Critical mass community

[Elwar]

It would be a good experiment to find a small community where all of the merchants and the citizens could be given the tools and perhaps a few starter Bitcoins as a trial run and let Bitcoins take hold as their currency of choice.

The key would be that it has to be small enough where almost everyone in the community can be converted, they would likely need to be young and perhaps tech savvy, and they would have to do a fair amount of in-town spending of their money.

There are plenty of small redneck towns but they would likely reject anything new. Perhaps a small college community would be a good start, or something along those lines.

I was thinking along the lines of giving everyone a Bitcoincard once it comes out along with like 2 Bitcoins each to get things started.

[cbeast]

Maybe the Amish?

[acoindr]

You know I thought about this earlier... perhaps going back to the community in North Carolina that was using the Liberty Dollar. They got shut down when the feds raided Liberty Dollar, but that couldn't happen with bitcoins of course...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1zf2ymYRwc&feature=related

Maybe we should reach out to Kevin Innes.

[Kupsi]

The Reddit Island 

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=84708.0

[unclescrooge]

Then we need this

[bitlizard]

Maybe the Amish?

LOL! bitcoin could present a moral paradox for the Amish? 'to use the voluntary non-violent currency of the future, or continue using to the slave paper of the past?'

If I was Amish, I would quietly opt for bitcoin.

[Stephen Gornick]

It would be a good experiment to find a small community where all of the merchants and the citizens could be given the tools and perhaps a few starter Bitcoins as a trial run and let Bitcoins take hold as their currency of choice.

Incidentally, a link to your previous thread on the topic:
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=86828.0

[drrussellshane]

Maybe the Amish?

LOL! bitcoin could present a moral paradox for the Amish? 'to use the voluntary non-violent currency of the future, or continue using to the slave paper of the past?'

If I was Amish, I would quietly opt for bitcoin.

Casascius coins FTW!


 


some casascius coins should be headed my way here soon

[mccorvic]

Maybe the Amish?

LOL! bitcoin could present a moral paradox for the Amish? 'to use the voluntary non-violent currency of the future, or continue using to the slave paper of the past?'

If I was Amish, I would quietly opt for bitcoin.

Casascius coins FTW!


 


some casascius coins should be headed my way here soon

Whoa. Amish using physical bitcoin is way to meta for my brain to handle.

[benjamindees]

Epcot Center.

[EnergyVampire]

Maybe the Amish?

LOL!

Btw, I thought they couldn't use computers? So SneakerNetBitcoins??

[Stephen Gornick]

Epcot Center.

Using an NFC wristband perhaps?



I describe this here:

 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=88553.0

[kiba]

Btw, I thought they couldn't use computers? So SneakerNetBitcoins??

It's a misconception that Amish are technological Luddite. Rather, they evaluate new technologies and determine if it is something that they want in their community.

[rjk]

Btw, I thought they couldn't use computers? So SneakerNetBitcoins??

It's a misconception that Amish are technological Luddite. Rather, they evaluate new technologies and determine if it is something that they want in their community.

We live near a ton of them, and it seems that they have many standards. Some use cell phones because there are no wires, and others say that is breaking the spirit of the teachings. There seems to be a sliding scale of progressiveness, depending on where you live. Some refuse to use electricity at all, and others will use it if they generate it themselves.

Several of the woodworkers nearby use an ingenious system to replace electric motors - it is a diesel engine that is connected to a driveshaft that is sunk into the floor of the woodshop. It goes across the entire length of the shop supported on pillow block bearings, and when they want to add a machine, they rip out the electric motor and plonk the machine down on top of the drive shaft. From there, it's as simple as adding a pneumatically controlled clutch and a drive belt to the shaft in the floor. They then sell the motors at auction.

[benjamindees]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_The_World

I wonder how many of these people are already aware of Bitcoin.

[cbeast]

I was just thinking of the Amish because they are a fairly closed group that would more likely to agree to adopt the device. Because the card has minimal functionality, it would barely be noticed. They could also have business account cards and personal cards. Accounting could be easy if blockchain derived statements were provided for each card. A group discount exchange service could be used for awhile until their outside suppliers and customers saw the security and simplicity that Bitcoin provides and choose to adopt it themselves.

[MoonShadow]

I was just thinking of the Amish because they are a fairly closed group that would more likely to agree to adopt the device. Because the card has minimal functionality, it would barely be noticed. They could also have business account cards and personal cards. Accounting could be easy if blockchain derived statements were provided for each card. A group discount exchange service could be used for awhile until their outside suppliers and customers saw the security and simplicity that Bitcoin provides and choose to adopt it themselves.

One of the overarching principles of the Amish, all of the various interpretations aside, is that they intend to limit their interdependence upon the non-Amish communities.  The primary reason that electricity is shunned is because, generally speaking, using it requires a dependent relationship on either a power company far away or a generator parts manufacturer & refinery far away.  Sometimes cell phones are permitted in order to allow certain members of the community to interact with outsiders on a business level, but they are certainly not personal property nor utilized by even a large minority of the community.  A bitcoin card would undoubtedly increase the Amish community's interdependence on the greater bitcoin economy, and this fact will not be missed by the elders.  Regardless of the explaintion offered, these are never going to fly in any Amish community.

Also, it wouldn't fly because the Amish don't really use currencies within their communities anyway, as it's mostly a cross between a barter & a gift economy.

[niko]

Gamers.