On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 1:39 PM, Jon Cox <[email protected]> wrote:
>> You're confusing what 'consent' means in this context. The 'consent' in >> the term 'consensual belief system' as applied to currency systems like >> bitcoin or the USD implies 'assent that this exists'; and NOT 'assent to >> use this'. i.e, the USD exists because two parties to a transaction >> agree that it exists - whether the use of this particular currency is >> enforced or not. > I think you're using "consensual" in a very different > way than it was in the original post. No, Udhay is using it in the sense of the original post (and quoted from it.) I am using it in a different sense. :) >> >> > I don't have to use Hungarian Forints, no matter what Hungary >> >> > says. > Clearly, I am only as free to not use Forints > as I am free to not do business with Hungary. Correct. Assume for the moment that you do not "believe in forints" in the sense Udhay is using. You believe they are fictitious, with no real value. So you won't (voluntarily) do business in them or with them. Hungary on the other hand does believe in them and will only do business using them. So you are exactly correct. You are only as free not to use forints as you are free to not do business with Hungary. Which, as far as I can tell, is completely. No one is compelling you to do business with Hungary. > Hence, I might be compelled to use Forints against my will > as surely as a person might be raped. Even if forints were a completely consensual currency, you could be forced to use them. You can be forced to use BitCoins, or barter, in exactly the same way. Your argument does not address the consensuality (in either sense) of the currency. If I force you to use GNU at gunpoint does that make GNU un-free? No. It makes me a thug. Are you claiming no one would use USD, Forints, or BitCoins if they weren't forced to? That's prima-facie untrue given the popularity of the USD in transactions that not only don't involve the US Government, but are voluntary consensual transactions between freely consenting individuals with a choice of currencies or barter. -- Charles
