It's an honor to have you on Stacker News. The Price of Tomorrow is a classic. I feel like I learned a lot. I'm curious if you think the recent Fed interest rate increases will actually cause widespread deflation?
If they keep hiking, it will "eventually" turn into debt deflation - or credit wipeout. (ala great depression on steroids)
Eventually, they will be forced to pivot. One important consideration for people is to think in terms of lag effect....ie 18 months from when actions are set in motion. Remember when no inflation, transitory inflation, high inflation.
This tightening only really started in September and Fed only reduced their balance sheet by 2.7 % last year -with subsequent damage.... If they continue.....ugly.
Started with people. Andre Loja and I developed a friendship which turned into a relationship with the government, which turned into a visit, which turned into loving the people, Islands, and culture.
Regardless of if it is openai or others, AI is not slowing down. That plus a merging of AI and machines will remake everything. It is why that productivity gain MUST flow to society in the form of lower prices (through Bitcoin) OR it will be concentrated and used over us.
Hi Jeff, thanks for being a role model for entrepreneurs in a world where they are vilified and for opening my mind to the idea of why a deflationary future is the only way forward.
I'll be graduating college soon with a degree (BS in Exercise Science) I have no interest in and I really don't want to enter into a long-term career in this space (predom. cardiac & pulm. rehab). I have no intention to go back to get another degree and taking on more debt anytime soon. I'm disgusted with just how puppy-mill the modern education system has become. I want to deliver value through BTC but just am not sure how to find buyers of my time.
I have found more passion in economics and BTC through reading and listening to books on my own time and through explaining what BTC is to friends and family. I wish I could go back in time to switch to an economics degree, but then tbh I probably would've become a Keynesian and never have fallen down the BTC rabbit hole. Funny how life works.
Anyways, I would love to find a job/career in BTC. What would be your recommendation for breaking into the BTC-job ecosystem? I'm not really interested in coding, but should I start learning how to code? Should I continue to focus on educating people ("sweat equity" i call it)? I am fascinated by the discovery/invention that BTC and just how thermodynamically sound it is, how it follows the laws of the universe, and how it will continue to eat all the energy in the closed system we call the universe. What are some good sources to find a BTC-related job? My friends and family think its crazy, but I really could talk about BTC and learn about it all day long.
I know I asked a lot, but I really do appreciate any insight you have to offer. Thank you for all the hard work your putting into the BTC ecosystem, I know it will not be in vain.
Thanks - go to the conferences, and meet some of the entrepreneurs building companies. Look at some of the ones that Ego Death has funded too. FYI - I can't tell you how many people I hired that came to me with very little experience but knew my business and had a willingness to learn and do whatever it took to help. Most people write a resume and wait for a job posting when you can hack that process by learning about companies prior to their job postings and ensuring that you are the best person for job. Passion sells - and then if you follow that up with execution and learning from mistakes....unstoppable.
As a nuclear radiologist resident who just read your book, what can I do to be better prepared for the jobs of tommorrow? I became very anxious after reading your book, lots of doctor jobs are going to get replaced by AI. Should I start learning CS skills or continue focusing on my career? Lots of talk about AI in medical imaging, but I am not sure if it is viable to get into this niche. From Europe.
Also, big fan of your book. Despite my anxiety, it made me feel optimistic.
Our short term nature of spending our time trying to make enough money to escape the system IS thing giving anxiety. From a different system, the productivity of technology flows to society in the form of lower prices and frees our time.
This is a HUGE transition......that creates disruption and pain....which entrepreneurs solve. Learn about where the opportunities lie in the rebuilding of value in the new system. The companies that Ego Death has funded (and other VCs in the Bitcoin space) will be looking for talent.
My 2 cents - and I may not be as knowledgeable as Jeff Booth, but I have worked in neuroimaging and now work with AI.
AI has been hyped as replacing radiologists for decades now, but so far it hasn't materialized. More than likely, they'll be a transition period where your expertise is leveraged in conjunction with an AI. I think it's unlikely that you will be replaced completely in the next decade.
Glad you responded. I am well aware of the AI scare in radiology, and I used to think AI would make our jobs more complex and lesion reporting more accurate. Less time wasted on analysis of chest X-rays and more time analysing brain MRI scans, you know?
Do you recommend picking up any additional computer skills?
Not necessarily, as I'm assuming you want to practice medicine in your career, not become an AI engineer. Anyone of the free machine learning/AI courses couldn't hurt just to remove some of the mystery around how things are developed. This is one example, but there are a ton of these: https://www.coursera.org/learn/practical-machine-learning
If you're trying to better understand AI and it's application to radiology, trying to understand the math and rationale behind the models is probably a better place to start. That way as it becomes a part of your field, you'll have a command of the concepts, and will also be able to spot the pitfalls (still lots of hype and overselling). It'll also smooth the transition if/when it becomes part of your work.
Do you think free market could evolve from competition to collaboration , for exemple, an free open source system developed for everyone in a industry and integrating all other previous softwares or business?
I believe this is much more productive and creates more value, than creative destruction...
I love this way of thinking how the future would be.
I am developing a project to integrate health FOSS with other health platforms. One of my wishes is to make healthcare affordable for the poor
Only strengthened. I see people measuring price versus adoption and missing what is happening at the network level. #Bitcoin in layers = multiple network effects reinforcing each other.
Can't believe that it is not more widely understood and that we have this opportunity.
Hello, appreciate your deep thinking and clearly articulated insights.
Curious if Ego Death is investing in KYC, compliant infrastructure (collaborating with State power), staying away from that thematically (absolute resistance to State power), or taking the "pragmatic" route (we're going to have to deal with them so might as well try to shape the narrative).
Both - but we do that through making bets on great entrepreneurs who navigate what they determine is the best way forward for their companies.
We do have influence but that influence is earned rather than dictated because we believe the entrepreneur and team with the skin in the game is best suited to make those decisions.
I seriously can't answer that......too many good ones + at this stage of investing, you never know what entrepreneurs and their teams do to break through walls and create value. In previous investments, sometimes it was the company I thought had little chance or was against the wall, that ended up pivoting and creating the most value.
Fair enough. Are there any particular trends or themes in the Lightning ecosystem that you think will lead to companies creating & capturing lots of value for their shareholders?
Absolutely. Each of the 3 mentioned above has the potential to create multi billion dollar exits by delivering value to users.
It is why I'm so excited about this developing space. Like the early internet, but more powerful.
I'll never say never, but so far plan has been to update the content and give away for free.
The one thing about a book though, is that it "seems" to reach a larger audience.
I have to say, "The greatest game" article you wrote, especially how it was formatted in the bitcoin times (as pdf), is a very good piece of orange-pilling material.
Thank you!
On the note of free content. What resources do you recommend for beginners to Bitcoin? My goal is to orange pill one person a month this year and only one person so I can actually have the time to help them. There is so much great material but I haven't really found that quintessential "start here". Any suggestions?
We all know that Bitcoin could be the start of building a better world. In time, not so quick.
The question is how?
How Bitcoin would change people, systems, society, trades, production, consume ?
Would you see in a near future a drastic change in the world, because of Bitcoin? Or more a slow transition during few decades?
Because the system works in the exact inverse as today, many of the constructs change as well. Too many to list here but I have done some recent podcasts on the subject.
Depends on the region......Slow for some, faster for others.....with some ups and downs in between.
Isn't the whole Madeira thing very risky since it's based on "a relationship with the government"?
Unless Madeira separates from Portugal, it would have to obey all EU legislation which is increasingly draconian. However, both Madeira and Portugal are 70-80 Soc/SocDem and those guys won't even consider the separation.
Portugal's Socialist government has already introduced a stupid capital gains law. Does it affect Madeira? If not, what prevents Madeira from enacting the exact same law?
Hi Jeff, long time fan and appreciate your commitment to pushing out high quality signal.
Your work really got me thinking about that even with "price stablity" you're only robbing the gains that we would have acquired via deflation and represented in our purchasing power, which really blew my mind
Anyway I was wondering if you've thought about what investing would be like in a deflationary world, would it still be risk on? Lets say you're getting your 1 or half a percent deflation, it would still encourage people who want to outpace it to take risk, but will it be the same VC culture or would it go back to people using their savings to invest in themselves and we see more small businesses meeting local demand vs scaling startups to try and capture entire TAMS
How can bitcoiners best help you achieve your own objectives with Ego Death Capital, and other companies you advise? Particularly for builders or tech professionals?
What do you see the biggest gap or limitation at this current time?
Our school curriculum is the perfect starting point for teachers and educators who are inspired to introduce macroeconomics and financial literacy, with a Bitcoin twist, into their educational repertoire. We have created a total of 19 lessons throughout three units that explore:
The evolution of money
Debt, inflation and their various byproducts
The advantages and disadvantages of various assets, given our macroeconomic backdrop
Additionally, within each lesson, we have included teaching materials, a lesson plan, a presentation, a student quiz, alongside group and individual activities.