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@lmorchard you know, the last machine I had that I really liked was a beautiful DEC tank of a Pentium. Just imagine how much better computers could be if software and OSs for the workaday stiff had to run on constrained resources that can now be cheaply produced.
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Sent from my iPad
@badtux @cstross I feel like i'm being herded into a bit of a kill box here.
I didn't really assert that capitalism === a market economy, I don't think; in any case I wouldn't argue that generally as it's a weak claim. I just brought up the mechanism I understand best for dealing with a situation like this. Securitized optionality _does_, however, long precede anything that we call capitalism or a "market" economy.
China absolutely _does_ have securitized optionality; I'm less familiar with it outside of metals and perhaps it is far less extensive than that in the US or Europe. It is more strictly regulated. Nevertheless they tend to be pretty good at it, and in many ways they may be more trustworthy in their dynamics (except when they do say, wait, wait, not that kind of market, we need to have a discussion).
But I really, really didn't bring this up to start an argument. And yeah, there are holes in my knowledge for sure.
Apologies for butting in on this; wasn't my place.
@cstross @badtux Like I said, seatbelt attached. And I tend to infodumping and in-buttery. I just find it an interesting topic is all.
I would love a Marxist or otherwise heterodox take—maybe there is a mechanism that sucks less? I just don't know of one. Marx was pretty smart, and Postone did really interesting work abstracting Marx's in a way that may apply.
But yeah sorry to reply-girl on this one, and for killing the bit. This wasn't that kind of thread.
<straps self in; possibly unpopular opinion>
This came up in a discussion the other day, and I only half-jokingly mused about futures and commodities exchanges for RAM and vector compute. Yes, exchanges can and do lead to speculation, but the timing is tight, delivery _is_ taken, and there's no floating contracts for weeks or months on end.
Yup, there are plenty of opportunities for corruption and manipulation (I'm looking at you, paper silver exchanges and traders) , but the mechanism for transparency and efficiency at and regulation at least _do_ exist alongside the asset, which I think would probably shake out far better than where we are now... speculation on the port of large corporate market makers that happens in secret with little to no accountability, alongside an administration I don't anticipate enforcing antitrust meaningfully anytime soon.
The current system is blatantly inefficient and counterproductive, and invites corruption and wild price swings, and those who are doing actually interesting work, or just the gamer, suffer for it. An actual exchange for these wouldn't be perfect but, but I think less bad. The only alternative would be price fixing (something TFG floated right after "Liberation Day") and rationing, which, like other interventional schemes like tariffs, would invite wider nominal-real price splits and a huge black market that would be flocked to by down-on-their-luck cryptogrifters.
Not a frothy free marketer here, but damn if we couldn't use some more transparency, accountability, and skin in the game for these things.
Not a professional economist here. I'm sure there is a counterargument, but I am past entertaining arguments predicated administrative intervention.
I think P≈0.0 that this would ever happen, for the record, but it's an interesting thought experiment.
<keeps buckle fastened>
@SharpCheddarGoblin @briankrebs In the realm of fetishes one doesn't know they have until they give it a shot, this ranks.
@tante There must be something in the air; I think this is something that has been on many folks' minds for a while... not criticisms of Cory, but rather the general cognitive difficulty of reconciling survival in a world far less under our control than we thought it was when our character and values accreted and congealed.
It's a nuanced phenomenon especially for a limited-attention-span world. It's good to see people taking up the challenge. Thanks for this.
@revengeday I have questions about who exactly is doing the consuming of whom here.
@revengeday Observations:
1. The dude looks exactly like my friend Paul, who is Dutch, also a musician, and a soft-spoken life coach. I am convinced that you have uncovered his secret life.
2. Since I watched "I Am The Antichrist" last week, they have been regulars on my YouTube feed.
3. My partner has noticed this, and has questions.
