[11782] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Random Thoughts Regarding [cash]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Roger Bohn)
Tue Apr 19 19:29:48 1994
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 11:12:36 -0800
To: Peter Deutsch <peterd@bunyip.com>,
"Rob Raisch, The Internet Company" <raisch@internet.com>,
Pat Farrell <pfarrell@netcom.com>
From: Rbohn@ucsd.edu (Roger Bohn)
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
At 8:24 PM 4/18/94 -0500, Peter Deutsch wrote: [heavily edited]
>I'm not an economist, nor do I usually play one on the
>Internet, so bear with me here if I say something
>particularly stupid...
>[ Rob Raisch wrote: ]
>> Hmmm... digital cash is an oxymoron. You cannot have digital cash since
>> the very nature of cash is its physicality. . .
>
>Actually, I don't agree that's the physical nature of money
>that sets money apart. It's what it represents.
You are both right. Most of Peter D's note makes sense, except that it
mixes CASH and MONEY. CASH is a physical instantiation (sp?) of money.
So digital cash _is_ an oxymoron.
But there are lots of other kinds of money. Something like 99%+ of the
value of all money transfers between banks accounts now goes
electronically, for example. The world's economy already runs on digital
money, handled between banks. This is an "existence proof" that it's
possible to create a system secure enough for use with very large monetary
transactions. I have no idea how it is done, except that physical security
at both ends is part of it.
Roger Bohn Rbohn@ucsd.edu
International Relations and Pacific Studies
University of California, San Diego
Phone (619) 534-7630
Fax (619) 534-3939
