Good Morning Everyone,
Markets are a funny thing. They’re insanely complex in many respects, and they can also be boiled down to a pretty simple truth about someone having something to sell and a separate person looking to purchase that something. Perhaps one of the most fascinating things about “a market” is that they emerge more or less spontaneously. They can emerge for myriad reasons but they only really survive through time if there is ongoing supply met with ongoing demand.
What I find really interesting to think about is the phenomenal level of hubris of the human mind, to think that we can control something that emerges spontaneously out of infinite complexity that we can only begin to understand in hindsight. This desire runs so deep within our species, and no matter how many times we try and fail, typically via our compulsive naive intervensionism, create extremely undesirable unintended consequences which damages and impedes a market over time, we seem to be struggling to get the message.
The number of examples of this are endless. Something as simple as serving drinks requires some kind of a license, or to be able to serve them beyond a certain time requires a license. This kind of thing is just beyond absurd in my opinion.
If person A wishes to run a business selling drinks at 5am, and person b wishes to purchase drinks from person a at 5am - who is anyone to tell them otherwise?
If there is no market for it, person A will simply shut up shop having received clear feedback from their so-called market. It requires no intervention. Unfortunately however, this neurotic and obsessiveness to over control has been well and truly normalised within our current iteration of society and this parasitic malware is likely to attempt to spread to, and attempt to infect the bitcoin ecosystem, as it has most other areas of our society.
There was an interesting conversation from the bitcoin conference about mining that included some discussion about regulation. Marty Bent hit the nail on the head in my opinion where he said something to the effect of:
Bitcoin and bitcoin mining has been running flawlessly without regulation for 13 years, and implying that if it has been running without the need for intervention to date, what would give anyone the impression it requires government intervention now.
It’s not obvious to me when it became anyone else’s business to dictate to another person what they could use their purchased electricity for. But it does appear that when it comes to bitcoin, people of this pathological belief exist.
This rule from Jordan Petersons book ‘12 Rules For Life’, comes to mind when i think about this insatiable desire to unrelentingly & naively attempt to control everything and anything. Of course with the exception of our selves.
“Set Your House in Perfect Order Before You Criticize the World”
Bitcoin and the industry it has spawned around mining is an unbelievable and in many ways inconceivably huge net positive for the world - if we just let it be. The notion that we would even contemplate telling a business what they can and cannot use their electricity for is beyond insane and there should be absolutely zero acceptance of such a ridiculous utterance.
If person A is creating value as determined by person b, and person b is willing to purchase said item from person A at X-price there should be no need for any further conversation. If someone thinks there is a better way to provide this service that is more in line with their values, this is an opportunity, and they should create the offering and be rewarded by the market for their efforts, if correct, rather than complaining and trying to over-control others.
The time for this kind of primitive human behaviour needs to be left in the past. We need to move to a more sophisticated mode of operation where we can deploy a level of humility. Where we are open to the possibility we may not be capable of fully understanding and perceiving the complexity. That if something can emerge entirely on it’s own and in a spontaneous fashion, perhaps it does not require our intervention and the best way to allow this to be solved is within the dynamic of a free and open market.
I believe that bitcoin is in the process of reintroducing what a free market is to those that have been living within a corrupted and distorted society for too long. This changing in perspective cannot happen soon enough.
The following sums up my thoughts.
“You don’t change bitcoin. Bitcoin changes you.”
With that said, below are a few content suggestions for the easter weekend. I hope you all have a great easter and share it with special people and family.
Wishing you all well, and i will talk to you next week.
AK
Article: True Names Not Required - Der Gigi
This article blew my mind. I recommend exploring Gigi’s site and reading through pretty much everything he has written as it’s filled with genius and mind expanding clarity.
Pod: Cult Of Central Banks - Ricardo B. Salinas
This man gets it. This is a must listen.
Book: 21 Lessons - What I've Learned From Falling Down The Bitcoin Rabbit Hole
Gigi’s first book. Life changing text.
