Recent content by Melbourne Guy

This dynamic is the basis for many sci-fi stories as the ship social structure devolves over time. And @Strato Incendus, over many posts, has delved into this aspect because keeping the dream alive over such time scales in such a limited space is a narrative challenge.

It is obvious, but it requires currency exchange to effect the value comparison. Which demonstrates volatility, the definition of which was the trigger for this back and forth. I'm not arguing otherwise, and never did, volatility is relative and most often, the relativity is 'other currency' based.

Nonsense how? To use BTC it has to be converted to some other currency, it's not intrinsically spendable otherwise. If it was intrinsically spendable - like a dollar in your pocket in your local fiat currency is - then it would not be seen as any more volatile than USD, AUD, GBP, etc. And if it...

I used an O'Neill cylinder as an interstellar spaceship because it simplifies a lot of engineering. My ship was the asteroid Hektor hollowed out with the cylinder spun and held in place via superconducting magnets. The rocket engine needed a lot of hand waving (metallic hydrogen in this case)...

Was BVW joking? But thanks for the advice, I'll be clear: your call out was incorrect, most definitions of currency volatility reference exchange rates. And yes, inflation is also a driver, but unless it's hyperinflation, we don't generally notice that as 'volatility' in our local fiat...

Is there a way to note sources such as the Cambridge Dictionary disagree with you in a way that's not seen as me being petty 🤔

We're waaaay off topic, but I worked for a successful businessman and he always told me that a speculative investment needed to cause you pain if it failed for it to be beneficial if it succeeded. Given he's the guy driving the hypercar between his multiple expensive houses, there might be...

If you're intending your invention to be the global currency, you're not considering that it's going to be converted to fiat currency (or anything else for that matter), so volatility isn't an issue.

It was originally pitched not just as a currency, but as the currency, the one that would usher in the libertarian dream of decentralised, unregulated, entirely private transactions. It's not done that, but along the way, it caught the zeitgeist, and has become entirely speculative. And I feel...

Are you suggesting BTC for these high value purchases because BTC has a high coin value? Because using it as currency has serious downsides. Price fluctuation is an issue, its transaction rate is very low and does not scale, and the cost per transaction is higher than other processing options...

Yes, that's one thing I found when my novels were proofread, that I tended to name the OP in discussions too much. Took me a bit of effort to trim the named participants in conversations, but seven books in, I think I've got the hang of it! However, posting is different to talking. It is...

Just seems polite to refer to people by name if you're conversing...unnamed commentator! But if I ignore the wink, and take that you're a Mentor at face value, I'll stop with the '@' mention as it's actually easier. Hmmm... There's a lot I don't like about LinkedIn, but that's one useful...

Yes, but compare PF to LinkedIn, and this is the only feature which is more convenient on LinkedIn where the mere act of typing the '@' triggers an autofill of the most recent commentator's name. It's not a 'die in a ditch' feature, obviously, @anorlunda, but merely put into the pot for...

Sorry, I should have included an example, such as this, where you can see that I've explicitly recognised fluidistic in my reply.

When I quote a PF member comment, and I want to refer to them using the '@' method in my comment, I have to type in their name. It would be helpful if the editor could auto-fill the name from the immediately previous quote.