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274 sats \ 30 replies \ @Undisciplined 7 Apr \ on: The Practice of Non-Possessiveness FiresidePhilosophy
Since first going away to college, I've probably moved every other year on average. That definitely reinforced non-possessiveness.
We have family members who know they need to move for financial reasons, but they can't afford to, because of all the stuff they're attached to. It's a real curse being so attached to stuff.
I hate moving, but I’d probably hate it less if I had less stuff. I’ve been working to reduce my inventory on both ends: getting rid of stuff, and buying less
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One of my pet theories is that a resulting bitcoin-standard will naturally enforce a more minimal lifestyle. My hunch is that deflationary pressures results in your own less things, but the things you do have are higher quality.
Its seems true if you look back at our grand-parents. They basically lived in a more-or-less disinflationary money system. Your great grandmother owned 3 pots and frying pan that lasted her thru her whole life. Moreover, at that point the expectation was that all things were to be owned for life. They were to be repaired and mended. It still makes me wince to throw something usable away simply because the economics of repair don't make sense.
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Thanks for this comment. I don’t understand much about Bitcoin but I intuitively feel that is my best option for savings and that it supports a more minimal lifestyle.
My grandparents life fit the American Dream mold quite well. And it seems that they were able to live that life in part because they had money up front to buy high-quality items and hold them for life. I’d like to move more of my consumption to supporting artisans and get back to that way of being.
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I think this is true for sure. Once people get into Bitcoin, they tend towards less greed and consumerism. Low time preference behavior. And they tend to feel more abundant so they want to give, share, and build. Fiat system encourages us to spend, spend, spend.
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I think this is right, but I don't fully understand why.
We do know that inflationary money leads to lower quality goods (shrinkflation) and rewards high time-preference consumer behaviors. So, it stands to reason that deflationary money would result in the opposite.
I think it has less to do with deflation causing those things, than it does with people generally preferring them and being able to act on those preferences in the absence of inflation. In other words, inflation is a distortion.
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It's so strange how my perspective has shifted. Inflation feels to obviously ridiculous now. What a lie I have been believing.
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In other words, inflation is a distortion.
Very good point. I'm sure no one mentally goes to the store thinking "I'm hoping to go buy a blender that I can throw away in 3 years because the cheap metal alloy used in the gears wears out". We would naturally prefer to buy a blender once.
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I definitely don't think moving a lot is great, but not being able to isn't good either.
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Life of an academic?
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More like the life of a poor person. Whenever our lease was up, we would look for a better deal and usually we found one.
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That’s good you found a better deal. Where I live it’s almost impossible. Not impossible but unlikely. Sometimes you get lucky 🍀 lol 😂
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There's a reason I always tried to live in places that might have better deals. I have some family in California, so you definitely have my sympathies.
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I would move except for my mother. She likes the weather in California. After my dad passed, I paused my plan to move to another state
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My theory is California is so terrible because the weather is so good. If the weather were worse, people wouldn't put up with it and they'd leave.
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Very true.
Also my mother is semi retired and my dad built a nice nest egg. She is not rich but she is comfortable. She also gets social security and Medicare.
I pitched Arizona and Texas to her, her response was too hot 🥵
I am not going to force my mom to relocate even if I could.
On the other hand I know recent retirees who moved to Texas and Arizona and Florida and are extremely happy with their relocation.
These folks also follow politics. My mother does not. She is politically right but I have to tell her how to vote
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Arizona for the win. I might be biased. You tell her to vote Bitcoin right?