Bitcoin mining made easy

[zwzsg]

hoarding gold is goofy. Because if the government collapses who are you going to trade your gold with? No one will give a shit about your yellow rock.

I disagree, gold isn't like banknotes, it has value in itself as a material. Historically gold became what it is because it is a metal that is very easy to work, and doesn't rust. Even today, the very good electrical and heat conductivity of gold makes a quit sought after raw material in domains like electronics.

[smoth]

if you have 1 ton of gold and live in west nebraska usa, your gold is useless. There is barely anyone for miles etc.

let's ignore that, say you live in a city and have a vault with 1 ton of gold. Society collapses with the currency... gold doesn't not feed, it is not useful in making tools, it does very little beyond be pretty.

[SinbadEV]

Well... social order can collapse and the economy could collapse but it's not like everything is going to be reduced to the stone age... and Gold has been a valuable commodity for it's beauty and utility since "long before the beginning of recorded history"* so it's a pretty safe bet... so long as you have a means of protecting it and the people you want stuff from are willing to accept it as currency... which admittedly might be difficult, but if things get THAT bad... frankly...you're probably better off stocking up on guns, drugs, medicines and canned goods...


*(at least according to Wikipedia)

[zwzsg]

If society ends, there's a chance it'll revert to same mean of payment as in the dawn of society, that is, pretty shiny glittery gold. It's not easy to create new gold, it's quite easy to check if something is gold or fake, so there's reasons why gold was used as currency for so many millenias.

Food is a good commodity to have when you're hungry, but sadly, it tends to deteriorate rather fast with time. Your 1 ton of flour in your vault will require constant heat, humidity and pest control or will rot quickly, whether the gold in my vault remains inalterable.

[smoth]

If society ends, there's a chance it'll revert to same mean of payment as in the dawn of society, that is, pretty shiny glittery gold. It's not easy to create new gold, it's quite easy to check if something is gold or fake, so there's reasons why gold was used as currency for so many millenias.

ethnocentrism.

Shell money is older than gold as a currency and still in use. "but you can make it" nope, shell money can be made but older shell money is worth more. Depending on the lineage of the shell or fine quality necklace in the kula ring, you can get much more value. Then there are pigs and cows used to barter brides, also STILL to this day. Pigs and cows are VERY much food items. Oh well that isn't your fare and I can understand that but so are YAMS, yams are also used in trading, status and food.

[SinbadEV]

Goats seem like they could be a good investment... I've been lead to believe they can live on anything, produce offspring, hair and milk at a rate that makes them pay regular dividends... and pretty much the whole deal can be used after slaughter.

So I would suggest a threefold strategy... build a Bit Mining Cluster and use your spare times and excess heat to raise goats and grow tomatoes... switch to Pot if it becomes legal or the rule of law collapses...

[zwzsg]

I'm not sure I can store cows in a vault...

[SinbadEV]

I'm not sure I can store cows in a vault...

Yeah... would need a compound with walls at the very least... bonus here is that if the Vault is at a bank there's a significant chance you wouldn't be able to claim ownership of it if the economy collapses... compounds are relatively easily defended AND you have all that tactical experience gained through years of playing Total Annihilation.

[zwzsg]

ethnocentrism.

Really? Because I was pretty sure gold equated wealth on every continent (at least Europe, Africa, Asia, South America), long before Colombus, Polo and all that.

I agree that those with cattle or a ------- garden will suffer the less from the initial shock if society collapses. But, these require regular tending! I don't see myself caring about my cows or tomatoes every day, just in case one day society crumble. Wherease gold (or platinium, or diamonds) can be buried and left alone, in-case-of, for a couple lifetimes (I suspect after that it would be found anyway).

Though, as SinbadEV unwittingly reminded us that, for safest investment, diversify!

[SpliFF]

Sorry to get back on topic but this (http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/04/10 ... ue-to-ddos) just made news (Slashdot news anyway)

[PicassoCT]

Im pretty sure that vaulting great storages of durable medical drugs and other goods in need of a high tech society to produce (insulin if only you were storagable) - or even just vaulting in the production maschines needed to produce them - has some value - if you are willing to bet on societys collapse.

[SpliFF]

Nope. If Fallout has taught me anything the correct answer is ammunition. Long shelf life and you can get anything you need with it - like for example, a big pile of meds from the guy hoarding it in a vault up the road.

[malric]

Don't forget hand to hand combat. Would not beat ammunition but the advantage is that maintaining the "weapon" implies your survival also. And you can never forget it anywhere .

[PicassoCT]

i shall remember that, should anyone in the future do cheap handfight movies..

to be honest.. fuel might be a solid long term investment too.. store some oil in a tank, make that your longterm bank..

or you could invest in dignity.. thats the only thing no power superior group can take from you..

[Funkencool]

Being raised in the middle of nowhere on a farm, I'm just glad I could live and feed myself without the need for any type of currency.

[NeonStorm]

or you could invest in dignity.. thats the only thing no power superior group can take from you..

Do you mean dignity = nobleness? I think not.

If you mean dignity = rank/status/position, did you ever hear about propaganda?
* Or what evils can do to put some crime into your dignity without yourself be able to stop it?
-> Luckily most peoples don't attract those activities^, but still the chance is there if you have enough money or if you make the wrong "people" angry.

One thing that makes humans humans, is that humans try to enhance their abilities with the abilities of neighbors/friends/society by living peacefully together.
-> If you kill - only a single human - without proper reason (saving another life) it is basically a vote for distinction (because that happens if EVERYbody kills 1 other).

Do you really think we should bet on that?
-> Because if you bet on apocalypse (huge number/amount of humans/values are dead/lost) you bet on losing your bet.

[Anarchid]

One thing that makes humans humans, is that humans try to enhance their abilities with the abilities of neighbors/friends/society by living peacefully together.

What nonsense after all those hundreds of thousands of years of our glorious extermination campaign and endless intraspecies strife, each time more imaginative, each year better executed, each minute better planned.

You heard about propaganda, yes? Propaganda is the art of making those other people bend to your will and think your thoughts; a war waged by other means, to put that german dude in reverse.

[NeonStorm]

What nonsense after all those hundreds of thousands of years of our glorious extermination campaign and endless intraspecies strife, each time more imaginative, each year better executed, each minute better planned.

Just commanded to kill, willing to kill because of the propaganda of a mind-sick minority.

Peoples rely on social bindings - if you take social bindings away and give a single human so much power that he can't get punished for what he does wrong, you get such mind-sick peoples.

If you give each person the chance to get an average life standard and a better way to solve their problems without demolishing physical values, there would not be much physical war.

We are intelligent enough to be dangerous to our society/environment and stupid enough that we require to kill each other to solve our problems.

[PicassoCT]

invest into bodyweight... nobody can take fat away from you. Nobody but yourself, and you can make soap from it if it comes to the worst.

[Anarchid]

Just commanded to kill, willing to kill because of the propaganda of a mind-sick minority.

It goes much deeper.

In the stone age, you hate that other tribe not because your chieftain says you must.

You hate them because they are alien; different; strange; they are THEM and you are one of US.

Xenophobia was not invented by nazis.

It was invented by evolution as a weapon against neanderthals and all the other human species we had to (occasionally) fight and (indirectly) drive to extinction.

Evolution is one mindless uncaring bitch of an algorithm, but it works, and it made YOU.

So you have to love her the way she is.

Or get smacked.