Bitcoin, Magical Thinking, and Political Ideology ================================================= By Paul Robert Lloyd Sunday, 29 December 2013 Alex Payne on Bitcoin: > Most charitably, Bitcoin is regarded as a flawed but nonetheless worthwhile experiment, one that has unfortunately attracted outsized attention and investment before correcting any number of [glaring security issues][1]. > To those less kind, Bitcoin has become synonymous with everything wrong with Silicon Valley: a marriage of dubious technology and [questionable][2] [economics][3] wrapped up in a crypto-libertarian political agenda that smacks of nerds-do-it-better paternalism. Such criticism--that of the selfish logic behind the libertarian ideology prevalent in the Valley--will only grow louder in the coming year. Time to disrupt the disrupters, I say. [1]: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses [2]: http://economonitor.com/blog/2013/03/bitcoin-bubble-or-new-virtual-currency/ [3]: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/04/the-economics-of-bitcoin.html