Great piece! And this sounds like a great book. I'm adding it to the list!
I've only read The Bitcoin Standard and it was enough to garner my support for Bitcoin.
Of course I got into it as a store of value, but also (and perhaps mostly) for the ethos. Bought my first satoshis in 2019 (after first hearing about it in 2012) and haven't stopped stackin'!
The quality of thinkers in the bitcoin community, like Robert Breedlove, is impressive. Their ideas speak to my sovereign heart and soul when they philosophize about bitcoin in a fashion similar to what you did here.
As we all know, or in the very least sense, everything is connected. The parallel drawn between the deflationary/inflationary aspects of money and the virtues of the society that trades it is a fascinating one: when your money loses value over time, so too does peace, ingenuity, and integrity erode along with it. When your money increases in value over time, so too does the wealth, creativity and prosperity.
But recall that "value" is a subjective and all too human variable, subject to the whims of emotion and reason. And money value is assessed relative to its past values vs. expections of future changes (aside from any personal value assessment you may make about buying some special something -- e.g., a Porsche Boxster!!). Ideally the quantity of money in circulation exactly matches the amount needed to address boom and bust cycles in the overall economy -- a very tough thing to manage, it seems. Then it remains "mostly" constant in value relative to some basket of "things" we use to gage such things.
In other words, the wealth, creativity and prosperity can and should grow, but the value of money should remain constant as more money is created and added for users to "lubricate" their repective transactions. So money decreases in value due to poor management, as greed and desiring something for nothing takes over from more responsible actions.
The supply doesn’t need to change. There’s no need for elasticity in the supply. With a fixed and known supply, The purchasing power of the money becomes a proxy for the productivity of the society which uses it. Create / produce more, then the same amount of money buys more. Create / produce less, and the same amount of money buys less. At a large scale (in aggregate) this would be quite stable. Not to different to how gold acted as a backbone for civilisation. Only bitcoin has better properties
Yes, "value" sure is subjective! And requires our consent to agree to it. Considering, our money is now simply paper with ink on without gold backing, it's simply our shared belief that imbues it with value!
I am no expert in this arena- simply a student. I DO know that "boom/cycles" are unnatural effects of the imposition of a Keyenesian economics model. Personally, I'm more about Austrian economics as it lines up more with my ethics. I do believe it's the printing of more money that causes inflation, reducing scarcity and purchasing power.
I really enjoyed the book The Price of Tomorrow, by Jeff Booth. He's helped me to gain understanding of the bandaids we apply "kicking the can down the road" rather than fix the money at the core.
Well said Jacqueline. And thank you. I've long thought there is a reckoning coming for the dollar and fiat currency generally, but ultimately that could be a good thing, though very difficult. And it seems true, as our currency has aged, the creativity of civilization seems to have waned.
Yes! Saifedean writes about this in the Bitcoin Standard, the phenomenon referred to as 'time preference'. When humans are forced into 'scarcity-mode', all activity is based on a shortened view of the future and oriented around basic survival. Whereas when a safe and secure future is ensured through a possession of savings (something that holds or increases in value over time) they then have the leisure to invent and create, placing more value on beauty and genius.
It is curious. I am no expert, but I do know people love cash and coin, something tangible to hold on to. A lot of the economy is cash based. Bitcoin is dependent on an internet link, which will not be attractive or feasible for a lot of people. If they can materialize it somehow, people would embrace it.
I hear that. At the same time, people are already cashless in many places in the world. The biggest distinction between digital fiat and bitcoin then is about them being centralized vs decentralized.
I can honestly say I am not enjoying the fact that Blackrock and other big institutions are becoming increasingly entwined with BTC.
There are no guarantees, I know. And hopefully the majority of those who own it and operate their own nodes will help to keep it decentralized.
Who really knows? 🤷♀️ I just like anything these days that appears to be an 'exit and build' solution! 😂
Precisely. I’m going to be writing about time preference and fertility shortly. Can’t wait for you to read the book. Saidedean and I just recorded a podcast on it which will come out in the next few weeks so keep an eye (ear?) out for that!
As someone who is skeptical of cryptocurrency* unless and until the government accepts it for paying taxes and using it to buy military hardware, I do align with the desire of finding a way to create money that is not subject to the whims of politicians trying to buy votes. I just don't see how that is going to happen, given the history of past booms and busts. Of course there is the added fear that a totally digital economy that allows for social scoring, etc., is a prelude to tyranny.
I also believe that human morality is a combination of our evolved intrinsic inherited traits** and social/ cultural norms and mechanisms that seem to work for a given group under a given set of conditions. Since you seem to be someone who is able to think more deeply than most about such things, I would welcome any analysis you might make of how those genetic and cultural factors play into the set of virtues you are presenting herein.
For example: fear is a well founded emotion triggering fight or flight responses and thus aiding species survival. But is courage a socially added "martial something" that helps to override that fear when necessary, or is it perhaps mostly another emotional response to avoiding the shame and shunning of our social peers by succumbing to our fears vs. overcoming them? I.e., part of our being a very ultra social species?
*A high risk speculative "investment", where the status of your gain or loss is not measured in the quantity of BTC's you have or gained (and the increase in wealth in the economy that real money represents), but in the equivalent relative values in $ or Euros, etc., now vs. previosuly.
**such as reciprocity, empathy, theory of mind, etc.
I really recommend the book. Not because I want you to just “buy a copy” (feel free to pirate it) - but because I answer these questions in there in detail. I can promise it’s worth your time
Great piece! And this sounds like a great book. I'm adding it to the list!
I've only read The Bitcoin Standard and it was enough to garner my support for Bitcoin.
Of course I got into it as a store of value, but also (and perhaps mostly) for the ethos. Bought my first satoshis in 2019 (after first hearing about it in 2012) and haven't stopped stackin'!
The quality of thinkers in the bitcoin community, like Robert Breedlove, is impressive. Their ideas speak to my sovereign heart and soul when they philosophize about bitcoin in a fashion similar to what you did here.
As we all know, or in the very least sense, everything is connected. The parallel drawn between the deflationary/inflationary aspects of money and the virtues of the society that trades it is a fascinating one: when your money loses value over time, so too does peace, ingenuity, and integrity erode along with it. When your money increases in value over time, so too does the wealth, creativity and prosperity.
But recall that "value" is a subjective and all too human variable, subject to the whims of emotion and reason. And money value is assessed relative to its past values vs. expections of future changes (aside from any personal value assessment you may make about buying some special something -- e.g., a Porsche Boxster!!). Ideally the quantity of money in circulation exactly matches the amount needed to address boom and bust cycles in the overall economy -- a very tough thing to manage, it seems. Then it remains "mostly" constant in value relative to some basket of "things" we use to gage such things.
In other words, the wealth, creativity and prosperity can and should grow, but the value of money should remain constant as more money is created and added for users to "lubricate" their repective transactions. So money decreases in value due to poor management, as greed and desiring something for nothing takes over from more responsible actions.
[But you probably know all of this already :-) ]
The supply doesn’t need to change. There’s no need for elasticity in the supply. With a fixed and known supply, The purchasing power of the money becomes a proxy for the productivity of the society which uses it. Create / produce more, then the same amount of money buys more. Create / produce less, and the same amount of money buys less. At a large scale (in aggregate) this would be quite stable. Not to different to how gold acted as a backbone for civilisation. Only bitcoin has better properties
Thank you so much for your comment! :)
Yes, "value" sure is subjective! And requires our consent to agree to it. Considering, our money is now simply paper with ink on without gold backing, it's simply our shared belief that imbues it with value!
I am no expert in this arena- simply a student. I DO know that "boom/cycles" are unnatural effects of the imposition of a Keyenesian economics model. Personally, I'm more about Austrian economics as it lines up more with my ethics. I do believe it's the printing of more money that causes inflation, reducing scarcity and purchasing power.
I really enjoyed the book The Price of Tomorrow, by Jeff Booth. He's helped me to gain understanding of the bandaids we apply "kicking the can down the road" rather than fix the money at the core.
Well said Jacqueline. And thank you. I've long thought there is a reckoning coming for the dollar and fiat currency generally, but ultimately that could be a good thing, though very difficult. And it seems true, as our currency has aged, the creativity of civilization seems to have waned.
Yes! Saifedean writes about this in the Bitcoin Standard, the phenomenon referred to as 'time preference'. When humans are forced into 'scarcity-mode', all activity is based on a shortened view of the future and oriented around basic survival. Whereas when a safe and secure future is ensured through a possession of savings (something that holds or increases in value over time) they then have the leisure to invent and create, placing more value on beauty and genius.
It is curious. I am no expert, but I do know people love cash and coin, something tangible to hold on to. A lot of the economy is cash based. Bitcoin is dependent on an internet link, which will not be attractive or feasible for a lot of people. If they can materialize it somehow, people would embrace it.
I hear that. At the same time, people are already cashless in many places in the world. The biggest distinction between digital fiat and bitcoin then is about them being centralized vs decentralized.
I can honestly say I am not enjoying the fact that Blackrock and other big institutions are becoming increasingly entwined with BTC.
There are no guarantees, I know. And hopefully the majority of those who own it and operate their own nodes will help to keep it decentralized.
Who really knows? 🤷♀️ I just like anything these days that appears to be an 'exit and build' solution! 😂
Precisely. I’m going to be writing about time preference and fertility shortly. Can’t wait for you to read the book. Saidedean and I just recorded a podcast on it which will come out in the next few weeks so keep an eye (ear?) out for that!
AMAZING!! Thanks for letting me know!
As someone who is skeptical of cryptocurrency* unless and until the government accepts it for paying taxes and using it to buy military hardware, I do align with the desire of finding a way to create money that is not subject to the whims of politicians trying to buy votes. I just don't see how that is going to happen, given the history of past booms and busts. Of course there is the added fear that a totally digital economy that allows for social scoring, etc., is a prelude to tyranny.
I also believe that human morality is a combination of our evolved intrinsic inherited traits** and social/ cultural norms and mechanisms that seem to work for a given group under a given set of conditions. Since you seem to be someone who is able to think more deeply than most about such things, I would welcome any analysis you might make of how those genetic and cultural factors play into the set of virtues you are presenting herein.
For example: fear is a well founded emotion triggering fight or flight responses and thus aiding species survival. But is courage a socially added "martial something" that helps to override that fear when necessary, or is it perhaps mostly another emotional response to avoiding the shame and shunning of our social peers by succumbing to our fears vs. overcoming them? I.e., part of our being a very ultra social species?
*A high risk speculative "investment", where the status of your gain or loss is not measured in the quantity of BTC's you have or gained (and the increase in wealth in the economy that real money represents), but in the equivalent relative values in $ or Euros, etc., now vs. previosuly.
**such as reciprocity, empathy, theory of mind, etc.
I really recommend the book. Not because I want you to just “buy a copy” (feel free to pirate it) - but because I answer these questions in there in detail. I can promise it’s worth your time
Thankyou for the shout out and review my friend! The timing also couldn’t be better with bitcoin on sale 😂
Bushido, sounds good in theory, from where I'm sitting looks way more like bullshit in practice
Strong opinion. Care to elaborate why you think that? It is at it’s core a list of virtues.