Wired Magazine: Money Wants To Be Free!

[Matt Collins]

It's a great read:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_futureofmoney


And Peter Thiel, mentioned in PayPal, is a libertarian who has donated to both Rand and Ron Paul.

[MN Patriot]

It's a great read:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_futureofmoney


And Peter Thiel, mentioned in PayPal, is a libertarian who has donated to both Rand and Ron Paul.

Peter Thiel was also at the Bilderberger meeting in Spain. Makes you wonder what they want from him.

The comments in this article might give us a clue:


Beware…once ‘money’ goes digital, an individual (or a group), are then subject to control from whomever ‘controls’ the digital “on/off switch” TO that money (and make NO mistake – SOMEone will still control it).

…there was episode of ‘Max Headroom’ that dealt with this.

If you’re seen or branded as a ‘dissident’ to government view (or as the Chinese would say “against the Party line”), your digital money source is just ‘deleted’…from there, you can’t buy anything.

Instantly making you a social outcast.

It’s already been planned…and is coming…it’s just been wrapped as candy so you’ll like it (the ‘ooooo’ and ‘ahhhh’ syndrome).

Tread carefully, Program.
....

Anyone who actually knew what causes inflation would not be so quick to cheer a digital, “cloud” currency. The reason we have chronic inflation and instability in the economy today is because of our fiat currency (paper only, not backed by gold or silver) that the Federal Reserve and our government can so easily print up. Printing up paper money at will without any backing of a limited supply good such as gold or silver is what causes the value of the money to go down (because it takes more of that worthless currency to make up the same value). It’s basic Austrian economics (Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, etc.). They hold, quite correctly, that money is a unit of EXCHANGE, not just a unit of ACCOUNT.

So moving away from paper and plastic money to simply a digital currency is a monumental DISASTER waiting to happen. How does anyone propose to maintain the currency’s VALUE in such a system!? We need to learn the lessons from our current monetary disaster. The dollar has already lost over 95% of its value just since 1971, when Nixon officially divorced the dollar from gold. Look it up.

Also, what really scares me is we’re getting ever closer to the Biblical prophecy in the Book of Revelation that no one will be able to buy or sell anything unless that person has the Mark of the Beast, either on the forehead or the hand. Some people believe this may be an electronic chip implant. That’ll be the next step. God help us.

[Matt Collins]

Peter Thiel was also at the Bilderberger meeting in Spain. Source? :confused: :rolleyes:

[Matt Collins]

Oh and that comment you pasted is sheer ignorance and faulty logic.

[Marenco]

Source? :confused: :rolleyes:

http://bilderbergmeetings.org/meeting_2010_2.html

[MN Patriot]

Oh and that comment you pasted is sheer ignorance and faulty logic.

Whatever...:rolleyes:

[Matt Collins]

http://bilderbergmeetings.org/meeting_2010_2.html (http://bilderbergmeetings.org/meeting_2010_2.html)
Interesting.

But that doesn't mean anything (assuming it's even the "official" BB website).

Peter is a billionaire, a venture capitalist, and owns(d) the largest non-traditional "banks" in the world. He's an innovator and has ushered in a new era of monetary transactions. Is it any wonder that the biggest most powerful people in the world, especially bankers, would like to hear him speak? :confused: :rolleyes:

[Matt Collins]

Whatever...:rolleyes:
They can seize your bank account anyway because it's all digits. Also everything with the numbers has to balance like in a checkbook, they can't just "delete" stuff.

Are there problems, and even dangers, in moving to a cashless economy? Absolutely! But most of what was mentioned in the the quote you posted had no relevance to that.

[Austrian Econ Disciple]

Peter has donated quite a bit of money to Patri Friedman's Seasteading Institute....Peter is on our side.

[MN Patriot]

They can seize your bank account anyway because it's all digits. Also everything with the numbers has to balance like in a checkbook, they can't just "delete" stuff.

Are there problems, and even dangers, in moving to a cashless economy? Absolutely! But most of what was mentioned in the the quote you posted had no relevance to that.


I didn't post those comments, just copied them because I thought they both made legitimate points.

"Delete" was the wrong word, confiscate would be more appropriate. Government already seizes a significant portion of our wages before we even get the money, but nobody is excited about that at all. The authorities will have direct access to your spending and income; they already do to a certain extent. So what is to stop them from preventing transactions they don't approve of?

Concerning inflation, digital currency will make it easier for government/banks to create money out of nothing, but perhaps we are already at that point now.

The "mark of the beast" comes from religious superstitions, but the underlying idea is still valid.

[MN Patriot]

Interesting.

But that doesn't mean anything (assuming it's even the "official" BB website).

Peter is a billionaire, a venture capitalist, and owns(d) the largest non-traditional "banks" in the world. He's an innovator and has ushered in a new era of monetary transactions. Is it any wonder that the biggest most powerful people in the world, especially bankers, would like to hear him speak? :confused: :rolleyes:

Ask Ron Paul about his opinion of the banksters. Do you think they have OUR interests in mind? We are their chattel, for the most part. Wage slaves to be exploited, the same attitude kings and tyrants have held for ages.

[Matt Collins]

Ask Ron Paul about his opinion of the banksters. Do you think they have OUR interests in mind?I have no disagreements about this. But you need to go back and read what Peter Thiel has to say. He wanted to be able to avoid big banks, and governments with PayPal. PP was originally intended to subvert the current system, although it hasn't quite done that, but it has opened the door.

Did you read the Wired article in my original post?

[RyanRSheets]

Peter Thiel was also at the Bilderberger meeting in Spain. Makes you wonder what they want from him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/business/13sing.html?src=busln

That, paired with his involvement in the Singularity Movement (see page 2) raises some good questions about his character. I'm a little wary of their goals.

[RyanRSheets]

They can seize your bank account anyway because it's all digits. Also everything with the numbers has to balance like in a checkbook, they can't just "delete" stuff.

Are there problems, and even dangers, in moving to a cashless economy? Absolutely! But most of what was mentioned in the the quote you posted had no relevance to that.

There are advantages and disadvantages to everything. I'd say it's pretty inevitable that we will become a cashless society, despite the fact that it is inherently prone to manipulation by Big Brother. Resistances is as good as always, but there is some potential in the idea of virtual currency that paper will never have, and unfortunately people don't seem very inclined to go back to real money. If all money was digital, the supply could be kept completely transparent to people and we could keep it 100% stable.

With proper oversight by the people it could probably be kept legitimate. We would have to ensure that those in charge of keeping the numbers accurate weren't committing fraud, but counterfeiting is by no means a new problem. Imagine hosting the money supply in several or hundreds of different places, every transaction recorded independently among those databases and compared to ensure legitimacy. As always, the problem isn't necessarily the type of money, it's the consciousness of those who spend it.

I am not a fan of money or defined currency, or collective terms in the first place. However, if we're going to stick with the idea of money, we might as well try to make it as legitimate as possible.

[Pericles]

PayPal owned by eBay which does not allow auctions for things related to violence - like gun parts.

[lester1/2jr]

"there was episode of ‘Max Headroom’ that dealt with this."

yep that's Wired commenter alright

[Matt Collins]

PayPal owned by eBay which does not allow auctions for things related to violence - like gun parts.
PayPal was on it's own before Peter and partners sold it to eBay.

[RM918]

PayPal owned by eBay which does not allow auctions for things related to violence - like gun parts.

Isn't that because they're based in California, and all that stuff is against state law?

[Matt Collins]

YouTube - Peter Thiel on Facebook, Technology, and the Higher Education Bubble (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6qm7vVB5so)