A few brief thoughts on Tolkien's Lord of the Rings from a Bitcoin perspective.

Tricking someone is an undermining of their informed consent. It is an attempt to force someone to do or believe something without truthful arguments.

There is a relationship between voluntarism and 'good', whereas forced actions would historically fall under the ethos of 'black magic', in the sense of non-voluntary and forced.

The ethos of black magic is harmful because it is based on causing (forcing) others to do what the influencer want, similar to lying and deceiving.

Moneyprinting is a black magic ethos, based on deception and the use of force, against the informed consent of the public.

Now to the Tolkien reference. Bitcoin is white magic; it is designed in the ethos of truth-alignment, clarity and property rights for all - individual sovereignty. Bitcoin is Gandalf the White, not Gandalf the Gray. Gandalf the white is the purified form of the magician (programmer) engaging in protecting liberty. In modern terms, Gandalf is a Cypherpunk.

Black magic is the use of force upon society and the corruption of individual sovereignty. Defeating the ancient Balrog is the internal process by which Gandalf abandoned his gray (neutral) state, toward choosing the side of good and liberty, hence becoming Gandalf the White.

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