
Building More Connected and Inclusive Cities - iafrikan
https://www.iafrikan.com/2017/10/12/building-more-connected-and-inclusive-cities/
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Oxitendwe
>Unfortunately, what still causes a significant amount of friction in our
cities and prevents inclusive growth is the dominance of cash.

What on earth does cash have to do with societal friction? I find it very
eerie and unsettling, how for some years now I've seen numerous articles and
thinkpieces written that advocate for removing cash altogether and replace it
with some kind of centralized banking system. The dynamics of power for these
systems are always about exactly as terrible as you'd expect - completely
centralized, where the bank takes care of your money and you may only spend it
in places they will let you spend it. Just one example of why this is a
terrible idea - in 2010, MasterCard (the very company mentioned in the
article) suspended donations to WikiLeaks. All value judgements about
WikiLeaks aside, it's a pretty disturbing precedent, that you may only give
your own money to people who payment processors allow you to. I can only
imagine we'd see much more of that in a "cashless" society where all of your
money is owned by other people.

