[P2P-F] bitcoin critique summary

Fri May 20 11:43:26 CEST 2011

I think this is a very concise and valuable criticism of money as we know
it.

Jack

On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 8:06 AM, Karl Robillard <krobillard at san.rr.com>wrote:

> I don't see how the alternative currency experiments like Bitcoin do
> anything
> to help us move to a more egalitarian, steady-state economy.
>
> An economist will tell you that "price is information", but I'm not sure
> how
> they justify that.  An ounce of crack, a few hours of music lessons, a lawn
> mower, or a couple hours of labor might all be $100.  None of these can
> remotely be considered the same, but yet the dollar value is identical.
>  Any
> mechanism which equates these is an absurd abstraction which eliminates a
> great deal of useful information.  This dearth of relational data is a
> fundamental feature of money which turns the economy into a valuation game.
> Over time, the wealth gap between those who game the system well and those
> that don't becomes so great that a jubilee or a revolution is needed.
>
> I see open source production and modern information technology as powerful
> tools which allow us to more fully value things.  They are important
> because
> they help make money (just a primitive form of information technology, IMO)
> obsolete.  I just don't understand why people want to continue to treat the
> economy as a game.
>
>
> -Karl
>
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