The funny thing about people saying that you don't have to be a libertarian to own or appreciate bitcoin is that it proves the Austrian thesis.
People will act on the incentives wheather they realize they are doing it or not.
Will bitcoin adoption inevtiably reduce the size of the state and its manufactured wellfare class?
I don't see any other outcome. It will likely happen as most people shoehorn whatever ideology they want into aligning with bitcoin.
Man acts according to incentives. Bitcoin align the incentives. 🫡
Ive been reading “Leviathan and it’s Enemies”. The crux is that liberalism (classical type with laisse-fair econ & cosmopolitan culture) gave rise to the managerial state in order to organize the means of mass production. Essentially making a planned economy with priority on the self-interest aimed at consumption to benefit the managerial class. It will be interesting to see how Bitcoin incentives influence mass production, national economies and their respective bureaucratic classes.
Interesting. I think we have had one form of central planning or another since agriculture began. The centralization has mostly increased during that time, but without control of the money supply I anticipate the trend to reverse.
Only time will tell. It's up to us to create robust networks which oppose centralization.
A few generations from now there may be less desire to maintain decentralization and the system could falter, but I don't think so. I think the lessons learned from the bitcoin era will continue to echo as long as there is life on this planet.
I do think there is a cycle between centralization and decentralization. (I change my mind almost daily though.) If the lock-step messaging from the political managers and the supply chain jam-ups from Covid taught us anything, it's that centralization of global powers has a terrible potential to subjugate most of humanity. I'm still very skeptical about even the most mudane news events now.
On a positive note, there's never before been a money capable of trustlessly facilitating global trade, but at the same time also facilitating the possibility of decentralized governance. I'm bullish on Fedimints and Cashu for this reason. (Even though I haven't used them yet lol.)
Decentralization is inevitable. Trying to control everything will always lead to entropy and collapse.
Fix the incentives, fix the system. Bitcoin fixes the incentives.
I'd like to believe this but I think people are generally too content being distracted and complacent. For every person that opens their eyes to how twisted and dire things are, there are 3 that are content settling for scrolling on tiktok for the majority of their day.
It's very true, I wouldn't describe myself as a libertarian, even though Bitcoin is directing me in that direction a little bit and give me some reasons why to appreciate that view of life.
It's just another money type, in my opinion superior, and then you can see how much other political directions actually align with that new reality.
Maybe bitcoin is the Trojan horse for the "perfect" Marxist world, and with the help of a better money, this story can actually be sustainably established.
I don't think it is the future that will be, however we will just see a clearer picture what humans can achieve with a harder money and flourishing technology and privacy!
That's what happened to me as well.
I have heard it said that bitcoin could lead us to post scarcity, but even with continuous deflation human needs are limitless.
Without a multidimensional shift in consciousness we will always need a market and therefore a money to organize the incentives in that market.
Maybe such a shift is possible, but it certainly wouldn't occur through the use of force or violence.
I am drunk but this is fantasy imo.
I only suggest you envision a scenario in which bitcoin adoption does not grow beyond it's current level.
There are so many people in the world who have no care for what you are talking about simply because it has no relevance and never will.
Alcohol reduces consciousness
To answer your note more specifically though, I believe it's very unlikely that bitcoin adoption would grow dramatically for 15 years and then suddenly stop.
Especially with the current political and economic outlook. I anticipate the opposite to be more realistic.
