12.14.1. "You can't eat cyberspace, so what good is digital money?"
- This comes up a lot. People assume there is no practical
way to transfer assets, when in fact it is done all the
time. That is, money flows from the realm of the purely
"informational" realm to the physcial realm Consultants,
writers, traders, etc., all use their heads and thereby
earn real money.
- Same will apply to cyberspace.
12.14.2. "How can I remain anonymous when buying physical items using
anonymous digital cash?'
- Very difficult. Once you are seen, and your picture can be
taken( perhaps unknown to you), databases will have you.
Not much can be done about this.
- People have proposed schemes for anonymous shipment and
pickup, but the plain fact is that physical delivery of any
sort compromises anonymity, just as in the world today.
- The purpose of anonymous digital cash is partly to at least
make it more difficult, to not give Big Brother your
detailed itinerary from toll road movements, movie theater
payments, etc. To the extent that physical cameras can
still track cars, people, shipments, etc., anonymous
digital cash doesn't solve this surveillance problem.
By Tim May, see README
HTML by Jonathan Rochkind