Quote from: Holliday on March 21, 2014, 05:48:18 AM

Quote from: QuestionAuthority on March 21, 2014, 04:03:25 AM

Quote from: Peter R on March 20, 2014, 05:26:11 PM

Quote from: QuestionAuthority on March 20, 2014, 05:02:58 PM

That's all correct if you can identify what's really true and what really constitutes progress. If you followed the truth of this forum starting two short years ago you would have already lost all of your money to MyBitcoin or Bitcoinica or GLBSE or Pirate@40 or on and on and on. If any other investment vehicle had this many problems so soon after introduction it would already be ancient history. Fanatical idealism is keeping Bitcoin alive.

I did two things:

A. I showed that according to the Quantity Theory of Money, real output (Q) can increase without an increase in the money supply (it requires falling price levels instead).

B. I discussed the idea of myth vs reality and presented my Theory of Dinosaurism.

You seem to agree that this is all true.

But I think you are also suggesting that "falling prices are bad" is some sort of truth, and that if we question this it represents "fanatical idealism." Is this correct?

All groups have shared myths including bitcointalk--you call this groupthink in your signature. Myths are part of being human and shape our society--they can help us or hinder us. For example, the "HODL" myth helps us overcome fear during outbreaks of FUD. So far this myth has been beneficial to its subscribers. "Deflation is bad" is another myth that was helpful in growing the economy after the Great Depression and World War II. I no longer subscribe to this myth, however.

I don't agree that falling prices are bad. I have always believed that Bitcoin should not be pegged to the USD because that creates most of its problems. People should barter Bitcoin like any other commodity. Bitcoin could then be pegged in exchangeable value for product instead of being reliant on the US government to set its value (how many Bitcoins does that cost). There's a little of that going on but not nearly enough. Bitcoin business can't even operate without BitPay type business because someone needs to seamlessly exchange the spent Bitcoins for fiat because Bitcoin can't pay the bills. Everyone here preaches how fucked up the American Dollar is and how they can't wait until Bitcoin replaces that nasty old fiat and in the same breath they ask how many American Dollars Bitcoin is worth today: "Have you seen the price of Bitcoin today? It almost at $1000. Wow!" What a load of crap. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If the dollar crashes Bitcoin goes with it because Bitcoin is pegged to the dollar.

Everything can be priced in everything else, it's just easiest to use the petrodollar (a.k.a. the reserve currency of the world) when pricing an asset that can be accessed anywhere in the world. If the petrodollar is replaced in the future, we will simply price everything in whatever takes its place. Would you prefer we tell you the exchange rate of Bitcoins in BigMacs or would that just be confusing because you would have to think about the dollar value of a BigMac first? If you are bartering, you are still pricing things and no matter how much you try to ignore a single currency, those items still have a price in that currency! I know that you know this, yet here you are writing this paragraph that I just read.

There is no denying the current world state of affairs and why we price things in dollars. That doesn't mean it's going to be like that forever.

I don't really give a shit if Bitcoin replaces fiat, I just want my assets to be mine. Bitcoin is the only thing that gives me this kind of control. Someone could take every physical asset I own, but they still could not access my bitcoins without my permission.

I don't want Bitcoin to be priced in anything (even though I like BigMacs). I want it to have its own value if it is going to be used as a currency. Do you see any of these BigMacs priced in dollars? http://www.burgerkingjapan.co.jp/campaign/cp111.html
No, they price them in their currency. I know its not priced in Dollars because there is no fucking way that I would pay $7.50 for a BigMac. Bitcoins need to have intrinsic value for trade just as a national currency does. It can be exchanged for any currency but it should have its own value first. Unfortunately it can't because people don't trade Bitcoin for something and then spend the Bitcoin they received on something else. There is always an exchange for fiat in the chain. If people want Bitcoin to replace fiat then stop using fiat and start using Bitcoin.