SATURDAY, APR 13, 2013

13 GLOBAL
ACROSS BOUNDARIES

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who accused Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for Facebook, have gone on to amass one of the largest portfolios of bitcoin

TWINS RULE IN Not so close, DIGITAL MONEY and personal

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chops, building a system that could live on borrowed computer space around the world. It was determined that only a finite number of bitcoins could be created the count is currently around 11 million. New coins are mined by programmers who solve mathematic riddles and can sell their coins on upstart exchanges. For now, there are few places where bitcoins can be used. One marketplace is an online bazaar, Silk Road, where narcotics are reportedly the main wares for sale. But bitcoin believers imagine a future where the ecash can be used at their local Starbucks. The Winklevosses have paid in bitcoin for the services of a Ukrainian computer programmer who has worked on their website. We have elected to put our money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error, Tyler Winklevoss said. This is not the brothers first gamble on an unproved technology. As students at Harvard, the twins founded a social networking site, ConnectU, and enlisted their schoolmate, Mark Zuckerberg, to help them build the company. After Zuckerberg went off to start Facebook, the brothers sued him, accusing him of stealing their idea a story that was dramatised in the movie The Social Network. The case was settled with the brothers being given $20 million in cash and Facebook shares that are now worth more than $200 million. They have parlayed that fortune into Winklevoss Capital. Their first two investments Pandey-ji may not have the eloquence and istory, someone said, should be charisma of Obama-ji, but from media acherstory too. Sexism and gender counts, the women concerned were not bias began at the birth of human standing up and taking a bow. civilisation, from before the time Then there is the difference in the fallout. chroniclers manipulated language and began referring to mankind. Gods were typi- Despite the broad acceptance that Obama cally imagined to be male in most religions. who has a spotless marital record and gets high marks for treating women respectfully Even in polytheistic religions, male deities did not intend to be sexist, pressure from invariably had the prominent, dominant role; goddesses were accommodated. But in the gender police, political correctness lobby, and his own conscience, led him to phoning monotheistic religions, god was a He. Kamala Harris the next day to apologise. It One can understand men taking over was an immensely graceful move that behunter-gatherer duties while women hanspoke introspection and proof that his selfdled nurturing and nourishing, but the deft, critical faculties were alive and ticking (and, bloodless coup that men staged to grab said someone, Michelle Obama was kicking). priestly duties was a masterstroke, giving It will also make his daughters proud. them the power to shape narrative and disNo such introspection is evident in the desi course for all times. This is where men could invent any old b.s. (usually received on top of discourse. If anything, our pols have become more brazen in their approach to women as a mountain with no witnesses, and certainly no women around). They wrote the laws and evident in the remarks during the anti-rape legislation, from they invented the Sharad Yadavs stories. ThereWho among us fore, He and Hishave not followed tory, although etgirls? and You are ymologically, the also beautiful, to a word history female journalist, comes from to Vayalar Ravis Greek historia, coarse, lecherous meaning inquiry, repartee to another knowledge woman reporter. FOOT IN MOUTH: Both UP minister Raja Ram acquired by Pandey and Obama complimented women Some may feel investigation. hyper-feminist Modern mans colleagues, kicking up a controversy PC police are spirit of inquiry making too much of stray comments and has not really extended to acquiring any etiquette gendarmes, and should quit begreat knowledge about what women want, ing supersensitive and take the complihow they would like to be treated, and why ments in their stride. If Kamala Harris said things are changing rapidly. This extends to Obama was the handsomest president, societies across the world. How else can you would that have amounted to sexism? explain US president Barack Obama making Ah! And there precisely is the catch. Womthe same mistake as the Uttar Pradesh minen seldom make personal references to mens ister for cottage industry, Raja Ram Pandey? Some weeks back, Pandey reportedly praised look (maybe because there isnt much to those looks). Whereas even women refer to other the the good looks of K Dhanalaxmi, district looks of other women looks in public. Is this magistrate of Sultanpur, comparing it fabecause female beauty has more resonance vourably with the beauty of her predecessor, than male good looks? In which case, Adonis also a female. Last week, President Obama may have something to say about this. similarly raved about the good looks of CaliIn a recent study fornias attorney generaimed at examining the al Kamala Harris. impact of media referBoth episodes led to ences to the appearance plenty of heated comCHIDANAND of female candidates on mentary so let us examRAJGHATTA their electoral prospect, ine them. Obviously, Musings on life, politics and participants read and there are differences. In economics from Obamas case, he knew TOIs Washington heard about two female Harris personally and correspondent candidates, Jane Smith and Dan Jones, with they were good friends. plenty of references to their personal appearThe remarks were in the form of good-natured ance. In one report, Smith was described as banter, and the recipient herself did not seem fit and attractive and looks even younger to mind. Besides, Obama prefaced the remark than her age and smartly turned out in a with laudatory references to her professional work, saying "she is brilliant and she is dedicat- ruffled jacket, pencil skirt, and fashionable high heels." In another story, Smith was reed and she is tough, and she is exactly what ported as unfortunately sporting a heavy layyou'd want in anybody who is administering the law, and making sure that everybody is get- er of foundation and powder that had settled into her forehead lines, creating an unflatterting a fair shake," before adding, almost as an ing look for an otherwise pretty woman, along aside, "She also happens to be, by far, the best with her famous fake, tacky nails. There were looking attorney general in the country." no such physical descriptions of Dan Jones. In From accounts in the media, Pandey-ji stories where Smith was described negatively, was reportedly lacking in such finesse, alher poll numbers tanked. What the survey though our press is not famous for capturing concluded was that including physical and nuances either. He is said to have first raved about the DMs good looks, then compounded personal descriptions diminished the seriousness of the womens candidacy. his folly by comparing it with the beauty of Incidentally, all the descriptions were her predecessor, and added, perhaps as an afterthought, that she is also a good administra- taken from real-life coverage of female candidates who stood for elections. tor. Well may someone argue that the good

NATHANIEL POPPER AND PETER LATTMAN

he Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler Olympic rowers, nemeses of Mark Zuckerberg are laying claim to a new title: bitcoin moguls. The Winklevii, as they are known, have amassed since last summer what appears to be one of the single largest portfolios of the digital money, whose wild gyrations have Silicon Valley and Wall Street talking. The twins, the first prominent figures in the largely anonymous bitcoin world to publicly disclose a big stake, say they own nearly $11 million worth. Or at least $11 million as of Thursday morning when trading was temporarily suspended after the latest and largest flash crash left a single bitcoin worth about $120 and the whole market worth $1.3 billion. At one point, the price had plummeted 60 per cent. To sceptics, the frenzy over the bitcoin network created by anonymous programmers in 2009 looks more like the mania for

Dutch tulip bulbs in the 1600s than the beginnings of an actual currency. To say highly speculative would be the understatement of the century, said Steve Hanke, a professor specialising in alternative currencies at Johns Hopkins University. Whatever else it is, bitcoin has become the financial phenomenon of the moment. In addition to the identical twins, Silicon Valley investment firms, while not holding bitcoins, are starting to show interest in the technology. On Thursday, a group of venture capitalists, including Andreessen Horowitz, announced that they were financing a bitcoinrelated company, OpenCoin. The Winklevosses say this weeks tumult is just growing pains for a digital currency that they believe will become a sort of gold for the technorati. People say its a Ponzi scheme, its a bubble, said Cameron Winklevoss. People really dont want to take it seriously. At some point that narrative will shift to virtual currencies are here to stay. Were in the early days. While little is known about the creator of bitcoin, or if it even was a single person, the work involved serious programming

Whatever else it is, bitcoin has become the financial phenomenon of the moment. In addition to the identical twins, Silicon Valley investment firms, while not holding bitcoins, are starting to show interest in the technology
were in Hukkster, a start-up shopping website and SumZero, an online community for professional money managers. The brothers began dabbling in bitcoin last summer when the dollar value of a single coin was still in the single digits. To keep their holdings secure from hackers, they have taken the complex codes that represent their holdings off networked computers and saved them on small flash drives, putting the drives, in turn, in safe deposit boxes at banks in three different cities. Its hard to verify how the Winklevoss holdings compare with other bitcoin players, given the anonymity of accounts, and the twins say they believe that some early users of the system probably have holdings that are at least as large. A Maltese company, Exante, started a hedge fund that the company says has bought up about 82,000 bitcoins or about $10 million as of Thursday with money from wealthy investors. NYT NEWS SERVICE

RUMINATIONS

A JESUIT IN THE VINEYARD

Ignatian spirituality is part of Pope Francis's religious DNA. What does this mean for an order of priests described as a band of flaming revolutionaries?
RUDOLF C HEREDIA
things and all things in God, for the more universal good, guided by discerning love (charitas discrete) and rational obedience (obsequium rationabile). Whether it was the Chinese Rites initiated by Mateo Ricci or the Malabar Rites introduced by Robert de Nobil, or the Paraguay Reductions for the indigenous Amerindians (dramatised in the British film, The Mission), bold Jesuit innovations have been controversial in ecclesiastical circles. Their special vow of obedience to the pope in regard to mission was considered disloyalty by national leaders, demanding Church subordination to their State. Eventually, Clement XIV was forced to suppress the Jesuits in 1773. In aftermath of post-Napoleonic Europe, Pius VII restored the Society in 1814. The Jesuits were once again at the frontiers of the Church in obedience to the pope on new ventures in faraway places, at first more cautiously; but after the Second Vatican Council, more daringly in cutting-edge theology, liturgical movements, dialogue across Christian denominations and religious traditions; and after their 32nd General Congregation, 1974-75, call to the service of faith and the promotion of justice, very courageously in social involvements inspired by liberation theology and its option for the poor. This precipitated a churning, a manthan, of the status quo in both Church and society. After a cardiac stroke inca-

n their 450th anniversary, a Jesuit historian, John Padberg, wrote: "To some they have been a suspect band of innovators (in todays version a group of flaming revolutionaries); to others a welcome group of religious well aware of the world and the Church; to yet others a bulwark of a retrograde papacy or, to those with a martial streak, militant soldiers of Christ, to many quite frankly a puzzlement " (The Tablet, September 22, 1990) The Jesuits see themselves as friends in the Lord and companions on mission inspired by their founder St Ignatius of Loyolas Spiritual Exercises and The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. Jesuits seek to live the three margas karma, jnana, bhakti in one comprehensive seva marga; men of action, learning and prayer, seeking God in all

LONG WAIT: Five centuries after the religious order was established, there is finally a Jesuit pope

pacitated Father General Arrupe, John Paul II imposed his delegate on the order, 1981-1983, suspending its normal administration. Now, three decades after that suspension, two centuries after their restoration, and five after its foundation, the cardinal electors have given the Church its first Jesuit pope. After 52 years as a Jesuit surely Ignatian spirituality is embedded in Jorge Mario Bergoglios religious DNA. On March 15, the phone rang at the Jesuit curia: This is Pope Francis. May I speak to Father General? After a stunned silence: This is not a joke. I am Pope Francis. Who are you? Pope Francis had to calm a stuttering Brother Andrea, the receptionist, before he was put though to Brother Wobeto, the Generals personal secretary, who managed: Holy Father, we are praying much for you. Praying for what? asked the pope.

To go ahead or to go back? Finally, a disoriented Father Adolfo Nicols came on the line calling him: Pope, Your Holiness, Monsignor ....The pope thanked him for his personal letter of congratulations and support and wanted to meet soon. Was the pope anticipating the traditional meeting of the Superior General of the Jesuits with a newly elected pope to renew the vow of obedience in the name of the whole order? But before that meeting, on March 17, Father General went at the personal invitation of the Pope Francis to meet him at Santa Marta House, which housed the cardinal electors. Pope Francis greeted him at the entrance with a Jesuit embrace and insisted on being addressed with the familiar tu, not the formal "Holiness" or "Holy Father". Father Generals report is movingly revealing. I quote in full: "I offered him all our Jesuit resources ... He showed gratitude for this and at the invitation to visit us for lunch at the Curia he said he would oblige. There was full commonality of feeling on several issues that we discussed and I remained with the conviction that we will work very well together for the service of the Church in the name of the Gospel. There was calm, humour and mutual understanding about past, present and future. I left the place with the conviction that it will be worth cooperating fully with Him in the Vineyard of the Lord. At the end he helped me with my coat and accompanied me to the door ... A Jesuit embrace, again, is a good way to meet and send off a friend." These two incidents help lift the veil on what the Jesuit connection with a Jesuit pope might presage for an international religious order in a globalised Church.