Inspired by the hype , I decided to put extra PCs sitting in my garage to better use then eating dust. Let's mine some bitcoins. It wasn't as easy as signing up with your twitter account on iPhony but it wasn't that difficult either. There are easy downloadable apps (GUI miner) from sketch looking forums that still run in beta geek look and you can sign up in equally scary mining pool (slush) to share your compute. You can also download your graphic card SDK to allow the mining software run cycles on your GPU. For some reason GPU works better then big bro CPU when it comes to mining moolha. There are websites that give you a shareable key as your account conduit locked with your super long private key. And then you can swap those funds to your online locker (huh bank account) or a private wallet hidden in your Mac.
Yaa that took me good one hour to figure but no big deal. If BTC sticks these interfaces would improve and not everyone gonna sweat their ware into mining -:) And on the other hand the command line like look does appeal to inner geek :-) .
That said , the real reason for this post is to dwell deeper in the nature and history of currency.
Currency is actually a promise. An agreement that ensures value. The dollar note that you hold in your shirt pocket is a guarantee of reserve bank to provide you value of your work at later date of your choice. Now who can make that promise ? Someone or something that holds the power. When you believe in paper issued by a central bank , you are actually believing in the power of a national government . Hence "power" is the currency NOT the dollar bill. In other words , the promise comes from the power of a nation , the dollar bill is just a mean to communicate that.
Long before governments started issuing the notes , the currency was Gold and it stemmed its promise from the desire. Everyone wanted gold for its the best metal. And it takes substantial effort to make gold. Hard work and properties make gold desirable and hence its charm assures the value.
With bit coin , we are at the cusp of third major transition. Bitcoin stems its promise from compute. Which means mankind is moving from sheer lust and power to a knowledge based intelligent species.
That said , the real reason for this post is to dwell deeper in the nature and history of currency.
Currency is actually a promise. An agreement that ensures value. The dollar note that you hold in your shirt pocket is a guarantee of reserve bank to provide you value of your work at later date of your choice. Now who can make that promise ? Someone or something that holds the power. When you believe in paper issued by a central bank , you are actually believing in the power of a national government . Hence "power" is the currency NOT the dollar bill. In other words , the promise comes from the power of a nation , the dollar bill is just a mean to communicate that.
Long before governments started issuing the notes , the currency was Gold and it stemmed its promise from the desire. Everyone wanted gold for its the best metal. And it takes substantial effort to make gold. Hard work and properties make gold desirable and hence its charm assures the value.
With bit coin , we are at the cusp of third major transition. Bitcoin stems its promise from compute. Which means mankind is moving from sheer lust and power to a knowledge based intelligent species.