Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely • Hacker News Board

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#11

Post by samhh » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 5:45 PM UTC

machinelabo wrote: post #3

We need to fix the loop holes. Money is also an amazing instrument that keeps us motivated. Without the lure of money and its power, we wouldn’t do anything. Startups? Why bother when there is no money involved. I really think if there was one thing we got right - that’s money as a civilization. What we need to do is fix the loop holes. That includes taxes, corporation as persons, the whole 2011 movement of Occupy Wa…

No statement in this arena taken to an extreme stands to reason, including "without the lure of money and its power, we wouldn't do anything".

I contribute to open source, as many others here do. Lots and lots of people contribute to society and the common good in other ways without the expectation of capitalistic reward.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#12

Post by leesalminen » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 5:45 PM UTC

wolfretcrap wrote: post #7

Problem with bitcoin is there's no way to redistribute wealth. How about giving inactive bitcoins to new people? Is it possible? Can you really access the bitcoins that were created at the beginning without updating your bitcoins to latest standards. How do you even update your bitcoin?

> there's no way to redistribute wealth.

There are those who would call that a feature, not a bug.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#13

Post by seibelj » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

> and lastly, it having a multitude of popular proponents with extreme viewpoints such as “animals have no rights”, or the right to bear arms which strikes me as vile, unethical, and borderline insane

The right to bear arms is an extreme right wing viewpoint? This is quite the rant but the author is all over the map

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#14

Post by matheusmoreira » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

> Have I been salty? Definitely. There's no point in denying that. I could've purchased a home had I been in a coma until now.

That about sums it all up. I too watched the rise of bitcoin and was too lazy to mine some on my own computer. I have screenshots of people buying pizza for like 20 BTC.

All we had to do was buy some. We can still do it.

> If I'd have deserved it is something else.

Does it matter if you "deserved" it? So many literal sociopaths are running the world and getting rich by exploiting everyone else. Did they deserve it? Does a lottery winner deserve their gains?

Better to throw out all these notions and just start playing the game. Anything else means being exploited as well.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#15

Post by InvisibleUp » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

machinelabo wrote: post #3

We need to fix the loop holes. Money is also an amazing instrument that keeps us motivated. Without the lure of money and its power, we wouldn’t do anything. Startups? Why bother when there is no money involved. I really think if there was one thing we got right - that’s money as a civilization. What we need to do is fix the loop holes. That includes taxes, corporation as persons, the whole 2011 movement of Occupy Wa…

> Why bother when there is no money involved

Because you want to make something useful and helpful for the world? Personal satisfaction? Passion? Necessity?

Granted, those are no arguments to work for free in a world where operating a business and keeping yourself fed cost money, but if somehow those weren't concerns, I can assure you people would still have plenty of motivation to innovate still.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#16

Post by tehlike » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

stormqloud wrote: post #6

wturner wrote: post #2

"Relieving humans from having to worry about or deal with money would be an actual Copernican revolution. How that would work is beyond me, but that's precisely why it would be revolutionary." This

It's called communism and everytime it's tried it ends in genocide and hundreds of millions murdered.

No, it's called absolute automation, and it's hard but possible within realm of capitalism.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#17

Post by peter422 » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 5:47 PM UTC

I have thought about this with Bitcoin: if the protocol and potential capabilities are so interesting, why is 99% of the conversation related to Bitcoin about the current price. It does make me believe that greed is the predominant driver of most Bitcoin holders, which to me makes the whole concept a lot less principled than people pretend it is.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#18

Post by sdenton4 » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 5:48 PM UTC

timdaub wrote: post #4

Ok, this seems to be a well-thought out argument against Bitcoin. I'm happy to buy into it. Yes, maybe BTC corrupts people. But then without proper digital money protocols, how are we supposed to build the next wave of web applications? Ethereum can be used to do useful things. E.g. we're rating data sets by quality through staking [1]. NFTs seem to make sense for artists (see what Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park said)…

We have lots of non-crypto digital money protocols. Millions of people use them every day.

Crypto currencies and block chains are mostly reinventing existing wheels, with a weak promise of decentralization on top, which seems to break down whenever a big-enough event happens.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#19

Post by gnrlst » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 5:48 PM UTC

The community around Bitcoin is one of the most toxic. It's the main reason I haven't bought, and won't buy, any BTC (regardless of the fact I think the tech is completely subpar). Having said that, there's plenty of really great communities around crypto that shouldn't be pooled together along with Bitcoin. Nano, for example, is probably the most hated altcoin by Bitcoin maximalists (probably because they feel threatened?) and coincidently is one of the most tight-knit and constructive communities I found (don't take my word for it, check out the nanocurrency subreddit). There's tons of developers sharing their projects, users tipping all over the place like the good 'ol BTC days, people brainstorming ways of dropping Nano in places where the local currency is in hyperinflation via WeNano. It's just a really cool bunch of peeps.

I frankly don't care if the price of Nano plummets to 1 cent. And I actually hope it doesn't skyrocket and get the attention BTC got, because, to quote the article, "I came for the money", but I stayed for the community. The tech being superior to Bitcoin is just a bonus.

Re: Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely

#20

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 5:48 PM UTC

stormqloud wrote: post #6

wturner wrote: post #2

"Relieving humans from having to worry about or deal with money would be an actual Copernican revolution. How that would work is beyond me, but that's precisely why it would be revolutionary." This

It's called communism and everytime it's tried it ends in genocide and hundreds of millions murdered.

[deleted]