> >     Here's a post I was reading by JR Willet (MasterCoin) which goes well
> >     with some chapters I was reading earlier from a 90s book called 'The
> >     Sovereign Individual' about the effects of cryptocurrency.

> >     http://imgur.com/a/eV74v#0

> >     The implications spelled out by that book and Willet's post are
> >     incredible and mind blowing.

> >     More than ever, I'm convinced that we need to use these new tools and
> >     the increasing unstable situation to construct a new reality that
> >     enables us all to persevere as free people and maintain our
> sovereignty.

> >     ---------------------------

> >     I have seen the future of Bitcoin, and it is bleak.

> >     ======================
> >     The Promise of Bitcoin
> >     ======================

> >     If you were to peak into my bedroom at night (please don’t), there’s
> a
> >     good chance you would see my wife sleeping soundly while I stare at
> the
> >     ceiling, running thought experiments about where Bitcoin is going.
> Like
> >     many other people, I have come to the conclusion that distributed
> >     currencies like Bitcoin are going to eventually be recognized as the
> >     most important technological innovation of the decade, if not the
> >     century. It seems clear to me that the rise of distributed currencies
> >     presents the biggest (and riskiest) investment opportunity I am
> likely
> >     to see in my lifetime; perhaps in a thousand lifetimes. It is
> critically
> >     important to understand where Bitcoin is going, and I am determined
> to
> >     do so.

> >     My hundreds of hours of thought experiments have been productive. I
> >     published a whitepaper about the future of Bitcoin, and because of
> that
> >     paper I’ll have the great privilege of sitting on the “Bitcoin in the
> >     Future” panel at the 2013 Bitcoin Conference in San Jose. Through
> these
> >     years of deliberation I have satisfied myself that the answer to the
> >     “Trillion Dollar Question” of whether any form of distributed
> currency
> >     can ever achieve a stable price, is “yes”. (There are three ways this
> >     will happen, as I have written elsewhere).

> >     I have been predicting for years that the world’s first trillionaire
> by
> >     USD valuation will be an early investor in distributed currency —
> quite
> >     possibly Satoshi Nakamoto, whoever he/she/it/they may be. I own a few
> >     bitcoins, and I intend to keep them until I find a more attractive
> >     investment (that is, I want to invest in whatever replaces bitcoin or
> >     builds on top of it).

> >     To many people, this sounds like an implausibly rosy future, and for
> >     early adopters that is true — it feels like winning the lottery every
> >     day. However, for most other people, the ascendancy of distributed
> >     currency systems will feel like a disaster. If you are involved in
> >     Bitcoin now, you should prepare to be almost universally hated
> someday.

> >     In this article, we will examine a few simple thought experiments to
> >     show how the rise of distributed currencies such as bitcoin could
> create
> >     massive social upheaval due to governments’ rapidly degrading
> capability
> >     to fulfill their core functions of taxation and regulation of
> commerce.
> >     We’ll see how the end result could be extremely painful for common
> >     citizens due to previously unimaginable wealth disparities,
> >     hyperinflation of previously stable government-backed fiat
> currencies,
> >     and a greatly empowered criminal class.

> >     ===================================
> >     The Bleak Future of Fiat Currencies
> >     ===================================

> >     Anarchists and hardcore libertarians love Bitcoin, but most people
> >     outside those circles are not in favor of completely doing away with
> >     their government. If you aren’t part of a fringe political movement,
> >     chances are there is something the government does that you like,
> >     whether it’s handing out entitlement money, killing enemies, putting
> >     people in prison, building dams and roads, funding research, or any
> >     number of other things. The government can do these things because
> the
> >     government can collect taxes, which in turn they can do because the
> >     flows of money are highly regulated and tracked at every level.
> Whether
> >     you are collecting a paycheck, buying furniture, cashing out
> >     investments, or simply dying and leaving an inheritance, the
> government
> >     knows about it and takes a cut.

> >     For our first thought experiment, let’s imagine a world where
> >     distributed currencies like bitcoin have become wildly successful
> due to
> >     technological advances which make them easy to use and completely
> >     stable. In this world government-issued money is as good as dead. It
> may
> >     take a few years for everyone to realize it, but there will come a
> point
> >     when the ever-increasing outflows of money from fiat money into
> >     untaxable, unseizable decentralized currency will reach a tipping
> point,
> >     and we’ll have a financial panic like the world has never seen.
> >     Frightened lawmakers and banks will try to stop people from cashing
> out,
> >     but that will just increase the panic. Those who don’t get out before
> >     the door closes will be in dire straits indeed. This is the ultimate
> >     bank run — the run on the world’s central banks, and who could
> possibly
> >     step in and restore order?

> >     When people think of hyperinflation, they usually envision a
> Zimbabwean
> >     printing press running around the clock in the dark corner of a mud
> hut,
> >     putting ever more zeroes on cheap paper. Has it ever occurred to you
> >     that hyperinflation can happen while the printing presses are off?
> The
> >     value of the money in your pocket is not ultimately guaranteed by
> your
> >     government, but by simple supply and demand. The government controls
> the
> >     supply, and we control the demand. If demand falls precipitously, we
> >     have hyperinflation without ever needing to print another dollar or
> >     euro. If people start fleeing government currencies en masse,
> >     hyperinflation is the inevitable result.

> >     The good news is that you don’t need to worry about current
> government
> >     debt in this scenario. If government currencies lose their value
> >     rapidly, debts which previously seemed overwhelming suddenly become
> much
> >     more manageable. Perhaps your debt-laden government will someday
> >     completely pay off it’s national debt by simply selling a few gold
> bars
> >     and a couple national parks.

> >     ==============================
> >     The Bleak Future of Retirement
> >     ==============================

> >     For our next thought experiment, let’s consider what will happen to
> >     Grandma. For her whole life, she has carefully saved her money, and
> now
> >     she is living in reasonable comfort. She gets money and health care
> from
> >     the government, and she has her own savings to fall back on. Grandma
> has
> >     done everything right, including taking her savings out of the stock
> >     market; most of her savings are now invested in the safest asset
> known
> >     to man: U.S. Treasury Bonds.

> >     Rather suddenly, things start to go wrong. At the same time all her
> >     expenses start skyrocketing, the government has a liquidity crisis;
> they
> >     are having trouble collecting taxes and can no longer pay for her
> health
> >     care. Her savings are still “safe” in the sense that she will get
> U.S.
> >     Dollars out of them, but that is little comfort when those dollars
> which
> >     should have lasted years can barely pay her weekly grocery bill.

> >     Grandma’s retirement has been sabotaged by the rise of a new kind of
> >     money that she can’t even begin to understand. All she knows is that
> she
> >     did everything right, and now she has nothing.

> >     ===================================
> >     The Bleak Future Wealth Disparities
> >     ===================================

> >     All the world’s wealth has essentially been stolen, but by whom? By
> you,
> >     dear reader.

> >     We’ll be very lucky if we aren’t all rounded up and summarily
> executed.
> >     Thankfully, you’ll be able to use some of that money to purchase
> >     protection, but I’m not at all convinced that it will be enough. A
> >     wrathful government backed by an enraged population is a fearful
> enemy.
> >     Satoshi foresaw this long ago, and I doubt he/she/it/they will ever
> >     voluntarily come into the light.

> >     If there are enough of us, and we are very careful and charming, we
> may
> >     be physically safe. However, the massive displacement of wealth will
> >     still have some awful consequences. People argue all the time about
> the
> >     societal benefits and drawbacks of wealth disparities, and the rise
> of
> >     distributed currencies will create disparities that previously did
> not
> >     seem possible. It seems clear that there will be a lot of jobs
> created
> >     by the new wealthy, but whether the average person is better off or
> not,
> >     one thing is sure to rise: resentment. What right do we have to take
> all
> >     the wealth of the world and put it in our pockets? Sure, a nifty new
> >     idea should pay off for early visionaries, but nobody ever expected a
> >     new idea to suck all the wealth out of the world like a financial
> black
> >     hole!

> >     ===================================
> >     The Bleak Future of Law Enforcement
> >     ===================================

> >     This is where things get really bleak. Currently distributed
> currencies
> >     facilitate money laundering, black market commerce (the Silk Road),
> and
> >     insider trading (TorBroker). These applications in their current form
> >     are just a snowflake on the tip of the iceberg. Not only will they
> get
> >     MUCH bigger, but we will see applications which are much less savory.
> >     Historically, the “Dark Net” accessible by Tor and private networks
> has
> >     been nothing more than a hidey-hole for illegal files and a hangout
> for
> >     paranoid schizophrenics, but it is quickly becoming the platform of
> >     choice for large-scale illegal commerce.

> >     For this thought experiment, we will imagine that your child has been
> >     kidnapped and put up for sale on “TorSlaver”. Their business plan is
> to
> >     kidnap children and sell them to the highest bidder, whether parent
> or
> >     pedophile. The winning bidder is sent the location of the child,
> >     probably bound and gagged and dumped somewhere. As long as they don’t
> >     get caught doing the kidnapping, the kidnappers can do this again and
> >     again with complete impunity. Once someone proves it can be done,
> >     copycats will come out of the woodwork, and it won’t matter if the
> first
> >     mover gets caught.

> >     As a parent of three small children, I cannot describe to you how
> awful
> >     this makes me feel. I have always been a very reluctant bitcoin
> >     investor, for this very reason. I don’t invest in bitcoin because I
> >     think it will bring about a happy utopian world. Quite the opposite.
> I
> >     invest in bitcoin because the rise of distributed currency is
> >     inevitable, and owning some bitcoins seems to be the best way to
> prepare
> >     for the chaos ahead. And just maybe, if I position myself correctly,
> I
> >     can make things a little less awful.

> >     ===========================
> >     The Government Strikes Back
> >     ===========================

> >     Does anyone really expect the government to sit back quietly and
> watch
> >     while their currency is debased, terrorism is funded, and children
> are
> >     kidnapped? The only question is when and how they will strike back
> >     against these forces. While the government does have a lot of
> options,
> >     ultimately those options only slow things down. At some point, we
> >     collectively with our governments face a difficult choice between
> trying
> >     to survive this deadly storm or attempting to destroy all
> decentralized
> >     computer networks (including the internet). The former seems
> >     unthinkable, the latter, impossible.

> >     I wouldn’t be surprised if this chaos gives rise to a strong,
> >     centralized, one-world government which gets its revenues by tightly
> >     reigning in freedom of commerce in order to collect taxes. For
> instance,
> >     I will not be surprised to see a requirement someday that every
> person
> >     buying or selling have an implant which tightly binds their identity
> to
> >     the sale. Perhaps the implant will even be located on the back of the
> >     right hand or the forehead! This may seem repugnant to you now, but
> wait
> >     until you have lived in the storm for a while before you call it
> >     impossible. The natural reaction to the deadly chaos of decentralized
> >     currency is for the populace to embrace increasingly centralized
> >     controls on commerce. The battle lines are only just starting to be
> >     drawn, and your guess is as good as mine for how it will play out.

> >     ==================
> >     What Should We Do?
> >     ==================

> >     We need people thinking about this. I’ll admit that many of the
> things I
> >     wrote about may not happen at all, or may happen very differently
> than I
> >     imagine. However, there are lots of people touting the fantastic
> >     benefits that bitcoin and its children can give us, and I don’t see
> >     anybody talking about how bad things could potentially get.

> >     We need solutions. When the government finally starts taking
> >     decentralized currency seriously, it will probably be doing so in a
> >     state of panic. We need to be advising governments now about how they
> >     can survive the storm and protect their populace. We need to think of
> >     ways the government can pay for its most critical operations, and
> what
> >     legislation makes sense to mitigate these new risks while preserving
> as
> >     much freedom as we can.

> >     The Lifeboat Foundation is attempting to provide this thinking,
> advice,
> >     and solutions. They are already getting ready for a new advisory
> board,
> >     culled from computer scientists, economists, and bitcoin experts. If
> you
> >     make a fortune from your investments in decentralized currency, I
> urge
> >     you to consider how you can help all the people harmed by these rapid
> >     changes. Many bitcoin enthusiasts seem to think they will get to
> retire
> >     on a private island with a harem and a stable of Italian sports cars.
> >     This is wrong. Bitcoin investors need to someday become bitcoin
> >     philanthropists, and our giving needs to be targeted at helping all
> the
> >     people we have harmed. The Lifeboat Foundation is one option, but I’m
> >     sure there will be others.

> >     I first published this article on the blog of the Lifeboat
> Foundation:
> >     http://lifeboat.com/blog/2013/04/bitcoins-dystopian-future
> >     Reddit version is here:

> >     tl;dr: Wildly successful distributed currencies could hurt a lot of
> >     people.

> >     _______________________________________________
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> >     https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/unsystem