Bitcoins?

This is priceless. 

Video buzz-blather aside, the bitcoin project makes me think that it might be time for me to re-read Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, and that we all still have a painfully great deal to learn about living with both fiat currencies and globally networked markets.

Wikileaks seemed like an excellent idea to me until it got tangled up with personality crap about Mr. Assange. If it's the serious, long-term movement I hoped it was when I first read about it, I hope they'll figure out how to get on with the work without the drama baggage.

That looks like an excellent read. Thanks for the link.

I try to ignore the personal attacks on the people behind ideas or organizations and just focus on what is actually being accomplished. I actually look at when people in positions of power are being attacked and then look at the work they are involved in. It is quite an eye opener to see issues that I had no idea about coming to light because of the personal attack on a person that is going against the grain.

First problem I see with them is that they are bound to crash in the near future. Their recent spike in popularity seems to be a perfect condition to start a bubble with to me. I'd definitely wait a bit before getting too involved with these.

Bit more detail...I could do more links but I'm sure you can hunt em down too.

http://www.dailytech.com/Cracking+the+Bitcoin+Digging+Into+a+131M+USD+Virtual+Currency/article21878.htm

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/06/bitcoin-price-plummets-on-compromised-exchange.ars

It is interesting but it's very new.  I'd be interested to see what the inevitable regulation does to it.

No, and No.

Anything not backed by a material good, such as gold, silver, platinum, alpaca wool, etc. is Fiat and there fore subject to inflation, manipulation and fraud.

Bitcoin is no different, it stems to make something out of thin air and declare that it has value, to purchase good and services, those things that represent wealth.

the only difference is that it isn't run by the power brokers. Bitcoin like every other fiat currency gets its value from every other bitcoin in circulation, right now it seems like a good idea because there isnt that much in active circulation, so bit coin is worth alot, but as the production of Bitcoin continues, its value will decline and eventually become worthless. but by then someone will have invented a new digital currency and start all over.

This isnt anything against the makers of bitcoin, they may or maynot be trying to pull a fast one, but what i described is the laws of economy, and much like the laws of physics, there is no free anything, and there must be a preservation of mass of sorts.

In economy, you could call it, the preservation of value and wealth law. As a currency expands, its value must decrease. much like hot gas cooling as it expands.

oh yay, another internet "fiat money is the devil" clown. gold backed currencies were a spectacular failure (remember the depression?) and have a contractionary bias. there is no sensible reason to back a currency with anything. your insinuation that commodity-backed currencies are not subject to inflation is also absurd. go look at what happened to spain when they were plundering the americas.

you can't tell anything about the value of a currency when looked at in isolation. here is the nominal comparison of wages versus prices in the US:

So, even though each currency unit is worth less, people still have far more units than they had previously.