Author: Kurt Robinson

Conscious Communication and Ethical Emergence – Michael Nimetz & ELAmental

The Story: How to build a company based on communication

Since 2015, hundreds of people have gone to Acapulco every year to celebrate liberty, and discuss how to make the world more free. Some of them decided to never leave, and some decided to keep coming back. In this episode, Kurt is joined by Acapulco expatriate Michael Nimetz, and Anarchapulco performer, MC ELAmental.

If you’ve ever worked in a large organisation, you probably know that the rule is “The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.” That’s why Michael is presenting a workshop on his method of “Ethical Emergence” at Anarchapulco this year 2019 – all about how to improve communication in organisations, fostering relationships between individuals and departments, enabling people to best use their skills and form synergy with others’ skills. Nimetz has used this method in the construction industry, improving the efficiency so much that it reduces large projects by many months.

Our other guest, MC ELAmental is performing at Anarchapulco’s Turtle party. MC ELAmental makes conscious hip hop, and is an advocate and activist creating eco-friendly products by hand, such as T-shirts with natural dyes using berries and other plants – in harmony with nature and even helping plants to grow.

Thanks to Michael, ELAmental and to you for joining us in this interesting conversation.

The Links:

Michael explains his method – Ethical Emergence

ELAmental’s Soundcloud

ELAmental on Steemit

Earth Tribe on Steemit

ELAmental’s Anarchapulco shirts – DTube

ELAmental’s Anarchapulco shirts – Steemit post

Dunbar’s number

Hacking of the American Mind speech

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please like and follow The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit. Also check out my new site, Cryptonomics, and follow Cryptonomics on Steemit

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

Listen and subscribe to The Paradise Paradox on Anchor and other services.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

Should I short bitcoin? With Chris Guida

After a solid year of bitcoin making low after low, you might think that it will continue to make new lows. You might even be so confident as to sell bitcoin short – that is, to borrow bitcoins in order to sell them, and profit when it goes lower. Would that be a smart move in market like this?

Or would the opposite action be correct – has crypto been going down for so long that it’s “due” for a turn around? Should you invest in cryptocurrency now, in February 2019?

The other day I spoke with long-term Bitcoin enthusiast and software developer Chris Guida to get his take. Scroll down to watch and listen to this episode.

Should I invest in bitcoin?

Chris notes how the market is down more than 80% from its peak, with many altcoins losing more than 90% from their all time highs. He says the idea is to start slow, dollar cost averaging, putting in $5 or $10 a week and building up slowly. A small amount of exposure to crypto can make a big difference in the long term.

Should I short bitcoin?

Nobody knows where the crypto market will go, but after one year of going down, it’s less certain that it will keep going down. A personal short-selling strategy from Chris is to catch an asset on the day that it first makes a big drop after a huge rally, such as when Monero made a stellar rise after gaining acceptance in dark web markets. Short-selling is risky, and so it’s prudent to limit shorts to a very small part of your portfolio

You can listen and subscribe on Anchor and other podcasting services here:

Cryptonomics – Should I short bitcoin? With Chris Guida

 

Banksters vs Dash Treasury – Cryptonomics

A lot of people forget the reason Bitcoin and cryptocurrency were invented – to threaten the monopolies and oligopolies of central banks around the world which abuse their power. Like it or not, Bitcoin is threatening to banks. That’s why a system of independent funding like the Dash treasury is so important, an autonomous system of funding which reduces the chance of moneymen moving in to take over an operation and direct it in a way which serves their interest, rather than ours.

In this video, I explain the problem of commercial banks and central banks constantly looking for ways to take down cryptocurrency, and how the Dash treasury provides some shield against that onslaught. Thank you for sharing this video and thanks for being cool! Scroll down to watch and listen to the episode.

What is wrong with most crypto funding?

Bitcoin poses a risk to commercial banks, central banks, tax authorities, and even the idea of a state. When you have a monopoly or oligopoly, the idea is to shut out the competition, prevent it from even arising. With crypto popping up from the primordial soup of the Internet, it’s not so easy. The ledger is distributed, the power is decentralised. No individual miner or node controls the network. So if you want to take a system like that down, where do you go? You don’t attack it at a software level, a protocol level. The system is too well designed for that. You go for the weakest link – you go for the people.

You see that the project has a lack of money, you move in and offer them something. Then down the line you ask them to make certain changes in the code. Eventually you end up with either a failed project, or a watered-down one which no longer has the disruptive potential of the original, and no longer has the potency. That would be relatively easy for a project like Bitcoin, which has no funding of its own.

With ICOs, they raise money at the beginning, and use those funds to build the project… But what do they do if the money runs out? ICOs attract scammers, because the money can come in a lump sum, all at once, so there’s no ongoing accountability. Many ICOs will just take the money and run.

Let’s talk about how the Dash treasury addresses those problems.

What is the Dash treasury?

The solution is to create a system of ongoing funding, not provided by an external source, but one that actually comes from within the system.

With many coins, the newly minted coins go to either the miners or the stakers, who maintain the integrity of the network. With Dash, 45% goes to miners, 45% goes to MN, and 10% goes to the treasury. The MN do a few things for the network, but one important job is, the MN holders vote on where the treasury money goes.

Every month they vote, and the money is distributed. Proposals are made on DashCentral.org and published on the blockchain – making the system resistant to censorship.

Originally it was intended to fund the dev team, which it does and more. This does also mean that if the dev team ever got out of line, or wasn’t providing the results that the MN holders expected, or even gets corrupted, they could potentially defund the dev team. I hope they’ll never have to do that, but the potential of losing ongoing funding does give them an incentive to keep delivering good results.

Now, the treasury funds a lot of projects, including a few media teams such as Dash Force News, and sponsoring planes and MMA fighters such as Rory MacDonald.

The treasury also funds important outreach projects that go beyond marketing. For example, in Caracas, Venezuela every month they hold a Dash conference to educate people about cryptocurrency. They also fund a Dash call centre, so people from Venezuela can call and get someone to guide them through the process of setting up a wallet. That means crypto is no longer the domain of nerds.

A lot of these projects in the crypto market go up in crazy bull runs… then they come back down, and they often have nothing to show for it. With Dash, every time the coin gets pumped, that means more projects can be funded. When the market peaks out and starts tumbling down, they still have a lot of the advertising, conferences, media sponsorships and public awareness.

Withstand the pressure

One important ideal behind Bitcoin was to create a system which provides an alternative to the traditional banking system, arguably the most powerful industry on the face of the earth today. The system that replaces it has to withstand the pressure of banks leaning on it, and that’s why the Dash treasury is such an important innovation, removing one easy route to domination.

Thank you

Thanks for listening, thanks for sharing this with your friends. Every time you share a Cryptonomics video with your friends, an ICO gets its wings. Thank you, stay grateful!

Check out the work of talented graffiti artists in the video: Tuister_1 on Instagram and Delgan_ on Instagram.

You can listen and subscribe on Anchor and other podcasting services here:
Cryptonomics – Banksters vs Dash Treasury

 

Do you regret buying bitcoin? With Chris Guida – Cryptonomics

 

The other day I sat down with my friend Chris Guida, long term Bitcoin enthusiast, software developer and all-round nice guy, to discuss some questions about cryptocurrency that people had raised on the Internet. DO we regret investing in cryptocurrency, after it’s fallen so far? And, was the 2017 rise in cryptocurrency nothing but a pump and dump scheme?

Let’s hear what Chris has to say.

Scroll down to watch the episode

Do you regret investing?

Firstly, do we regret investing in cryptocurrency? Both of us started buying years ago, so the answer was a clear no. However, there are many people who didn’t have the good fortune to buy so early. Chris says it’s likely that the crypto market will come around again – just like with a traditional market, there’s a boom and bust. It’s easy for a lot of folks in the media to say that bitcoin is dead and will never come back – but [literally hundreds of pundits have said that before](https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/), and it hasn’t stopped crypto yet.

Was it a pump and dump?

We also discussed whether the crypto bubble of 2017 was a pump and dump scheme, a manipulated effort by whales and market makers, pushing money in and loudly and taking it out quietly. Wherever there are markets, it’s almost guaranteed that people are trying to work them in their favour, but in this case it’s unlikely that there’s one grand conspiracy to push up the price. The price, and the bubble, is a result of a lot of individual actors, buying, selling, holding, and saying the truth or saying lies about what they’re doing.

Please join Chris and Kurt for a crypto exploration on this episode of Cryptonomics. Thanks for listening, liking on Facebook, subscribing on YouTube, and on BitTube, for sharing this episode, and for being cool. Stay grateful!

You can hear more from Chris on our other podcast, the Crypto Hippie Drum Circle.

You can listen and subscribe on Anchor and other podcasting services here:

Cryptonomics – Do you regret buying bitcoin? With Chris Guida

Bitcoin is GREED – economist Nouriel Roubini – Cryptonomics

 

Last week, Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at NYU’s Stern School of Business wrote an article about cryptocurrency, explaining how it’s all about greed. It’s true, crypto is about greed, but that’s not all it’s about. Cryptocurrency is a movement and technology with many people involved, some with idealistic motives, and some more nefarious. Roubini’s piece is littered with truths, half-truths and mis-truths, as I break down in this episode of Cryptonomics.

Here are a few key quotes from the article with my responses:

Scroll down to watch and listen to the episode.

The libertarian ideology

“But it has also become the byword for a libertarian ideology that treats all governments, central banks, traditional financial institutions, and real-world currencies as evil concentrations of power that must be destroyed.”

I’m not sure if Roubini was trying to portray blockchain enthusiasts as a bunch of radical anarchists. The sentence does lack nuance… but other than that, yes please, destroy central banks, governments and fiat currencies.

Everyone on the blockchain

“They would like the entirety of social and political life to end up on public ledgers that are supposedly ‘permissionless’ (accessible to everyone) and ‘trustless’ (not reliant on a credible intermediary such as a bank).”

This is kind of right, but not exactly. For many libertarians, the idea that their entire life would be on a blockchain is horrifying, but having the facility to put things on a blockchain, where they’re very difficult to remove or censor, is a great tool for liberty.

A few white men

“A few self-serving white men (there are hardly any women or minorities in the blockchain universe) pretending to be messiahs for the world’s impoverished, marginalised and unbanked masses claim to have created billions of dollars of wealth out of nothing.”

Whether a technology is built by white men, Zimbabwean tribe children or grey Tibetan apes, can’t tell us its utility or validity. In the following paragraph, Roubini contradicts himself by writing:

“a small group of companies – mostly located in such bastions of democracy as Russia, Georgia and China – control between two-thirds and three-quarters of all crypto-mining activity and all routinely jack up transaction costs to increase their fat profit margins.”

At once blockchains are scary because it involves white men, and because it involves people who might not be white men. Well, I’m not scared.

It’s not just about greed

“But one need only consider the massive centralisation of power among cryptocurrency ‘miners,’ exchanges, developers and wealth holders to see that blockchain is not about decentralisation and democracy; it is about greed.”

Miners might have a lot of power when it comes to processing the transactions of a network, but they can’t just invent new monetary policy as a central bank can do. Developers can change the code, but they can’t guarantee that anybody will continue to use their currency. It’s true that these systems are centralised in many ways, but they are still less centralised than central or commercial banks, and still more democratic than any government.

It’s really easy to see people making money, point the finger and say “they are greedy”, reducing the motivations of strangers to a single word. It takes imagination and empathy to wonder about their idealism, their purest intentions.

Blockchains are not for traditional companies

“So it is no surprise that whenever ‘blockchain’ has been piloted in a traditional setting, it has either been thrown in the trash bin or turned into a private permissioned database that is nothing more than an Excel spreadsheet or a database with a misleading name.”

Enterprising individuals are building new kinds of organisations and communities, like Dash’s decentralised autonomous organisations. These organisations are less hierarchical – they don’t even necessarily require CEOs. When an old-fashioned hierarchical company takes a blockchain structure and tries to implement it, we shouldn’t be surprised that they have no use for it, just as we wouldn’t be surprised that a horsebreeder would find no use for a motorcar.

Conclusion – Look for value first

A lot of intelligent people are also very critical people, and that means when they hear a new idea, they start picking it apart before they even get the full picture. That’s a useful skill to have as an engineer, statistician or economist, but it must be set aside when one wishes to put on the hat of futurist, visionary, or friend. The future, like visions and friendships, are things created, and so we must be creative to glimpse their potential.

As I said in my commentary for this clip with Kosh Eek, it’s easy to think that those who bought bitcoins years ago were just lucky, but the reality is subtler. They were curious enough to listen to information from unusual sources, about the problems of central banks and fiat currency, and to imagine how things were related. To those few, Bitcoin was like the “Rose That Grew From The Concrete”, a beauty, albeit bruised and misshapen, inspiring wonder about how it came to exist. They didn’t look for the flaws first and run away, but instead looked for value and then put the flaws in their proper context.

In these changing times, analysis without curiosity might leave one suddenly waking up in an unfamiliar world, desperate and afraid. A calm and open mind is receptive to new information, to changes, the dance of life and play of consciousness. Have the courage and quietness to see the future; reveal the path of opportunity; look for value.

You can listen and subscribe on Anchor and other podcasting services here:
Cryptonomics – Bitcoin is GREED – Economist Nouriel Roubini

 

Patreon Screws Itself – Cryptonomics

Patreon has blocked YouTuber Sargon of Akkad for dropping N bombs, calling it hate speech. Now many customers and creators are leaving Patreon even if they don’t like Sargon. Turns out when it comes to people spending their money, they don’t like being Patreon-ised.

Let’s talk about it.

Scroll down to watch and listen to this episode of Cryptonomics.

Welcome to Cryptonomics, principles of cryptocurrency and investing. Thanks to everyone sharing these videos. I saw a bunch of Steemians comment and resteem my last post – codysamuelson, drewhudson, sha0ran and rave02, thank you kindly.

So Patreon has decided to block Sargon. I don’t see what the big deal is. I mean, all he did was say …

You are acting like a bunch of n***ers, just so you know. You act like white n***ers – exactly how you describe black people acting is the impression dealing with the alt-right.

You carry on, but don’t then expect me to have a debate with one of your f***ots

Maybe you’re just acting like a n***er mate.

Do you think white people act like this? White people are meant to be polite and respectful to one another, and you guys can’t even act like white people.

Listen to the whole interview here.

Ahhh… that’s pretty bad. Yeah, he probably should get a PR coach there.

Even so, this interview is from 10 months ago, and he never posted this interview on Patreon. It seems like the staff went out of their way to get some dirt, and that’s making a lot of creators on Patreon nervous. Who knows if they could find something on Twitter from 5 years back and bring down the banhammer. People suspect that it’s more about Sargon’s politics.

So, large payment platform restricts their services to someone politically unpopular. Where have I heard this story before…?

The Wikileaks Blockade

That’s right, in 2010, the US government put pressure on payment processors such as MasterCard, Visa and Paypal to prevent donations to Wikileaks after they released thousands of documents from the US government. It would have worked too, if not for a pesky kid named Satoshi Nakamoto.

Wikileaks was blocked on all sides, needing money for server costs and probably a bunch of legal fees. They asked if the Bitcoin community might help them out. Satoshi [advised against it](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1735.msg26999#msg26999), saying the network wasn’t ready. It was less than 2 years old at that point.

‘Basically, bring it on,’ wrote one poster. Satoshi responded: “No, don’t ‘bring it on.’ The project needs to grow gradually so the software can be strengthened along the way. I make this appeal to WikiLeaks not to try to use bitcoin. Bitcoin is a small beta community in its infancy. You would not stand to get more than pocket change, and the heat you would bring would likely destroy us at this stage.

Wikileaks looked at it, waited, then six months later in June 2011 they started calling for Bitcoin donations, kept Wikileaks afloat, and reportedly made a 50,000% profit.

Independent Media Blockades

Sargon’s Patreon problem is just a recent event in a long string of censorship collusion. Back in August 2018, Alex Jones and InfoWars. were banned from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, everything, all around the same time – most on the same day.

Luke Rudkowski of We Are Change had his videos demonetised long ago, and the other day claimed that videos on other channels will get demonetised just for having him in it.

New Solutions

Now just like with Wikileaks choosing to accept Bitcoin, we’re seeing independent media move towards other websites. Sargon has moved on to Patreon alternative SubscribeStar. Other pundits are looking for systems which aren’t so easy to take down or witchhunt.

Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson are now accepting donations on their websites using credit cards or PayPal instead of Patreon. I just wonder how long it will be before someone in alternative media gets blocked from credit card processors.

On Peterson’s site he also accepts Bitcoin, and he has put up his work on BitTube. BitTube is a YouTube alternative which pays crypto based on views. Peterson is also talking about creating a new platform for creatives, which is he says will be harder to censor.

The MasterCard Conspiracy

Jacqueline Hart, Trust & Safety officer at Patreon reached out to YouTuber Matt Christiansen to talk about the situation. [Christiansen sneakily recorded and transcribed the conversation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv7hvZee-PQ&feature=youtu.be), and it was… weird.

At one point Ms. Hart said “Payment processing depends on our ability to use the global payment network, and they have rules for what they will process.”

Jacqueline Hart goes back and forth between saying that they have to follow the rules of payment networks like Visa and MasterCard, and it’s entirely their own decision.

Based on that and a few other facts, a YouTuber named [ShortFatOtaku makes the case that the payment shut downs are initiated by MasterCard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAM3RPRDncU). MasterCard’s plan is to promote immigration to developed nations, so they can get more customers. Imagine having a product with such a high penetration that you have to import customers! Anyone who opposes immigration is an obstacle, so MasterCard puts pressure on Patreon to shut down their funding.

Too late for MasterCard

If that’s really the case, the whole thing is pretty hilarious. A stunt like that might have worked 10 years ago, but now the alternatives are too well-developed. In many ways, this is exactly the kind of scenario that Bitcoin was invented for – a peer to peer system of digital cash, that resists censorship. If two people can access Bitcoin, no political force can stop them, short of entering their homes and handcuffing them.

Assuming this is true, people still aren’t going to give up their MasterCards overnight. Credit and debit cards are just too darn convenient. But in many ways, MasterCard is making themselves less useful, making people find other options and leave them behind. They’re saying that customers can no longer use their service in the way they want. It would be like if Kodak knew about digital cameras and decided to only allow photos to be processed in black and white.

I have to wonder if the execs at MasterCard realising what they’re doing, actively driving people away from them and towards their opposition. We’re all characters on a stage, everyone has their part to play, and these actors push forward, into the next act of history.

What do you think? Is there a conspiracy to shut down independent media? How is it going to turn out for the old guard? What will payment platforms look like in a couple of years? Leave me a thoughtful comment and make my day.

If you’re watching on Facebook, please subscribe on YouTube. My YouTube subscriber count could use a little love. Thanks for listening, thanks for sharing, thanks for being you and stay grateful!

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Cryptonomics – Patreon Screws Itself

Magic Mushroom Messages: Interview with 434 – Episode 201

The Story: Psychedelic Machine Elves

Since the dawn of man, and maybe a few hours before, people have been using psychedelic substances to expand their consciousness, give them a greater perspective, and get in touch with something divine. Psilocybe mushrooms, peyote and other substances were seen as holy, a sacrament, a way to connect something deep within us.

These days, many might consider that superstition, but as the public discourse and awareness of psychedelics grow, more people are talking about the sacraments’ relationship to spiritual experiences, and even contacting wise and ancient entities, with knowledge to impart and calm guidance. Some call them our ancestors, some call them “self-transforming machine elves”.

On this episode, Kurt interviews Peter, known by his YouTube channel 434, about his experiences talking to these spirits or angels during and after his mushroom journeys. Much like the mushrooms themselves, Peter is building a network, branching out to find like-minded individuals. We discussed a lot of subjects – the intelligence of plant and nature, how good and evil are very human concepts, near death experiences, and the origin of species.

Welcome to another life-changing roller-coaster ride on this next episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

What drugs do you use to contact aliens?

Peyote Contact with an Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Part 1

Peyote Trip Overview

L-Dixon – Believer to Wonderer

Shamans with Guns – Luis Fernando Mises

The Links:

Peter’s channel on YouTube – 434

Myanmar children who behave like Japanese soldiers

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please like and follow The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit. Also check out my new site, Cryptonomics, and follow Cryptonomics on Steemit

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

Listen and subscribe to The Paradise Paradox on Anchor and other services.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.

Bitcoin Mass Adoption with Juan Galt – Cryptonomics

For years people have been asking when Bitcoin is going to reach mass adoption, and though the market has expanded a lot, there still hasn’t been a lot of use in day-to-day commerce. In this episode I talk to Juan Galt about the lack of user experience in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, the projects which have the best user experience such as Dash and Steem, and what kind of UX we can expect in coming years.

Scroll down to watch and listen to this episode.

Steemit

Steemit launched in 2016, and it has brought in many people to crypto, offering them the chance to make money for blogging or posting other content. A lot of people already in the crypto space overlooked it, not realising the value of things like, being able to send tokens straight to a username, rather than a cryptographic address, and an interface that was already familiar to people who had never heard of cryptocurrency.

Unfortunately, Steemit itself hasn’t made any breakthroughs on the user experience front since its inception, but other developers have built on it, creating slicker sites like Busy.org, SteemPeak, and apps like Partiko which make it easier to use.

Dash

In a lot of videos about Dash, you can hear the mission of the team, to create cryptocurrency “that your grandmother can use”. The vision hasn’t been entirely realised, but Dash’s UX is already on its way.

Dash Call Centres

In Venezuela, people who want to use Dash can call a free support line and get help from a Dash expert, setting up their first wallet and make their first transaction. Dash Help available in Venezuela with plans to expand through Latin America, currently focusing on setting up centres for Brazilians.

Dash Text

Many people in countries with failing currencies don’t have access to computers or smartphones, so they need another way to use Dash. Dash Text is a service that enables people to send money using SMS on their feature phone, opening up the potential for millions of customers, starting in Venezuela.

Dash Evolution

Evolution is a new wallet which will enable human-readable addresses, making sending Dash as easy as writing an email – making cryptocurrency more similar to PayPal or Venmo, and integrating to allow discounts from merchants, giving people more reasons to adopt it. Evolution is scheduled for its first public release in Q4 2018.

Casa

Casa is reputedly “the world’s most secure cryptocurrency wallet”. They offer a premium service with 24 hour support, intended for large accounts with $500,000 or more invested in Bitcoin. It only costs $10,000 a year.

Future of Crypto UX

In the future we’ll probably see highly secure services like Casa, with lower price tags, being more accessible to small investors. Dash expects that eventually Evolution will allow people to log in to their Dash account securely from anywhere in the world. If crypto is to become money, it must be easy to use – as easy to use as a credit card or Google Pay. For now, unfortunately user experience seems to be an afterthought for most crypto projects, which means that mass adoption is likely still years away.

Thank you

Thanks for listening and thanks for sharing this episode with your friends. If you need help with securing your Bitcoin or other currencies, you can find Juan on Twitter @juansgalt

You can listen and subscribe on Anchor and other podcasting services here: Cryptonomics – Bitcoin Mass Adoption with Juan Galt

 

Get Rich, Save Money – Cryptonomics

There’s a lot of people out there who want to speculate in crypto, but they don’t have the funds. You just gotta follow Uncle Kurt’s simple and ingenious patented formula:

  1. Save money
  2. Make money

Let’s talk about how to save money.

Welcome to Cryptonomics, principles of cryptocurrency and investing.

Thank you so much to everyone who is sharing these articles, videos and podcasts, 1000 Christmas blessings on all your families.

If you want to invest in crypto or stocks or even your own business, you need to get capital first. I know from experience that saving small amounts of money every week can add up over the years. But you gotta find that money to save, to put that money into a fund to buy your own financial freedom, and it all starts with paying yourself first, being conscious of your money, learning restraint, and being grateful.

Pay yourself first

If you wait till the end of your pay period to see if you have money left over to save, you’re leaving things up to chance, and you’re likely to fail. Put money into your freedom fund as soon as you get paid. Pay yourself first.

These days we do have some tools which make the whole thing a bit easier. A lot of banks have automatic savings plans, where you can set the amount to go into your savings account on the day you get paid… Or set up a transfer every month so you send the money to the crypto exchange, ready to be launched to the moon.

In Australia, it can be cool to have a savings account with a separate bank… because bank transfers can take up to three business days. That means you don’t have to worry about impulsively spending your money. Plan ahead, that goes for everyone, but especially if you have impulsive tendencies. You need to plan in a way that accounts for your nature.

There’s also a bunch of apps that will round up your purchases and put the spare change into a savings account or investment. You can use different apps depending on where you live: Acorns in the USA, Raiz in Australia, Monzo in the UK.

Another way to build your freedom fund is a Save More Tomorrow plan, where, when you get a raise, some of the increase starts going into your 401k or superannuation.

Conscious Spending

Have you ever looked at your bank balance, seen double or single digits and wondered, “where in the name of Eris did my money go?” That’s a sign that your spending habits are unconscious. To control them, you must make them conscious.

For a long time, I’d always keep a notepad with me. I’d write how much I bought, every cent known, and later categorised. Even if I put a couple of coins into a busker’s guitar case, I’d write it down. Probably not in front of him though.

Then you can enter them into a spreadsheet, or even use an app like You Need A Budget.

Review your spending and your receipts later and ask, did I really need this item? Did I use it, or end up throwing it out? Could I have found a cheaper way that was just as good, or better, with a similar amount of time and effort?

Review the spreadsheet and ask why you spent so much in each category. You might notice that a lot of money is actually going into the “entertainment” category, or a lot more goes on eating out than on home-cooked food.

Just the act of making your spending conscious can lead to great changes in the long term. Consciousness transforms everything to which it is applied.

Control Yourself

One main reason people don’t get ahead with money is because they haven’t practised restraint. When they see something nice, their impulses take over, the salesgirl steps in and starts saying how much money you’ll save if you buy today, and all of a sudden you’ve spent $300 on felt hats, French ticklers, and a new puppy.

That’s a reason to learn to meditate. I was talking to my monk friend from Wat Tham Krabok the other day. He told me the two foundations of their meditation practice there are, practise with a certain intention, and practise for a certain period. If you say you will sit until the incense stick burns out, then that’s what you do. You might have all kinds of whims while you’re seated, but you persist, you do what you set out to do. You practise integrity, ignoring impulses, and fulfilling your will.

Stay grateful

Remember to be grateful for what you have. It might sound like a scolding from your parents, or some new-age platitude, but being grateful is actually very practical.

Being smart with money isn’t about being stingy, it’s about being prudent. When some people start saving money, they go too far, become a tightwad, trying to get out more than they put in. They might even put strain on their friendships. Money is important, it can never be as important as your relationships.

If you start thinking with the mindset of a miser, you might get all the money in the world and still feel poor. The idea is to feel grateful, and realise that you’re already wealthy, to feel the abundance of wealth, but also exercise the restraint of a human comfortable in his wealth, someone who respects the power of money. You can’t at once be grateful for something and take it for granted. The more grateful you are, the more you respect it, and the more you learn.

A prudent fiscal strategy is like a beautiful poem – every word and letter in place, every one important, some empowering and some delightful. Every one part of a greater whole, and aligned to its highest purpose.

Shout outs

I’d like to shout out one young lady who commented on my video last year strongly criticising how I looked, my T-shirt, and even the nail on the bedroom wall behind me. I didn’t like the criticism at the time, but that was the grain of sand that stimulated the growth of a pearl. That’s a key reason I take so much pride in the appearance of my videos today.

So thanks to all the haters!

Thank you

Thank you for listening to Cryptonomics.

Please, please please please share this with your friends. It means so much to me on a spiritual, emotional sacred devotional level. Please share it, I put this content for free, putting in all the time, effort, thought and experience to make a work of art, a shining holy light of crypto knowledge, given freely and generously in the hopes of a better world.

Almost every time I put out an episode, I come to a point where I think, I could put in a little extra effort to make this video cooler, or I could be lazy and publish it as it is. 99% of the time, I put in that effort. I do that for myself, because I want to create something that exceeds my standards, but I also do it for you guys, to make something more compelling, entertaining and enlightening. You don’t have to do anything for me, nothing is owed. But I would love it if you share these videos and podcasts. Thank you so much to those already sharing it. It’s pretty amazing when someone listens to what I have to say, and enjoys it so much that they want others to enjoy it too.

Take care, I hope you’re enjoying your holidays, and once again, stay grateful.

You can listen and subscribe on Anchor and other podcasting services here:

Cryptonomics – Get Rich, Save Money

I Got Deported From Mexico – Episode 200

 

The Story: Kurt was kicked out of Mexico

In 2017, Kurt was deported from Mexico for overstaying his tourist card, serving as a warning to all those ex-pats who let their papers lapse.

In the detention centre, he met many fascinating characters, a kind drug-dealing hippie, a Romanian credit card fraudster, many Central Americans and many Indian gentlemen, trying to get to the United States to earn an honest living.

In this episode Kurt is joined by former Paradise Paradoxian, Mr. Aaron Battle, and we discuss being deported, the culture of bribery that exists in most of the world, how Trump’s presidency has put pressure on the Mexican government, Mexico’s new president, and all kinds of fun stuff.

Join us for another involuntary world trip on … The Paradise Paradox!

The Eps:

The Links:

Deported – Getting kicked out of Mexico

Deported – Leaving Mexico the hard way 1

Deported – Leaving Mexico the hard way 2

Deported – Leaving Mexico the hard way 3

Deported – Leaving Mexico the hard way 4

Deported – Leaving Mexico the hard way 5

Deported – Leaving Mexico the hard way 6

Deported – Leaving Mexico the hard way 7

Deported – Leaving Mexico the hard way 8

Deported – Leaving Mexico the hard way 9

The Cash:

If you enjoy our posts, please like and follow The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit. Also check out my new site, Cryptonomics, and follow Cryptonomics on Steemit

We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.

The Episode:

Listen and subscribe to The Paradise Paradox on Anchor and other services.

If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.