I just heard that we could command Google Bard to translate THIS!! so I do some, re-adjust some minor phrase, and post it in this comment section. Enjoy Bruh!

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เพิ่งได้ยินว่าเราให้ Google Bard มาแปลโพสยาวเหยียดนี่ให้เป็นอังกฤษได้ ลองดูๆ

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It's Rewine time of 2023 : Bitcoin and the power of time preference

I've known about Bitcoin for about 1-2 years now, from the cryptocurrency community. I listened to Ajarn Tum and bought a copy of Bitcoin Standard to read, but I could only read an average of 3-4 pages a week. I hadn't even made it past the Roman Empire. Most of what I read I had already heard from Ajarn Tum.

Then, all of a sudden, I went through the Luna crash, which I somehow survived. But then I had to make my time to prepare for my Master’s degree exams, so I had to cut my losses and sell everything and transfer the baht to Bitkub crypto-exchange.

This year, during the semester break, I was free to force myself to finish reading Bitcoin Standard before the semester started. I got to the part about time preference, which was a new word to me. At first, I didn't understand what it was. I had to read it over and over again a few times. Once I understood it, I had a "click" moment with the book. It was like a bottleneck. If you can get through it, it unlocks everything in the book. It was like a reminder of how messy my life had been. I compared it to vipassana meditation, which is about being aware of every action you are doing. Let the mind lead your thinking, rise, fall, itch, and be tired. In this context, it would probably be "high time-preference". Let the mind warn your body and bring back what you’re doing.

In the end, I had the courage to read the rest of the book again until the end. I followed up on Ajarn Tum's clips and other clips to catch up on the issues I was still confused about. For example, self-custodial. I watched all the tutorials for a long time (during the Ledger news issue), so I bit the bullet and bought a Trezor to try out. Once I tried it out, I understood how it felt to store digital money on my own. Instead of worrying about exchange FUD news and being afraid that I wouldn't be able to withdraw in time, I just put it away myself. That's it.

Then, I felt like I was hot on the subject. I wanted to spread the gospel of Bitcoin. So I started with my parents and relatives, which for me that was quite clashing and suffering. In the end, it all came down to the mindset that money has to be a tangible thing. It couldn't be easily understood, so no matter how much I talked, they didn't listen. They even told me not to play too much and to withdraw it. One of them didn't have any savings, and the other one was planning to play stocks in retirement, even though they started by playing along with their co-workers in a haphazard way, buying and selling with a million baht budget.

Until a few months before the end of the year, Ajarn Tum and the Right Shift team recommended me trying Nostr. At the beginning, I tried it just for fun, didn't expect anything interesting from this platform. I thought it was just an experiment to adopt lightning BTC for social media. But because Thai people who play Nostr are also Bitcoiners, they have been pent up by social media and other MSM for a long time. This has resulted in a lot of long-form content like complaining about fiat life, shadowban, censorship, algorithms, libertarian, Keynesian-Austrian, and a lot more. I am also one of those who created long-form content from my somehow painful childhood experiences. When the painful memory in the past emerging inside my head, I won’t let it go away anymore, instead I would try to organize that exact moment, chew it into long-form and post it on Nostr.

To be honest, I like about the Nostr community a lot. Although there is a certain amount of anonymity between users. For example, when posting photos, people try not to show their faces, which is similar to what I've seen in most Discord servers (but not with Thai people, I guess) and it feels like an echo chamber. I feel that each post and note we put down, even if there are no reactions, I feel like many people have seen this post. Maybe because at first, there were only articles and few photos were posted. So text posts weren't pushed much. Plus, the lack of an algorithm (which only selects photos showing off friends' luxurious lives, pseudo-elite, or just selfies, and it pushes out anything of substance away. Or sometimes they may not be interested in long, substantive content. At most, they just want to consume ramatic content just for exciting and for fun.) makes every post have an equal chance of being seen based on the time it is posted and the number of reposts. I like that at least the PoW we put in isn't completely wasted. And because most of it is unfiat content which synthesized with thoroughly breakthrough from creator’s experience and ordinary can’t find it in MSM

I have tried many new things in this community, such as using Zap and Lightning wallets, and especially health tips from Dr. @fastingfatdentist. I have been exercising and eating healthy before, but after I adjusted my lifestyle, I feel even more energetic and each day seems more meaningful compared to the old me who used to wake up in the morning feeling tired and sad all day.

This year, especially in the second half, I have come to realize that by learning about Bitcoin from different perspectives, I have gained a deeper understanding of its existence over the past 10 years. Bitcoin is not only a currency, but it is also a tool for change. It has helped me to become more mindful, more aware of myself, and to see the world in a new light. I have also had the opportunity to experience a new community that I never thought I would find. I would like to thank Ajarn Tum and the entire Right Shift team for making this happen.

From all of this, I absolutely believe that (though G-man did’t own this quote I just copypasta it lol)

"The right money in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world."

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and see you next halving!