What technology would you be better off without, why?
Call me old fashioned but a cashless society doesn’t sit well with me. I can definitely live without a central bank digital currency. Before getting to the heart of the matter let me bring a recent event to your attention.
Yesterday ( Nov 28th 2024) one of Denmark’s largest cellphone networks suffered severe outages that prevented people from contacting emergency services, forced at least one hospital to reduce non-critical medical care, and prompted security services in some regions to patrol the streets in search of people in need of help.
Meanwhile in Italy it was impossible to use credit cards or bancomat cards. Only cash worked.
Moral of the story?
The idea of moving towards a complete digital currency system is a choice that could paralyze our society from a technological point of view. Not to be excluded the fact that it begs to be intentionally hacked in order to create havoc. There are many ways to create sieges.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. We must also consider the potential for social control. The digitization of money through a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) creates substantial threats to financial privacy, increases government power, and could be weaponized against people.
Your habits, as a consumer, will be instantly saved to your profile and that data that is farmed and sold to interested parties, making us all easier targets for advertisers and/or the authorities.
One of the most alarming potential abuses of CBDCs is the government’s ability to “turn off” an individual’s money.
Never mind privacy, it will be considered an indulgence that belongs to the past.
Words Have Power 