Industrial Currency in the Digital Age

[jenkinrocket]

Physical money is an industrial and pre-industrial idea, one that doesn't belong in the current epoch of human civilization. In the industrial age if someone took a can of something off of the shelf, there was one less of that thing. Physical money and it's online analogs are very much a part of the same idea. They are physical, semi-zero sum game ideologies applied to information systems, which can disseminate nearly infinitely by comparison.

For example, if you give out a digital can of something, you still have infinite cans of that something left (for as long as you have the blueprint for it). The real miracle and potential of cryptocurrencies, aside from their decentralization aspect, is that they have the ability to model value directly. For example, with physical money ideologies you need ridiculous and clunky methods (such as commercials and advertising) to extract value from valuable products of various sorts.

But with cryptocurrencies that is changing. For example, Steemit has no need for advertising to clutter up and detract value with its ugliness for exactly this reason. It can represent the value directly. In other words, the fact that someone values something should be enough to generate exchangeable value.

[nandibear]

Physical money is an industrial and pre-industrial idea, one that doesn't belong in the current epoch of human civilization. In the industrial age if someone took a can of something off of the shelf, there was one less of that thing. Physical money and it's online analogs are very much a part of the same idea. They are physical, semi-zero sum game ideologies applied to information systems, which can disseminate nearly infinitely by comparison.

For example, if you give out a digital can of something, you still have infinite cans of that something left (for as long as you have the blueprint for it)...

...

Thank you for an interesting post here at the Bitcoin Forum. Also I like the title that you created for the thread, Industrial Currency in the Digital Age.

However, I want to point out that there is NOT an infinite amount of Bitcoins. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoins in existence.

Bitcoins are mined as gold is mined. There are only so much of each.

[Rmcdermott927]

I imagine that money, in the physical sense is still here to stay for a while. It is still viable for small micro transactions, i.e. a cup of coffee.

Bitcoin does many(most) things better such as physical security and merchant protection, however most people are likely to favor credit and cash for small things.

This does not mean that they can't compliment each other though.

[jenkinrocket]

Mmm. Yes, that's a very good point. Still, it was originally created from "nothing" and with no formal or physical value backing it, yes? If not, my argument might be in a little trouble!

But even if that were the case, the movement from the numbers on screen being representative to them being currency is a huge and important paradigm shift (of course, I'll probably find no arguments to that here!).

I guess the main point I'm making is that as we begin to model value more and more abstractly, more freedom is allowed. While it is certainly still possible for the few to hoard the greater portion, they are becoming less and less able to control the flow of value.

[Oleg326756]

Mmm. Yes, that's a very good point. Still, it was originally created from "nothing" and with no formal or physical value backing it, yes? If not, my argument might be in a little trouble!

But even if that were the case, the movement from the numbers on screen being representative to them being currency is a huge and important paradigm shift (of course, I'll probably find no arguments to that here!).

Friend, the $, €, £ or ¥ on your bank account, your credit or debit card were created "from nothing" by commercial banks, when somebody else took a loan. They are nothing but "numbers screen", with no physical value behind them. In a strict sense of the word the "money" on your credit card is not money, but credit, created by commercial banks. The only "money" that is actually money, are the physical notes and coins that were created by a central bank of your country or region (the Fed, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Japan). Still, it's a fiat money – once again, created "from nothing". And, like any money, including Bitcoin and gold, there's no physical value behind it, only a consensus about how much that piece of paper, a gram of metal, or a digital token can buy you. It's always arbitrary and ever-changing.

However, what makes Bitcoin so special and in many regards similar to gold is the following: there's a limited amount of it that will ever come into existence; there's no central authority in charge of minting it; you don't need a bank or a clearing house to transfer it. Thus, Bitcoin is much more solid form of money than $, €, £ or ¥. More like gold or other precious metals.

[keyois]

I would say that like all things that act as a currency or whatever is that the cost to produce them is too high for a normal person to be 'worth it'. I might try to say fiat is like that in you need expensive engraving/design templates and fiber-textile-'paper' material to print or stamp your design. In this sense, could one not argue that low denomination bills aren't given away? well we know the penny and nickel are but maybe some of the US paper bills as well?


However with btc it is unique, so you can just reproduce the blueprint. That's what makes btc so exciting, is it solves the double spend problem