All-electronic money would save us from supporting things we oppose. [View all]

[gulliver]

If we had all-electronic money we could give an electronic serial number to every "dollar unit." Then every single transaction could be forced through a government clearinghouse network by using digital signatures to prevent any other form of transfer. The clearinghouse could track the history of every single dollar.

It would be great, because you could ask for a report that would show if any of the dollars you spend end up funding abortions, or paying for criminal activity, or going to someone you don't like for whatever reason. Then you could simply refuse to spend your hard-earned dollars anywhere where those dollars might somehow end up going somewhere you don't like. I mean, if it's your money, you should have the right to know where it is being spent downstream from you.

You could even set preferences on your money so that it could never ever be spent again on anything you don't approve of. Think how great that would be for those religions whose holy books (apparently) specifically say not only what you can buy, but what the people you buy from can buy.

We should do this!