[Bitcoin-development] "bits": Unit of account

Sun May 4 06:15:55 UTC 2014

Bit by bit, it's become clear that it's a bit much to worry even a
little bit that overloading the word "bit" would be every bit as bad
as a two bit horse with the bit between it's teeth that bit the hand
that feeds it, or a drill bit broken to bits after just a bit of use.

Aaron

There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole
government working for you -- Will Rodgers

On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 10:18 PM, Drak <drak at zikula.org> wrote:
> +1
>
> On 4 May 2014 02:06, "Chris Pacia" <ctpacia at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Absent a concerted effort to move to something else other than 'bits', I
>> would be willing to bet the nomenclature moves in that direction anyway.
>> 'Bits' is just a shorten word for 'millibits' (or microbits, if you
>> will). It's easier to say and my guess is people would tend to use it
>> naturally own their own. Kind of like 'bucks' for dollars.
>>
>> The other synergies are:
>> -bit is part of the word Bitcoin. The currency unit bit is part of a
>> whole bitcoin.
>> -bit symbolically represents the tech nature of the bitcoin.
>> -bit used to be a unit of money way back when. This largely reclaims it.
>> -when used as money bit when in references to a precession metal coin.
>> The name 'bitcoin' references that as well as the mimicking of the gold
>> standard in the protocol rules.
>>
>> All around I don't think there is a better fit. I doubt people will get
>> confused by it. The context it's used in will distinguish it from other
>> uses of the word.
>>
>> On 05/03/2014 12:27 PM, Mike Caldwell wrote:
>> > I agree with the sentiment that most people don't understand either
>> > computer science or Bitcoin.  The goal of getting people to understand
>> > enough about Bitcoin to use it is achievable and a goal that is "in scope"
>> > of our efforts. Getting them to understand computer science at large at the
>> > same time, less so.
>> >
>> > The fact that people routinely confuse RAM and hard drive sizes has much
>> > to do with the fact that the average lay person has little need to
>> > prioritize this as something to keep in the forefront.  They don't get
>> > "horribly" confused, they just simply don't get worked up over what looks to
>> > them like a rounding error, much to the dismay of anyone who believes that
>> > everyone should be an expert at computer science.  The average joe may
>> > assess (accurately from his perspective) that the distinction isn't
>> > important enough to merit significant mental resources and he is justified
>> > in not expending them that way even if someone else thinks he should.
>> >
>> > Poor understanding is precisely what a proper effort to name this would
>> > be to avoid.  It is not frill or aesthetics, it is a planned targeting of
>> > language to achieve the clearest communication to the widest possible target
>> > audience using the language most likely to be understood by them in light of
>> > our objectives.  It's marketing.
>> >
>> > Mike
>> >
>> > Sent from my iPhone
>> >
>> >> On May 3, 2014, at 9:49 AM, "Christophe Biocca"
>> >> <christophe.biocca at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Context as a disambiguator works fine when the interlocutors
>> >> understand the topics they're talking about.
>> >> Not a day goes by without me seeing "neurotypical people" get horribly
>> >> confused between RAM and Hard Drive sizes, because they share the same
>> >> units (not that that can be helped, as the units are supposed to be
>> >> the same, base 1000 vs 1024 notwithstanding).
>> >>
>> >> Bit (as a unit) is already really confusing for anyone who doesn't
>> >> deal with it on a regular basis. I think people who don't see an issue
>> >> are making an assumption based on their own lack of confusion. We
>> >> understand computer science AND Bitcoin. Most people have zero
>> >> understanding of either.
>> >>
>> >> Bitcoin already has a ton of issues with terrible names for things:
>> >>
>> >> - Mining (for transaction validation).
>> >> - Addresses (which are meant to be one-time use, and don't even really
>> >> exist at the network level).
>> >> - Wallets (which don't hold your bitcoins, can be copied, and all
>> >> backups can be stolen from equally).
>> >>
>> >> I end up having to make the distinctions obvious every time I explain
>> >> Bitcoin to someone new to it. There's an acceptable tradeoff here,
>> >> because there were arguably no better words to assign to these
>> >> concepts (although I'd argue mining is a really awful metaphor, and is
>> >> the one that prompts the most questions from people). Then add to the
>> >> pile a bunch of third parties naming themselves after parts of the
>> >> protocol (Coinbase,Blockchain.info). Not blaming them for it, but I've
>> >> definitiely seen average people get confused between "the blockchain"
>> >> and "blockchain.info" (not so much Coinbase, because that name doesn't
>> >> come up in beginner explanations).
>> >>
>> >> It seems downright masochistic to add
>> >> yet-another-word-that-doesn't-mean-what-you-think-it-means to the pile
>> >> for no reason other than aesthetics. Are we actively trying to confuse
>> >> people?
>> >
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