Re: Golbal Econ.

[rah@shipwright.com (Robert Hettinga)]

At 10:27 AM 8/28/94 -0700, Rick H. Wesson wrote:
>With topics like buying a car with digital cash make me think some
>may be missing my point. I don't want to replace all currencies world
>wide with some implementation of digital cash, be it an on or off-line
>system.
>
>I would like to help get an internet economny going! For the internet
>to become a source of greater revenue I'd like to see a system that
>can securely make business transactions that we are all happy with.
>The amounts should be small transactions compaired with selling a car,
>I'd like to know how I can pay for some online information without
>having to have an account based with the information supplier. For
>starters how can I pay for some HTML page or purchase a physical product
>via CURRENT technologies on the internet.
>
>Lets first start an internet cash system before you go off and let our
>ego's make all other forms of hard currency obsolette.

Damn straight.

The major reason I got interested in digital cash and this list in the
first place, and why I'm interested in building the capability to
underwrite digital cash now, is to sell and buy code, information and maybe
professional services, someday *very* soon, quickly, easily, *and* cheaply.


The best way to do that is to make something happen, right now, with
whatever's available. As long as

1.) there's the necessary functionality in the code, and that includes
2.) the user interface, and it's possible to
3.) bash the existing financial/legal structure to make it fit (paint to
hide!),

then we, myself included, have no excuses anymore.

Seeing that

1 has been agreed to by acclamation on this list many times, and most
people believe that secure WWW/Mosaic handles 2. That leaves 3.

Making changes in the way business is done is almost the whole point of
going into business. Change is what makes money <no pun intended>. (Aside:
see Joel Mokyr's _The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and
Economic Progress_ about this, one of my favorite books on economic
history.) Fear of modifying the existing business order is what's limiting
what may be a very real market in providing liquidity for interenet
commerce. That fear is a bugbear. It's a monster in the closet. It ain't
real, folks.

The laws are there to support digital cash, from very tightassed
hypersecure online internet versions of the ATM box at your supermarket
checkout stand, to offline digital cash schemes like my current pet
business model. The banking/finance structure is there as long as they see
a way to make money, the only thing left to do is find out if the market is
there.  The way to do that is to pick the cheapest, most secure technology
to implement, and go for it.

Yeah, what he said. It's time to implement something.

Bob Hettinga

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