First of all, there is no such thing as intrinsic value. Value is merely how much people want something. It is subjective. If bitcoin has no 'intrinsic' value, than neither does gold. Gold is not backed by anything. But why is gold valuable? Because people want it. Why do they want it? Because it is safe from sudden increases in supply that lower it's price. It is a store of value.

In the same way: bitcoin is not backed by anything. But why is it valuable? Because people want it. Why do they want it? Because it is safe from sudden and rapid increases in supply, and it works well as a medium of exchange in online transactions and general trade.

Ban.

Glad to see the principle of voluntaryism gaining ground.

Asking what is bitcoin backed by is like asking what is gold back by. Gold is not backed by anything. It doesn't need to be. And neither does bitcoin.

Wait, wouldn't the man with the biggest gun (governments today) be the centralized authority?

Good try though .

Information is non-scarce. When one gives it to another person, the originator still has it.

Information is non-rival. When you take it from someone, you do not deprive him of the ability to use that information.

I was always against tyranny. However, as a child I started liking communism because it promised 'social justice', with it's everybody gets what he needs, everybody produces what he can  infantile fantasies. After learning about democracy and republics, I believed in democracy, because everybody should have a right to vote, everybody should have a right to participate.

Then I began to realize the fallacies of democracy, that it is nothing more than a majority infringing the right of the minority, and moved slightly towards more republican views, such as constitutional government. This step opened the door to having civil rights and individual rights being of core importance in determining societal organization. Of course, after prioritizing individual rights, one can quickly see the contradictions of constitutional republican governments (read Frederic Bastiat: The Law). That let to espousing a minarchist limited government view. Government only when necessary.


Then logic and reason eventually guided me towards voluntaryism, that any action taken, anyone affected by that action must agree to that action as much as possible.

Amazing.

But what guarantees everyone will use the same difficulty? How is the difficulty globalized?

I already read that a few times, I'm asking a specific question about who made the genesis block, and how difficulty level is implemented.

I understand now.

So what's the point of opening an account at mybitcoin?

Is there something embedded in the genesis block that regulates difficulty? If not, then who decides difficulty, wouldn't a central authority (yikes) need to decide the difficulty level?

It seems so baffling to me, like asking where did the universe come from. But I'm intent on learning.

Ok now I understand the difference

But here comes another question: where is my private key? All I know is my public key. Who generated my keys?

Thanks. I'm obviously new to cryptography, and I'm a little overwhelmed by the amount of new info

When I sign a transaction with my private key, how is the network prevented from finding out my private key? How can it verify that I signed it without knowing the private key used to sign it?

I got to get out of this place
If it's the last thing I ever do


But seriously, I was lurking this place for atleast 4 hours before I decided to register. I figured out how to mine based on reading posts from this forum. I'm also interested in discussing economy, politics and society, particularly topics on voluntaryism.

oh wow I'm wasting my time then. You think I should try using my CPU instead (quad core 750 i5 @ 2.67 Ghz)? If so, what app?

I'm probably going to buy an ATi very soon anyway.

I'm mining 9Mhash/s using an Nvidia 9600GT.

Is this optimal or could it be better? I'm using poclbm.exe to mine

I just discovered this yesterday by accident, got interested in the concept, researched it some more, then when I understood the concept, I was shocked. SHOCKED. It is relatively simple yet genius. I spent all day today trying to figure out how to set it up, now I'm mining a solid 9Mhash / s. Is it normal to be this excited? This is practically history in the making. It is revolutionary.

I came in here expecting a tinkle time porn website

What you're ignoring is the cost savings with regards to coinage, minting, and currency storage of physical currencies.