Completely abolishing cash may lead to unpredictable consequences
If cash is abolished, corruption, drug trafficking and other illegal activities will no longer be possible, and we will step into a beautiful new world. It seems that everyone should look forward to this bright future arriving as soon as possible. But as always, if there's a possibility of making a mistake, it will happen.
We are moving towards a world where cash disappears completely.
The idea of abolishing cash seems extremely attractive.
A complete shift to digital payments would make all financial activities transparent - no more envelopes rustling between people, every transaction would be traceable and verifiable.
This would greatly reduce the space for criminals. Indeed, they will try to find new ways to evade regulation, but large suitcases full of cash found in the homes of corrupt individuals would lose all meaning; bribes that were once smoothly transferred via envelopes would no longer be possible. Every person's financial activity would be highly transparent before the state, making it extremely difficult to obtain (let alone consume) illegal income.
With just a few clicks of the mouse, one can check whether someone in an easily corruptible position is honest or not.
Drug lords, even if they grit their teeth, would have to engage in some socially beneficial work; terrorists, unable to hide their funding sources from the authorities anymore, would turn into law-abiding vegetable sellers - even tax evasion would be impossible, because technically it would no longer be possible.
Certainly, some crimes will still exist, such as unpleasant little incidents like brawls after drinking. But in areas involving money - corruption, drug trafficking, arms dealing, etc. - all illegal activities would disappear, and we would step into a beautiful new world, a safer and more honest world never seen in human history.
It seems that everyone should look forward to this bright future arriving as soon as possible.
But in this fallen world, if there's a possibility of making a mistake, it will happen.
The power to track (and control) all people's income and expenses will transform into an unprecedented great power. The path of human history is complex and winding. When we build a comprehensive monitoring mechanism, we cannot predict who will control it at the next turning point. Some things are beyond our foresight. A Jewish-German outstanding chemist named Franz Gebauer initially intended to use the notorious "Zyklon B" to exterminate rats. He could never have imagined that the Nazis would quickly use his invention to kill millions of Jews - including his relatives.
It is also hard to predict how anyone might use the absolute power created by the complete disappearance of cash.
This absolute power itself is dangerous - even if it is not in the hands of those who intend to do evil. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," as Chernomyrdin once expressed the same idea succinctly: "Intending to do better, but ending up as usual (a mess)."
People may believe they hold a reliable solution to make humanity (or at least their own country) happy, and thus throw themselves wholeheartedly and enthusiastically into it, ultimately causing a disaster they themselves would never want to see.
We have a clear example before us - the communist experiment. It was a carefully planned grand attempt to establish a society without traditional "capitalist ills", a world without competition, crime, fraud, exploitation and war. However, this extremely costly attempt ultimately ended in failure.
Unconstrained power causes great harm when in the hands of wicked people; unfortunately, it may cause even greater disasters when in the hands of idealists - these idealists truly hope to create a better world, driven by utopian visions of goodness and order.
When people try to make a utopia a reality, it often turns into a nightmare.
There is a striking scene described in the Book of Revelation: "And he [the beast] caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and enslaved, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark of the beast, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name" (Revelation 13:16-17).
In the ancient world where cash was the only means of payment, such a scene was unimaginable. Even the Roman emperor (who, in the eyes of the prophet John, may have been the prototype of the Antichrist), despite having supreme power, could not track the flow of each coin.
Completely abolishing cash and fully transitioning to electronic currency would create a system that makes such comprehensive surveillance possible. Before establishing such a system, we should deeply think: ultimately, who will control this system?
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7553185512564228650/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author. Please express your opinion by clicking the [Up/Down] buttons below.