In the old days currencies had to have something behind them to give them implicit value. Something you could trade them for to demonstrate their worth. They had to be 'backed.' The Bugsy is backed by human misery. The one thing you can buy with a Bugsy that you can't simply ask Prime Intellect for is the suffering of another bona fide human being. Not a facsimile or a simulation or a recording, but a real live person who feels as you feel.