It's my view that we're sitting in the front row of a movie theater, popcorn on our lap, and we're watching history play out before us. Specifically, we're watching a film called "The New Economic Revolution" starring Bitcoin.
Revolutions, true revolutions where the old world order is turned down and the new order is transformed up, are rare. We usually think of political revolutions when we hear "revolution," at least I do. A power overthrow is an easy thing to see and grasp.
Social revolutions are another good example, often initiated by or aided by technological revolutions. The Protestant Revolution, aided by the printing press, unchained the Holy Bible from the gatekeepers of the Catholic church and brought it to directly to the people in their own language.
But, economic revolutions, I'd argue, are extremely rare. How many true economic revolutions have their been?
  1. The move from forager to agriculture, maybe? Though I'd argue agriculture has been around since the beginning.
  2. The beginnings of the use of money. This one is hard to pin down and would depend on geography, but it's a game changer.
  3. Around the 1700s there was what's called the "agricultural revolution" or "enclosure." (This was the second agricultural revolution, the first being #1 above.) Enclosure might be the better word, because it's essentially just fencing off land. In this way, enclosure is essentially capitalism being carried out, the move from the communal to private property. See the next number below.
  4. Adam Smith's free market capitalism. Capitalism has raised the standard of living of more people than anything I can imagine. Historically, it liberated millions, maybe billions, from mercantilism and the clutches of the haves controlling the have-nots. Today, with capitalism, a have-not with an idea, grit and determination can achieve great things. Certainly, a gritty person stands to live a better life in capitalism than in any other economic system.
  5. Bitcoin. I rank bitcoin right there among these other landmarks because it disconnects money and value from power-brokers and connects that value directly to the people. This is, of course, why they dislike and fight bitcoin.
So, is bitcoin in the four or five greatest economic revolutions of history? I think it is. The technology it revealed aside, the way-of-thinking it awakened to so many people might be its most incredible achievement. Like Plato's cave allegory, coming out of the cave is difficult and can be frightening and painful. Yet, once out of the cave and viewing the beautiful world outside, no one crawls back into the cave to live a life in darkness.
In bitcoin, we hear the term "flywheel" used fairly often. It's a great analogy: the flywheel, once spinning, creates its own inertia to generate greater spin and greater inertia, and thus, its own energy. That bitcoin flywheel is spinning, and speeding, and not everyone likes the revolution its creating.
We're watching this movie play out in real time. I'm not even talking price here, though that is one effective measure and easy-to-handle metric of the revolution. I'm talking about a complete change from "your" money and "my" money being liberated from gatekeepers and power brokers and placed directly into your and my hands. It is the scripture from Latin to the vernacular.
On the topic of religion, I think back to the patriarchs of the Old Testament, particularly Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of Genesis. They became wealthy, influential, and powerful men. Their wealth was not in money as we think of it. It was not in gold. It was not even in land for much of their lives. Their wealth was in livestock...an asset or commodity that would literally walk around with them as they traveled to and fro across the Holy Land. My point here is that they were the actual holders, the custodians of their wealth. They held their flocks and herds with them, completely divorced from any governmental or institutional overseer. Their money had four feet, ate, sleep, defecated, and got eaten themselves. But, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob controlled their own wealth.
Bitcoin effectively returns us back to herding sheep and goats. We can trade a sheep, slaughter a goat without anyone's permission and without anyone taking a fee for us doing so. With legacy money, this is not the case.
Anyone who is old enough to have lived through the period when the internet became accessible to normal folks, the 90s and early 2000s, they might see how we've been blessed to witness a couple of revolutions. First, we saw the information revolution play out, and we've lived it out. Anyone who did research pre-internet understands the difference between looking for things on microfiche and searching the 'net. The ease of the search, the wide spread of the net that's cast, and the accuracy and pertinence of the results are ridiculously better now. It's not that information could not be found prior to the internet, it's that the entire process has been sped up to an incredible degree.
As a quick and simple example, suppose you ask, "What was the name of the first song the Rolling Stones came out with?" Pre-internet, you'd have to take an afternoon to go to the library, find a book on rock 'n roll music history, if your library had one. Else, you had to request it. Then wait a few days, then go back, then thumb through it. Maybe it would have the answer, maybe not. If not, request another book. Or, maybe dig rather aimlessly through the microfiche and pray.
To research that question now...do a search. There's your answer.
And secondly, we're able to watch the revolution of money that bitcoin started and which the flywheel is now fueling. The combined technological revolution of the internet and the economic revolution of bitcoin, are, well historic to say the least. I'm convinced that in 20 years people will look back at this time in awe. Certainly in 50 years and a hundred and hundreds, this period will be in the history books properly recorded as truly revolutionary.
We're blessed to be sitting and watching this amazing time. Out of roughly 5,000 years of recorded history, we're living in one of the few times where we get to witness such transformative changes. There haven't been many changes this big, and we get to live it.
Be thankful, humble, and enjoy the movie and the popcorn.
114 sats \ 3 replies \ @BTCFC 8 Mar
LFG!!
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what's LFG, I have been seeing this a lot lately
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @BTCFC 9 Mar
Let's fucking gooooooooo!
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Oh really! It's like I'm getting too old to chat
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Great write up. I think most people in the midst of a revolution rarely notice it at the time. Hindsight seems to be the way we see huge technological shifts..
Well, our dear Bitcoin has marked it's arrival in Hollywood. Reports are claiming that Amazon's MGM studios is in the early stages of making a Film based on $3 billion Bitfinex Hack. The film would explore the life of the couple involved in 'the biggest Bitcoin heist of all times' with Hannah Marks set to direct the movie. https://www.publish0x.com/coinsreporter/bitcoin-enters-hollywood-with-razzlekhan-xlgeqjj
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @freetx 8 Mar
I've often thought that the famous "time traveler" reddit post would've made a good movie....surprised no one has done it yet.
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This post reminds me of the ideas that Erik Cason wrote about in his book cryptosoveignty
Like this quote from page 72
“Within the language of cryptography, each unique mnemonic private key is like the utterance of the holy names of God in private prayer. It is the Tetragrammaton of secrets themselves and the hidden power that is created through concealment itself. The creation of a private key is sacred and holy insofar that it is a singular linguistic experience in which we offer ourselves another form of sacral linguistic power for protection through ritualized discourse with the machine.
Through the specific arrangement of words that are unique to a singular moment, place, and time in space-the chances of which are beyond 2^256-we can confidently say this number will never in all of human existence be produced ever again. However, to prove God's glory all the more, we cannot say it is impossible, for a throw of the dice will never abolish chance”
Powerful stuff!
And this piece further pushes this idea that we are in the Dawn of a new system!
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I don't understand everything here, but I get that it's deep and it's bigger than us. Appreciate your thoughts.
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Think how fast we went from paying and waiting for words on paper being transported by the US Government to "You Got MAIL!".
Think how fast we went from paying $1's per minute to a US Government ensured monopoly to talk over copper wires to Grandma who lived 20 miles away in another area code to free calls over wireless networks.
Think how fast we went from shopping at Sears to buying stuff from "amazon.com".
Think how fast we went from The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto to a Trillion CuckBuck truth asset that is the purest form of truth the human race has ever witnessed.
Bitcoin - BitTorrent - Nostr - 3Dprinted pewpews - SciHub - we truly are witnessing the biggest shift in freedoms since the invention of the printing press allowed "plebs" to read the Bible. Amen.
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It is still too early to celebrate. But it is definetely a milestone of the World economy.
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Bitcoin is a black hole that will swallow everything up.
It's an honour to witness this and it's entertaining to watch it in real time.
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I agree (or at least hope) that will happen.
But are we witnessing it in real time? Who actually gets orangepilled right now? It feels like BTC/USD is 🚀🚀🚀 but without actual bitcoinization happening? 😐😐
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It is happening. I understand it's not how we had envisioned it would happen, but perhaps it's how it was meant to happen.
If you go to a financial subreddit and post anything about Bitcoin, you'll either get banned or downvoted. You can lead a horse to water and that's the best you can do. I haven't succeeded in orange pilling any of my friends, but I've done the best I could. They will join us in due course, whenever that is for each and every one of them.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Entrep 9 Mar
Every move Bitcoin makes will be history in the future
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @ch0k1 8 Mar
Amen 🙏
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 8 Mar
We are indeed!
Have to remember to take a step back sometimes and enjoy it.
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Awesome post.
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This is great, thanks for sharing! I totally agree. I’ve been telling people for 3 years. Some are slowly coming around to it. I’m obviously a bit obsessed with it!
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It is tricky to pin down economic revolutions, because one major innovation begets others.
I'll take the controversial position that Bitcoin is not the economic revolution, but rather an outcome of the Information Revolution.
As revolutionary as money is, I think it followed naturally from settling into agrarian societies. If you aren't moving to where there are resources you need resources to move to you. Money emerges from barter.
I think of there being three revolutions, but of course it's open to debate:
  • Agricultural
  • Industrial
  • Digital
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Rank Bitcoin on any revolutionary change in the status quo category and it stands essential to the every day need in our modern society
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Tef 8 Mar
On the topic of religion, I think back to the patriarchs of the Old Testament, particularly Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of Genesis. They became wealthy, influential, and powerful men. Their wealth was not in money as we think of it. It was not in gold. It was not even in land for much of their lives. Their wealth was in livestock...an asset or commodity that would literally walk around with them as they traveled to and fro across the Holy Land. My point here is that they were the actual holders, the custodians of their wealth. They held their flocks and herds with them, completely divorced from any governmental or institutional overseer. Their money had four feet, ate, sleep, defecated, and got eaten themselves. But, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob controlled their own wealth. Bitcoin effectively returns us back to herding sheep and goats. We can trade a sheep, slaughter a goat “ for us doing so. With legacy money, this is not the case.
I love this analogy. That’s the way wealth should be working and this is how it should be administered: “without anyone's permission and without anyone taking a fee...” And Bitcoin has the potential making this happen.
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This movie deserved an Oscar. Good historical summary. Would you not agree that the gold standard was a pivotal moment?
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stackers have outlawed this. turn on wild west mode in your /settings to see outlawed content.