Hello everyone and welcome to the Bitcoin Infinity Academy, brought to
you by Plan B Network and Bit Box.
I'm Kwan and I'm here today, as always with Luke De Wolf.
How are we doing today, Luke?
Doing great, knu.
Thanks.
This is really exciting.
This first chapter here of sovereignty through mathematics, everything a trade.
This is, uh, yeah.
Uh, I think we both were saying we, we already.
Know it basically by heart.
It's, it's that memorable.
So I'm excited to dive into it.
Yes.
So shall we just get at it?
Uh, I think that's, uh, how we do this, right?
I, I, I think so.
So, so I think I'll just, I'll just remind if you want to follow along
the, the chapters available on Noster, uh, we've got a nice primal link.
I think that we'll drop in the description here and learn more about how to
join the academy at our Geyser page.
All the links are in the description, so I think with that, shall we dive in?
Absolutely.
Okay, let's do it.
So this is the first time we're doing this.
I'll just explain that, but I think the, the format here is gonna make
a lot of sense once we get into it.
Uh, basically I'm going to be reading each paragraph and then Knut and I
were, we're gonna discuss it and, uh, see what ideas come out of it.
So yeah, let's, uh, let's just do it.
Everything at Trade chapter one of Sovereignty through Mathematics.
All human interaction can be defined as trade.
Yes.
All human interaction, every time a human being interacts with
another, an exchange takes place.
In every conversation we have, we exchange information with each other.
Even the most trivial information is of some value to the other person.
If information didn't have any value to us, we wouldn't talk to each other.
what the other person says is valuable to us, or we find it
valuable to give information to them.
Oftentimes, both at the core of all human interaction that isn't violent, both
parties perceive that they gain some value from it, otherwise, the interaction
wouldn't have taken place at all.
Civilizations begin this way.
Two people finding it valuable to interact with each other.
That's all it takes.
Knut.
What did you mean by that?
I, I think this is, uh, the perfect way to start your, uh, Bitcoin journey.
Understanding the simple fact about human beings and how we interact that, uh,
we, we have two means of communication o of interacting with one another.
One is communication, and the other is violence or aggression.
And, uh, as we are going to see over the course of all of these courses, Consensual
or like consensual, uh, interactions.
Voluntary interactions are always preferable to violent ones.
Bitcoin is peace.
Bitcoin is piece.
Yeah, I mean, the, the, the funny thing here is I, I, I. Really like what you
say about this is the perfect start.
Uh, completely agree with that because, but, but it's,
it's counterintuitive, right?
Like the, the message that Bitcoin is like all this in, in the
mainstream that Bitcoin is all about.
Crypto and, and all of this like number go up, uh, everything related to that
and no, like, it, uh, it, it's a total mind shift when we approach Bitcoin
from the philosophical perspective or, or that Bitcoin is actually the result
of coming to the understanding of the world in a completely different way.
And I mean, this is what I originally liked about your books
before we'd even met was, was that j just an introduction to these.
Alternate approaches to thinking about the world that ultimately is, is a
austral economics is, is at the, the base.
Right.
But, but I didn't know that.
And isn't Al isn't it basically also true that you didn't know
that too at the time of writing?
no, when I, when I wrote this chapter, I hadn't really done a deep
dive into Austrian economics yet.
So in hindsight, I'm very proud that I had come to, uh, these conclusions
without knowing, too much about Mees and Roth Board and all of that.
But, uh, it, it is like w it is so simple and I think everyone who
just thinks about these things, uh, will inevitably, uh, end up with.
Drawing these conclusions because these are things that you cannot
argue with, uh, without running into a logical contradiction.
And that's the basis of Austrian economics.
And it's not really debatable.
If, if, if you could debate it, like, like I'd, I'd love to see
the ideas of Austrian economics, economics challenged somehow because.
To be honest, some of the axioms may be wrong.
It's just that they are built around being not being wrong because they're,
you can't really argue against them.
That's why they're axioms like, uh, so, so, uh, yeah, first paragraph.
First paragraph.
Uh, we'll, we'll continue, I think, uh, quite a bit of discussion on, on
Austrian economics as, as we go here.
So I'll, I'll.
Save, I'll save some of my additional comments on the matter for for
other times when we're gonna hit.
Things more directly.
And this is gonna be a theme here also, that, that we're going to hit
some of the ideas multiple times.
You know, like, uh, it, it comes up over and over again in the
course of a course of your books, basically, but, but we're always
gonna hit it from a slightly different angle and, and build on the ideas.
I think that's what we've been so excited about as, as we go here.
So, I'll, I'll move on to the, uh, to the next paragraph here.
So what constitutes value?
What we find valuable is entirely subjective.
A comforting hug, for example, probably has a different value to a 2-year-old
than it has to a withered army general.
Even the most basic action such as breathing encapsulates
the whole value spectrum.
We tend to forget that even a single breath of air can be of immense value
to us under the right circumstances.
A single breath is worth more than anything on the planet to a desperate,
free diver, trapped under ice while worth nothing to a person with a death wish.
In clean forest air on a sunny summer day, value is derived from supply and demand.
And demand is always subjective.
Supply is not.
So supply and demand.
Demand is always subjective.
Supply is not really good.
Encapsulation there.
I think this is another new thing for most people.
Wouldn't you say.
Yeah, absolutely.
Uh, and, and this is sort of how trade is the bridge between, uh, the
subjective and the objective between the, will and wants of people and
the, uh, the world around us really.
And why, why property likes owning something is, is what?
What bridges the two worlds and trading, trading objects with one
another and trading goods and services.
That's, that's really it.
And there's another thing I thought of when, when hearing this again, and
it's the, um, the concept of breathing.
Breathing can be a human action, but doesn't necessarily have to be.
And this, uh, here we go into deep, uh, Austrian economics, I guess.
Because it's about the distinction between action and just instinct.
Uh, so most of the time when you breathe, you don't think about it.
You don't do it with purpose.
And this is how, uh, the, uh, Austrian School differentiates
between just basic instinct and like animalistic behaviors and action.
Because human action is, purposeful behavior is the very first
axiom of, of Austrian economics.
So if you do something with intent.
then it's an action.
And you can also not do something, uh, with intent, which is, which
is why inaction is also an action.
But yeah.
Uh, points.
Main point of the paragraph I would say is that demand is
subjective and supply is not.
Yeah.
And well, an interesting thing here, since we're kind of going
into some, some weeds here.
I, I think it's really to the, to the disservice of.
A economics that, that's even the terminology used at all.
And I think that's the biggest misconception about
Austrian economics in general.
Uh, that it's, it's really just describing how the world I. And that's what makes
it entirely different from all mainstream economics, which is really this, this
predictive price modeling and, and, and trying, trying to, um, trying to think
about how the world is going to work if you make all these manipulative changes.
But Austrian economics really just is a description of how the world works and.
When that clicked to me that that, you know, kind of more libertarian types and
the, the kind of political conclusions I think of, of, of thinking in an
Austrian way is, is actually different from the Austrian economics itself.
It's, it's not describing, uh, a political, economic, framework.
It's just describing human action, right.
it's about methodology and epistemology.
So all it does is say, is say that, uh, um.
All else given being equal if X then y like so, so, so that's, that's the
how, how you draw conclusions, uh, from, from this type of thinking.
And I think the reason it's not more popular, uh, the main reason is, is all
of the confusion going on because we say schools of economics when they're.
W there aren't really different schools.
There's how the world works and there's a bunch of, uh, uh, a, a bunch of word
salads about different tasting word salads, about how it oughts to work or how
people think it works, but that's not it.
Uh, Aus economics is just as much about setting the boundaries for
what we can know as, as it is the knowledge itself, like so.
Main point here is that this is not debatable.
Uh, value is absolutely subjective.
Uh, it's subjective between people and between situations.
Uh, um, uh, uh, a table for instance can be a tool for a. The same person like who
wants to sit down and have a meal at the table, but it can also be an obstacle.
If it's on the freeway and he is trying to drive on the freeway, then the table
is not a useful tool, but a uh, uh, uh, an obstacle meaning I. It has a completely
different value, even a negative value.
So value is valuing stuff is something we do all the time.
And these scales always change and we always have a scale of preference
that can be ordered, like from highest priority to lowest priority.
But we can never measure how, how much more valuable one thing is to another,
just that it is more or less valuable.
This is so it can be arranged, uh, uh, ordinarily but never cardinally.
And this is, uh, another thing in Austrian economics.
Yeah.
And again, I think, I think it's just, just the point of that, that all
the other schools, schools are, are people trying to control the world.
Basically trying to impose their, their will and how the world ought to be.
But, but instead of just describing how it works, and I, I, I
think there's a real value in understanding how the world works.
That that's, that's been the, the biggest thing that clicked with me when under when
understanding this stuff is that, if you can see a little bit behind the meaning.
of why people do things is so much easier to understand.
well, yeah.
Really, really simply.
Why pe, why anyone does anything and, and get to the root of their motivations
and, and have a conversation with people and understand what's going on.
all coming back to incentives basically.
Uh, and, and, um, I think that's, I think that's really valuable and I
think some of the conclusions towards the end of this chapter, um, really
allude at Bitcoin's role in, trying to smooth out some of the, the incentive
issues that we see in the system.
So, uh, I don't know, do you, do you have anything, anything
more here or should we just
I would just add that, uh, I, I don't think the other schools of economics
are like deliberately manipulative and want to con control people.
I think they, they, they are what they are because, uh.
For the longest time, like people thought that, uh, empiricism was
the only way of doing science, like, uh, testing a, a hypothesis and, and
measuring the results in the real world, and then adjusting the hypothesis
based on what those results were.
But economics is a completely different.
Science, uh, be because you can't use empiricism to either
confirm or deny anything.
Since humans have free will, we have no choice but to have it so humans
can decide to do something else.
The next time you measure.
Markets are always dynamic, which forces you to use a completely different
method of thinking about these things.
Uh, so methodology here is, uh, is really the key to, to
understanding what's going on.
And without these thoughts, Bitcoin couldn't have existed.
Like, uh, uh, Satoshi definitely had at least some understanding of osteo and
economics, probably a very deep one.
Otherwise, It wouldn't have come up with Bitcoin.
Uh, that's my theory anyway.
Honestly, I think that's a bit of a, maybe a hot take.
Just, just it, it's, I think it's impossible to know if this was what was,
what was going on back at the, the time.
But, uh, I, I, you, you might be right, but, but, uh, maybe people can
stumble on things with Without having the, the knowledge and understanding.
Right.
Because, because you, you've said yourself that you didn't, you
didn't, uh, you didn't ever read any meis before you wrote this book.
that's, that's true.
Like, uh, even a, a blind hen can find a golden pebble,
Bitcoin's definitely a golden pebble.
Or more than that.
Much more than
yet it's a golden goose, which you shouldn't sacrifice for kinder egg.
Yes, that's, uh, maybe an in joke, but, uh, good, good term.
Anyway, I think, I think let's, uh, let's tackle the next one here.
Since all of our lives are limited by time, time is the ultimate example
of a scarce, tradable resource.
We all sell our time, we sell it to others, and we sell it to ourselves.
Everyone sells their time either through a product that took them a certain amount
of time to produce or as a service.
And services are always take time.
If you are an employee on a steady payroll, you typically sell eight hours
of your day every day to your employer.
If you're doing something you truly love to do, that eight hour day still belongs
to you in a way since you're doing what you'd probably be doing anyway if
you had been forced to do it for free.
we sacrifice time in order to acquire something in the future.
An education, for instance, gives no immediate reward, but can lead to a better
paying, more satisfying job in the future.
An investment is basically our future self trading time with
our present self at a discount.
Once again, every human interaction viewed as a trade.
K.
Yeah, I, I love the, the middle of this paragraph.
Uh, it is perfectly describing what we're doing right now and, uh, how we
own our, our time by doing, getting paid for, doing what we would be doing
anyway, because we love doing it.
So, so, uh, uh.
That's, that's my immediate thought about this.
And also there's, there's a hint here at, uh, medium of exchange over
time and space, which is a concept we get into in clown world, uh, far
off in the future for this show.
But, uh, that.
Um, you're, you're trading with your future self when you're storing value.
So I, I don't really like the term store of value.
I prefer medium exchange over time because what you're actually doing is
you're trading with your future self.
And so all, all interactions take place in time.
So without the time dimension, you can't have any trade.
I'm, I'm still a store of value guy.
I like the term as a, as a description and you, you know, but it, it's,
it's good to to point out that we're not exactly the same person.
We, we, we bicker like a married couple all the time.
I. But, but, uh, no, no.
Uh, the medium of exchange over time idea that, that definitely is a, is an
interesting way of thinking about it.
I, I, I still value the, the other terms to, because I think they're
a little more straightforward for, for people to, to grasp.
But, but yeah, medium of exchange over time.
Um, and, and in this paragraph, I like the allusion to, to sacrifice and I mean.
This is a concept that civilizationally basically, uh, the, the, the concept of
being low time preference or in other words, sacrificing immediate gratification
for, uh, for gain in the future.
That's how civilization developed and societies that started to take up
ritual sacrifice in order to literally.
Practice sacrificing, uh, uh, to get their, but to get their mindset right.
Basically.
That's my understanding of the, the purpose of, of sacrifice.
Like, um, um, taking, I don't know, the, the, the last bushel
of wheat or whatever it is that I.
Uh, people farm, um, and, and burning it.
Um, uh, or, or actually many types, types of sacrifice was even that you just had
it in a, a feast like you, you sort of, you, you richly sacrifice it, but then
everyone eats it or, or whatever it is.
But you, you give something up in order to, to mimic the scarcity of,
of losing something so that you have the mindset of that you need to get
better and you need to continually.
Do the thing that, that moves society forward as soon as civilizations, as
soon as cultures started to realize that, then there's more and more archeological
evidence that they grow bigger and bigger and they're able to better withstand,
uh, difficult, difficult conditions, especially winters like none of the
societies that developed in in Northern Europe, would've been able to, to
get through anything if they couldn't make it through the winter, basically.
So they, they learned low time preference.
Right.
And, uh, uh, so, so yeah, it's, it's just tying this all together to the
idea of that, you can get your head around that, maybe doing something
now to better yourself and, and delaying gratification is going to
get you better rewards in the future.
That, that's something for every individual to learn.
That's something for every family group of people to learn.
And, and honestly, I think the world is gonna be much better off if we
can, if we can collectively, uh.
More people, more individuals can pick up on these ideas and, and, uh,
uh, help their local environments and groups to, to, uh, practice it.
Yeah.
And in Bitcoin we sacrifice goats.
You know, whenever a goat, a greatest of all time thinker, uh,
starts shit coining, for instance.
We have to slay our heroes and sacrifice them.
Yeah, that's not foreshadowing anything about you.
Is it Knu?
I certainly hope not.
Uh, yeah.
And, uh.
The, the proper sacrifice here.
Like the point here is that, uh, delayed gratification sacrificing
your time now for, for, uh, uh, future gratification, that that is the
proper way of looking at sacrifice.
Uh, uh, that is the thing that actually yields result when you,
when you sacrifice something.
Yeah.
Great.
Great point here.
Okay.
Uh, onto the next one.
Uh, and, uh, and I, I, I think, I think I'll just say here, 'cause this is gonna
be a, it's not like a, uh, sometimes paragraphs are going to be relating
to the one previously in a way that sort of is, we'll, we'll just remember
that this came after the last one.
Yep.
So
it's rooted in physics.
For every action there is an equally large reaction.
Trade is at the very core of what we are and the tools we use to
conduct trade matter a lot to the outcome of each transaction.
is our primary tool for expressing value to each other, and if the
creation of money is somewhat corrupt or unethical, that wrought spreads down
throughout society from top to bottom.
Shit flows downhill as the expression goes.
Can.
Uh, yeah.
Uh, if I was to write this book again, now I wouldn't use the word, uh, I
wouldn't have used the word physics, just, and the, the reason I would would
avoid it is not because I don't agree with that, that every action has an
equally big, uh, reaction, but that I think it's important to distinguish
between human action and all other.
All other branches of science.
Uh, physics is an empirical science, uh, ology is not.
which is also, by the way, why Bitcoin is not digital energy.
Uh, I, I, I don't like that phrasing.
I think it's, uh, way more complex than that.
Uh, but we we're going to get into, uh, some other, examples like this,
uh, where I use like physics metaphors that I, I will try to explain as
best as I can, why they're flawed.
They might be good to just ease someone into this new way of thinking,
but, uh, uh, at the end of the day, all, all physics metaphors, uh,
for Bitcoin are basically wrong.
Fair enough, but I mean, I mean, yeah.
Good to kind of point it out.
And, and again, like wrongness is subjective, also sort of, uh,
the metaphors themselves, if they help people understand things
better, they're not wrong in the sense of being empirically wrong.
In those cases, they, they help people the understand the concept,
and I don't think that's wrong.
Now there they might be, uh.
Like objectively wrong, but sub subjectively, right?
Uh, if, if that makes any sense, if they're, uh,
helpful.
subjectively helpful as a tool of understanding other stuff.
something on your, jo on your journey.
But this is, I, I think this paragraph, like it kind of explains itself.
It's not very complicated.
If money printing goes on, uh, everything else gets corrupt.
Um, and this is where I'd like to recommend, uh, a guy that I
recently interviewed, uh, Joe Rogers, uh, his, uh, movie.
What is the problem?
There's little animated movie.
Uh, if you, if you Google.
Uh, what is the problem?
You, you'll, uh, get a very good basic e explanation of what
happens when, when, uh, the states start running the money printer.
Yeah.
Good.
And actually this is a good time to point out that, that we're, we're actually
with the Bitcoin Infinity Academy.
We're we're being quite a bit more, uh, uh, on time with,
with this, like this episode.
We're recording it right now on a Saturday.
This is gonna be out on Monday.
I. Uh, but our Bitcoin Infinity show, we, we have a big backlog and we, we
take a lot of time, um, to, to release the, the episodes and, and get them out
just for the, uh, I don't know the, the difficulties of, of life and all this.
So, uh, we might reference things that haven't actually come out yet,
but we're, we're gonna stay on time and fairly topical with, with these,
uh, academy episodes, which is, which is gonna be gonna be pretty fun.
But.
Uh, yeah, I agree.
And I mean, uh, uh, another thing too is that, is that we're going
to be, um, touching on topics that are better explored later.
And I think we know that sometimes, uh, that, that we go deeper into something.
So I think, uh, bear with us, if, if you want to hear a little bit
more about something specific that we're, we're talking about here,
maybe our answer is going to be a little bit of like, Hey, like.
Tune in to, to a, a, a later chapter here.
But we we're also happy to, to, I think, flesh some things out
independent of, uh, of being tied to a book, uh, a chapter, right?
Yeah, or, or just join the academy and pose a question in
the group and we will bring it up.
Uh, yeah, that, that's, that's what I was getting at.
Like, uh, uh, we're, we're happy to, to discuss things a little more kind
of outta band, but I, but I think we'll go, we will hit them also in
depth, uh, as, as the ideas come up.
So, um, yeah.
Uh, the, the, uh, these earlier books are thought of idea embryos
for what was to come later, uh, and, and culminating in clown world.
We'll, we'll get to that.
Yeah.
When, when we get to, when we get to clown world, uh, we're going deep.
It's gonna
Yeah, this, this, uh, academy is all about delayed gratification.
There we go.
Good.
Okay.
Onto the next one.
So what is money, or rather, what ought money to be in order for two persons to
interact when a mutual coincidence of needs is absent, a medium of exchange is
needed in order to execute a transaction?
A mutual coincidence of needs might be, you need my three
goats and I need your cow.
Or even both of us need a hug.
In the absence of a physical good or service suitable for a specific
transaction, money can fulfill the role of a medium of exchange.
What most people fail to realize is that the value of money, just as the value of
everything else, is entirely subjective.
You don't have to spend it.
the problem with every incarnation of money that mankind has ever tried is
that its value always gets diluted over time due to inflation in various forms.
Inflation makes traditional money, a bad store of value and money needs
to be a good store of value, in order to be a good investment, or in
other words, a good substitute for your time and your effort over time.
Bitcoin tries to solve this problem by introducing absolute scarcity to
the world, a concept that mankind has never encountered before.
To comprehend what such a discovery means for the future, one needs to
understand the fundamentals of what value is and that we assign a certain
value to everything we encounter in life, whether we admit it or not.
In short, we assign value to everything we do.
Value is derived from supply and demand and supply is objective
while demand is subjective.
Great summary.
Thank you.
Um, I mean, this is at the core of what Bitcoin is, right?
You have a potential infinite, uh, demand and an absolutely finite supply.
And if you combine, those two number can only go up forever.
That's, that is the conclusion here.
So while that seems utopian.
You're living through it right now, whether you want to or not,
you can either be on this train or not, and nothing stops this train.
So, uh, the, the here, uh, uh, a crucial point here is that no civilization ever
happens before money is discovered.
Uh, so there, there is no barter civilization, civilizations don't.
Emerge from just border.
You need something, you need a medium of exchange.
Uh, and, uh, my, my favorite de definition of, uh, money is Hans harm Hopper's
definition, which is that it's, it's the best insurance against uncertainty,
uh, uh, available or the best defense against uncertainty available because
that's all money is supposed to do.
It's supposed to give you ease of mind so that you can go into
the future knowing that you can.
Use the fruits of your labor later, and exchange it for something else
that you need more than the other guy.
Like, it's, it's very simple like that.
Uh, it's just that we have, uh, all of human history tainted by bad
money and by, uh, corrupted money, unethical money, whatever you may
call it, uh, inflationary money.
so in, in that sense, Bitcoin rewrites all of history.
Like, uh, we've never had a perfect representation of
history before, but now we do.
Yeah.
Damn.
I mean like, uh, the whole thing here.
When, when you say that, uh, I, I was going to that, yeah.
There are times in history when the money is a little bit better, and of
course we never had the technological stack for Bitcoin to exist before.
We needed some kind of, some kind of.
Mechanism of the technology.
I mean, we're not gonna get into a history lesson of what had to come before Bitcoin,
but, but basically the, the proof of work mechanism and, and coordinating
different, uh, um, nodes in a network.
Like you couldn't have had Bitcoin if you can't communicate with people, basically.
That I, I would say.
From my point of view, that is true and untrue at the same time.
And the reason is, if everyone was absolutely 100% honest all the
time, we could have had Bitcoin.
So the only reason we need all the technology and all the proof of work
and all, all of these things is to prevent people from being dishonest.
But if people just had been honest to begin with, we
wouldn't have needed Bitcoin.
Uh, that's the way I view that.
Oh, that's a, that's a clip right there.
I think maybe, let's see here.
Let's, um, let's, let's continue.
I think
free trade emerges out of human interaction naturally, and it is
not an idea that was forced upon us at any specific point in time.
The idea that markets should be regulated and governed on the other hand was
breach rate, is just the absence of forceful interference in an interaction
between two humans by a third party.
There's nothing intrinsically wrong or immoral about an
exchange of a good or service.
every objection to this is a byproduct of the current global narrative, a
narrative that tells us that the world is divided into different nations, and that
people in these nations operate under various sets of laws depending on what
jurisdiction they find themselves in.
All of these ideas are manmade, no species except humans does this to themselves.
Animals do trade, but they don't do politics.
what did you mean by this paragraph?
Cano?
Yes, it's, it's to, uh, emphasize the point that, capitalism is not optional.
Like it's, it's not, it's not a manmade concept.
It's, it's something that emerges naturally from human behavior, uh, and
even animal behavior to some extent.
The, the, the term capital good refers to something that you can use at a later time
or use in the production of other goods, ultimately leading to a consumer good,
to the production of a consumer good.
And accumulating these things and trading them with one another
is what leads to civilization.
That is the process of civilization.
So saying that, uh, capitalism is evil, is, is a very, very strange,
is very, very strange to me.
And I think the reason the word has, been so skewed over the years is, uh,
is like the world, the word liberalism.
It ought to, it ought to mean like people are free to do whatever the
fuck they want, but it doesn't in the modern context of the world of the word.
So the same is true for capitalism, I think.
I think the reason the word is so tainted is, uh.
It's because of money printing at the end of the day that, that some, some
asshole has been able to print money and then blame the failures of the free
market, so-called failures of the free market, which are really failures of
the boom and bust, boom, bust, boom cycle that follows from money printing
and political interventionism, like this is always the root of the problem.
It's always marketed as the remedy or, or the antidote to the, the, or the,
the solution to the problem, uh, when it's actually the underlying cause.
and I think most people get this wrong because we're constantly
being bombarded by, uh, state funded information channels that give us this
worldview, public schooling for is one.
And, uh, uh.
Government subsidizes media outlets.
It's another and everyone working there, they, they're doing their best.
And I think they try their best to give accurate information to people,
but they're also brainwashed by the notion, of by, by politics and by the
money being, corrupt to begin with.
Uh, skews everything.
Yeah, and I mean, I, I think a, a nuance here also that, that I think you
were getting at is, is that, is that.
we call capitalism, especially the most capitalistic places.
Uh, it's, it's all the, all the problems really just come from the,
the, the government intervention.
And, and this is a, this is one of those things getting into the political realm
of, of this, the, the reason I think why people who get into Austrian economics
eventually start to lean, libertarian, or.
Right.
Or something an Arco capitalist even is just that it becomes
clear that that interventions in the market are the problem.
Uh, and, and it's really what makes the, the capitalism I. Not work.
The free trade between individuals not work.
The people who are closest to the money printer are deciding to give
money to different people, companies, groups, picking winners essentially,
and they're also choosing to tax.
One group or another differently.
So it's picking winners and losers and, and we don't have any idea of
what it would really look like in, in a, in a real capitalist system.
I mean, I, I saw a breakdown of, I. all the ways that, uh, that the US healthcare
system is, is interfered with all the way down from, uh, in insurance being mandated
so that, so that, uh, hospitals can bill basically whatever they want because
insurance companies have to pay for it.
And then therefore insurance companies raise their premiums.
A whole ton, thereby making it more expensive for people to afford insurance.
And it just, all, it trickles down, uh, monopolies on patents,
uh, um, enforced regulations that mean that smaller companies cannot
compete in the medical space.
Just, just a crazy number of interventions that, that distort everything.
And so the so-called.
Big capitalist healthcare system isn't a capitalist at all, and theoretically
the cure is going to be more socialism.
That's really not going to work.
I think I.
No, and this is, there are so many layers to this, so it's sort of impossible to to
imagine a world without interventionism, except if you're a Bitcoin and do a lot
of hanging out with other Bitcoiners.
I mean, what we're doing right now, Luke, like you and I, are trading our
time and effort with one another and it's a mutually beneficial thing, and.
So, so is the audience here, everyone watching this does
so by their own volition.
They, they are, they are here because they want to be here.
And who, why couldn't the entire world work like that?
Why couldn't everything be consensual and voluntary?
And thinking that some things have to be enforced is a product of
that very same kind of enforcement.
We only think that because we have been forced to.
Live in systems where, where you draw those conclusions, uh, from necessity
because there are assholes with guns threatening you to, to, to take you
away and put you in a cell if you don't do what they, they think is wrong or
right, because at the end of the day.
Who is to say what is a problem with the market?
Like that is entirely subjective too.
Like, who gets to set the framing?
Like this is a, this company is too big.
I mean, says who, even, what, what, what people view as the most capitalistic
institutions of the world, like, uh, multinational corporations.
They are the size, they are mostly because of interventionism,
quenching all the competition.
So, and, and, and the, the interventionism helps these large
entities, it helps them, uh, form artificial monopolies in, in all of.
All areas of life, by, by just disallowing every potential
competitor to challenge 'em.
That that's the main mechanism that keeps, uh, that, that, that,
that makes monopolies happen at all on a completely free market.
Uh, theoretically a monopoly situation cannot happen.
uh, which is counterintuitive to most people, and we'll get into the weeds of
this in, in later books, but, uh, this is not a discussion for now, I guess.
No, I, I'm, uh, uh, my only remark here is that I'm, I'm enjoying
how spicy we're already getting.
It's not so spicy, but like, it's, it's getting a little bit
spicy at this point already.
So yeah, we're, uh, we're having fun.
This, this series is gonna be an absolute, absolute blast.
I'm already, I'm already really enjoying it.
Yeah.
Let's, uh, let's continue.
Bitcoin and the idea of truly sound absolutely scarce money inevitably
makes you question human societal structures in general and the
nature of money in particular.
Once you realize that this Pandora's box of an idea can't
be closed again by anyone, everything is put into perspective.
Once you realize that it is now possible for anyone with a decently sized brain to
store any amount of wealth in that brain, or to beam wealth anonymously to any other
brain in the world without anyone else ever knowing everything you are ever told
about human society is turned on its head.
Everything you thought you knew about taxes, social class,
capitalism, socialism, economics, or even democracy falls apart like
a house of cards in a hurricane.
It is in fact impossible to comprehend the impact Bitcoin will have on the
planet without also understanding basic Austrian economics and what
the Libertarian worldview stems from.
Okay.
This, uh, reminds me that Pandora's box sentence there reminds me
of something Michael Dunworth.
Uh, my friend Michael Dunworth said on a panel we were on at Bitcoin
alive in Sydney, uh, just a couple of weeks back, and that is that Bitcoin
is the first thing that humanity has ever built, that we can't, uh, break.
We, we cannot undo this.
Like we have built something that we cannot stop.
And not wanting to, to own a bit of that, or to be part of
that, uh, is just insanity.
Like, uh, I, I mean, time will tell, but everything points to Bitcoin
being completely unbreakable, which is, uh, which is just mind
blowing in itself, isn't it?
It, it completely is.
And I mean, this is another one of these things where I just get back
to, uh, when you get it, you get it.
When you take the orange pill, you can't untake it.
You know?
It, it, it, it's, it's, it's like you've seen behind the curtain and
just nothing, nothing else, uh, ever makes sense anymore except in, except
in the contents of context of Bitcoin.
And so, yeah.
Yeah, like, uh, coming to these realizations is
important and, and, you know.
Uh, I, I say it, I say it a lot because I think it's, it's important to say this,
like the reason we talk about this stuff as much as we do and we go deep into it.
I mean, there, there's, there's so many layers to this, this, this,
we're doing this for our own benefit.
We're doing this for the benefit of everyone listening.
Right?
And, and I mean, the, I think my, my assumption is anyone who's.
Listening to this at, at this point is, is going to be already pretty, pretty
deep into the Bitcoin rabbit hole already.
But wouldn't it be awesome if, if this is like one of these things
that you know, hey, you, you, you've just got your first Bitcoin here.
Check out, check out this series on, on sovereignty through mathematics, uh,
and, and really dig deep into this stuff.
I mean, what's the impact that, that us doing this could have
in, in the future here, but.
Not, not specifically this, this series, but just all the talk about
Bitcoin and getting better at the ideas and understanding them better.
yeah, like conviction deepening is important and, and being able to
explain these things to other people is important because even though it
can't break it, we don't know how long it's gonna take before, before
the world is overtaken by Bitcoin
Before, before it breaks everything else.
or it breaks everything else.
Yeah.
So, no, I mean, I mean, I, I just keep getting more, more, I. Not bullish.
Exactly.
It's the wrong word.
It's just, when we talk about this stuff, it gets me excited about where we, where
we're going to be, uh, in the future here.
when, when more and more people think about these ideas and, and start to
change the way they live their lives.
Because may, maybe that's, maybe that's another thing here.
I definitely live life in a different way after discovering
Bitcoin and after seeing that, that.
Everything, all the ways of operating before were just, were just a hamster's
wheel to get ahead in the rat race or whatever other metaphor makes sense.
But you figure out Bitcoin and so many other things start to make
more sense and, and you just live your life a totally different way.
And I don't know, I'm, I'm just hopeful that, uh, through discussing
these ideas, more people can come to the same realization.
I don't have much more of a point than that.
It's just, it's just always awesome to think about.
I, I, I view it as like the, the life I led before and, and like, like life.
How you view life in general before Bitcoin.
Is that success always the, the, this false notion that success necessarily
has to come at someone else's expense, which Bitcoin sort of points out
that that is completely 100% false.
Uh, eh.
One person's success can benefit everyone else on Earth simultaneously, if we just
start using the, the proper denominator, like it's, it's as simple as that.
That was a complicated, uh, uh, and, uh, outlandish statement.
We, we'll get into the weeds of why in the upcoming chapters.
Exactly.
Let's, let's, yes, we'll get, we'll get into it more later.
Uh, last, uh, last paragraph here.
And, uh, interesting anecdote I think coming up or interesting thought nugget.
I. Imagine growing up in an Amish community until your 16th birthday,
you're purposely completely shielded off from the outside world.
Information about how the world really works is very limited to you.
Since internet access and even TVs and radios are forbidden within the community.
Well, from a certain perspective, we're all Amish.
How money really works is never emphasized enough through traditional
media or public educational institutions.
Most people believe that the monetary system is somehow sound and fair
when there's overwhelming evidence to the contrary all over the globe.
yourself, do you remember being taught about the origins of money in school?
I, me neither.
I don't believe that there's some great global conspiracy behind the
fact that the ethics of money creation isn't a school subject, but rather that
plain old ignorance is to blame for the lack of such a subject primarily.
As soon as their math skill limit is reached, people seem
to stop caring about numbers.
The difference between a million and a billion seems lost on a depressingly
large part of the world's population.
In the chapters ahead, we'll explore the pitfalls of central banking, how
money pops into existence, and how inflation keeps us all on a leash.
Okay.
Yeah, the difference between a million and a billion is about a billion.
Uh, the, the Amish part here is, is funny, uh, like.
Do you know why the Amish, uh, weren't affected by Covid at all?
Yeah, go ahead.
they didn't have a tv.
They didn't have TVs, so that's why like the, so there's, if anything,
I've changed my views on the Amish, uh, since I wrote this book.
I think they're pretty based, uh, I, I mean they, they, they're
not worried about climate change because they don't have TVs.
Like, uh, they, they, they live life.
Uh, and you, you may say that it's, uh, ignorant and, and like, uh,
shielded from the rest of the world and they, they're not getting all
the information, but they're also not getting any of the propaganda.
So, so, uh, uh, so it's a double-sided coin.
Uh, I personally believe you should like, uh, have access to
as much information as possible.
It's just that take care of your filters, uh, filter the information properly.
That can be hard to do.
One, one trick.
One simple trick is to always follow the money, to see what
people's real intentions are.
Watch their actions rather than listening to their words, especially
politicians and bureaucrats.
Uh, and uh, yeah, the Amish are good at that, so good on them.
I.
Absolutely.
And well, you know, I think, I think the other point you have
here is that like the, none of this being covered in school, I mean,
there's something real really there.
Like, uh, like honestly, it's, it's hard to, to not see some grand
conspiracy here to kind of just shut everyone up and, and keep us all in
our little boxes because, because.
This stuff really should be fundamental.
The fundamentals of how to live life are what should be taught
in school, not, not esoteric things that might be useful later.
I think much of mathematics in, in, in school beyond real basics actually is
pretty darn useless to most people, like trigonometry and things like that, but
they completely gloss over the, the, uh.
of money and how to, how to use money and, and all of these useful things.
Right?
It's, it's, it's so hard.
I don't know.
What do you think?
any, any inflation is theft.
I mean, read Rothberg, people like it.
It's always theft.
A violation has happened if prices go up.
Uh, and this is so hard for people to understand because
prices have always gone up.
Everyone living today, no one living today has ever experienced
falling prices in anything but say like computers, uh, which are.
Have such a technological, fast technological deflation that,
uh, the, the prices actually go down even in fiat terms, but
everything else should go down too.
It's as simple as that.
And if you're denominating Bitcoin, it does so.
Yeah.
And this is what this is all about.
This is what this course is about, to teach people, teach
people this, these things.
And, uh, another way of viewing the world, uh, I mean also with a conspiracy thing.
I would, uh, say never attribute to malice what can be explained by retardation.
Like I, I think, I think that, uh, oftentimes it's
just that the whole system is.
Uh, incentives are set the way they are.
And like even the, even money printing like is not someone, uh, conspiring to,
to, uh, uh, manipulate everyone else.
It's just that the temptation, the incentive to print money
if you can, is too strong.
So humans have never been able to resist the temptation to take a little more
for yourself than, uh, than you are actually entitled to, which is why we
can't leave anyone in charge of the money print because the psychopaths will.
Like flock to those positions in society where they, where they get to use others.
So, so a psychopath is bound to end up in controlling the money
printer at the end of the day.
And, and this is why it's, I. The incentives were there before the
malice, if you know what I mean.
Before, before the bad guy came there, the incentive to,
to become a bad guy was there.
So, uh, it can be explained by that, uh, what Bitcoin does, it is
it provides us with a system where actually following the rules is more
profitable than trying to break them.
Uh, which, which completely changes the incentive.
So, so.
If, if, if there's anything, any such thing as a positive
conspiracy, this would be it.
Like we're, we're, we're actually scheming to make people behave in different ways.
It's, uh, yeah.
No, it's great.
I mean, the, the finding is, is that good intentions, people
can have good intentions, right?
Like, uh, it, it can be completely reasonable to think that it's, it
would be nice to order the world in such a way that everyone gets
everything taken care of and.
Society runs all smoothly and, and, and all this, but the, the sinister nature
is that, is that people who can take advantage of such, such systems will,
and I think we'll explore those ideas.
More in the future.
But for now, I think I, I think this was a, an excellent chapter and,
uh, uh, to our, to our listeners.
Hey, we're, we're, we're done the chapter now.
Um, go, leave us a comment.
Tell us what you think.
If you're watching on YouTube or Rumble, go, go, leave us a comment there.
Uh, if you've, if you've been listening on Fountain or something, uh, uh, send
us a tweet or a post on nos about it.
Uh, let us know what you think and, uh, looking forward to
continuing the conversation.
But.
Yes, and, and about continuing the conversation.
The road to hell is paved.
With good intentions as we know which, what, what is why I think
there's a, a highway to hell and a just a stairway to heaven.
Uh, and speaking of, we'll get into one of my most controversial chapters ever,
I think next week or, or not next week.
This is coming out like just a couple of days after this, which is
chapter two of Sovereignty through mathematics called Financial Atheism.
And, uh, I'll explain how my views have changed on that since I wrote
it and what I still agree with and what I might disagree with.
So looking forward to that and to defining the word, the words and all all the stuff.
So, yeah.
Welcome back next time.
Perfect.
Uh, I, I think I'll, I'll, I was gonna ask you, did you have any last words,
but I think you just, just covered that.
Am I right?
Yeah.
These were my last words.
These were, these were.
All right.
Well, hey, so before, before we wrap up, I think we'll just, we'll just say,
uh, a big shout out to, first of all, everyone who's joined the academy so far.
If you wanna be involved in the, the discussions and support what we're doing.
The easiest way, easiest way, is to, to join the academy.
Either join the specific course or, or pick up the Metral Atium
membership so that you have access to absolutely everything.
All the details are on our Geyser page.
Er Fund slash Project slash infinity and all the details are there.
Uh, also thank you to Plan B Network for, for supporting this, this endeavor.
It's how we can make it available for free to everyone, both on noster and in
the the video audio segment we have here.
So check out plan B network.
For more fantastic educational resources, and we're really happy
to be, be a part of this initiative.
Uh, a short, uh, a condensed version or a bridged version of, of these recordings
is also gonna be available on the, the Plan B network, YouTube channel.
Rumble channel.
and Rumble, it's, it's both.
it's both.
Yeah.
yeah.
Okay.
So that's Plan B Network.
Thanks again to them.
And, and the other one of course is Bit Box.
They've been a, they've been a long time supporter of both of our shows also now,
so, so big, A big shout out to them.
Go to Bit box.swiss/infiniti for a discount on the Bit
Box zero two Hardware wallet.
Our, our favorite hardware wallet at Fantastic for newbies.
Super easy to use.
So yeah, it's, um, thanks.
Bit box.
Anything else on, on, uh, those topics there?
K.
Yes.
A final thing for this specific chapter that we just went through,
the sovereignty through mathematics, there's a little animation made by Yoni
Appleberg, uh, narrated by guy, guy one.
So if you search for Bitcoin, every, uh, everything, a trade on, uh,
YouTube, you'll find that video.
Uh, yeah, I highly recommend that.
And all of Yoni's, other videos for that matter.
Uh, so.
Check out that, and, uh, as Luke said, leave a comment, like,
subscribe and brush your teeth.
See you next time.
Yeah, but we're not totally done yet, are we?
No.
Well, we could be, I guess, but, but, uh, no.
Uh, uh, just a reminder, everywhere you can, uh, everywhere you can
see us this upcoming year, we're gonna be at a whole bunch of.
Your conferences, uh, I think you've got a slightly more full
schedule, Cano, so you wanna tell us
Oh yes.
Uh, thanks for that reminder.
So, uh, now in May I'm going to Ireland to a Bitcoin conference
there, Bitcoin, Ireland.
And then we're both going to Prague, uh, for B2C.
Prague, uh, use.
This goes for every single conference and everything else.
You can buy Bitcoin related on the internet.
Really use code infinity for a discount, especially for Prague now.
Uh, and uh, then we're going to, uh.
Uh, Bitcoin Rodeo in, in Calgary, Canada.
And after that, uh, we're, I'm going to Budapest and you
are going to Riga after that.
We're organizing a conference in Helsinki, Finland, in the, at the end
of August, uh, or the middle of August.
So, uh, yeah, Baltic, KBA and Istanbul.
Uh, no, not Istanbul, Budapest.
Uh, I travel too much.
Uh, our, uh, on the eighth and 9th of August and the B2C, hell in Helsinki
is on the 15th and 16th, I believe.
I think I got that right.
You did get it right.
Yeah, exactly.
No, no.
Uh, really great, really great conference schedule coming up.
Uh, come say hello.
Uh, get a book signed if you want.
Uh, yeah, we'll, we'll be there.
Looking forward to it.
And uh,
And Bulgaria and Logano.
Don't forget, Logano, like the Plan B conference in Logano
is coming up in October.
If we're going through the entire schedule here,
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think the, we're, we're confirming the Bulgaria and, and, and ano
here, but I'm, I'm sure that, I'm sure we'll, we'll wrap those up.
Looking forward to, to all of it.
So, uh, but come to, come to Helsinki though, if you can.
Seriously, we're, we're really excited about this one.
We're gonna, we're gonna have lots of fantastic side events.
There's a ton of great speakers lined up already.
So this is, this is another one of these ways that, uh, you
can get the, the most out of.
Uh, you know, your relationship with us and, and all this
come to come to Helsinki.
Um, yeah, we, we'd really love to see you there.
It's, it's my adopted hometown and I'm really excited to, to show it off to
International Bitcoiners and we're really trying to raise awareness and adoption.
In Finland and the, the Nordics more generally.
So that's, uh, another way you can have a big impact is to, to come to Helsinki
and, and, and show, show, uh, everyone here, um, what Bitcoin is all about.
So that's the, the short pitch.
You'll be hearing it constantly until the conference, but
we're really excited about it.
Right.
Knu.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
The really short pitch would be go to hell people.
I don't have anything more to add.
So is is this it?
Are we, uh, gonna put a ribbon on this one now?
I think we're gonna put a ribbon on this one right now.
Alright.
Thank you Luke.
See you next time.
Thanks Knut, and thank you for listening.
See you next time.