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PayPal Spaces Out With Paypal Galactic

Posted by samzenpus on from the in-space-no-one-can-take-your-payment dept.

sl4shd0rk writes "Presuming aliens won't have terrible Ebay experiences, PayPal means to position themselves to take on payments in the cosmos: 'With our fifteen years of experience in global online payments, PayPal has a unique perspective to speak to the possibilities of an interplanetary economy.' Apparently, Paypal is taking up bedmates with Virgin Galatic along with Buzz Aldrin and the SETI Institute to allow you to 'explore the possibilities of travel' as well as tourism and commerce."

6 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Advanced civilizations may move beyond money by Paul+Fernhout · · Score: 3, Insightful

    via Gift economies, Star Trek subsistence via 3D printing, democratic participatory planning, and more things perhaps. See also Ian Banks' Culture series, and Marshall Brain's Manna, and James P. Hogan's Voyage from Yesteryear. Still, I guess some might move towards that via a "basic income",

    --
    A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
  2. Just a matter of time... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

    How long before advanced aliens experience Paypal's "customer service" and decide to annihilate us all? It'd be hard to blame them.

  3. It's about time by multiben · · Score: 5, Funny

    Finally. I'm fairly sure that the only thing holding us back from colonising space is a means of buying things over the internet.

  4. How will it work? by hawguy · · Score: 5, Funny

    This raises more question than it answers. If I sell a Superman Collectible action figure on eBay to someone on Exoplanet Kepler-74 b, will I earn any interest on the money during the 4300 years it will take for his payment to reach me? Will Paypal freeze the funds for the 4300+ years it will take for me to ship it to him (it could even be a few days longer if I don't use express shipping). What kind of transaction fees will there be for interstellar payments?

    These are the questions I want to see answered before I get excited about this... this has the potential to really open up the interstellar market since securing payment has been the biggest stumbling block.

    1. Re:How will it work? by shmageggy · · Score: 5, Informative

      Paul Krugman wrote an interesting paper about this very topic in 1978. http://www.standupeconomist.com/pdf/misc/interstellar.pdf

  5. Ha! by SammyRenard · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It takes paypal nearly two weeks to transfer money from a bank account in canada to my paypal account, sometimes three weeks. If they think they'll suddenly do better in space...