[Melting_Harps]

> As a customer of USD, there's attrition of purchasing power.

There is no denying that USD has sticking power, despite it's immense loss in purchase value since it's inception, but relative to all other currencies I guess it has won the attrition battle; though if I'm honest if that were the sole reason you should have been in GBP to remain consistent in your logic.

Honestly, this is the best of bad options, but I guess the perspective if taken to it's logical conclusion is that: ultimately might makes right.

The Petro-dollar Empire is backed by 'proof of violence' is a commonly held belief amongst (early) Bitcoiners, but because it can be obfuscated by many layers of abstraction the general public is often none-the-wiser: but is none the less true.

I'm no longer the idealist I was in my teens or 20s as a (former) environmental-activist and felt people can be swayed by reason and logic alone; I've come to know most will never accept anything that isn't deemed in there own best personal interest, but just look around what we are dealing with in terms of potential nuclear war/contamination or environmental and climate cotastrophe; that is mainly attributed to the 'must grow at all costs' economic model that sustains the fiat system and makes nation-states war for influence of nations and there resources via unpayable loans and debt bondage.

We cannot live like this for very long, so what good is a Roth IRA with fat margins if the end result is shorter life expectancy, diminishing quality of Life and the growing issue where you cannot access more things of value in those ever inflated units of currency as supply chains collapse under the strain of the aforementioned?

I think this above all else is what needs to be understood, and if we really want to live in such a World anymore?

[pcdoodle]

Thoughtful response. I'm not onboard with man made climate change but in turn, I also agree with your "must grow at all costs" being the wrong direction for humanity. I've never felt like anyone is willing to have a calm discussion in the climate arena and I appreciate and respect you. So maybe it is possible to sway opinions of stubborn asses like me given the right attitude :)

[Melting_Harps]

> I've never felt like anyone is willing to have a calm discussion in the climate arena and I appreciate and respect you.

Well, thank you for the kind words, but it is a very emotive topic for some of us as we lived through the consequences of inaction: especially for some of us that have gone through the myriad of phases of despair--despite supposed forms of success--and our emotional baggage comes with us.

I wish I could tell you in a dispassionate stoic demeanor what has gotten us to this point, but I grew up with mass fire season in SoCal coupled with endless droughts and it made me acutely aware from a very young age how catastrophic just small degrees in changes to an unsustainable system can be. It's made me incredibly sensitive to broken systems as a result--in 2018 I worked at IBM and told a few C-level execs wanting to use Blockchain that wha tthey really should be focused on is that the JIT supply was unsustainable and would end badly when even a small amount of stress was applied to it, whether it be the rising rising geopolitical instability, or climate change etc... to deaf ears. The COVID Happened and proved me right, but I didn't feel righteous, I felt despair that foresight isn't used and at scale can create mass panic.

I was dismayed despite this being what I thought was a critical position to be embraced rather than fall haphazardly headlong into the abyss of unknowns because it was deemed to be in order with chasing the endless gains from ruthless 'efficiency at all costs' in order to prop up this system.

What has unfolded since COVID was entirely predictable for some of us, and for those who sounded the alarm were shown the door as we were seen as pariahs.

But, honestly I agree that there are a myriad of causes that exceed man-made cause for climate change (evidence that shifts in sun patterns/activity that create less cosmic rays and lessen cloud cover for example), but the fact remains that these things are happening and we have to live with it. I honestly feel this is like the provurbial re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Again, I could coax myself to make the arguments in a dispassionate and Stoic manner possible in the hopes that something is done, but as we have seen these last Summers we are beyond the point where we can prevent this: we have to build systems that are resilient to these problems. Hence, my loss of idealism to pragmatism and practical applications.

Carbon sequestration is what interests me most, particularity using the largest advent of Human ingenuity and thus largest source of economic generation in the Global economy (so large it cannot be accurately quantified): Agriculture/Food. And the fact that we have the tech to incentivize a positive impact via monetary systems: now Bitcoin is going to landfills and capturing the methane (much more potent GHG) to run miners and offsetting expenses for local municipalities and helping to secure the Bitcoin network in the process.

This is how we should be framing how to build resilient and perhaps anti-fragile systems; instead of succumbing to the endless patchwork of processes that make us more vulnerable as they do not accept the realities for what they are, which we are marred by in the West--we fall victim to fanciful stories about inconceivable and entirely false things like China and Russia being swayed by Capitalism and not just using those resources like they have for millennia as authoritarian despots who wreak havoc when they have an advantage or the chance to assert themselves. It's like we are drunk on our own failures and simply refuse to sober up to see the mess we've made--it's terrifying to realize that no one in a position to do anything about it really knows what the f' they are doing!

Ultimately the reason(s) is because I realized that Human conduct can be most easily understood by the incentives placed in front of them towards a desirable end. And the fact that I've been doing it almost my entire professional career to some degree, whether it was in the Automotive Industry, Farming, Tech, or Cooking.

[pcdoodle]

Your words make me realize how damaging the left / right paradigm are to our progress. There are so many things that people agree on from both sides and perhaps the work never gets done because people focus on the differences more these days.

My personal side business niche is in transportation (DIY eBike) and solar. I've made a few bikes that are cool enough to get the "motorcycle wave" from the local moto-bikers.

I've also found oversizing the battery makes it so I only throw away on average x5 18650s cells per year for 50% of my transportation needs.

In 2020 we started an electric lawn care business that used a single (1/16) 25.2V tesla model S battery as the "big tank" in a bicycle trailer and it propelled the rig and charged the 40/60V implement batteries via boost converter.

My incentives back in 2007 were high gas prices and a disdain for relying on those in control of energy. Being able to teach others about the tech is a big source of satisfaction for me. Surprisingly most of my customers for these products I would guess were right/libertarian leaning.

I feel sometime like the loudest voices (on both sides) help turn people off from considering opposing thoughts and here we are twiddling our thumbs. Thanks again for chatting with me.