2013 Bitcoin: As Good as Gold?

[Steveia]

An article by Jeff Thomas:

http://www.internationalman.com/78-global-perspectives/1010-bitcoin-as-good-as-gold

[accord01]

His perspective really matters...

[Gabi]

Lol comments fail of course

Go up into the jungle of the Congo, where your smartphone battery was mined, and try to buy something with your bitcoins

Your precious gold will be happily stolen from you in Congo, instead a brainwallet cannot be stolen.

[marcus_of_augustus]

Go up into the jungle of the Congo, where your smartphone battery was mined, and try to buy something with your bitcoins

yeah, cause that's the crucial use case for 99.99% of the users of money 

[TraderTimm]

Goldbugs foaming at the mouth and falling over backwards about Bitcoin really amuse me. Its as if they are realizing the horrifying truth, that perhaps something can be considered valuable that you don't hold in your hand. And the best part is, why project that insecurity? If they're so goddamned convinced that Gold is "the one", why even bother fighting about it? Shouldn't they just be cackling to themselves, nodding knowingly about how BitBugs (new term, heh) are sad deluded geeks?

I find the fight fascinating, because psychologically they're projecting their own insecurities about their holdings on to Bitcoin. When someone criticizes me for holding BTC, I'll choose to respond or not, depending - but my overall belief in the math and protocol usually makes me err on the side of laughing a bit, and not engaging them at all. The mindshare battle has been fought on all fronts, and I think we're gaining momentum, even after some nasty Fear-Uncertainty-Doubt tactics from other people and organizations.

So, the best retort I can think of for these guys who sleep on gold bars every night is:

"If Bitcoin is so worthless, then why are you so angry about it?"

The answers should be comedy gold (pun intended) afterward.

[shawshankinmate37927]

Goldbugs foaming at the mouth and falling over backwards about Bitcoin really amuse me. Its as if they are realizing the horrifying truth, that perhaps something can be considered valuable that you don't hold in your hand. And the best part is, why project that insecurity? If they're so goddamned convinced that Gold is "the one", why even bother fighting about it? Shouldn't they just be cackling to themselves, nodding knowingly about how BitBugs (new term, heh) are sad deluded geeks?

I find the fight fascinating, because psychologically they're projecting their own insecurities about their holdings on to Bitcoin. When someone criticizes me for holding BTC, I'll choose to respond or not, depending - but my overall belief in the math and protocol usually makes me err on the side of laughing a bit, and not engaging them at all. The mindshare battle has been fought on all fronts, and I think we're gaining momentum, even after some nasty Fear-Uncertainty-Doubt tactics from other people and organizations.

So, the best retort I can think of for these guys who sleep on gold bars every night is:

"If Bitcoin is so worthless, then why are you so angry about it?"

The answers should be comedy gold (pun intended) afterward.

What I also find so perplexing is that they adamantly refuse to allocate even a small portion of their portfolios to bitcoin.  It's as if many of them seem to think that Bitcoin is an all or nothing proposition--it's either got to be all gold or all bitcoin.  Don't they realize that no one is trying to say they have to trade in all of their gold and exchange it for bitcoins?  Hopefully, they will eventually be able to open their minds to the possibility that they just might be wrong about some of the finer points of their monetary theories.

I also get the impression that some of the gold bugs want the government to decide for everyone what we use as money rather than letting the free market decide.  Do they think gold would win out in a free market?

[Lethn]

In hysterics at the end when he had shown the private key on television, at least he was big enough to learn from it rather than just blame the currency.

[Steveia]

Go up into the jungle of the Congo, where your smartphone battery was mined, and try to buy something with your bitcoins

yeah, cause that's the crucial use case for 99.99% of the users of money  

While it may be true that gold is better in some situations, such as the Congo, one wonders why anyone would deny that Bitcoin is money because it won't be accepted by primitive remote people in the middle of a jungle? Does this fact negate the value of Bitcoin? If so, is the value of modern day technology also negated because primitive jungle cultures do not value them or see value in them? This, of course, ignores the fact that not all primitive cultures value gold.

Gold has so many limitations of storage and transportation. Bitcoin overcomes both.

Gold cannot be transferred across the world in seconds quasi-anonymously like Bitcoin. Even digital gold, which is a noble system, has limitations because it is a centralized currency. Single point of failure--witness e-Gold, for example.

Invest in gold and precious metals--but recognize that all systems and currencies have some limitations.

Gold and Bitcoin are the two best currencies around, one physical, and the other electronic.

[kjlimo]

If Bank Notes are tangible, then why aren't Bitcoins tangible?

Both are just written representations of other values, so I can write down private keys... what's the difference?