Bitcoin Tech Talk #423
Interesting Stuff
Economic Incentives and Kids - Birth rates are down everywhere and governments are in a panic trying to get people to have more kids. There are lots of economic incentives in these countries, from lower taxes to paid leave. As the article points out, though, these incentives simply don’t work. If anything, birth rates are going down despite these programs. Indeed, it seems that the people that have more than 2 kids typically have a dad that’s significantly richer than average. In other words, the economic incentives are nowhere near enough. As I’ve said in my book Fiat Ruins Everything, the reality is that we are significantly poorer and can’t afford children, even with heavy subsidies.
Fight Club and Jesus - Not two things you’d normally associate, but this long read is about young men’s search for meaning and the cultural shift that’s taken place over the last 25 years both in the world and in the church. As the article points out, the movie is deeply spiritual where young men find meaning in something so crazy as a fight club and it’s the film’s exploration of that lack of meaning which made it so popular. What’s surprising is that in the last 25 years, the church has seemingly died and been reborn, to the point that there are more young men than women going to church. I found this article to be a white pill in the midst of the cultural insanity.
Confusing Messages - On the other side of the ledger, this is an article about the experience of young women growing up. As a father, the article was insightful and a bit scary, seeing their plight. Girls are told that anything that’s not feminist is from the patriarchy along with the semi-contradictory sex-positivism. As the author points out, girls are shamed for wanting male validation, but that doesn’t make it go away. In other words, the values young women have to contend with is extremely confusing.
Loserdom has won - The article is provocative and explains how it’s now considered normal and cool to be an introvert at home posting online. It’s really a lament to the fact that there’s just so little will and agency being displayed and speaks to the culture that produced this set of values. I suspect that a lot of this is cope from years of COVID hysteria and collective gaslighting, but the yearning for something more, I find encouraging.
What I'm up to
Rajat Soni - I spoke to Rajat about fiat money and the regression of civilization. We spoke about real estate and stock being Fed-backed stores of value and how they’re asset-inflated as a result, about how most large fiat businesses are really all financialized. We discussed debt-based building and the waste that results from using other peoples’ money instead of your own. Lastly, I made the case against altcoins.
Fiat Ruins Everything - This is a remote talk that I gave at the Thailand Bitcoin Conference back during the summer. I talked about fiat money and the many different ways that the incentives have changed to the point that civilization is actively declining.
Dead Man Switches - I’m looking for a digital dead man’s switch. I’ve been doing some research and am not satisfied with the ones I’ve found. If anyone has one that can be updated reasonably often and has a decently long track record, please let me know by replying to this email.
Nostr Note of the Week
What I’m Promoting
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