On 14/06/11 2:31 AM, Marsh Ray wrote:
I 'aint no self-appointed moderator of this list and I do find the
subject of economics terribly interesting, but maybe it would make sense
to willfully confine the scope of our discussion of Bitcoin and other
virtual currencies to the crypto side of it.
Crypto people spend all their lives learning theoretical crypto in
groups like this. Then they go and apply their theoretical crypto out
in the real world, and it bombs. Or worse:
http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=16457.0
In contrast, economists spend all their lives learning theoretical econ
in other places. Then they go and apply their theoretical econ in the
real world, and it bombs. (Que in links to IMF, WB, etc.)
Everything that the econ people say is true, but they ain't gonna build
it. Everything that the crypto people say is true, but people ain't
gonna use it.
How might there be a place where the knowledge can pass back and forth?
Back in the halcyon days of DigiCash, Zooko and I used to run an
informal thing called the Weber Economics Club. Us digital cash people
would collect every Friday night in a cafe called the Weber, and there
we'd spend about an hour or two talking through some particular
economics concept. And especially how it applied to our world of
digital cash. We were very aware that economics was key to our designs,
then.
I'm not saying this group can do that. But, to the extent that the
ecogniscenti can influence the crypto people, something of value might
come out. To the extent that the cryptoplumbers can build something of
economic stability, some good might come out.
On the other hand, talking just pure theory is fun too :)
iang
PS: I agree that talk about the housing crisis belongs elsewhere.
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