The Root of All Evil
Table of Contents
The general theme of these findings is that the idea of money primes individualism: a reluctance to be involved with others, to depend on others, or to accept demands from others. (Location 891)
Whether you are a hippie with a killer business sense 202301092335, or you are a libertarian crypto Maxie, money talks.
Crypto didn’t become the most important tech trend right now because it’s an individualistic, libertarian pyramid scheme that combines spectacle hype with mass YOLO/FOMO…. it’s because the US economy became an individualistic, libertarian pyramid scheme that combines spectacle hype with mass YOLO/FOMO.
This poisonous winner-takes-all mentality is more poetically expressed by Stephen Diehl.
> The shortcomings of the web3 narrative are easy to deconstruct from a technology perspective, but to play devil’s advocate — what does it succeed at? It’s very possible it truly is a paradigm shift in financial deregulation, and will usher in a new anarcho-casino-capitalism world where every fourteen year old kid can launch a fly-by-night Ponzi scheme and pump it on social media all from the comfort and anonymity of their parent’s basement. A hustlers’ paradise with a 24/7 non-stop casino built on a Cambrian explosion of slot machines, with each machine grown out of a different facet of human culture whose likeness has been co-opted to seduce you into gambling more. It’s the apotheosis of capitalism where the market now provides a financial token game for every meme, every celebrity, every political movement, and every bit of art and culture — with each tribe competing against each other in a war of all against all for the hyperfinancialization of all human existence. Is that the world we want to live in? (View Highlight)
Bram Adams Newsletter
Join the newsletter to receive the latest updates in your inbox.