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It seems rash to wish for regulation to be weaponized to the effect of banning something, rather the actual meaning of regulation to define and enforce orderly,
by datadata 4y ago
It seems rash to wish for regulation to be weaponized to the effect of banning something, rather the actual meaning of regulation to define and enforce orderly, fair, predictable functioning of something.
- arcticbull 4y agoReplace crypto with dumping toxic waste into the local river and re-read your sentence.
- datadata 4y agoI think it would be more standard to replace "regulate" with "outlaw" as well, does that make sense?
- randomhodler84 4y agoYou can’t just replace nouns and keep the same meaning, cos language doesn’t work that way.
- arcticbull 4y agoIt does if the analogy holds. Both have no positive attributes, only negative attributes.
- woodruffw 4y agoMuch like a puppy-kicking machine, the "orderly, fair, predictable" functioning of cryptocurrencies is something much closer to "nonexistence" than to the current state of affairs. Less facetiously: there is nothing orderly about our current schemes. There is nothing particularly fair about them either, unless your definition of fairness is something closer to Thucydides' than a modern one. And predictable? Cryptocurrencies handily defeat our stock market in unpredictability. Not a great set of qualifications.
- datadata 4y agoIf you believe those things, you should be asking for crypto to be outlawed, not disingenuously regulated for the underhanded purpos of outlawing it.
- woodruffw 4y agoYou do understand that banning something is a form of regulation, correct? I don't know how much more explicit I can be with a phrase like "regulate into the dirt."
- datadata 4y agoNormally if the policy outcome you wish for is for X to be non-existent, then it would be more precise and explicit to say "we should ban X". The word regulate implies to some degree that we want X to exist, just in a way that is more constrained for better outcomes. Think about the mechanical meaning of the word regulate. To try to ban something under the guise of regulation makes it seem like you are wishing for a bad-faith effort to use regulation to make something fail rather than function.
- woodruffw 4y agoI think I've been very precise. But if it isn't to your liking, here's another formulation: I believe that cryptocurrencies should be banned. But then again, what if what I mean by ban is a "partial ban." Opportunities for misinterpretation abound!
- datadata 4y agoIt is not misinterpretation, and the precision matters. For example, discourse on abortion that is favorable to abortion rights would not talk about the opposition "regulating" abortion, but only in terms of banning it. With crypto, it is clearly not politically favorable to have a complete ban, so to get an effective ban under the guise of regulation is basically hoping for authority to act in bad faith.