Subject: Bastardizing the Net From: Alex Dering <105217.145@CompuServe.COM> Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 00:57:58 -0400

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>We are supposed to be using the net because it eliminates the human 
>handling of money (among many other things), finally bringing to the 
>masses the joy of electronic commerce. 

In response:
The masses don't have computers. That portion of the society that can
afford computers is relatively small. The rest, mostly the people who have
no need of electronic fund transfer in the first place as all their money
is spent as soon as it's gotten on food, rent, clothes, and sundry other
needs, and the rest goes into the checking account.

Personally, I prefer the "old-fashioned" way of handling money. In fact, I
prefer the old "old-fashioned" way of handling money: require that it be
backed, in full, by a valuable commodity such as gold or silver.

It is a topic for another day and another list to discuss the flaws in an
economic system whose legal tender is backed almost entirely merely on the
willingness of individuals to accept it as having worth, which is our
current system. (This is equivalent to the trust-building exercise of
having everyone form a circle and then sit down on the lap of the person
behind them. It's great until someone's knees give way.)

I see nothing joyous about not even getting to hold in my hands the legal
tender I earned. I like the feeling of those crisp green bills in my
pocket. And as to convenience, whose convenience? Do I care if my bank,
which charges me through my eye teeth every time I walk past an ATM, has to
deal with the awful burden of making things easier for me? They're still
going to charge me for the privilege of using their great and glorious
facilities.

Nor am I interested in becoming even further bound to my computer. Why
would I store all that information on a computer anyway? I've known the
pure terror of seeing my hard drive crash inexplicably. Sure, I got
everything back (tip of the pen to Norton), but while I was recovering the
drive I kept imagining how on earth I was going to rewrite those papers for
my classes as they'd gone onto the drive since the last backup. I can
imagine nothing worse than walking into an IRS interrogation and having to
say that no, I don't have any records because they were all on my computer
and I've written to the various companies I do business with but none of
them answer letters or phone calls any more because everything is done by
computers.

There was a very low budget science fiction series on the BBC in the late
1970s and early 80s called Blake's 7. One of the characters, a computer
expert in this series set in the far future, was supposed to have attempted
to undermine the planetary banking system. He was all set to scoop up
something like 20 million "credits", through a little bit of electronic
fraud. But he got caught.

I've got a feeling that one of these days a very bored, very bright, 15
year old from East Overshoe is going to figure out some very clever, very
innovative way to do something similar on the computer he got for his
birthday. And those who don't have all their cancelled checks and old 1040s
are going to be in for a very unhappy time. That scene in "It's A Wonderful
Life" where Jimmy Stewart gets the townfolk to wait out the bank scare?
Right. And I've got a sliver off of the one True Cross to sell, real cheap.

That's all, I'll get off my soapbox now...

Alex Dering <105217.145@compuserve.com>
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