangible to mean intangible.
But sure, it must be some anxiety of mine.
 Roll Eyes
hero member
Activity: 840
Merit: 1000
November 26, 2012, 06:39:52 PM
#44

Your post has a tone of being hunted by the 'government', everyone in a big prison, making it paranoia.
Then you only talk about them against you, which is one-sided.
And it is FUD because you use this one sided paranoia to motivate your point.
I mean you say things like: "in that the Western states have gradually outlawed a freely traded digital money product and implemented a type of fiscal prison planet arrangement,".

How is this not FUD? Where in the west is bitcoin outlawed? WTH are you talking about?

And please show me my tangential reasoning about the definition of the word 'tangible'.
Tangible is a word with a certain meaning. It does not cover information and information is not tangible. It is a simple fact of definition.


Note how mobodick does not actually address any of the arguments -- he merely attempts to discredit what was said by making strange associations between his perception of the tone of the argument and some form of conspiracy theory that nobody mentioned (until mobodick did).

This is a standard disinformation tactic to discredit ideas without actually refuting them.

Wait what?
I clearly explained my reasoning for each of the words involved.
What argument am i not addressing?

And maybe you can answer where the hell in the west bitcoin is outlawed because that was the basis of marcus's argument and it is simply not true?
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