I, personally, have no plans to sell my bitcoin and get back into fiat. I will, however, at some point, feel "financially independent" and may scale back on my work. At that point, I might need to convert some of my stack to fiat only to pay for things that won't accept bitcoin.

I'm not using bitcoin as a way to have big buckets of fiat. But, I am using it as a nest egg that I would tap into at some point. I'll work as long as I can, but I also am working more than I'd like currently so at some point I would scale back but would like to have a similar lifestyle.

I'm hoping that by the time I do have to tap into my bitcoin that more places will accept it and then I won't have to "sell" the bitcoin at all. Maybe at that point I'll move down to El Salvador, or something.

Very interesting! I might have to buy some of those just because I like the idea. My main concerns would be counterfeiting and making sure the company doesn't dilute the gold with copper or something like coins in Roman times. I also wonder if repeated handling of the bills would make any of the gold flake off? This is weird, but it kind of looks like you can't fold the bills - not sure if that's a big deal but might make it harder to fit in a pocket?

Bitcoin still has more advantages in my mind, though: (1) bitcoin is so easy to verify, (2) bitcoin isn't produced by a single company, (3) easier to be exact and not need change, (4) probably more people accept bitcoin vs Goldbacks, (5) bitcoin's fixed supply, (6) can buy online products with bitcoin but not Goldbacks, (7) etc.

I think I've heard of some tech that might allow people to use Bitcoin Lightning without internet. In that case, the only real hurdle would be for everyone to have a smart device - which I think you can get for nearly free these days?

Goldbacks would probably win the day if we had a world wide EMP go off and bitcoin stopped working. If we have a world were internet is missing then I'd prefer Goldbacks over gold coins. I think Goldbacks might be fun to own (a small amount) but my networth would primarily be in bitcoin.

I don't understand the graph - could you help me? It seems like assets as a % of GDP is going up - I take it that's a bad thing, but I don't understand how? Does it mean that banks are hording assets because they think something bad is coming? In a healthy economy do banks have way lower amounts of assets as a % of GDP?

I was a web dev at the time and did lots of database work - I believed there was no possible way to have a distributed, immutable database (it defied everything I thought I knew).

Nunchuk has something kind of like this, you can set a spend limit per day. So, you'd have your key and they'd use their key and they'd only sign if you spent below your daily limit. You could then put your other key in a nearly impossible to get place (like in a dark cave that you have to offer up innocent blood to find, you then have to cross a dark pool of water in a boat, and then drink magical water that makes you suffer).

Oh, that's interesting. I'll have to look into that. Thanks! I wonder if you get more security/privacy if you run most things in the Linux mode. It would be cool if you could get the windows management of Windows but the tools and privacy of Linux. I've watched videos about the Lenovo and folks haven't been able to boot into Linux and take advantage of the two screens.

My bad. Yes, I meant portable monitor. I meant that I have one of those portable 17" monitors that you just plug into the USB-C port and it powers the monitor. So I really just carry the laptop, the monitor and the USB-C cable.

The Lenovo laptop in question has two monitors (where the keyboard is normally, is a screen instead), so it's less of a hassle to have dual monitors. Though, it's debatable if having to carry around a separate keyboard/mouse is easier.

I guess safe from hacks and in terms of privacy? I know Mac isn't great for privacy, but I thought I've heard that it's better than Windows. I believe I've heard that Linux is one of the most privacy focused (but also depends on the distro).

Straight and to the point. :)

I believe ghosts might exist but I kinda think it's super rare that they'd ever show up. Like maybe only to super evil people (demons) and maybe super righteous people (angels) - but for 99% of us, they probably don't reveal themselves (or said another way, maybe it's our character that determines if we can ever see them).

I’m really liking Preston and what he has to say.

That’s good to know. I’ll have to give that a try. Thanks for the heads up.

I have the wallet and want to use it but, if I recall correctly, you gotta buy two years at once and the price felt high to me. I do think the service is probably worth it, though. I just wish they had a trial plan or a way to pay for a shorter term so I could test it out before throwing down a lot of money.

Also, if a place like China decides to isolate their citizens, never use bitcoin, and suppress their people then how would bitcoin help them? In fact, if all other groups of people are on the bitcoin standard and they can't raise money to fight a war then China will just keep on going without a deterrent (short of trade blockades).

I love bitcoin and think it'll solve a LOT of problems. I just think it's a little naive to think that wars would stop. But, perhaps I'm missing something.

I have two complaints with the video: (1) if governments were using bitcoin war wouldn’t cost “30 million bitcoin” the market cap of bitcoin would be huge and war might cost 10,000 bitcoin, (2) even if everyone used bitcoin it doesn’t mean war would cease - if another Hitler showed up it’s possible some countries would go to war.

Another issue is that I’m not convinced EVERYONE would use Bitcoin. Hitler 2.0 could create his own coin/fiat and inflate it to go to war against others.

I do think wars would decrease dramatically without lots of money printers but Bitcoin isn’t going to stop war completely - that seems like fairy tail thinking.

That’s a good example of reductio ad absurdum.

Personally, I’d say 99% are scams. I wouldn’t touch anything other than bitcoin but I think there are probably a few that are created with good intentions. I believe it’s a decent idea to see how others work so Bitcoin can absorb any good ideas. But, I personally, wouldn’t trust any other coin.

Always nice to have more options. I didn’t see any open source code, though, so that makes me a bit nervous. So far Blue and Nunchuk seem more open?

I like these for a few reasons!

Very good point!

Also, it's sometimes a comparison between "public" vs "private." Like whether you work in the public or private sector. While "private" is good in the bitcoin world, I think it's easy for people to think "public" is a friendlier word than "private." As in, "Oh, you work for the public, you must be humane" vs "Oh, you work for a private company, you must have something to hide or you're greedy."

It seems more fair to call it "governmental" vs "civil." Now it sounds better to say, "I work in the civil sector" vs "I work in the governmental sector."