If #fiat is so great, why do Central Banks keep #gold reserves?
#Bitcoin #art:
Et in Arcadia ego (1637–1638) - Nicolas Poussin
#Bitcoin, Resource Depletion & Civilisational Decline
Civilisations are living organisms. They expand and evolve using resources from their surroundings.
This process allows us to solve evermore complex societal and economic problems.
But this growth is not without consequences. It often leads to resource depletion and environmental degradation, speeding up the collapse of civilisations.
A good example is the Western Roman Empire, which left behind barren landscapes devoid of forests or productive soil.
#Bitcoin is a unique and transformative solution that could disrupt this cyclical pattern of civilisational growth and resource depletion.
Biological Evolution
It’s part of our human nature to continually solve increasingly complex problems, requiring more resources. It’s this drive that built today’s world.
This drive to expand can be found in all living organisms. Biological evolution is organisms striving for habitat expansion and exploitation of available resources.
Those who master this process best ultimately win the evolutionary race.
Efficient Use of Resources
Efficient use of resources has always determined civilisational progression, from the Stone Age flint tools to the Industrial Age’s production lines.
As civilisations evolve however, societies and economies become more complex. Requiring increasingly more resources…
At some point, civilisations reach the limits of available resources – either through outright resource depletion or the increasing cost of extracting them.
The Mayan civilisation is an example of a civilisation that exploited its surroundings to such an extent that resource depletion and ecological disruption led to its collapse.
Solving Resource Limitations
Innovation has always been the way civilisations overcome resource limitations. It is the key to making resources more accessible or creating solutions to problems that require less resources (energy, commodities).
Other methods to get around resource limitations have been trade and conquest.
Trade is challenging however, when you don’t produce something the other party wants. And war has its obvious set of challenges and risks.
These methods often result in an escalation of debt, and with it, increasing interest payments.
Growth becomes more expensive with every new unit of debt as interest must be paid first before new productivity gains can be achieved.
It's like being stuck on a treadmill, using energy but staying in the same place.
Currency Debasement & Resource Depletion
The path towards resource depletion and civilisational decline accelerates when societies resort to currency debasement as a way to get rid of physical limitations.
The Romans did this through the reduction of silver in their coins. We do it through loose credit policies of our central banks.
The result is an unsustainable period of artificial prosperity while in the background the economy becomes decoupled from physical reality.
With an abundance of cheap money, it’s all about quantity instead of quality of investment projects.
Resources are squandered, not providing much benefit to society or the economy.
This is where #Bitcoin comes in…
#Bitcoin Solves This…
Civilisations can avoid resource depletion by adopting #Bitcoin as their monetary system.
First, #Bitcoin –similar to gold was to a lesser extent– is hard money with a finite supply.
Opposite to loose credit policies, this incentives quality over quantity investments. This ensures scarce resources are dedicated only to the most productive projects.
Secondly, Bitcoin’s limited supply means governments can’t print it.
Forcing them to stop spending without restraint. Governments, too, would have to compete in capital markets to borrow funds.
The result would be that governments will only have the funds for truly important projects.
Facilitating a more prominent role for the free market, which is better at ensuring more gets done with less.
Finally, #Bitcoin mining is unleashing a revolution in energy markets.
By incentivising renewable energy and productivity innovation, #Bitcoin mining will have a positive impact on resource utilisation, allowing us to extract more energy, more efficiently, with the resources we have at hand.
Conclusion
#Bitcoin is the paradigm shift that can help us avoid the inevitable decline of every civilisation we built.
It’s hard money principles, encouragement of quality investments and incentivisation of renewable energy,
#Bitcoin provides the solution to the cycle of resource depletion and civilisational decline.
#Bitcoin is the key to a more stable and sustainable future!
Countries with low time-preference are more peaceful.
#Bitcoin
#Bitcoin #art:
Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (1638–1639) - Artemisia Gentileschi
"If you desire ease, forsake ##Bitcoin."
-Nagarjuna
Low time-preference causes countries to rise.
High time-preference causes countries to fall.
#Bitcoin enforces low time-preference.
#Bitcoin #art:
Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (1638–1639) - Artemisia Gentileschi
Adam Smith on keeping an army 👇
#Bitcoin #art:
David with the Head of Goliath (1610) - Caravaggio
The Parallels Between #Bitcoin & the WW2 German Army
#Bitcoin's incredible success can be attributed to a set of core principles that have created the world's strongest network.
Surprisingly, some of these principles can be found in an unexpected place—the WW2 German army.
Historical Implications of #Bitcoin’s Core Principles
Throughout history, entities and nations have flourished or struggled based on their adherence to #Bitcoin principles.
17th-century 🇳🇱Netherlands and 18th-century 🇬🇧Great Britain are good examples of the extraordinary outcomes that these principles can lead to.
Failure to follow (or stick to) these principles led to the downfall of empires like ancient Rome or missed opportunities like Ming China.
#Bitcoin Principles in the German Army
The German army during WW2 faced overwhelming odds, yet achieved incredible results by applying some of #Bitcoin’s core principles.
Overwhelming Odds Against Germany
The German army battled on multiple fronts, facing superior numbers in men, tanks, artillery, and planes on each one of them.
For instance, in 1945 in Belarus and Ukraine, the Russian army had 5 times the manpower and armoured vehicles, 7 times more artillery, and an unbelievable 17 times the air strength.
Despite this, the German army held out much longer than could have been expected.
Similarly, on the western front, the Anglo/American forces had 20 times the tanks and 25 times the aircrafts.
The superior production capacity of the Allied nations, particularly of 🇺🇸America, contributed to this discrepancy, leading to an ever-increasing gap in military output as the war progressed.
Despite these odds, the German army -remarkably- still occupied territories far larger than the Reich’s borders at the start of the war by the end of 1944.
Comparatively they performed much better than the British, American, and Russian armies.
How did they achieve this?
By adhering to some of #Bitcoin’s core principles…
#Bitcoin's Core Principles at Work
1. Strong protocol
Much like #Bitcoin's network, where any deviation from rules is automatically rejected, German soldiers strictly adhered to military protocols, rules, and orders.
2. Decentralisation
The German army decentralised decision-making on the battlefield, allowing it to quickly adapt to changing circumstances.
Similarly, #Bitcoin, without a central controlling entity and with its small block sizes, can adapt to any attack.
3. Discipline and training (Proof-of-Work)
German soldiers were well-trained and highly disciplined.
#Bitcoin fosters an ethic of discipline and hard work, with Bitcoiners constantly seeking knowledge.
This is why every piece of FUD has been refuted with data and evidence.
4. Combined arms warfare
The German army adopted a strategy known as Blitzkrieg (“lightning war”), integrating different military branches (infantry, armor, artillery, aviation) to complement each other's strengths and minimise weaknesses.
#Bitcoin too relies on the collaboration of miners (verify and add transactions), developers (maintain and update the software), nodes (keep decentralised copies of the entire chain), users (conduct transactions), and layer 2 networks (to solve specific problems that you want to keep out of the base layer).
Conclusion
#Bitcoin's success is no coincidence —it's based on core principles that make it the world's most resilient system.
Some of the same principles were followed by the German army in WW2 that allowed it to stand against overwhelming odds.
This unexpected parallel underscores #Bitcoin's strength and its enormous potential for ongoing success.
Recipe for a strong country:
- Shrink the government
- Enhance people's ability to earn a living and save money
