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Comment by rschneid | Hacker News Reader

What about this statement is so hard to take seriously? There are a variety of concerns one could have about either fiat/fiscal policy or cryptocurrency development/deployment/stewardship.

One is a highly centralized system, the other is relatively decentralized. They have different threat models, strengths, and weaknesses. I would hazard a guess that your demographic profile is similar to the members of the current cabal that try to control USD's supply and value but to those who don't have similar priorities, crypto offers a different set of values than the 'traditional' finance system. The two aren't mutually exclusive, and the person you're replying to didn't say either would be 'just fine' without the other...

Not sure why you're proud of your inability to defeat a straw man!

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I thought my comment was pretty self-explanatory but I'll restate it. I don't believe people when they make talk about how their particular favourite flavour of crypto is better/stabler/stronger than reserve currencies like USD, GBP, EUR, CHF etc. My feeling is that they're either just trying to convince you to get on board or perhaps even trying to convince themselves.

> Not sure why you're proud of your inability to defeat a straw man!

Pardon?

>> or perhaps even trying to convince themselves.

That leads me to a big, big tangent, completely unrelated to crypto. Recently I followed online discusions of a certain car model in comparison to well known alternatives and, no idea why actually, soccer clubs. And one thing I found funny, is to which length people go to, well, rationalize and defend their preferances. E.g. interior finish is just bad of model a compared to brand b, while obviously the fact that brand b can be had without leather interior is better because of animals suffering. Or model b is better because it can be had with a V6, while model a cannot, ignoring the fact that the majority of engines for model b are inline fours as well. That actually did sound a lot like convincing oneself that the preferance for model b is totally rational. You have similar vibes whem it comes to sport teams, it basically boils down to fanboyism.

Which is fine, which car or club people prefer doesn't have to be rational. It gets risky so, if that attitude is extended to finance.

There's no scalar measurement for stability, quality, or strength so there's no direct comparison to be made. It's comparing vectors and the properties of each vector may or may not be things you care about but leaving them unspecified and claiming they're collectively inferior or less meaningful than other things is the straw man you're defeating. People have faith in governments for various reasons, giving their currencies value. People have faith in crypto for various reasons, giving their currencies value.

Nobody is making a claim of general superiority except you. The guy you're responding to simply says THEY have more faith in one particular currency. Why is that so hard to believe? They may not be a US citizen! It's not an objective statement they're making about the quality of USD, but a personal one. The straw man you're attacking seems to be a reflection of your own general idea that USD is the 'supreme' currency and anything having comparable properties in any way is some foundational challenge to this multi-faceted strict dominance. The impure and complicated truth is that each currency has strengths and weaknesses. It is a fact that for any given application and person any given currency can be better/worse for their application. If you exist exclusively in the United States and never break any laws, I can see why this might be difficult to imagine.

For example, some people place great value on being able to transact without the enforcement of American cultural values. This quality of the currency for many is objectively a negative property. Since all currency are largely valued based on fiat anyway these days, why is it so hard to imagine people having preferences more closely aligned with groups other than one of the most geriatric and monochromatic governments on earth?

> The straw man you're attacking seems to be a reflection of your own general idea that USD is the 'supreme' currency and anything having comparable properties in any way is some foundational challenge to this multi-faceted strict dominance.

Constructing a straw man to attack while accusing someone else of doing a straw man. Folks, we love to see it.

Look this is a dumb argument to be having in 2023. These cryptocurrency projects are going to fizzle out and disappear once enough of those involved find a new grift (either ChatGPT/LLM-based things or whatever comes after that). If you want to be holding the bag when that happens then that's on you.

At this point cryptocurrencies are as centralized as fiat currencies(globally).

Why is Etherium be better than South African Rand?

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