Boo! Stamps are way more fun!

At this rate, everyone in Toronto will be homeless by 2050 /s

CBDCs would grant immense power to the state. They would know every purchase you make and have the ability to block specific transactions or even freeze your account fully. It’s an authoritarian’s dream.

Stablecoins have drawbacks too, and the state could exercise control over them somewhat. But blockchains have more property rights and privacy (although not total privacy) built into it by default. It would be much more difficult for a state to overcome those hurdles.

Totally hear you — crypto isn’t perfect, and yeah, hoarding happens just like in any system. But that’s more a human problem than a crypto one.

Crypto is a tool, and how it is used is what matters. It can be used to speculate on ridiculous monkey JPEGs, or scam people or it can be used to send money across borders without middlemen, resist censorship, and invest without being subject to the big banks.

It’s not a silver bullet, but it does open up new possibilities that the current system just doesn’t.

Don’t worry about the downvotes bro. Lemmy has a knee jerk aversion to crypto, even though the ideals of the fediverse and the ideals of crypto are very much aligned

I know lemmy is super anti-crypto, but digital dollars are probably inevitable, and stablecoins are vastly preferable to a CBDC

To take the other side (not sure I agree):

Iran is unique in that it is run by a government that claims to be Islamic fundamentalists. This could make mutually assured destruction less effective if the ones launching the nukes truly believe that if they die in the retaliation they will go to heaven with their 72 virgins.

I’m not convinced that the Ayatollah is ok dying in the name of killing infidels, but I do see the merits of this argument.

There are multiple models for teaching that do something similar, let kids approach a subject when they’re ready. Yes, they goof off a lot early on, but eventually even STEM and literature call to them, and they pass equivalency exams in their late teens.

Can you link to some more information on this? I’m curious about alternative education models

If you want to use it in place of airlines, you need high-speed rail. Something that the US has basically none of

Something like 30% of the US lives in the strip between Washington DC and Boston. It’s absolutely achievable for the richest country on Earth to provide high speed rail in that section.

I know lemmy is quite anti-crypto, but CBDCs seem much more dangerous to me

He didn’t sell most of the drugs, he just provided a platform that allowed anyone to sell anything anonymously. Drug dealers used it because it was useful to them.

Drug dealers use private messaging apps like Signal as well. Should Signal be held responsible for drug deals facilitated by their app? (I know it’s not a perfect analogy, what he made was more blatant, but it’s an important distinction to make)

Honestly, this one I can understand. They threw the book at this guy because he showed how privacy technologies can circumvent government control. He got 2 life sentences without possibility of parole for a non-violent crime.

What he did was illegal, but he’s been in prison for 10 years. He’s served his time

No true Scotsman fallacy

I’m progressive, but we should not deny the failure modes of progressivism

There are many examples of the left pushing blind faith in the leader (see Mao, Kim Il Sung, Stalin)