It is interesting to note that Bitcoin, likewise for Wikipedia, is based on decentralization. Nobody can control its emission or its value. That means the currency is not susceptible to monetary inflation and the relative price of Bitcoin, unlike the dollar and other currencies, is defined by the market forces of supply and demand.
(ANTIMEDIA) A major hack is affecting businesses, governments, banks, and at least one airport and hospital system around the world — and the NSA may be to blame.
Back in the days of churning your own butter, food prep took up the same hours as a full-time job – 44 hours per week on average. In the US, that time has been cut down to one hour per week. Even in India, with the world's highest food prep time, women spend 31 fewer hours per week than US women in 1900. The market's innovation made this possible, but there's still progress to be made.
(ANTIMEDIA) New York — “Any person who operates a motor vehicle in the state shall be deemed to have given consent to field testing of his or her mobile telephone and/or personal electronic device for the purpose of determining the use thereof while operating a motor vehicle, provided that such testing is conducted by or at the direction of a police officer.”
Technology on its own may not be enough to change an outdated system, but with each graphic image of state violence, more people are understanding that the justice system is anything but just and this latest miscarriage of justice may have many of us feeling despondent, thinking that these victims have lost their lives in vain. But ideas are changing. And as Ludwig von Mises wrote, “Both force and money are impotent against ideas.”
(ANTIMEDIA) Palo Alto, CA — Scientists at Stanford University have figured out how to wirelessly transmit electricity between moving objects, overcoming previous limitations and possibly bringing Nikola Tesla’s vision of a global wireless power grid closer to reality.
(ZH) — The stock market is luvin’ McDonalds stock, which has continued its recent relentless rise to all time highs, up 26% YTD, oblivious to the carnage among the broader restaurant and fast-food sector.
More than 700 people from at least 19 countries converged at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta’s CNN Center last weekend for the largest and most ambitious event of FEE’s history. We are still buzzing here in the FEE office from the excitement and energy generated at the first-ever FEEcon. But FEEcon is not a one-off event. It’s a bridge to the future!
Mark these dates for next year: June 7-9, 2018.
The common thought among young people is that our rocketing population growth is going to overpopulate the earth. But given the number of people in poverty, it looks like population growth is actually good for poverty – more people means more brains, which means more ideas, inventions, and innovations.
This week on Words and Numbers, Antony Davies and James R. Harrigan talk about how and why the world is improving despite widespread negativity towards the idea of a growing world population, and why that negativity persists regardless of the prosperity we see every day.
(ANTIMEDIA) — “Saying that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.”
