Diversity
Daily Ramble
Dogs are great for an excuse to take walks and listen to podcasts. And with a crisp, sunny, fall day paired with a cup of bulletproof coffee, it’s a nice indulgence for the self-employed. While walking, I was listening to a history of the white power movement on Throughline this morning. It got me pondering what I’d learned about diversity in my travels and living in Portugal.
The conclusion may be shocking: humans suck at diversity. Is that something I like? Not really. But it doesn’t change the reality that if there’s a difference in group affiliation, there’s going to be friction between the groups. From London, to Lisbon, to Delhi, to Morocco, to Argentina, to Bandon and Coquille, Oregon, my social media network versus yours, it’s been the same everywhere I’ve looked. Why? Because we’re a bunch of naked monkeys that have delusionally convinced ourselves we’re not primates.
If we did accept that we’re primates, we could look at the rest of the gang and see how they clump up in groups and fight other groups to maintain their boundaries. There’s nothing unusual about this — animals protecting their territory. What is unusual, and to be applauded, is how we aspire to be something more. That aspiration makes us a special kind of monkey, but we haven’t exactly hit escape velocity on our monkey-ness yet. So if you see intolerance being shown between two groups of people, and you want to be the bigger person, start by recognizing what they’re doing is to be expected and you’re an aspirational monkey. And if you think I’ve cleverly insulted you, I haven’t — I’m just becoming more inclusive of my distant relations.
Favorite Thing on the Interwebs Today
I dug this simple example of inflation in action. But it is a bit dull for the interwebs today — I’m disappointed too.
Bitcoin Price Update
Yesterday’s price range prediction: $18k - $20k
Today’s price range prediction: $18k - $22k
Yesterday proved to be pretty dull as price consolidated. Today it appears buyers are in control as price slowly grinds upwards. The price action may be less than exciting, but it is the type of slow grind that typically helps price breakthrough strong resistance which $20k has proven to be. It may take a couple more days for us to get there, but it does seem inevitable that the $20k handle will break in the not so distant future.
Bitcoin Ed Bite
Yesterday, I wrote how the sovereign threat (government intervention) was unlikely to result in Bitcoin being made illegal. What’s more likely is that the sovereign threat makes it more difficult to operate outside the current financial system. Regulations that have come to the industry have typically focused on KYC/AML (Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering) laws on fiat to Bitcoin transactions. The justification for these regulations is that, for the good of society, your money needs to be tracked to keep fraudulent behavior at bay. I’ll save the discussion for how it’s resulted in the polar opposite in another Bitcoin Ed Bite.
Now governments are drilling further down and wanting to have people label their Bitcoin wallets so all transactions can be traced. Again, this is under the guise of protecting us. Most newcomers tend to think that Bitcoin is private. It’s not. All transactions are verifiable to the world. What is private is the wallets containing the Bitcoin. Until KYC/AML information is used to link the wallet to the person who owns it, it is difficult to verify ownership. If rolled out broadly, these types of regulations would curtail the freedom to transact. What is undeniable is that the target on the Bitcoin network’s back grows with the price. Change is a constant.
Thanks for reading,
Kent
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