Well, that's the funny part of the Gold/Silver bugs. Step ONE for the banks was to create a Paper Market, and manipulate it. LOL.

And the gold/silver ratio. I bought 60% silver/ 40% gold, because "These ratios will reverse and you will be able to sell your silver to get even more gold".

Luckily I stopped doing that. BUT the value difference actually swapped my account to 60% gold in value now. LOL. All manipulated.
====

About the bit depth.
BTC is using 256 Bits. That represents more atoms than exist in the universe. 10^78 sized numbers.

Qubits are a LOT more expensive to build, and tying them together to be big enough to "solve" the unknown and reveal a key requires at least 256 qubits and an idea about how to "resolve" to the right answer.

There are simple protections, like move ALL or your BTC to a FRESH wallet when you spend any of it. This means nobody knows your PUBLIC Address.

The second thing. Just increase the bitness. Many encryption techniques I use, use 4000 bits.
That's not 8 times HARDER.

Every bit added makes it TWICE as hard. 2^4000 TIMES harder.

Suddenly, you have to build a 5,000 Qubit system.

Also, despite a few small wins. Quantum computing is still MOSTLY HYPE, IMHO.

You are being fed FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt), while JPM gets their biggest clients into BTC.

Good news... They said "THAT" Sheep Farm. LOL.

Great Stuff.
Love the Artificial food Colors...

Is that why we don't see Pelosi any more?

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.
Might AI gain control over bit depth?
If that happens, the reputation of crypto could be ruined and the masses will run back to the cartel.
(Of course, I am no expert in how bit depth is manipulated so I may be off base here. ;^)

Unless there is a method to create gold like fiat, I like having physical in my control, not the banking cartel - even though they have manipulated the gold/silver price for decades.

I read your article with some light skimming on the history stuff.

First, thank you for sharing.

Second, you miss a few points. Gold is NOT money everywhere. I challenge you to bring 2 oz of gold to Russia. And tell me where you sell it? Who takes it, and what they pay you for it?

You will end up selling it as scrap gold to a jeweler... MAYBE. Yeah, in China, it's easy.
Here it is easy.

North Korea?
We tend to forget about some of these, because we think of countries LIKE OURS.

This is the same issue with complaining that BTC requires the internet. Yes, it's a risk. Without electricity BTC is useless.

So are most of my devices in my house. It doesn't mean they don't have VALUE.

Also, you left off 2 key pieces. ONE of the original selling points of BTC was to FORCE the government to use it.

We Americans pay our taxes. We should REQUIRE the government convert them to BTC and pay for all of their services with BTC.

Because it creates a permanent ledger of where the money went. This was born out of the 2008 market crash. Where we found we were being RAPED and having our money looted and sent around the world. Banks (Citi) levered 42:1 (yes, they loaned EVERY DOLLAR 42 times for every dollar they had on deposit). Thanks Fiat.

BTC should sit BETWEEN: Fiat and Gold.
And BTC should be part of any hedge against the future.

Just because YOU can't comprehend it's value, doesn't mean NOBODY Can.

Michael Saylor uses this example. If I were to offer you:
A) $1 Billion in GOLD
B) $1 Billion in CA or NY Real-Estate
C) $1 Billion in BTC

Which would you prefer? The only condition is that you cannot spend/sell it for 20 years. Any of it. Not one Oz.

Can you name your RISKS with each of them?
What is the carrying costs of that property?
Where will you store your Gold? At what price?
Where will you store your BTC? At what price?

Now... What happens if you want to MOVE to your GULCH outside of the country? Which one goes with you? At what cost?

I understand that most people here are AGAINST BTC. Just like Edison was Against A/C power. A little fear can go a long way.

Personally, the freedom of having "money" that cannot be counterfeited is amazing. To be able to track US Govt -> USAID -> ActBlue | Immigrant Importation Services| Social Security -> FAKE PEOPLE, because we can see 1000 SSIs moving their money around to a small group...

That was the original promise of BTC.
But then FREEDOM minded people realized. Oh, once we move into this world, we can transact without the GOVERNMENT saying "No!".

This is 100% the opposite of the Global Banking System (which is above the law). And 100% opposite CBDC (which is BILLIONS of times worse the Fiat Currency).

And, you guys have NO PROBLEM getting paid in Dollars, which you admit is Fiat and is FAKE MONEY.

But you would rather hold dollars than BTC.

I hold both. Because it's prudent, and I am hopeful that some day... Governments are not required to transact with other people between us.

Finally. It's not just code. It's Code + A Safe Network, proven over the years! You don't need to trust the code. Trust the network. Because a different network could vote to CHANGE the code.

In a CBDC it's the "network" of central banks that are the problem. They can (and will) change the code so that they can charge you a negative interest rate, or make your money expire!

AI will likely SPEND/USE crypto. (Not BTC). But a cheaper coin: LTC. Where you can buy $0.00001 item that makes the AI bot more effective, or give it access to what you want. This is where they will monetize AI and it's capacities. You want MICRO Payments at high speeds, with high trust.

The bit depth of Crypto can be changed, keeping it forever out of the reach of "AI Calculations". Besides, the rough cost of trying to crack a wallet is more than the wallet will contain. You have to crack each wallet separately.

Or course it has. The classic purchase of real-estate leverages debt. So you are LONG real-estate and SHORT dollars. The majority of the gains from Real-estate are from INFLATION (or the short side of the equation).

Throw in Taxes and Insurance. And Florida is a living example of destroying the value of real-estate. Watch was prices continue to contract.

Carl,
Thank you so much for these. They're outstanding. Three days ago I railed on my 24-year old daughter for wearing jeans like the ones the left bear attack victim has on in your pic, to the doctor's office.
Now, unlike a lot of girls, she doesn't get wound up about looks - she gets respect because of her Master's Degree and the research company she started last year. Still, I told her she'd be more likely to get real medical attention, and be less likely to tear up her knees, if there was some fabric on them. I just sent her that pic ;^)

So that’s how all those rips and holes got into designer jeans. Who knew.

Tampon Tim is utterly worthless except for a laugh.
Another great bunch! Thanks for the chuckles.

I'll put gold up against a massive solar flare that could wipe virtual money out of existence.

Even our paper money could still serve as an IOU between traders.

The rich can debate on which is better Bitcoin or Gold. For myself I will maintain my investments in Brass and Lead.

Coffee shot out my nose at seeing "STOP"

In my mind, I have no doubt something is happening with the general cognitive ability in a majority of our population. They seem much more susceptible to group think, they simply believe and no facts will change their mind.

I’ve noticed a sharp decline around 2020, no surprise… Before the forced vaccination, people were productive. We had the normal moron which was relegated to useless higher management, i.e. the Dilbert theory, but these numbers were small and it cleared the way to allow the people that could do, do what they did. We also had the general moron which plodded along in life with no ambition or drive to accomplish anything. These were at a sustainable level of around 80%, in my opinion. I contracted in the government space so my opinion might be a little bit skewed.

I left the government contracting space in 2013, met many smart people with drive… Around 2020, I was employed with NetApp. A higher concentration of imbeciles then in most businesses but still functional. Then they mandated the vaccine, I found a church signing religious exemptions, I was able to save my job and not take the vaccine. What I’ve witnessed since 2020 is amazing.

I know of people that took the vaccine and have major medical emergencies, atrial rupture, myocarditis, consistently ill, but without a doubt, I’ve notice a sharp decline in peoples ability to think. They are everywhere, they are making the wrong decisions and truly screwing everything up. It now seems like I spend a majority of my time pushing back against stupidity.

A dumb population is easier to control, a fat population is easier to control, a drug addicted population is easier to control, a population without family has less of a reason to resist. I’m seeing a pattern here and I’m screaming about it and no one can hear me.

Don't see it that way, Thor. To be aware in a real sense is not a program, it's part of the possibilities of Life.
Computers are not living things and perhaps, only living things can truly be aware of their own awareness on their own free will, not programed to be or appear to be, so.

No arguments about their usefulness processing large amounts of date in unique ways.

PS, the USB-C connection is for Recharging? . . . Yes/No?

Not sure how to judge the comment. USB-C connection? Wanna see a self-interested AI, no problem. Arguing they can create? Not a good position.
The best argument presently is that they have trivial resources compared to humans. Yet, leveraging these trivial resources, they can achieve a lot. A lot more than the mean of humans in particular areas.
The rejection that consciousness will be achieved is just arrogance, of the same kind that argued the earth doesn’t rotate around the Sun, or humans didn’t evolve from other species.

Imitation in a profound sense but still, not the real thing and still not a true cosmological entity.
Remember, it requires a physically created and maintained power source.

But, we have yet to see a USB-C connection on those quantum entities. Self Generating or perhaps they are the a power source . . .

I agree and to some degree it is observable.
The body and physical brain, under certain circumstances, (perhaps an environment free of strong cosmic radiation) achieve self introspection, sight of self and a modicum of control over the physical biological functioning (behavior?) giving that entity an integrated self.
I have often observed and said that many human looking entities are in fact only 2 parts of a 3 part equation. Mind Body and Brain =ing a Conscious Human Being versus just a brain in a body =ing a Humanoid . . . much like many were in Old Testament Times; . . given good behavior only due to fear of things unseen.

It's a huge subject, thus it is a pleasure to hear that someone other than myself observes the subject this way.

All in a sudden it strikes ne kinda weird that we're talking sheep and also today I saw and bought some lambchops.
I haven't ate lamb anything for maybe two or three years. Southerners rarely eat lamb though I do like it.
Name of the grocery store? Piggly Wiggly. Oops!

Bear attack fashions! Great! 👍
Thank you, OUC!

Interesting. Ayn Rand said there are two fundamental existents in the Universe--existence and consciousness. They are irreducible although every professional neuroscientist seems to insist that consciousness can be reduced entirely to the brain. That does not mean that consciousness is independent of existence. Just that (I am speculating) that when consciousness emerges from a certain biological complexity (I do not think a silicon complexity), it becomes a fundamentally different existent--in this case, the mind. But mind can still be dependent upon existence.

You know, without researching it, I have only my "impression," but my impression is that real estate has been the prime investment and hedge against inflation, more so than other investments, for most Americans. For all that I invested and saved and tried stocks and gold...the home I bought in East Hampton for entirely personal reasons, ended up saving my retirement years. Over time, investments in Bitcoin have been perhaps the most wildly speculative, and wildly successful, of any. $5000 in Bitcoin 15 years ago would be $444 billion, now. That means nothing to anyone. It means that Bitcoin is not conceivably "money." Gold, by contrast, has acted perfectly as "real money" and has been among the best (sane) investments you could make. Thanks for taking a moment to comment!

Bet ya Archie was never welcomed home with a congrats on the parole for molesting a sheep farm after a day of playing Toilet Shoes . . .

Even when insulting each other, Archie Bunker and George Jefferson would never even think of cancelling each other out for "hate speech."
As for Meme #3 top, it looks like Orange Man Bad may be happier being called Casper The Friendly Ghost.

Thank you!

I'll raise a toast to that...