How should we pay for things in space?

[P_Shep]

BBC video:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23374193

Really don't suggest anything, but of course bitcoin would be ideal

[Jaxkr]

BBC video:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23374193

Really don't suggest anything, but of course bitcoin would be ideal

A modified version would be ideal, with multiple blockchains that merge every once in a while, one per planet. It will probably be very costly to have internet between planets, so each planet keeps their own blockchain. They could be combined every x days to increase speed and reduce bandwith use. We don't want the system crippled if a link goes down.

[franky1]

BBC video:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23374193

Really don't suggest anything, but of course bitcoin would be ideal

A modified version would be ideal, with multiple blockchains that merge every once in a while, one per planet. It will probably be very costly to have internet between planets, so each planet keeps their own blockchain. They could be combined every x days to increase speed and reduce bandwith use. We don't want the system crippled if a link goes down.

well untill people in space start producing things to sell to earth, and then want things on earth sent up.. then there would be no need for a medium of exchange.

at the moment these space flights are 'all inclusive' whether you work on the space station everything is taken care of for them. or that champaign glass on virgin galactic is included in the ticket price. so right now its not something people need to dwell on. use your brain power on expanding bitcoin on earth today. not the theoretical possibilities of decades away

[Yeap]

I'm sure someone will create a "Space coin" soon...

[Moogle]

surprised there isnt a space coin already!
not sure how great ping times would be in space ;-) plus then waiting around for confirmations? I cant see the first mcdonalds on the moon accepting these

[greyhawk]

Really don't suggest anything, but of course bitcoin would be ideal

No it wouldn't. Data transaction times preclude any real time processing farther than the distance of Sun <-> Earth

[madmadmax]

People are way, way, wayyyy, over their head.

We are a bunch of pseudointelligent evolved monkeys floating around on a rock, we can't even invent a cure for acne let alone posses the intellect to populate other planets, Earth has been nice enough to let us live for a couple million years provided we don't cause any problem or else we'd be shaken off like fleas, it has been here for billions of years before us and will stay here for billions of years after us.

The average American can't even see through the thick layer of shit put on his forehead every single day, populating other planets would be tens of thousands of years away after global world peace/harmony, which is a state we will unlikely to ever reach.

TL;DR Us thinking of CURRENCIES that we will use AFTER we have populated other planets is the equivalent of a baboon dreaming about driving a Lamborghini after conquering the universe.

[dree12]

People are way, way, wayyyy, over their head.

We are a bunch of pseudointelligent evolved monkeys floating around on a rock, we can't even invent a cure for acne let alone posses the intellect to populate other planets, Earth has been nice enough to let us live for a couple million years provided we don't cause any problem or else we'd be shaken off like fleas, it has been here for billions of years before us and will stay here for billions of years after us.

The average American can't even see through the thick layer of shit put on his forehead every single day, populating other planets would be tens of thousands of years away after global world peace/harmony, which is a state we will unlikely to ever reach.

Certainly not. At present rates of planet destruction, populating other planets will become a priority within a hundred years. Additional death-rate decreases will cause a population explosion by the late 21^st century. Humans will need to migrate off within 200 years, or risk extinction as a species.

[greyhawk]

we can't even invent a cure for acne

[dree12]

we can't even invent a cure for acne

Amazing! You just invented a cure for acne! You'll be showered with Nobel prizes and unlimited praise for this groundbreaking work!

[MatthewLM]

There's nothing wrong with a hypothetical discussion out of interest and intellectual stimulation.

[greyhawk]

we can't even invent a cure for acne

Amazing! You just invented a cure for acne! You'll be showered with Nobel prizes and unlimited praise for this groundbreaking work!

I don't think there's a Nobel prize for Copy&Pasting, but then again I've been wrong before.

[jackjack]

we can't even invent a cure for acne

I'm not sure I want this cure

In 2009, Roche decided to pull Accutane off the US market after juries had awarded millions of dollars in damages to former Accutane users over inflammatory bowel disease claims. Among others, actor James Marshall sued Roche over Accutane-related disease that resulted in removal of his colon

[greyhawk]

we can't even invent a cure for acne

I'm not sure I want this cure

In 2009, Roche decided to pull Accutane off the US market after juries had awarded millions of dollars in damages to former Accutane users over inflammatory bowel disease claims. Among others, actor James Marshall sued Roche over Accutane-related disease that resulted in removal of his colon

Lemme tell you, I was on this cure and it's not funny. But it does work.

[Buffer Overflow]

I'd like to shoot some of these alt-coins off into space. Preferably plotted on a direct course towards the sun.

[Peter Lambert]

By the time we get into serious space settlement, we will have developed the technology to allow faster than light communication. So keeping the blockchain up-to-date will not be a problem.

I still think bitcoin has some scale-ability and usability issues that will keep it from being the single payment method for everything. I think something like Ripple (imagine a ripple without the XRP nonsense) will function as the normal payment method, with bitcoins being the backing and settlement currency.

[greyhawk]

By the time we get into serious space settlement, we will have developed the technology to allow faster than light communication.

By the time we're sufficiently advanced to quantum tunnel data or are establishing miniature wormholes for FTL transmission, is it not likely the whole concept of money is outdated by then?

[elements]

anything but Paypal Galaxy !

Maybe with small boxes of air
containing 1 litre of Himalayan air.

[jackjack]

The humanity would have killed itself long before it had any chance to colonise space

[Peter Lambert]

By the time we get into serious space settlement, we will have developed the technology to allow faster than light communication.

By the time we're sufficiently advanced to quantum tunnel data or are establishing miniature wormholes for FTL transmission, is it not likely the whole concept of money is outdated by then?

I am not sure the concept of money can become outdated? Even if we live in an egalitarian utopia, there will still be reasons to put value on things for accounting and making decisions and stuff.