Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room
Does anyone here use Bitcoins?
mouser:
Economist Paul Krugman on why he's not a fan of bitcoin:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/23/opinion/krugman-bits-and-barbarism.html
Mark0:
The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in "Metcalfe's law"--which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants--becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's. - Paul Krugman, 1998
:)
TaoPhoenix:
The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in "Metcalfe's law"--which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants--becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's. - Paul Krugman, 1998
:)
-Mark0 (December 23, 2013, 02:25 PM)
--- End quote ---
Funny, but I in my Amateur Armchair vehemently disagree.
The Internet has "changed" 110 Trillion dollars of effect. How? Because the "viral" possibility of news means that things can't be shut up like the old days. So any topic ever, times the economic impact, explodes on the net. Just look at these BitCoin stories. I've seen forty of them. Barely one would have made "old news media".
Your choice of 88 other topics.
The Internet has exploded what Information means. And with Information comes Economics.
tomos:
Economist Paul Krugman on why he's not a fan of bitcoin:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/23/opinion/krugman-bits-and-barbarism.html
-mouser (December 23, 2013, 01:51 PM)
--- End quote ---
There's a lot of fundamentalism amongst the supporters of gold-backed currencies, and there's a lot of demonisation of fiat currencies out there too. Krugman's arguments against gold-backed currencies, while brief, are very persuasive. But to completely slate Bitcoin simply because it is a reaction to fiat currencies - or worse: simply because it is supported by people who are disillusioned with economics as practised today? That does not convince.
Bitcoin seems to derive its appeal from more or less the same sources [as of gold-backed currencies],
[...]
But don’t let the fancy trappings fool you: What’s really happening is a determined march to the days when money meant stuff you could jingle in your purse.
--- End quote ---
^ comes across simply as rhetoric. I'm disappointed.
On another note, he mentions regulation - imo, that's where things started to go really wrong (I believe around Reagan's time they started freeing the banks of regulations).
TaoPhoenix:
No, but BitCoin as the King and the other CryptoMoney as the followers has a horrible feeling like the old early Dot-Com explosion - all this early activity, then it crashes for good, then it becomes a cheap 3rd rate joke.
See elsewhere for the allegation that the Chinese exchange faked BitCoin trading data in light of the Chinese Ban.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version