Squamish is no exception. Here in town, everyone’s wondering where the lost bitcoin of Jesse James a.k.a Davis Hawke went
I used to think of the crypto as worthless garbage. I still think it kind of is.
But man — I can no longer ignore the massive amounts of money that a single bitcoin is now worth.
As of the afternoon of March 26, the price was hovering at about $68,000.
For one. Just one.
It’s funny that a string of code can have the same value as an upper-middle-class salary.
Back in school, I’m sure we all received the familiar economics lesson: money in and of itself is worthless. It’s a social contract that makes it have any value.
Bitcoin isn’t the only thing that is experiencing an almost insane increase in value.
The sale of the Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet for $2.9 million is yet another example of people giving crazy amounts of money for something that — at least from a practical standpoint — doesn’t make sense.
The sale comes in the form of a non-fungible token, which is a string of data that is unique and can’t be duplicated.
But — at the same time — anyone can still view, save and screenshot Dorsey’s original tweet. It’s not like that tweet has become unavailable for us to enjoy.
The only difference is that with a non-fungible token, the token’s data gives it certification as an original.
I think an original Picasso makes sense. You can literally see and feel each stroke of the artist’s brush — something that’s lost with a print.
With a string of code? I dunno. There’s nothing I can really think of that changes the experience or enjoyment of the tweet, which was a pretty boring one by the way: “just setting up my twttr.”
This all has been making me wax a little philosophical.
And it makes me wonder about how and where we assign value.
This is idealistic of me, but why can’t we assign value to things that have a tangible benefit?
Yet, time and again, we keep figuring out ways to give tremendous value to things — often useless things — while taking things that have real value for granted.
I think anyone who worked at a grocery store this past year is definitely worth more than a bitcoin.
I think anyone who worked in healthcare is absolutely more valuable than a string of code.
I think anyone who brings you joy is worth more than a dead tree with ink.
We should give those who really matter a high valuation. They’re worth it.
