I am now a regular contributor to bitcoin.com; here is one of my first articles for them.
In 1988 the New York Times reported that an advanced technological threat was facing schools across the United States. What was this existential threat? Beepers (i.e., electronic pagers). School officials were dismayed by students’ use of beepers because, at the time, they were primarily used by drug dealers. One official stated, “I can think of no reason outside of special medical emergencies for students to carry beepers.”
Of course, pagers were later used by many people other than drug dealers – doctors, systems administrators, even school officials – although eventually they were replaced by cell phones. But many officials in 1988 were unable to see any legitimate use of this new technology, so they reacted as officials from time immemorial have reacted when threatened: they called for a ban. We are seeing a similar pattern emerge today with Bitcoin.
