PayPal Spaces Out With Paypal Galactic 60
sl4shd0rk writes "Presuming aliens won't have terrible Ebay experiences, PayPal means to position themselves to take on payments in the cosmos: 'With our fifteen years of experience in global online payments, PayPal has a unique perspective to speak to the possibilities of an interplanetary economy.' Apparently, Paypal is taking up bedmates with Virgin Galatic along with Buzz Aldrin and the SETI Institute to allow you to 'explore the possibilities of travel' as well as tourism and commerce."
Advanced civilizations may move beyond money (Score:4, Insightful)
via Gift economies, Star Trek subsistence via 3D printing, democratic participatory planning, and more things perhaps. See also Ian Banks' Culture series, and Marshall Brain's Manna, and James P. Hogan's Voyage from Yesteryear. Still, I guess some might move towards that via a "basic income",
Re: (Score:3)
And people make fun of Christians for believing in prophecy?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
via Gift economies, Star Trek subsistence via 3D printing, democratic participatory planning, and more things perhaps.
Where's the superior system over money? Money is in wide use because it expedites trade of all sorts. Even a crazily inflating currency can still do that, though you have to spend it fast. These other things have substantial trade issues.
Re: (Score:2)
Why would you need money to trade for most things if you had a Star Trek replicator that could print out Mr. Fusion devices or solar panels or robot miners? Why would you need money to trade for software if, like with Debian GNU/Linux, production was planned by exchange of emails and IRC messages? Or why would you need money in a Native American Potlach gift economy?
By the way, on the intentional destruction of Potlach in America:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potlatch [wikipedia.org]
"At potlatch gatherings, a family or her
Re: (Score:2)
Nah. banking laws on Aldebaran are notoriously lax compared to those of the rest of the Western Spiral arm.
Re: (Score:1)
Ha! I first read your post as starting out "via Git economies, ..."
Try putting your comment in the body instead... (Score:2)
Is it April 1st again?
On the contrary, *every* day of the year is a potential day for contrived attention-grabbing publicity stunts.
Good luck (Score:1)
I hope they don't get their account limited in mid flight... that would make returning to home planet quite difficult since getting your account out of limited mode is near impossible.
Re: (Score:2)
They might make an exception... Given how much they screw you over per transaction (especially with the exchange rate), doing so on a $70M space-tourist invoice sure would net them a neat bundle.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
"He'lloo. Mi na'ame izzz Brian. Havv yyeww *click click* t'reied t'urning it ovv ant b'ack on a'gain?"
Re: (Score:2)
I believe light years is a measure of distance not time.
Perhaps you meant parsecs?
Re: (Score:3)
I saw what you did there. In fact, I saw it first.
Great ... (Score:2)
This will mean even more spam from them. They already relentlessly spam me about some approval for pay later (i.e. my charges are a loan), next they'll be bugging me about how and where I can spend my SpaceBucks (and borrow from them, in the form of a loan).
Just a matter of time... (Score:5, Funny)
How long before advanced aliens experience Paypal's "customer service" and decide to annihilate us all? It'd be hard to blame them.
Re: (Score:2)
...annihilate us all
Before that happens we can dispatch Jeff Goldblum with a Sony CD to install a rootkit in their mothership. If that fails, we can have AT&T add executive bonus recovery charges to their wireless bills so they can't afford dark matter pellets to power their planet killer. Corporate excess saves humanity!
Re: (Score:2)
"How long before advanced aliens experience Paypal's "customer service" and decide to annihilate us all?"
Hahaha! It would indeed be hard to blame them.
In all honesty, this just seems to me like an excuse of a way to get their paws on really big-ticket payments.
Re: (Score:2)
It's about time (Score:5, Funny)
How will it work? (Score:5, Funny)
This raises more question than it answers. If I sell a Superman Collectible action figure on eBay to someone on Exoplanet Kepler-74 b [findthedata.org], will I earn any interest on the money during the 4300 years it will take for his payment to reach me? Will Paypal freeze the funds for the 4300+ years it will take for me to ship it to him (it could even be a few days longer if I don't use express shipping). What kind of transaction fees will there be for interstellar payments?
These are the questions I want to see answered before I get excited about this... this has the potential to really open up the interstellar market since securing payment has been the biggest stumbling block.
Re:How will it work? (Score:5, Informative)
Ha! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
It takes paypal nearly two weeks to transfer money from a bank account in canada to my paypal account, sometimes three weeks. If they think they'll suddenly do better in space...
Well, they're obviously envisioning a future in which space is populated by humans. Unlike Canada...
....until you violate the ToS (Score:2)
Bitcoins in space (Score:1)
Using bitcoins in this kind of situation would work fine. The high latency to well connected nodes means you might need to wait a bit longer for verification to avoid double spend attacks, but there is no surprise there. There is no getting around the problem of someone trying to spend the same digital currency in 1 places at the same time other than waiting a bit.
They're here ... (Score:2)
Energy As Currency (Score:1)
Galatic Monetary Units (Score:2)
In fact there are three freely convertible currencies in the Galaxy, but none of them count. The Altairian Dollar has recently collapsed, the Flainian Pobble Bead is only exchangeable for other Flainian Pobble Beads, and the Triganic Pu has its own very special problems. Its exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu is simple enough, but since a Ningi is a triangular rubber coin six thousand eight hundred miles along each side, no one has ever collected enough to own one Pu. Ningis are not negotiable currency, because the Galactibanks refuse to deal in fiddling small change. From this basic premise it is very simple to prove that the Galactibanks are also the product of a deranged imagination.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Re: (Score:2)
the Flainian Pobble Bead is only exchangeable for other Flainian Pobble Beads
Just like the Dollar after Nixon "forgot" the Bretton Woods agreement, and, in its wake all the other currencies based on the gold value of the Dollar.
Nothing adds class like a live Twitter feed (Score:2)
Highlights from the bottom of the PayPal Galactic page:
@Stratocumulus: RT @lbillin: #paypalgalactic Incur debt in space! Paypal wants to help http://t.co/cqVsVyCy0B [t.co]
@JodyYeoh: I visited space and all I got was a probe. #PayPalGalactic
Creds (Score:1)
Used Disentegrator L@@K RARE! (Score:2)
Used only once on Omicron Persie 8, Reactor still holds 80% charge, rarely tries to go critical. Scratches from holster on the sides.
AS-IS only ships to verified Paypal planets.
I don't understand (Score:3)
Space-based project rule of thumb (Score:2)
"Apparently, Paypal is taking up bedmates with Virgin Galatic along with Buzz Aldrin and the SETI Institute"
Adam's Rule of Thumb for judging space based projects: "If it's backed by Neil Armstrong it's probably an important and desirable project. If it's backed by Buzz Aldrin it's probably garbage."