On 18-Jun-11, at 5:10 PM, Eugen Leitl wrote:
[snip]
On Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 12:21:42AM +0530, Sirtaj Singh Kang wrote:
This is a very thorough and compelling takedown of bitcoin.
Currencies are consensual belief systems. Bitcoin will remain
useful as long as there are no effective attacks against
the cryptosystem and/or the infrastructure, and people continue
to believe in it.
This is equally true of baseball cards.
Bitcoin is unlikely to be it, but it will have successors and
competitors.
I agree.
I don't consider it either thorough, or compelling. It's full of
forceful
assertions, strawmen, and errors.
I don't agree. There is enough meat in there that requires a cogent
rebuttal (eg the idea that "real" currencies are backed by people with
guns - something that I've seen from bitcoin supporters themselves).
This piece has received enough play now that a good rebuttal is very
likely to appear. If you happen to come across one, I'd appreciate if
you'd link to it here.
-Taj.
