[joeclark77]

Since cryptocurrences are basically pyramid schemes, and sooner or later you run out of suckers, probably never. Don't interpret this as me saying that fiat currencies are much better, though! Really nothing that anyone has invented out of thin air can beat gold and silver, or paper directly exchangeable for the same.

[smt88]

Fiat currencies certainly beat gold/silver when it comes to avoiding depressions.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the...

[joeclark77]

World War II ended the Great Depression. The linked article mistakes correlation for causation. Also it suggests there are times when "economies need governments to run deficits" and "economies need governments to print money"... boy, aren't those unexamined assumptions super convenient for the government! Fiat currency, by the way, is an experiment that's only been run for a very short time in history, and how well is it working out so far? The US has had toxic levels of inflation since before I was born (and I turn 40 this year), destroying savings and turning us into a nation addicted to debt (both as individuals and at the government level). We've been in a deep depression for a decade. Of course we can't see the alternate universe where we still used gold and silver instead, so there's no way to prove the point. A prudent philosopher would wait at least a thousand years or so before confidently stating that fiat currency has proven a useful innovation.

[CyberDildonics]

Not for the people trying to save their money with it.

[smt88]

Gold does not have to be the official currency for people to use it to save their money. They are free to do so now or any time.

[programmarchy]

Not any time. Gold was confiscated by the federal government during the Great Depression. I imagine it'd be much more difficult to confiscate Bitcoin.

[quickthrower]

http://m.quickmeme.com/meme/3thb4w

[CyberDildonics]

That is orthogonal to what I said.