Quote from: ZenAndTheArt on September 24, 2012, 09:00 pmOpium prohibition in China began in 1729 yet was followed by nearly two centuries of increasing opium use. China had a positive balance sheet in trading with the British, which led to a decrease of the British silver stocks. Therefore, the British tried to encourage Chinese opium use to enhance their balance...This is why I'm not a big fan of metal/commodity based currencies. Hoarding metals has historically lead to conflict in at least two occasions I can think of. One person hoarding isn't an issue, but an entire nation doing it can lead to ruin. It brought down the Spanish and Chinese imperial powers (for different reasons, the Spanish one was superinflation) and probably others too. Although I disagree with Keynes's ideas, the fact of the matter is that he is correct that hoarding can become a real problem (I'm not keen on his solution, but the problem is real). If humans were rational as a full unit or set, hoarding shouldn't occur. The Chinese would have traded because it benefited them, a positive sum game (you could argue fairly successfully here the real problem was massive centralization [so that some people in the Chinese government benefited hugely from suppressing other people's freedoms even though as a whole the Chinese people lost out] with the Opium Wars simply being a side effect, a kind of diabolical excuse and that sooner or later War would have broken out on some kind of pretext anyway).tldr; Centralization works on a small scale temporarily, but on a large scale (or if it continues for too long on a small scale) it leads to irrationality. For more, see "Communism". This is why Bitcoin is so important. It is decentralized and nobody controls output or distribution. Bitcoin may ultimately fail in its current incarnation, but cryptocurrencies are an opportunity to make a break with the past and will cause the world to become a more rational place. The paradox: That nobody has power, implies we all gain power indirectly as a result. Very zen I feel. It is as if power in the human world, just as in physics, cannot be created or destroyed but only moved around in different ways, where centralization is collecting it into one place like a sandhill and markets are kicking it all over the beach. One looks more impressive than the other at first, but if you're around for a while you appreciate the subtle power of the market.Note: All of the above is part of the reason that shutting down cryptocurrencies merely because they are used for illicit purposes is madness. There is the potential for a much, much better world than the one we currently live in, even if you don't like the Silk Road and darknet markets in particular. We are just the early adopters, we're doing the world a giant fucking favor by supporting cryptocurrency for reasons of self interest. Nonetheless, I don't expect LE to see that, so they will try to shut down the B$ exchanges sooner or later.^ that's quite a tldr; I got going there, soz...Real tldr; Bitcoin! Wooooooooooooot! Bitcoin! Fuck yeah!