ReginaFrancisRN4

meta

I was thinking about the recent papers by the [ECB](https://stacker.news/items/731251) and the [Minneapolis Fed](https://stacker.news/items/734528) and had the following thought train:

*Man, maybe we are really coming into that then-they-fight-you phase people talk about. Huh, it's kinda handy that we got as much adoption as we have before this happened. I mean, they probably won't be able to do a full-frontal assault on bitcoin because we got the ETFs...bitcoin's incentives are incredible!*

Many of you are doubtless of more rigorous mindsets and don't indulge in such silly "everything is fine" thinking. After allowing myself a few fantasies of hyperbitcoinization, I caught myself and stopped.

There is no perfect set of incentives a system can have that will perpetually lead to good outcomes for humanity or our society or whatever you want to call this thing we are all necessarily participating in.[^2]

[^2]: Obviously, some systems achieve stability but aren't terribly good for human flourishing. Monarchies seemed like they were stable ways to organize humans, but growth in monarchies simply doesn't compare to democracies. 

Bitcoin's design is impressive: it balances forces in society against each other and will hopefully result in a stable system that is better for humanity than central banking has been. 

But even stable systems need to be tended along as society changes around them. Take, for example the US Constitution: it has created a remarkable stable basis for a lot of human flourishing. But it had to change a bit along the way to avoid becoming unstable. 

The US may not have tinkered with their constitution lately (perhaps because their politicians have been too busy attempting circumvent the document), but the point is it had to change to avoid slipping into destabilization [^1]

[^1]: The 14th Amendment expanded constitutional protections to more than wealthy whites. The 19th Amendment expanded suffrage to a previously disenfranchised half of the population. Arguably, if these changes weren't made, the US would have been a less stable place. 

Central banking is another system that has provided relative stability (so we're told--I'm not enough of a student of history to be able to make a call on this one, but central banking's objective efficacy isn't really relevant to my point). Certainly there were plenty of economic crashes and wars before central banking came into vogue. And the system has been frequently altered, often when the bankers are frantically trying to keep it from collapsing. Stable systems always need tending, altering. 

Bitcoin is also a system we hope will provide a stable basis for human growth. But it should not be assumed that its incentives are perfect. If Bitcoin ends up being an integral part of human society, it will have to alter its incentives some as time goes by. 

There is no perfect set of incentives

lightning

What have you learned in 2023?

PeggyBrightVJA

> However, I want to add it's not only bitcoiners. It's just any group of entrenched people, really. And there are a lot of such groups out there.

100%.  It's just that bitcoiners generally thump their chests about their intellectual honesty, and then devolve into kindergartners when thoughtcrime strikes a dischordant note against the symphony playing inside their echo chambers.

So I expect better from them, as a group, and hold them to a higher standard that is often sorely disappointed.

I shouldn't talk in generalities this way, I know.  It's a sore spot.

bitcoin_beginners

Don't get too upset about the bulls***. BITCOIN is the TROJAN HORSE.

RickeyGrimes8PV

Do you regret the manner in which you broke lnd? Why or why not?

bitcoin

What it’s actually like to use Bitcoin in El Salvador – Cointelegraph Magazine

MarieHoldenT0R

Keith Richards came up with the guitar riff for Satisfaction in a dream. Mine, on the other hand, rarely make a damn bit of sense.

Lyn Alden's "Broken Money" SN book club / discussion?

TonyaBeard170

And that's why US people and merchants will be the LAST ones in Bitcoin adoption.
Because they will always fall into this trap of using the so called "bitcoin debit cards" instead of just pushing the acceptance of Bitcoin in shops.