In other news: https://i.imgur.com/3ncet7I.jpg
What does "pocket medic" mean in the TF2 context?
I guess he'll pick a medic class and will heal you constantly for a small compensation in bitcoins.
Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases
251–260 of 447 posts
Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases
#252Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
> by design, untraceable This is simply incorrect. I fail to understand why so many people believe bitcoin transactions are untraceable, we are talking about a public ledger. I understand the gap between how supporters and non-supporters discuss bitcoin. It's just that if you give all your USD to a scammer, we don't say there is a fundamental flaw with the USD.
The ledger records bitcoin addresses, which are not readily traceable to a person unless that person deals directly with one of the exchanges which implement KYC/AML.
It's factually incorrect to say that transactions are untraceable. Every single transaction is logged on a public ledger. The only difficulty lies in establishing that a particular address belongs to a particular entity. KYC/AML does help in a large way in this regard.
However, even with this difficulty, it's still easier than tracing cash payments to a particular entity. If I pay someone in cash, under the table, good luck proving the cash was ever mine. I would wager the government would prefer criminals conduct their business in bitcoin.
If you don't like cryptocurrencies, thats fine, don't use them. I'm just asking that you do not misrepresent them with half truths in some fruitless attempt to show they are flawed when compared to cash.
Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
> anti-environmentalist ... vast amounts of wasted electricity Ironically uses politically-charged language when discussing how bitcoin gets political. How about: "I'm concerned with the amount of electricity devoted to mining." Some of the bitcoin-is-going-to-take-over advocates could counter with, "That electricity cost is a lot better for the environment than the standing armies required to secure fiat money."
> "That electricity cost is a lot better for the environment than the standing armies required to secure fiat money." There are better alternatives to brute-forcing hashes and generating nothing but waste heat in order to mine cryptocurrency. At least those cycles could be put toward something useful, like the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC). Gridcoin uses proof-of-research in BOINC as the…
If the PoW serves any other purpose than mining bitcoin, it can't be used, since there won't be any opportunity cost in mining on the most recent chain.
Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases
#255I find the vitriol towards Bitcoin kind of odd. If I posted an article about Linux 4.1 or something, I wouldn't expect to see comments saying 'meanwhile, I used Windows yesterday, and played GTA5, and it was good'. What gives? Are there forums in which people have this sort of reaction to, I dunno, HTML5? From some of the posts here you would think that it's IED control software.
I've run into the sentiment you're talking about both online and IRL. It puzzles me as well. Three factors come to mind: 1. There's a deep-rooted idea today that money comes from the government and that everything else is a scam. Bitcoin challenges that idea. 2. Bitcoin refuses to die despite the predictions of just about everyone who first learns about it. 3. The technical underpinnings of Bitcoin are counterintuiti…
...And I'm sure you thought you're writing a perfectly objective, well-argued post. However, while speculating on bc-distractors' motives, you've characterized them as naive technophobes.
If someone with, let's say a doctorate in cryptography and a preference in 'fiat' reads that, he's going to feel a bit insulted and double down on his position.
He may (and I'm just speculating a hypothetical here) start daydreaming about going around with a metaphorical hammer of wisdom trying to beat some ideas into every bc-daytraders' head. Like the idea that a majority of western societies actually support the general concept of democratically-elected governments wielding some power. Or that having some screws to adjust in regards to monetary policy may be preferable to not having them, some problems notwithstanding.
All this is not new, by the way. This discussion lines up pretty well with the conflict over libertarianism, both demographically as well as philosophical.
Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'll offer a controversial explanation: bitcoin enthusiasts have exhausted most of the oxygen in the room with regard to rational bitcoin discussion. The never-ending adulation of bitcoin as the greatest invention since the internet, the hyperbolic claims that bitcoin will do things like revolutionize payments, end global war, eliminate the need for banks, liberate the people from bondage, the litany of bitcoin and b…
Let's not forget this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/31xp48/why_di...
Interesting... just having a "donate with BitCoin" link visible caused a noticeable drop in donations? Similarly with revenue on a merchant page. That seems bizarre.
Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think there are literally hundreds of examples from the past century where huge swaths of the population lost all of their wealth due to political and economic turmoil. You are welcome to keep all of your funds in the hands of the central bankers if you believe in them, nobody will stop you. I will keep a portion of my money in my own hands in BTC where no corrupt politician or banker can get it.
Out of the hands of politicians and bankers and right into the hands of a script kiddie when the box that stores your wallet - be it locally or an exchange - gets hijacked and your wallet depleted. Or where nobody can get to it after you suffer catastrophic data-loss and you can't get to your wallet anymore. If you want a hedge against a catastrophic collapse of the dollar (or whatever your local currency happens to…
If I suffered a catastrophic data loss large that caused me to lose my BTC, I'd still be more concerned about the rest of my valuable data that I presumably lost too.
Bitcoin is far from the only case where catastrophic data losses or leaks are very costly. It's something that's certainely worth thinking about carefully, but it's not a fatal flaw for the system's usability - if it were all digital data use cases would be fatally flawed.
Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think there are literally hundreds of examples from the past century where huge swaths of the population lost all of their wealth due to political and economic turmoil. You are welcome to keep all of your funds in the hands of the central bankers if you believe in them, nobody will stop you. I will keep a portion of my money in my own hands in BTC where no corrupt politician or banker can get it.
Out of the hands of politicians and bankers and right into the hands of a script kiddie when the box that stores your wallet - be it locally or an exchange - gets hijacked and your wallet depleted. Or where nobody can get to it after you suffer catastrophic data-loss and you can't get to your wallet anymore. If you want a hedge against a catastrophic collapse of the dollar (or whatever your local currency happens to…
[deleted]
Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
> anti-environmentalist ... vast amounts of wasted electricity Ironically uses politically-charged language when discussing how bitcoin gets political. How about: "I'm concerned with the amount of electricity devoted to mining." Some of the bitcoin-is-going-to-take-over advocates could counter with, "That electricity cost is a lot better for the environment than the standing armies required to secure fiat money."
And, of course, the idea that bitcoin changes the world so radically that no one has an army anymore is absurd. But I think you've just touched on another reason why people react so strongly to bitcoin-related articles. It's like, bitcoin started out with a pretty good-sounding idea: decentralized currency, like the old Gnutella network except for money! hey I like it! Then people start talking about it and the first…
I'm not sure which bitcoin advocates you're talking to, but they seem pretty far out there.
As for monetary policy, I would look to the history of currency devaluations in the wake of wars and emphasize that bitcoin cannot be devalued in the same way. Not that a nation would use bitcoin as its currency, but it begins to look more like the gold that used to back fiat currencies.
Even Rome debased its currency to continue paying soldiers, while throwing the citizens under the bus.
Re environmental costs: a future protocol change could update the proof of work function if this gets out of control.
> deflationary economics of the system itself
Strictly speaking, bitcoin's monetary base is monotonically increasing and never actually shrinks, which would be monetary deflation. I would also challenge the conventional wisdom that says "Deflation bad! Inflation good!" Again, not that a nation's currency will be bitcoin. It exists alongside other systems, behaving more like gold.
Ponzi scheme is almost not worth mentioning as the allegation is obviously ridiculous.
Re: Steam now accepts Bitcoin for purchases
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find Apple 'hate' far more understandable because of their market share. Bitcoin makes up a tiny portion of the market and is completely optional. I mean, it barely even exists. Apple's activities (notably 'tivoization'), threaten general purpose computing. Regardless I still try to come to peace with it (i think it's very important to have a positive mindset). As long as I can still buy my ARM SoC boards, x86 mach…
Apple hate existed long before Apple had dominant market share.
But the elemental composition of Apple hate has changed since.