Bitcoin is Like the Moon \ stacker news ~bitcoin

3072 sats \ 8 comments \ @kepford 12 Dec 2023 bitcoin

Over the past week there has been a lot of focus on senator Karen's conversation with an evil banker in DC. Its fun to mock these clowns. Many bitcoiners are angry. Some are very concerned. Senator Karen has put forward a bill trying to criminalize the free exchange of money (bitcoin). The reactions from bitcoiners are all over the map. Many seem unfazed. I'm in that camp. Some are very concerned and believe we need to fight. I get that, but I don't agree.

This morning I was scrolling on Twitter and saw a post from a bitcoiner dad explaining how he set up a node with his young daughters. He said something that triggered a thought. It was something like, "If you garnered support for a bill to ban gravity, people would still fall down stairs". Love that thought. Its an absurd example to make a point. You can ban math but you can't stop it. The actions of politicians often demonstrate their view of the state if you think about it. They will often propose preposterous things to a rational mind. But the reason they do this is because they view the state as an all powerful thing. A god essentially. Now, they won't admit that but this is the only conclusion I can settle on. Here's the thing. The state isn't a god. The emperor has no clothes. Its a trick. We have to believe it.

This Twitter post also inspired another thought. You know how some bitcoiners want us to all band together and fight senator Karen? You know how the tides work right? Imagine trying to stop the tides. Sure you can build up defenses to protect your property but that is it. Its a defense. You aren't stopping the tides. The true force behind the tides aren't the oceans. Its not the wind. The wind plays a part but really its the moon. The moon is far away but its impact on earth is massive. The US system isn't controlled by politicians. It is controlled by the wealthy elites. Senator Karen, Biden, and the other clowns are all puppets of their donors and lobbyists. Your vote isn't going to stop them. So is it hopeless? Nah.

So what do we do? We use bitcoin. We make these clowns irrelevant to our lives. We build resiliency to their games(it takes more than just bitcoin). We will win. Their game is destined for failure. Bitcoiners talk about the problems with modern economics all the time. They talk about how bitcoin fixes this. But, do they believe it? I don't know if most of them do actually. Bitcoin is like the moon. It is a force of nature that cannot be stopped by politicians. Only fools will try to stop it. Let them try.

view all related items

265 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 12 Dec 2023

One of the things that really tipped me to being way more bullish about bitcoin's power was the Seedsigner. Why? The Seedsigner is a bitcoin signing device. Kinda like a hardware wallet but really its more than that. Anyway, it is something you can build from off the shelf parts with limited skill. It is being given to people in developing countries. Its one of these things that would be very hard to stop without banning basic electronic devices that have nothing to do with bitcoin.

Its a bit like the evolution of firearms. Today you can buy a 3D printer or a CNC machine and with time and some information that is easy to get online, build your own firearm. Politicians still pass gun laws and will try to ban firearms but its a LARP. They can't stop it. The only way they could stop firearms is to literally gain control of raw aluminum supplies as well as the Internet. Seems unlikely.

Now you might say, they can throw us in jail. They can. But that requires these soft tyranny's like the US to expose themselves for what they really are. I don't think they are that desperate yet.

31 sats \ 1 reply \ @jgbtc 12 Dec 2023

One reason bitcoin is so amazing is that we can, for the first time in history, simply say NO to wannabe tyrants like Warren. Before we were forced to fight rigged political battles with such people, so some people still think this is what we need to do. Bitcoin Is the fight. We just need to hodl in self-custody when we want to save, and transact peer-to-peer when we want to spend, and most importantly, be patient.

"If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by."

--Sun Tzu

110 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 12 Dec 2023

There's a lot of wisdom in Sun Tzu...

I agree with you to a point. Even before bitcoin in my view actions were where it was at. Many examples. Prohibition, home schooling, and especially the right to protect yourself. The refusal to comply is where the power is. If enough people just ignore the state it will fall. No state can stand against the population that values its rights.

The mistake we make is believing the propaganda that the state and politics bring about the change. Politics in the result. Its the tailing indicator of public will and/or opinion. Culture is more important and action even more important. Actual power is what counts. Wealth and agency. The ability to defend oneself. The ability to provide for yourself(or collectively as a group). The ability to support yourself financially. All of these things are where the state has control of most people. Even so called freedom lovers.

For most conservatives freedom is just a fetish. They don't really want it let alone believe in it. Many libertarians are not much better. As long as they can do their handful of activities they are content. It is my belief that the we (the masses) are the problem. We could have much more freedom if we simply worked towards it now. Instead we either depend on politicians to give it to us or wait for it to magically happen.

Plant a garden
Use bitcoin
Provide for you personal protection.
Build community
Ignore the state

If a mass of people would do these simple things the world would dramatically change.

The truth is most people depend on the state in more ways than they care to admit. Where we are going we don't need a state.

20 sats \ 1 reply \ @OT 12 Dec 2023

We're going to win.

I like Gigi's piece on this subject:

https://dergigi.com/2021/08/02/implications-of-outlawing-bitcoin/

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 12 Dec 2023

Yep, its a good one.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 12 Dec 2023

We use bitcoin. We make these clowns irrelevant to our lives. We build resiliency to their games(it takes more than just bitcoin). We will win. Their game is destined for failure

Very few bitcoiners understand that. I am glad you are on this path. And for the rest I have again this meme, to be remembered:

255 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 12 Dec 2023

Thanks @DarthCoin. It has been many years of study and contemplation both before and after I discovered bitcoin. Still learning.

1 sat \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 12 Dec 2023

There is something interesting that I learned a few years ago about the cold war that is kind of a parallel to this post.

It is common these days for "conservatives" to call their opposition communists. Its a bit hyperbolic because if the democrats truly are communists then the conservatives are just a different flavor of communist. Anyway, you hear these conservatives talk about how communism is evil. It is evil but they rarely dive into why it doesn't work. It became clear to me that most conservatives have no clue why communism fails.

I won't go into a ton of detail but the short answer is the knowledge problem. A more free market will always beat a more centralized system. This is the real reason the U.S.S.R. failed. I've read and watched a few documentaries (clearly that makes me an expert ;)) where you see the absurdity of the central planners of the Soviet system. Its absurd how they would "calculate" how many shoes the nation needed. Or how much a car should cost. The reality is that no small group of people can do this. It takes a free market with incentives. Its obvious.

But, conservatives at least the ones that were in charge during the cold war didn't seem to get this. The U.S.S.R. was dead long before it fell. I don't believe these Republicans really believed that though. If they had they would not have enacted so much central management in the U.S. system. It becomes more clear when you learn that some of the most prominent influencers in the modern conservative movement where "former" communists. You see, what they really understood was power. They just wanted power.

Many bitcoiners say they understand bitcoin but they don't. You can see it in their emotions and actions. What they understand is getting rich. Word are cheap. Actions are where you see the truth. I can tell you anything but what I do is what matters. Proof of work.