SummarySummary
Farmers are humble know-it-alls, with an enviable work ethic and wide ranging skillset. They plant for the future, are criminally undervalued by society and are extremely resourceful with both their hands & time.
It hit me this week that there is really no other occupation quite like a farmer in society. They need to know plenty about everything. From plant biology to soil chemistry, waste management to transport, mechanical engineering to electrical engineering, mathematics to people management, negotiation to commodity markets, weather to animal welfare. They are professional generalists - which is a unique skillset in today's over-efficient world. But it does remind me of another path.
The job of a farmer reminded me of the thankless job many bitcoin (core) developers do. Working long & hard for the fruits of their labour, which they may not directly benefit from themselves. In this case swapping physical thankless labour often at low margins (as farmers) for mentally-demanding thankless labour with smaller pay/grants (as Bitcoiners).
Similarities - Farmers vs BitcoinersSimilarities - Farmers vs Bitcoiners
Below is my attempt at making the comparison between both types of work:
FARMERS | BITCOIN DEVS | |
| 🧡 | Care for animals & nature | Care for humans & time |
| 🎁 | Generous with other workers | Generous with other contributors |
| 💪 | Humble lifelong learners | Humble lifelong re-learners |
| 🤝 | Honest figures in todays local societies | Honest figures in future global society |
| 🔀 | Adaptable to negative conditions & circumstances | Adaptable to new innovations & network forks |
| 🕑 | Incredible at time management | Incredible at time storage |
| 💼 | Market minded to create profits for stores | Market minded to create infrastructure for new businesses |
| ♻️ | Adopt nature's flywheel: soil > grass > animals > waste > soil | Adopt human flywheel: price > trust > users > ux / hashrate > price |
| 🤓 | Knowledgable in engineering, chemistry, markets, people, persistence | Knowledgable in engineering, cryptography, math, security, privacy, econ, markets, liberty |
| 😠 | Persistent & not discouraged by local regulation | Persistent & not discouraged by global regulation |
| 💩 | Working around sh!t | Working around sh!tcoins |
| 🚜 | Confident & driven | 'Toxic' & driven |
| 🔧 | Learn by doing | Proof of work |
| 🌐 | Welcome local competition for sharing best seeds & varieties | Welcome global competition to make the network grow larger |
| 📖 | Experts in hiring specialist contractors | Experts in attracting open-source contributions |
| 🧠 | Problem solvers at heart | Problem solvers in head |
| 🗓️ | Long-term planners | Long-term time preference |
| 🌩️ | Mindful of generations & legacy of land / food | Mindful of generations & legacy of freedom / money / commerce |
| 🚀 | See-through jobs until done | See-through work until shipped |
| 🌅 | Physically demanding, lonely thankless work | Mentally demanding, somewhat lonely thankless work |
| 💰 | Resourceful & receive less investment than supermarkets | Resourceful & receive less investment than fiat / altcoins |
| 👋 | Strong hands | 'Diamond' hands |
| 👣 | On feet most of day, lots of stamina | At desk most of day, lots of persistence |
| 🌴 | Stewardship of local land | Stewardship of global freedom |
| 📉 | Undervalued by locals | Undervalued by world |
P.S. I'm sure I've missed a bunch of skills that farmers have - some of which are listed externally here.
hell no..
view on www.youtube.com“God made a Bitcoiner” - someone will put that on a t-shirt one of these days
Right?! Well, we can pool resources here and use AI to make a God made a Bitcoiner, that would also be cool.. a good use of AI😂
Excellent post. Farmers and Bitcoin devs will merge. As the Bitcoin plebs strive to run the computer while cultivating the planet, solar system...
I've read some comments that farmers don't know that much. The farmers in my family definitely knew a whole lot! Same with the watermen fishing, too. Renaissance man is a farmer, developer and more.
Specialization is a way to compartmentalized humanity in a way that allows deviants to mismanage resources.
You can be good at a certain aspect but you need to have a working knowledge of everything as the Trivium in education otherwise you get scammed.
Not only farmers, everyone should know about bitcoin, it is already in the category of sophisticated computers today, but make the best use of it.
Now: Devs the new farmers Soon: Devs the new Kulaks
Now that you mention it...
There was a moment during that period when chatgpt and the art AI tools came out big in public and everyone on social media had opinions about it, including a large chunk that were worried, opposed or disgusted by it, when I realized:
There is a non-zero chance that if AI is perceived (important word here) to be the cause for suffering or economic upheavel, the devs could be the new kulaks.
This analogy is not far fetch
Probably is
The diamonds hand and strong hands point is my major take home comparison
I like bitcoin but I don't want anyone or anything to be "the new farmers". I like farmers.
Fair 👍
Some interesting comparisons there. Farmers are definitely not appreciated enough these days. Not sure they need to know all those things. Usually they specialize in one particular thing. An apple farmer doesn't need to be knowledgeable in chemistry or math. Maybe the mist basic if that's what you mean
Perhaps, but I was thinking of the typical farmer. A lot of dairy farmers know a lot about everything, inc. inputs & outputs. And they are constantly having to perform calculus to fertilize the right amount of crops or grassland, maintain nitrogen levels, rotate grazing areas, manage air pressures & energy needs, improve ph & protein in feed, move variety of machinery & animals, apply for investment grants, forward sell produce back to the market. Not to mention shave off minutes in their days to become more efficient, by expanding or upgrading operations. Maybe I’ve become a bit too obsessed with farmers of late, but they are underrated heroes.
Farmers do read a lot. Farmers have a good general knowledge of many subjects. Successful farmers increase knowledge to understand as much of the world as possible.
Some might....
I know a few that know one thing really well, and then not much else about everything else.
I think the point here is that of excellence verses mediocrity. My 2nd cousin, a farmer, ran a small bank, ran a farm with his father, had bees, had automatic weapons, used explosives, grew corn, vegetables, raised hogs, cattle and horses, was a ham radio guy... He did a lot. This was in the 1980s.
His father lost his arm in the 1970s in a combine accident and wrapped up his arm and hitchhiked to the hospital.
If you base your knowledge on a small sample or a poor sample then the result will be skewed. The Sears company became very successful in the 20th century by selling farmers, pianos, weapons, books and all kinds of items a general store would not have but the farmers had the income and desire to obtain these items.
I don't want to come across as though I'm looking down on farmers. We might be the ones having to learn all they know in the near future.
What I mean is that they might lack a bit of worldliness as they are local and are always working.
I understand. The nice thing about farmers is they don't get their feelings hurt very easily.
💯
💯
how about Bitcoin plebs 🤔
Similar vibes. But wonder if we can say the plebs work quite as hard as those in dungarees? And in such a thankless position?
Nice relations but nope the code for bitcoin works since the Satoshi client all the devs can stop today and the protocol will continue. And even if it stopped humans will just pívot to the next thing to exchange value while food is required for life.
Half of small farms across America have been eliminated. Numbers are declining rapidly.
https://m.stacker.news/23648
In coastal states, cease and desist notices have been issued with cleverly worded vague descriptions and unscientific excuses to shut down small commercial and backyard food production.
view on youtu.beSince 2018, key infrastructure, food, uranium, gas, and other supplies, storage, distribution and processing facilities have been destroyed.
Interactive map: https://www.zeemaps.com/view?group=4410859&x=-89.849631&y=44.059004&z=14
As inflation gets out of control and supplies and production are squeezed beyond anyone's ability to cope, people will starve or riot. This is avoidable.
Bitcoin fixes this with deflation, innovation, community and self-sufficiency.
If you have the capacity or means to host a meetup, engage with policy folks, or can raise awareness of these glaring red flags, please do.
Please.
🌻
Zapped your post on this just a few moments ago. That chart is quite something
I can vibe with this perspective as the two way of life have similar principles
No, and that's retarded. Didn't read your post. You don't understand bitcoin/mining.
that's rude, it's a good post
ok, my bad. I actually looked briefly at it again and am seeing I misread the post. I thought it said miners are the farmers. Devs I think is a bit of a silly analogy still, but not one that warrants any sort of derision. apologies to OP