The national currency is the strongest brand of a country, for those who are using the currency daily. Auroracoin is a Icelandic currency and I will not dilute that by merged mining, if there is another way to secure the coin.
20 years from now I will be pleasantly surprised to hear that Auroracoin is mined only in Iceland with clean, green energy. And the mining profit is invested back in green projects around the world. So instead of more aluminum you are producing more freedom.
A deal with industrial miners based in Iceland can be a way to archive that.
Can you (or anyone else) explain how merged mining would be diluting the fact that Auroracoin is a Icelandic currency?
It's already mined outside Iceland for the most part, I assume and frankly I don't understand why that's a problem or how it could be avoided.
I share your love for freedom and the idea of AUR being mined with green energy in Iceland, but I don't see how this can (or should) be forced. If it makes sense it will be done, if not, AUR might be mined with 'dirty energy' in China.
I suggested earlier to move the focus away from mining and rather piggyback onto some higher security. If AUR is only mined in Iceland (for some reason), it seems to me if it's a success, that will not be high enough security and it'd be vulnerable to attack. Why risk that?
It's not about mining, it's about freedom.