@futurebird @dobetterinstitute @fedipay hard and expensive to send cash $1 to an eastern european, $1 to a canadian and $1 to a vietnamese guy....

But what if I sent $10 to fedipay.
and 100 other people did (1000).
Then fedipay worked out that the server in eastern europe needs ~333 and canada needs ~334 and vietnamese server needs ~333
Then the local server admin could use the local bank to send $1 to by bank transfer to the local developer - etc.

@craiglambie42 @dobetterinstitute @fedipay

I think this is such an important problem to think about. Payment networks are networks of trust. Since IRL we don't experience "transaction fees" it easy to not understand why such fees are so hard to avoid when moving online.

I don't want to discourage you because it's upsetting how hard it is to extricate oneself from all of the big players in payments.

@craiglambie42 @dobetterinstitute @fedipay

I think this is such an important problem to think about. Payment networks are networks of trust. Since IRL we don't experience "transaction fees" it easy to not understand why such fees are so hard to avoid when moving online.

I don't want to discourage you because it's upsetting how hard it is to extricate oneself from all of the big players in payments.

@craiglambie42 @dobetterinstitute @fedipay

To get philosophical: making currency is a primary function of a state. States have chosen to allow private entities to take this role in digital spaces, an abdication of state power. (The political reasons how and why this has happened are interesting.)

I once thought a "stateless currency" was possible. I now think that was very naive.

The currency *is* the state.

When the currency fails? so to the government.

@futurebird @dobetterinstitute @fedipay
I totally agree, getting away from the big players is important.
In Australia we can easily pay other people with their phone number.
In the US it is hard - that is why Paypal and others came to be.
In the UK and EU, it is really simple, and free to do transfers.

I imagine getting a community bank or building society involved to help with the actual money part - eventually that might solve multiple problems.
It would mean creators have to open an account

@craiglambie42 @dobetterinstitute @fedipay

To get philosophical: making currency is a primary function of a state. States have chosen to allow private entities to take this role in digital spaces, an abdication of state power. (The political reasons how and why this has happened are interesting.)

I once thought a "stateless currency" was possible. I now think that was very naive.

The currency *is* the state.

When the currency fails? so to the government.

@craiglambie42

There is a kind of person who seeks to be the intermediary in all transactions: they fantasize that they should get a little tax on everything.

They seek transaction fees as others seek rents.

Those innocents who want "free and open exchanges" never see them coming. We need to learn to be more suspicious, avaricious or evil IDK.

"you just want to make money without even doing anything!" I cry with horror

They think: "yes, you clueless idiot that's the whole POINT"

@craiglambie42

There is a kind of person who seeks to be the intermediary in all transactions: they fantasize that they should get a little tax on everything.

They seek transaction fees as others seek rents.

Those innocents who want "free and open exchanges" never see them coming. We need to learn to be more suspicious, avaricious or evil IDK.

"you just want to make money without even doing anything!" I cry with horror

They think: "yes, you clueless idiot that's the whole POINT"

@craiglambie42

There is a kind of person who seeks to be the intermediary in all transactions: they fantasize that they should get a little tax on everything.

They seek transaction fees as others seek rents.

Those innocents who want "free and open exchanges" never see them coming. We need to learn to be more suspicious, avaricious or evil IDK.

"you just want to make money without even doing anything!" I cry with horror

They think: "yes, you clueless idiot that's the whole POINT"

@futurebird @craiglambie42 part of the problem is that US banking is primitive, which creates a local market opportunity for anyone smoothing those bumps. It's not clear to me that the rest-of-the-world needs such a thing. One useful function that banks provide, and that costs money to implement, is some amount of fraud detection/correction; sooner or later someone will use a payment system for fraud and/or crime.

@dr2chase @craiglambie42

What services are US banks lacking that one finds abroad?

I often interact with people who don't have bank accounts. A bank can make a lot of sense if you have a salaried job with direct deposit and a mortgage. Generally with one or the other the bank will provide a lot of services for free.

If you don't have such a tie to the bank they can be as predatory as payday lenders which is why people avoid them and go to the payday lenders who are, at least predictable.

@dr2chase @craiglambie42

What services are US banks lacking that one finds abroad?

I often interact with people who don't have bank accounts. A bank can make a lot of sense if you have a salaried job with direct deposit and a mortgage. Generally with one or the other the bank will provide a lot of services for free.

If you don't have such a tie to the bank they can be as predatory as payday lenders which is why people avoid them and go to the payday lenders who are, at least predictable.

@craiglambie42 @dobetterinstitute @fedipay

I think working with credit unions is a good idea. There has been growth in that area and there is room for more growth.

@futurebird @craiglambie42 transfer of funds outside the US is much smoother, whereas here in the US wire transfers between people are a BFD that seems to require paperwork. Checks are not a thing in Europe, for example. I.e., the missing services, are speed, and flexibility. US banks are better at profits, however.

One of the reasons I'm suddenly interested in sharing videos is directly related to AI.

I worry that I might watch a video and not know that it's AI.

A lot of AI is very obvious to me, but that doesn't mean that I can't be fooled. When we look at things together and discuss them we stand a better chance of catching deceit.

This is the invite link to fediTV. You can add videos on youTube by clicking "save" when you are watching them:

INVITE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTh3hv32NLhrPBgOXrUgwp6BQaC94lt9n&jct=HNo63JsyzJgiqq4wtxlQLw

3/3

@craiglambie42 @dobetterinstitute @fedipay

To get philosophical: making currency is a primary function of a state. States have chosen to allow private entities to take this role in digital spaces, an abdication of state power. (The political reasons how and why this has happened are interesting.)

I once thought a "stateless currency" was possible. I now think that was very naive.

The currency *is* the state.

When the currency fails? so to the government.

@craiglambie42 @dobetterinstitute @fedipay

Options:

*use paypal and my $20 donation ends up being about $14 by the time the fees are done on all sides.
* mail cash and risk it all getting stolen OR they get the whole $20 bucks they can spend right away.

The downside is I can only do this with people who trust me with their address. But that's also an upside in a way.

Mailing cash was good enough for my mom when she was worried about me LOL. Why not?

I promise if you watch a lot of youTube this is dead simple and easy.

If you don't watch a lot of youTube? Honestly good for you. But what do you watch?

If you watch videos most of the time it's:

@futurebird @craiglambie42 @dobetterinstitute @fedipay

I heard somewhere that Pay-as-you-go phone companies allowed anyone in the world to top up payments, and also allowed the owner to withdraw some of their pay-as-you-go balance,
and this turned in to a major way to send funds to relatives in Vietnam and India

* Was this ever true
* Is it still a thing
* would it be helpful in this situation?

@dr2chase @craiglambie42

What services are US banks lacking that one finds abroad?

I often interact with people who don't have bank accounts. A bank can make a lot of sense if you have a salaried job with direct deposit and a mortgage. Generally with one or the other the bank will provide a lot of services for free.

If you don't have such a tie to the bank they can be as predatory as payday lenders which is why people avoid them and go to the payday lenders who are, at least predictable.