Kurt is joined again by Chris Guida, long-time Bitcoin enthusiast and co-host of The Multiversity Project. In this episode Kurt and Chris discuss the prevailing zeitgeist of capitalism and anti-capitalism, how personal development and responsibility fit into that picture, how the structure of organisations is likely to change in the future, about how companies like Google already give their employees 20% of their hours to work on whatever project they like, and how cryptocurrency enables similar experimentation with business models.
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Modern Capitalism
In many developed nations, it seems that relatively free markets have allowed entrepreneurs and companies to create all kinds of wonderful things for us – to the point where we can hold computers with processing power unknown to humankind just 30 years ago, in the palms of our hands, connecting with friends and strangers all over the world almost instantly. It’s never been cheaper to fly to different countries and experience different cultures.
Modern Anti-Capitalism
However, some people in the developed world aren’t satisfied with what the market has to offer them. They feel anger and frustration, as from their perspective it seems they’ve been taken advantage of – by their bosses, by rich politicians who don’t represent them, and outdated educational institutions which don’t serve them.
You might say these young people are entitled, or even spoiled brats. Even so, there is validity to their feelings. Surely there is a better way to offer opportunities to the disenfranchised.
Future Systems
Perhaps the answer can be found in a kind of conscious capitalism. Individuals taking responsibility for those around them, creating systems that benefit their community. Clever bosses will learn that their role is not to dominate their employees, but to serve them. Companies will give greater freedom to their workers, allowing them to express themselves and also to find creative solutions.
People can move away from the dollars of central banking systems to use decentralised cryptocurrencies. They can also start decentralised autonomous organisations by creating a blockchain, or using a token on another blockchain.
To many, Bitcoin remains an oddity. They ask “But who owns it, who controls it?” And the answer is, “well, nobody really.” At least according to Bitcoin idealists, anybody can start working on it, anybody can add value, and anybody can reap the rewards. So, in a way Bitcoin is some kind of horizontal, worker-owned co-op.
Thank You
Thanks for listening, and watching, being a crypto bro or crypto sister and connecting with me on all social media. Stay grateful!
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You might know that Bitcoin is money for the Internet, a system where no one person has the power to change the ledger. What you might not know is, why should you care? How is it going to help people escape poverty, find prosperity, to hold governments accountable, to push banks to reform or be forgotten? Let’s talk about the potential that cryptocurrency has to change the future for regular people like you.
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This episode of Cryptonomics is brought to you by good questions. I’ve told you karma is real. As a human being, questions are your karma. Many people have improved their quality of life because they had the courage and the persistence to ask the right questions – starting with “what do I have to be grateful for right now?”
Personally, I am grateful for my listeners, and everyone who enjoys my content enough to share it.
When I first started to put the puzzle pieces together about Bitcoin, I realised it was similar to Napster or Bittorrent, these file sharing services which people used to share music and movies, giving more power to the people who consume them, putting pressure on the industries to better serve their them. I saw that Bitcoin could put pressure on commercial banks, central banks and governments. It wasn’t clear to me what the effects would be, but with time they’re becoming clearer.
Let’s talk about the big one. How could crypto end war?
Crypto ends war
Ron Paul said, it’s no coincidence that the 20th century was dominated both by central banking and war. Without central banks, wars are normally short. The government has to collect extra taxes to pay for the war, and eventually they either run out of money, or the people get tired of a constant low standard of living.
With modern central banking, states just keep borrowing and printing money, and it’s hard for people to even know that war has something to do with their money being worth less or the economy failing.
Unlike dollars, Bitcoins are limited by software and consensus of the network. That means a state can’t just keep printing more of them to sustain the war on terror. They would have to ask for the money. They would have to find ways to serve the people, justify their existence, and any war that they wanted to wage.
Now we have a very real choice. If we want to withdraw our support from the dollar and other fiat currencies based on violence, we don’t have to convince people to accept silver coins; we can ask them to accept electronic cash. That is, as soon as crypto gets a decent user experience.
Crypto ends poverty
We have these central banks borrowing money, state treasuries printing money. That’s one key reason our dollars, pounds and bolivares don’t buy as much as they did last year. Just like if you flood the market with bananas and the price of a banana goes down, when the Fed floods the market with dollars, the price of a dollar goes down.
This means that saving money is for suckers. There’s no reason to save when you know your money is going to be worth less the following year. Instead, it encourages people to spend money on things they don’t need, or even invest in things they haven’t fully researched.
When you have sound money, money with a limited supply, money chosen by the people rather than imposed by a state, it will become worth more over time. The purchasing power will reflect advances in efficiency.
Saving money will be meaningful, and it will even be cool to save money. If people can save even 0.5% of their paycheque, that will make a huge difference in the long run. First they leave poverty, then they become prosperous.
Crypto brings prosperity
In a lot of developed nations, people are afraid to start businesses. Regulations drive up the cost to start a business, and then people don’t want to risk that much money. Imagine a world where you could save for 5 or 10 years and retire. You would be much more willing to save for a year, chase your dream and start an enterprise, because you know you don’t have much to lose anyway.
So we’ll see a lot more entrepreneurs. People will try out many ideas, some of them will even work, they will become rich and so will the world, for seeing their ideas come to life.
Then there’s the process of raising capital. It’s not easy to raise a million dollars. With the advent of ICOs, it’s a lot easier. Now people with crazy ideas can fund their sci-fi projects. Of course there’s a lot of scams that go with that, and with time there will be greater accountability measures – keep the sci-fi projects focused on Mars.
The other side is making money as a speculator. Before ICOs, only qualified investors or millionaires could put money into a project in the early stages. Peter Thiel bought 10% of Facebook in 2004 for $500k. At IPO, 8 years later, those shares were worth about $500 million. It was impossible for someone to buy $10 worth of Facebook in 2004. Now, it could happen with a new project, so now these kinds of 1000x gains are available to regular people.
I remember when I saw the first $10 I put into Bitcoin turn into $1000. I said to myself, I’m probably never going to see ridiculous returns like that again. But now, I say the good times are just beginning.
Thank you!
If you didn’t know why people were excited about crypto, I hope you now see that it is about real change in the world. Please leave a comment, what’s the biggest change you picture happening as a result of Bitcoin. Thanks for sharing this video with your friends so they can start to get the bigger picture.
Please note, if you’re subscribed on YouTube, starting with the next video I’ll be publishing Cryptonomics on my old channel, The Paradise Paradox. Getting those first 1000 subscribers on YouTube isn’t easy, so I’m going to go back and leverage the audience I already had there, and I hope you’ll join me.
In ‘Post Office’, Bukowski’s girlfriend tells him to get a job, and he responds “Any damn fool can beg up a job. It takes a wise man to make it without working. Out here we call it ‘hustling’.” In movies and novels, adventurers, rogues and hustlers are glamourised, representing something desireable and unattainable. In the real world, people judge and marginalise them, calling them “dreamers” or even “bums”. Every day, these people dance through cracks in the system, finding value and opportunities in places which are invisible to others. They may be judged, and they may not fit neatly into any box, and it might not be easy to balance their accounts, but any hustler will tell you that their freedom is worth the pricetag. Scroll down to watch and listen to this episode!
No opportunity?
The media in Australia keeps pushing this narrative that there are no opportunities for young people, and people keep repeating it. There are opportunities. You just have to be prepared to look where others won’t. If you let the mainstream media tell you where the opportunities are, you will almost certainly end up a sucker.
The world of money is changing
For a century, governments and central banks have been robbing the value of our money, and now we’ve found a way out. Once crypto is stable, every time there’s an advancement in technology which makes things more efficient, our money is going to be worth more – not less. Just imagine if every good reduced in price the same way computers and mobiles do.
The world is changing. For some, life is gonna be hard… it’s gonna be so hard, IF you try to fit into the mould that’s already broken, to conform with a world that no longer exists. But if you look for opportunities and embrace them, things are going to be amazing.
Hustlin’
When I first moved to Mexico, I had a few thousand dollars in Bitcoin and I was making $200-$300 a month. I figured it out, playing cards online, teaching English to Russian engineers, and eventually earning crypto on Steemit. Hustlin’!
Amanda B. Johnson and Pete Eyre did a similar thing. They moved to Oaxaca, and they started the Daily Decrypt. Expatriating is a great way to cut your expenses while starting an online business. Hustlin’!
A few months back I showed Steemit to my friend Bob and he took to it like crazy, learning things about it that I didn’t even know. Now he makes decent money in addition to his day job. Next year when he moves to Peru, his side hustle may well become his main hustle. Hustlin’!
Worlds collide
Things might look grim for employees, university educated government regulated, square boxed, tightly articulated, notes meticulously dictated, folks. But they’re looking really good, for hustlers. People who are willing to take a different perspective, find a different way to get by, look for ways to find and give value that are hidden in the cracks. Hustlers.
Improvise, adapt, overcome
In Keith Johnstone’s Impro he says that everyone is creative, it’s just that some of us are so afraid of getting the wrong answer that we never say anything. The lesson of impro is ,there are no wrong answers. What you do is right just by virtue of doing it. If you’re sitting in a classroom or an office wondering what it’s all about, dreaming of travelling the world or taking a long shot… remember that.
Job insecurity
Many have heard this story about the myth of go to school, go to university, get a job and retire. Look at the bios of the most successful people, they didn’t stick to this script. They wrote their own script. The best players are the ones who question the nature of the game.
For many people, not having a job is the scariest thing in the world. They say “I don’t understand how anybody could live, not knowing how much money they’ll make in a month.” My friend Rae was the opposite, and she would say to me “I don’t understand how people can make a commitment to go to a job every day. What happens if you just don’t feel like going?” Then she got on a train and went to Byron Bay, and if she found some friends she would sleep on their couch, and if she didn’t, she would sleep on the beach.
I’m not saying you should take that lifestyle to the extreme like Rae did, but isn’t there something enviable about the way she thought, something wonderful… something magical? If you’ve been in a cubicle for more than a few years, you could probably use a few drops of that elixir.
Hustlers
I like these people, the people who are willing to cast off the shackles of regular society, live life differently, open their mind and find what’s inside, open their eyes and see what the world has to offer. It’s not just poetic, and it’s not just for the movies. Adventurers are out there hustling, flipping houses and cooking in makeshift kitchens for unlikely customers. They have decided that they will be more than background characters in the game of life. Rugged and adaptable, they are the future.
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