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To: Maurice Winn who wrote (28343)	2/2/2003 12:18:40 PM
From: Stock Farmer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

Mq - teleport forward. Out of this anachronistic present into the age where the S (which came after the R which followed the Q) rules as currency. And then teleport again into the future. Imagine your Pixelated Wealth. Ones and zeros with no cost of computation. What infinity of ones and zeros do you have on your implanted DENB (which came after CDMA) driven quantum superposition device? As many as you want. Luxury. You think. But you are hungry. Shall you dine tonight? Well, where would you dine? More to the point, who would part with the food you plan to ingest and what would they ask in return? You offer to add ones and zeros to their quantum superposition devices. They laugh in your face. Clearly you are some time tourist from another age. What value do these things have that can be made in infinite amounts with only the cosmic background radiation as the energy source? Why would we part with scarce food which has to be generated from scarce proteins which have to be carefully cultivated from things much more difficult to conjure into being than mere ones and zeros. Charity? No, sir. If you wish to dine in this here and now, and part us from something that has a tangible and non-zero cost of production, then you must give to us something else which has a non-zero cost of production to us as well. Quid pro quo. Chickens for goats will do. Carrots for peas will do nicely too. Peas for peas are pointless. And we have all the shoes and clothes and such as you seem to carry with you that we want. Besides, yours are out of fashion. Your skills? We do not value them here, but perhaps in the next village they have need of someone who can tell clever tales. There is a convention of brilliant time travelling lateral thinkers on this week. So I'm afraid that if you want to eat here and now... well you must give us something we can either use now or exchange later. Like gold, for example. It costs me the same amount of effort to dig some up as you. And once dug up it is not readily converted into something more or less easily dug up. Not like chickens - which become fertilizer if you leave them in your pockets long enough. Or eggs, which can become chickens under the right circumstances. Or ones in a supercomputer somewhere which can flip to zeros as fast as a subatomic particle can change quantum state. And it has use - if only as jewelry which does not go easily out of fashion. Although it is also an engineering metal with useful physical properties. So while we may not have any use for it directly, we can be pretty sure that the use it does have will persist immutable under all environmental conditions we might throw at it. Unlike a chicken. So we'll take your gold. But we won't take your ones and zeros. Sure, an infinite number of ones and zeros would be infinitely more convenient. Sadly, it would be so convenient as to be worthless. But that is the price you pay for commerce. Which is merely another name for "I'll give you some of this if you'll let me have some supper tonight". Cheers, John

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (28343)	2/2/2003 1:36:41 PM
From: LLCF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

<Giggle. DAK, people want to use those. > Hmmmm.... but the 'bid ask' in gold shows a much more efficient market and plenty of demand... so clearly people want it as well. Sorry, nice try. <I guess you just can't understand it.> No, it is you that seems to ignore the constant trading in GOLD. <Life can be very happy as long as you live within your realm of understanding. > Yes, life is peaceful and free in my realm... not having to keep my mind busy supporting an egoic superstructure that includes the likes ignoring the existance of Gold and the COMEX or being attached to certain outcomes in life certainly gives one relative peace. dAK

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (28343)	2/2/2003 1:54:40 PM
From: TobagoJack	Respond to of 74559

Hello Maurice, Another beautiful day of idleness, to be filled with mental stimulation and physical exertion that earns not one unit of cash. <<BMW ... Pentium ... Gold>> The use of BMW is for the ultimate drive; Pentium ... computing in the absence of MAC; and Gold ... just be there and stay gold. Given a choice of one out of three, I will take gold, and use it to buy the BMW and the Pentium. What could be simpler? But, hey, we are not debating the good of gold vs the utility of BMW. We are haggling over the relative merit of gold and Q. On that, let us simply watch and comment, as the two things dance around in value, and as they finally diverge sharply in price. Chugs, Jay Chugs, Jay