Response to Eric Weinstein on Bitcoin | Robert Breedlove and Lex Fridman

[@cambodianriverpig7613]

4:20 ''Austrian economics is a noticeable gap in most modern intellectuals'' -- I've been screaming about this for +10 years. It's a well kept secret.

[@patpearce8221]

Austria over all if she only will... Austrian economics was reptilian territoriality. The Austrian state was a tyranny.

[@topdog5252]

Geez it’s at 4:20 wow I’d better learn this stuff tho seriously

[@jeanguy630]

Chael Sonnen VS Khabib! Let’s get it on!

[@DiveHard]

Legendary comment.

[@ramanchoudhary5780]

Seriously legendary comment

[@justinoneill2837]

what was the name of that book?

[@avgdi]

Human Action by Ludwig von Mises

[@gabrielpalacio6710]

You should read some Hayek too.

[@OrthoHoppean]

Read Steve Horwitz's Microfoundations and Macroeconomics

[@johnnycriscoa.k.atamesjayl5910]

@@OrthoHoppean anyone asking what the book was instead of scrolling back through the video to find themselves.....I hate to break it to you....they aren't gonna read the book.

[@OrthoHoppean]

@@johnnycriscoa.k.atamesjayl5910 sadly 😭😂

[@jmf5246]

Right! In business school we never really discussed money or monetary policy. Just keynsian pov .

[@seesnap]

No idea what there talking about. I’ll just stand over here and bounce this ball 🎾

[@mikegiangarra]

HA, Lex said challenge accepted. We all know he’s gonna go read that book now lol, in under 6 months. Lol 😂

[@lionelgustafsson5412]

did he do the push up challenges etc he promised on twitter? Never followed up on that

[@tylerwilson6807]

If you here in 2021 and you haven't been into bitcoin trading already than you are late but its better late than never....

[@paulngumah9615]

Thats true, People will be kicking themselves in few weeks if they miss the opportunity to buy and invest in bitcoin

[@brianjung4298]

Bitcoin trading nowadays is a big change to make money

[@damilareotun1041]

Investment in bitcion is the most lucrative method of earning online and the wisest thing to do in 2021

[@smithjason6990]

I made my first profits of $2k today! On bitcoin trading Feels like I won the NBA finals

[@graham_mycointagam100]

@@smithjason6990 That's great progress, I wish I can make that much though lol

[@Eastbayrob]

We went off the gold standard way before 1970. This is not a serious person. The problems with being on the gold standard like deflation caused the original progressive movement in the late 1800’s early 1900’s.

[@ryansansone]

Nixon halted the conversion of gold in 1971.

[@ryansansone]

1933, Roosevelt took us off the gold standard.

[@Theviewerdude]

"This is not a serious problem" The explosion of inflation since 1970 begs to differ.

[@Eastbayrob]

@@Theviewerdude get ready for Vulkar shock 2.0. You think things are bad now you ain’t seen nothing yet.

[@tr1f4ek]

Didn’t catch the name of the book tho. What was that?

[@OrthoHoppean]

Human Action by Ludwig von Mises. It's a very big book so I think you should read some smaller stuff before tackling it

[@jimbob2810]

I have similar academic background and similar experience with the absence of Austrian economics in the academy. The closest you get to it in a typical university is in microeconomics, but its foundations are entirely different. I'd recommend Bob Murphy's _Choice_ as an easy-reading summary of Mises' Human Action in American English. Mises' English in Human Action is plodding in a way that reminds me of the first time I read a translation of Kant. For some reason, other works by Mises -- eg, Socialism -- are much less soporific.

[@ThisGuy4]

Mike Maloney and Robert Kiyosaki have been beating this drum for decades.

[@geoms6263]

Kiyosaki is a grate scamer

[@OrthoHoppean]

No way, someone who reads Mises! The Austrians are great, and the contributions of Mises to economic theory ranks him among the greats in the field.

[@Dan16673]

Most of the money is created in banks actually, not the central bank. Banks are not intermediates but credit creators.

[@Dan16673]

@@sawyerrice3244 completely incorrect. This has been observed empirically by actually taking out a loan and recording precisely what occurs.. Done by Richard werner, economist.

[@gwills9337]

@@sawyerrice3244 no

[@cronichs]

I mean, if there was no central bank, banks printing money would be considered fraud. Buy since the fractional reserve is allowed and regulated, banks can create money, but only cuz central banks allow them. "Fractional-reserve banking, the most common form of banking practiced by commercial banks worldwide,[1][2] involves banks accepting deposits from customers and making loans to borrowers while holding in reserve an amount equal to only a fraction of the bank's deposit liabilities.[3] Bank reserves are held as cash in the bank or as balances in the bank's account at a central bank. The country's central bank determines the minimum amount that banks must hold in liquid assets, called the "reserve requirement" or "reserve ratio". Banks usually hold more than this minimum amount, keeping excess reserves." From wikipedia

[@Dan16673]

@@cronichs ok sure what any behavior is allowed only because someone else doesn't stop it. My point stands. Individual banks create most of the money supply, for better or worse

[@cronichs]

@@Dan16673 Imagine if there if the FDA allowed the pharma industry to lie about the composition of their drugs. The companies that did lie would earn more profits and eventually lying would become the standard business model. The same goes with banks.

[@offBeatRock777]

Chael sonnen , hello there

[@drzecelectric4302]

I miss your science stuff.

[@brizzlefarmizzle]

All these geniuses never take into account the gold reserves discovered in the 60s and 70s in Indonesia. I can't remember the % of gold there that accounts for the world supply but it was enough to devalue gold. Also with improved mining techniques it made it less rare.

[@Dan16673]

Its nothing compared to expansion of fiat

[@brizzlefarmizzle]

@@Dan16673 how do you quantify that

[@brizzlefarmizzle]

@@Dan16673one also could argue it boils down to the fact at that moment the world valued American interaction and to be within that network more then other forms of currency other nations offered. Or that at that point they were so invested in the American network that America exploited it or everyone lost confidence in a metal being a currency backer now that you can process flakes of gold in dirt offering a more destabilized currency backed by gold because at that point you risk hyper inflation

[@pjuliano9000]

There’s also a meteor that is believed to be mostly gold ... spaceX...they’ll be grabbing it someday

[@markrc2012]

I agree with nearly everything that Rob said, but I'm still uncertain about the success of bitcoin due to government/large corporations manipulating how its utilised and perceived by the public - it could potentially be a wonderful vehicle to shift power from these superpowers (gov, global corporations) but that can't happen without taking a substantial portion of their power away. They make the rules of the game, they teach you how to use a small portion of their rules which they can most easily control you with, manipulate your ambitions to suit their needs/greed, they measure your success by how much you exploit others and perpetuate the society built on greed and envy... We have lost site of humanity in the pursuit of never ending growth...we have grown past maturity - stopped creating businesses that enhance human existence in terms of fulfillment to exploiting our weaknesses of immediate gratification, greed, envy, etc... I personally want to have meaningful struggle in life and not have everything automated/dictated for me

[@teoliphant]

I love this! I should have seen this before I talked to Lex. I could have asked him about if he had read "Human Action" yet 🙂

[@onecarwood]

If there are developers working on Bitcoin that can add second-layer solutions plus adjust the math of how blocks are won then why can't the 21 mill be adjusted? It's said because there would have to be a consensus but the point is that it CAN be adjusted which many people do not understand.

[@user1739-y5c]

Ostensibly, nobody will agree to such a change. In your first example, a change to enable second layer solutions is likely to increase the value of the network and so collect support. Changing the supply cap is likely to decrease the value of the network, because bitcoin's scarcity is Bitcoin's prime value to people.

[@onecarwood]

@@user1739-y5c Agree people wouldn't today. Who knows in years when very few are left to mine. I realize it seems impossible right now but there are scenarios where this could be true. Propaganda is a very effective tool just look at the Woke Cancel Culture we have now it's idiotic at best, most know but are too scared or weak to say anything. My point is that it CAN be and that most in the space think it absolutely can't be changed.

[@user1739-y5c]

@@onecarwood Then, we are lucky that such decisions are not made by the mob, but rather technocrats and Austrian economists and libertarians. That and we are lucky if Bitcoin remains simple enough of a product that it's ideas can be simply defended.

[@Theviewerdude]

It requires concensus. Which means that the majority of miners wouldn't do something that devalues all that they own. It ensures any changes that are made are in the best interests of the majority. It'll be year 2140 by the time the 21 mil cap is hit. If miners are concerned about profitability by that point, I see it more likely that they change something about gas fees.

[@onecarwood]

@@Theviewerdude I mentioned the consensus point but it's still true that it can be changed because, in the end, it's code. Just like it's not anonymous ask the people from Silk Road. The two most talked about benefits of Bitcoin aren't true. Ten years ago everyone thought we would never censor anyone or remove them from platforms because they talked about something which made someone else uncomfortable. In just a few short years people are getting removed left and right. The fact that you cite any group ensures changes or non-change tells me the whole idea of bitcoin is rubbish.

[@BOLANZ]

Lex proceeds do download and read the book by the end of the podcast

[@mikeydoggy]

OMG...Austrian economics. Totally failed paradigm. Hey Lex, get an MMT economist on your show. Come on.

[@dankashiochosinko1080]

Marxism

[@Carlitos1993]

Meme Economics

[@nickdelonas]

The gold standard never made any sense just as Bitcoin makes no sense. There is absolutely no need for a fixed money supply. In fact, a fixed money supply is economically destructive. It was not going off the gold standard that caused all the problems. It was neoliberalism and the rise of oligopolies that caused the problem, among other things.

[@Bluemann023]

should we continue with fiat money?

[@gehrhardtschneider]

Not having a fixed supply encourages government to create more debt as they can print money at will to reduce the value of their borrowings, which effectively taxes your savings if you're not earning an interest rate above inflation. Bitcoin is a good hedge against this inflation mechanism, its not looking to replace fiat as a tradable currency altogether.

[@gehrhardtschneider]

@@Bluemann023 What's to stop the Chinese government selling their gold reserves? I'm basically very sceptical of centralised power. The people it's supposed to represent are always the ones that pay the price.

[@0xszander0]

You are right, and wrong at the same time! Bitcoin is the new gold, not the new dollar. So in that sense, you are putting bitcoin in the wrong context here. The new dollar crypto alternative cannot be fixed indeed. And has yet to be determined by the people. Personally I think it will much more likely be one of the smart contract blockchains in the long run. (Ethereum, Cardano, Avalanche all contenders) With a decentralized voting system, we can vote on when and by how much the supply will be increased without government interference.

[@jmf5246]

That is incorrect. The greatest increase in living standards occurred with the gold standard.

[@lacrne2893]

Lex Raul Pal would be a good guest to talk about digital assets, watch his latest video “the exponential age” on real vision

[@bichitra-pradhan]

BCTR is ready to takeoff

[@gehrhardtschneider]

Lot of bitcoin negativity on here. Almost like some people are projecting their disappointment at having missed out..

[@philproffitt8363]

People are always getting lucky by skimming off the top in some way or other...the regular investor needn't be envious of speculators.

[@mememachine4570]

@@philproffitt8363 what's a regular investor? like a warren buffest approach to investing? non-wal street investors? either way, you conveniently sound like those new users after GME on wallstreetbets trying to do damage control for hedgefunds bc likely you are hedgefund/wallstreet. and much like christianity's satan you come as a friend to the poor dressed in the robes of an angelic prophet of truth taking truths and embroidering them with deception so that people who are unable to distill the deceit from the truths swallow down the seemingly honest, often abusively and misleadingly contextualized lies.

[@philproffitt8363]

@@mememachine4570 I don't know what all that drivel was about. Regular investments like pension funds, ISAs (UK)...professionally managed investments with a specific goal. Betting and religion are not my thing. I don't like seeing regular folk risk more than they can afford to lose on speculative bandwagons. Its a legitimate opinion...shared by some experienced financial advisors.

[@mememachine4570]

@@philproffitt8363 i'm not english but honestly i don't imagine england being so different from america in this regard. england is the only other country to re-elect their trump-parallel. you do know that "professionally managed" are notoriously bad about losing people's money right? haven't you ever seen the wolf of wallstreet? a lot of hedgefund managers get paid even if they lose your money. they always get their cut. it is not uncommon for professional hedge fund managers to not even put in a good faith effort to make you money and it's also not unheard of for professional money managers to just put your money in an index fund. if you seriously think paying someone to put your money into a fucking index is smart, you are as dumb as people who voted for trump. drivel? shut, the, fuck, up. wallstreet has a reputation of losing regular people's money. literally the highest performing fund manager (cathie wood) invests in disruptive technologies (including bitcoin) and gets the same horseshit from dinosaur thinking buffet acolytes like you. "it's speculative gambling". die off, like the dinosaurs. or stfu. opinions are not equal. yours is trash. of course people shouldnt overexpose themselves to risk but people who talk like you just perpetuate the system of bad faith hedge fund managers who couldn't care less about losing other people's money or putting them into an index and parasitically taking a cut for themselves for something any regular person could easily do for themselves.

[@sammavitae114]

Man this guy is uninformed. If you believe something happened in the 70's that derailed everything and you don't know that that was when Keynesianism was replaced with Milton Freidman's monetarism and the Reagan/Thatcher deregulated neoliberalism, then I don't think you qualify to speak on economic matters. By the way Milton Freedman went on a world tour to sell deregulated hands-off government. Chile bought that idea/model and Taiwan didn't. Just check the GNP of those two countries to find another country that was derailed by that Austrian School (plus Mundell) system.

[@Theviewerdude]

Keynesianism: break windows to stimulate the economy!

[@WendeShift]

It's the inflation. Nothing more nothing less. Gold standard this, gold standard that??? Take on the neo-classical "economists", and fix the BLS. Stable monetary inflation to meet the natural growth of the economy. Don't ignore the inflation, and run-away monetary expansion. You must discuss the Eurodollar problem in this discussion as well. C'mon you Bitcoin gazillionaires. You can put your money where your mouth is. Bitcoin fixes everything. Do it.

[@mkballer4502]

Lex Fridman is as sharp as a bowling ball.

[@moops1491]

Why is he surprised his accounting classes didn't cover macro-economics? Also this guy looks like a sub-prime mortgage salesman.

[@Theviewerdude]

Austrian economics isn't really macro economics. In a loose sense it is, but Austrian economics focuses more on the micro level, establishing axioms and predicting human behavior based on praxeology, to then apply to the macro level. Mainstream macroecon, typically, heavily relies on empiricism and modeling.

[@achaiaha7136]

You guys keep talking about Bitcoin as if it's the most amazing thing ever. Honestly, Bitcoin was great at proving a concept but the world will not run on Bitcoin (nor should it). There are outstanding projects out there that deserve much more focus than Bitcoin.

[@gehrhardtschneider]

@@zpango2000 Tulipmania how?

[@ILVBtDNTmTR2021]

Cardano

[@spreadhead4656]

@@gehrhardtschneider altcoins are tulip mania

[@gehrhardtschneider]

@@spreadhead4656 Most, but not all. A handful have very real use cases.

[@achaiaha7136]

@@zpango2000 Please do your research first. Doge is tulipmania and Bitcoin to some extent but there are real projects out there that are technological marvels.

[@rokw.cresnar7017]

I think the show went downhill when he started to host these Bitcoin charlatans. I loved it before. Watched every episode.

[@davidoconnor1773]

Gotta agree with this. This string of guests is exhausting. They all have basically the same talking points, they all seem to really be trying to sell people on the idealogy of cryptocurrency, but they never really seem to address any of the common criticisms at any depth. I think Lex also doesn't have enough of a grounding in economics to challenge them on their shakier points. I thought the podcast with Tyler Cohen made some valid criticisms (and TC's podcast interview with the Coinbase CEO did the same), but similarly Lex didn't seem to be able to challenge the commentary on the other side either.

[@renukaprasadpm9540]

What the hell this dude just said!!! Economics is the youngest science !! Arthashasra book of economics written in 326 BC!!! Economics is one of the oldest science ! Rulers used economics more !

[@okthennone]

240k a coin this year!

[@MagicTheKrakening]

If bitcon is so great then why has it has multiple inflation bugs and a chain rollback?

[@liggerstuxin1]

He look it’s Chael Sonnen’s boy! Wonder if his son is undefeated as well?

[@ryansoulcraft2339]

Dogecoin!! Invest while it’s still below 69!

[@zhangying5416]

Investing in a Bitcoin is the best investments anyone can do this year 2021 because bitcoin investments has made a lot of people millionaire

[@robbieparis07]

Why does that make it a good investment? It sounds like it is dependent on other people investing more than the value it brings as far as being tied to proof of work etc.

[@ruutjormun2262]

zhang ying "joined 29 nov 2020" kathy chris "joined 29 nov 2020" waiting for a later link to some crypto scam artist. go on

[@philproffitt8363]

@Kathy Chris Speculating is the accurate term...not investing.