Transactions in a cashless society

http://www.optimizemag.com/article/s...cleId=51202092

http://www.optimizemag.com/article/s...cleId=51202092

I don't see how electronic transfers really change our notion of money. If
these transfers take place into and out of checking accounts, it's still the
same definition of money (M1 = currency, checkable deposits, and travelers
checks, the largest component being checkable deposits). We just don't use
paper checks anymore (or as frequently) to make these transfers.

If funds are transferred between parties without the use of checkable or
savings deposits, this will be a significant change.

But transferring funds electronically I do not see as an innovation. It's been
happening for years. This writer is just infatuated with technology.

Tom Schellberg

(John Stone) wrote
http://www.optimizemag.com/article/s...cleId=51202092

(I am up early, being off the local clock here in Calgary, where I
spoke at a conference, "Coinage and Identities in the Ancient World."
My topic was "Alexander as Herakles." Other presentations by Andrew
Meadows of the British Museum, Oliver Hoover of the ANS, Shailendra
Bhandare of the Ashmolean, et al., et al., cover a wide range of other
topics. The closing event is a panel discussion on the question, "Can
Coins Present a Useful Means of Establishing Identities?")

It is hard to imagine anonymous money. Yet, that is one of the
attributes of "digital cash." Encryption allows security in several
senses. In the context of Nicholas Negroponte's article cited by John
Stone above, electronic commerce can allow multiple barter
transactions which are anonymous _and_ accountable by the same
technology. I do not need to know who you are to have confidence both
that I will gain the value delivered by you and also that my value
will be credited away from my assets and debited to my expense ledger.

If this takes place via our computers (handhelds or whatever), then it
is anonymous in every sense. However, if this takes place via any
kind of "stored value" medium, then there is always the opportunity
for advertising. Phone cards are a perfect example. It is possible
to buy a block of time from a carrier and have your own cards made.
As long as the card is valid, it does not matter what image is on the
plastic. However, can you imagine a blank card? Yes, it is possible
and perhaps useful. Certainly, it is not impossible. My point is,
though, that perhaps every form of money has always been a medium for
some kind of "advertising."

An ancient coin announces the power of the ruler, COS IIII IMP CAES
etc., with a portrait. In our time, in America, anyway, we have these
1-ounce silver "art bars." They are never blank. It is not just a
matter of "hallmark" to guarantee weight and fineness. The Rug Mint
Celebrates the History of Weaving. It is not just that the Rug Mint
promises the goodness of the bar, but more that they present their
celebration. They advertise themselves.

The digital bartering that Negroponte write of does away with that, or
so it seems.

As he points out, this is most likely in another generation when those
born now will have grown up in a world different from the one that we
knew.

Michael