Tron på den perfekta tekniken

Publicerad 15 april 2013 | Inga kommentarer ännu

OK, lite relaterat så där snett från den filosofiska sidan bara. Men jag kan inte låta bli att fascineras över tvillingarna Winklevoss (som gav Zuckerberg idén till Facebook) motivering till att de investerar i Bitcoin.

“We have elected to put our money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error,” säger de till NYT Dealbook (11 april 2013).

Åh, den teknologiska drömmen! ”Om bara inte de här tjafsiga och klantiga människorna ställde till det hela tiden, så … ” Det är en trossats, som ligger bakom så många beskyllningar om ”dumma användare” och ”neutral” teknik.

Paul Krugman formulerar motargumentet väl:

” … to long for a pristine monetary standard, untouched by human frailty. But that’s an impossible dream. Money is, as Paul Samuelson once declared, a ’social contrivance’, not something that stands outside society. Even when people relied on gold and silver coins, what made those coins useful wasn’t the precious metals they contained, it was the expectation that other people would accept them as payment.

Actually, you’d expect the Winklevosses, of all people, to get this, because in a way money is like a social network, which is useful only to the extent that other people use it. But I guess some people are just bothered by the notion that money is a human thing, and want the benefits of the monetary network without the social part. Sorry, it can’t be done.”
The Antisocial Network, NYTimes 14 april 2013

Kommentarer