Contactless cards and the future of cash

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Chris

Cryptocurrency is a way of doing it, but let’s not forget that gold and other precious commodities are also a universally accepted store of value. There will never be a shortage of ways to pay for something that a government can’t track - none of which need seriously concern us here. The barrier to our financial system isn’t caused by our government, nor is it ever likely to be. It is the increasing use of technology and remote customer service that makes it harder for those who have difficulty engaging with such things, for whatever reason. Cash in some form is therefore unlikely to disappear any time soon.

Maybe they will scrap cash, but keep the £5 note and anything below it, apart from copper.

Edit: But then what's to stop someone paying for £5,000 worth of drugs in fivers!!

[Sephiroth]

Well, you did have the opportunity for deleting your post which contradicts itself.

[45rpm]

Originally Posted by tweetiepooh

Once cashless it becomes possible for someone "in control" to prevent you buying or selling. They could monitor what you buy and sell, where you do it.


Again it's not the powers now that would be a concern but what a future regime could do if the tools and mechanisms are in place.

I still don't see what spending the ordinary Jo(e) would wish to keep secret from the authorities.

Perhaps you can give me one example of something you buy that would cause you a problem if the government found out. It's the same question whether we live in a democracy or future dictatorship.

[Hom3r]

I still have around £15 left of the £300 I took out last March, I've only spent cash in my Chinese Take-way which is cash only.


I will normally use cash for stuff under £5, but in the last year I've used contactless.


For me Upping the limit to £100 isn't an issue as my weekly shopping bit is around £60.


Plus My wallet has so much plastic in it isn't in my trouser pocket

[tweetiepooh]

Originally Posted by 45rpm

I still don't see what spending the ordinary Jo(e) would wish to keep secret from the authorities.

Perhaps you can give me one example of something you buy that would cause you a problem if the government found out. It's the same question whether we live in a democracy or future dictatorship.

How about buying Bibles? They may not be banned but in some countries the authorities could be interested in those buying them, especially in editions for children/young people and in local languages.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by 45rpm

I still don't see what spending the ordinary Jo(e) would wish to keep secret from the authorities.

Perhaps you can give me one example of something you buy that would cause you a problem if the government found out. It's the same question whether we live in a democracy or future dictatorship.

I wonder how Europe gets on with gender and cash?

As you all know, many/most European languages embody gender (not sex) in their vocabulary. For example, the Euro in German is neuter in gender.

In Polish, the Zloty is masculine but cash, gotowa, is feminine..

Scope for the woke brigade to get in on the act? And definitely scope for going cashless in Poland.

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

I wonder how Europe gets on with gender and cash?

As you all know, many/most European languages embody gender (not sex) in their vocabulary. For example, the Euro in German is neuter in gender.

In Polish, the Zloty is masculine but cash, gotowa, is feminine..

Scope for the woke brigade to get in on the act? And definitely scope for going cashless in Poland.

Don't get started on French!

Originally Posted by tweetiepooh

How about buying Bibles? They may not be banned but in some countries the authorities could be interested in those buying them, especially in editions for children/young people and in local languages.

Again ... risk assessment takes account not just of the worst that could happen, but also its likelihood. if we got to the stage where our government was in to oppressively monitoring religious affiliation, there would be a whole lot of other things to worry about than whether you could still pay for a Bible with a £10 note.

I think you've been reading a bit too much Frank Peretti.

[tweetiepooh]

My Dad worked on big banking projects BACS and then Chip and Pin for VISA and his view was always that these things are good but having the option of cash does prevent or greatly reduce the chances of preventing trade.


Revelation 13:16–18 (ESV): 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.


I believe that this will happen, I don't know what "the mark" will be but removing cash would make the implementation of the above much more possible.

Originally Posted by tweetiepooh

My Dad worked on big banking projects BACS and then Chip and Pin for VISA and his view was always that these things are good but having the option of cash does prevent or greatly reduce the chances of preventing trade.


Revelation 13:16–18 (ESV): 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.


I believe that this will happen, I don't know what "the mark" will be but removing cash would make the implementation of the above much more possible.

Yeah .... back in my youth group days we all thought it would be barcode tattoos, and we were amazed and awestruck because (apparently) the start/midpoint/end markers on a barcode are all a number 6 ... 666 ... geddit ...

Anyhow, what you're proposing is a a big, big stretch, based on a theologically pre-millennial view of history. It's worth remembering that pre-millennialism was an alien concept in Christian thought until the mid 19th century. For most of church history Revelation has *not* been seen as a warning of seven years of etc etc etc and we ought not to be persuaded by that view just because a few glitzy American authors have filled the Christian fiction shelves with it.

Pre-Millennialism is a dangerous concept because it tends to lead to Christians treating the world as a basket case to be retreated from, and thereby blunts the vital message of Jesus' teaching in places like the Sermon on the Mount, where engagement, rather than resignation and retreat, is clearly what he has in mind.

Which takes us both thoroughly off-topic and somehow into the sort of territory that was a constant sub-plot on this forum back in its early days. I should add that back in those days I was as fervently pre-millennial as the rest of them. The difference is I'm coming to the end of a theology degree and I'm about to enter full-time ministry, so I've had the luxurious blessing of nearly four years to study this sort of thing in depth. Historical context is a great thing in theology.

[45rpm]

Originally Posted by tweetiepooh

This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

All the numbers of the roulette wheel add up to 666.

[tweetiepooh]

Well I am an amillenial, post tribulationalist so believe that we will become more and more polarised as time progresses. That would mean that believers would go through the times mentioned in Revelation including this "mark of the beast" chapter.


It the pre-trib brigade that's very popular in the west and in the US especially that say the Christian all vanish and then these hard times come in for those "Left Behind". I was reading the parable of the wheat and weeds and it's the weeds that get "taken" for destruction not the wheat so if that links to the vanishings mentioned by Jesus it puts a new spin on the idea of the Rapture.






(This is getting a tad off topic isn't it!?)

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by Chris

Again ... risk assessment takes account not just of the worst that could happen, but also its likelihood. if we got to the stage where our government was in to oppressively monitoring religious affiliation, there would be a whole lot of other things to worry about than whether you could still pay for a Bible with a £10 note.

I think you've been reading a bit too much Frank Peretti.

I'd rather buy a couple of pints instead of buying rubbish.

No need to be rude