The Paper Boy Paradox

RickMarroRickMarro Member Posts: 7
Paper Boy Paradox:

A paper boy in 2009 could conceivably have heard of BTC and taken 50% of his weekly pay to purchase BTC. So lets say the paper boy made $80 per week for delivering news papers and bought $40 each week worth of BTC @ a price of $0.40 per BTC, he would be acquiring 100 BTC per week. At the end of 2009, let's assume the paper boy has possession of 5,000 BTC. Then he gets hit by a bus while delivering his papers. IF he is dead the BTC is out of circulation forever, hence worthless. Let's assume he survives, but in a comma until November 2013, he wakes up and logs into his BTC wallet to find that his 5,000 BTC are "worth" $5,000,000 US Dollars in purchasing power.
In 5 years his purchasing power goes from $2,000 to $5,000,000 how does one justify this paper boys purchasing power, relative to his contribution to society ? ? This makes no sense at all, he has brought no value to humanity, society, or the BTC community, yet because of the hype while in his comma - his 50 weeks of news paper delivering has afforded him the purchasing power of $5,000,000 ? ? How does one reconcile that with, the doctor who studied for 12 years and saved the life of the paper boy and has monitored him through his comma ?? Over the same period of time the doctor amasses a purchasing power of $500,000 from practicing medicine for those 5 years and helping people all along the way. How can one justify this ??

If the doctor wished to purchase the paper boys bitcoins in November 2013, he would need $5,000,000 to do so? ? The doctor would need to perform $5,000,000 worth of service to society to purchase the same bitcoins that the paper boy acquired with $2,000 worth of service to society.

In closing BTC can't be the digital currency adopted by the world, because it transfers all the wealth from the people who get on board late, Directly to the people who got in early, for nothing more than having got in early.

_____end of Paper Boy Paradox_____

It seems Ether is modeled on the same premise as BTC - - I would love to hear your thoughts

Comments

  • bluesawbluesaw DublinMember Posts: 16 ✭✭
    the answer is that the boy wakes up from the coma and checks his BTC balance and falls back into a coma.The doctor then has a job for life looking after the boy!the truth is that anything can happen anywhere at any time.What ever is decided to happen here with the ether pre sale will happen and we choose to participate or not! just go with the flow!
  • giannidalertagiannidalerta Miami, FLMember Posts: 76 ✭✭✭
    @rickmarro your argument is pretty short sighted. Take some current examples,

    paper boy's grandpa dies, leaves paper boy $5,000,000 what was the paper boy's contribution?

    Paper boy gets hit by the same bus, now the parent sue the city, the boy just happened to have a promising future as cyclist. He is paralyzed now and the city needs to settle. The boy gets $5,000,000 after a couple years of fighting the battle. What was the boy's contribution?

    Paper boy hums a tune every day on his route. He hops on Youtube, posts his tune, and a link to itunes where he gets paid for his song. The song goes viral, he makes $5,000,000 (well maybe not that much)

    Life is not fair, you bust your ass or you get lucky. Those who fail are those who stay sitting on their ass and do nothing. A doctor in Cuba gets paid the $2000 and one in the US gets $500K, both are contributing the same. Not fair. Same contribution one's education maybe even more than another.

    The boy's contribution: He was educated in what Bitcoin was, he learned how to open a wallet, keep it secure and contribute to the new monetary system of the future. His actions influenced the free market of BTC and in turn he contributed. That to me is a worthwhile contribution.

    Cheers to the paper boy, may he have a beautiful and care free life.
  • SpottedMarleySpottedMarley EarthMember Posts: 1
    the value of bitcoin does not rise in relation to anyone's contribution to society. the value is determined by the free market. the paper boy was fortunate to have had the foresight. if only contributing to society determined fortune. the best of us would be wealthy and the worst of us, impoverished. a nice dream
  • ralphtheninjaralphtheninja Member Posts: 3
    He is rewarded for being one of the smartest paper boys in the world.
  • RickMarroRickMarro Member Posts: 7
    From all of these responses, it can only be surmised, one must drink the kool-aide to understand the value of Bitcoin. Good luck to everyone who thinks they can get rich, convincing others to buy in later (at a higher price).
  • ddink7ddink7 Member Posts: 49
    It's the way the world works. What value does a pretty face add to society? How does swinging a bat exceptionally well contribute to society? How does being born of rich parents contribute to society? How does owning land on which oil is discovered contribute to society? How does buying a lotto ticket contribute to society?

    The entertainment value of the model or baseball player are certainly contributions, as is the oil under the person's land, but in each case, what has that particular individual DONE to justify their wealth?

    BTC is no different. Some very lucky people who were in the right place at the right time and read the right web forums and/or media outlets (slashdot, etc.) had a chance to get very wealthy.
  • RickMarroRickMarro Member Posts: 7
    @ddink7
    The fact of the matter is, 99.993 percent of mankind disagrees with you, or they would have adopted btc... the truth is, without the equation (hoard+hype)=profit , btc would be priced at its worth and its worth is nearly zero
  • GeorgeGeffersonGeorgeGefferson Member Posts: 1
    but he contributed hugely to society.

    When he was buying the coins he was adding to demand. Higher demand, higher price. The miner that mined those coins got a few more cents for them maybe it was the few more cents that made him continue to mine, or maybe it was a software developer that sold them to help pay his rent.

    Then he is in a coma for a few years, again helping the economy by owning those coins, keeping them off the market reduced the supply, helping the price again.

    In 2009 there were a lot of things the paper boy could have purchased, but he gave up half his pay on a very speculative investment, he definitely deserves his millions.

    If that's not fair, then what about people who bought gold in 2001? Or people who bought apple in the 80's or 90's? If there wasn't a reward for people taking these risks, we wouldn't have these things, and so much more.
  • TracyMapesTracyMapes Member Posts: 4
    What about all the People in Life who give their's up willingly for the Benefit of All Society? And end up living down by the River? What about that side of the Coin? I don't even know what a Bit Coin is? Is that the Reason.
  • comtechnetcomtechnet Member Posts: 57
    The paperboy made a "choice" - that's the missing idea here by folks that fain some "unfairness". The choice had multiple possible outcomes - it wasn't a given that BTC would be a great multiplier, it still isn't. The feds could make it illegal. There is still HIGH risk involved in BTC. High risk often is coupled with potential High reward, ah - but also potential high failure (lose it all). So - don't envy this paperboy's luck and/or success. This paperboy bought Apple for $3 in 2003 - Did you? This paperboy road BlackBerry "all the way down" - Did you?
  • inovermyheadinovermyhead Member Posts: 4
    @comtechnet that BlackBerry bit really stung.
  • bluesawbluesaw DublinMember Posts: 16 ✭✭
  • mpolaviejampolavieja Member Posts: 20
    @RickMarro

    "99.993 percent of mankind disagrees with you, or they would have adopted btc... "

    Having knowledge of BTC and not owning BTC does not necessarily mean any disagreement. Not having knowledge of BTC and therefore not owning BTC definitely does not mean any disagreement either. Your argument is very poor.

    If BTC or any other criptocurrency is finally useful for mankind, early adopters 'contribution will be huge. If criptocurrencies are a total failure, many of them will have lost their money and their time.

    No crystal balls here, trial an error is how mankind discovers things. And trial and error necessarily means a lot of failures, that´s the way humans learn. No paradox at all, It´s not that difficult to understand.
  • comtechnetcomtechnet Member Posts: 57
    @inoverymyhead - right, no matter how good we "are, have been in the past, or want to be in the future", we need to constantly "learn" about ourselves, I hope to learn from the past and "cut my losses" earlier, and let the winners "run". The reason I mentioned BlackBerry, people are mostly focusing on the "first to market" and how, the "first to market" is the place to be - and they are correct to a degree, but mostly under a "certain timeframe" that is measurable. BlackBerry had a great "run". BTC is first to market in the crypto currency space. So they (BTC) will have "their run". Obviously we are all wondering about the "where" BTC is on the timeline (run) and how fundamental is their position. BlackBerry was the incumbent smartphone company, 1st to market, had a huge run of success. But BlackBerry is going away or will be absorbed - they failed to change to what customers wanted as a better smartphone product/experience. ETH is attempting to both ride onto of the success of BTC yet also create a better fundamental technology. So is ETH Apple? Or is this crypto currency space so new and yet so ripe for change and entry by someone else that can capture the buying public's imagination with a better product/experience? Will BTC change to meet "these needs" or will another reap this success?
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