Bitcoin will conquer but cannot rule
Author’s note: The following article is an attempt to piece together thoughts and realizations that have been impactful for me, related to navigating wealth and desires. I figured it could be worthwhile to share these thoughts with others, especially as the potential looms for a sudden great transfer of wealth, through bitcoin, toward many of us who may be ill-prepared for it.
I certainly can’t claim to possess any teaching authority on the subject matter. Sadly, at this time I can’t even claim to be a role model who fully embodies the concluding recommendations. In a sense, this article is addressed to myself as much as anyone else. Without further ado…
“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires.
[…] Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he’s evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he’s evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent.
[…] Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth—the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it.”
— Francisco’s Money Speech by Ayn Rand
M ost people would like to own a lot of money. But for what reason? The amount of money someone owns is nothing but a number. It is not an end in itself. By simply possessing money in perpetuity, it can do very little for its owner. Perhaps it could induce a vain sense of superiority, but I think most readers would agree such a feeling is ultimately useless and unhealthy.
Money is a tool, as Ayn Rand points out in the quote above. Tools don’t act on their own, they are used by people. Money must be spent on goods or services, or saved by its owner with the intention of this occurring in the future (by the owner himself, or by his heirs). If it’s never spent, it’s pointless. Therefore, whoever owns a lot of money is necessarily tasked with the decision of what to do with it. If you yourself would like to own a lot of money, have you considered what you would do with it?
Money is a mirror. When someone chooses what to aim their money towards, they must bear witness to a reflection of themself and what they most value.
Money is also an amplifier. The more money someone has, the greater the extent that their values will be actualized. If you would like to own a lot of money, are you sure that you are ready to observe, loud and clear, your true self? Are you sure that you are ready to be exposed to your highest values, thereby meeting the deity that you truly worship?
Those who are fortunate enough to learn about bitcoin and understand the implications of it early on, before the vast majority of the world has caught on, ought to be asking themselves these questions. If someone has been accumulating bitcoin, it may soon turn out that they own what will be considered a lot of money, and they will be faced with decisions of this nature.
Let’s discuss a few of the likely possible outcomes.
Pleasure
"Let me have it, just this one last time."
Everyone is familiar with the temptations of pleasure. Upon indulging, it can feel oh so good. But afterward, the price will be paid with sickness, shame, and a guilty conscience.
As we noted, money is an amplifier. If someone can’t control their debauchery now, they most certainly will not be able to control it with more money. The outcome is certain: they will partake in greater pleasures and pay a greater price. This has been observed among many people who have suddenly come into wealth, such as by winning a lottery.
Temptations and the dangers of pleasure have grown with modern technology, and we can anticipate this becoming orders of magnitude worse in the coming years. People have begun strapping themselves with headsets to deliver sensations to their eyes and ears. Full body suits and brain implants are in development, and are sure to become accessible, taking this to the next level. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will likely be able to use these brain implants to diagnose exactly what provides an individual with the most pleasure, and deliver it on repeat. If the individual becomes overstimulated or bored of one particular experience, the technology will adjust to the next thing that has become the most desirable. This will essentially turn every electrical wall outlet into a heroin dealership. (And if we aren’t careful, it could be used to torture and enslave mankind, but I digress.)
Beginning in the 1950s researchers conducted some experiments on the pleasure center of the brain. When they gave lab rats the ability to self-administer a pleasurable brain stimulation by pressing a lever, they found that the rats would keep doing it to the point of exhaustion, starvation, and death. For someone who wants to own a lot of money yet openly or secretly worships pleasure—be careful what you wish for.
Security
"If I just add that, I will be more comfortable."
It’s logical for someone to want tools and resources ready for when they might need them, minimizing the chances of getting caught unprepared. However, “prepping” can turn into a compulsion. What might start out as an innocent and prudent collection of canned food and camping equipment, can easily turn into a hoard of gear, vehicles and bunkers.
Bitcoin advocates are known to promote low time preference behavior. This means intentionally sacrificing some of the short term pleasures mentioned in the previous section, in favor of working towards—or investing in—future rewards. Naturally, this can mean accumulating things that might pay off down the road, perhaps including saving one’s life during a future disaster. The logic may sound like this: “after all, if someone has a bunch of money but decides not to build a bomb shelter in their basement, they’re going to feel mighty foolish if bombs start dropping!”
The problem is, increasing security and preparedness is an endless endeavor. There is always something more than can be added or upgraded. True comfort can never be reached, and dissatisfaction will reign.
Loving one’s own life and wanting to preserve it is good and natural. But if someone wants to own a lot of money because it will allow them to spend it on increasing their chances of self-preservation, they are worshiping their own earthly life above all else.
“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’
But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”
— Luke 12:16-21 (NABRE)
Our earthly lives are at the mercy of things beyond our control, such as disease, our environment, and ultimately our inescapable mortality. For someone who wants to own a lot of money yet openly or secretly worships their own life (or the life of another)—beware of this reality.
God
"I shall do better, in the pursuit of a clear conscience and peaceful mind."
If one is willing to agree that beauty and goodness are not entirely subjective, then God could be conceptualized as the the highest form of beauty and goodness.
This highest form is hard to wrap one’s head around (impossible, it could be argued) because we are so distant from it. Yet, we often have a sense of what is closer to it or farther away. Especially in our actions, we may feel shame and remorse, or we may feel warmth and peace. It’s as if something within us strives to align with God.
By leaning into this calling, someone’s highest value can become God. Then their money would necessarily be spent on the promotion of beauty and goodness, according to their honest understanding of such things. This could be in the form of charity for those who are suffering. It could be funding projects of art, architecture, invention, or discovery. It could be entrepreneurship—building a business that provides an efficient and sustainable service better than others have been able to—so long as the motivations are in good faith, and not simply a means to create a larger pile of money used for worshiping a different deity.
Choosing paths
Human action is the demonstration of preferences. From the options known to us, we try to choose the paths that will lead us to what we think we value most. Much like our time and energy, we must allocate our money toward such paths, and if someone has a lot of money, the gravity of their decision is magnified. Without much thought behind it, wealth is likely to be a dangerous force.
“Lest you give your honor to others, and your years to a merciless one; Lest outsiders take their fill of your wealth, and your hard-won earnings go to another’s house;”
— Proverbs 5:9-10 (NABRE)
We can turn to the wisdom of our ancestors for advice on these paths. Many of the oldest manuscripts which they took care in passing down through generations, include works of philosophy and theology that comment on this topic. A plethora of parables and outright instructions are available for our reference and consideration, and it would seem they predominantly agree that sacrificing short-term pleasures for long-term benefits (that go beyond mere self-preservation), is the path that leads to the greatest happiness and peace of mind. This is the path we’re encouraged to take.
Bitcoin conquers, for what king?
Bitcoin has generated much wealth for its loyal advocates, and I believe it will continue to do so, on an accelerating basis until it dominates the economic world. While I expect bitcoin to conquer all other forms of money, it will be unable to rule over its newfound global territory, because money is not an end in itself.
The highest values among those benefitting from bitcoin are what will rule the new paradigm. During and after the great transfer of wealth, these values are what will determine how the wealth will be directed. Therefore, bitcoin advocates would be wise to discuss these matters with each other and cultivate a culture of values that will best serve us and shape the world we want to see. We have a unique opportunity to set an example for others and restrain the vices that plague our society today.