TED: Escaping the global banking cartel
Merry Xmas everyone. Carol is working today so here I am playing politics 
I'm not going to try to re-explain what the TED talk already explains quite clearly but I thought this guy did a pretty good job bringing some complex topics right down to ground level. The short version here is that he's advocating Bitcoin. The more interesting bit is why.
For me, what was fascinating was how he discussed our system at an architectural level rather than a nuts & bolts level. In fact, his claim is that ANY hierarchical system will always be corrupted. This is why revolutions don't work... or don't work for long. He wants to move back to "peer to peer" economics.
Using Bitcoin as an example, there is no huge flow of many anywhere for anyone to straddle and extract rent from. So no transaction fees dragging down the economy at 2% per. And nobody can even PUT any transaction fees on it because there's nowhere to do that function... no central clearing house. He envisions blockchain being deployed to take other current social systems which are currently hierarchical and make them peer-to-peer.
Comments
Hope Everyone Has a Great Christmas
... and prosperous New Year!
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
Excellent talk
The Why is very important, but what I would like to see addressed is what happens when countries start taking over the Internet to not allow cryptocurrency transactions. The whole thing is built around a free and open Internet, and I cannot see governments allowing this to continue. What happens when your currency is only accessible through a system that can be manipulated?
Sorry if this has been addressed. I know very little about the topic at this time; although, I have been trying to get a handle on it.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
I guess I have two answers to that
A) In the abstract
What you are talking about is a total government clampdown on the internet because anything else would simply be routed around. Remember that with Bitcoin, EVERY SINGLE NODE has the full blockchain on their computer. The protocol used to discuss the blockchain can be fussed with easily... for instance... running it over TOR. It really isn't all that easy to censor the internet without pretty much turning it off... as several dictatorships have found already. The problem with turning it off is that the oligarchs also rely on it.
B) More Specifically
If the government is, in fact, willing to go to draconean measures like a shutdown (or major impairment of the internet) then really there's nothing we the people can do except escalate or accept. That's what yellow vests are for. How is this any different than the government being able to seize my assets right now for any reason it wants?
Nothing is perfect and bitcoin may or may not be the end answer. But the notion that this problem will always be there unless we come up with less hierarchical models seems sensible. It helps to focus the goals of any reasonable revolution.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
Ummm, what is TOR?
Good points. I am planning to copy my stuff from FB (not that I really use it) over to Minds, and they use bitcoin so I may learn more about it there. The philosophy behind it makes sense, it is the cogs and wheels I am trying to get a handle on.
I was thinking along the lines of how Google was setting up a censored search engine in China and how govt's can control access. If the oligarchs are building bombshell mansions (have no idea if that is a conspiracy theory or not), then they can just as easily set up their own private Internet setup and shut everyone else down. As the top people of Comcast, Verizon and AT&T are part of that group, they would have no qualms, as long as they get paid well enough for it.
I really don't look good in yellow. May I have a blue vest, please? Or maybe paisley in earth colors.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
I, for one, eagerly await…
…delivery of the new computing hardware necessary to support the full blockchain at my location! When may I expect delivery? (/s)
Bitcoin is a game for rich people.
“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett
Is bitcoin for rich people?
If you'd watched the video, you'd have seen that poor people in a variety of countries see it differently. In point of fact, they see fiat currency as "rich people's" money... and with good reason. It is rich people who control fiat currency.
Bitcoin does not require any particularly sophisticated hardware to run. You just don't get to have a a full node if you don't have a desktop computer with a couple gig's to burn on the HD and a wired internet connection. Otherwise, you can just run a wallet. I actually have all my coins right now in wallet although I also still run a node (all my coins meaning .05Btc I bought a long time ago on a lark).
The real problem with bitcoin is that it can be complicated to use. That, and there's another deeper technical problem involving how many transactions per second the blockchain can support. Both are being worked on aggressively. I did play around with a bitcoin ATM in town and it wasn't all that hard to put money into my bitcoin wallet and take it out again, although it was more complicated than a normal ATM.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
bitcoin...
if nothing else, it is a good hedge against the dollar...like gold. At one time Max was trying to convince Mexico to develop a silver based cryptocurrency. I wish they would. Currently Venezuela has the petro - a crypto backed up with their oil and resources. I like the idea of a something real to base the value for currency. I also like the idea of cutting out the banksters.
I must admit to having a couple of bitcoin. I bought in at about $3000, multiplied my holding by 8x and am now back to about where I was when I bought in.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Like I said
I don't have the necessary hardware.
I live in rural USA. That means my crappy Internet service makes videos almost unwatchable.
I hear internet service is better in Kenya.
“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett
I'm not sure what "necessary hardware" you are missing
Honestly, any computer with web access is the minimum requirement. A smartphone makes it portable. But obviously, all of this is not really a thing yet because spending your bitcoins is still way too hard.
I wasn't here advocating for bitcoin. I felt the point about decentralized systems being more resistant to corruption was worth mentioning though. It applies everywhere... voting systems, payment systems, pretty much everywhere the word "system" is used.
Consider a blockchain election system. EVERY single vote is indelibly recorded for the entire world to see. Only the voter would know which specific vote was theirs. But ALL The votes are public and they are contained in a shared public database. Nobody can "flip a switch" and change the count. Every single vote that is cast is digitally signed in that moment and then publicly stored. ANYONE could do a count or recount whenever they wished.
Now let's ponder how hard it'd be to tamper with that system. You could change the vote right at the voting station. But if the voter checks their vote when they get home they will immediately see the problem. Beyond that, the vote is cast in digital concrete and the total votes can be counted by anyone. How, exactly, would you rig it? There's no single point of attack anywhere. Literally NOBODY has the power to change a vote. Votes could be tossed out, but that would be public too... every single one of them.
That's the power of decentralized systems.
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard