McAffee: King of the North

Mr McAfee the man behind one of the worlds largest internet security firms is building a huge, hydro powered bitcoin mining operation in Wyoming. The technology will be used in there security systems. The software that you can't kill, McAfee, just took allegiance with cryto-currency. With so much hostility, brexit and terrorism in Turkey, world politics are starting to have a stark resemblance to those in Game of Thrones.  

Election Fears

Comparing Bitcoin to a Basket of Currencies

You may be aware that Chinese measure the Yuan against a basket of currencies. So why can't we measure bitcoin in the same way? Surely someone could programme an international digital basket measure and put it in a DAO. Speaking of such organisational baskets, soon the Yaun will be entering the IMF's global currencies basket club. China will be entering the group of currencies required to be held and part of the measure for rating the value of the elusive international currency we all forget about called the SDR.  The international monetary fund, IMF for short, have been talking about bitcoin too, even holding informative conferences. It makes you think, could one day Bitcoin join the IMF basket club?

International currencies are becoming more and more volatile. Right now a bitcoin is worth around $950 NZD or $677USD. In 2014 that comparison was more like $770 to $670. these are significant differences, so why do we continue to compare the price of our crypto currencies against them. Our local currencies like the USD the Yuan the GBP the EURO or the NZD hold great meaning to us in our day to day lives, but when thinking on an international level, as is the inclination with crypto-currencies, this makes less sense. We don't like the implications of things line the petro dollar. and we want to function as good global citizens. When global currencies are moving so much it might be best, as an international society, to compare bitcoin price against a basket of currencies.

If we measure bitcoin to a basket of currencies we find it appears less volatile. The same is true for the Yuan and there for bitcoin comparison to the yuan, can in some ways be more valid. But better than that, until the DAO is established, why not measure Bitcoin value against the SDR? Because the SDR is already based on a basket of currencies it should be very stable.

So after locating the SDR price in USD and that give us a bitcoin worth 481 SDR. Tell Mike that the heart is still beating!

#tothemoon

Can you hear the music? #bitcoinstarwars #tothemoon #deathstartakedown

BItcoin Fights Back and the Price Ramps Up

Bitcoin has been beaten down pretty badly over the last couple of years, but it seems like a comeback is in the making. This weekend the bitcoin price jumped 5% to over $550 USD. This is on top of a 5% gain the previous week. So there is a healthy upward facing curve on a scale bitcoiner's haven't seen over a year.

The digital village has been ravaged by the Empire, but it never died. Maybe we are now just battle hardened. Get ready for big things to happen.

Hash Rate Doubles in 5 Months!

It wasn't very long ago when I was in aw of how the bitcoin network had achieved one Exahash, a world first!

But TIB "This is bitcoin" and we should have known. The growth is completely exponential. Now even with the halving approaching, the networks security power has spiked and achieved what had taken 5 years in just 5 months. This even with some significant mining companies going bust a shutting down this month. Their is clearly nothing stopping this mathematical vortex. Maybe we will be seeing a Zettahash sooner than we think.

Screen Junkies and Mass Enchantment

Some nights me and my girlfriend/fiancé relax on the coach and watch a film series on Netflix, just like anyone else. Sometimes we also both surf the internet or social media on our phones or dual each other on Supercells latest flourescent smiley Clash Royale game craze. All at once, it is a guilty pleasure I guess, it's soo luxurious to revel in such excessive levels of entertainment.

It is not yet decided what the full impact of this screen information technology might be on society.  We are experimenting as it grows, images become more vivid. Screams are popping up like technicolored tulips all around us and VR is next. Though me and my partner still find time to get outside, ride bikes and climb mountains, it is clear that we are combatting the force of the screens. Society is enchanted on mass by all this new tech and surreal imagery, it's in our lives, no matter how hard we try to resist it.

We are the first generation to be fully exposed to this. New parents don't know how much time to let their kids play on their screens. It was easier when it was just the TV to say just one hour a day. Now when the devices are also learning tools, portable communications and navigation devices, the lines are blurred. The kids are after the screens like candy and are taking two or more at once. I sometimes have five screens going, three computer screens a tablet and a phone. It does seem a lot like crack, i wouldn't recommend this for my kids. At work most people have more than one screen, I've seen some traders run eleven! I'm jealous of them, I feel I need more! At the hotel I'm at today there are even TV's in all the booths next to the pool. It looks bazaar then you consider that they are also above every bar counter, on the walls in restaurants and by the elevators, not to mention in all the rooms and, just in case we are all carrying portable units in all our pockets or purses. Never mind electrocution, clearly if you don't bring screens there isn't much of a pool party in this town.

To me this is kind of sickening. A withdrawal from reality and from living in the moment. I also think this wall of screens is part of the reason why many people are slow to get into Bitcoin and crypto currencies. When people already spend time trying to get away from the screens of work and generic hotel resorts, Bitcoin can seem like a step back into the digital void. Worse still, when they see a person like myself, who used to spend more time on sports and adventures in the outdoors, it can seem like and A class technological drug, one step up in buzz and addiction to the screens that people are used to.

Bitcoin and crypto currency are certainly advanced technology. Etherium could be likened to heroin for home programers. There are even social effects in the community which resemble addictions. Some enthusiast find themselves falling into a rabbit hole of crypto currency research and end up isolated, up all night, forgetting to shower and only able to relate to other enthusiast. This is strange because it's a concept, its not like looking at a screen or a drug, there is no specific act or drug. I argue that it is not the same type of addictiion. Bitcoin doesn't nail you to the couch and capture your attention with revenue grabbing flashing lights. It lets you reflect on the world and to learn things like coding that where once just an obscure magic. This can take a lot of time, but it can also make technology less overwhelming. Crypto currency inspires devoted fascination, but it is not a digital entertainment addiction.

To some a mix of technology and money seems like a monster to be avoided. Both concepts are mind boggling and very much a sideline to having fun in the moment. Crypto currencies are however a concept of the moment. They are actually designed to help us escape the monster that is our legacy financial system. They can reduce the influence of the financial system on our lives. Something the anti-money crowd can get behind. They are also often designed not to take over our lives with screens and actually reduce the amount of digital hardware required in our daily lives. One phone per person might even be a reduction. We can get rid of eftpos machines, credit cards, bank statements, adding bills, the continual pin numbers and personal information forms, the money changing when we are overseas and the currency calculations, the call centres and the lunch time queues. The new advancements can free us from the parts of technology that we don't like, making transactions a smaller part of our lives, in doing this they can give us more time to focus on nature and other things that matter.

Even so, mass enchantment is here to stay and screen addiction is on the rise. The latest move of world gaming company Steam, accepting bitcoin, is capitalising on this. It's a perfect match for 3D gaming screen junkies who do freelance programming for bitcoin. Crypto currencies are not going to stop this. We should however, be careful not to confuse bitcoin as an A Class side car for holographic harley screen lovers. Bitcoin is not really a digital tether and it could actually help us cut some cords. It's already curing some of the side effects of technology and our financial system that liberal environmentally conscious friends try to block out. Screens may be dividing society, but Bitcoin is not. Greenpeace even accepts bitcoin.