Magic is real!

There have been many things true and untrue written about Bitcoin. I will tell you my perspective. Bitcoin is a proposal to fundamentally alter the existing financial system. Right now, with fiat currencies (dollars or euros or renminbi or whatever), there is a very strict caste system, with two castes. One caste “Workers” includes the vast majority of humanity. Workers must somehow convince someone to give them money, usually by doing some form of work. The other caste “Printers” is very small and consists of people who print money. They do not need to work for it.

“Fiat Lux!” — Yahweh, Collector of Foreskins

The idea of money has been dramatically overcomplicated by the Printers, who wish the Workers not to understand how money works. Money is very simple. Money is a system that records what you have contributed to society minus what you have taken. You produce more than you consume and your balance goes up, very simple. From this perspective, it is painfully obvious why counterfeiting, the creation of money without creating value, is illegal: you get credit for contributing to society without actually contributing to society. Counterfeiting is roundabout theft.

The consequences of having a financial system with legal counterfeiting built in are both subtle and dramatic. They are subtle because they touch every part of human society. The Printers pick winners in the marketplace. This allows certain companies to become extremely large through investments from Printers. These companies dominate their competition, and this affects which products Workers have available to them. It affects the foods Workers eat and therefore their health and chemical makeup. It affects the chemicals Workers put on their bodies or use to clean their homes. It affects what telephone networks they can use, how they communicate with each other. Even the Workers’ schools, and thus their world-views are shaped by investments that ultimately come from the Printers. It touches everything.

The consequences are dramatic because they enable Printers to channel vast expenditures of energy without being checked by the normal reputational risks. When a Worker spends money in a way that harms many other Workers, it in turn harms that Worker’s reputation and he will have difficulty acquiring more money. This is because other Workers will not want to do business with someone who may harm them. When Printers spend money on wars and drugging populations, there is no loss of ability to acquire more money for future wars, no matter how bad their reputation gets. It doesn’t matter what Workers think of Printers in the current financial system. Printers have infinitely good reputations according to their bank accounts.

Wars are expensive. Better save up!

“Give me control of a nation’s money supply, and I care not who makes its laws.” — Grandmaster Printer Lvl 9000

The Printers, for whatever reason, are very intelligent and skilled in deception and manipulation of language. Do not be fooled by those who would claim to ameliorate these problems by printing more money and giving some of it to Workers through “social welfare” or other deceptively named programs. Robin Hood works for the King. Go back and re-read the story. Do not be fooled by those who would try to make this issue racial, claiming that the Printers are all of one race and Workers all of the other races. This is not true, the Printers are not numerous enough to be a human race and Workers call the vast majority of every race their own. Divide and conquer techniques work. If you are in prison, fight the prison guards, not the other prisoners. Do not be fooled by those who would try to tell you “You simply do not understand, because it is complicated and you don’t have the right credentials and maybe if you take out a nice loan and go to school for 10 years maybe we’ll tell you how it really works.” If you are able to read and understand this, you are able to understand money. Do not be confused. Remember where you came from and to where you will return.

Bitcoins don’t live anywhere in particular; they are distributed across a global network of computers that anyone can join.

Bitcoin is a new financial system. In Bitcoin, the caste system of Printers and Workers is softened so much that it dissolves. The Printers are called Miners, and any Worker may participate in the process of mining and become a Miner. Mining creates new Bitcoin for a while (about a hundred years) and then just recycles existing Bitcoin. The process of mining has one function: to make it difficult to print money. The more computing power that is used to mine Bitcoin, the harder it is to mine Bitcoin. By making counterfeiting very difficult, Bitcoin tips the scales of expected outcomes. In life, we all imagine the future, and we make choices based on the best expected outcome. If an event would be very good, but very unlikely, we may not pursue it. Likewise those who may dream of being a Printer and having all the Workers do everything for them will find such an outcome increasingly unlikely, and may turn instead to honest Work, benefiting others and benefiting from others. In this way Bitcoin may turn thieves into honest men.

To readers who work in the finance industry. You know it is corrupt. You can bring your energy and expertise and help us build a new world for ourselves and you will be rewarded handsomely. There is a place for you in this world. We all learn from our mistakes. We will welcome you as one of us.

Be a hero! Stop human slavery!

Oh, and feel free to pull out a few pillars on your way out.