For those that think this is over:

[Link]

Patrick Byrne is no fool.

Sounds pretty foolish to me and even more to take him seriously.

He has a chequered history, including a relationship with Maria Butina, who was convicted as a Russian spy, which forced his resignation.

He is a conspiracy theorist, nothing more, nothing less.

Let's wait and see.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Yeah he's right though

He has nothing to apologise for, this isn't the HR department, and we had moved pass this.

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Please stop saying this. I’m feeling bullied

"It feels much better than it ever did, much more sensitive." John Wayne Bobbit

mmmm

I think this is a little romantic considering the direction of travel. Who will own said technologies? Who will own the systems and marketplaces that license and sell not just the technologies themselves, but the ecosystems that come with them? There are and will always be gatekeepers, along with intellectual, financial and social barriers that prevent what you're talking about from being able to happen on a large scale. Even if it were to happen, we would return to the same system eventually. It's just human nature.

Again I return to the internet. People said exactly the same thing at the time, when it was viewed as a chance to create a utopian idyll of free trade, community exchange and god knows what else, free of governmental influence and corporate control. Again, how did that work out?

It's the same with digital currency, bitcoin etc. History repeating itself...

As Stirling points out, all signs point to a corporately controlled future, unless something really radical and drastic occurs.

Also, the sad thing is, everyone needs some form of governance. Even in a small village. To say in future family and community will be making the decisions... as what, one million strong amoebic entity? No. What you mean is, yet another family or member of that community will be making the decisions. Just like now. Unlikely to be in the same way, but as I've said before the power/no power, wealth/no wealth structure has proliferated for millennia and I see no reason to think that will change now. In fact in the digital age it's actually even MORE likely. Which is a great irony as it was supposed to result in the opposite.

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.