The importance of cash in a technological society
Rapid moves toward cashless payments are praised for cutting business costs and boosting convenience, but many worry about fragility, surveillance, and financial exclusion when all transactions run through banks and card networks. Commenters point to real outages, cyberattacks, and government or corporate account freezes as examples of how digital money can fail or be weaponized, arguing that physical cash remains vital as a resilient, private fallback. Others counter that cash handling is expensive, fraud-prone, and already marginal in some countries, suggesting stricter data protections and lower fees—rather than preserving cash—are the better way to mitigate risks.
Resilience and System Outages
- Several comments highlight real incidents where digital payments failed (e.g., Swedish supermarket and card network outages, cyberattacks abroad affecting local chains).
- Critics of full cashlessness stress that even a few days without access to food or payments, especially in winter or rural areas, is serious.
- Others argue that going without food for 3 days is physiologically harmless for healthy adults, prompting pushback referencing children, diabetics, hard physical work, and “no joke” vs “life-threatening” distinctions.
- Some propose redundant digital systems and government‑run rails, but others note incentives favor centralization and outsourcing.
Freedom, Surveillance, and State/Corporate Power
- Many see cashless systems as enabling granular tracking, profiling, and political control (e.g., freezing protestors’ accounts, “consumer scores,” bank blacklists).
- Counter‑arguments: governments can already track via the internet; digital payments are mainly adopted because they’re cheaper, faster, and convenient.
- Disagreement over whether the cashless trend is organic (cost-driven) or actively engineered by states and banks for tax enforcement and control.
Costs, Convenience, and Business Incentives
- Businesses find handling both cash and cards costly; some go card‑only, especially in high‑volume urban settings.
- Others point out card fees, reluctance to accept high‑denomination notes, and cash drawer constraints.
- Users note coins and small change as a major annoyance; various technical “smart cash” ideas are floated.
Alternatives to Cash and “Barter”
- Commenters dispute the historical prevalence of barter; some cite anthropological work arguing debt and social credit preceded widespread barter.
- In a no‑cash future, people expect digital P2P tools, local forums, or informal credit systems, not pure barter.
- Examples of informal “currencies” (cigarettes, detergent) in grey/failed-state contexts are discussed, with caveats about counterfeits.
Credit Cards, Debt, and Financial Inclusion
- Strong advocacy for credit cards: rewards, fraud protection, credit history, redundancy when accounts freeze.
- Equally strong pushback from those burned by debt, calling cards “evil,” preferring debit and cash even at financial cost.
- Some emphasize that using cash is also a political act to keep it accepted for marginalized groups locked out of banking.