Quote: (03-23-2013 09:10 AM)pants Wrote:
1) (a)will gold stay valuable for ever? (b)why is it so valuable? {c } status of wealth from ancient times? (d) cause its an excellent conductor and reflector?
2) will we ever be able to create gold or mine it from other planets in space?
3) iknowexactly. what you mean by bitcoin being processed through us banks?
All these arguments below are time limited to the next 100 years, presumably after which you and I will not exist. But any gold we buy and sell almost certainly will.
1) (a) Yes. Well, at least until you and I are long dead. It has never lost all value for the last 4000 years, except during very short periods in narrowly defined areas where its possession was prohibited. So, gold's proven value durability: 4000 years. Bitcoin's: 4 months.
(b) Beauty (Bitcoin? for hackers only) , universal acceptance continuously for millennia across all cultures (Bitcoin? no), non-perishability (Bitcoin? unknown), can't be created cheaply insuring impossible-to-evade limits on supply (Bitcoin? no: founders can declare necessity of "printing" more, competitors can easily duplicate model), non-perishability(Bitcoin? no), very difficult to counterfeit (Bitcoin? I think so, not an expert). Also, chicks like it (Bitcoin? I'm sure there's two or three chicks who know what it is, but that will get better.).
{c} Yes, part of gold's value is that throughout history it has never lost all it's value. Since ancient times, and every time since then. Because of the long duration, it has a place in the human psyche beyond any single culture or ideology's ability to overcome.
(d) My understanding is that gold's functional properties do not account for its current value, although it has some industrial value other materials do similar things cheaper.
2) Create Gold: People have tried it for thousands of years and failed, I'm not a chemist but since it's a basic element my guess is it can't be created in a cost-effective manner. Mine it from space: Are you serious about this?-- given the cost of sending rockets up it seems astronomically ( pun intended) unlikely. If teleportation, or cheap space travel is invented, the smelting and extraction would still be quite expensive, and I have never heard of a reputable physicist who believes teleportation is remotely likely.
3) Turn it into something (cash, land) that can purchase stuff without going through a process similar to money-laundering. Like a down payment on a house. You can have all the computer files you want ( bitcoin, even more than other fiat currencies is a computer file, even American dollars are more physically real than bitcoin) but eventualy you want to eat something, buy a house, etc.
I'm not arguing people can not make money from Bitcoin speculation. I'm sure some will. As with most bubbles involving abstract assets, most will lose money.