people investing in Bitcoin are nuts. On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 3:15 PM, Paul Mooring wrote: > I find this to be a rather interesting view point. Paper money is > generally used for something vastly different than the primary reason > people want bit coins. Paper money (or digital money on a debit card/bank > account) is a stand in for wealth, it's value is meant to be fairly static > and fluctuations in it's value are consider inflation of the economy as a > whole. That's why it's the primary vehicle used for trade, it's sole > purpose to to facilitate in the transferring of already accumulated wealth. > > Bitcoin on the other hand is generally desired more as an investment > (without making judgements on how prudent of an investment it is, you more > than likely would desire bitcoin because you hope it will be worth a larger > portion of overall wealth in the future). With this in mind, saying "what > good is it?" is the same as asking what good are non-voting shares of a > public company. If you have non-voting shares in say APPL or GOOG, the > fact that you can't reasonably trade them for food doesn't make them devoid > of value. Also the fact that the value of those shares fluctuate > independent of the economy/dollar is the only reason you would want them at > all. > > I don't particularly think bitcoin is worth investing in, but regardless > of it's original intent it's mostly used as an investment now. > > > On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 2:16 PM, Eric Cope wrote: > >> just an FYI - there is no intrinsic value in paper money either... Its >> only value is that others will accept it for trade with goods... they only >> accept it for the same reason. Gold coins have intrinsic value (gold is >> used in electronic components and jewelry). >> >> Bit Coins are a fiat currency, just like federal reserve notes. The only >> difference, is there is a maximum number of coins that can exist (not so >> with federal reserve notes), and they aren't backed by debt... >> >> Eric >> >> >> On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 12:42 PM, Mike Bushroe wrote: >> >>> *"what good is it? " *Finally, a useful comment on cryptocurrency. >>> When all is said and done, it is just a pattern of magnetic fields in a >>> thin film of magnetic material. Now, you can say the same thing for the >>> work I do. Looked at in simplest, physical terms, I get paid to make >>> patterns of tiny magnetic fields on films on disks. But that patterns that >>> I help make reduce down to new programs or firmware to make our customer's >>> equipment work better, designs for new, better hardware or equipment, >>> instructions on how to use our hardware and/or software. In short, for our >>> customers at least, the patterns do reduce down to something of real, >>> intrinsic value, and the amount of value is determined by the quality of >>> the pattern of magnetic fields. >>> >>> But in a bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, although the pattern of >>> magnetic fields is designed so that no one else can copy it and claim >>> whatever value it has for me, the pattern has no meaning, use, or value >>> other than proclaim that it is. Bitcoins have value only because people >>> think they are cute or fun or whatever, and are willing to trade things of >>> real value for them. And even pieces of paper with patterns of ink on them >>> have real value in this sense, because so many, many people will gladly >>> trade them for items that are of intrinsic value. If suddenly people lost >>> interest in buying bitcoins (fraud, scandal, etc), then there would be no >>> bottom to the real world value of those patterns of magnetic fields, >>> because they don't correspond to anything of intrinsic value. Accept maybe >>> the ones where you generate special sequences of prime numbers to mine the >>> coins. The sequence of primes may have some slight value to mathematicians. >>> Or maybe not. >>> >>> So if you want to have fun with virtual money and have grown tired of >>> playing with Monopoly money, then bitcoins may be something to play with. >>> But you are not likely to see me exchanging real money for patterns of >>> magnetic fields that do nothing more than proclaim that they are patterns >>> of magnetic fields. >>> >>> [/soap box] >>> >>> Mike >>> >>> >>>> From: Michael Havens >>>> To: Main PLUG discussion list >>>> Cc: >>>> Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 17:04:38 -0700 >>>> Subject: Re: bitcoin mining >>>> never mind.... I just looked at their 'market place'. I think that it >>>> probably is going nowhere. I mean if you can't buy food *what good is >>>> it?* >>>> >>>> :-)~MIKE~(-: >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>> "Creativity is intelligence having fun." — Albert Einstein >>> >>> --------------------------------------------------- >>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >>> >> >> >> --------------------------------------------------- >> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> > > > > -- > Paul Mooring > Operations Engineer > Chef > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >