We had to settle on this title out of several choices, because this was the only one without a swear word. William saw a movie! So we talk about that for awhile. Also, an impassioned plea for more emails! Then some discussion of cryptocurrencies, and a scathing skewering of the Matrix trilogy. Take that, previous decade! Enjoy!
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Bitcoins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin
Is a virtual currency that was created to be specifically created to be exchanged to real money and to be anonymous. (So people use them to buy drugs as well as use them for normal transactions.)
It’s not exactly different from Linden Dollars, but Lindens have a base in Second Life. Can people use Linden Dollars to buy real world items?
Bitcoins are a currency out in the world. In some places, there are restaurants and brick and mortar stores that will take Bitcoins for example.
I really thought William would be more interested in a decentralized crypto economic system.
But Evil Bucks are more entertaining.
I was, actually, very interested in it. But, honestly, I didn’t really understand it at the time.
Ah.
Well, part of the reason I went for BitCoins was that (aside from being obscure and being a decentralized pseudonymous currency) was that, if trade were to happen in some way between parallel dimensions it would seem like BitCoins would be an ideal currency to do so with. Seeing as how the currency is made up of bits (hence the name) which I think would be the more simple and efficient thing to transfer between said universes.
Last I knew, Lindens could be redeemed for cash, and are, therefore, often used as “real” currency.
Is there a restaurant somewhere that you can go and pay for your meal in Lindens?
Okay, so at the end of The Matrix II, Neo stopped and held out his hand and made the machines fall down go boom.
I took that moment to mean that they hadn’t actually left the Matrix, just like that episode of STNG where they were playing Sherlock Holmes in the Holodeck and Moriarty made them think they’d left the Holodeck but they hadn’t? Or that episode of Stargate: SG1 where the team was tricked into thinking they had gotten out of the Matrix-like network in that story and gone home.
… Oh yeah… Spoilers for those three things BTW.
I thought the exact same thing, when I saw it!!!!
Great minds think alike.
It was SUPER disappointing when I found out that was not the case.
I don’t know if you (or other folks here) know of Douglas Rushkoff’s history of centralized currency and it’s effect on government/business today but I’d recommend it. The book I know best is “Life, Inc.” Or a shorter intro is in this article about hacking money and hacking banking: http://arthurmag.com/2009/03/23/hack-money-hack-banking-rushkoff-on-the-economy/.
In the comments section of that article there are several cool sites listed for decentralized currency: flowplace.org, metacurrency.org and openmoney.org.
I think Rushkoff’s take on bitcoins is that they still tend to perpetuate the current system because based on a storage/investment/interest concept rather than on exchange (where the currency is only a stand in in a bartering economy). I don’t know enough about bitcoins though to say whether that’s true or not.
If the buck stops here, where does the evil buck stop?
Do they come in denominations?
50 bucks = a fiendish
100 bucks = a horrendous
I’m sorry sir, we can’t change a horrendous. (Yes, they’re irredeemable).
HAH! I’m anonymous!!! I’ve really failed so far to figure out this interface. I think the very first question I asked (which might have been after the first or second episode?) must have got rejected cause I also left a comment on it (not realizing they went here). And now I know I’ve sent in three more but I never sign them (thinking my email shows who they’re from–or sumpin’). At least the other two are shorter.
Those responses were hilarious! Yeah, exactly–why wouldn’t the machines continue to mess with them? Agent Smith as the Grinch! 😀 Great answers. They made me very happy and contented feeling. . . now if I could just get rid of that vague suspicion that something’s not quite right. . .
Yeah, we have a rule, unless there is a specific signature in the email, we call them anonymous. Some people like to stay anonymous, and some people like to use pseudonyms. So whenever there’s not a signature, it’s anon.
Your other question might have been lost, but it also might still be in the Hat. They really are drawn out at random. 🙂
Ah, got it. Thanks 🙂
I guess Tony has been leaving it out of the “how to email the hat” part of his schpiel – to get your name on it, one must sign the email. Otherwise, the hat assumes the sender would prefer anonymity.
William, Strongbow is awesome. No need to be concerned with Tony consuming a mere two bottles (or did you have cans?), in the UK, you can buy it at the grocery store in 2 or 3L bottles. How ’bout them apple(cider)?
Tony, I deeply appreciated your accurate singing from the Grinch. Made my afternoon.
Strongbow Cider: That is nice, though it’s much better if you can get it from a keg vs a bottle/can.
Though the real question is what kind of chocolate is William all hepped up on.
Star Trek, Into Darkness: It had some good & some bad, overall a fun movie but not one that I can actually call good. There were a considerable # of references to the original movies which I caught and found annoying, though apparently I didn’t catch nearly as many as some of my more Trekkie friends.
Secret Project: Whooo!
Elementary: Meh, I was watching but missed an episode or 2 and just never felt motivated to go back to it.
RoftLA: Well bugger, now I really wish I wasn’t so far behind in listening to the podcast. Seeing RoftLA on the big screen would’ve been cool.
Dresden Files: I don’t know if bringing Helen back to life is such a good idea, maybe she’s better off dead.
Bitcoins: Really, you guys didn’t know what these are? We might have to pull your geek cards…. Also Bitcoins are different in that nobody “magically” makes more; you have to run computers to calculate some very fancy math (based on cryptography) in order to create a new bitcoin.
2 bits, 4 bits, 6 bits, a dollar? That’s a bizarre little song.
Evil Bucks: So basically these are the ideal version of the American economy?