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Topic: Bitcoin digital currency (Read 270135 times) |
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Tuks
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #15 on: May 23rd, 2011, 5:52am » |
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people prefer diamonds for jewellery
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Eltripas
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #16 on: May 23rd, 2011, 8:40am » |
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on May 23rd, 2011, 5:52am, Tuks wrote:| people prefer diamonds for jewellery |
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Of course but you don't see rings or necklaces made 100% of diamond.
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Fritzlein
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #17 on: May 23rd, 2011, 10:32am » |
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on May 23rd, 2011, 12:23am, Eltripas wrote:| I thought gold was valuable because of its use in jewelry. |
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Yes, use in jewelry is what usually determines the market price of gold. The current situation, where investors (or as I like to call them, speculators) are willing to pay more for gold than Indians who want necklaces are willing to pay, is a bit unusual. When the speculative bubble bursts, investors will all bail out, and the price will be once again set by people who want to wear it.
But jewelry is not an industrial use. A necklace can be made out of other metals than gold, and be just as durable and/or shiny. You would think jewelry is all about appearance, but it isn't. If it were just about appearance, folks could wear gold-plated silver for a fraction of the cost.
People want their jewelry to be gold because gold is inherently valuable in their minds. People get off on wearing something that is precious. People want to have something that not everyone else can have. Gold makes people feel special and safe. People aren't buying the appearance of gold, they are buying gold's history, intrigue, and mystique. And they have an unshakable (and in my view unwarranted) belief that gold is real money that never loses its value.
on May 23rd, 2011, 5:52am, Tuks wrote:| people prefer diamonds for jewellery |
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Diamonds are gorgeous, in my opinion far surpassing the beauty of polished gold. Their crystal structure and high optical density makes them the prettiest inputs to jewelry that exist.
Diamonds are, however, just pure carbon, and carbon is abundant. We are only a few years away from being able to manufacture diamonds indistinguishable from the finest ever unearthed. What what happens when diamonds can be cheaply mass produced, and everyone can afford one? I bet that this gorgeous gemstone suddenly loses its allure, and is considered tawdry like sequins are today. Once again, it will be proven that jewelry is not about appearance, it is about saying, "I have something you don't have; something that will never lose its value."
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| « Last Edit: May 23rd, 2011, 10:44am by Fritzlein » |
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rbarreira
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #18 on: May 23rd, 2011, 12:10pm » |
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on May 23rd, 2011, 10:32am, Fritzlein wrote:| We are only a few years away from being able to manufacture diamonds indistinguishable from the finest ever unearthed. What what happens when diamonds can be cheaply mass produced, and everyone can afford one? |
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81 GHz CPUs to make faster Arimaa bots? 
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/81ghz-diamond-semiconductor-created-2 0030827/
I actually didn't know about it, your post got me searching synthetic diamonds and I ended up finding this.
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Fritzlein
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #19 on: May 23rd, 2011, 1:32pm » |
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From Wikipedia I see that I'm out of date myself on synthetic diamonds. I didn't realize how desperate traditional diamond sellers are getting. "The three largest distributors of mined diamonds have made public statements about selling their diamonds with full disclosure of the individual diamond history, and have implemented measures to laser-inscribe serial numbers on their gemstones."
Since diamonds per se are no longer scarce, what can I have that you can't? Aha, the history of the diamond. Those synthetic diamonds don't have a pedigree even if they have the same appearance and physical properties. We simply can't let people get the idea that diamonds dug out of the ground aren't special any more.
Ricardo, thanks for the link to the article about diamonds as semiconductors, although for cellphones (and other applications) it seems more important to use less power in the first place rather than to dissipate it better or be able to run hot.
Here's my second Neal Stephenson recommendation of the thread: Diamond Age, about a future in which diamonds are cheaper to manufacture than glass, so that only the rich have glass windows, etc.
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| « Last Edit: May 23rd, 2011, 1:38pm by Fritzlein » |
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Fritzlein
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #20 on: May 23rd, 2011, 1:51pm » |
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Tee hee! Just in time for our discussion, Utah passes a law making gold into money, sort of. Here is the video with Yahoo's Daily Ticker discussion. I'm right with Henry and Aaron in finding the gesture pointless and wondering what Utah thinks it is accomplishing.
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99of9
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #21 on: May 23rd, 2011, 7:56pm » |
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Our currency is rocks. We carry around huge containers full of rocks, especially when we visit China. They like our rocks, and give us all kinds of things in exchange.
Some countries think rocks are too heavy to carry back home. So when they bring goods here, we don't give them any rocks. Instead we just let them walk around on our rocks and take photographs.
It sounds like some of you like jewellery that you can have that nobody else can have. If you can afford it, consider a big rock. Even in Australia, the land of plenteous rocks, I've only ever seen little rocks hanging around people's necks.
Nobody has ever successfully produced a good forgery of a rock. And the government can't print them when it overspends.
They're also quite resistant to inflation. I've heard that rocks were valuable in the stone age. But they're even more valuable now. Once upon a time rocks got thrown at animals, but now that rocks are so expensive, we only throw hollow rubber balls.
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| « Last Edit: May 23rd, 2011, 8:29pm by 99of9 » |
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Fritzlein
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #22 on: May 24th, 2011, 3:49pm » |
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I got a Google alert that informed me that Omar, rather than participating in our little abstract debate about the soundness of BitCoin currency, is voting with his actions. You can buy Arimaa gear for bitcoins. Best of luck, Omar! I hope you don't get stuck holding a currency that you can't use to buy the things you want and need.
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| « Last Edit: May 24th, 2011, 3:49pm by Fritzlein » |
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UruramTururam
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #24 on: May 25th, 2011, 3:24pm » |
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on May 24th, 2011, 3:49pm, Fritzlein wrote:| I got a Google alert that informed me that Omar, rather than participating in our little abstract debate about the soundness of BitCoin currency, is voting with his actions. You can buy Arimaa gear for bitcoins. Best of luck, Omar! I hope you don't get stuck holding a currency that you can't use to buy the things you want and need. |
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Don't worry Fritz! Next year prizes in the Arimaa tournaments will be in bitcoins! 
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Caffa et bucella per attactionem corporum venit ad stomachum meum.
BGG Arimaa badges - get your own one!
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Eltripas
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #25 on: May 25th, 2011, 3:50pm » |
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on May 25th, 2011, 3:24pm, UruramTururam wrote:
Don't worry Fritz! Next year prizes in the Arimaa tournaments will be in bitcoins! |
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Oh, I would love this to happen for the poetic justice.
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omar
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #26 on: May 25th, 2011, 7:41pm » |
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on May 16th, 2011, 2:49pm, ddyer wrote:As a technical demonstration, this is indeed cool. As a practical matter, it's a terrible idea. The basis for the
"currency" is essentially burning a lot of electricity and computer time.
This is sort of like defining the "transit of america" as the basis of your currency, and awarding one "transit" if you drive your car from coast to coast. It's hard to fake, but it is a pure waste. If you base your currency on gold, you can at least make things out of the gold you end up with.
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I was looking at the details of how it works and the requirement for making you use a lot of computer time seems to be related to trying to slow down the computers and prevent them from flooding the p2p network whenever a transaction is posted. Also it is to prevent someone from getting bad transactions accepted. To get a bad transaction accepted you have to have more compute power than the rest of the p2p network.
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omar
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #27 on: May 25th, 2011, 7:56pm » |
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on May 24th, 2011, 3:49pm, Fritzlein wrote:| I got a Google alert that informed me that Omar, rather than participating in our little abstract debate about the soundness of BitCoin currency, is voting with his actions. You can buy Arimaa gear for bitcoins. Best of luck, Omar! I hope you don't get stuck holding a currency that you can't use to buy the things you want and need. |
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It was mostly so that I could add the Arimaa site to the list of merchants that accept bitcoins.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade#Games
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omar
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #28 on: May 25th, 2011, 8:03pm » |
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on May 25th, 2011, 3:24pm, UruramTururam wrote:
Don't worry Fritz! Next year prizes in the Arimaa tournaments will be in bitcoins! |
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Yes, I'm seriously considering that since it avoids the transaction fees, would be available in countries where PapPal isn't and you don't have to count on me maintain your Arimaa points balance. But the registration fees would also be in BitCoins.
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Eltripas
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Re: Bitcoin digital currency
« Reply #29 on: May 25th, 2011, 8:37pm » |
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on May 25th, 2011, 7:56pm, omar wrote:
"Arimaa Game Set, handsomely designed animal theme pieces in gold and silver color."
That's a poor description in my opinion, even if you just can use one line I'm pretty sure you can get something more appealing, with some info about how is it hard for computers and that other stuff that makes Arimma interesting.
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