Gavin will visit the Council on Foreign Relations

[acoindr]

just finished it.

fantastic performance by Gavin. he comes across as measured, thoughtful, caring, and with the right principles. he also hit on many important points and answered questions appropriately.

couldn't have been better. this is why we have Gavin as the Chief Scientist.

Just watched. I agree completely. Nice job, Gavin!

I was really envious, though, when the question or suggestion rather came up of the role and benefit of people manipulating the inflation rate, and forced incentive to spend money (inflation/deflation etc.). At home all I could do was grit my teeth. If it was me in the chair I probably would have let them have it. Gavin was unbelievably controlled, almost hospitable to their advances. I don't think the meeting could have went better. Probably good that it wasn't me  

[knight22]

just finished it.

fantastic performance by Gavin. he comes across as measured, thoughtful, caring, and with the right principles. he also hit on many important points and answered questions appropriately.

couldn't have been better. this is why we have Gavin as the Chief Scientist.

+1

There were a lot of tricky questions. Gavin did a great job for addressing them all.

[ozkraut]

So the eye of Mordor has noticed that Frodo has the ring......

This is going to get very interesting.

Since Mayer-Amschel's times the power of finance has resided in few hands . These are the people that create revolutions and wars so that they can finance both sides and decide who wins. Kingdom consolidation anyone??? And no, I am not a Jones fanboy. I just like to be inquisitive enough to persevere until the light of truth tells me I am at the root cause. Anybody ever researched the true meaning of the Queens annual door knock at the City ? What actually happened when Wellington won Waterloo? And so on and so on.


There are two options imo:

1. Tell them to get fkd

choosing this option is the only honorable one but it means war & underground subsistence for those that dare to resist & persist with such recalcitrant behaviour. Expect accidents & suicides / various unfortunate events and laws and bans and regulations. This is not like pirating movies or music. This is a real threat but these kids are smart and will try turn the threat into opportunity. Bringing me to option 2 and a likely scenario for the reasons of the invite:

2. Obey and see bitcoin / whatevercoin become the hip global thing that all want to join at first then have to join shortly after.

No more cash is the goal which is still the true anon coin if executed well. And of course no more national currencies. Watch the USD show any moment now....

This will let digital currencies shine as a model of global cooperation (and taxation) under their full control, as is one of their stated goals. Allowing bitcoin to operate in this realm is only going to happen if we choose to co-operate. I sometimes wonder if we are just being used as an alpha test for readiness to accept such subjugation plus do some initial marketing & PR on the concept on the side. Ie they let us reach critical mass. Then ban. Intern the alleged leaders. Burn them on the 'stake' figuratively speaking and openly admit ' that it was conceptually a great idea but obviously needs central control & regulation' and now will be offered by your favorite UN ' just think of the children, the environment / insert whatever fluffy bs here' bureaucracy


It is an interesting crossroad we find ourselves standing at. It was always going to be reached if p2p currency conceptually was solid and poses a threat. Which it obviously is.

So now what ?

[LightRider]

I've accepted an invitation to do a question and answer session at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington, DC on Thursday, February 6, 2014.

Congratulations on being invited to speak at the CFR, it's an honor and a milestone for the bitcoin community.

Really? How so, exactly?

Is it because they are a powerful bunch? The Mafia is also a powerful group of people; if they invited Gavin to speak, would you consider that an "honor and a milestone for the bitcoin community"?

Or is it because you believe they are nice, honest people?

Please don't be so naive. Many of these think tanks you all despise actually do quality work, you don't need to agree with their politics to see that. Read a copy of Foreign Affairs sometime and you'll see that the analysis is professional and comprehensive, whatever the policy recommendations happen to be.

It's an honor for Gavin to represent bitcoin at the CFR because it shows that some of the nation's top researchers take bitcoin seriously. Why else would they bother inviting him? Only the uneducated believe in conspiracy theories.

Let's not forget that "think tank" can refer to almost any social-political research institution.

Only the thoroughly educated believe their government.

[LightRider]

You did good Gavin.  Just don't let us catch you conspiring with global oligarchies ever again young man.

[remotemass]

just finished it.

fantastic performance by Gavin. he comes across as measured, thoughtful, caring, and with the right principles. he also hit on many important points and answered questions appropriately.

couldn't have been better. this is why we have Gavin as the Chief Scientist.

+1

It is a pitty that the myths of money policies and necessity of central bank intervention were left in the air as they were. I wish all the cumbersomeness of the economic theories was shown and made more apparent to rather fall apart.

Also I regret that our community could be seen like a corporation with which governments could negotiate which is definitely not the case.

Governments may indeed compromise our project and create us all sorts of difficulties but in the end they are not going to succeed in diminishing the dream of cryptocurrencies and would do a much better job in embracing this technology.

Bitcoin is the separation of Money and State. Something only comparable to the innovation the printing press and the Internet brought about.

It is the way for the end of fractional reserve banking and speculative markets.

It is the most disruptive step towards a brand new order in the world of finance for a society relying on really democratic and for the people principles based on a sound decentralized and non-hierarchical foundation. (in communications, in law, in production and in finance...)

Please let us bring about a world of prosperity and abundance to our world right at the verge of an unprecedented technological singularity.

As an end note, I think that being Satoshi Nakamoto and/or being a guy with such eloquence that worked for Silicon Graphics to bring forth the future of VRML and now leads the bitcoin project must only be comparable to being 'Dire Straits' on stage.
I definitely want my MTV...  
 

[yatsey87]

Just watching it now. Was surprised that it was filmed. I was under the impression it'd be all secretive and shit lol.

[whtchocla7e]

Bitcoin Cryptocurrency is the separation of Money and State. Something only comparable to the innovation the printing press and the Internet brought about.

Fixed that for you.

[Hippie Tech]

Just watching it now. Was surprised that it was filmed. I was under the impression it'd be all secretive and shit lol.

Public scrutiny has forced them to create a public facade.

This is only what they are allowing us to see.

[BCB]

Regardless of what you conspiracy nuts say, the video of Gavin at the CFR confirm yet gain that Gavin is one our our BEST advocates out there. 

[cypherdoc]

just finished it.

fantastic performance by Gavin. he comes across as measured, thoughtful, caring, and with the right principles. he also hit on many important points and answered questions appropriately.

couldn't have been better. this is why we have Gavin as the Chief Scientist.

+1

It is a pitty that the myths of money policies and necessity of central bank intervention were left in the air as they were. I wish all the cumbersomeness of the economic theories was shown and made more apparent to rather fall apart.

agreed but i'll settle for when Gavin in response to the interviewers diatribe about the benefits of central banking, crinkled his nose and said (i paraphrase), "yeeeah, i don't know."  he then went on to highlight the problems with Zimbabwe and said that most Bitcoiners think the central bank has done a "horrible job".

there wasn't time for much more.

[guybrushthreepwood]

just finished it.

fantastic performance by Gavin. he comes across as measured, thoughtful, caring, and with the right principles. he also hit on many important points and answered questions appropriately.

couldn't have been better. this is why we have Gavin as the Chief Scientist.

+1

It is a pitty that the myths of money policies and necessity of central bank intervention were left in the air as they were. I wish all the cumbersomeness of the economic theories was shown and made more apparent to rather fall apart.

agreed but i'll settle for when Gavin in response to the interviewers diatribe about the benefits of central banking, crinkled his nose and said (i paraphrase), "yeeeah, i don't know."  he then went on to highlight the problems with Zimbabwe and said that most Bitcoiners think the central bank has done a "horrible job".

there wasn't time for much more.

Who was the guy interviewing Gavin?

[BCB]

just finished it.

fantastic performance by Gavin. he comes across as measured, thoughtful, caring, and with the right principles. he also hit on many important points and answered questions appropriately.

couldn't have been better. this is why we have Gavin as the Chief Scientist.

+1

It is a pitty that the myths of money policies and necessity of central bank intervention were left in the air as they were. I wish all the cumbersomeness of the economic theories was shown and made more apparent to rather fall apart.

agreed but i'll settle for when Gavin in response to the interviewers diatribe about the benefits of central banking, crinkled his nose and said (i paraphrase), "yeeeah, i don't know."  he then went on to highlight the problems with Zimbabwe and said that most Bitcoiners think the central bank has done a "horrible job".

there wasn't time for much more.

Douglas A. Rediker,
Visiting Fellow,
Peterson Institute for International Economics;
Former Member,
Executive Board,
International Monetary Fund
Who was the guy interviewing Gavin?

[tvbcof]

Regardless of what you conspiracy nuts say, the video of Gavin at the CFR confirm yet gain that Gavin is one our our BEST advocates out there. 

'Our' is a meaningless statement in this context.

I did watch the presentation last night and was by-n-large impressed with it.  If Gavin gives a complete and believable de-briefing of any and all other interactions he had there, I'll be fairly satisfied with his performance.

---

I thought the dis-connect on the shoe topic was most telling.

I'm pretty sure that what Gavin meant by 'how can we stop people from buying shoes' was how can we make an ethical justification for it which is acceptable to a population who has some degree of freedom.

The moderator totally didn't see that at all.  To him it was completely a question about whether such a transaction can be controlled, and since it is a physical commodity that would be relatively easy.  He is clearly envisioning a totalitarian framework which is based on the physical mechanics of keeping the plebs in line.  Ethics don't enter into the equation.

Gavin didn't pursue this, but I don't necessarily hold it against him.  Not sure what I would have done in such a situation.

[BCB]

Our == the virtual currency community at large.

[tvbcof]

Our == the virtual currency community at large.

My point is that my own conception of 'good advocacy' and yours are substantially different because we pretty clearly envision different end states as ideal.

I'm not making a values judgement about who's vision of an end state is good or bad or right or wrong.  Just that they are different.

[hilariousandco]

Watched it earlier. Surprised it was only an hour long though. Should've been at least double. Gavin definitely seems like a decent guy and spokesman for Bitcoin. I don't like his David Brent goatee though haha.

[BCB]

Our == the virtual currency community at large.

My point is that my own conception of 'good advocacy' and yours are substantially different because we pretty clearly envision different end states as ideal.

I'm not making a values judgement about who's vision of an end state is good or bad or right or wrong.  Just that they are different.

True that.

[benjamindees]

I thought the dis-connect on the shoe topic was most telling.

I'm pretty sure that what Gavin meant by 'how can we stop people from buying shoes' was how can we make an ethical justification for it which is acceptable to a population who has some degree of freedom.

The moderator totally didn't see that at all.  To him it was completely a question about whether such a transaction can be controlled, and since it is a physical commodity that would be relatively easy.  He is clearly envisioning a totalitarian framework which is based on the physical mechanics of keeping the plebs in line.

Part of me wants to find this humorous, but a bigger part doesn't really think it's funny any longer.

[Bit_Happy]

I've accepted an invitation to do a question and answer session at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington, DC on Thursday, February 6, 2014.

I've been told anything related to the Council on Foreign Relations tickle's peoples Grand Conspiracy buttons, so I thought it would be best to be open about exactly what will happen. I hope it doesn't spark as long a thread as my visit to the CIA, but Bitcoin is a lot bigger than when I visited the CIA...
...

Can you ask them to pressure Russia, India, etc to leave BTC users and exchanges alone, please?