Oddbean new post about login | logout Good thing bitcoin is “apolitical” right? 😉 There is no politics in bitcoin 😂
Even the genes and hormones produced by the genes from the mother and father in an embyo compete for expression.
Who said bitcoin is apolitical?
Some people say that. It’s highly political. It started off as libertarian and anti-establishment movement.
I tend to think technology has no inherent morality. Some technology is constructed/extended such that (im)moral purposes are highly "convenient" but in all cases it's humans that choose. Your sentence made me reread it a few times. I think nothing *is* political, emphasizing the verb 'is'. I think politics drags something in, instead of the other way around. 🤔
Whenever money is involved some people tend to what to take control of it creating politics.
I would argue that something is political if it utilizes political (violence) means. The vaccine became political when attempts were made to force people to get it; letting people opt out is almost the definition of non-political. Controversial maybe, but I dont think bitcoin is political, fiat is political.
But, the way you phrase it now, aren't you turning around the (perverted) initiative? The vaccine didn't feel ignored by people who didn't take it. The enforcement came from the way the narrative was framed as selfish/arrogant/etc. To me, the vaccine was the means; used —as so many other things— with the basis in some shitty story.
Yes, political narratives are usually bullshit and used to expand state power. I dont know what you mean "ignored", I imagine you mean that the mandates only happened after a considerable amount of political support was leveraged for it? So, the vaccines were politicized before they were mandated. If thats what you meant, then I see your point and am inclined to agree; but then we are talking about speech that was calling for all manner of force to be applied, mandates, forced injection, concentration camps, isolation etc... I don't think that applies to bitcoin as a tool to opt out of other systems, though if you support those violent measures to force bitcoin through then you would be making it political.
I think we're actually on the same page. I do not support violence to push bitcoin through. I think bitcoin is a means for politics to enforce or restrict/deny something. With "ignored" I just emphasized that the choice is not coming from the vaccine itself. Equally, the pharmaceutical industry doesn't push the vaccine *for* the veccine. Whether you subscribe to good or bad intentions, the vaccine is the means, not the end goal. Bitcoin demonstrates how the true combination of characteristics that were already ascribed to value (i.e. money) can work in technology. The design mechanics of bitcoin don't "enforce politization". Instead, politics got concerned with/about bitcoin. Anyways, I suspect we're on the same page at least in understanding. I wanted to clarify but it's easy to get carried away explaining my view.
Anyone can use bitcoin, even politicians who are against it, can accumulate sats 🫠