Quote from: cunicula on November 04, 2012, 04:50:24 AM

Really?

Rilli.

Quote from: cunicula on November 04, 2012, 04:50:24 AM

Orthodox economists are simply ignoring bitcoin, not dismissing it. Economists who dismiss bitcoin are primarily Austrians. Look up their backgrounds.

I'm aware of some obstinate hard money advocates who refuse to consider anything but gold and silver to be money. I don't really think of them as the vanguard of Austrian thought. Most Austrians I've read find cryptocurrencies legitimate and praiseworthy.

I wasn't questioning whether the economic mainstream is down with abstract/novel forms of money. I was talking about the derision toward Bitcoin I've seen from those pop economists who, like yourself, aren't ignoring it (Mr. Lol Krugman, for instance). It's Bitcoin's eventual supply cap, lack of state sponsorship, and absence of the potential for unilateral devaluation/counterfeiting that seem to have a lot of subscribers to the fashionable politics/economics of the day talking smack about it.

Still curious what potential you see in it, particularly vis-a-vis fiat--as well, I suppose, as your take on the latter's survivability going forward.

Quote from: Jutarul on November 06, 2012, 07:01:14 AM

I am coming from a physics education background. I think the best way to analyze economics is to think in terms of game theory, since economics is created by the interaction of people with different strategies and belief sets. The role of macroeconomics is then to lay the ground rules (incentive systems).

Philosophy here. Epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics (specifically political philosophy). The discipline has served me well at analyzing the rigorous microeconomics embraced by the Austrian school (and separating it from the empirical/social science nebula that has coalesced around this core). I wouldn't doubt physics has provided you angles of insight into econ that are both novel and salient. Speaking of interdisciplinary approaches, I'm reminded that I have some Mandelbrot I need to read!

Quote from: Rudd-O on November 09, 2012, 09:42:25 AM

Stefan Molyneux is a philosopher (he runs Freedomain Radio, the largest philosophical conversation in the world) who is very much pro-Bitcoin and pro-voluntaryism. Stef was the one who "converted" me to voluntaryism, so-to-speak.

If I had to name the point at which I became firmly and uncompromisingly pro-liberty, it would be reading Hayek's The Road to Serfdom in undergrad. My best friend's an economist and provided my introduction to the rest of the Austrian X-Men pantheon.

For those still mulling over their ideology, Stefan does a pretty good job in this vid of countering some tough questions for libertarians that Jon Stewart apparently publically asked (as well as unscrambling a lot of confused premises--a generally reliable sign someone has a better handle on a topic).