[Tyrannosaurs]

> Looking at exchange rates in this manner changes one's perspective on volatility. For example, since the beginning of this year, the price of a US dollar has declined by more than 98%, from BTC 0.074 to just over BTC 0.001, which makes the dollar look like an extremely volatile currency!

Sorry, that's clearly nonsense given that the dollar wasn't similarly volatile against other currencies.

Would you slam on your breaks in the middle of a road full of fast moving cars and believe that it was actually them all suddenly accelerating?

[girvo]

My physics is rusty... but yeah, it can be, depending on what you choose as your reference point. I think that's the OP's point there, too :)

[TorKlingberg]

No, while velocity is relative, acceleration is absolute. An accelerometer does not need any reference point. Well, it cannot tell the difference between acceleration and gravity, but that's an other issue.

[bvk]

That's actually not the case. You can tell whether you're in an accelerating frame of reference (like a car stopping) or an inertial frame of reference (like a car cruising) by the forces you feel, so they're not really co-equal.

[Tyrannosaurs]

Obviously there are problems with metaphors but my point is that to say the dollar is volatile in the OPs example, he needs to say that all non-Bitcoin currencies are volatile.

From the position of relative perspective that may be a valid theory, however in it's not the one best explains what is being observed.

[scoot]

bitcoin theory of relativity...