Posted on 04/02/2014 9:14:27 AM PDT by Star Traveler
Imagine its 2040.
You go to the grocery store, and when you look for the checkout counter there is none. Theres no place to pay for your groceries because you already did.
When you walked into the store, a sensor identified you, perhaps from a ring or watch you were wearing that transmitted the information. Or perhaps you didnt need to wear anything special. Maybe a device in the store figured out who you were using a combination of facial recognition, 3-D body shape identification and your gait.
Your unique identifier is attached to your digital wallet, which transmits payment for the groceries directly to the store. But you dont pay in dollars. Your wallet has a dozen digital currencies in it, all with different values based on a variety of factors, including loyalty programs. At certain stores, you might pay with their version of frequent-flier miles. At others, you might pay with the equivalent of a virtual credit card except the credit card isnt issued by a traditional bank.
You might also pay with credit that you received through a peer-to-peer online exchange that connects investors with people seeking short- and long-term loans. Thats how you got your mortgage and financed your self-driving car, too.
(Excerpt) Read more at dealbook.nytimes.com ...
Bitcoin related news ...
I just made another purchase at Overstock - a new Bible. Using BTC as a medium of exchange sure works great! :-)
Meanwhile, my chocolate ice cream has turned to chocolate milk.
Everything is free. The government will provide.
The best things that smartphones and tablets provide is that we will have something to do while we stand in line all day waiting for our ration of Soylent Green.
That’s great! ... :-) ...
Hey! I ran into that same customer ... :-) ...
After she writes the check, she diligently logs the information in her check register, complete with subtraction, while the cashier discusses how much she likes the organic carrots she purchased.
Visa had this in a commercial years ago. The technological part can be done now, but there’s a lot of practical issues. What if you have multiple chipped cards, how do coupons work, how do we detect groups of people all carrying stuff but only one is going to pay, do we really want to RFID every single item in stores, produce.
Bitcoins won’t be any harder to turn you off than anything else. You still need to have some sort of device they can scan, and on some level it will have to be associated with you, so if they decide you’re no good off you go.
Once the federal government reaches its final configuration the only weak links left in the system will be the carbon based life forms.
Actually: The Holy Bible: New King James Version, The Scofield Study Bible III, Zipper Duradera Black (Hardcover)
Free shipping too, after adding a hunting knife I've had my eye on for a few days. ;)
Nice.
Yeah - it’s 2040.
You walk into a store in search of a replacement for your cardboard belt- the one that fell apart after only two months, so that you’re holding up your pants with an old shoelace.
You’d like replacements for your cardboard shoes, but there are none available.
You don’t bother going to the grocery store, since there aren’t any - like everyone else, twice each month you just wait in line for your ration of moldy bread at the Government Allotment Center.
Welcome citizen: This is the future of Obama’s socialism in America.
Well ... I’m waiting for “3D Manufacturing” in the home so that all that “made in China” stuff will then be “made in America” ... :-) ...
Not to rain on your parade, but the once-monthly ration line will stretch around the block several times for the plastic, metal, wood, and any other materials with which to feed your 3D manufacturing machine - assuming you’re able to get one.
One suspects the government will have collected them all and found a way to tax any ownership and/or use.
That is starting to happen now. What a great time to be alive!
Well ... what do I know ... just that Motley Fool is raving over it ... :-) ...
And it’s not just them ... the technology is already being used now. With it coming down in price, it will end up being the equivalent of the Industrial Revolution.
In “official locations” that check into an official database, that could possibly be true, but it won’t stop people themselves from buying stuff, which would then be completely “off the books”. If necessary a “black market” will grow up around it. And no government has EVER been able to stop black markets. They try, but they never succeed.
Once “cash” is taken off the market ... this will take its place! It will be your safety valve.
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