“Bitcoin is a currency of distrust…This is unfortunate, for the whole purpose of money is to create trust between strangers…What is the function of the financial system? Finance creates trust…Bitcoin is basically a return to gold, electronic gold. It assumes that we shouldn’t trust human institutions and shouldn’t allow them to create money at will.”—Yuval Noah Harari
Humans are able to scale civilization to the extent that we place our trust in structures that are worthy of trust.
For instance, in mathematics it is not necessary to trust any individual user, as every user must “show their work” to get others to trust in the results of their arithmetic. After all, no man is better than his incentives, but 2+2 always equals 4, therefore mathematics is more trustworthy than any individual or institution and thus serves as the foundational language of global civilization.
Like Bitcoin, mathematics is an open-source software based on an ethos of “don’t trust, verify.” The same is true for empirical science, logic, and the free market process.
“Humanity has found a way to create trustworthy institutions, and we call that technology Bitcoin.”—Michael Saylor
Recent Episodes:
WiM472 with Sebastian Bunney
How Does Monetary Intervention Decay Society?
Misalignment with Reality: Prices should be falling to their marginal cost of production, however, prices are constantly rising. Our debt-based, inflationary world is incongruent with falling prices driven by increases in technology, productivity, and efficiency.
Death of Competition: If prices fall, corporations with large amounts of debt will have their profit margins squeezed. These corporations, which employ millions of people, are propped up by subsidies and bailouts and deemed “too big to fail,” perverting the free market process of creative destruction.
Cash-Flow Distortion: Capital flows to companies that would not exist in a free market, resulting in “zombie companies.”
Decision-Making Impairment: How can individuals make decisions when market signals are being distorted? Prices reveal the preferences of consumers. When prices are corrupted through monetary intervention, it’s impossible to decipher what people actually want.
Link to full episode: The Hidden Cost of Money with Sebastian Bunney (WiM472)
WiM473 with John Vervaeke
“God doesn’t have abstract thoughts. What [Baruch] Spinoza was trying to get at is, although we have to rely on this very complicated, abstract, almost mathematical thinking to get to the notion of the “One”, or what he calls God or nature, he doesn’t mean a choice. He means, this one lens of my glasses is nature, the other is what we typically mean by God and I look through both of them to something beyond them. We have to go through this abstractive process, to learn that reality is not abstract to itself.”—John Vervaeke
Link to full episode: Human Action, Metaphor, and Money with John Vervaeke (WiM473)
We’ve relaunched the Clips Channel. Subscribe for highlights from episodes and other exclusive content:
Upcoming Week:
Monday 6/3 (WiM474) with Mel Mattison
Mel Mattison is a writer, founder, and fintech executive who enjoys exploring the worlds of both finance and fiction.
Wednesday 6/5 (WiM475) with Luke de Wolf
Luke de Wolf is a cyber security consultant, Bitcoin advocate, and host of the Freedom Footprint Show with Knut Svanholm. We continue our multi-episode series deep dive into Jordan Peterson’s first book, Maps of Meaning.
Friday 6/7 (WiM476) with Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist, zoologist, and author known for his work on evolutionary theory and advocating for atheism and secularism.
Events on the Horizon:
Bitcoin 2024: The World’s Largest Bitcoin Conference (use discount code BREEDLOVE): https://b.tc/conference
Pacific Bitcoin 2024: https://www.pacificbitcoin.com/
Sponsors:
In Wolf's Clothing: https://wolfnyc.com/
Heart and Soil Supplements (use discount code BREEDLOVE): https://heartandsoil.co/
Anthony DiClementi's Biohacking Secrets (Text BREEDLOVE to 847-943-7221)
Swan Bitcoin: https://www.swanbitcoin.com/breedlove22/
The Farm at Okefenokee: https://okefarm.com/
Products I Endorse:
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