No, they buy it because they believe it's currenmt price is lower than it's peak price
I believe it's going to stabilize over time. I'm not concerned with timing the peak. I'll sell some of mine when I need the money, not because it's reached some peak.
Similarly, most gold investors aren't trying to time a peak. They buy gold as diversified security.
Then the bubble pops and people who held too long hold a fire sale.
Or the price drops and settles at a lower level, and then climbs back up again. That's what happens after gold or housing or stocks go through a bubble period.
That circular logic. Gold jewelry is expensive and desirable because it is made from gold, not because it's pretty jewelry. People pay a lot more money for solid gold jewelry than they do for gold plated jewelry, even though it's just as pretty.
That's because you're a buyer. If you're a seller, it's very nice that a charge can't be disputed after you've shipped a perfectly good item.
By the way, Bitcoin has the option to solve your problem with Multisignature transactions. In addition to the buyer and seller, an independent 3rd party arbitrator could join the transaction. The deal is set up so that a valid transaction requires 2 out of 3 signatures. If the buyer and seller don't agree, the arbitrator can decide where the funds go.
It's backed by the people using it, just like any other currency. I've never seen anyone properly explain why that wouldn't be good enough for Bitcoin, but it is good enough for gold.
(Yes, I know, gold is used for industrial purposes. However, this does not explain why we must pay $1300 for an ounce of gold that takes about $500 to mine, while mining 10 times the amount we need, and already having stockpiled years worth of production)
but there quickly comes a point of limit for a currency that is naturally limited in its units.
There is no limit to how far you can divide bitcoin, because we can always upgrade the protocol to support smaller units.
Basically being able to print and destroy currency allows you some flexibility to borrow from good times to patch the bad times; making the roller coaster less bumpy and stay on the rails.
Great. Let's keep fiat currencies for day to day life. And we'll use bitcoin for those people who want to save something up for later, and don't want to watch their wealth get inflated away. Much like gold, but with some added benefits that you can verify its authenticity, transfer it over the internet, and divide/combine it.
The world will be far better off once we are using digital currencies with different forms of artificial scarcity.
True, that would be the holy grail. The problem is designing a system that doesn't cost a bunch of effort to validate correct transactions, but would make it really hard to validate incorrect ones.
What is it backed by? Precious metals are rare enough plus they can be used for other purposes.
Industrial use of rare metals is a distraction. Only 10% of the mined gold goes to industry. The rest is hoarded. Gold is also not accepted by most legitimate business establishments.
Plus the only people making any money are the ones who got in early. That's a pyramid scheme.
People who got in early on AAPL or MSFT also made a ton of money. Does that mean these are pyramid schemes ? No. People got in early because they understood how some cheap things have a great value.
Responsible central banks adjust the money supply to the size of the economy so that its value is relatively stable
Even if they keep the value stable, that doesn't mean the process is fair. Some guy in a suit goes bankrupt on a $10 billion loan, and the central bank adds another $10 billion to keep the money supply well adjusted. Sounds good, but the net effect is to take a little bit from everyone with a savings account, and deposit it in the pockets of a few.
What kind of college/HS kid is capable of designing a 100 lb probe that can operate in deep space, keep it solar panels aimed at the Sun, the parabolic dish aimed at the Earth, and can run autonomous experiments ? Oh, yeah, it needs to be ready to launch in a few months.
Yes it will. Compare the old Tesla battery pack with the new one. They made a ton of improvements and changes with respect to temperature control, charging electronics and physical packaging. In some cases, they moved functionality from the battery pack to the car, or the other way around.
And that's just two generations from a battery pack from the same vendor.
Imagine if the old battery pack was standardized, then they could not have made any of these changes without breaking the standard, and requiring an update on all the charging stations.
Most cars can be charged while they are parked, using a slower charger, at home, at the store, or at work. Average capital cost may be even lower than for gasoline cars.
3000 lbs of useful scientific experiments would easily cost as much as the rocket itself, cause extra scheduling grief, and have a very good chance of crashing in the ocean or exploding in the air.
The roadster is only about 1.4 tons of mass, so they should have plenty of leeway on the delta-v budget.
Maybe, but the second stage uses kerosene as fuel, and it will be frozen solid by the time they get to Mars. Getting a video feed will be difficult due to large distances.
And what about the booster?
All three boosters should land back on Earth, if everything goes according to plan.
Heat is directly related to battery tech. Charging supply can be fixed with local battery buffers (is already being done), or by upgrading the grid connection. Local buffers also benefit from surplus solar energy during the day.
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No, they buy it because they believe it's currenmt price is lower than it's peak price
I believe it's going to stabilize over time. I'm not concerned with timing the peak. I'll sell some of mine when I need the money, not because it's reached some peak.
Similarly, most gold investors aren't trying to time a peak. They buy gold as diversified security.
Then the bubble pops and people who held too long hold a fire sale.
Or the price drops and settles at a lower level, and then climbs back up again. That's what happens after gold or housing or stocks go through a bubble period.
Those 4 trillion made-up dollars (assuming that figure is correct, I haven't checked) were far less than the amount of made-up dollars destroyed
The problem is that my savings account is now worth less, because somebody else's poor decisions had to be paid.
Gold's ability to be converted into jewelry helps
That circular logic. Gold jewelry is expensive and desirable because it is made from gold, not because it's pretty jewelry. People pay a lot more money for solid gold jewelry than they do for gold plated jewelry, even though it's just as pretty.
It is backed by people investing in it, because they think the current price is lower than its ultimate value.
If someone invests in a bar of gold, how much use do they get out of that ?
yes, economics is a branch of mathmatics
Ok, then I'll wait for mathematical proof of his conjectures.
That's because you're a buyer. If you're a seller, it's very nice that a charge can't be disputed after you've shipped a perfectly good item.
By the way, Bitcoin has the option to solve your problem with Multisignature transactions. In addition to the buyer and seller, an independent 3rd party arbitrator could join the transaction. The deal is set up so that a valid transaction requires 2 out of 3 signatures. If the buyer and seller don't agree, the arbitrator can decide where the funds go.
It's backed by the people using it, just like any other currency. I've never seen anyone properly explain why that wouldn't be good enough for Bitcoin, but it is good enough for gold.
(Yes, I know, gold is used for industrial purposes. However, this does not explain why we must pay $1300 for an ounce of gold that takes about $500 to mine, while mining 10 times the amount we need, and already having stockpiled years worth of production)
That sounds too much like work.
but there quickly comes a point of limit for a currency that is naturally limited in its units.
There is no limit to how far you can divide bitcoin, because we can always upgrade the protocol to support smaller units.
Basically being able to print and destroy currency allows you some flexibility to borrow from good times to patch the bad times; making the roller coaster less bumpy and stay on the rails.
Great. Let's keep fiat currencies for day to day life. And we'll use bitcoin for those people who want to save something up for later, and don't want to watch their wealth get inflated away. Much like gold, but with some added benefits that you can verify its authenticity, transfer it over the internet, and divide/combine it.
We should listen to him, but always while keeping in mind that he's only trying to help himself, not us.
The world will be far better off once we are using digital currencies with different forms of artificial scarcity.
True, that would be the holy grail. The problem is designing a system that doesn't cost a bunch of effort to validate correct transactions, but would make it really hard to validate incorrect ones.
What is it backed by? Precious metals are rare enough plus they can be used for other purposes.
Industrial use of rare metals is a distraction. Only 10% of the mined gold goes to industry. The rest is hoarded. Gold is also not accepted by most legitimate business establishments.
Plus the only people making any money are the ones who got in early. That's a pyramid scheme.
People who got in early on AAPL or MSFT also made a ton of money. Does that mean these are pyramid schemes ? No. People got in early because they understood how some cheap things have a great value.
Responsible central banks adjust the money supply to the size of the economy so that its value is relatively stable
Even if they keep the value stable, that doesn't mean the process is fair. Some guy in a suit goes bankrupt on a $10 billion loan, and the central bank adds another $10 billion to keep the money supply well adjusted. Sounds good, but the net effect is to take a little bit from everyone with a savings account, and deposit it in the pockets of a few.
So how is Bitcoin a scam ?
There's absolutely no good reason to be writing the goddamn application to actually execute in your browser.
Yes there is. It's much more efficient.
That script free version is ugly and slow, even for a trivial example.
Yeah, just slap together a functioning third stage. How hard can it be ? It's not brain surgery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
What kind of college/HS kid is capable of designing a 100 lb probe that can operate in deep space, keep it solar panels aimed at the Sun, the parabolic dish aimed at the Earth, and can run autonomous experiments ? Oh, yeah, it needs to be ready to launch in a few months.
I would assume they're going to need some kind of "3rd-stage" to enter Mars orbit
Yes, but to develop a capable 3rd stage would probably cost hundreds of millions. This is just a stunt, not a serious project.
It does not "stifle" battery improvements
Yes it will. Compare the old Tesla battery pack with the new one. They made a ton of improvements and changes with respect to temperature control, charging electronics and physical packaging. In some cases, they moved functionality from the battery pack to the car, or the other way around.
And that's just two generations from a battery pack from the same vendor.
Imagine if the old battery pack was standardized, then they could not have made any of these changes without breaking the standard, and requiring an update on all the charging stations.
Most cars can be charged while they are parked, using a slower charger, at home, at the store, or at work. Average capital cost may be even lower than for gasoline cars.
A trip to Mars, on the other hand, is a straightforward engineering challenge that people have a shot at
It's far from straightforward. Besides, even in the remotest fantasy that they could survive there, people will fuck it all up just the same.
3000 lbs of useful scientific experiments would easily cost as much as the rocket itself, cause extra scheduling grief, and have a very good chance of crashing in the ocean or exploding in the air.
The roadster is only about 1.4 tons of mass, so they should have plenty of leeway on the delta-v budget.
Maybe, but the second stage uses kerosene as fuel, and it will be frozen solid by the time they get to Mars. Getting a video feed will be difficult due to large distances.
And what about the booster?
All three boosters should land back on Earth, if everything goes according to plan.
Heat is directly related to battery tech. Charging supply can be fixed with local battery buffers (is already being done), or by upgrading the grid connection. Local buffers also benefit from surplus solar energy during the day.