One of the reasons I have doubts that hyperbitcoinization will ever happen, and bitcoin will instead become like a super-gold, is because I don't agree that people are going to ever en masse come to reject the welfare state. In most of these arguments, there's this libertarian/anarcho-capitalist assumption that people are going to "wake up" and realize that taxation is theft, the welfare state is authoritarian, and they're going to embrace a world of radical self-sufficiency and market maximalism. I don't see the political incentives ever aligning in that direction. I also disagree that such a future is mechanically inevitable, as many people claim.
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It’s also quite possible that governments will try to ensure their survival by acquiring large amounts thorough coercion and still continue to issue centrally-controlled digital currencies for the masses. We’re a very long road from everyone adopting sats their common unit. I’m not counting on seeing this happen in my lifetime, but I’m not going to give up on the dream.
I'm making a stronger argument than that, though. My argument is not about what "governments will want to do" but what "people will want governments to do". The social safety net is *incredibly* popular. Even among the political right, a majority of Republican voters in the United States, support higher taxes on the rich, for example. This sort of belief that most people have anarchistic tendencies, doesn't seem to pass any smell test.
Here is a citation to support my point: https://www.newsweek.com/more-half-republicans-support-tax-hikes-americans-earning-over-400k-poll-1630303?amp=1
And that’s because no matter what political party people belong to, they know they’re getting screwed over by the well-connected fiat wealthy who can navigate the impossibly complex tax code to their advantage. The social safety net, as weak as it is in the United States, still keeps a lot of people from ending up on the street. The downside, of course, is that it’s designed in a way to keep people dependent, because if their income level rises even by a small amount, they would lose their benefits and have nothing to fall back on.
I would be somewhat wary of these claims. You have no idea how the survey was worded in order to get thoses results. It's like the political compass test. Damn near everyone becomes Bernie Sanders (left libertarian) just because of the way questions are phrased.
As societies become richer, they demand more government. The relationship is so reliable and robust, it’s about asclose as social science gets to a “law”. https://www.niskanencenter.org/cant-make-government-smaller/
I clicked a link in your article...
Don't hurt yourself trying so hard!
Excuse me, what?
Sorry, it was showing this linked to a different comment. I actually didn't get a chance to read the article you wrote as I had to run out for the day. Just glanced briefly at the wikipedia and thought that was funny considering how you said it was as close to a law in the social sciences and the link you provided said the exact opposite. Don't read too much into it.
What if people want the government to do things that are impossible to do? Like maintain a large safety social net, but also simultaneously keeping taxes low?
What if, “What the people want governments to do” is exactly derived by what the government want them to do through the media & Propaganda machine? :)
I love spending OPM. That society has told us that it’s morally acceptable makes it even easier 😜
Adopters of a Bitcoin standard will coalesce into a new self sustained society. It is inevitable because there is literally no better alternative once the fiat standard goes away. Money is our life energy. It must be preserved and Bitcoin is the solution tool for this. Gold is too analog for our digital world. It can’t work. So what’s the alternative?
Well, my argument isn't that bitcoin is exactly like gold. But that it will play a role of a new kind of money that has gold-like properties in the sense of its supply constraints and ability to hold independent of state authority.