Toon of the Week: Programmable Money and Cheeseburgers

3 Comments

  1. Catherine has lately been asserting something along the lines of “a human must be responsible” for decisions in any programmable money system. IMO, that would not necessarily be better than an AI/algorithm being in charge. During COVID, I witnessed many instances of horrendous human decision making, with even well-meaning people asserting or enforcing rules that were actually more restrictive than official policy.

    Please, let’s not push the idea that a “human in the loop” is any solution to defang programmable money. Instead, let’s just say that no programmable money system is acceptable, and leave out of it any worry about the details of how the control mechanism would be administered.

    As I have heard Catherine say many times: Programmable money is the end of human freedom. Just stick to that.

    1. I believe the effective actions
      1. Establish legal right to lead a non digital life
      2. Insist on non programmable transaction options – including cash – as a market and legal option
      3. Put on legal guardrails on the use of digital money and programmable money, including being able to identify a legally accountable human

      Having a legally accountable human is far from enough, but I believe is an essential component. The number of people you can get to engage in criminal activity that harms humans expands dramatically when there is no legal accountability when it is transferred to an automated system

  2. The right to lead a non digital life is the shed point in my thinking.
    For instance, in many cities a house cannot be occupied legally unless it is functionally hooked up to the local utilities. There are a few who would prefer to be off grid and live in a city setting, but they can not!

    In the same way, requiring a digitally integrated economic system would push some people to an underground (black market) lifestyle.

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