Yet again, the ridiculous, short-sighted and downright dystopian phrase 'Code is Law' appeared in my feed again today.
I have a few points to make regarding this article by @taskmaster4450 in which he makes the argument for Crypto to replace a current monetary system which fails due to it being 'arbitrary' and then goes on to use the example of Russia being removed from the SWIFT system of money transfer.
Arguing that crypto is a perfect system to replace this is a nonsense. Whilst a huge advocate for tokenised payment systems, I prefer to see them as globalised, decentralised systems always with the possibility of human intervention to provide adjustment and an ability to react to changing environments in which they operate which in this respect, makes crypto very similar to current financial systems, and the achilles' heel of both systems is that they rely on technology.
'Code is law' is not placing trust in code, you cannot trust inanimate objects without emotion. You are actually trusting the creators of the code who may or may not be anonymous and quite obviously, may or may not be creating the code with purely altruistic intentions in mind. Call me old fashioned, but I'm hardly going to put my future welfare in the hands of some random person I don't know which is what everyone does who follows the 'code is law' mantra.
Within the current context, where crypto is being touted as 'the answer', does no one ever imagine the possibility of there being no internet? Even for a short time, the economic devastation created in a world reliant on the internet to conduct crypto transactions would be immeasurable. Do you know how many deep sea cables there are carrying internet into any particular country?
The full world map can be found here
How easy would it be for a rogue individual, let alone a rogue state to cut one of these cables? As for satellites, in a world of conflict who will operate or fund them?
Code can never be law. By adopting this stance you are removing the need for humanity, and it's humanity that has, and will carry the human race forward whatever the crisis. When you allow technology to be your master, you are doomed to extinction.
Could the internet ever go off? Absolutely. I am sure Russian citizens would have never imagined that they wouldn't be able to use their Mastercards and Visas, or their banks would ever run out of cash but this is exactly what they are facing now, all turned off at the flick of a switch in the space of a few hours after the decision was made.
Cryptocurrency is a system that is basically anti-tyranny
couldn't be further from the truth. It's a system created by the few and thus has the most ability to be manipulated at it's core level by its creator. Using psychological manipulation on the masses to create popularity is not too difficult...
Let's just mention BitConnect at this juncture, or Ruja Ignatova or any of the ICO scams and rug pulls. Again, no different to the current financial system where human greed allows them to be manipulated. The potential for massive profit is what's driving the vast majority of the crypto movement these days sadly and not its ideological foundations.
And what's to stop the code's creators changing it? Then there is new code and new law! There is nothing static about code, it evolves and hopefully improves and reacts to changing human needs. It is not law!
In an ever changing world that faces massive problems such as over-population and environmental abuse, never mind the current violent power struggles, personal consumption needs to decrease rather than increase which is what happens when we aim for never-ending financial growth, we do not have infinite resources on earth to support this.
Crytpo is not a silver bullet, it should be a servant to humanity in its quest for advancement through knowledge, rather than wealth because wealth and power are intrinsically linked.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolutely power corrupts absolutely said John Dalberg-Acton
I suggest humans should not be ruled by wealth or code. If you really feel the need to be ruled by anything, be ruled by the need to learn, by empathy and by compassion and absolutely do not idolise anyone.
This is not financial advice or any other kind of advice. It is my opinion only, and opinions are like arseholes, we all have one, and they all carry equal importance!