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Ah.. I should have visited this thread before just today then

I sincerely apologize for my over exuberance towards ....... and causing any perceived offense or patronism. It may have come from my military and global economist father and all his rants over the years.



I'm off to do some gardening and am hereby officially banned from this thread .

Apologies to everyone!!

 

Oh okay then

Just had to pop in and say 'Congratulations Bitcoin!' for surpassing the price of gold yesterday. And for those who love a bit of deep fiat thinking..

'Outside it, separated by a wall of sharpened hair stakes, was Merchants’ Ware, the city most people thought of as the real city. Normally its narrow streets were crowded with stalls, and people from all over the Carpet. They’d all be trying to cheat one another in that open-and-above-board way known as ‘doing business’. All sorts of languages could be heard, often very loudly. Ware was where people came to trade.

The Dumii had built their Empire with swords, but they kept it with money. They’d invented money. Before money, people had bought things with cows and pigs, which were not very efficient for the purpose because you had to feed them and keep them safe all the time and sometimes they died. And suddenly the Dumii turned up with this money stuff, which was small and easy to keep and you could hide it in a sock under the mattress, which hardly ever worked with cows and pigs. And it could be cows or pigs. Also, it had little pictures of Emperors and things on it, which were interesting to look at. At least, more interesting than cows and pigs.

And, Pismire had once said, that was how the Dumii kept their Empire. Because once you started using Dumii money, which was so easy and convenient and didn’t moo all night, you started saving up for things, and selling things in the nearest market town, and settling down, and not hitting neighbouring tribes as often as you used to. And you could buy things in the markets that you’d never seen before — coloured cloth, and different kinds of fruit, and books. Pretty soon, you were doing things the Dumii way, because it made life better. Oh, you went on about how much better life was in the old days, before there was all this money and peacefulness around, and how much more enjoyable things were when people used to get heavily-armed in the evenings and go out and make their own entertainment — but no-one was anxious actually to go back there.

“Economic imperialism!” Pismire had once said, picking up a handful of coins. “A marvellous idea. So neat and simple. Once you set it going, it works all by itself. You see, it’s the Emperor who guarantees that the money will buy you things. Every time someone hands over or accepts one of these coins, it’s a little soldier defending the Empire. Amazing!”

No-one understood a word of what he meant, but they could see he thought it was important.'

The above story written by projectrho is one about fiat.

Bitcoin solves the Byzantine Generals Problem and re-prints towards debt are not possible.

Peace.

 

I was just thinking about this thread earlier when I read it in the news.

But I also go to thinking, in practical terms, what does this mean for the peasants and serfs, like me?

I can't afford to invest significant amounts of money in anything. I could possibly stretch, at a push, to an ounce of gold or one bitcoin. So I might make a few pence over the next few weeks or months. Then spend more than that in fees getting a trader to buy or sell.

I see it as no different to stocks and shares. There are certain companies and industries that I know about with a degree of confidence. I could potentially make a few quid, even after traders fees, if I spent more time following the markets, and less time acknowledging the existence of my wife and kids.

 

There are no real class differences regarding such a tangible thing. That's just elitists making the poor feel rotten. Real class differences are defined by minds that can think outside the box and minds that can't. The money thing equaling class, is just an illusion.

You don't need to. Something something... Satoshis. BTC is highly divisible.

The story above explains much. Bitcoin is not just about 'making a few quid.'

Never followed markets in my life. The world's economy and how fiat worked was explained to me when I was very young. I was horrified. Truly horrified. Today... I know great tech when I see it and Bitcoin currently stands as an answer to the horror problems inherent with fiat. *See Byzantine. *See endless re-prints.

BTC will go up and down and continue to go up and down and one may see a short term decrease in price if the SEC does not approve the *ETF on the 11th March. But I will be no less happy with it if that occurs as I have seen and experienced seven years with this. Bitcoin will get *ETF'd eventually. The only graph I ever need to look at is the historical one that shows where it started and shows where it's at today in the same breath.

Will it stand the test of time and rise and conquer? I wouldn't know, I can't see the future, but does it serve a global standard that can benefit many more millions of people than fiat currently does and is it working and has it been working for some time now regardless of what people say in the negative towards it? Yes. Oh yes.

I once said that if BTC fell to just $5.00 and that kept the mainstream away, I'd still love it. Happiness doesn't come from money. And in conclusion, if one is happy enough where one is at, then by all means.. stay there. But for me, choice is paramount.

*Edited for clarity. Thanks @NigelJ

 

Think that it should be ETF (Exchange Trade Fund) rather than EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique).

 

@NigelJ Of course.

@clueless1 GBP V's BTC here

 

This appeals to the uber geek aspect of my sense of humour.

A bitcoin, a data construct that only exists in software, is more expensive unit for unit than gold. Yet it couldn't even exist if not for gold. And this is where it gets a tad geeky. Gold is a key component any computer system, and most high speed data communications hardware. Gold is very conductive electrically, and very resistant to corrosion. These two properties make it very useful in electronics, especially where high signal speeds are needed in very compact situations. Like in linking tiny slices of silicone to the pins on their larger casings, or coating connectors on various signal carrying cables. You could build a computer system without gold, but you'd have to choose between it being huge and very energy demanding, or horribly slow, or both.

I know all that's totally irrelevant to the discussion in practical terms. It just amused me. It just feels like that common situation where a kid takes all the glory for something that they could only do because their dad silently and discretely orchestrated it.

 

I find the gold component part interesting. I recently acquired two "Silver Signature" speakers that are supposed to be audiophile quality. Must be be because of the silver components and wires?

 

I can't remember off hand where silver sits in terms of electrical conductivity efficiency. It's not as good as gold but if memory serves, I think it's better than copper.

But in audio applications, it would be fine. Actually copper is absolutely fine in audio applications.

Here's a geeky bit though. At audio frequencies, there's no need for super efficiency of electrical conductivity. That's why copper is perfectly fine. But, an audio signal oscillates. When an electrical current oscillates, the current flows more efficiently at the surface of the conductor (the wire). The higher the frequency, the greater the tendency for the current to flow at the surface. The surface is also exposed to things other than the same metal (air, moisture, insulation material etc) and so chemistry happens, and over time, the surface becomes corroded and loses efficiency. Metals like silver and gold are less reactive to oxygen than copper is, so they corrode much more slowly, and therefore maintain their efficiency for signal carrying for much longer than copper does.