As a long time SN user, I get notifications that some old nostalgic posts of mine got zapped recently. So of course, the The Importance of the Pain of Consequences was recently zapped and since I'm in a group chat with Bitcoin veterans actively coordinating Hurricane relief donations and discussing strategies for assisting (of course all of my suggestions are about computers like Mestastic devices and OSMand~ offline maps or getting weather satellite data directly from the satellite) I thought I'd make a quick follow up to that post.
Consequences
First and foremost, that post was mostly about the aftereffects of a hurricane. "How do we rebuild homes" vs "How do build homes that survive". Seeing the coverage of the real hurricane, the consequences are even worse than what was presented. The problem with not preparing and only talking about how your house won't make it pales in comparison to the real consequences. You can't worry about your home being destroyed, if you aren't alive in the first place.
So of course the entire premise of disaster being a learning lesson doesn't work very well if you're dead.
"This entire area is a war zone, even if not directly “destroyed” by flood waters. There are men, women and children starving, without water and sanitation. No fuel. People can’t get to any distro points because they have no fuel. People are walking on foot and dragging wagons . . .
The majority of federal and state assets are being diverted to the incorporated areas of Asheville, Black Mtn, etc. and without a deliberate effort yet into the rural unincorporated areas.
People are suffering, and communities are rapidly moving to isolation and self-defense and policing.
There are bodies floating down the rivers. There are bodies stuck in the tops of trees.
Normalcy Bias
Normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a cognitive bias which leads people to disbelieve or minimize threat warnings.[1] Consequently, individuals underestimate the likelihood of a disaster, when it might affect them, and its potential adverse effects.[2] The normalcy bias causes many people to prepare inadequately for natural disasters, market crashes, and calamities caused by human error. About 80% of people reportedly display normalcy bias during a disaster.[3]
Here's what I do know, most people underestimate the probability of a natural disaster, and a few people are very prepared or overly prepared (especially for things that are less likely to happen than natural disasters lol)
The current "prepper" culture has resulted in this effect (This is back to that tweet from earlier)
Desperation is increasing, and most vets are lying on their roofs with rifles. Local rural gas stations, markets etc have clear militias forming with men in hodge podge gear and rifles patrolling. We are self-policing now.
We can do better than this. We can prepare our communities. Go talk your local city council into having better preparedness if you feel that's the way to do it, or just like talk to your neighbors about how you would get through something like this together. The every person for themselves mentality not even the best outcome for yourself.
And hey, you know what, if you want to think about this from a money perspective, stock up on supplies with the intention to sell during a natural disaster to the people who didn't prepare lol (Look its a better outcome than shooting them!)
The Response
I keep going back to this idea that a Bitcoin standard will result in more polity than democracy, more charitable efforts rather than fighting each day to survive on your own. Maybe that's a bias caused by the people I choose to surround myself with, but its also the best way (imo) for a deflationary economy to work. The old money funds the new prospects out of desire to see humanity build in a greater visionary direction. Its difficult to be convincing that this will be the case though, because there seems to be so little evidence of it and so much more evidence of the opposite right?
In the same way, if I had responded at the time to that old post asking how we would do hurricane relief on a Bitcoin standard, that we would just have charities instead, I think it would have been a very weak argument for the same reasons. With Bitcoin Veterans, I now have evidence of course of that being the case. People from so many skillsets are coming together to figure this out.
Here's why I think this happens. Why I believe people do end up being selfless and it may also explain why other people are selfish:
Moslow's Hierarchy of Needs. A classic. I believe that as people achieve self actualization, they tend to focus more and more of their life on helping others. I believe that the fiat standard keeps people at the lower levels where selfishness is necessary for survival. Whereas I believe a Bitcoin standard allows people to reach self-actualization and those people then lift up the others around them and that there is a real material benefit when they do so. It reinforces their esteem and their feeling of love and belonging.
Only time will tell of course.