Bitcoin, freedom and health
How much bitcoin is enough bitcoin? How much health is enough health?
Before bitcoin we had money, of course, and just as with bitcoin we were on a quest to accumulate as much of it as possible.
But bitcoin makes you look at the world differently. It makes you wonder: what is this thing – money – that we spend our lives frantically accumulating? What does it represent? Should we ever stop trying to accumulate it? At what point does this accumulation instinct represent nothing other than pure greed, if at all?
Let’s be honest. Each of us, to one extent or another, likes nice things. Whether bitcoiner or no-coiner, one of the main reasons we like to maximize our financial strength is that it enables us to buy the things we want, and to derive from those things the utility we value. The more money we have, the more stuff we can amass. A house, a car, a holiday, a tomahawk (steak or missile).
Simple really, isn’t it?
Yes and no. Thanks to the thoughtful contributions of bitcoiners like Michael Saylor, bitcoin enables us to view money through the lens of energy. Money is a proxy for our own personal energy, which is limited by our own finite time on this planet. This is why the thieving nature of fiat monetary inflation represents such a degradation to the dignity and prosperity of the individual.
Freedom
Aside from energy, bitcoin has given us another crucial lens through which to view money: the lens of freedom.
Without money, you don’t have freedom. If a government or corporation can remove your access to your bank or your income, you can’t feed yourself, you can’t feed your family, you can’t pay your bills and you can’t have a job. You don’t have options. You don’t have choices. You don’t have freedom.
Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system which requires no intermediaries. Its transactions cannot be reversed. If you custody your bitcoin properly it cannot be confiscated, by anyone.
Bitcoin is therefore a proxy for freedom. The more bitcoin you have, the more freedom you have. It is in this context that you should ask yourself the question, “How much bitcoin is enough?”
Sure, I like nice things. But it is not the idea of having more and more material goods that incentivizes me to accumulate more bitcoin (or at least once I have crossed a certain threshold where I know I have a roof over my head and food on the table). Rather, it is the idea of having more and more options, and more and more freedom, and more and more power to stand up to totalitarian governments and corporations, that incentivizes me to accumulate more bitcoin.
The world went pretty full-retard the last few years, with various draconian measures in response to Covid. Fundamental features of western liberal democracies revealed themselves to be illusions: bodily autonomy, freedom of movement, and freedom to earn a living. As the saying goes, if you don’t stick to your principles when they’re being tested, they’re not principles, they’re hobbies. Western liberal democracies revealed themselves to have nothing but a hobby for freedom.
Covid aside, there are other sinister storm clouds on the horizon: Central Bank Digital Currencies; the relentless and undebatable march to “Net Zero”; and ever-closer co-operation between government and Big Tech, and government and Big Pharma.
If nothing else, the last three years has taught us that at any point in time, and with virtually no notice, the world can totally lose its mind. You never want to be in a position where you regret not having prepared. It is essential to go into any such nightmare in as good a position as possible. The only way to combat tools of oppression is with tools of freedom. A form of money which cannot be confiscated, which cannot be inflated, and which does not require any permission to use, is the most important tool of freedom that we have today.
It is not greedy to want to be free.
If you can’t be greedy with your own freedom, what can you be greedy with?
When it comes to freedom, greed most certainly is good.
Health
There are many bitcoiners who have taken a renewed interest in their health since going down the rabbit hole, because bitcoin has given them a sense of what is important and what is not. It has made them appreciate the value of low time preference (i.e. being patient, and not seeking instant gratification). They have transposed bitcoin’s proof-of-work mantra to the gym.
I am not one of those bitcoiners who has suddenly taken an interest in their own health – for the simple reason that even before bitcoin I took my health very seriously. But bitcoin has given me a greater focus.
I’m pretty obsessed with the gym and exercise generally. I don’t go to the gym every single day, but even on the rare days I don’t go, I tend to go for a very long walk (an hour or two hours).
At times I have even questioned whether such a heavy focus on exercise is right, and that maybe it shouldn’t be such a priority of mine. It sometimes feels like an indulgence, or even a vanity project.
But again, bitcoin makes you look at the world differently. The general freedom lens of bitcoin is a constant reminder of just how precarious all our so-called freedoms really are, including our freedom to exercise: at various points during Covid the gyms were legally forced to close (to protect our health, ironically).
For a while, those of us in the United Kingdom were only allowed one hour of outdoor exercise per day – even in the middle of a field with nobody around us for miles.
The government can do that again, in a heartbeat. They can do something even crazier next time. Sure, you’ll still be able to work out in your home (presumably), but the point is this: we have seen with our own eyes that a government that has achieved a sufficient level of insanity can reduce your ability to exercise. Did you have that on your bingo card for western liberal democracies in 2020?
As it is with my approach to accumulating bitcoin, so it is with my approach to accumulating health: at any point in time the world can go crazy, and I don’t want to go into such an environment in anything other than excellent physical health.
If that means adopting an over-engineering approach to exercise and health now, then so be it. I’m comfortable with that. My objective is to ensure I don’t regret not having focused on exercise and health when the world was less insane and I had the chance.
It’s like playing a video game. If you have the ability to amass more health points now, why wouldn’t you take that opportunity? You have no idea when you will need those health points. You have no idea what future disasters the rest of that game holds. You have no idea whether the rules of the game will even stay the same.
Guilt level: zero
Just like accumulating money is not greedy, accumulating health is not selfish and it is not an indulgent vanity project.
Wealth and health are both absolutely necessary for you to flourish as an individual. Your accumulation of them is also absolutely necessary for your loved ones, because you cannot pour from an empty cup.
So don’t feel guilty for constantly growing your bitcoin stack, or spending hour after hour in the gym or going for long walks.
Stay humble and stack sats.
And stay humble and stack abs, too.
You can follow me on Twitter @OnlyBitcoiner.