HN Explorer

Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence, Economy and Buddhism

4 points by pond_lilly ↗ HN
Greed has been a major problem for both bitcoin and our society as a whole. It surely leads us to both economic and environmental disaster and the time is running out. Even though bitcoin was envisioned as decentralized exchange system the reality shows us that it turned into the vehicle for speculators, day traders and bankers plus professional miners taking control away from a little guy who is left behind as usual.

Did Satoshi think about that when he envisioned bitcoin? What we see now is that bitcoin exposes one important issue, namely human psychology and the fact that it absolutely has to be factored in.

Now, what if we will have bitcoin 2.0 or some other crypto 2.0 that is based or run by AI that bases its principles of work on fairness, altruism, and kindness? (i.e. Buddhist values)? The system will be designed in a way that everyone will have a fair chance to get a block, and it will not depend on the capital the person has. Furthermore, the AI could be trained to detect "greedy" transactions and mitigate them, so no matter how much fat banker or day trader try to accumulate bitcoin 2.0 he will not be able to. Imagine what this could do for human society as a whole. It is like we can erase everything and start from the scratch all over again without any fat cats having any advantage.

What do you think?

4 comments

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lettergram
I think greed is what drives economies and life. Without it we have no desire to obtain more and in turn all waste away until death.
pond_lilly
I disagree. Greed and sustainability cannot exist simultaneously. Greed will only lead to the disaster, infinite growth in the world of finite resources will lead to disaster. Greed even hampers progress. Example, the current trend is towards applied research in nearly all fields because greedy corporations need practical results as fast as possible. The basic research (the vehicle for discovery) is practically abandoned. This alone hampers development. And I do not even go to what greed based society does to creativity.
generalseven
Do you already have a specific alternative in mind?

Media has wrongly pegged Bitcoin as just a "vehicle for speculators." Even better, it's not just a dream, it's happening now.

pond_lilly
I only have the idea, because bitcpoin shows us what was not foreseen in its design. Bitcoin is indeed a "vehicle for speculators", look what is going on with it now. The average Joes and grandmas Sallies are cut off completely, they cannot afford bitcoin at 100 bucks a piece or even a Jally, and can't compete with fat cats that are currently summoning all bitcoins and mining related things in just few hands.