The Gilded Age as proof-of-work capitalism

"If your money isn't sound, it is not reflecting any proof of work. It is not reflecting anything about who should be able to consume, or how much there is available to consume. It's just being corrupted, it's being defrauded, so that certain people get bad price signals. And this will incentivize them and everyone else to literally make economic decisions that appear to be economically profitable, that are actually destroying the society."

~ Guy Swann

Why is it that 5,000 years of human civilization built monuments and railroads and cathedrals – and we built WeWork and Quibi?

In this episode, I read Wyatt's case for a return to proof of work in the real economy, then push it further: sound money isn't just nice to have. Without it, the market doesn't break – it never emerges in the first place. And when it loses that property, society rots until it dies.

Check out the original article: The Bitcoinization of Finance by Wyatt O'Rourke (Link: https://braiins.com/books/bitcoinization-of-finance)

References from the episode

• The Bitcoinization of Finance by Wyatt O'Rourke – the book this chapter is pulled from, available now (audiobook coming soon, narrated by yours truly) (Link: https://braiins.com/books/bitcoinization-of-finance)
• Broken Money by Lynn Alden – referenced in the chapter and one of the best macro reads out there (Link: https://www.lynalden.com/broken-money/)
• The Price of Tomorrow by Jeff Booth – also referenced, and a foundational read on deflation and innovation (Link: https://www.jeffbooth.ca/books)
• Human Action by Ludwig von Mises – the original Austrian breakdown of boom-bust cycles (Link: https://mises.org/mises-wire/ludwig-von-misess-human-action-marking-70-years-continuing-relevance)
• The previous Read episode on Nick Szabo's The Fabric of Desires – perfect companion piece to this one (Link: https://fountain.fm/episode/ByGugoFYLU0uFDPI6Z2t)
  

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“...when two opposite points of view are expressed with equal intensity, the truth does not necessarily lie exactly halfway between them. It is possible for one side to be simply wrong.”

~ Richard Dawkins