Bitcoin vs. War: Can Bitcoin Reduce Wars?

[bitimize]

Nothing will change. Why will bitcoin reduce war?

Wars are fought at behest of banks.

[cbeast]

There really aren't wars anymore. There are genocides, police actions, skirmishes, insurrections, bombardments, blockades, sanctions, occupations, terrorism acts, and central banks.

[inBitweTrust]

No it does not. Being violent, greed and the lust for power to rule over others is embeeded in our genes. Leaders will always find a way to start a war. Bitcoin can be even a cause of  war in the future. Anything that has value can cause a war and bitcoin is one of them.

How are wars typically funded though?

Collective Greed and Selfishness is what can prevent (many) wars. Lets take a recent page from history as an example: Iraq. Do you really believe that most people who supported Bush's actions would be willing to voluntarily donate to liberate the people of Iraq or as a pre-emptive strike because of WMD? How easy would it be to raise sales tax, property tax, and VAT to pay for a war?

There are good reasons why wars are typically funded by inflation through fiat and never officially declared anymore: most people put their own selfish interests before a sense of nationalism unless they are tricked into believing that they aren't actually paying for the wars.

[blatchcorn]

If anything Bitcoin may increase wars if countries are desperate to acquire hashing share, like they will do anything to acquire gold now

[inBitweTrust]

If anything Bitcoin may increase wars if countries are desperate to acquire hashing share, like they will do anything to acquire gold now

Wars are mainly started these days for geopolitcal control, enforcing treaties and tax obligations, propping up demand for fiat, and for leveraging whole industries and sectors.

While one resource, oil, was partly responsible for the Iraq invasion it was only a small component amongst many. Wars are very expensive to maintain and the payoffs have to be higher than attaining one commodity as you suggest. What you are suggesting is not war but a bank heist where a team of thieves covertly steal gold or ASICS and than leave. It would be irrational to invade and occupy a country for hashing power when the same money could be used to simply build or buy the machines for much cheaper social, political, and monetary prices.

[leex1528]

Out of all the causes of war, I highly doubt money and bitcoin are the cause/solution to most of them. 

The main causes of war seem to be
Religion
Resources
Corruption
Oppression

[gelar24]

I think the war has been started since time immemorial that has been centuries in any case it.

but can say yes since bitcoin come increasingly crowded battle lol: D

[inBitweTrust]

Out of all the causes of war, I highly doubt money and bitcoin are the cause/solution to most of them. 

Could wars be funded in a country that mainly used Bitcoin? Can you name me some examples of wars that aren't primarily funded by inflation?

While I agree with some of your statements the true test to determine what someone really believes is if they are willing to invest their money to support it.
One thing that is consistent throughout human society is hypocrisy. People say they believe and support all sorts of causes but will they sacrifice their own wealth
directly to drop bombs on villages? I think its a very safe bet that wars will still exist but will be much smaller, shorter, and rarer if people had to directly fund them.

[blatchcorn]

Out of all the causes of war, I highly doubt money and bitcoin are the cause/solution to most of them. 

Could wars be funded in a country that mainly used Bitcoin? Can you name me some examples of wars that aren't primarily funded by inflation?

While I agree with some of your statements the true test to determine what someone really believes is if they are willing to invest their money to support it.
One thing that is consistent throughout human society is hypocrisy. People say they believe and support all sorts of causes but will they sacrifice their own wealth
directly to drop bombs on villages? I think its a very safe bet that wars will still exist but will be much smaller, shorter, and rarer if people had to directly fund them.

Can you please elaborate how wars are being funded by inflation?

[inBitweTrust]

Can you please elaborate how wars are being funded by inflation?

Historically, an early example is the Peloponnesian War between the greeks and spartans from 431 to 404 BC where the greeks stared debasing their currency to fund the war by mixing in copper in the gold and silver causing massive inflation.

A recent example is the Iraq war which costs the US over 1.1trillion dollars but the true costs are much , much higher as there are hidden opportunity lost costs and amortized pension and health costs. A small portion of the price of war is raised with war bonds but most nation states simple fund wars by printing more currency which has longterm economic effects which reflect in inflation and recessions in years to come.

Blowing things up instead of investing in education, building infrastructure, and focusing on job growth isn't exactly good for an economy.

[oceans]

Why and how could bitcoin reduce or even stop war? I am sure that if bitcoin was able to stop or prevent war they would have at least tried it by now. There is so much unrest in the world right now and I don't believe for a second that a virtual currency will solve all the issues involving the unrest. As they say money can never solve problems.

[inBitweTrust]

Why and how could bitcoin reduce or even stop war?

Reduction can be seen if the costs of waging the war are higher than the profits realized by a group of people. Wars will continue if their is some perceived realized gain economically, geopolitical, or ideologically. Bitcoin makes enforcing taxes and inflation by violence and coercion more difficult. Do you think most humans would rather spend their money on themselves or to pay for their family members ammo in attacking a village?

The reason 99% of people constantly break copyright laws by using and downloading music, movies, and software isn't because the copyright owners are content to allow this to happen(The MPAA and RIAA are doing all they can to stop it legally and illegally) but because the costs to enforce such copyrights is higher than the potential money gained from new clients.

Bitcoin was invented primarily by crypto-anarchists in retaliation against corrupt governments and banks using your money to fund economic and physical wars. It allows individuals the option to opt out and  reduce these potential forms of corruption. Just like with copyrights, governments can enforce taxes on bitcoin through investigations and sting operations, but the costs to do this on everyone would be tremendous and unprofitable. The IRS in the US already only targets and audits certain people they believe can extract funding from, bitcoin adds a whole new layer of difficulty in enforcement.

I believe Bitcoin will have a positive effect despite what peoples political opinions are because of the innate reality that we are all selfish to a certain degree. Most people want to socialize the costs of war and have someone else pay for it while they secure their own investments, and bitcoin is a new tool which makes doing so easier. These selfish individual motivations in aggregate will make funding wars much more difficult. The problem for politicians is this tool is open source and free to use by anyone instead of a select group of leaders and thus a tool to empower individuals to make their own economic choices.

[transient858]

Nothing will change. Why will bitcoin reduce war?

Wars are fought at behest of banks.

You don't think there will be bitcoin bank in the future?

Some exchanges right now are acting like bank and offering interest for bitcion.

[blatchcorn]

Can you please elaborate how wars are being funded by inflation?

Historically, an early example is the Peloponnesian War between the greeks and spartans from 431 to 404 BC where the greeks stared debasing their currency to fund the war by mixing in copper in the gold and silver causing massive inflation.

A recent example is the Iraq war which costs the US over 1.1trillion dollars but the true costs are much , much higher as there are hidden opportunity lost costs and amortized pension and health costs. A small portion of the price of war is raised with war bonds but most nation states simple fund wars by printing more currency which has longterm economic effects which reflect in inflation and recessions in years to come.

Blowing things up instead of investing in education, building infrastructure, and focusing on job growth isn't exactly good for an economy.

Ok that makes sense. Thanks for the informative answer

[right wing authoritarian]

Apart from the funding and inflation aspect anything that promotes internationalisation may help prevent war. It would be silly for America to have a civil war these days for example, with increasing internationalisation war between countries might also become inconceivable. Bitcoin is an international currency so it may promote internationalisation and reduce war. Maybe

[leex1528]

Apart from the funding and inflation aspect anything that promotes internationalisation may help prevent war. It would be silly for America to have a civil war these days for example, with increasing internationalisation war between countries might also become inconceivable. Bitcoin is an international currency so it may promote internationalisation and reduce war. Maybe

I think you guys have it slightly backwards IMO.  You are sort of claiming fiat funds wars which directly causes them.  I would claim wars are caused mostly by religion and fiat is pumped out in efforts to get a leg up and produce more weapons/soldiers etc. 

So if BTC were to replace everything, they would just pump BTC into the war to fund it.

[inBitweTrust]

Apart from the funding and inflation aspect anything that promotes internationalisation may help prevent war. It would be silly for America to have a civil war these days for example, with increasing internationalisation war between countries might also become inconceivable. Bitcoin is an international currency so it may promote internationalisation and reduce war. Maybe

I think you guys have it slightly backwards IMO.  You are sort of claiming fiat funds wars which directly causes them.  I would claim wars are caused mostly by religion and fiat is pumped out in efforts to get a leg up and produce more weapons/soldiers etc.  

So if BTC were to replace everything, they would just pump BTC into the war to fund it.

If we follow your reasoning -- Ideology being the greatest motivator for war; which I will grant for this thought experiment as there is some basis for it(Maslow's hierarchy of needs.), than you have to understand that everyone has unique Ideologies. Any conversation with a person at length will clearly indicates that while they may be herded like sheep for a cause by a demagogue they have their own unique philosophical beliefs as well and selfish motivations. Demagogue's are powerful with the tool of fiat because they can socialize and amortize the costs of war. If Bitcoin is pervasive, demagogue's will have a more difficult time extracting large pools of funds so easily to fund wars because convincing their followers to go along with their specific plan is more difficult when they have to directly fund it.

Sure their may be fractured conflicts of groups of people with different idealogies.. I.E... ALF vegan bitcoin group raising funds to firebomb a Animal research facility, but these will be more tactical and efficient attacks because of their inability to use Fiat to steal the wealth of a whole nation.

[giveBTCpls]

Not when we have a lot of people at the top owning tons of BTC while 99% of people don't even own 1 BTC. The struggle will go on for what seems forever.

[inBitweTrust]

Not when we have a lot of people at the top owning tons of BTC while 99% of people don't even own 1 BTC. The struggle will go on for what seems forever.

Many of the early bag holders are Nouveau riche.

[Beliathon]

It's never going to happen. Humans, by nature, fight for stuff they want regardless of whether they deserve it or not. It's just going to stay like that. "War never changes."

In this thread: People who don't know jack shit about human nature giving advice to the rest of us in the form of videogame quotes.

Try reading a book for once.