In which way bitcoin can change the future？

[nakowa]

It needs a lot of imaginations to look forward into the future when it comes to such a revolutionary innovation as bitcoin.

What do you think?

In which way bitcoin can change the future, and how?

Amuse us! please.

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[evoorhees]

First and foremost, it allows frictionless transactions. It cuts out a number of middlemen by making them redundant - thus the transaction is more efficient. This means the wealth of mankind grows faster.

[asdf]

Basically, markets will be freer (much government meddling becomes impossible), resulting in greater economic growth, innovation, technology, quality of life, etc.

[wumpus]

commoditization of (international) money transfers

[flug]

Being able to donate to organizations like Wikileaks without corporate interference is a good start.

In general terms, I would summarize Bitcoin's trajectory as starting with 'wholesome subversion' and ending with plain 'wholesome'.

[Elwar]

If everyone used Bitcoins instead of printable dollars, then wars would be less common.

Wars are funded mainly from printed currency.

[jim618]

Neal Stephenson introduced an interesting idea of 'phyles' in his book Diamond Age:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age

These are effectively economic tribes.

I could see 'bitcoin users' becoming a phyle.

Say I go on a trip to New Zealand for 3 months and rent my accommodation from a 'bitcoiner'.   Then I hire a car off another 'bitcoiner'.
Effectively we have all joined one international like minded phyle.  There is money changing hands, but no pounds, euros or dollars.


 

[Vladimir]

With reference to a number of great posts above, with bitcoin it would also take half the time to develop faster than light speed travel technologies, as compared to the present scheme with middlemen leaching a few percent from every other transaction.

[Bit_Happy]

Bitcoin has already had a big impact, the future will be amazing.
Are you familiar with the original vision of the Paypal founder before reality (and eBay) took over?
People in all countries can protect themselves from the loss of value incurred with their paper money.  

[Vladimir]

Bitcoin will make governments and central banks and other banks honest. (Yea I know this is quite a stretch)

[error]

Bitcoin will make governments and central banks and other banks honest. (Yea I know this is quite a stretch)

Only if it succeeds.

Of course, if Bitcoin succeeds, it will topple governments.

[Anonymous]

Bitcoin will make governments and central banks and other banks honest. (Yea I know this is quite a stretch)

Of course, if Bitcoin succeeds, it will topple governments.

+1

[sunyag]

Bitcoin will make governments and central banks and other banks honest. (Yea I know this is quite a stretch)

Only if it succeeds.

Of course, if Bitcoin succeeds, it will topple governments.

There is no aspect of international markets which, in principle, would not be affected by Bitcoin. And because the international markets are the lifeblood of governments (and their wars), practically everything could be affected.

If the Internet was the 'relativity' of communications, then Bitcoin is the 'quantum mechanics' of economics.

[evoorhees]

Maybe a better question is, "what wouldn't be affected by a Bitcoin-based monetary system?"

[sunyag]

Maybe a better question is, "what wouldn't be affected by a Bitcoin-based monetary system?"

Quite right.

[nazgulnarsil]

Neal Stephenson introduced an interesting idea of 'phyles' in his book Diamond Age:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age

These are effectively economic tribes.

I could see 'bitcoin users' becoming a phyle.

Say I go on a trip to New Zealand for 3 months and rent my accommodation from a 'bitcoiner'.   Then I hire a car off another 'bitcoiner'.
Effectively we have all joined one international like minded phyle.  There is money changing hands, but no pounds, euros or dollars.


 

Yes, bitcoin could effectively make the internet the first non-geographically contiguous country.

also about paypal: yeah Peter Thiel is awesome.  One of the few people in the world who genuinely cares about the future even when caring about that future signals weirdness to others.  He is the biggest supporter of SIAI and supports SENS (people working seriously on friendly AI and radical life extension respectively).

[nazgulnarsil]

With reference to a number of great posts above, with bitcoin it would also take half the time to develop faster than light speed travel technologies, as compared to the present scheme with middlemen leaching a few percent from every other transaction.

FTL violates causality.  Acausal universes probably can't harbor life.

[Rassah]

It needs a lot of imaginations to look forward into the future when it comes to such a revolutionary innovation as bitcoin.

What do you think?

In which way bitcoin can change the future, and how?

Amuse us! please.

Bitcoin will cause a huge split in the market, and possibly lead to a full-scale nuclear world war, when the Bitcoin block chain on the Mars colony permanently forks from the Earth one due to the 15 to 30 minute communication lag, leading to double-spending, loss of faith in the currency, and vastly increased tensions between two already strained political entities. Satoshi should've foreseen the 10 to 20 minute one-way radio transmission time issue when he designed Bitcoin, and made the block generation either take more time, or have built-in interplanetary redundancy.

(you didn't specify how far in the future)

[Vladimir]

With reference to a number of great posts above, with bitcoin it would also take half the time to develop faster than light speed travel technologies, as compared to the present scheme with middlemen leaching a few percent from every other transaction.

FTL violates causality.  Acausal universes probably can't harbor life.

Of course, but hey... not so long ago people were as sure as you now on the above that the Earth is flat.

Moreover, even if your statement is true, this does not make my statement false i.e. there is nothing wrong in the following formula:
 
  infinity/2

[wareen]

Moreover, even if your statement is true, this does not make my statement false i.e. there is nothing wrong in the following formula:
 
  infinity/2

Very true - also I'm not bought on the inherent problems of acausal universes - sounds like it would be a fun place to live in

Vladimir, I see you've given up on your "reliable UK-based business" tag again - does your sig somehow reflect your view of the current state of the Bitcoin economy? I admit I found it funny to see when you changed it last time with the great influx of new people - possibly to give a more serious impression to potential new customers. What made you change it back now?

[Vladimir]

Vladimir, I see you've given up on your "reliable UK-based business" tag again - does your sig somehow reflect your view of the current state of the Bitcoin economy? I admit I found it funny to see when you changed it last time with the great influx of new people - possibly to give a more serious impression to potential new customers. What made you change it back now?

Just feeling a bit whimsical I suppose, hence the billionaire line is back.

And anyway... everyone knows that my biz is as reliable as it gets. It's a freaking IBM of bitcoin universe. No point to endlessly restate the obvious, really.

I might change it back on the next burst, of course.

[nazgulnarsil]

With reference to a number of great posts above, with bitcoin it would also take half the time to develop faster than light speed travel technologies, as compared to the present scheme with middlemen leaching a few percent from every other transaction.

FTL violates causality.  Acausal universes probably can't harbor life.

Of course, but hey... not so long ago people were as sure as you now on the above that the Earth is flat.

Moreover, even if your statement is true, this does not make my statement false i.e. there is nothing wrong in the following formula:
 
  infinity/2

see the church-turing thesis.  uncomputable reality isn't really worth considering since it's unprovable.

[wareen]

And anyway... everyone knows that my biz is as reliable as it gets. It's a freaking IBM of bitcoin universe.

Yes, you've obviously come a long way since your first mining-rig.

I guess that's also what we will see with time in the Bitcoin-economy as a whole - we have many half-baked sites/projects/ideas now and they will develop and improve over time. Some might vanish, others will thrive and become more professional. They will strengthen the backbone of tomorrows Bitcoin-economy. There is some serious money to be made by innovative and brave entrepreneurs utilizing some of the great potential of Bitcoin.

That's going to take some time though...

[wareen]

uncomputable reality isn't really worth considering since it's unprovable.

Wow, so you're only dealing with the known computable aspects of your reality? And then some people think I'm a nerd

[Vladimir]

improbable != impossible

[nazgulnarsil]

discussing the nature of reality on a bitcoin forum probably isnt the best use of my time.

[wareen]

discussing the nature of reality on a bitcoin forum probably isnt the best use of my time.

Why not? There are probably many people here disconnected enough to be qualified for giving an objective outsider's view on reality.

Just kidding folks

[ctoon6]

the planet to planet latency issue does not need to be resolved, just let them fork. or make a MC coin, mars coin. changing to and from MC and BC would be really easy and take at most an hour without any centralization.

or you could just never generate coins on mars. you could just interface with earth via radio or whatever and spend coins that way. I don't see it to hard to believe that people on mars would own earth boxes that control from mars. this would cause issues with spending money at storefronts though. this could be fixed with centralization.

overall it would be best to just make MC or BC2

[flug]

the planet to planet latency issue does not need to be resolved, just let them fork.

By the time we're seriously colonizing Mars, we'll probably have evolved beyond ownership.

[ctoon6]

the planet to planet latency issue does not need to be resolved, just let them fork.

By the time we're seriously colonizing Mars, we'll probably have evolved beyond ownership.

hawkings said that the civilization or person that donated most of the money to get this going would be the most generous in all of human history because it would be something they would never see again. ill try to find it as it is a really good movie if you are interested in that sort of thing.

[flug]

hawkings said that the civilization or person that donated most of the money to get this going would be the most generous in all of human history because it would be something they would never see again. ill try to find it as it is a really good movie if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Didn't understand "because it would be something they would never see again".. say again?

Yes, I am interested cheers.

[MemoryDealers]

Is everyone too afraid to even mention the Jim Bell system?

I wonder if he has heard of bitcoins from inside Federal prison yet.
He is due to be released in March of 2012.

[ctoon6]

hawkings said that the civilization or person that donated most of the money to get this going would be the most generous in all of human history because it would be something they would never see again. ill try to find it as it is a really good movie if you are interested in that sort of thing.

Didn't understand "because it would be something they would never see again".. say again?

Yes, I am interested cheers.

Stephen Hawking's Universe is what it is. http://www.youtube.com/user/Gravitationalist#grid/user/E1FDD899F0F06549

that phrase can also mean 2 things, that it was because civilization has went as you said it would or it was because of capitalism, that we are so successful that it would not be much to spend.

It is also leaned more towards going to other star systems. So such a ship would be made after we are able to get about our own solar system is trivial. that would mean we would not be using ~10% of all the earths metal to make the ship

[nazgulnarsil]

thorium reactors, space elevator, and asteroids.

[Rassah]

Cheap interplanetary travel achieved by lining the bottom/back of a ship with mining rigs, their heat exhaust ports pointing outwards. Travel while mining for bitcoin (fees)

[phillipsjk]

Bitcoin will cause a huge split in the market, and possibly lead to a full-scale nuclear world war, when the Bitcoin block chain on the Mars colony permanently forks from the Earth one due to the 15 to 30 minute communication lag, leading to double-spending, loss of faith in the currency, and vastly increased tensions between two already strained political entities. Satoshi should've foreseen the 10 to 20 minute one-way radio transmission time issue when he designed Bitcoin, and made the block generation either take more time, or have built-in interplanetary redundancy.

This won't happen as described. If bicoin is not replaced with something more latency-tolerant, the Mars Colony would start their own blockchain with their own version number. The reason a split of the existing chain would not be attempted is that the longest blockchain wins. That implies the Mars fork would never be accepted.

Of course, exchanges supporting latency-tolerant transactions would be set up. A bigger problem, is what prevents the larger network from manipulating the smaller one?

[error]

Mars will simply have to have its own independent block chain. Right now there's no way around it.

[Shinobi]

Isn't it about time you guys get off the grandiose idea circlejerk and get to work actually making this dream come true?

[spruce]

Bitcoin will make governments and central banks and other banks honest. (Yea I know this is quite a stretch)

Assuming that governments can't stop bitcoin (not saying they can or can't), what is to stop them using bitcoin themselves, including for their black projects? Now, *that* would jack up the value!

[error]

Bitcoin will make governments and central banks and other banks honest. (Yea I know this is quite a stretch)

Assuming that governments can't stop bitcoin (not saying they can or can't), what is to stop them using bitcoin themselves, including for their black projects? Now, *that* would jack up the value!

The CIA has already shown some interest in this direction. So it's possible.

[billyjoeallen]

Uh, these responses are so weird, I can't tell if they are sincere. Here's mine:

-Bitcoin can possibly destabilize the Dollar as the world reserve currency, although that is likely to happen anyway, but maybe later.

-Bitcoin may render many drug, prostitution and gambling laws unenforceable, thereby facilitating their abolition.

-Bitcoin could help facilitate a society without a central State. This starts with fostering competition between tax jurisdictions. 

-Bitcoin could facilitate assasinations, which would likely make more people mind their own business and be polite.

- Bitcoin could help the world economy grow dramatically by encouraging capital formation and increasing economic efficiency.

[asdf]

discussing the nature of reality on a bitcoin forum probably isnt the best use of my time.

How can you be so sure when you don't understand the true nature of reality?

[asdf]

Isn't it about time you guys get off the grandiose idea circlejerk and get to work actually making this dream come true?

"Grandiose idea circlejerks" are what gave birth to bitcoin. Don't stifle intellectual discourse, offer something constructive.

[nazgulnarsil]

discussing the nature of reality on a bitcoin forum probably isnt the best use of my time.

How can you be so sure when you don't understand the true nature of reality?

speak for yourself.

[asdf]

discussing the nature of reality on a bitcoin forum probably isnt the best use of my time.

How can you be so sure when you don't understand the true nature of reality?

speak for yourself.

eh...? it was a question. I don't understand your response.

[flug]

Bitcoin wont change anything. It's shit.

The sublime art of trolling hits new heights

[asdf]

Bitcoin wont change anything. It's shit.

Are you paid to do this shit? Or do you truly have no life?

[RogerR]

-Bitcoin could facilitate assasinations, which would likely make more people mind their own business and be polite.

Any kind of envy would immediately be deadly. Any kind of attention could potentially be lethal. We would thus walk towards a society where everything abnormal (no matter whether great or gruesome) could only be done anonymously, with everyone trying to appear as average as possible.

Also, "Dancing with the Stars" would have to be renamed to "Mark your next Target".

[billyjoeallen]

-Bitcoin could facilitate assasinations, which would likely make more people mind their own business and be polite.

Any kind of envy would immediately be deadly. ...

Also, "Dancing with the Stars" would have to be renamed to "Mark your next Target".

You say that like it's a bad thing.