APPROPRIATE FOR APRIL FOOLS’ DAY: CENTRAL BANKS, ...
I should put this one in the "you tell me" category, because I don't intend on commenting much today about this article, other than to say I am not, let me repeat that, not in favor of any cashless society, nor of central banks having any role in same. Physical media of exchange must always remain if there is to be genuine individual freedom, creativity, and movement.
But that said, I'd like to know everyone else's thoughts here for a change:
What I'm wondering about, specifically here, is if anyone else sees what I'm seeing here, but, I can only give a hint: in such a world as outlined here, what, if any, is the place for, say, British sovereign securities?
See you on the flip side...
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Joseph: In a world of sustainable universal abundancies, cash is unnecessary. Unbeknownst to most, we now live in that world. Ask Bucky Fuller. Or just ask secret space program guys & gals (e.g., yourself — ;-)).
Unemployment is abundant labor. With cheap energy, all resources are abundant. Infrastructure easily built. Pre-Babylonian banksters created artificial & unnecessary scarcities of resources & money. Biggest Secret (multimillennial).
With universal abundancies, ALL supply-&-demand-based Communist & Capitalist economic equations go to zero or infinity (i.e., they’re obsolete).
For now, competing currencies are good — competing crypto-currencies, asset-backed private currencies, community currencies and state-controlled central banks (e.g., Qaddafi’s Libya, Assad’s Syria, Shiite Iran & Hitler’s Germany).
US Constitution mandates that Congress control coin/currency. Federal Reserve & Internal Revenue acts were 100-year ticking time bombs — now exploding.
Communism dead, Capitalism bankrupt. BRICS-like monetary, banking & economic systems inadequate to fill the void. New systems needed. What are they? ;-).
“New systems needed. What are they?;-)”
Guess what? The reasons the new systems aren’t visible is because we are taught not to respect or even look at them. My family contains Baha’i members who, I’m told are taught that even political engagement is wrong. As I’ve said elsewhere the depth of cynicism about at least the Nigerian government is also bracing.
So is the creativity and entrepreneurship going on around the world. At the same time what has been happening is a march of progress – in affordability at least – which is making traditional centralization so expensive that continuing to follow it as a strategy may result in the “culling” of everyone, including elites and yes I mean ALL the elites. Extinction.
I have profound differences with the politics of most of the people who come here. I will even say, with African relatives, the good Doctor’s comments about the Democrats and slavery is simplistic (1. my capital f key isn’t working, 2. I’m not trying to defend it – my interpretation involves the history of the Puritans of Massachusetts who hung Quakers as well as “witches” and didn’t dare hang my ancestor Roger Williams because he was Cromwell’s second cousin). At the same time, I admit that Main Street MAKES money – or finds it while Wall Street takes money as a tariff. I just don’t think you will get a level playing field without rules which may appear to impact honest wealth.
Main Street in Sioux falls (my f key see above) doesn’t look very much like Main Street in Enugu or Vellore. However phones are making access to information easier and easier and the creation of real wealth everywhere.
I don’t like terrorism but I see the efforts to control its communications as part of those centralization strategies which could backfire. The new systems are decentralized. Look up ad-hoc and mesh networking. It’s happening in the real world wherever we find or create wealth and the cost of getting your products where it will give you and others real good is falling.
This is, of course, very long-term though.
JP39: “New Systems” are not yet ‘visible,’ designed or invented because WE need to design and invent these “New Systems.” You too, Joseph. ;-).
Your Baha’i family members were correct, in part. “New Systems” do not ordinarily come from government. Far from it. Politics yields few benefits. The “rEvolution” comes much more from tech inventions — not from government or from accepted science.
Nigeria’s Prez Buhari (whom I know) knows this stuff. Open to hydrocarbon/nuke replacement technologies. Buhari will prevail.
You & I both have “profound differences” with commenters here — including Joseph. But Joseph & they THINK. Others do not.
In a world of universal abundancies in which we live, a “level playing field” is not necessary. Main Street’s production of real stuff wins over Wall Street’s production of fake stuff.
Tariffs & taxes tilt the playing field but cannot win the game. ‘The Many’ will prevail — without taking much from ‘The Few.’
“Access to Info” is key — internet, phones & other. Full disclosure soon coming to Main St. & Wall St. — and Nigeria.
Terrorism is a tool of the Powers That Be (or were). Failing now. We see that game.
What we say will happen in less than one year. Mark the words.
Respectfully, my point is that the New Systems are already here. They may not be large or strong enough to show but we are reaching the point as I said where Centralization is more expensive and threatens affluence (if you knew how much keeping data caps on the net costs you wouldn’t believe that business model is better than real unlimited data either).
Barter is on the world networks, or I should say computers are doing to the pre-existing networks what they did to work in the developed world, which is empowering – and where crypto-currencies will get their power from going forward. As I’ve said before I’ve watched the Cyberpunk authors’ (Gibson, Sterling etc) dystopia grow as if they were using what doesn’t work in the books as a template. And it won’t work because money is being made on small machines in the developing world which are seldom if ever connected to networks beyond the immediate vicinity. Most Americans whether they use it or not have the capacity to share files and resources from all the machines in their vicinity, and this is true everywhere, it is sometimes the only way to share, and people do it.
By the way what’s happening in Abuja now actually has very little to with the corruption and cynicism there. Yes I know it is “only” the capital, but speaking as someone whose connections are mainly with Igbos, Chinua Achebe’s No Longer At Ease and Arrow Of God are probably in some ways more devastating indictments than Anthills of the Savannah – for which he got into so much trouble. It really is better to mention names at this point, whether you like them or not (my niece hosted Patience Jonathan in LA once).
Um – better NOT to mention names. Sorry.
JP39: Yes, the “New Systems” are already here, which are the old systems. Computer-assisted barter is better, but sustainable universal abundancies eliminate even the need for barter.
Decentralization is better than centralization — more responsive to individual & group needs.
Yes, metering telecom & data costs much and is counterproductive to communications – by design. Telecom was/is my field. Now also infrastructure development (in Nigeria, Syria & elsewhere).
Especially in Nigeria, we live in a world of unrecognized abundance — where ‘The Many’ need take little from ‘The Few’ to enable ALL. Only for now, Buhari does not know how to do that.
My connections in Nigeria are mainly with Igbos & Hausa Fulani. In telecom & computers, to those who push the storage/computing envelopes. In energy, to those who can make it cheap or free. If as & when we do (i.e., now), we live in a whole new world…
New Systems needed. What are they? ;-).
Mr. T.J., I have to repeat what I said up top:
“The reasons the new systems aren’t visible is because we are taught not to respect or even look at them.” An example would be Linux. And Africa. When we ask about African Linux we’re not even told often Ubuntu is from South Africa. This one is not mentioned:
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=wazobia
Yes it is discontinued. That’s common in Linux: #! with a LOT of backers just folded. But while Wazobia was here I used it as a live CD occasionally and it was EXCELLENT. Also impeccably Open Source unlike some Red Hat derivatives. And this is just Nigeria. I actually don’t believe the New Systems are the old systems. As Gertrude Stein said, “After all, masterpieces are dying all the time.” While she is talking literature it goes beyond that. My sister, I’m told, brought the first apple computer to SouthEast Nigeria, to be used in a friend’s garage. And the friend is quite substantial now. But underneath the current system new wealth, new ideas and new people are growing – and are evolving as the circumstances change the systems which work for them.
Mr. JP39: You say (again): “The reasons the new systems aren’t visible is because we are taught not to respect or even look at them.” Then ignore what ‘we are taught’! Use what works.
VERY African “Ubuntu” is *A* basis for new economic, banking & monetary systems, especially in a world of sustainable universal abundancies. Few know Ubuntu — probably not even Joseph.
Open systems generally work better than closed systems. However, open computer, monetary, banking & economic systems are generally subject to something like Metcalfe’s Law, which says that the value of a telecom network or open system is roughly proportional to the square of the number of users of the (open) system.
For an open system to be useful & valuable, we need others to use it. Locally, barter is useful. Globally, barter is inconvenient — except that commonly-valued, computer-assisted barter can work worldwide.
As an interim step, what’s needed is a commonly-valued medium of exchange (or currency) accepted by others. Virtually any currency will work. Bucky Fuller’s KWH-based currency also works.
You say: “I actually don’t believe the New Systems are the old systems.” Barter is an old system. An older system is self-sufficiency — producing all that you need by yourself.
With sustainable universal abundancies (already existing or easily existing, especially with Ubuntu), old systems soon become new systems.
Computers, telecom & networking enable new systems and new wealth — commercial, monetary & banking. Cheap or free energy is already here, as per Secret Space Program & other inventions.
As you say, “Underneath the current system, new wealth, new ideas and new people are growing – and are evolving as the circumstances change the systems which work for them” – and for everyone. Networking enables & harnesses a transformation of consciousness, which accelerates new systems.
New thinking about new/old systems and already-existing sustainable universal abundancies enables all of this to happen. Now. In Nigeria+.
JP39: To understand more about what I say above, Google >Ubuntu Michael Tellinger PDF<. Glance at the book's table of contents. Read it, if you like.
May or may not help you with Wazobia & Linux in Nigeria, but Ubuntu may be useful for other stuff.
New Systems needed. What are they? ;-).
That Ubuntu is useful for everything. I’ve heard Mr. Tellinger discuss it on Capricorn Radio – and I’ve read some of his stuff. 🙂 The Ubuntu I meant was Mark Shuttleworth’s historic Linux distribution, which showed you did not have to clone the world’s most popular consumer operating system to compete. Mr. Shuttleworth created to give back to the community after selling his Cape Town Internet Security firm for close to a billion rand. He’s done other nice things. I have issues with some aspects of recent versions but it remains, to my mind, an Ubuntu gesture.
I don’t need help with Wazobia Linux thank you. I just feel that even though it’s defunct it’s worth celebrating. The commmunity is still there. Check out http://www.africanlinux.com . The level of expertise is exactly as high as southern New England where I live.
JP39: You say “That Ubuntu is useful for everything.” Yes. Duh!?
Tellinger also works well with David Wilcock & Corey Goode. Not necessarily true — but interesting stuff (i.e., worth checking).
Of course, you were referring to Shuttleworth’s Ubuntu operating system. Good stuff, but gone.
Nigeria’s much maligned ‘409’ stuff (mostly just Western sabotage) is actually just another indication of Nigeria’s entrepreneurial spirit. Works well with Ubuntu & sustainable abundances. Better than in southern New England. ;-).
New Systems needed. What are they? ;-).
“After all he’s only human.”
Mans powers of perception and comprehension is limited and his response is very predictable (after aggregating people’s online behaviour, veeery predictable) anything outside the perceptible realm is a ‘mystery’ incomprehensible.
Could it be that an AI is being used to game the system beyond our ability to perceive its next move?
A cashless society is nothing more than the SWIFT system for the everyday citizen. 95% of all tracking will be unnecessary if a cashless society exist, you will have told Uncle everything. From your food and prescription purchases (Healthcare), Utilities (consumption), robbing interest (savings), being vulnerable to theft (hacking), and theft from Uncle (Taxes). Like everything else you will be guilty until proven innocent, your money confiscated by uncle and the court system leaving you unable to defend yourself without money, and no way to support your family.
The takers will now be keystroke takers. There will be no way to stop the diabolical control of a society. The last nail in the coffin of privacy.
In concept I think bitcoin is promising. My main concern is the mystery surrounding the inventor, it definitely smells of ‘intelligence/cia’.
I suppose it could just as well be a covert breakaway civilization of brilliant nerds, who realize the centralized banking model is a great hindrance to human potential, and this is the safest way to start a transition.
Cash in the hand is worth two in the bush!
A doe came running out of the bush…
I’ll never do that for two bucks again.
I’m thinking one step closer to the RFID chip or whatever else they can come up with in that area… Keep a hard copy of your bottom line. 😉
yeh right. oo-opting and recentralization is the tactic. which clarifies the strategy and goals. and what exactly is safe from being co-opted and centralized?
makes me wanna send joseph cash in the mail. better yet some real food. or books. i know daniel. i know. it’s still a dream though.
“Computer scientists have devised a digital crypto-currency in league with the Bank of England…”
What could possibly be wrong, with those Players?? Backdoors will obviously be built-in from the outset. Plus, quantum computers could defeat security codes if needed.
Outside of skimming-off money for the benefit of the Central Banks, I could see RScoin as a great ‘honeypot’ scheme. Let people use it for a while, til their hackles go down. Then, people being people, it will be used in all sorts of ‘questionable’ transactions. It is ‘anonymous’, you know. Then, certain types will show up at your door and ask for ‘favors’ in return for not revealing that you bought X or did Y.
A global ‘honeypot’ scheme. Brilliant!
Negative interest rates adore cashless societies.
They just steal to their hearts content:
A Bankster’s Paradise!
They already steal w/impunity.
But now, even Grandmas’ mattresses are rendered obsolete.
A cashless society is a heartless society.
A digital centralized cashless society, that is.
Bartering can be cashless; gold/silver/tally sticks, et al can be cashless, even a gentleman’s agreement. But to bar all transactions except a monopolized digital centralized currency; is an insane asylum’s manna from heaven.
cashless society works on the assumption that everyone has stable access to web.
here in australia the internet goes on the blink every other tuesday and the rest of the time it crawls like a fat kid up a sand dune.
the cost of data is also snuck in there. $1 at the shops is $1 but $1 on the internet $1 and the cost of the data it takes to transfer.
so if your amongst us great unwashed masses that are forced to buy expensive data pre paid cause you dont qualify plan then your, once again, not even offered a compassionate jar of KY.
I’m from Australia Dan, but from Melbourne. The net here is great. But I know of people who have huge problems on large areas of farmland. Or… some country towns. I have cable, which is pretty good.
the best olde worlde copper system money could buy.
we decided to go steampunk
Satellite is getting better. Check around, there may be alternatives.
The house always wins.
Anything that can be manipulated in a power play by power players will be.
The cryptocurrencies are 21st century.
Like gold they are mined and there is a finite amount.
The central banks are putting out a fiat bit coin that is, of course, centralized. It is a pure and simple con job.
There are many crypto currencies on the market that are being fitted to certain niche markets worldwide. The third world is using them on an exponential growth curve via cellular phones/smart phones. They are the decentralized future.
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE DECENTRALIZED!!!
Personally I wouldn’t trust any bank, even they do provide physical money, take a look at what happen at the bank of some country, they can set up the so call rule to limit people’s cash redraw, and they also more or less rob the citizen’s bank to cover the government’s mistake, that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever hear.
But once a country go into crisis, anything could happen!!! I don’t mind to use digital cash for easy transaction, but I wouldn’t keep my saving in any bank. Bank for me it just another (legal) loan shark, and they wouldn’t pour paint and hang pig head at my door if I didn’t pay them back my loan >.>
The SHA-II encryption underpinnings of BitCoin were written by the NSA and have alleged backdoors that allow all those amazing BC thefts. These backdoors accompany the backdoors in all our computers and handheld devices. Any questions? In 92, I stated put nothing on your computer you do not want the World to see.
I am old school I love good old real money, books, dvds, cds. Some thing you can hold in you hands cashless society looks like dreamland fantasy island Neverland. But then we are dealing with jerks that dream numbers are real, credit-debit cards are secure from hackers what could ever go wrong or they high tech confidence people or outright swindlers. Welcome to OZ it’s off to see the wizard how did that song go?
“It’s posited as a good thing. Everyone needs a second opinion on what they need to do with their cash and where they spend it. No doubt your friendly central banker will be glad to give you advice, and penalize you if you don’t take it.”
No doubt they’re advancing the control mechanisms through currencies.
Heard an idea about forces wanting to limit culture and then harvesting off it..hmmm
If this isn’t an obvious “April Fools” charade, then it is something much more sinister. No doubt, at some point, your account ID will be branded into your forehead or hand. The central banks, and those that own them, seek nothing less than total world domination; this would be just one more step along an accelerating path toward that goal, and they will suffer no competition.
The recent theft of 100 million would pale in comparison to what is coming with the forced introduction of the cashless society; the laws are already in place to allow it. Entire nations across the globe would be instantly bankrupted to cover the derivatives bubble set to burst, this is by design. When you have the only game in town, you set the rules any way you desire. Total surveillance and control of all monetary transactions would insure world domination by those who would be “gods” among men.
As I have stated in the past, what was foretold long ago appears to be the plan they are using to implement it.
As Keynes said “The problem with the long run is we’re all dead”, however I frankly think Crypto-currencies are the future because like barter they precisely have the ability to be handled in a decentralized manner and I really do believe that innovation and the creation of wealth comes mainly from the ground – taking off from Manny farber’s comments about termite art call it termite wealth creation. In other words RSCoin is bad, but if they outlaw things like bitcoin only outlaws will have bitcoins (and they WILL know how to use them). However this is a very long run prediction – I have no idea whether we’ll see it or not. There are crypto-currencies and crypto-currencies.
If they ever implement a cashless society I predict barter will become the norm as it becomes the norm for people to work for food and actual goods from the few who actually have corporate and government jobs and get paid in digital currency. All the service providers and tradesmen like my self will just be giving these customers long lists of items they need to buy for us in order for us to remodel their house or do their lawn work. Either that or pay us in precious metals. It’ll be the beginning of the end for the establishment as their digital currency becomes more and more worthless.
Globally barter is still the norm and will remain so, most likely, because most people can’t afford the tariffs imposed by Central Banks. It’s likely the “developed” world will return to it more than it has, but with crypto currencies we have for the first time another decentralized alternative which does provide us with some protection (though not that much). The way prices have fallen -real prices – since the Ancient World suggests they would need another cosmic war to keep prices high enough to maintain the status quondam.
How does the saying go? A fool and his money are soon…
I see bitcoin as a sort of pyramid scheme. The people who bought in early and made a fortune but didn’t cash out in time need a lot more new participants to drive up the value of bitcoin so they can cash out rich. Probably an experiment to make cashless digital currency hip while at the same time making real money while they work out the bugs of this potential new system. I’ll never use it or accept it.
Is Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme?
In a Ponzi Scheme, the founders persuade investors that they’ll profit. Bitcoin does not make such a guarantee. There is no central entity, just individuals building an economy.
A ponzi scheme is a zero sum game. Early adopters can only profit at the expense of late adopters. Bitcoin has possible win-win outcomes. Early adopters profit from the rise in value. Late adopters, and indeed, society as a whole, benefit from the usefulness of a stable, fast, inexpensive, and widely accepted p2p currency.
The fact that early adopters benefit more doesn’t alone make anything a Ponzi scheme. All good investments in successful companies have this quality.
Doesn’t Bitcoin unfairly benefit early adopters?
Early adopters in Bitcoin are taking a risk and invested resources in an unproven technology. By so doing, they help Bitcoin become what it is now and what it will be in the future (hopefully, a ubiquitous decentralized digital currency). It is only fair they will reap the benefits of their successful investment.
In any case, any bitcoin generated will probably change hands dozens of time as a medium of exchange, so the profit made from the initial distribution will be insignificant compared to the total commerce enabled by Bitcoin. Many of the earliest users of Bitcoin have traded their coins at valuations below $1 US, or other amounts which are small compared to contemporary prices.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Help:FAQ#Doesn.27t_Bitcoin_unfairly_benefit_early_adopters.3F
If Gold is a Ponzi scheme;
so is bitcoin.
But they are not.
That is not to say that gold may have been compromised by some alchemical technology either terrestrial or otherwise. Or, that crypto currencies could/have been compromised by some qubit-like computer, or some technological backdoors built within the hardware[cell phones/smart phones/computers] or in the wireless transmission systems themselves. Where there is a human link/chain, there is a[re] corruptible link[s] in said chain[s].
“Cryptocurrencies are increasingly important, and you need to know about them.”
Don’t say nobody told you.