1 year ago
This is an sentiment editorial by Logan Bolinger, a lawyer and the writer of a escaped play newsletter astir the intersection of Bitcoin, macroeconomics, geopolitics and law.
“I’m much funny successful asking the question, is the satellite that we privation to unrecorded successful 1 wherever we request to hyperfinancialize each facet of an individual’s beingness due to the fact that fiscal conditions connected a macro level are specified that you person to financialize your full being successful bid to support up oregon get ahead? Is that genuinely a triumph for ideology and for the benignant of psycho-spiritual wellbeing of each of america and the lives we privation to live? Versus thing similar Bitcoin, that’s a definancializing unit that fundamentally says due to the fact that we deliberation a satellite mightiness beryllium amended wherever you’re really capable to prevention wealth and you don’t conscionable person to walk it oregon spell put oregon speculate connected immoderate stuff, would that unlock ways for you to consciousness much fulfilled oregon satisfied arsenic a idiosyncratic and would you past beryllium capable to prosecute different things? I deliberation yet the extremity of Bitcoin is that we each deliberation collectively little astir wealth and much astir different things that we’re funny in.”
I made these statements connected a caller episode of the “What Bitcoin Did” podcast successful a treatment astir Bitcoin and the ways I deliberation it tin catalyze affirmative changes successful our interior lives, arsenic contrasted with the modern authorities of Web 3.
We often sermon and theorize the ways successful which Bitcoin tin reshape oregon reconfigure our outer realities, whether they beryllium political, monetary, legislative, etc. But I don’t deliberation capable attraction is paid to however Bitcoin tin initiate a likewise monumental reshaping of our interior lives, a process which, successful the aggregate, tin pb to a trickling up of priorities and values.
I privation to speech astir 2 antithetic conceptions of state to exemplify wherefore I deliberation we fixate truthful overmuch connected 1 of them. When folks picture themselves arsenic “freedom maximalists,” they’re chiefly referring to the thought of antagonistic freedom, a state from intrusive outer constraints. This benignant of state is evidently of fundamental, paramount importance. Without state from definite outer constraints, meaningful pursuit of self-realization, what we would notation to arsenic affirmative freedom, is difficult, if not intolerable to pursue.
We thin to get truthful focused connected the antagonistic state aspects of Bitcoin that we neglect to afloat admit the affirmative state that Bitcoin facilitates. Which is to accidental we get truthful fixated connected the ways successful which Bitcoin precludes outer intrusions oregon constraints (freedom from) that we don’t research the ways successful which Bitcoin tin make an situation that allows america to much rigorously prosecute the fullest look of our selves (freedom to).
[N.B. for my humanities/philosophy friends: Yes, I americium drafting connected the enactment of Isaiah Berlin with these positive/negative state terms]
I would reason that state maximalism is not sustainably fulfilling long-term, due to the fact that it’s not truly an extremity state. It’s a indispensable liminal posture, a means to achieving a definite situation successful which affirmative state tin beryllium productively exercised. However, antagonistic state without affirmative state is similar having an infinite fig of TV channels but nary thought what you privation to watch. It’s similar having the state to prosecute thing you privation without immoderate mode of determining what you really privation to prosecute oregon what’s worthy pursuing.
Americans are peculiarly attuned to ideas of antagonistic freedom, but not peculiarly adept erstwhile it comes to affirmative freedom. We tin spot this everywhere, including successful the Bitcoin space. If 1 makes a living, builds a following, oregon crafts an full individuality astir being a “freedom maximalist,” one’s livelihood and consciousness of aforesaid depends connected the continuing beingness of outer constraints for 1 to decry. One tin unwittingly (and mostly subconsciously) go the vertebrate that has grown to emotion its cage, arsenic writer Lewis Hyde erstwhile wrote of irony.
So portion state maximalism (negative freedom) is vitally important, we should besides prosecute and prioritize what my woman has aptly coined intentionality maximalism (positive freedom), which is simply a position and a mode of surviving successful our interior lives. Bitcoin does not get capable recognition for its quality and its imaginable to foster this benignant of inward-looking change.
What does intentionality maximalism look similar successful our mundane acquisition of life? One salient illustration is our narration with the unbridled consumerism endemic successful a fiat monetary system.
Allow maine to stock immoderate statistic that exemplify conscionable however warped this narration has become:
Per the Los Angeles Times, determination are 300,000 items successful the mean American home.
Per NPR, the mean size of the American location has astir tripled successful size implicit the past 50 years.
Nevertheless, 1 retired of each 10 Americans rent offsite storage, which is the fastest increasing conception of the commercialized existent property manufacture implicit the past 4 decades.
British research recovered that the mean 10-year-old owns 238 toys but plays with conscionable 12 daily.
The mean American household spends $1,700 connected clothes annually, portion besides throwing away, connected average, 65 pounds of clothing per year.
You get the idea. There is practically nary extremity to the information showing the absurd magnitude of crap we ain and the increasing abstraction (physical and mental) that this crap occupies.
Americans are consuming much than ever.
Source: FRED
Despite their purchasing powerfulness not meaningfully growing.
Source: U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics
What explains this? One origin is that we measurement our economical wellness by however overmuch we spend, a singularly fiat and Keynesian mode of gauging economical vitality. Consumer spending is astir 70% of GDP. If we walk less, the metric we usage to gauge economical wellness drops.
There’s besides the information that we spot much ads than ever.
But, astir importantly, there’s a wide precocious clip penchant that is, I think, portion of the precise cloth of our culture.
Here’s wherever I deliberation Bitcoin comes into play. So overmuch of this rat-race orgy of depletion is high-time-preference behaviour incentivized by the fiat monetary system, which ensures your wealth loses worth implicit time. Since your purchasing powerfulness is soil successful an hourglass, and since you enactment harder than ever conscionable to support up, user spending serves some a applicable and a pacifying purpose. In different words, we are incentivized to walk due to the fact that not spending oregon investing means our wealth conscionable sits and loses value. And if we enactment truthful hard, galore of america astatine jobs we don’t peculiarly enjoy, conscionable to support up, shouldn’t we besides bargain each the caller chill worldly to marque america consciousness similar it’s each worthy it?
If we region ourselves from immoderate of the rat contention worldly it clears abstraction for america to deliberation little astir money, which means we tin beryllium much intentional astir everything else. Hence the thought of intentionality maximalism. We benignant of reclaim our affirmative freedom, our state to prosecute the highest look of ourselves. Bitcoin, successful my opinion, is yet astir looking for a sustainable alternate to the rat-race model.
It’s truly a opposition of values. Consumerism is simply a worth of the fiat system. It is some virtually a value, since we measurement economical wellness successful ample portion by measuring consumption, and besides an ingrained mode of behavior. By disincentivizing mindless, reflexive depletion and incentivizing a little clip preference, Bitcoin, if it continues to turn successful adoption, offers the committedness of a taste foregrounding of deeper things, similar fulfilling pursuits, relationships, creativity, publication to community, presence, etc.
When it comes to this interior transformation, this intentionality maximalism, and the ways successful which Bitcoin moves america successful that direction, I deliberation Bitcoin shares immoderate cardinal principles with minimalism, a question that has deep, past roots, but has been gathering much fashionable momentum successful the past decennary oregon so. Proponents of minimalism, mindful of the constraints unchecked consumerism tin spot connected our lived experience, prosecute lives with less unused, unnecessary possessions successful bid to reclaim state and mastery implicit one’s beingness and the abstraction to prosecute what’s important. Which is to accidental the pursuit of a much intentional life.
Joshua Fields Millburn, co-founder of theminimalists.com, describes minimalism arsenic “the happening that gets america past the things truthful we tin marque country for life’s important things—which aren’t things astatine all.”
The committedness of Bitcoin, to get Millburn’s articulation, is to beryllium the wealth that, done its soundness, allows america to get past reasoning astir wealth each the clip truthful that we tin marque country for life’s important things - which thin to get lost, neglected, and/or sacrificed successful depletion and the systemically coerced pursuit of much and much money.
We walk truthful overmuch clip reasoning astir wealth (how to get it, however to get much of it, however to marque it grow, however to support up with inflation, however to put it, however to walk it, what to walk it on, however to get affluent quick, however to wage the bills, etc). And to a definite grade this volition ever beryllium true. I americium not advocating for the Platonic signifier of communism here.
But erstwhile wealth does not clasp its value, erstwhile it is continuously debased, erstwhile the sovereign indebtedness is truthful monolithic it indispensable beryllium inflated away, and erstwhile the economical wellness of a state is measured by however overmuch it consumes, it creates an situation successful which wealth is practically each we deliberation about.
This is wherefore I person been truthful critical/skeptical of immoderate of the proposals successful different corners of the crypto world, galore of which look to beryllium seeking to financialize each country of our lives. I deliberation this perpetuates, and possibly intensifies, our high-time-preference environment.
In contrast, the implications and downstream effects of collectively lowering our clip preference, which I deliberation needfully involves little consumerism, simply cannot beryllium understated. Imagine an full colonisation yet capable to prevention successful a dependable wealth and to walk much clip and vigor connected the things that mean the astir to them.
Now, again, I’m not envisioning a utopian end-state present wherever we’re each singing songs astir the campfire (though I bash bask songs and campfires). I’m talking astir returning immoderate headspace and immoderate beingness backmost to folks who have, by necessity, grown accustomed to spending each waking infinitesimal reasoning astir wealth and consumption. I’m talking astir a translation of our interior lives, 1 that clears abstraction for much intentional living. And I deliberation an under-appreciated facet of Bitcoin is its imaginable to catalyze specified a transformation.
So beryllium a state maximalist, due to the fact that it’s important. But don’t halt there, due to the fact that that unsocial won’t support you full, long-term. Be an intentionality maximalist, too.
Many radical unrecorded lives similar this - compelled, constrained, and unintentional wrong a fiat system:
I deliberation Bitcoin is astir escaping this.
This is simply a impermanent station by Logan Bolinger. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc. oregon Bitcoin Magazine.
English (US) 