Free-Form Musings...I'll go first.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by IMINXTC, May 15, 2017.

  1. tango

    tango ... and you shall live ... Staff Member

    It seems to me that as computing power rises, so cryptocurrencies will become less desirable. Part of the attraction as I understood it is the sense that it isn't controlled by any government and is beyond the control of any government. But during one recent ransomware attack it was reported that the US government managed to recover many of the bitcoins that had been paid to the extortionists. If that is true then a major attraction to cryptocurrencies goes away.

    The idea of having a currency that is infinitely divisible, readily transferrable, and outside the control of governments becomes ever-more attractive as governments race to devalue their currencies. Things that stand the test of time against inflation include commodities such as gold and silver but they aren't infinitely divisible and are of limited use in commerce. You could theoretically pay for your McBurger with bitcoin but using a gold coin would prove troublesome. Even a silver coin is worth many times the burger's cost but you can't sensibly break it into smaller pieces.

    I can't help wonder how long it will be before more people are drawn to the idea of transactions that can't be traced. I've thought for a long time that most of my transactions aren't particularly sensitive but I don't necessarily want some all-seeing entity to know that I bought half a gallon of ice cream simply because it's nobody else's business. Especially when health care becomes rationed (as has been discussed for many years in the UK) you don't necessarily want to give anyone an excuse to say that something was self-inflicted and therefore not going to be treated.
     
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  2. IMINXTC

    IMINXTC Time Bandit

    This recent deluge of advances in cosmology and quantum physics, among other scientific fields, IMO, has revealed not only a unique Earth, but layer upon layer of unique, interlocking systems essential to life so complex and seemingly impossible, I can't help but see the overwhelming proof of intelligent creation.
    Just me?
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2021
  3. RabbiKnife

    RabbiKnife Open the pod bay door, please HAL. Staff Member

    Agreed. Wholeheartedly agreed.

    And one only has to look at government to see the overwhelming proof of nonintelligent operations managers...
     
  4. IMINXTC

    IMINXTC Time Bandit

    Truth. Alas!
     
  5. Athanasius

    Athanasius Life is not a problem to be solved Staff Member

    You'd think not; intelligent creation is littered throughout media but as an actual real suggestion? For some reason, nope. Either religious or fringe theory.
     
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  6. Cloudwalker

    Cloudwalker The genuine, original, one and only Cloudwalker Staff Member

    There are none so blind as those who will not see.
     
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  7. tango

    tango ... and you shall live ... Staff Member

    I like the saying that an atheist cannot find God for the same reasons a burglar cannot find a police officer.
     
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  8. teddyv

    teddyv The horse is in the barn. Staff Member

    Forgive me if I misunderstood, but ascribing any supernatural cause within a theoretical framework simply cannot be tested. None of that negates an intelligent agent but it is a faith statement.
     
  9. IMINXTC

    IMINXTC Time Bandit

    Truth. Nevertheless.
     
  10. Athanasius

    Athanasius Life is not a problem to be solved Staff Member

    My point is that religious or fringe aren't the only appropriate categories. The theory is untestable no matter how we slice it. Whether that's God or 5th-dimensional beings that exist atemporally and seed life across galaxies. Some statement of faith is involved, and pigeon holing the answer to life to only those things that can be tested is shortsighted.
     
  11. ProDeo

    ProDeo What a day for a day dream

    Anyone with an IQ of 100 or even somewhat less and a bit understanding of science can not be a 100% atheist without being dishonest to himself. 80% maybe, 90% odd, 100% never. Complexity is a real problem for atheists. Looking forward what the James Webb telescope will reveal. If things go well it will be launched tomorrow and hopefully within 6 months we will see the first pictures.
     
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  12. IMINXTC

    IMINXTC Time Bandit

    One agenda: Webb could help identify dark matter as primordial black holes, many as small as a hydrogen atom nucleous. 85% of the known universe, yet, so far, unseeable.
    Universal law of entropy contradicts a mechanistic or accidental creation and perseverence of life, let alone consciousness. IMO.
     
  13. IMINXTC

    IMINXTC Time Bandit

    Thinking I would like to be a reckless, eccentric billionaire when I grow up.
    Those guys seem to have a lot of fun juggling the lives of millions and so little accountability.
     
  14. RabbiKnife

    RabbiKnife Open the pod bay door, please HAL. Staff Member

    I’d like to start with the billionaire part

    mince I have that down I can work on the reckless and eccentric parts
     
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  15. tango

    tango ... and you shall live ... Staff Member

    I've got eccentric pretty much pinned down. Sadly I don't have the billionaire aspect sorted just yet, and so I can't afford to be as reckless as I might otherwise be.

    That said, in my desk drawer I have some banknotes that add up to several million. Sadly that's several million Turkish Lira (the old ones, not the new ones). If they were still legal tender (I don't think they are any more) there's enough of them to buy a coffee and maybe a piece of cake to go with it.
     
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  16. ProDeo

    ProDeo What a day for a day dream

    I know one, he almost managed to ruin your democracy if it wasn't for Pence, that man deserves a statue.
     
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  17. RabbiKnife

    RabbiKnife Open the pod bay door, please HAL. Staff Member

    We don’t have a democracy

    the system has enough checks and balances with or without Pence
     
  18. IMINXTC

    IMINXTC Time Bandit

    Drop $44 Billion on a faltering global social media giant only to sink it by sheer capriciousness & incompetence?
    Man, that's power!
     
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  19. ProDeo

    ProDeo What a day for a day dream

    Worth every penny.
     
  20. tango

    tango ... and you shall live ... Staff Member

    $44bn to be rid of the cesspit that is Twitter.... bargain.

    Of course if it was my $44 bil I might think differently... if I had that kind of money to throw around I might even be a little cautious with it. But then buying wings for hospitals and new schools and libraries seems so dated.
     
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