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You are just trying to define things out of existence so that you don't have to give up your shiny rock ideology.

Trade & economic coordination are the most valuable sources of wealth & value creation in all of human history & because these are actions & not a physical things you are trying to suggest they don't exist.

Let's say there's a vault full of gold & a "gold standard" token that perfectly repesented the amount held in the vault with no way for anyone to engage in any sort of debasement. The tokens trade easier & with far less cost than moving gold (which is why the gold standard started in the first place). And somehow, without anyone knowing aliens steal all the gold, but the tokens remain impossible to debase & work the same as if the gold was there. When does the system fail?

a source familiar with the matter 10mo ago

"Trade & economic coordination are the most valuable sources of wealth & value creation in all of human history & because these are actions & not a physical things you are trying to suggest that they don't exist."

Are you trying to suggest that they do?

There's some entity called "trade" out there spitting out gold coins or wheat or convertible automobiles?

I suppose there is, but only in a very loose and metaphorical sense.

However these claims about trade can be translated into claims about actual entities without any loss of meaning.

We do this automatically.

"Humans who trade & coordinate economically have produced more wealth & economic value than by any other action"

Do you agree that this statement fairly reflects the content of your original without supposing that there is an entity called "trade" out in the world?

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Discussion

Jeff Swann 10mo ago

Trade is an action that produces an increase in value (which is always subjective). People really do perform actions, so "trade doesn't exist" would be an incorrect statement. But it is not a particular item you can point to.

I don't think the path you are trying to walk makes any sense. An atom of gold exists even if I need some special tool to see or hold it. The tools we need to store & process information are not an indication that the saved information itself does not exist.

a source familiar with the matter 10mo ago

Is Bitcoin (in the sense of "I have 5 Bitcoin") an entity or an action?

a source familiar with the matter 10mo ago

If I said "Sherlock Holmes does not exist" would you give me all this argument or would you understand and agree immediately?

This is the sense in which Bitcoin does not exist.

Yes, there are words on a page. There are books and films about Sherlock Holmes. There are even electrons in computer memory with a pattern that corresponds in some way to the name or character or concept of "Sherlock Holmes". But obviously he does not exist.

It is the same with Bitcoins.