Summary
Farmers are humble know-it-alls, with an enviable work ethic and wide ranging skillset. They plant for the future, are criminally undervalued by society and are extremely resourceful with both their hands & time.
It hit me this week that there is really no other occupation quite like a farmer in society. They need to know plenty about everything. From plant biology to soil chemistry, waste management to transport, mechanical engineering to electrical engineering, mathematics to people management, negotiation to commodity markets, weather to animal welfare. They are professional generalists - which is a unique skillset in today's over-efficient world. But it does remind me of another path.
The job of a farmer reminded me of the thankless job many bitcoin (core) developers do. Working long & hard for the fruits of their labour, which they may not directly benefit from themselves. In this case swapping physical thankless labour often at low margins (as farmers) for mentally-demanding thankless labour with smaller pay/grants (as Bitcoiners).
Similarities - Farmers vs Bitcoiners
Below is my attempt at making the comparison between both types of work:
FARMERS | BITCOIN DEVS | |
| 🧡 | Care for animals & nature | Care for humans & time |
| 🎁 | Generous with other workers | Generous with other contributors |
| 💪 | Humble lifelong learners | Humble lifelong re-learners |
| 🤝 | Honest figures in todays local societies | Honest figures in future global society |
| 🔀 | Adaptable to negative conditions & circumstances | Adaptable to new innovations & network forks |
| 🕑 | Incredible at time management | Incredible at time storage |
| 💼 | Market minded to create profits for stores | Market minded to create infrastructure for new businesses |
| ♻️ | Adopt nature's flywheel: soil > grass > animals > waste > soil | Adopt human flywheel: price > trust > users > ux / hashrate > price |
| 🤓 | Knowledgable in engineering, chemistry, markets, people, persistence | Knowledgable in engineering, cryptography, math, security, privacy, econ, markets, liberty |
| 😠 | Persistent & not discouraged by local regulation | Persistent & not discouraged by global regulation |
| 💩 | Working around sh!t | Working around sh!tcoins |
| 🚜 | Confident & driven | 'Toxic' & driven |
| 🔧 | Learn by doing | Proof of work |
| 🌐 | Welcome local competition for sharing best seeds & varieties | Welcome global competition to make the network grow larger |
| 📖 | Experts in hiring specialist contractors | Experts in attracting open-source contributions |
| 🧠 | Problem solvers at heart | Problem solvers in head |
| 🗓️ | Long-term planners | Long-term time preference |
| 🌩️ | Mindful of generations & legacy of land / food | Mindful of generations & legacy of freedom / money / commerce |
| 🚀 | See-through jobs until done | See-through work until shipped |
| 🌅 | Physically demanding, lonely thankless work | Mentally demanding, somewhat lonely thankless work |
| 💰 | Resourceful & receive less investment than supermarkets | Resourceful & receive less investment than fiat / altcoins |
| 👋 | Strong hands | 'Diamond' hands |
| 👣 | On feet most of day, lots of stamina | At desk most of day, lots of persistence |
| 🌴 | Stewardship of local land | Stewardship of global freedom |
| 📉 | Undervalued by locals | Undervalued by world |
P.S. I'm sure I've missed a bunch of skills that farmers have - some of which are listed externally here.