Worldcoin, a new money, with lots of backing, that is tied to your bio-metrics
"Worldcoin isn’t as bad as it sounds: It’s worse"
About 15 years ago I watched a movie produced by a fellow named Aaron Russo, a Hollywood guy who had also produced The Rose with Bette Midler and one of my very favorite movies of all time, Trading Places. But unlike those 2 movies, this one, Freedom to Fascism, is a documentary.
It’s a film about how individual liberty is slipping away, in America particularly. It’s pretty fringy in some bits. Russo had an axe to grind with the government. The movie has some big themes and most are not appropriate to discuss in this space, but one section stuck with me over the years.
It was a hypothetical scene of a man going to a grocery store. I forget the details but basically a guy goes to buy a pizza and the computer at the checkout explains that given the man’s high blood pressure, as reported by the tech attached to his “wallet”, he was not allowed to purchase a pizza. The computer then asks “Why don’t you try some broccoli?” Or something to that effect.
It’s chilling, and not just because people with high blood pressure should be able to buy whatever they want at Safeway, but because the implication is that potentially the ability to purchase ANYTHING might be one day in the hands of tech technocrats seeking to manage the economy and humanity. Worldcoin (or something like it) would be a very useful tool for those who long for such ubiquitous economic management.
I know, I know, slow down there Nick. No one’s keeping you from buying a pepperoni pie.
Yes, that is true - currently. But in a Worldcoin world, well?
Who knows if Worldcoin even catches on. We hope it doesn’t. But if it’s not Worldcoin something else will come down the line. As business people we need to keep these trends in mind. If Worldcoin, which is tied to one’s bio-metrics (a retinal scan), becomes broadly accepted as a means of exchange, resticting pizza could be easily done. And then a Chinese style social credit system likely wouldn’t be far behind.
In the meantime be thankful we still have cash.
(From Blockworks.com)
Linking immutable biometric traits to money could have dystopian consequences.
Imagine that your digital identity has been lost in some way — shut down by authorities for non-compliance, or otherwise blocked. With traditional cash — and other cryptocurrencies — you can always make a new wallet and stash some fresh coins in it. But this isn’t Minority Report, and you can’t get a new iris from your neighborhood surgeon.
When your immutable digital identity is locked — imagine merchants who won’t take your coins from you without a digital signature announcing your World ID — it’s over for you. No old account. No new account. No soup for you. You just lost your digital personhood.
What is Worldcoin?
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