Thanks for sharing Zach. Does he understand Bitcoin?
Apparently I’m not good at tagging yet. Trying again. #[0]
https://damus.io/note1j5c7vcl6l752kva9wn7n8jhdh8mced6dkwwtkaqxxfd4a4eeextqap6r9m
Discussion
TL;DR Given my laymen's understanding of each of your primary concerns I think he would argue that the inflation problem you focus on is one of many that are downstream from other, more fundamental dynamics. In short (in my words), bitcoin may solve a series of major problems in the area of money and economics (related to #3 below), but it doesn’t matter if we annihilate ourselves in the next decade because we couldn’t solve these overarching, fundamental, global coordination problems.
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I’m not sure to what extent he understands bitcoin. I’ve heard him talk about blockchain technology (I know, I know…) and the power of immutable ledgers, so he’s certainly aware of it.
If I had to quickly outline the differences between the two of you I think he’s thinking about how to solve the different types of existential risk we face, with exponential technology in the context of traditional economic frames being just one significant problem.
He argues that the major existential threats we face are downstream of three fundamental problems.
1) Rival/risk Games, like the tragedy of the commons and arms races, which have wide-ranging negative effects in a globalized world.
2) Unconstrained (exponential) consumption of our (linear) natural resources leads to countless bad outcomes for us as species, global warming, micro plastics, reef death, and phosphorus runoff being major examples.
3) Exponential technology both in how fast it's growing and how quickly it’s able to be spread. Democratization means that the technologies that can wipe out civilization are getting cheaper and easier to deploy. Also, this leads to a fundamental shift in economics - previously we needed people to work and needed a system to incentivize them to do so, but we are heading towards a situation in which most people won’t need to work.
This podcast is only 35 minutes (put on by the guy who made The Social Dilemma) and gives a good overview of his philosophy and concerns.