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I take it you live Thoreau-style, in a cabin in the wilderness completely off-grid? You farm and hunt your own food and do not rely on civilization for any of y

I take it you live Thoreau-style, in a cabin in the wilderness completely off-grid? You farm and hunt your own food and do not rely on civilization for any of your needs?

jamiek88 4y ago
And Thoreau was only a few miles from a town and had his food brought in. Man has relied on a society since we had tails.
cowtools 4y ago
I would certainly prefer to live like that once that is within my means and skills. But until then, is there no middle ground between surveilance state and free society?
- jollybean 4y ago
  Please just do a little Google/Wikipedia on Adam Smith. Everyone trying to do 'their own stuff' is basically, stupid. We gain immensely by the division of labour: the cobbler makes the shoes, the farmer grows food, the banker manages money. Were you to try to 'make your own iPhone in your back yard' you would fail. We are 'rich' because of this. Otherwise, we'd be literally feral monkeys. Bitcoin has little to do with 'control or surveillance'. You do not need to 'hold' USD in order to live. You just need to use USD in a 'current account' for purposes of transaction. In that context, monetary policy should not matter that much to you - or even frankly anything the Fed does. If you only buy dollars when you need the to do something else, then frankly, everything about the USD should be basically irrelevant. And you can still do most things in cash, if you really want. You can put your USDs under your bed, in the closet if you want.
  - int_19h 4y ago
    There are countries the cash you have under your bed can become worthless paper overnight. Here's one example that I witnessed personally as a kid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monetary_reform_in_the_Soviet_Union,_1991 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monetary_reform_in_the_Soviet_...
    - jyounker 4y ago
      And we've just watched this happen with many cryptocurrencies too.

I take it you live Thoreau-style, in a cabin in the wilderness completely off-grid? You farm and hunt your own food and do not rely on civilization for any of your needs?

jamiek88 4y ago

And Thoreau was only a few miles from a town and had his food brought in. Man has relied on a society since we had tails.

cowtools 4y ago

I would certainly prefer to live like that once that is within my means and skills. But until then, is there no middle ground between surveilance state and free society?

jollybean 4y ago
Please just do a little Google/Wikipedia on Adam Smith. Everyone trying to do 'their own stuff' is basically, stupid. We gain immensely by the division of labour: the cobbler makes the shoes, the farmer grows food, the banker manages money. Were you to try to 'make your own iPhone in your back yard' you would fail. We are 'rich' because of this. Otherwise, we'd be literally feral monkeys. Bitcoin has little to do with 'control or surveillance'. You do not need to 'hold' USD in order to live. You just need to use USD in a 'current account' for purposes of transaction. In that context, monetary policy should not matter that much to you - or even frankly anything the Fed does. If you only buy dollars when you need the to do something else, then frankly, everything about the USD should be basically irrelevant. And you can still do most things in cash, if you really want. You can put your USDs under your bed, in the closet if you want.
- int_19h 4y ago
  There are countries the cash you have under your bed can become worthless paper overnight. Here's one example that I witnessed personally as a kid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monetary_reform_in_the_Soviet_Union,_1991 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monetary_reform_in_the_Soviet_...
  - jyounker 4y ago
    And we've just watched this happen with many cryptocurrencies too.