Rather, it puts a target on every one of us.

Yes, when Satoshi put in the limit, he also reassured us on its temporary nature by describing the mechanism to change it (by adding a higher block size starting at a far future block so that there would be adequate time for upgrades and get us past the HARD fork issue.). ...I have my own ideas on the best ways to do that.  Somewhat better than Gavin's proposal, and only a little more complicated.

Its not something we've done though.  So when folks say things like "no problem if 2SHA-2 256 is cracked by quantum, we'll just change the algorithm", I cringe when I hear that word "just".  It doesn't belong, it is not a minor change and it doesn't make sense to minimize the impact and challenge.

...

In some ways, a SOFT fork such as SCs present similar challenges.  In some ways it is easier but in others it is harder.  Compatible and non-compatible software/hardware can run at the same time and on the same chain.  The security profile gets a little complicated there.  A MM'd SC can be mined by equipment that can't process an SPV (and so would accept any attempt as valid).

The economic impact is also easy to underestimate, and assumptions about things for which we have no evidence and only untested theory are simply insane.

Look at the number of times the word "will" is used to make some untested theory sound like it is a proven fact.  Doing so is likely to make any scientist (or engineer) cringe with contempt for the author.  It is something I struggle with, because although I agree with the notion of exploring the innovation of SC, and working toward adding it to the Bitcoin tool belt of possible solutions for certain problems...  We kill that possibility by making unsupportable claims about an uncertain future.  It is so easy to do bad marketing in this space because just about ALL the real "customers" are so much smarter and more knowledgeable than the marketing folks on what they are pushing.  Everyone sees when the conclusions are assumed in the argument, most are just too polite to say much about it.

The marketing folks should consider their audience when posting here.

It doesn't make sense to minimize the impact and challenge.

I also like gmax and his work.  We met in AMS in 2013 (and prior to that, though he didn't remember).
He knows me mostly by my writing.  He doesn't like my criticisms of government.  Still we have more in common than we have differences.
I'm not a political guy, don't adhere to any party, but I do love liberty, and I tend to say so right out in public.
I've spent many hours in the company of the "original" cypherpunks so certainly some things have rubbed off on me.

I wouldn't characterise gmaxwell as a communist, but I really wouldn't know if he were.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp2TFlA2lbzrdVUsYbG-NYQ

Tea time @BitcoinBelle weekly videos and Bitcoin Girls Night Out

Time for a new poll: how long until bitcoin reaches 10K

Is there a post wall?

Inflation punishes savers over spenders and enriches the issuing authority unjustly.  Some people think it is better for growth.  History shows stable money and low tax is the best formula for growth.  

Bitcoin is inflationary in terms of monetary base, not deflationary as new Bitcoin are issued with each block.  People consider it deflationary because its relative value tends to rise (especially when it isn't falling) and because of the asymptotic cap of 21M but Bitcoin that haven't been issued can't really be considered until they are spendable.  Bitcoin is above 4% inflation for the next few years yet as shown:

Either time travel is my other hobby or a digit dropped off the date parameter on the BB tag, or both.

This is good, you made it a good part of the way.  My statement was not enough to take it further so here's a sign post for the next step:
Which is the better governance, is there a difference, and why?
1) The father that requires his child to be home by midnight on weekends.
2) A similar city curfew.
3) A national curfew.
4) A global curfew.

All laws must require enforcement in order to be law. Enforceability is primarily a matter of geography, and of what authority holds the uncontested right of force within that geography.
So please consider whether the calculus of "# of regulations" is therefore an insufficient gauge for measuring government freedom restrictions, and consider also the number of square meters/kilometers those regulations cover in their scope.

Here's the thing, these miner's economic incentives are also what subverts the security of MM SCs.  

The problem here is that SCs are expected to be valuable.

To paraphrase Peter Todd, merge-mining without majority, (or at least near-majority) hashing power of the whole pool of the miners compatible with doing so...an attacker can 51% attack the SC at negligible cost by re-using existing hashing power.  

Namecoin is exceptional because it is a time-stamping service that is a mere public good and perhaps more importantly, not profitable.  So without money involved, the economic incentive to attack it would come from competitive forces (ICANN? LOL!).

Dogecoin-Litecoin?  Another exception.  Dogecoin is just the cutest of all the crypto currencies.  So charity, much wow.  People won't like you much for kicking a dog when its down.  SCs are about the money/assets/privacy, so they have no such immunity.  They are more attractive targets, and potentially much more lucrative.

To release a SC MM'd with Bitcoin, it should be launched with near complete acceptance by the entire mining community of Bitcoin.  (and getting that requires both centralization of mining, and trusting the centralized controllers)

MM is a trade-off.  With merge mining you get protection against all the externals to crypto, in exchange for vulnerability to all the internals, the ASIC armed Bitcoin miners.  It is a delicate balance as to which is the greater risk.  Furthermore, the incentives to attack should be expected to shift as a SC gains value or if a large number of BTC get locked into the SC.  The economics and vulnerability profile are much less simple than you make it sound.

...

The cynic in me would consider whether all the trolling you are doing here is for the benefit of the Blockstream investment pool to get some low-cost Due Diligence work out of us.  The sort of analysis you are getting from some of the folks here is pure gold.

The end of the dollar-as-we-know-it is already baked in.  We are just playing out the rope.  It has nothing to do with Bitcoin, the Empire has done it to itself with a broken model.

Bitcoin is one of the possibilities of preventing the war and despotism, that historically follows when very large currencies fail....

Napoleon after the Assignat hiperinflation
Hitler after the Weimar Republic
Dark Ages after the Roman debasement

Bitcoin brings a hope for peace in the times to come.  The time that any student of history can tell us promises to be the most dire challenge humanity has yet faced.  We just need to can keep it from doing to itself what every other currency does.

You are right there 100%.
So long as people are willing to trade away their bitcoin for CB money, the CB's have a shot at getting in on it too.

One of my favorite paper currencies was Netherland's gilders.
http://www.leftovercurrency.com/banknotes/netherlands/dutch-guilders.php
One of the more beautiful and functional fiat paper money sets is gone now, replaced by the more prosaic Euro.  
The Netherlands remains a country.

The future is uncertain, maybe the Gilder or something even better will return someday.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-18/dutch-had-back-up-plan-to-reintroduce-guilder-dijsselbloem-says.html

Lets set aside whether "the ledger" can be coherently discussed as being on multiple block chains for now.  I'll continue to think of it as reconcilable multiple ledgers (via SPV), and you can think of it as only one.  We both know what the other means now, I think.

A single block chain is not always "congruent" with itself.  When that happens, we call it a reorganization, or at a smaller level, we get orphaned blocks.
When these reorganizations occur, what remains is the longest chain and a log entry, and life goes on.  Usually when it has happened it is just a few blocks.  On a faster chain it happens more frequently though.

One of the highly sought after SC is for faster transactions.  
Merge mined chains are more vulnerable than those that aren't.

The kept intact and secure part is going to need some work to manage what happens when there is a reorganization occurs that bridges outside the confirmation period.

The Blockstream whitepaper gives this period a day or two.  That may be sufficient to make it mathematically impractical (maybe even if it is merge mined), or it might not.  Or other folks might compete with Blockstream and offer SC with a shorter confirmation period.  There is a lot of flexibility here, a SC can be most anything.

These single-ledger sound-money links can break.  They may not do so anytime soon, but it is one of those risks we want to address.

An economy is also a different thing than a currency.
I don't know if my text book is anything like yours, but maybe a dictionary would help you?  
There are different definitions for all three of these "economy" "currency" "country".

I can't see what point you are making here other than "we never left war economies", I would agree with you on that.
War is typically what ends sound money.  The threat of WWI ended gold and silver current money in the USA and brought the 3rd central bank.

The War of 1812 brought the 2nd.

So yes, for so long as there is a central bank, you can say "we" never left war economy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_central_banking_in_the_United_States

My point is slightly different though.  You can end the currency quite nicely without ending the country.
(At least twice so far in the USA, if not counting the Civil War currencies of Lincoln's greenback and the Confederate script - we got 2 new central banks out of that war one for each side, both also ended)

According to Bernanke, yes it stopped.  lol

Ron Paul: "Do you think gold is money?"
Ben Bernanke: "No"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NJnL10vZ1Y at 4:25

Federal Reserve Notes are the king of the promissory notes.  People even still call them Dollars.

Protest lack of democracy in China, get sent to jail and be forced to play World of Warcraft,
If you don't make your quota of Warcraft gold, you get beat up with a plastic pipe.
True story:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam

As of November 16, 2014
(Updated November 20, 2014)

Total Cases: 15145
Laboratory-Confirmed Cases: 9427
Total Deaths: 5420

A country is not its currency.
The USA is on its 3rd central bank.  (Not including the civil war greenback or the confederate script.)  Abolishing the CBs has never been easy.  Few people alive today remember a time when free of such.
As a nation the US struggled against the establishment of government banks repeatedly.  For the last 100 years that struggle has failed.

Bitcoin is not really weaponizable in that sense.  It is instead the disarming end of the conflict.
The war is more between the different central banks, and less between the governments.
That people confuse these sadly shows how much Bitcoin is a product of its time.
A country is not its currency.

City Center: Monero House

Yes, the Cathedral.


The Noble Palace is ideal for those that have traveled far to be with us in this great city, and this establishment specializes in catering to the more esoteric tastes from far flung lands.
The Pax Mongolica have provided a stream of the softest textiles of unparalleled quality (and many other eclectic goods for which you ought inquire with the concierge) through the aptly named Silk Road to the East.  If privilege and privacy are concerns, this is the choice.



In addition to the French Chef, the spices from India and points beyond are available in rare supply to the more discerning of palates.  Our culinary emissaries have heard tales that there may even be a route to India to the West!  The news that it is being chartered on the ships: Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria and so we expect these may become even more available if that ship comes in...  


The Monero House provides a wonderful place to mingle with people of learning and sample a beverage in an idle moment.