Quote from: kjj on June 17, 2013, 08:54:45 PM

Quote from: weisoq on June 17, 2013, 06:11:42 PM

Quote from: kjj

If someone popped up asking if the software could safely hold up his aquarium without bending or cracking, there isn't much that can be said by way of direct reply.

Such was his analogy. He is deeply confused. It is neither defensive nor tangential to point that out.

Tangential in that it doesn't address his point, rather ones own. Defensive in responding with mutual and valueless memes to distract from the possibilty of any merit. We might not all agree, but we do all understand the point he was making. If you hope to build cryptos into anything more than a zero-sum techie plaything I suggest it's time to stop playing and skirting around the questions everyone outside this small circle will have. If you don't, then as you were.

There was no point to address. Bitcoin is not bread. The sustaining power of a loaf of bread is fixed, and dividing it up doesn't change the sum. One loaf cannot feed a herd of angry villagers. The money power of bitcoin is not fixed. 1 BTC can serve the exchange uses of the entire world.

Value is not a thing that exists outside of our minds. We aren't embedding some of it into our money. We are measuring it, like we measure temperature or distance, just not with a coherent or standardized scale*. No one is worried that there won't be enough temperature to go around, or enough kilometers. Worrying that there won't be enough money for everyone demonstrates a serious confusion.

Once again, it is not defensive to point out that someone's thinking will not lead to useful questions, much less useful answers.

* Although bitcoin is the world's best attempt at a coherent measure for value, by far. The far end of the scale is subject to the whims of politicians or bankers. If only that were the only problem...

His point referred to distribution not division. The only value that Bitcoin has, beyond niches, is that ascribed to it in supplanting something else of value and this remaining so.

You have two choices, as do I. The first is to maintain the myths for as long as possible, make what you will of good fortune (and perhaps work, I dont know you and don't dispute efforts expended), continue facilitating zero-sum intellectual and capital investment and waste an incredible opportunity for crytocurrencies to revolutionise finance and personal empowerment that would far surpass short-term personal gains. The second is to recognise that if bitcoins are not scarce because they may be replicated (for all intents and purposes, with just a name change) then what is their value, or if they are scarce then people will find something else to use instead; and thus something needs to change.

Thats up to you, but please dont assume everybody is an idiot.