1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,360 Welcome to the Bitcoin Infinity Academy brought to you by the Plan B Network and Bitbox. 2 00:00:05,560 --> 00:00:09,700 This is our course on my second book, Bitcoin Independence Reimagine. 3 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:13,120 We are at the penultimate chapter. 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:14,420 I'm Knut Svanom. 5 00:00:14,500 --> 00:00:16,280 I'm here as always with Luke DeWolf. 6 00:00:16,420 --> 00:00:17,500 How are you today, Luke? 7 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:18,280 Good to see you. 8 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:19,460 Good morning, Knut. 9 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:20,280 I'm doing great. 10 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:21,620 Good to see you as well. 11 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,940 This chapter is the secular individual and this one should be quite interesting. 12 00:00:25,940 --> 00:00:30,820 I think we'll have quite a bit to talk about between our two opinions on this overall subject. 13 00:00:30,940 --> 00:00:32,120 So I'm excited. What about you? 14 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:38,340 Yeah, I like this chapter. It has a good plot twist, if you will. 15 00:00:38,740 --> 00:00:43,660 Yes, this is not really a war cry for atheism or anything like that. 16 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:48,900 It's more about what a cult is and how we are not the cult necessarily. 17 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:54,640 Excellent. Well, before we dive in, just to mention here, 18 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:59,660 the best way you can support the show is to go to our Geyser page at geyser.fund slash project 19 00:00:59,660 --> 00:01:04,340 slash infinity. And you can get involved there. You can buy one of our course memberships and get 20 00:01:04,340 --> 00:01:09,020 involved with everything that we do with the show. And these days, we also have a brand new thing 21 00:01:09,020 --> 00:01:13,840 here. We've joined Fountain and we now have a subscription on Fountain where you can get all 22 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:20,120 of our episodes, including the Bitcoin Infinity Academy, one day early and ad free if you get the 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:24,820 subscription and if you buy our mithril adamantium membership that's like basically our lifetime 24 00:01:24,820 --> 00:01:30,140 membership to everything bitcoin infinity we include the subscription on fountain for free so 25 00:01:30,140 --> 00:01:36,340 that's just our latest value add for all of our supporters if if you want to uh give us some value 26 00:01:36,340 --> 00:01:43,800 back and uh you know get me out of the fiat minds one day yeah go to fountain f fm to uh figure out 27 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:48,840 more right the fountain fm yeah well we'll have all the links in the description at our show on 28 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:57,460 on fountain we'll we'll have all the info exactly yeah all right uh let's dive in let's go the 29 00:01:57,460 --> 00:02:04,900 secular individual according to wikipedia a religion is a socio-cultural system of designated 30 00:02:04,900 --> 00:02:12,780 behaviors and practices morals worldviews texts sanctified places prophecies ethics or organizations 31 00:02:12,780 --> 00:02:17,800 that relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements. 32 00:02:18,740 --> 00:02:23,640 However, there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. 33 00:02:24,420 --> 00:02:28,460 One could say that religions are intersubjective sets of unverifiable beliefs 34 00:02:28,460 --> 00:02:31,360 that large groups of individuals hold at the same time. 35 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,900 Similarly, a cult is defined as a social group that is defined by 36 00:02:35,900 --> 00:02:39,700 its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, 37 00:02:39,700 --> 00:02:44,240 or by its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. 38 00:02:45,180 --> 00:02:50,800 There are many different opinions about what distinguishes a cult from other groups of believers in intersubjective things. 39 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,220 In one of these examples of a definition on Wikipedia, 40 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,400 a cult is defined as a social movement that has the following characteristics. 41 00:02:59,500 --> 00:03:01,600 1. Authoritarian Ruler 42 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,380 The self-appointed rulers of cults have complete and final say. 43 00:03:06,180 --> 00:03:08,540 They are usually considered charismatic and charming. 44 00:03:08,540 --> 00:03:16,240 2. The identity of the community becomes communal and totalistic. Everyone involved relies on each 45 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:20,180 other and the group's wants and needs become the core identity for each follower. 46 00:03:21,220 --> 00:03:26,400 3. Aggressive campaigns and conversion efforts are enforced by the authority figures. 47 00:03:27,260 --> 00:03:30,960 For most, the fear of heaven and hell prompts members to reach out, 48 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:34,180 but authority figures may also rely on social issues. 49 00:03:34,180 --> 00:03:41,360 4. In order to be initiated into the group, there will be enforced and systematic indoctrination. 50 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:48,040 There are usually several practices or ceremonies new followers must complete to secure their place among the group. 51 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:56,240 5. Religious movements labeled cults are usually quite new and do not have the established title of other religious practices. 52 00:03:56,900 --> 00:04:03,580 They also tend to build upon old theology and either update it to modern times or adapt it to their teachings. 53 00:04:04,180 --> 00:04:08,480 All right, we're going to pause here because that was already a lot to read. 54 00:04:08,620 --> 00:04:10,900 The definitions of religions and cults. 55 00:04:11,540 --> 00:04:20,180 Yes, we could maybe give some examples of these five points, what a cult is. 56 00:04:20,840 --> 00:04:28,780 Charismatic leader, I think political parties, almost all of them fall into that category. 57 00:04:28,780 --> 00:04:40,620 They have a charismatic leader, maybe not the Democratic Party in the US, but the Republican Party certainly has a leader that stands out as something special. 58 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:52,280 And people tend to idolize other human beings, and therefore there's a risk of that fan group becoming a cult. 59 00:04:52,280 --> 00:04:58,640 not necessarily saying that it is, that the Republican Party is an example of it, but still, 60 00:04:59,180 --> 00:05:07,400 it sort of needs this leader type thing. And this is where I think Bitcoin differs from most other 61 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:13,080 cults. But we're getting into that in the meat of the chapter. So the second point, the identity 62 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:19,880 of the community becomes communal and totalistic. So cults are inherently collectivistic. This is 63 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:27,200 important to remember. They are not made up of individualists for the most part. Collectivists 64 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:33,320 are much more likely to end up in cults. Aggressive campaigns and conversion efforts, I mean, 65 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:42,900 there are, I mean, all political campaigns are basically this. And also, I'd say the 66 00:05:42,900 --> 00:05:49,820 Scientology movement is a good example of that. Aggressive campaigning and using celebrity 67 00:05:49,820 --> 00:05:55,280 and stuff to get more people to rally around their cause uh four in order to be initiated 68 00:05:55,280 --> 00:06:02,560 to the group there will be enforced and systematic indoctrination yes uh ceremonies and stuff uh 69 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:14,340 so people are slowly but surely uh indoctrinated into getting into the the the um mindset of of a 70 00:06:14,340 --> 00:06:20,440 cultist i think most religions fall into that actually because you're since you're born you're 71 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:29,800 you're you're this set of values and um traditions are are sort of imposed on you so uh i'm not 72 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:35,780 saying that all religions are cults but but this is one point that also applies to organized 73 00:06:35,780 --> 00:06:43,900 religion in general i'd say and five the including by the way uh public schooling which i think is a 74 00:06:43,900 --> 00:06:50,560 form of religion, organized religion in that sense. Like the notion that schools ought to be 75 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:59,400 paid for by taxes, in other words, stolen money, that is a religious concept in my view. Like that 76 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:06,420 is organized religion in a way that it sort of rationalizes itself. It becomes a rationalization 77 00:07:06,420 --> 00:07:11,780 loop. So they tell you in school that this is the way that the schools ought to be paid for, 78 00:07:11,780 --> 00:07:16,500 because how could schools exist if there were no taxes? 79 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,620 And so it becomes a self-reinforcing loop, 80 00:07:19,700 --> 00:07:22,500 and this is a danger in all cults, I think. 81 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:26,980 And the fifth point, religious movements labeled cults 82 00:07:26,980 --> 00:07:30,600 are usually quite new and do not have the established title 83 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:32,460 of other religious practices. 84 00:07:32,460 --> 00:07:39,680 So in other words, older religions are basically just cults 85 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:41,540 that outgrew the cult status. 86 00:07:41,780 --> 00:07:53,600 Or at least they had some type of Lindy effect to them, showing that there might be some more value to them than just the cult fan club following value. 87 00:07:54,440 --> 00:08:03,480 The longer they've existed, the more likely they are to have provided some value for people over time, since they still exist. 88 00:08:03,740 --> 00:08:10,760 Their mere existence show that they might have something more to them than just the dogmatic thinking. 89 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:16,660 So, yeah, I think there's a lot to be said here and a lot to unpack. 90 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,440 And yeah, the rest of the chapter tackles that. 91 00:08:20,740 --> 00:08:23,340 Yeah, I think we should just continue. 92 00:08:24,060 --> 00:08:24,280 Sure. 93 00:08:25,180 --> 00:08:28,940 Now compare these characteristics to any modern democratic nation state 94 00:08:28,940 --> 00:08:31,820 and see if you can find one that cannot be described as a cult. 95 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:34,820 Authoritarian ruler? Check. 96 00:08:35,460 --> 00:08:37,340 Communal and totalistic? Check. 97 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:39,960 Aggressive campaigns? Check. 98 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:47,040 Systematic indoctrination? Mega check. In fact, the only bullet point whose applicability to the 99 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:50,920 nation-state could be somewhat questioned here is the point number five, the one about religion 100 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:57,500 and old theology, but not really. Ceremonial burial, holidays on traditionally sacred days, 101 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:03,640 no work on Sundays, marriage, and name-giving ceremonies are all very old theological practices 102 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:08,520 shoehorned into our current systems in order to not upset the established order too much. 103 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:13,980 not to mention the in god we trust banner printed on every u.s dollar bill in existence 104 00:09:13,980 --> 00:09:20,980 okay now i think we're into into the meat of it yeah i so democracy in this sense is sort of a 105 00:09:20,980 --> 00:09:27,160 continuation of a judeo-christian values or whatever use older traditions in the western 106 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:35,620 world uh i'd also say that um christianity is sort of a best of of what preceded that so that 107 00:09:35,620 --> 00:09:40,240 in itself, it was a continuation of previous beliefs. 108 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:42,440 It didn't come from nothing. 109 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,200 It wasn't just invented one day. 110 00:09:46,100 --> 00:09:51,660 Many of those beliefs were present long before Christianity ever was founded. 111 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:58,140 So I think this whole history of Western civilization is a continuation, 112 00:09:58,620 --> 00:10:01,140 and we rebrand the system sometimes, 113 00:10:01,140 --> 00:10:07,680 but it's more vague or distorted where the actual line goes between one system and another. 114 00:10:08,220 --> 00:10:10,920 Your thoughts on this, Luke? 115 00:10:11,700 --> 00:10:17,640 Yeah, I mean, I think the whole idea of considering democracy to be a cult or a new religious movement, 116 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:18,760 it holds, right? 117 00:10:18,900 --> 00:10:26,320 Because I think the really interesting thing here about democracy is that in absolute terms, 118 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,360 maybe a couple hundred years of widespread democracy, 119 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:47,220 It's actually not even really that. It's all mostly within the last century. That might seem like a long time. That's multiple human generations, right? But in the large scheme of things, we're talking about hundreds, thousands of years of some kind of monarchy or feudalism or something like this. 120 00:10:47,220 --> 00:11:00,060 Like democracy is the newcomer. Democracy is the new system. And well, we've played it out for sure, like 50, 100 years across the whole world for the most part. 121 00:11:00,060 --> 00:11:07,220 post-World War II, I would say, is when most of the world was on the democratic system for 122 00:11:07,220 --> 00:11:12,640 various reasons, something to do with the winning side being democratic, I would guess. 123 00:11:13,220 --> 00:11:20,040 But yeah, it's the newcomer and we all have to participate in this ritual of going to the polls 124 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:27,100 every so often. And even in some countries, they mandate it like Australia, you have to go or else 125 00:11:27,100 --> 00:11:31,980 you get a fine. You can spoil your ballot, but you still have to go do the thing. Right. So 126 00:11:31,980 --> 00:11:42,140 mandatory mandatory democracy attendance, something like this. And yeah, so the thing is with the old 127 00:11:42,140 --> 00:11:49,520 parts of the tradition, I wouldn't really call those like aspects of, say, the government 128 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:54,840 structure. I don't think it's I don't think it's really that I'll say comparable to say that 129 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,840 no work on Sunday's name giving ceremonies 130 00:11:57,840 --> 00:11:59,980 blah blah blah I think those are aspects of culture 131 00:11:59,980 --> 00:12:01,740 generally that's not 132 00:12:01,740 --> 00:12:03,920 really that's a different layer than 133 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:06,040 say the government system 134 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:07,640 but yeah those are 135 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:09,180 relics from before for sure 136 00:12:09,180 --> 00:12:10,120 yeah 137 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,280 just to say here that 138 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:28,949 democracy sort of had to respect those because that how society was structured So you can make too big a change to a system if you want the people on your side 139 00:12:29,189 --> 00:12:40,229 I think the In God With Trust thing is quite interesting too, knowing about John Locke and how America was founded on secularity and freedom of religion. 140 00:12:40,669 --> 00:12:42,969 And they still have In God With Trust on the bill. 141 00:12:42,969 --> 00:12:47,529 I suspect that during the time that decision was made 142 00:12:47,529 --> 00:12:50,889 no god was sort of not an option 143 00:12:50,889 --> 00:12:53,249 it was one god or the other 144 00:12:53,249 --> 00:12:55,469 everyone sort of belonged to some religion 145 00:12:55,469 --> 00:12:58,869 so I think that's where that originates from 146 00:12:58,869 --> 00:13:01,409 but I'm just pulling that out of my behind 147 00:13:01,409 --> 00:13:04,589 well yeah it was over 200 years ago right 148 00:13:04,589 --> 00:13:08,049 I think that's not actually the biggest 149 00:13:08,049 --> 00:13:11,069 leap kind of thing here 150 00:13:11,069 --> 00:13:16,769 to most people were religious or yeah so i don't think that's i don't think it's that outrageous 151 00:13:16,769 --> 00:13:22,709 that that it's there but it's maybe a little starting to get a little funny now that now that 152 00:13:22,709 --> 00:13:26,929 we have this separation of church and state and all this also yeah and separation of money and 153 00:13:26,929 --> 00:13:33,489 state i mean the in the fed we trust would be more appropriate for what what the dollar bill 154 00:13:33,489 --> 00:13:38,569 actually represents absolutely uh should we continue the discussion here now moving to 155 00:13:38,569 --> 00:13:45,229 secularity? Absolutely. Okay. Secularity is the state of being separate from religion or of not 156 00:13:45,229 --> 00:13:51,589 being exclusively allied with or against any particular religion. The idea that nation-states 157 00:13:51,589 --> 00:13:56,109 ought to be secular and that there should be a distinct dichotomy between what the state should 158 00:13:56,109 --> 00:14:00,749 consider to be religious belief or not was born in Europe during the Enlightenment. 159 00:14:02,009 --> 00:14:07,009 Secularity on a national level has put an end to many barbaric religious rituals of the past and 160 00:14:07,009 --> 00:14:10,569 saved a great number of innocent victims from the repercussions of these practices. 161 00:14:11,649 --> 00:14:16,389 Forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and even stoning still exist in some parts 162 00:14:16,389 --> 00:14:20,669 of the world, but they are considered very cruel and primitive by the vast majority of 163 00:14:20,669 --> 00:14:23,309 people in states that try to uphold enlightenment values. 164 00:14:24,129 --> 00:14:27,849 Yeah, still in some parts of the world, like Minnesota. 165 00:14:31,049 --> 00:14:32,749 Yeah, good point. 166 00:14:32,749 --> 00:14:56,249 I mean, yeah, I think this is also maybe not just to be attributed to secularity, but just a shift in moral values across time that may be a product of people just becoming more ethical in a sense. 167 00:14:56,249 --> 00:15:08,629 I think the ultimate insight is yet to be found that the state is wrong in every way and that theft is wrong and property rights should be the guiding light for all societies. 168 00:15:09,409 --> 00:15:11,189 But we're not there yet. 169 00:15:11,329 --> 00:15:14,309 I mean, we're all taking steps towards that. 170 00:15:14,829 --> 00:15:16,629 In my mind, that's what it looks like. 171 00:15:16,629 --> 00:15:27,209 We go from stoning and crucifixion and barbaric, cruel shit towards more and more humane codes of conduct, ultimately leading to absolute property rights. 172 00:15:27,229 --> 00:15:29,629 That's the natural conclusion of what that leads to. 173 00:15:29,829 --> 00:15:32,829 There is only one human right, and it's the right to be left alone. 174 00:15:32,969 --> 00:15:35,449 And we aren't there yet, but we're on our way. 175 00:15:35,589 --> 00:15:37,009 That's the way I see it. 176 00:15:37,649 --> 00:15:38,169 Yeah, definitely. 177 00:15:38,169 --> 00:15:50,369 And I think the thing here is that that unifying factor is what actually makes secularism work, because there is a double-edged sword to secularism based on the things that kind of follow from it. 178 00:15:50,369 --> 00:16:08,689 If all religions are considered equally valid and anyone can belong to one of those religions, you kind of need a unifier in any one geographical area that says you can't impose your religion on me. You can't do the barbaric things from this or that part of your religion. Right. 179 00:16:08,689 --> 00:16:15,049 and so and so there's sort of an erosion of like okay well this religion is equally valid like 180 00:16:15,049 --> 00:16:21,089 this culture is equally valid to to our base culture therefore you get a whole ton of 181 00:16:21,089 --> 00:16:25,909 immigration coming in and and sometimes there can be a good melting pot type situation but other 182 00:16:25,909 --> 00:16:31,909 times you you get cases where people who come in on on mass basically just settle in their own 183 00:16:31,909 --> 00:16:36,989 areas and then you you basically get little enclaves of of different cultures in the same 184 00:16:36,989 --> 00:16:42,849 geographical area and that starts to cause more conflicts and all this. So I think there does need 185 00:16:42,849 --> 00:16:48,769 to be some kind of unifier for secularism to be popular. And just so we're completely clear, 186 00:16:48,949 --> 00:16:56,109 I do not believe in cultural relativism at all. There are many aspects of different cultures that 187 00:16:56,109 --> 00:17:04,169 are less good than others. And I don't think it's okay to, in the name of diversity and inclusion, 188 00:17:04,169 --> 00:17:12,469 to say that it's equally valid to bring all of your cultural baggage to a new place. 189 00:17:12,829 --> 00:17:20,669 And the European Enlightenment is currently getting a little bit of a resilience test 190 00:17:20,669 --> 00:17:25,309 in terms of how it's able to continue in the face of those who are more willing to impose 191 00:17:25,309 --> 00:17:28,029 their religious views on others. 192 00:17:29,229 --> 00:17:30,689 Extremely good points, Luke. 193 00:17:30,829 --> 00:17:32,449 And yeah, I absolutely agree. 194 00:17:32,449 --> 00:17:37,069 like all religions are not of equal value of course. 195 00:17:37,569 --> 00:17:40,849 Some ideas are good and some ideas are bad. 196 00:17:41,469 --> 00:17:44,109 And ideas that lead to like sub-communities 197 00:17:44,109 --> 00:17:46,529 with their own sets of laws and traditions 198 00:17:46,529 --> 00:17:48,849 is probably not good if you want a society 199 00:17:48,849 --> 00:17:50,309 to be a high trust one. 200 00:17:50,649 --> 00:17:53,049 Which is not necessarily something you want. 201 00:17:53,569 --> 00:17:55,449 But yeah, I think they... 202 00:17:56,769 --> 00:17:58,549 What I'm fishing for in this chapter 203 00:17:58,549 --> 00:18:01,749 and what I think, I still think is super important 204 00:18:01,749 --> 00:18:08,209 is that we cannot be truly secular until we recognize statism as just another religion. 205 00:18:08,589 --> 00:18:16,869 Because statism is imposing your beliefs on the population, without consent. 206 00:18:17,089 --> 00:18:18,349 And that's what this is all about. 207 00:18:18,449 --> 00:18:21,149 That's why secularism was invented in the first place. 208 00:18:21,149 --> 00:18:29,149 I couldn't stone you for blasphemy and using the name of our Lord in the wrong context, 209 00:18:29,149 --> 00:18:32,089 because that was not a law. 210 00:18:32,789 --> 00:18:34,889 That was not lawful. 211 00:18:35,009 --> 00:18:36,389 It was a religious practice. 212 00:18:36,829 --> 00:18:41,049 But the point is, there's still a difference between lawful and legal 213 00:18:41,049 --> 00:18:42,869 as we get into the other books. 214 00:18:44,469 --> 00:18:46,809 Natural law is what should govern this, 215 00:18:47,029 --> 00:18:51,169 and no one should be able to impose their beliefs onto others, 216 00:18:51,269 --> 00:18:53,869 including the taxman, and we're not there yet. 217 00:18:54,649 --> 00:18:56,089 We're definitely not there yet. 218 00:18:56,089 --> 00:19:16,369 Yeah, I think my last point on this is something like, I think secularity is a very admirable goal, absolutely. But it's hard to implement when, ironically, you have a lot of different things that need to be secularized at the same time. 219 00:19:16,369 --> 00:19:34,689 Like the funny thing is, I think about examples where maybe secularism kind of works in practice. I'm biased and I think you're biased differently, but I think the Nordic countries are one of the ones who have implemented it the best, where society is pretty darn, it's ingrained. 220 00:19:34,689 --> 00:19:51,829 There's not a lot of religiosity and there's not a lot of controversy about there not being a lot of religiosity. But the thing is, those were extremely homogenous societies 50, 100 years ago when this was all really getting implemented, right? 221 00:19:51,829 --> 00:20:10,869 So it's, it's, yeah, I, I hate to be like really on a, on a, a bit of a screed here in terms of this, this particular point, but, uh, it, it, there's a, there's a lot of reasons why it's, it's, uh, it's important for a certain geographical area to all have the same culture base. 222 00:20:10,869 --> 00:20:20,089 and those coming into a culture are willing to adapt themselves to the cultural base themselves. 223 00:20:20,409 --> 00:20:25,829 I think that's important regardless of whether we're in Ancapistan or some kind of state exists. 224 00:20:26,389 --> 00:20:31,789 Absolutely, and I think we will have a lot of long and fruitful discussions about this. 225 00:20:31,829 --> 00:20:34,429 This is an area where we slightly differ in our takes, 226 00:20:34,529 --> 00:20:39,069 but I think we have a lot to learn from one another in these specific areas. 227 00:20:39,069 --> 00:20:42,429 And we did in the clown world, we wrote a lot about this stuff. 228 00:20:44,229 --> 00:20:54,469 And the thing to be said for the Nordic countries is that if there's one thing this has led to is the religion of statism becoming even stronger. 229 00:20:54,469 --> 00:20:57,209 So there's something to be said for that. 230 00:20:57,209 --> 00:21:07,589 Like the church as a force in the opposite direction to the state is sort of non-existent in the Nordics. 231 00:21:07,669 --> 00:21:16,209 If you compare it to Midwestern US, for instance, where the churches are still sort of a resistance movement to political movements. 232 00:21:16,209 --> 00:21:19,269 I think there's a very interesting topic in general. 233 00:21:19,849 --> 00:21:27,429 And the idea of secularity is sort of a nudge in the right direction. 234 00:21:27,609 --> 00:21:32,029 It's sort of one of these old ideas that didn't walk all the way. 235 00:21:32,429 --> 00:21:37,529 But it still made people think about these things. 236 00:21:37,689 --> 00:21:42,029 And I find it insanely fascinating that this is the timeline we live in. 237 00:21:42,029 --> 00:21:48,389 I absolutely agree, and I think you're foreshadowing the continuance here, so I think let's move on. 238 00:21:48,949 --> 00:21:56,849 While the separation of church and state was all nice and dandy, it is hard to see it as something other than a small first step towards something even greater, 239 00:21:56,969 --> 00:22:02,109 once you've accepted the idea that there's really no clear distinction between religious and political dogma. 240 00:22:03,249 --> 00:22:11,069 Democratic countries still engage in warfare, and they still imprison people for victimless crimes, such as owning a gun or a specific plant. 241 00:22:12,029 --> 00:22:15,269 We're not immune to barbarism until we're truly self-sovereign. 242 00:22:15,669 --> 00:22:21,729 In order for society to be truly secular, we need to separate not only church and state, but money and state. 243 00:22:22,489 --> 00:22:28,549 In other words, we have to separate ourselves from the state, or at least minimize its influence over our lives. 244 00:22:29,349 --> 00:22:34,889 This will never be done by the state itself, but requires individuals to take matters into their own hands. 245 00:22:35,849 --> 00:22:41,729 Those who don't aren't ever really secular, but shackled to whatever set of beliefs their nation's leaders hold. 246 00:22:42,029 --> 00:22:45,729 Politics has never truly been about us versus them. 247 00:22:46,029 --> 00:22:51,389 It has always been and still is about you versus those who wish to control you. 248 00:22:52,229 --> 00:22:52,849 All right. 249 00:22:53,489 --> 00:22:54,949 Separating money from state. 250 00:22:55,249 --> 00:23:03,129 Yeah, which is basically separating everything from state because separating money from state means no money for the state. 251 00:23:03,329 --> 00:23:05,249 That's what it ultimately leads to. 252 00:23:06,009 --> 00:23:11,309 And that's the revolution I'm in here for in this for to begin with. 253 00:23:11,309 --> 00:23:19,069 At least taking away as much as possible of their power because they have way too much power now. 254 00:23:19,369 --> 00:23:22,989 The fact that wars exist is a testament to that. 255 00:23:24,289 --> 00:23:31,049 A war is a hideous crime against humanity and it's always carried out by the state. 256 00:23:32,689 --> 00:23:34,829 Taxes are a crime against humanity. 257 00:23:35,229 --> 00:23:39,529 Everything non-consensual is a crime against humanity. 258 00:23:39,529 --> 00:23:46,009 And I'm adamant about that. I'm not going to change that view. I think we can do better than politics. 259 00:23:47,429 --> 00:24:02,989 Yeah, totally agree. And well, yeah, this is exactly what I'm here for as well. Get the control of money out from the state. I mean, I think we can start with taking away the power of the money printer. I think that's important. 260 00:24:02,989 --> 00:24:28,949 Even if we're looking sort of more short term, if the state has fewer means of affecting monetary policy, that's a good thing. And they're still going to have quite a lot of say in things, as long as there is such a thing as fiat currency and they can change the interest rate and the banks therefore make more money or don't make as much money. 261 00:24:28,949 --> 00:24:50,798 But take away the power of the money printer and fix onto a form of money that is decentralized and not in anyone control And we might be able to take away the monopoly on violence And the ultimate end step for me would be that the nation state or the state of any kind 262 00:24:50,798 --> 00:24:56,038 is really no more than just the management corporation of the natural monopolies of a 263 00:24:56,038 --> 00:24:57,238 certain geographical area. 264 00:24:57,738 --> 00:25:02,278 And that is hopefully going to be quite small, the 10,000 Lichtensteins kind of deal. 265 00:25:02,278 --> 00:25:21,278 Absolutely. One thing that I just remembered is you said something about secularity before and how hard it is to achieve when you don't have cultural homogeneity. There's a very good comparison in Bitcoin there, and that is the word decentralization. 266 00:25:21,278 --> 00:25:39,278 If you replace the word secular with the word decentralized, that is sort of what's going on in Bitcoin. Like you need a homogenous culture. In other words, you need Bitcoiners to be monetary maximalists to actually impose, to actually make decentralization work. 267 00:25:39,278 --> 00:25:45,558 work in other if you don't then decentralization is just a buzzword like in the other fucking 268 00:25:45,558 --> 00:25:52,578 cryptos so so this is this is crucial it's exactly the same thing you you need this sort of based 269 00:25:52,578 --> 00:25:58,898 you have to take this base set of moral values for granted for the thing to work at all in order 270 00:25:58,898 --> 00:26:04,898 for society to be secular you need a high trust society to begin with you need people to have the 271 00:26:04,898 --> 00:26:09,818 same set of more of values same thing is true for bitcoin if bitcoin is to stay decentralized 272 00:26:09,818 --> 00:26:17,858 we need to all view bitcoin as money otherwise we're we're fiddling around with a very very 273 00:26:17,858 --> 00:26:24,698 slippery slope so i think there i think that's a true comparison i really like that and uh in an 274 00:26:24,698 --> 00:26:31,798 attempt to to clarify my previous statement just slightly so that maybe i don't get fired if if 275 00:26:31,798 --> 00:26:52,438 If someone from my employer sees this particular video, what I mean by you need sort of a base of homogeneity is that you still need in a certain geographical area, country for lack of a better term, but in the larger countries like a region or something like this, a province, Alberta, for example, US state. 276 00:26:52,438 --> 00:26:57,658 you need some kind of base where say 90% is, 277 00:26:57,658 --> 00:27:00,978 is all kind of going the same direction, speaking the same language. 278 00:27:01,298 --> 00:27:03,658 People understand each other. Uh, 279 00:27:03,798 --> 00:27:07,958 you walk down the street and you can predict how people are going to be. 280 00:27:08,398 --> 00:27:12,358 And the percentage of people who fall outside of that because they're from 281 00:27:12,358 --> 00:27:13,798 elsewhere, uh, 282 00:27:14,058 --> 00:27:18,158 are small enough that they are more inclined to, to, uh, 283 00:27:18,178 --> 00:27:21,058 integrate into the society. And, and, uh, there, 284 00:27:21,058 --> 00:27:33,238 There also definitely needs to be some kind of avoiding ways for ghettoization, for lack of a better term, like people just moving to their own neighborhoods. 285 00:27:33,238 --> 00:27:39,958 I mean, a historical example that applies to Europe is the Roma people for centuries. 286 00:27:40,558 --> 00:27:49,058 And actually, even the Jewish people, like for centuries, both groups tended to be shunted off into their own little places. 287 00:27:49,058 --> 00:28:03,038 And you can argue who refused to integrate who, but basically you created this entrenched long-term minority that wasn't actually like a part of the wider society. 288 00:28:03,038 --> 00:28:05,018 It was nice Christian people. 289 00:28:05,138 --> 00:28:10,878 And then you had the Romani people over here and you had the Jews over here. 290 00:28:11,218 --> 00:28:15,918 And there's still long, long-term effects of that. 291 00:28:15,918 --> 00:28:26,898 And in the US, for example, there are neighborhoods that are predominantly one ethnic group and not a lot of mixing there, right? 292 00:28:26,958 --> 00:28:35,838 Like you can argue about whether that's effective or not, but it creates different subcultures within an area. 293 00:28:36,198 --> 00:28:40,278 And that might be good for getting a variety of experience. 294 00:28:40,278 --> 00:28:47,898 there's a there's a subset of people who really enjoy all of these experiences like like uh be 295 00:28:47,898 --> 00:28:53,658 being open to to new experiences and enjoying things that are on on boundaries and stuff and 296 00:28:53,658 --> 00:28:58,738 and there's a place for that for sure but there's a point where it gets to be too much for the 297 00:28:58,738 --> 00:29:05,798 average population and then you you lose social cohesion and everything is is kind of kind of 298 00:29:05,798 --> 00:29:11,638 lost. But since we've drawn these borders on a map, you get countries that plot on and on and on 299 00:29:11,638 --> 00:29:19,278 and have an illusion of actually staying together, where maybe there is enough of a cultural difference 300 00:29:19,278 --> 00:29:25,358 between various places that maybe it's not the best to keep these nation states together. 301 00:29:25,958 --> 00:29:33,158 There's a lot there, but this really is just a point of saying that, you know, immigration is a 302 00:29:33,158 --> 00:29:39,278 good thing if done right, if people aren't taking advantage of it and are willing to 303 00:29:39,278 --> 00:29:45,618 adopt the culture for the most part, or at least not be actively opposed to it. 304 00:29:45,678 --> 00:29:46,538 That's my position. 305 00:29:48,058 --> 00:29:51,498 Consensual immigration, in other words. 306 00:29:51,498 --> 00:29:58,598 So I think that's another comparison to be made to the Bitcoin network here, which is 307 00:29:58,598 --> 00:30:00,278 like the mempool policies. 308 00:30:00,278 --> 00:30:09,038 And as soon as you get above the threshold of like 10%, then the ideas will propagate around the network. 309 00:30:09,738 --> 00:30:18,258 So if these smaller subgroups get larger than 10%, then their ideas will be around the rest of the culture too. 310 00:30:18,618 --> 00:30:24,538 I think that's how it works very similar with a network of people in a society. 311 00:30:24,918 --> 00:30:27,058 We relay messages to one another. 312 00:30:27,158 --> 00:30:28,538 We speak different languages. 313 00:30:28,538 --> 00:30:38,438 If a smaller language is around 10%, then it will propagate throughout society and we will adopt some of their sayings and so on and so forth. 314 00:30:38,598 --> 00:30:45,058 I think this is true for Bitcoin as well as the rest of society. 315 00:30:45,218 --> 00:30:49,178 Maybe it's a bit of a stretch, but yeah, I find these comparisons fascinating. 316 00:30:50,218 --> 00:30:51,038 I thought it was good. 317 00:30:51,218 --> 00:30:54,718 And yeah, actually, I forgot to bring it back to the Bitcoin of it, so I'm glad that you did. 318 00:30:54,718 --> 00:30:58,378 But yeah, the analogy works very much so. 319 00:30:58,378 --> 00:31:03,678 I mean, I think the thing is you can have some rate of change on a nation state level. 320 00:31:03,778 --> 00:31:06,198 Things are always going to change and all this. 321 00:31:06,398 --> 00:31:14,778 And even on Bitcoin, the thing is the external conditions to Bitcoin and the people on the network are always changing, growing, hopefully, in terms of the number of people. 322 00:31:14,998 --> 00:31:24,978 But Bitcoin needs to be able to respond to threats and be able to take action if there is some kind of attack against Bitcoin. 323 00:31:24,978 --> 00:31:27,818 but the thing is 324 00:31:27,818 --> 00:31:30,498 other than that I'm very much for 325 00:31:30,498 --> 00:31:33,818 extreme conservatism within Bitcoin 326 00:31:33,818 --> 00:31:36,158 a change has to be good 327 00:31:36,158 --> 00:31:39,798 it has to convince the whole network 328 00:31:39,798 --> 00:31:41,378 that it's definitely going to be a good thing 329 00:31:41,378 --> 00:31:45,298 for us to really do any changes to Bitcoin 330 00:31:45,298 --> 00:31:47,698 so yeah lots there 331 00:31:47,698 --> 00:31:49,978 absolutely 332 00:31:49,978 --> 00:31:52,718 I mean for the highest quality plebslop 333 00:31:52,718 --> 00:31:56,238 and there is no better channel than the Bitcoin Infinity show. 334 00:31:57,498 --> 00:32:00,218 So this is where it happens. 335 00:32:00,718 --> 00:32:03,418 Anyway, move on to the next section, please, Luke. 336 00:32:03,698 --> 00:32:04,338 Yes, definitely. 337 00:32:04,998 --> 00:32:09,478 If a mobster with a gun knocks on your door and demands payment for your protection, 338 00:32:09,978 --> 00:32:12,518 the wisest response might be to pay him off. 339 00:32:13,038 --> 00:32:17,858 It may also be wise not to slander or talk about him and his organization behind his back. 340 00:32:18,518 --> 00:32:23,958 That doesn't mean you have to agree with his worldview or find his behavior to not be morally reprehensible. 341 00:32:25,098 --> 00:32:28,598 The thoughts in your head are always your last bastion of freedom. 342 00:32:29,358 --> 00:32:33,978 No matter the threat, you're always free to do as you please inside the dome of your skull. 343 00:32:35,118 --> 00:32:39,058 Remember this, because one day the truth will truly set you free if you need it to. 344 00:32:39,958 --> 00:32:42,238 The truth of 24 words memorized. 345 00:32:42,238 --> 00:32:48,198 The act of memorizing the seed of a Bitcoin wallet has already saved the lives of an unknown number of refugees 346 00:32:48,198 --> 00:32:52,678 And one day you might need to carry your own 24 words in your head too 347 00:32:52,678 --> 00:32:58,618 The more of your wealth you store in the physical realm, the easier it is to confiscate what you have 348 00:32:58,618 --> 00:33:02,738 24 words in a brain, on the other hand, can't even be detected 349 00:33:02,738 --> 00:33:06,758 It is impossible for a perpetrator to know that you even have them 350 00:33:06,758 --> 00:33:10,558 The so-called brain wallet is a very underrated concept 351 00:33:10,558 --> 00:33:14,278 and one of the most profound aspects of what Bitcoin can do for you. 352 00:33:15,198 --> 00:33:19,458 It completely redraws the political world map for those who know about it, 353 00:33:19,798 --> 00:33:24,718 blurring out the borderlines between nations and turning otherwise dangerous places into potential markets. 354 00:33:25,578 --> 00:33:27,878 When the money already exists everywhere, 355 00:33:28,418 --> 00:33:31,418 any limit on what amount you may carry from one nation to the other 356 00:33:31,418 --> 00:33:35,198 is as laughable as if there was a limit on how many languages you are allowed to know. 357 00:33:36,518 --> 00:33:39,638 The impact this will have on the financial freedom of individuals 358 00:33:39,638 --> 00:33:43,518 and in turn the world economy is vastly underestimated. 359 00:33:44,318 --> 00:33:47,838 The practice is still unknown to most people, but real nonetheless. 360 00:33:48,818 --> 00:33:54,198 Like with everything else in Bitcoin, it is only a matter of time before people begin to realize what's going on. 361 00:33:54,838 --> 00:33:59,138 Yeah, so a lot there, but the brain wallet concept is extremely interesting. 362 00:34:00,058 --> 00:34:05,298 Yeah, and the first couple of sentences in this paragraph, if you back up one page, 363 00:34:05,298 --> 00:34:07,718 the mobster that knocks on your door 364 00:34:07,718 --> 00:34:09,278 this is the thing 365 00:34:09,278 --> 00:34:11,238 everyone is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome 366 00:34:11,238 --> 00:34:13,818 because it's dangerous 367 00:34:13,818 --> 00:34:17,738 to say bad things about the state 368 00:34:17,738 --> 00:34:18,838 in most states 369 00:34:18,838 --> 00:34:20,038 if not all 370 00:34:20,038 --> 00:34:23,538 it's dangerous to not do as they say 371 00:34:23,538 --> 00:34:26,078 and to claim that you do not 372 00:34:26,078 --> 00:34:27,698 adhere to their principles 373 00:34:27,698 --> 00:34:32,358 I think that's a very underrated 374 00:34:32,358 --> 00:34:34,138 way of looking at things 375 00:34:34,138 --> 00:34:36,598 and view the world. 376 00:34:37,738 --> 00:34:41,138 I love South Park, as you know. 377 00:34:41,418 --> 00:34:44,698 And if you look at their latest depiction of Trump, 378 00:34:44,878 --> 00:34:46,818 which is not in a very good light, 379 00:34:47,338 --> 00:34:50,078 that show is aired in the US. 380 00:34:50,718 --> 00:34:54,738 And even though the White House has officially stated 381 00:34:54,738 --> 00:34:56,898 that they think they're irrelevant or whatever, 382 00:34:57,378 --> 00:34:58,478 it's still allowed. 383 00:34:59,278 --> 00:35:01,798 There's no other place on earth, probably, 384 00:35:01,798 --> 00:35:07,218 where a cartoon could make such mockery out of the elite class. 385 00:35:07,678 --> 00:35:09,818 That is very dangerous in most other countries, 386 00:35:10,278 --> 00:35:12,578 especially now in the UK and Germany. 387 00:35:12,578 --> 00:35:15,478 I don't think you can even say anything bad about any politician 388 00:35:15,478 --> 00:35:18,118 unless they're from the so-called far right 389 00:35:18,118 --> 00:35:22,498 without risking being thrown in jail. 390 00:35:22,778 --> 00:35:25,058 So I think this is so underrated. 391 00:35:25,058 --> 00:35:27,838 And also the other underrated idea here is, of course, 392 00:35:27,958 --> 00:35:30,658 the 24 magic words or 12 magic words, 393 00:35:30,658 --> 00:35:32,258 which is sufficient for most cases. 394 00:35:33,018 --> 00:35:35,578 The BrainWallet, I think it's super underrated. 395 00:35:35,818 --> 00:35:39,778 It's not a recommended practice to memorize your seed phrase 396 00:35:39,778 --> 00:35:44,098 and walk over a border, but you can if you need to. 397 00:35:44,238 --> 00:35:46,558 And that's the important takeaway here. 398 00:35:48,378 --> 00:35:52,378 You're not allowed to carry more than $10,000 across this border, 399 00:35:52,518 --> 00:35:55,978 which is a figure that hasn't been updated since the 70s, by the way, 400 00:35:55,978 --> 00:36:04,678 is completely obsolete at this point. 401 00:36:04,858 --> 00:36:05,818 It doesn't work. 402 00:36:05,978 --> 00:36:07,218 It cannot be enforced 403 00:36:07,218 --> 00:36:09,378 because people can have money in their heads. 404 00:36:10,598 --> 00:36:13,818 In effect, this is sort of a thought embryo 405 00:36:13,818 --> 00:36:15,958 to the you are your Satoshi thing 406 00:36:15,958 --> 00:36:17,898 that we go deep into in clown world. 407 00:36:19,398 --> 00:36:21,958 The fact that they exist within your head 408 00:36:21,958 --> 00:36:25,418 is proof that you not only own your Bitcoin, 409 00:36:25,418 --> 00:36:32,358 you are your bitcoin and i i think this is like vastly unexplored we have only seen the tip of the 410 00:36:32,358 --> 00:36:39,938 iceberg we've like uh we've discovered the wheel but we have not yet figured out that we can roll it 411 00:36:39,938 --> 00:36:46,938 we're sort of that's how early we are into bitcoin yeah definitely i think this earlier part about 412 00:36:46,938 --> 00:37:05,467 essentially yeah the the payment for protection which is a is a nice analogy that the the state is really the mob basically and you kind of go along with it but you don have to like it or agree with it I mean this is the funny catch that we in as Bitcoiners right 413 00:37:05,587 --> 00:37:10,727 Like, for the most part, we all live in places where we have to be somewhat careful about what we do or do not say. 414 00:37:11,787 --> 00:37:15,427 We would never advocate for anything illegal on this show, right, Knut? 415 00:37:16,987 --> 00:37:18,707 Unlawful is the correct perv. 416 00:37:19,267 --> 00:37:19,527 Yes. 417 00:37:20,927 --> 00:37:21,327 Sure. 418 00:37:21,327 --> 00:37:27,107 No, no, no. We don't advise people to break any laws of their particular jurisdiction. 419 00:37:28,107 --> 00:37:41,207 Yeah, exactly. And I think the border wallets thing is also really interesting because it's, as you say, it breaks down borders, but it also creates other things, right? 420 00:37:41,207 --> 00:37:47,027 Like wealth moves more freely throughout the world, even if there are barriers on people moving throughout the world. 421 00:37:47,027 --> 00:37:58,207 And if people are able to move their capital so freely, like they're going to choose the places that are the best for them and advocate for improvements in their local area, right? 422 00:37:58,307 --> 00:38:03,987 Like a person with capital is fundamentally different from a person without capital. 423 00:38:03,987 --> 00:38:09,187 just like a person with skills is fundamentally different from a person without skills or 424 00:38:09,187 --> 00:38:15,507 communication ability or this and that. Again, this is in the category of like brutally harsh 425 00:38:15,507 --> 00:38:23,067 truths that are extremely politically incorrect, but jurisdictions are going to compete for people 426 00:38:23,067 --> 00:38:28,387 with capital and skills and things that can contribute, right? Yeah, we can play pretend 427 00:38:28,387 --> 00:38:31,607 and claim that every single person is of equal value, 428 00:38:31,747 --> 00:38:32,707 but that is not true. 429 00:38:33,047 --> 00:38:36,187 It simply isn't because value is subjective and dynamic 430 00:38:36,187 --> 00:38:39,347 and we evaluate different people 431 00:38:39,347 --> 00:38:41,567 and different things within our brains. 432 00:38:41,907 --> 00:38:44,367 It's not something that you can quantify. 433 00:38:46,047 --> 00:38:50,327 You are of a different value if you have more capital. 434 00:38:50,547 --> 00:38:53,207 It's like you can live in this fairytale world 435 00:38:53,207 --> 00:38:54,387 that that isn't the case, 436 00:38:54,507 --> 00:38:57,527 and your political beliefs and your political system 437 00:38:57,527 --> 00:39:00,947 can pretend that that's the case, but it's simply not the case. 438 00:39:01,947 --> 00:39:03,627 By the way, there are two sexes. 439 00:39:05,487 --> 00:39:07,687 Ah, interesting. 440 00:39:09,847 --> 00:39:14,767 So the other point here kind of that follows along with that 441 00:39:14,767 --> 00:39:20,727 is the point about the effect of basically this financial freedom, right? 442 00:39:20,807 --> 00:39:24,387 Like if you're able to move your capital to wherever you want 443 00:39:24,387 --> 00:39:30,207 and invest it wherever you want and put most of it into Bitcoin because that's just smarter to do 444 00:39:30,207 --> 00:39:34,387 than not put it into Bitcoin. The incentives are all going to completely change, right? 445 00:39:34,687 --> 00:39:39,567 Investment is only going to go into those things that are valuable instead of so much of it being 446 00:39:39,567 --> 00:39:44,647 taken away by tax. And the exit tax, we've talked about this before, is one of the most immoral 447 00:39:44,647 --> 00:39:50,147 taxes there is because it means you can't even leave without giving up some portion of your 448 00:39:50,147 --> 00:39:55,787 wealth i i think they're they're absolutely barbaric and uh uh because it takes away even 449 00:39:55,787 --> 00:40:01,387 the the optionality of just like leaving the system right yeah not applicable to people with 450 00:40:01,387 --> 00:40:07,107 kyc free bitcoin though like that's that's the big takeaway here this is actually separating 451 00:40:07,107 --> 00:40:14,307 borders from state like which is sort of separating the state uh or borders from money if you will 452 00:40:14,307 --> 00:40:35,187 This is one of the aspects that makes Bitcoin so fantastic because it's making us question all of these political lines that we're drawn in the sand about what the difference is between one country and the other or the difference between capitalism and socialism and whatever, the red and the blue. 453 00:40:35,187 --> 00:40:42,167 all of that being questioned by this apolitical thing that just allows you to float above it all 454 00:40:42,167 --> 00:40:50,207 and not give a not give a crap love it i think uh let's let's go through the final paragraph here 455 00:40:50,207 --> 00:40:55,647 which to a certain extent is the final canon paragraph of this book we have one chapter 456 00:40:55,647 --> 00:41:03,087 still to come but it's it's a bit of a glossary of terms chapter so i think this is a a nice one to 457 00:41:03,087 --> 00:41:06,627 to end the canonical book with. 458 00:41:07,447 --> 00:41:07,907 Absolutely. 459 00:41:08,987 --> 00:41:10,307 Clear your mind. 460 00:41:10,787 --> 00:41:11,707 Start from scratch. 461 00:41:12,507 --> 00:41:13,747 Unlearn what you have learned. 462 00:41:14,527 --> 00:41:17,267 Every educational institution you've ever been to 463 00:41:17,267 --> 00:41:19,827 exists solely because of someone's agenda. 464 00:41:20,747 --> 00:41:22,167 If you are a straight A student, 465 00:41:22,307 --> 00:41:23,747 you excelled at being average. 466 00:41:24,627 --> 00:41:26,527 Congratulations, you're a sheep. 467 00:41:27,187 --> 00:41:29,227 The core science subjects are true 468 00:41:29,227 --> 00:41:31,147 because the experiments can be verified. 469 00:41:31,147 --> 00:41:35,467 The social sciences are all biased and tailored for a certain narrative 470 00:41:35,467 --> 00:41:40,187 You're born, you live, and you will most probably die eventually 471 00:41:40,187 --> 00:41:43,727 The laws of nature govern everything in between 472 00:41:43,727 --> 00:41:48,267 All societies are just intersubjective constructs of the human mind 473 00:41:48,267 --> 00:41:51,487 Choose your life's focus carefully 474 00:41:51,487 --> 00:41:55,327 If you don't, you might trifle away your existence 475 00:41:55,327 --> 00:41:57,667 Believing fairy tales to be true 476 00:41:59,027 --> 00:42:01,107 Wonderful. What did you mean by that, Knut? 477 00:42:01,147 --> 00:42:19,527 Yeah, it's a nudge here in the a priori direction, even though it doesn't explicitly say a priori sciences anywhere. But the social sciences being opinion rather than science is absolutely true. 478 00:42:19,527 --> 00:42:24,087 because you can there is an absolute social science and that is praxeology 479 00:42:25,367 --> 00:42:34,567 as introduced by this wonderful book in the corner here and you can figure out stuff about 480 00:42:34,567 --> 00:42:41,047 human action without need the need for any empirical evidence whatsoever you can just 481 00:42:41,687 --> 00:42:48,167 draw if then statements and draw conclusions from if then statements if a then b 482 00:42:49,527 --> 00:42:57,627 In other words, use deductive reasoning to know how humans act, how action works, how incentives work. 483 00:42:58,367 --> 00:43:04,387 The law of diminishing marginal utility and so on can teach you a lot about human being and human behaviors. 484 00:43:05,107 --> 00:43:11,887 So yeah, study praxeology and shout out to Daniel Prince for this fantastic sentence. 485 00:43:11,887 --> 00:43:15,147 If you're a straight A student, you excelled at being average. 486 00:43:15,147 --> 00:43:18,767 that's Daniel's sentence 487 00:43:18,767 --> 00:43:20,127 and I had to put it in the book 488 00:43:20,127 --> 00:43:21,147 because it's so good 489 00:43:21,147 --> 00:43:22,487 so thank you for that Daniel 490 00:43:22,487 --> 00:43:25,507 yeah it's an excellent sentence 491 00:43:25,507 --> 00:43:27,647 and the whole thing is great 492 00:43:27,647 --> 00:43:32,007 it's yeah this is the philosophical side of Bitcoin 493 00:43:32,007 --> 00:43:34,147 the things that you learn by 494 00:43:34,147 --> 00:43:36,387 and or through adopting Bitcoin 495 00:43:36,387 --> 00:43:38,707 you of course can learn Praxeology 496 00:43:38,707 --> 00:43:41,207 entirely independently from Bitcoin 497 00:43:41,207 --> 00:43:43,907 there are certainly many people who have done so 498 00:43:43,907 --> 00:44:02,727 Even the Praxeology book never mentions Bitcoin except in the bio page for you, Knut. And so a little Trojan horse situation, perhaps, if we can get that out to more people. But yeah, it's great. 499 00:44:02,727 --> 00:44:16,387 The natural conclusion of adopting Bitcoin to me is that you become more focused on the sovereignty of the individual and the independence and freedom aspects. 500 00:44:16,387 --> 00:44:22,527 And those are important. And that's what we're aiming to overturn. 501 00:44:22,527 --> 00:44:30,327 the state and I'm not really totally hedging here like the state is a construct that exists 502 00:44:30,327 --> 00:44:37,667 and we live in a world with states and borders and boundaries and all this and there are good 503 00:44:37,667 --> 00:44:44,427 aspects to that many many places are very nice to live in and they bring a good order to society 504 00:44:44,427 --> 00:44:52,487 and that's all right but the downsides the threat of violence the monopoly on violence this is all 505 00:44:52,487 --> 00:44:55,107 things that would be good to reduce 506 00:44:55,107 --> 00:44:57,307 and reducing the constant theft 507 00:44:57,307 --> 00:44:59,467 of individuals time and efforts 508 00:44:59,467 --> 00:45:01,167 and all of the things that 509 00:45:01,167 --> 00:45:03,087 could be if you didn't have 510 00:45:03,087 --> 00:45:04,987 taxes taking 60% of it or 511 00:45:04,987 --> 00:45:06,907 90% of it depending on how you count 512 00:45:06,907 --> 00:45:09,247 that's a world 513 00:45:09,247 --> 00:45:11,107 worth exploring and I 514 00:45:11,107 --> 00:45:13,467 hope we move in that direction 515 00:45:13,467 --> 00:45:14,647 as Bitcoin 516 00:45:14,647 --> 00:45:17,087 grows in adoption 517 00:45:17,087 --> 00:45:17,967 further and further 518 00:45:17,967 --> 00:45:20,107 yeah and 519 00:45:20,107 --> 00:45:29,287 And also inflation, if not even more so, that's the thing that skews everything into the state's advantage. 520 00:45:30,087 --> 00:45:36,807 They wouldn't be able to harass us as much if inflation wasn't a thing. 521 00:45:37,547 --> 00:45:46,767 It's the invisible tax that everyone has to pay that sort of puts a dampener on human progress in general. 522 00:45:46,767 --> 00:45:51,107 we never see the exponential effects of the free markets that could have been 523 00:45:51,107 --> 00:45:53,587 because of inflation and it's horrible 524 00:45:53,587 --> 00:46:02,287 absolutely well I don't have anything else to add here I think this has been a very interesting 525 00:46:02,287 --> 00:46:08,627 chapter though secularism and the effects of secularism and parallels on bitcoin anything 526 00:46:08,627 --> 00:46:14,667 else to to say about this chapter Knut no as you say this is sort of the final chapter of the book 527 00:46:14,667 --> 00:46:20,747 The actual final chapter is sort of a glossary of concepts here. 528 00:46:20,807 --> 00:46:23,907 We're going to go into that next week. 529 00:46:25,887 --> 00:46:29,367 Yeah, and I'm very happy with this book in hindsight. 530 00:46:29,687 --> 00:46:33,307 It's the book I had least help writing from editors and such, 531 00:46:33,407 --> 00:46:36,847 and I still think it holds. 532 00:46:37,527 --> 00:46:40,747 Most of the things in the book are things I still agree with. 533 00:46:40,747 --> 00:46:45,327 and yeah I'm very happy about it. 534 00:46:46,547 --> 00:46:47,507 Very good to hear. 535 00:46:48,087 --> 00:46:49,847 Yeah I've enjoyed this very much 536 00:46:49,847 --> 00:46:51,247 one more chapter to go 537 00:46:51,247 --> 00:46:52,187 and then we'll do a summary 538 00:46:52,187 --> 00:46:54,047 so I think that's it. 539 00:46:55,167 --> 00:46:57,547 So I think just before we wrap up 540 00:46:57,547 --> 00:46:59,907 we'll mention the Plan B network 541 00:46:59,907 --> 00:47:01,767 and actually we have something specific 542 00:47:01,767 --> 00:47:03,187 to talk about this time 543 00:47:03,187 --> 00:47:05,447 we can mention the Plan B network 544 00:47:05,447 --> 00:47:06,387 business school 545 00:47:06,387 --> 00:47:08,547 and the development school 546 00:47:08,547 --> 00:47:21,607 So both can be found at planb.academy. All the information is there. And you can speak a little more to what these are, but I'll just mention off the top, you can get a 10% discount with CodeInfinity. 547 00:47:21,607 --> 00:47:27,727 yes and there will be a plan b business school in lugano this summer so this is for the top two 548 00:47:27,727 --> 00:47:33,667 students of uh at least the business school i think it's of both schools now right from the 549 00:47:33,667 --> 00:47:38,767 business school and the coding school and they're sort of merging the the things together during 550 00:47:38,767 --> 00:47:45,607 this week uh this summer uh more information on the plan b website of course uh i'm doing a full 551 00:47:45,607 --> 00:47:53,207 course on Praxeology this spring. And yeah, looking forward to see you all in Lugano or 552 00:47:53,707 --> 00:47:59,407 or San Salvador for that matter. We're heading back to San Salvador here in the end of January. 553 00:47:59,407 --> 00:48:02,587 So looking forward to that too for the plan before I'm there. 554 00:48:03,727 --> 00:48:08,167 Excellent. Love everything plan B is doing. So just a reminder, check out plan B dot network or 555 00:48:08,167 --> 00:48:13,267 plan B Academy for more information and use code infinity. And then of course, we have our favorite 556 00:48:13,267 --> 00:48:18,967 hardware wallet the Bitbox if you need a hardware wallet or your relatives need a hardware wallet 557 00:48:18,967 --> 00:48:24,947 the Bitbox is the easiest to use it has the latest secure chip you can use it with iOS now with the 558 00:48:24,947 --> 00:48:31,907 Nova edition so go to bitbox.swiss slash infinity and check that out and you can get all the 559 00:48:31,907 --> 00:48:37,507 information there and you get a discount with with our code infinity anything more about the 560 00:48:37,507 --> 00:48:44,327 bitbox, Knut. No, it's just an overall fantastic hardware wallet. I love the interface. I love the 561 00:48:44,327 --> 00:48:52,107 device. It's good for all intents and purposes. If those purposes are downloading the Bitcoin 562 00:48:52,107 --> 00:48:58,427 only hardware or firmware. Perfect. And with that, this has been the Bitcoin Infinity Academy. 563 00:48:58,927 --> 00:49:01,647 Thank you for listening. Bye bye. 564 00:49:07,507 --> 00:49:37,487 Thank you.