The Crypto-Financial Paradox

[jamesd at echeque.com]

    --
On 21 Nov 2001, at 23:26, Ryan Lackey wrote:
> Bob Hettinga wrote:
>
> > Quoting "Blanc <blancw at cnw.com>":
>
> > > But sometimes it seems like it will be a Cold Day in  
> > > Hell before that happens.
>
> > > (Ryan, would you make this your next project?
> > >  We'd all appreciate it *ever* so much.)
>
> I think I've figured out why ecash hasn't been deployed.
>
> 1) "Math is hard!  Let's go shopping!" 2) Yet, ecash can be 
> used for shopping.
>
> The resulting paradox has rendered ecash a logical  
> impossibility :)
>
> > Not to un-swash his buckle, and all that, because he  
> > really deserves massive kudos for what he's done with  
> > HavenCo., but Ryan's already tried that, once before, on 
> > Anguilla, if we all remember, and it wasn't at all pretty 
> > (cf. Declan's articles earlier this year about the  
> > E-Gold/Systemics pissing contest).
>
> Twice, actually, if you count HINDE.

I never understood what went wrong in those plans -- I just  
saw people flaming each other and tuned out -- the cloud of  
misinformation was sufficient that I did missed the  
information, or neglected to separate it from the  
misinformation.

I carefully followed the failure of Mark Twain digicash, and 
understood why that failed.

Why did the various other attempts fail?

I recollect that when I checked various web pages, the  
software, in my humble opinion, simply sucked mightily --  
unacceptable user interface, so I perceived simple technical 
failure, or perhaps the software was never completed to the 
state that people optimistically described it as achieving.  
The flame war suggests some human failure that I failed to 
comprehend, which may have resulted in the technical failure,
or failure to complete the software Or perhaps the technical
failure led to human failure, as people blamed each other
rather than fixing it? 

    --digsig
         James A. Donald
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