Hacker News Reader

Comment by locallost | Hacker News Reader

This doesn't help that much because cash today is also useless without electricity. You can't go to a bank anymore to get cash from an actual person. The machines run on electricity.

View on HN

This is why you keep some cash in a safe place, like your wallet, purse or dwelling.

To say cash today is "independent of any technology" which is what I replied to simply isn't true anymore. Read more carefully what the discussion is about please.

I live in Canada where not all that long ago, Rogers took out digital payments at most places for ~48 hours.

I had cash and zero problems. Many had no cash and many problems.

You specifically mentioned banking as a problem and I mentioned a specific solution. Based in real life, not fantasy.

I am arguing your point and you are attacking me rather than making a point of your own.

You are arguing something I did not discuss. The post I replied to made a general case that cash is decentralized and immune to issues like missing electricity. My entire point was only this: while true and thus having some cash is smart for short term issues (e.g. I am now traveling and took cash with me I am unlikely to use, but don't want to be stranded without money away from home), cash itself is long term not immune because today we need electricity to get the actual cash. True btw even if you could walk into a bank and ask for money because without a working computer they're not giving you any money. So overall the ship on cash is sailing, it's not really a solution anymore.

Cash solves the problem of getting through a widespread week long power or internet outage, which is already a pretty serious situation. Beyond that is another situation entirely, and starts to enter the realm of canned food, gold, and bullets.

That's a fair point to make that for 90% of us we get cash from a machine that requires electricity.

It's not a fair characterisation that cash is useless without electricity because once you have it(presumably before the electricity stops) then you can still transact with it.

Just because it wouldn’t help with a long-term crisis, there’s no need to overlook the benefit for a short-term crisis. Especially as the latter is far more likely.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com