ThomasDoubts Posted November 30, 2013 Posted November 30, 2013 Fantastic video Stefan. Most of my education was in preperation for a career in the Financial Services Industry. The degree to which bitcoin can make most of the industry obsolete is astounding and underappreciated. The simple fact that Financial Services make up 8%+ of the economy is so absurd. Perverted incentives run rampant among the rank and file, there is no real accountability at the executive level. I liked how you related Bitcoin to the internal combustion engine. Here is someone who truly appreciates how profoundly Bitcoin can revolutionize the world! I wrote a very lengthy and rather provocative refutation of an article Gary North authored, and Lew Rockwell published last night asserting that Bitcoin was a Ponzi scheme, bested only by Charles Ponzi and Social Security. After writing a few walls of text, I didn't even post it. I always reconsider posting something for a few minutes before I post it, and somehow I felt like I shouldn't be "infighting," and I couldn't resist being pretty offensive to someone that identifies as a libertarian, yet advocates an Old Testament theocracy. In the end, I felt like his article was so full of unsubstantiated and empirically false claims that it was undeserving of a response at FDR. I should have posted it. One of his central claims was that Bitcoin must increase the division of labor to qualify as money, claiming that it does not. You did a great job of illustrating the degree of creative destruction that Bitcoin is capable of. Parasites are not preferential. Let's get the MIT engineers and snake oil salesmen out of Financial Services and into something productive. In all, I just wanted to say great work. A powerful and true representation of Bitcoin. As far as your economic videos go, this was one of your best, I think. I was in absolute agreement from start to finish, for whatever that's worth. I believe a revolution of money is a necessary prerequisite to a free society. Even those who don't want a free society will fund/strengthen it's money when it becomes clearly economically advantageous. I admit feeling real frustration, and a bit of envy when I see friends/aquaintances/classmates living a luxurious carefree lifestyle, making buckets of cash selling CDO's for Wells Fargo, as an example. I almost always believe I'm more intelligent, I have more value to offer, and a clearer, more empirical, and more insightful understanding of economics, but I've got almost nothing to show for it. On the other hand, they've made a deal with the devil, and he's rewarded them with six figure salaries at 23-24. I've been having a real struggle figuring out where my role is in the economy. Bitcoin makes a lot of things plausible that I could never begin to consider if I had to operate as a part of the system. Even so, I'd surely have to skirt/break the law to do anything meaningful or innovative in the realm of financial services. I don't have to tell you, the Financial Services Industry is the most heavily regulated industry in the US. So thank you for, among other things, pointing out the implications of Bitcoin with regard to Wall Street, Financial Services, Lawyers, etc. This point is so powerful; it represents a seismic shift in the allocation of labor & capital to more productive endeavors.
Stefan Molyneux Posted November 30, 2013 Posted November 30, 2013 Thank you, I actually thought this was my best presentation to date
WorBlux Posted November 30, 2013 Posted November 30, 2013 "One of his central claims was that Bitcoin must increase the division of labor to qualify as money, claiming that it does not." Bitcoin reduces or at least potentially reduces the coase costs of transaction to something like 1/100 of a percent on average. The payment is final facilitating gray and black market transactions.
ThomasDoubts Posted November 30, 2013 Author Posted November 30, 2013 I won't venture to argue that point. It was great. Powerful. Very insightful. For me personally, it was particularly validating, rejuvenating, and encouraging. Keep up the good work!
FreedomPhilosophy Posted December 1, 2013 Posted December 1, 2013 This was an excellent appraisal of the potential of bitcoin technology, very well presented.I was watching a youtube recently*, the speaker was saying that London's financial hub is 14% of the UK GDP!!*http://youtu.be/HAB65t4Xh-c?t=1m35s
Bulbasaur Posted December 1, 2013 Posted December 1, 2013 Thanks for providing this much needed perspective on Bitcoin's intrinsic utility and the long-term potential of the protocol. I think videos like this are becoming increasingly important now that increased media attention has brought about a wave of hit pieces and uninformed pundits misrepresenting it to the masses.
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