At 07:29 PM 4/10/2002 -0700, Tim May wrote:
How do we trust bits to represent money?
I argue that the question is, as stated, not well-grounded at this time.
I agree.
It is interesting to be back on cypherpunks after a five or more year vacation,
only to find most of the same discussions we
On Wed, 10 Apr 2002, Pat Farrell wrote:
Alice trusts money because she can get ice cream cones.
Incorrect, she trusts money because she knows the vendor trusts the money.
Why? Because they are members in a large (reasonably) stable environment
with (relatively) low threat percentages. If it's
On Thu, 11 Apr 2002, Nomen Nescio wrote:
Changing trust to believe advances the discussion not one whit.
Alice trusts Bob to sign keys accurately; Alice believes that Bob signs
keys accurately. The change doesn't add anything.
In fact if anything it's a step backwards. Trust is a
At 01:43 AM 4/11/2002 -0500, Jim Choate wrote:
On Wed, 10 Apr 2002, Pat Farrell wrote:
Banks exchange bits thru the ACH networks based on
a belief that their exchange is valid.
No, they exchange bits based on a very expensive and complicated protocol
that has a variety of safe guards built
Changing trust to believe advances the discussion not one whit.
Alice trusts Bob to sign keys accurately; Alice believes that Bob signs
keys accurately. The change doesn't add anything.
Belief is a physiological phenomenon that makes one accept otherwise silly
concepts in order to be unison
How do we trust bits to represent money? Someone asked this (Mike
Rosing, I think it was).
I argue that the question is, as stated, not well-grounded at this time.
No one is asking for bits to be trusted, from first principles, absent
real products and a real embedding in a financial system
