This is an opinion editorial by Aleks Svetski, author of “The Anti-Communist Manifestofounder of The Bitcoin Times and host of the “Wake Up Podcast with Svetski”.
Bitcoin is a combination of many innovations — technological, mathematical and scientific. This includes, of course, cryptography, timestamping, hashing and proof of work, the combination of which has given rise to new forms of technology, namely time warp technology, number augmentation technology (NGU) and what I think may be the most important of all: Escalation Technology (RGU).
Responsibility and freedom
I came to Bitcoin for the “money” and stayed for “Money.” money being the most important invention/discovery/social tool known to the greatest social beast of all, that is, man.
I have always been a freedom maximalist. This pose has taken me on quite a journey in life with more than my fair share of ups and downs. I’ve won and lost big, more times than I can count – in business, finance, relationships, and just about every other area of life. When I look back over the years, one thing stands out:
The experiences that seemed to me the most healthy, fair and true were those where I was the most free. and responsible for the outcome. Whether good or bad, and for better or for worse.
I don’t think I enjoyed the latter, at least consciously, when I was younger. Circumstances in my life have generally placed me to be largely responsible anyway, but if I’m being honest I spent most of my time focusing on the freedom aspect and as a result I gave up my fair share of responsibility along the way.
The older and more mature I became, the more I learned to respect, to desire and ultimately to seek. responsibility.
Jordan Peterson planted an important seed. I remember listening to short clips of him while training at the gym. One time period in particular that comes to mind was 2020. Some significant events happened derailing my life, so I was lifting weights and punishing myself in the gym while listening to this man drumming up doctrines of responsibility, truth and of integrity in my head.
It was a profound and transformative time in my life.
Devoting time and effort to understanding Bitcoin, Austrian economy, history and male framework (hat tip, Jerr), also considerably deepened my position on “responsibility”. Just like observing the injustice and sheer madness of the clown world.
Here I am now at the end of 2022, newly married and looking to take the most responsible step of my life to date: having children and building a dynasty with my beautiful wife.
As this new chapter unfolds, I have found accountability to be at the forefront in terms of importance. Maybe even more than freedom. It’s something I never thought I’d say, but here I am.
Along with this personal transformation, I realized that Bitcoin itself is even more important than I thought, because it embodies, breathes, and embodies responsibility.
A new meme for 2022 and beyond
If Bitcoin is responsible money, then what drives it is RGU technology.
Of course, it’s a meme. And we should treat it as such. Nowadays, we memorize things in existence. NGU was the perfect example, as were the laser eyes. But now let’s add something new to the lexicon.
NGU was awesome, is awesome and always will be. Bitcoin’s NGU works on many levels: relative exchange rate (i.e. price), block height, number of nodes, hash rate, users and more, although we know that most people mainly focus on the price.
This is where things can fall apart.
If the exchange rate is the main focus, periods of non-NGU price action make you look stupid or feel a little empty. Bitcoiners are willing to endure looking stupid. It’s a price to pay, of course. Not to mention that these rites of passage are both purification and forging. They weed out the weak, while sharpening the true believers.
But it is in the sharpening that we have the opportunity to discover a more moral pursuit. And here’s my suggestion: Getting rich is cool and all, winning is good. We will anyway. But let’s also rediscover what made our civilizations great in the first place:
Responsibility.
I have come to believe that it is the most mature and evolved of human attributes. With great freedom comes the moral call to great responsibility. This is the challenge to all boys who must become men. It is then that you transcend the child and enter into the adult.
In this sense, Bitcoin is a sign of civilizational maturity. And perhaps on a larger scale, the tumultuous times in which we find ourselves are a sign of a humanity in the grip of adolescence. As a species, we accept what it means to live in accordance with truth and the natural order. We’re halfway through the rite of passage, and the infantile part of us that wants to keep pretending is throwing tantrums, kicking, biting, and screaming because it knows its time is up.
The era of fiat is coming to an end, and like a child in hysterics, he is in a state of panic. But have no fear, for that too shall pass. Bitcoin will make us mature, because not only will it make freedom great again, but it will make responsibility great again.
Liability Go Up Technology
You will find RGU technology embedded in every bitcoin. From radical custody and storage methods to the fact that there is no “helpline” you can call if you’ve lost your keys or sent bitcoins to the wrong address.
The same powerful property rights make you free to do what you want with your wealth, but they also oblige you to secure your wealth so that it is not taken, lost or wasted.
Knowing that Bitcoin is a one-way function, and there is no “rewind button” (like there is in fiat’s fantasy game), it makes you think twice, no, three times, about what you do. It is maturity. That’s what it means to be an adult.
When you run a node, you are Bitcoin. You are the bank. You are responsible for maintaining a copy of the entire ledger.
And it goes further!
Beyond the inherent responsibility for utility and function found in Bitcoin, there is the effect it has on transforming the user into a more responsible human being. As the owner of your own wealth, you become the steward, the bearer and the Guardian. It’s power, and we all know what Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker:
What this does in a social sense is profound.
Bitcoin makes the economic game fair. No one can earn by virtue of a money printer or state monopoly. These fancy methods of cheating become powerless.
It cuts to the very heart of the irresponsible and short-sighted fiat world we live in. Cheating is irresponsible behavior. When you can play a game and never lose, of course you release yourself from responsibility!
When you are the nation state or the central bank and you do this, this behavior spreads until all of civilization is infected with it. People will simultaneously become devoid of individual responsibility while being responsible for everything and everyone.
This is where we are now. A great mass of mindless serfs, playing a strange game of responsibility, a hot potato.
RGU technology means the consequence is localized. There may be little or no socialization of bad decisions. It is up to the individual to rise and prosper, within the framework of a fair economic game, achieved by a radical appropriation of his wealth.
This is the magic of RGU and what, in fact, makes it similar to NGU. It is embedded in the Bitcoin thing, and it also manifests itself in the outside world as what it is.
And the proof is in the pudding.
Bitcoin has inspired research in many other areas of life, from level of ownership and skill (or lack thereof) to areas such as food, setting, family, self-defense, knowledge, energy, housing, health and much more, it fundamentally transformed the people who came into contact with it.
This incredible side effect of responsible money is amazing.
What do I mean by “responsible money”?
I mean honest money, real money, money whose record is accurate and whose safekeeping requires the responsibility of the bearer.
Bitcoin, like the force of nature that it is, requires you as an individual to make responsible choices with your time, energy, and intent, from custody to how you trade the product of your labor, in an interconnected society and economy.
You adapt to the reality of gravity by not jumping off random cliffs, and if you do, you are at least (when you intend to preserve yourself) wearing a parachute. The same is true when your intention is to complete your journey. You can jump off the cliff the same way you can burn your keys.
There is no rewind button. There is no replay. It is done.
Bitcoin advances like the cortege of time. He doesn’t look back. He does not forgive, nor does he forget. Mistakes are paid in full and there are no second chances. Bitcoin is fair. You adapt to that. The result is a scorecard and register of the highest accountability.
You adapt to the radical freedom of Bitcoin, or you can adapt to the radical enslavement of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and others.
A quick note on adaptation: This is perhaps humanity’s greatest strength and greatest weakness. Either humans will adapt to freedom by taking on more responsibility, or they will adapt to slavery by giving it up in exchange for (often only an illusion or promise of) security.
The slow and consistent renunciation of responsibility leads inexorably to the erosion of freedom. But it’s very hard to notice from the start because comfort and safety are so nice. The movie “Wall-E” comes to mind when I think about it, as does the 2020 phase of the clown world.
This infantilization of individuals is a regression and de-sophistication of civilization. It’s a disease. Responsible money is the cure.
Responsible money is real money. Responsible money is mature money. Responsible money leads to responsible action. Responsible action leads to a more mature, fair, real and functional world.
Bitcoin is the ultimate form of responsible money, and RGU technology is the antidote to the fiat fantasy and the supposed prosperity of politics.
Adopt it, not just because the number is growing. Do it because responsibility, the highest of virtues, rises in you and in the world around you.
This is a guest post by Alex Svetskyauthor of “The Anti-Communist Manifesto,” founder of bitcoin time and host of The Wake Up Podcast. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.