• Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, does not believe in cryptocurrencies, calling them a vehicle for scams and a Ponzi scheme.
  • Torvalds was once rumored to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, but he clarified it was a joke and denied owning a Bitcoin fortune.
  • Torvalds also dismissed the idea of technological singularity as a bedtime story for children, saying continuous exponential growth does not make sense.
  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I’m not sure what you think that proves about whether or not a border guard would accept a metal coin that the briber claims has a value in Bitcoin. The guard could have $100 million in a Bitcoin wallet and still say, “this is some kind of bullshit trick.” Why wouldn’t someone try to trick a border guard like that if they were desperate.

    So basically, you’d have to hope this border guard would either be one of the very small number of people (hardly a quarter of Americans) who would look at a metal coin with a Bitcoin symbol on it and decide it has value to them.

    Again, seems like chickens would be a better bet.

    • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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      5 months ago

      Well, there aren’t many of those around. So if it’s recognized, then the person would know to look for a QR code on it. And if it has not been destroyed by peeling the hologram off, then they will know it’s good. Seems like bribing a border guard with chickens would be kind of difficult. Just for the noise they would make and the space they would take up. You might be able to pass them an ounce of gold or something. That might be a possibility.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        So if it’s recognized

        Yes, this is my point. It almost certainly won’t be.

        Seems like bribing a border guard with chickens would be kind of difficult.

        Put chicken in car, drive to border, take out chicken, give to guard.

        Just for the noise they would make and the space they would take up.

        So this is a societal collapse where chickens are made illegal?

        • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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          5 months ago

          Hey, 1/5 to 1/4 arent terrible odds. Even if they haven’t used it, there’s a damn good chance they’ve heard of it. If they’ve heard of it, then they know it has value.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Again, your ‘1/5 to 1/4’ is based on people who understand what Bitcoin is, not based on people who would see that coin and think it has value. Stop being dishonest.

            You show me evidence that these metal coins, which, again, are no longer available for purchase, are something even most people who own Bitcoin know about and think has value.

            Also, I’m guessing more than 1/4 of the people who are food insecure because society has collapsed know the value of a chicken.

            • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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              5 months ago

              That 1 in 5 to 1 in 4 is the amount of people who have actively used crypto in some form. Everybody almost has heard about it and knows it has value, even if it’s to give it to somebody else.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                Yet again, that doesn’t mean they think these metal coins have value.

                Stop conflating the two. It’s dishonest.

                • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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                  5 months ago

                  The metal coin has a private key embedded underneath a hologram. The private key has never touched the internet. And so if you throw it away, that value is lost forever. So the metal coin in and of itself does have value. As long as you can physically see that the hologram has not been peeled away and the private key exposed, which would be a dead giveaway, that it has been swept and is no longer of any value.

                  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                    5 months ago

                    And you think you have a one in four chance of a border guard realizing that?

                    Because, again, if society is collapsing, food will be insecure, and far more than one in four people know you can eat a chicken. In fact, I would say four in four people know you can eat a chicken.