Money corrupts; bitcoin corrupts absolutely.
Disregarding all of bitcoin's shortcomings, a financial instrument that brings out the worst in people—greed—won't change the world for the better.
https://www.cynicusrex.com/file/cryptocultscience.html
>a financial instrument that brings out the worst in people—greed
As opposed to all other forms of financial mediums of exchange and money? I suppose they magically don't bring out greed in people? I never understood this notion of some mysterious, ambiguous "greed" demon that's only triggered by some X thing that someone naming it personally dislikes for some reason or another.
People are just people, trying to improve their state in life and using whatever new tools and resources exist for doing so, and in some cases having higher or lower levels of aquisitiveness based on their personalities.. Their levels of greed don't magically explode because some specific new thing comes long. Amusingly, it's common to see certain behaviors named as greed by people who think their own specific and subjective idea of how much another should want is correct. This of course is usually self-serving nonsense.
> ... a financial instrument that brings out the worst in people—greed—won't change the world for the better
What about the financial instrument that brings this to people:
- Argentina and Turkey inflation in 2022: 72%
- Venezuela : 186%
- Lebanon (which used to be called the "Swiss of the middle east"): 171%
People in these countries who managed to buy gold or Bitcoin have, so far, managed to dodge the damage.
Satoshi's message in Bitcoin's genesis block wasn't about bringing out the worst in people: it was a huge middle finger to politicians making the money printing press go "brrrrrrrr" (as the meme goes) to try to bail out their failing economies.
To me it looks like an experiment which may or may not make sense: "Oh you like to print infinite amount of money? Here's a currency which you cannot print indefinitely".
It may not be a viable currency for a country's economy (an eventually deflationary "thing" is probably not fit to be a currency), but it is a statement.
And I'm not sure all those who own Bitcoins are greedy: I'm pretty sure quite some own some in the same way some people hold physical gold, as a subversive answer to the various states... "Try to mine more physical gold / Try to break maths/cryptography and mine more Bitcoins".
People buying physical gold aren't saying "Have fun staying poor". They're saying "Fuck your money printing machine".
Note that there are people who also own next to nothing in USD / EUR and have nearly everything in stocks. It's also a way of saying "Fuck your money printing machine".
That's really how I see people holding Bitcoins: people who haven't drank the state kool-aid and who think "Stick your money printing machine where light doesn't shine".
To make the world better, Bitcoin's creator set out to create a currency which improves on many aspects of traditional currencies.
There are tons of fair criticisms of Bitcoin, but to exchange money isn't greedy.
Someone can't be called "greedy" for buying a tablecloth or selling produce.
Are the dollar, the euro, and the yen making the world worse in your mind? Plenty of people use Bitcoin as a vehicle for investment, but that's not the purpose behind it, and one certainly doesn't have to treat it that way.
Unfortunately Bitcoin mainline no longer believes that BTC should be a peer to peer electronic cash system, and the result is crippling fees and a pathetic transaction rate.
As opposed to all other forms of financial mediums of exchange and money? I suppose they magically don't bring out greed in people? I never understood this notion of some mysterious, ambiguous "greed" demon that's only triggered by some X thing that someone naming it personally dislikes for some reason or another.
People are just people, trying to improve their state in life and using whatever new tools and resources exist for doing so, and in some cases having higher or lower levels of aquisitiveness based on their personalities.. Their levels of greed don't magically explode because some specific new thing comes long. Amusingly, it's common to see certain behaviors named as greed by people who think their own specific and subjective idea of how much another should want is correct. This of course is usually self-serving nonsense.