Code vs Culture - # 409

TL;DR - The protocol works. Your expectations don't.

Sep 03, 2025

Reader,

Bitcoin hit new highs.

Everyone's got opinions now. Same faces saying different things. Same complaints dressed up new.

Market's euphoric. Media's paying attention. Your neighbor's asking questions.

But underneath all the noise, same patterns playing out. Same human nature. Same old story of who pays attention and when.

Three things today.

What Bitcoin shows you about yourself. What I learned stopping the teaching game. Where we go from here.

The mirror doesn't lie. Question is whether you want to look.

The Insights

Bitcoin didn't turn out like you thought, eh?

Your first mistake. Expectations.

An artist makes a thing. Says what needs saying. The paint does the talking. Then you come along. Project your ideas onto it. Call it a critique.

Lawmakers, same thing. See something they don't own. Start making rules. For a thing that ain't theirs. Trying to dictate the wind flow with a pen.

Bitcoin's a mirror. Economic mirror. Your complaints show you, not it.

You want bitcoin to be money? Use it as money.

You want it to be for savings? Save it.

An investment? Trade it.

Still works. Still peer-to-peer. Still processes blocks. Still doesn't care what you think. What anybody thinks.

You say it ain't rebellious anymore. Say it's captured.

Fire doesn't stop being fire when everyone uses it. Doesn't matter if it's lighting your grill or warming a banker's house. Still burns the same.

Useful things get used. By everyone. That's what makes them useful.

You wanted something only you could have. Something that would stay yours. That was never the deal.

The problem ain't Bitcoin.

The problem is you.

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Lessons From The Road

I quit teaching Bitcoin years back.

Started as frustration. Then teaching art I saw it plain. Student wants to learn, they learn. Student doesn’t care, nothing you can do. Bitcoin was the same. When they’re ready, Ill be there.

Brewery owner came around.

Wanted to know about Bitcoin. I ran through it all. What it is. Wallets. The works. He didnt care. Asked what was his angle. He leaned in like I held secrets. Told him about out pricing competition. His eyes lit.

He never did anything about it.

Meetup last month.

Same story. Speaker teaching basics to blank faces. Questions at the end. Hand goes up.

How do I make money from this?

Look around the room.

Finance types. Bankers. Nobody there needed saving. The one who did, the working man… He couldn’t even afford to pay attention.

They come for number go up. Stay for “peaceful” revolution. I see different.

They want an edge.

Don’t know money from currency.

Don’t know how the system works.

Don’t care either. Just want ahead of the next guy.

This is what collapse looks like.

Bitcoins price rising ain’t success. Its the dollar dying in broad daylight.

Patterns don’t lie.

Change starts at the margins. Margins cost money. Time to think past next meal. Space to question what you always believed. Most folks got none of that.

Weimar Germany. Cyprus. Lebanon. Same story every time. Smart money moved early. Working folks rode it down till the bottom fell out. They fell with it.

The ship was sinking. They were too busy scrambling. When the water rose, they found the exit. But the boats were full.

History doesn’t repeat but it sure rhymes.

When you’re drowning you don’t study water molecules. You just want air.

But theres something you can do. Save different. Math dont lie. 400 weeks putting fifty aside. Dollars get you twenty thousand. Gold gets thirty-eight. Bitcoin gets one twenty-four.

That working man from eight years back? If he saved in Bitcoin instead of dollars, he could afford to pay attention now. Bought his way into the margins. Earned the right to worry about tomorrow instead of today. It’s never too late. Start now.

Wrong question ain’t how do I get ahead. Right question is how do I not fall behind.

People who kept their wealth in the collapses weren’t the smartest. They were the ones who acted on what they could see. Money losing value. Time to hold something else.

The rest went down with the ship.