Hacker News Reader

I don't understand how you can compare violation of property rights (breaking windows) to a completely voluntary system such as Bitcoin, the private production and use of which violates no property rights.

View on HN

I don't think that the harm of breaking windows is solely due to violation of private property rights. Maybe the windows are on a publicly owned building. Or, even if they are private property, there is harm done to the public as a consequence of the damage. People will take steps to avoid such damage. And conversely, maybe the mining of Bitcoin harms public interests too. I think it's easy to just assume away the issues that go beyond private interests if you identify morality with sacrosanct property rights.

Please provide a definition of harm that excludes the violation of property rights. We need not consider the difference between private property rights and property rights because these things are one and the same.

If you can come up with a logically consistent definition under which the creation of public property does not itself cause harm - I will be surprised.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com