Moving beyond "Reputation"--the Market View of Reality

[Gabriel Rocha]

		On Sun, Nov 25, at 03:05PM, Tim May wrote
| Thus, what is the "reputation of the dollar"? Is it because of foolproof 
| anti-forgery measures? Is it because of the laws of the U.S.? Etc.?
| 
| No, it is a kind of collective hallucination.
 
It is not a "Collective hallucination" unless you take into account
the fact that the dollar (substittute your local fiat currency here)
is nothing more than a piece of paper issued by the US government
with no guarantees whatsoever of its redeemability at any given
point in time.

| All crypto is economics. All money is based on belief. All a matter of 
| "betting," of risk/benefit analysis. Related concepts, of course.

Money isn't so much a "belief" as it is a medium of exchange. I do
agree that it is the de facto medium of exchange because of the
belief that people put into the fact that they will be able to
exchange it for other things later on, but I believe that is
actually besides the point depending on how you refer to money.
Money as was the case 150 years ago was not really a betting idea.
Money was gold, gold was money and gold was not only money, it was
also a tangible item in and of itself. Perhaps during the times of
100% gold backed currency (I mean the Rothbard idea of banks being
nothing more than warehouses) there was  belief system somewhere,
but even then, "money" was actually gold substitute, the "dollar"
meant nothing more than a certain quantity of gold. Perhaps in
todays world you are right in the idea that money is nothing more
than a hallucination, I agree with that statement even. But I would
venture into saying that the world we live in today is a hystorical
exception, in no other time than in the last hundred (ok, hundred
and one, almost two) was money represented in such meaningless terms
as it is now, with nothing to back it up. (even gold was never
backed up by anything other than belief in its tradeability, but
then gold is "useful" and "valued" for others uses than trading.
What "use" is a dollar bill? Perhaps the Swiss Franc has artistic
value, but if you're not cold and in dire need of something to burn
for warmth, todays "money" is for all intents and purposes useles.)

| Back to reputations.
 
| Thus, there is no fixed "reputation" of either a person, an idea, or a 
| unit of value. Everything is a matter of belief, of expectation...
 
There is nothing fixed in this world, if you have no boundries set.
If everything is a belief or expectation, I would have to say that
some beliefs and some expectations are stronger than others...some
by orders of magnatude.

| Digital money is just one facet of this worldview.

I would still say that the reputation problem is one of the greatest
of the problems facing digital money, govenments aside. Perhaps the
problem should be referred to as bad PR instead. (Digital money needs a
better marketting department.) 

No offense intended, but other than a few points in the email, I
failed to miss the punchline. --Gabe

-- 
Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer --On the eve of Britain's entry
into World War II:
	"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win 
without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be 
sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will 
have to fight with all odds against you and only a precarious 
chance of survival. There may be even a worse fate. You may have 
to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to 
perish than to live as slaves.