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this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2024
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Enshittification
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What is enshittification?
The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements and sponsored content, in order to increase profits. (Cory Doctorow, 2022, extracted from Wikitionary) source
The lifecycle of Big Internet
We discuss how predatory big tech platforms live and die by luring people in and then decaying for profit.
Embrace, extend and extinguish
We also discuss how naturally open technologies like the Fediverse can be susceptible to corporate takeovers, rugpulls and subsequent enshittification.
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Advantages of fiat being what exactly inflation (hidden taxes), government control of personal finances (their ability to strip you of your financial freedom at will), tracking (their ability to limit what your allowed to buy) etc etc i see absolutely no upsides of a fiat currency unless you are a government who utilises the currency as a tool to control the masses.
As for some guy walking off the gdp of a country u dont seriously think ud just use standard wallet that is the countries finances. Its a block chain simply require a ring signature of elected officials hell u can probably also require they publish a transparent report of this as well.
Commodity based currency is objectively better. Crypto theft is an issue of rug pull schemes and bad digital privacy (cos no banks have ever been hacked ever right).
I feel the crypto hate is a psyop by the cia that used nfts and the scam coins to destroy public opinion because crypto was the only real threat the american regime faced. Why do u think 911 was the world trade centre america uses its fiat currency that is the global reserve to rule the world. Crypto once again give people freedom and countries sovergnty.
Yikes, that last paragraph really has me not wanting to engage, but let's proceed cautiously here.
If you are against fiat currency because you are against central banking, I don't know how much I can assure you on the basis of fiat. But just to play some devil's advocate with you, who do you think is controlling all those computers? If anyone can insert a backdoor somewhere, it's them. What electronic system do you know that's fed free?
Do you want your life savings in an online wallet in someone else's hands, like Mt Gox, or on a local drive someone with an electromagnet or hammer could take out?
And if you don't trust the government to run a central bank appropriately, what difference is it if they're using dollars, Euros, or crypto? They can manipulate it all the same. How are bank ledgers different than a block chain?
Using a globalised currency also reduces sovereignty. Look at any country that joined the EU and had financial woes afterward. I haven't heard much about it recently, but I remember many Greeks wanting to go back to the drachma for a bit. Someone is going to have control over whatever currency it is. If you have trouble with a government, you need to get control of that. Currency is just one tool in a toolbox of running a nation. If you don't trust the people using the tools, it isn't the tool that's the problem.
Not wanting to get in an argument about 9/11 either, but I can tell you a couple of differences between bank ledgers and blockchains. Blockchains are distributed across many machines and all are synchronised. I had the Bitcoin blockchain on my computer for a while, until I realised how much space it was taking. Anyone can view the contents of the entire blockchain, ask the bank to view all their ledgers and you'll see the difference. Blockchain means an end to most money laundering and corruption. All coins can be traced.
The software behind Bitcoin is open source, so no backdoors can be put in there (at least not without it being noticed, probably), many wallets are also open source. Things like mtgox happened because people weren't using wallets to keep their own coins in, and left it for someone else to look after.
The Euro is a great thing for most people. Greece has financial problems that need long term solutions. If they had the drachma, they would just print more, and devalue the currency, which would make all imports more expensive and prices go up. The Euro prevents this and they have to find another solution. That's more the problem with fiat, that governments will use an easy solution, that hurts people. A currency which is not controlled by the government prevents this and can lead to better solutions that don't make life difficult for most people.
This is just what I know, some facts may be wrong, let's talk.
You've filled me in on a few things a bit better crypto-wise, though I still feel many of the problems still exist. It still seems assets would either be easier to sieze vs cash or more of a liability to store on one's own. I imagine if it were to become an official currency, some more protections would get out in place, but that would probably compromise the anonymity of you were to make a claim about it.
While you can't look at all of a bank's ledger, there is still redundancy and a known route to clear up discrepancies and fraud. Benefits of traceable currency.
I'm not super techy, so I don't know if man in the middle attacks are still possible or other methods of intercepting transactions.
It didn't seem like a good idea to go back to things like the drachma, but I get why people would want it. Again, I think the blame gets placed in the currency rather than the things that lead to that currency being devalued, but that's another story.
We also didn't just print money thoughtlessly. I didn't agree with all the choices the Fed has made, but overall I think they've done ok, but it's not as though we can examine how the alternatives would have played out.
These are all things we could debate endlessly of course. I can't ever see a government giving up control of currency though. That's just too big a thing. I try to stay open to useful cases for crypto too, but most proponents just seem so off-putting.