Anyone who comments publicly on economic affairs receives regular correspondence from monetary cranks, who espouse schemes for securing peace and prosperity by reforming the world’s money. Bitcoin, the private cyber currency whose supply is fixed to prevent inflation, is only the latest entrant to a lengthy catalogue. Bitcoin also attracts anarchists and libertarians. The web should be free, they cry, blithely disregarding its dependence on telephone networks funded by middle-aged people in grey suits, servers provided by large corporations and protocols negotiated in international conferences.
但凡就經(jīng)濟(jì)問題公開發(fā)表意見之人，總會經(jīng)常收到貨幣怪才們的來信。他們提倡以一些方案改革當(dāng)今貨幣，確保和平與繁榮。在長長的提議清單中，比特幣(bitcoin)——一種定量供應(yīng)以防止通脹的民間網(wǎng)絡(luò)虛擬貨幣——不過是最近的一個(gè)。比特幣也吸引了無政府主義者和自由論者的注意。他們大聲疾呼，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)應(yīng)當(dāng)免費(fèi)，冒失地忽略了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)對三個(gè)因素的依賴：中年幕后老板們出資建設(shè)的電話網(wǎng)絡(luò)、大公司提供的服務(wù)器，以及通過國際會議敲定的網(wǎng)絡(luò)協(xié)議。