Fiat poisoning presents a number of symptoms that manifest in the inability to plan for your future, a sense of nihilism, and a decline in society due to a toxic imbalance in the way money and value work.
The poisonous substance of fiat is difficult to see unless it is specifically pointed out to you. Even then its corruption is for the most part colourless and odourless and only its effects are visible.
Importantly, for a long time there was no real alternative (for even gold became laced with the same paper-based toxin) and so acceptance of fiat became ordained and eventually implicit over several generations.
Fiat is a toxic substance, but for a long time it was the only thing in the pantry.
Symptoms of Fiat Poisoning may include:
- A hopelessness towards ever getting ahead in life because prices are increasing faster than you can keep up.
- The continual decay of infrastructure and cities.
- The primacy of words over action.
- A feeling that you were born ‘too late’ instead of ‘too early’.
- A resentment and contempt for elders.
- The corruption and subsequent distrust of institutions.
- The collapse of social and community cohesion at even the most local level.
- The emergence of populist ideology and political movements promising to treat the symptoms.
- A cultural narrative that is obsessed with historical narratives instead of future building.
- Contempt for marriage, children, and legacy.
- A reduction in time preference down to the epoch of a Tik Tok video, a Tinder hookup, or a tweet.
I realise others such as Saifedean have explored these concepts. However I do feel there is nuance to draw out. For example, I do not feel that post-war architecture (the iconic concrete apartment) are purely symptoms of fiat poisoning. What they have become today certainly is a testament to fiat, but at the time of their construction they were visionary and heroic in their intention of building a better world.
The problem with fiat poisoning is that like arsenic, it builds up in the body of society, and the longer you leave it the worse it gets. The poison has already taken so much from us, for we cannot even build bridges, put men on the moon, or walk the streets of our cities safely anymore.
Where is the monumental thinking? Where are the visionaries? Where is the better world?
Bitcoin represents an antidote to this poison, a new kind of digital money for building the world that is absolutely scarce, decentralised, and permissionless. Bitcoin provides the opposite of all the symptoms listed above. Most importantly Bitcoin is for everyone. It is able to be easily self-custodied even by a non-technical person, and the barrier to entry is about as low as an internet connection and a cheap mobile phone.
ENDS
– CE
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