The Bushido of Bitcoin_241111_110622

THE BUSHIDO OF
BITCOIN
EDITED BY
JOHN CARTER
WRITTEN BY
ALEKSANDAR SVETSKI
FOREWORD BY
ROSS STEVENS
© Bushido book
All rights reserved.
Edited by JOHN CARTER
Typesetting by Josefina Alonso
Cover design by Clara Fai
ISBN 9798991756600 B&W Hardcover

9798343790603 Paperback
9798991756617 Color Hardcover
To my future sons and daughters.
May these words forever inspire you to live courageously and free.
iii
“Aleksandar has created something that is truly hard to do today: a
unique bitcoin book. It’ll challenge you, and there will likely be things
that you agree and disagree with, but you’ll walk away from it having
tested and probably updated your worldview. My favorite part was
his contrarian analysis and elevation of beauty and the etymologies of
multiple virtues”
Lyn Alden, Author of ”Broken Money”
““The Bushido of Bitcoin” explores historical frameworks from

governance, religion, and war to identify models that have successfully
shaped societies. In order to achieve meaningful goals, we need clear
objectives, an understanding of complex systems, and lessons from
history. This book gives readers real historical examples and a
framework for creating a peaceful and prosperous future. It serves as
both a guide and challenge to those willing to apply these lessons in
their own lives.”
Mark Moss, Author and Host of the Mark Moss Show
“We live in a rapidly changing world where virtues like ’honour’ and
’duty’ have been sacrificed at the altar of expressive individualism and
faux victimhood. ’The Bushido of Bitcoin’ draws from ancient wisdom
to offer insight on how to navigate our modern times.”
Zuby, Rapper, Podcaster and Author
iv
“Many years ago I was struck by an epiphanic realization: that the
progress of human civilization is entirely characterized by the things
we make and the ways in which we treat one another. Clearly,
technology largely defines the traditional notion of progress, as
evinced by the naming of historical epochs like The Stone Age, The
Industrial Age, and now The Digital Age. Less discussed are the moral
intuitions which emerge from each new technological paradigm. “The
Bushido of Bitcoin” is an insightful exploration into ancient moral
codes and their relevance to our nascent epochal transition from The
Industrial Age into The Digital Age.”
Robert Breedlove, What is Money Podcast
“Aleksandar will give you a new language for thinking about the
modern world and its future. I was expecting a Bitcoin book, but I
found something far deeper. It’s daring creative and full of conviction -
like all great books are. A must-read for fans of Nietzsche, history and
the people who transformed it.”
Jash Dholani “The Old Books Guy,” Author of Hit Reverse.
“Aleksandar takes the reader on a journey through the age of heroes

and makes the case for men to pursue a code based on the warrior’s
principles and honor. No other time in history has this been more
needed than it is now.”
Jerr Rrej, Author of The Wall Speaks

Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank John Carter for both his assistance in editing the book
and the inspiration I took from his writings. I could not have written it
to this level of quality without you. If you have not taken the opportunity
to explore his work, this should be your next endeavor. Special thanks
also to Louis Pomaret Cañadas for his last minute editorial assistance and
making sure the language, etymology and definitions were on point. Also
Eric Brown for helping me get the book across the line in the end, and John
Goddard for some of the early inspiration on the Sovereign Cross story.
I want to thank Ross Stevens for not only writing an incredible
foreword and the support he’s given this book and my other projects, but
more importantly, for being an example of the kind of man and leader this
world needs more of. Thank you for everything Ross.
I’d like to also thank a series of incredible people who backed the
crowdfund. Your contributions made this possible, and I hope the book
does all of you justice. I am deeply grateful for the support.
Francisco Tomé Costa and Pierre Porthaux. You are at the top of the
list. Thank you. Alan Lane, Rachel, J. Alexander, Noha Simsaa, Antonio
Lombardo, The Brandon Cook Family, Christian, Benjamin J. Dion, Seth
Long, o0splat0o, The Singer Family, Kevin A. Madsen, and Robin Choong.
You are all not only forever memorialized in the book, but recipients of
the special, leather edition. Only 21 people in the world will have a copy of
that.
Travis Paul, Jason Fowler, Bruce Fenton, Michael B. Maxey, Josh
Peters, Grayson and Lawson Niles, Nick Kryptr, Gary Swindale, Joseph
Leon Echeverria, Simon-Benjamin Lariviere, Kim “Mo” Mahoney, Jacob
Cottrill, Craig C Jonas, MD, Garth, Zachary Hollinshead, Hank Harris,
John Montoya, Chuck R. Bell, and The Commoner. You are all modern
Samurai, and I will forever honor your contribution by continuing to write
and produce meaningful content.
vi
I want to thank some of the thinkers, authors and content creators
who inspired my work along the way, including Jash Dholani, Chad
Crowley, Jerr, UberBoyo, Steven Pressfield and Dan Carlin. Of course,
I must give thanks to the greats, including Inazo Nitobe, James Clavell,
Ayn Rand, Friedrich Nietzsche, Oswald Spengler, Hans Hermann Hoppe,
Thomas Sowell and many others who I’ve referenced throughout.
I’d like to give thanks to the great leaders and warriors throughout
history whose lives inspired me, including; Alexander The Great of
Macedon, Leonidas I of Sparta, Jesus Christ, Flavius Aetius of late Rome,
Attila the Hun, Ieyasu Tokugawa, the great Shogun of Japan, Napoleon
Bonaparte, Julius Caesar and many more who I’ve not the space to list.
Also special thanks to Satoshi Nakamoto for being the kind of man who
embodied through his actions and foresight, the virtues discussed in the
book.
I want to thank my wife who continues to inspire me with her devotion,
loyalty and patience. You are as wild as you are beautiful. Now that this is
finished, I can pay you more attention.. “Just for you know” ;)
Finally, I’d like to thank all of you for taking the time to read this book.
May it inspire you to live a life of greatness and virtue. May you and
your descendants continue to build an inspiring, beautiful and ascendant
world. And may the Warrior Spirit forever burn bright inside you.
Aleksandar Svetski
September, 2024
Contents
Foreword xvi
Why is this book necessary? xxi
Who is this book for? xxiv
Prelude 1
1. A Moral Dimension to the Universe 3
2. The Devolution Must Be Reversed 6
3. Playing to Win 9
4. The Interregnum 12
5. Equality: The Great Evil 14
6. Resist Mediocrity! 16
7. A Call to Vitality & Heroism 19
Part I: Origins 24
8. Introduction 25
9. A Warrior in a Garden 32
viii
9.1 Si vis pacem, para bellum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
9.2 The warrior archetype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
10. Origins of Bushido 37

10.1 The etymology of the word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
10.2 War, struggle, bloodshed and bushido . . . . . . . 41
10.3 The virtues & morality of war . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
10.4 Religious roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
10.5 Confucian inspiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
10.6 Embodied knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
11. The Samurai 50
12. Parallels 57
12.1 Chivalry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
12.2 Historical context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
12.3 The virtues of chivalry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
12.4 Misconceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
12.5 Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
12.6 Feudalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Part II: The Virtues 68
13. The Bushido of Bitcoin 73
14. Justice / Righteousness 78

14.1 Moral symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
14.2 Righteousness beyond reason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
15. Courage 87
15.1 The foremost warrior virtue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
15.2 Fighting fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
15.3 Courage is leading from the front . . . . . . . . . . . 91
15.4 Developing courage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
15.5 Adversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
15.6 Courage or stupidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
15.7 Life and death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
15.8 The enemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
16. Compassion & Love 105

16.1 The yin of justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
16.2 Magnanimity: love in leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
16.3 Love of family and of tribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
16.4 Shared sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
16.5 Selflessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
16.6 Selfishness as a virtue? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
16.7 Selflessness and sacrifice in a unit . . . . . . . . . . 118
17. Honor 124

17.1 Shame and appeals to honor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
17.2 Impatience and short temper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
17.3 Honor over money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
17.4 Reputation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
18. Honesty / Integrity 143

18.1 Sincerity in bushido . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
18.2 The hero and the logos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
19. Responsibility 152

19.1 The absence of responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
19.2 Agency and NPCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
19.3 The psychology of responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
19.4 The energy of responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
19.5 Freedom is NOT a virtue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
19.6 Rights and responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
19.7 Maturity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
20. Excellence 175

20.1 Participation awards, democracy & the death
of excellence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
20.2 Excellence in a warrior context . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
20.3 Average in a civilian context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
20.4 The great man theory of history . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
20.5 Be elite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
21. Respect 192

21.1 Respect for oneself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
21.2 Respect for others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
21.3 Respect for tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
21.4 Respect for authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
21.5 Respect for your enemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
22. Duty & Loyalty 210

22.1 Loyalty: beyond the individual . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
22.2 Flattery is not loyalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
22.3 Duty & love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
22.4 Duty & sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
23. Restraint / Self-Control 227

23.1 Self-control, self-ownership, self-sufficiency . . 229
23.2 The power of NO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
23.3 The monster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
23.4 Non-interventionism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
23.5 Satoshi’s disappearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
24. Closing Out 243
Part III: Integration 245
25. Culture 248

25.1 Civilian & warrior cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
25.2 Iron sharpens iron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
25.3 The remnant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
25.4 The great stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
26. Governance 261
26.1 Democracy and equalitarianism . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
26.2 Rhodesia and its affront to the equalitarian lie 265
26.3 Feudalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
26.4 Might makes right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
26.5 Violence & localism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
26.6 Conscious classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
27. Wealth 278

27.1 Does wealth corrupt? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
27.2 Some things, money can’t buy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
27.3 Money matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
27.4 Wealth and the family unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
27.5 Power and money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
27.6 Money and culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
28. Seasons and Cycles 301

28.1 Life cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
28.2 Social and economic cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
28.3 A time and a place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
29. Can Bitcoin Help? 315

29.1 Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
29.2 Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
29.3 Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
29.4 Cycles and games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
29.5 In closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Part IV: Praxis 338
30. A Man of Action 340
31. Training 344

31.1 Physio-psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
31.2 Mastery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
31.3 Pain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
32. Rites of Passage 355

32.1 Traditional rites of passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
32.2 Modern rites of passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
32.3 Slaying the inner dragons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
32.4 The männerbund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
33. The Bitcoiner’s Arsenal 372

33.1 The sword of the samurai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
33.2 The strategic arsenal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
34. In Closing 398
Part V: What the Future Holds 401
35. Visions of the Future 405
36. The Sovereign Cross 411

36.1 Block 4,025,430 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
36.2 Block 4,025,436 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
36.3 Block 4,025,439 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
36.4 Block 4,025,444 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
36.5 Block 4,025,475 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
36.6 Block 4,025,511 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
36.7 Block 4,025,535 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
36.8 Block 4,025,545 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
37. A New Heroic Age 429
38. Afterword 434
Thankyou 438
Final Ask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Appendix 440
Resources and References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
Substacks and blogs worth subscribing to . . . . . . . 443
About the Author 444
BONUS CHAPTER: Beauty Will Save the World 448

“Better to be a Warrior in a
Garden, than to be a Gardener
in a War.”
Unknown
Foreword
By Ross Stevens
This is a book for heroes, unapologetic seekers of excellence, and those

convinced their destiny is greatness.
All heroes begin life as ordinary people, but something changes along
the way. Heroes turn their gaze upward, ignore probabilities, and
summon courage.
Consider the incalculable bravery of those born-ordinary people who
extraordinarily signed our nation’s birth certificate, the Declaration of
Independence. The document itself was a death warrant. Signing it was
committing treason. If captured, any signer would be hanged. Some
were, along with their families. The Declaration’s closing words – “we
mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred
Honor” – were meant literally.
Every one of us underestimates the courage of the Founding Fathers.
How can I be so sure? We know the outcome of the Revolution. The
Founders did not. The great historian David McCulloch once said, “the
hardest thing about writing history is getting people to forget they know
how the story ends.”
Ordinary blacksmiths, bookmakers, and farmers, the Founders did
not know how the war would end – they were losing badly in 1776 – nor
the sustainability of their revolutionary political philosophy. Yet centuries
later, we still know the names of our blood-soaked, freedom-seeking
heroes.
In spirit, Bushido picks up where the Declaration left off, honoring other
legendary warrior cultures – Samurai, Knights, Spartans, others – by
unearthing the specific virtues they had in common. Bushido teaches us
that virtue implies a way of being, morality in action, not merely words
flung without consequence from the safety of a keyboard or an ivory
tower.
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Foreword
Studying the virtues of these warrior cultures (below), it is no wonder

why – millennia later – we still know the names “Samurai” or “Spartan”,
and regularly re-hydrate their lives in books and movies.
Courage: not just know what is right, act upon it and bear the
consequences
Compassion: suffer with those you love, with patience and humility
see the world from the perspective of another
Respect: due regard for the fitness of things, respect for tradition,
custom, and earned hierarchy
Justice: fair and righteous to uphold moral character
Veracity and Sincerity: without this politeness is farce, speech and
deed must be one and the same
Honor: vivid consciousness of personal dignity and worth, honest
with oneself
Loyalty: the glue that binds relationships of both love and respect,
perform your duty even if it means you give your life
Self-control: the discipline to adhere to this code under all circum-
stances, whether it is hard or easy, in the presence of others or alone.
Responsibility: bear the consequences of your actions, fulfill your
duties, own the impact of your decisions on yourself, others, and society
Excellence: separation from average, expands boundaries, the driving
force behind progress and beauty
Enter Bitcoin, the most potent device ever invented for transferring
wealth from the impatient to the patient. The soaring and inexorable
socio-economic success Bitcoin delivers to its hodlers, however, merely
provides the foundation for Bushido’s core message: real wealth comes
from the virtues we choose to live by. Courage and cowardice are equally
contagious. Choose wisely.
The Last Stand

Powered by ascendant values, Bitcoiners represent the last stand against
nihilism, a battle we absolutely must not lose. To prepare, we must train,
xvii
Foreword
train, and then train some more.
“There was a footrace held each year among the boys of

Sparta. They had to run ten miles, barefoot, carrying a
mouthful of water and weren’t allowed to swallow the water,
but instead had to spit it out at the end of the race.”
The Bushido of Bitcoin
If we instituted this training today, I can already hear the “that’s child
abuse!”-screams emanating from a generation of soft-bodied helicopter
parents, who never fought in war and have never even felt true physical
danger in their entire lives. Bushido-trained Bitcoiners would counter,
“what better way to teach self-control and restraint to the future warrior
class?”
As anti-nihilists, how would Bushido-trained Bitcoiners teach that that
actions have consequences?
“If a Spartan youth failed to show courage in battle, his

fiancé would abandon him. The magistrate would not per-
mit him to marry. If he was married, he and his wife were
forbidden to have children. If the warrior has sisters of
marriageable age, their suitors would be compelled to part
from them. The man’s whole family would be shunned.”
Steven Pressfield, The Warrior Ethos
What do you pledge allegiance to? What is your duty or mission in life?
Who and what do you love enough to go and fight for? What will you
sacrifice when the time comes to pay the price for your beliefs?
Virtuous Warriors
Amidst socio-economic separation that will accelerate as the fiat money
printer’s decibel level brrr’s louder and louder – as it must, driven
xviii
Foreword
by feeble, self-interested, “not on my watch” central bankers printing

recklessly so the credit bubble bursts well after their time in office –
Bushido reminds Bitcoiners that virtuous warriors are compassionate,
treasure worthy adversaries, and never take advantage of the weak. How
you win is just as important as that you win.
In the immediate, chaotic aftermath of the FTX implosion in
November 2022, with million-dollar bills figuratively lying on the ground
for those who knew where to kneel and reach, I wrote the following to my
Stone Ridge colleagues under the header “What to expect”:
In times like these, character emerges. Unfortunately, for

so many it won’t be pretty. They will desperately cling to
ephemeral notions of their (past) status, and lash out in
various ways. As a form of psychological self-protection, you
will see people be arrogant, aggressive, short tempered, and
pinball from topic to topic. Their actions will create and
exacerbate their own fragility.
Professionally, it will be very easy to take financial advantage
of these people. If you work at Stone Ridge, you are forbidden
from doing so.
Bushido inspires Bitcoiners to adopt a similar mindset: once in power,

do not double-down on the State’s dishonorable maximization of the
distance between its actions and the consequences those actions. Usher
in a renaissance of responsibility. Lead from the front. As virtuous
warriors, conquer – yes, absolutely conquer and take control – but
conquer with compassion.
A student once asked the great anthropologist Marget Mead what she
considered the earliest sign of civilization in a culture? Fish hooks? Clay
bowls? Sharpened stones? Mead said:
The first sign of civilization in an ancient culture is evidence

of a person with a broken and healed femur. In the rest of
the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You
xix
Foreword
cannot run from danger, go to the river to drink water, or hunt

for food. You become fresh meat for predators. No animal
survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. A
broken femur that healed is proof that someone took the time
to stay with the one who fell, healed the wound, and cared
for the person until they recovered. Helping somebody going
through difficulties is the starting point of civilization.
No-coiners have broken femurs, for now. As tempting as it may be,

resist frustration and anger at being slowed down by them, even though
you are. Bushido inspires Bitcoin warriors to choose compassion and
patience. Satoshi cleared the path, so we know the direction of travel. It
will be worth it in the end.
When in the Course of Human Events

The Declaration taught us to reject unearned serfdom. Bushido teaches us
to reject unearned guilt. In 1776, the Founders did not know the outcome
of their war against the British, but they had a hunch. We Bitcoiners do
not know the outcome of our war against fiat-induced nihilism, but we
have a hunch.
Health warning: victory requires rejection and avoidance of the
manufactured darkness flickering across our screens, competing for our
precious attention. In reality, we live in a wondrous age. And with Bitcoin
available to all, a self-evident truth, I am limitlessly optimistic.
In the Declaration, when Jefferson wrote “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit
of Happiness”, he inspirationally cautioned a nation against too timid
a placement of the bar on our limits. In Bushido, Svetski roars that we
Bitcoiners do ourselves a disservice by putting the bar anywhere.
Ross L. Stevens
Founder & CEO, Stone Ridge Holdings Group
September 2024
xx
Why is this book necessary?
I was on a Twitter spaces a while back and someone asked: “Another Bitcoin
book? What the hell hasn’t been written about Bitcoin yet”?
Well... this is my response.
This book is not about the history of money, or even about Bitcoin per
se. It’s about the human spirit and what it will choose to do in a time of
civilisational confusion and decline.
I’ll make the assumption that Bitcoin is not only going to survive and
‘win’, but that its advent or discovery will be incredibly important on a
civilisational scale. My goal is not to tell you how it will do this, why
it’s superior as money to fiat or other cryptocurrencies, nor will I dispel
myths about its energy usage. If you’re interested in that, the references
section at the end of this book will point you in the right direction.
My goal with this book is to look for answers to bigger questions:
“What happens when we win?”

“What does the world look like on a Bitcoin Standard?”
“Does wealth make civilization soft, and thereby weaken it?”
“Does power corrupt, or is weakness corruption?”
“Can a weak man be a good man?”
“Is a weak civilisation a moral one?”
“... If not, how can an individual maintain morality and virtue in the
face of immense wealth and material comfort?”
If Bitcoin does win, it will no doubt have an incredible impact on

humanity. The question that logically follows is: “will those who hold the
bulk of the bitcoin be virtuous or corruptible? Will they be builders or destroyers?”
There is evidence that Bitcoin helps to lower people’s time preference
and encourages them to think more long-term, orienting them toward
xxi
Foreword
their full potential. But it’s very early days: we’re less than 15 years
into the emergence of this global, technologically-driven socio-economic
phenomenon, and decades from the realization of its full economic and
social potential.
It’s hard to predict how members of today’s lower-middle class will
behave when they’re part of tomorrow’s elite class: the obstacles along
the road will only become apparent as we move forward.
I should note that irrespective of the ‘risks’ this path entails, it is of
course still orders of magnitude better than having some parasitic class
lord it over the rest of the world by virtue of owning a money printer and
paying thugs to enforce their arbitrary decrees. The status quo is anti-life
and parasitic. Instead of producing, it consumes, like a vortex into a black
hole of nihilism. At the very least, Bitcoin is a game of strong, unbreakable
rules and under such a standard we are more likely to orient ourselves
toward excellence and to create a new, life-aligned status quo..
We all owe it to our descendants to consciously and actively become
the best versions of ourselves - which goes for Bitcoiners in particular,
and especially yours truly. I’ve created a bit of a reputation online as an
asshole, and while at times I revel in the notoriety, I’ve come to realize that
my behavior has been honest but immature at best, arrogant at worst.
The distance between my thoughts and the keyboard has oftentimes
been short, and while I have pointed out injustices and truths, much of
what I’ve written has been the ramblings of a young man angry about the
state of the world, and in many ways frustrated by his inability to fix or
change it.
This book is my attempt to challenge and hold myself to a higher
standard of discourse and behavior, to contribute something of greater
quality than just another Twitter tirade, as well as some inspiration for
others to do the same. I will always remain someone who challenges the
status quo but moving forward, with these words as my witness, I will
aim to do it better, and embody the principles and virtues discussed in
this book.
xxii
Foreword
I hope you too will find value in the pages that follow. If the content
resonates with you and you wish to spread the message, by all means take
screenshots or quotes along the way and tag me on any social media so
that I can amplify the message and together, we may build a stronger,
more inspiring narrative for the future.
xxiii
Who is this book for?
They say there are three kinds of people in this world: Those who make
things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder
wtf happened.
This book is not for the latter.
I wrote this book first and foremost, for myself. I don’t say that in
a selfish or self-aggrandizing way, but from a place of genuine curiosity
and interest. This is the book I wish someone else had written so I could
read it myself, and since it wasn’t, it’s what I knew I would take pleasure
in researching and writing because of how it would transform me as a
person.
I wrote it because deep down I knew it was time for us to move on from
pointing out what’s wrong with the world, to actually doing something
about it. As I went from draft to draft, I came to realize that the world
is not going to hell, but is in fact ours to claim. The very act of writing
pushed me from theory, into the paradigm of action.
The world did not end when Rome fell. Its demise spawned a new age,
one that would integrate the Roman Apollonian-Martian spirit with the
Christian soul and the warrior vitality of the Germanic, Nordic and Slavic
tribes. What arose from the Roman ashes was a civilization ten thousand
times more powerful.
Now, in the twilight of that civilization, something new is birthing.
Something that, centuries from now will be ten thousand times more
powerful again. This civilization will colonize space, in the same way our
forefathers colonized the Earth. The same energy will course through the
veins of our descendants, and they will do things on a scale that we can
only dream of today.
xxiv
I don’t say this from a place of naive optimism. The pure optimist, à
la Steven Pinker, is often a deer-in-the-headlights, happy-go-lucky kind
of moron. I know the world has largely gone to shit. The first two drafts
of this book were far more a longing for the past than this version you’re
reading is. But I realized along the way that the past is the past, and no
amount of wishing it would “RVTURN” is going to bring it back. And even
if we did, we’d end up back here again. The only way through hell is to
keep on going, and if we’re in a strange place today, it’s not only because
of “the evil people” but because the “good people” are not doing enough
about it. Complaining never solved anything, it’s merely the first stage.
To be effective, you must be a “contrarian optimist.” You need the energy
and hope of an optimist, who alone can be gullible, mixed with the insight
and intuition of a contrarian, who alone can be too pessimistic.
In my case, I don’t like where the world is today, and my opinions
are extremely unorthodox (as you’ll find throughout the book), but I am
very optimistic about the longer term future and our ability to influence
it. If this speaks to you, and you too can sense that the future can be ten
thousand times greater, not because some transhumanist weirdo said so,
but because deep down, you know the human spirit is powerful enough
to conquer the stupidity, ugliness, and corruption we’re surrounded by
today, then this book is for you.
“You’re here because you know something. What you know

you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life,
that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know
what it is, but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, driving
you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do
you know what I’m talking about?”
Morpheus, The Matrix
If you can sense that you’ve been lied to about not only our recent history,
but our ancestors and lineages; if you realize that it’s not power that
xxv
corrupts, but that the weak and corruptible hold power and keep you from
it, then this book is for you.
If you’re fed up with feeling helpless about the rot that has set into the
world and with the ugliness it has brought forth; if you realize that beauty
is so much deeper than what you’ve been led to believe, then this book is for
you.
If you’re sick of the HR nannies telling you that your safety is their
priority, that we’re all in this together, that you must ask permission to
do this or that and that you should feel guilty about being an adult with a
mind of your own, then this book is for you.
If you’re done with the constant gaslighting by idiot bureaucrats
telling you that black is white, that good is bad, that weak is strong,
freedom is slavery, poverty is virtuous, that sickness is health, then this
book is for you.
If you’re ready to start acting, want to level up your psychology, and
rekindle that fire within, then this book is for you.
I wrote this not for the sheep, or the NPC - for they can never be woken
up - but for the lions. This is a book for those who want to lead, to build,
to conquer and to produce. Warrior-leaders with the drive, energy and
desire to claim space and make their dent in the universe.
Those content with living a life of average, playing the perpetual victim
or the astute complainer - perhaps even all three at the same time - will
likely be offended or triggered by this book. If that’s you, feel free to take a
pass. If equality, obedience, nihilism, compliance and complaining feed
you, then by all means, keep doing what you’re doing.
We are actually right where we’re supposed to be at this point in
civilization. The turning point that separates the lions from the sheep.
It’s time to make a choice, and I hope this book reinforces that choice -
whatever it may be for you.
xxvi
Prelude
“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn
and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the
light.”
Dylan Thomas, The Poems of Dylan Thomas
This book risks triggering some readers by weaving together ideas from
Christianity, Nietzsche, Rand, Austrian Economics, Anarcho-capitalism,
the new and old “Right”, Bitcoin, Jordan Peterson, Warrior Cultures from
a pre-Christian West and of course, as the title implies, Bushido.
They will say that I am insane for trying to blend such apparently
disparate traditions because “they are at odds,” because “war and freedom
don’t mix,” or that I am an “extremist” for quoting Evola and Spengler.
That’s fine. We’ve all got opinions. My position is not swayed. I’ve
found a common thread in all of these sources and it’s in their overlap
that I find truth and meaning.
I’m also aware of the fact that some of the people I quote may not have
lived up to their own ideals. Nietzsche is said to have been an incel that
wore a dress in his twilight, while Rand passed away in a public hospital.
Whether or not these claims are factual is irrelevant. The truth is that
life is hard, people are flawed, and when in the spotlight, it is easy for
spectators to point out your flaws, and ignore the rest of you. But, as
Roosevelt said, it’s the “Man in the Arena” that matters - not the critic.
It takes a level of brilliance few can match to produce something like
Atlas Shrugged or Thus Spoke Zarathustra, especially at the time they were
written. I believe we can draw not only wisdom, but inspiration from
these people; and if not from their lives, then certainly from their work.
We can also have some compassion, because they tapped into such ideals
and truths that the juxtaposition of their lives, their life circumstances,
their environment or the age they were born in sent them mad! Imagine
Prelude
having the foresight to prophesy the fall of man so vividly that you could
write some of the most eloquent warnings about it, only to be cursed with
having to live through and die in the age of the inevitable descent.
They may not have personally been ‘the ideal’, but they were able to
point to it, so perhaps their grander purpose could be seen as inspiring
others to embody and act out the roles of the noble hero, warrior and
man-of-vitality they could only aspire to be. After all, Moses did not enter
the promised land.
Our generation too will have to live not for ourselves, but
fundamentally for our descendants. It’s our job specifically to lay
the foundation for what comes next, and something tells me that
we are at a significant point in the journey of man; we inhabit an
interregnum of sorts, where the age of fiat, materialist decadence, and
Reddit-nihilism reaches its apogee, and simultaneously, the seeds of
vitality and greatness are planted to sprout lineages that will span for
centuries or more. True nobility awaits.
It’s an incredible time to be alive, and as we trek the long road ahead we
will have to come to terms ourselves with feelings Nietzsche and Rand had
to grapple with. The interregnum will not be pretty, and we might find
that the limited lifespans we each possess may not be long enough to carry
us to the rainbow on the other end. What I called “Homo-Bitcoinicus”,
before I discovered Nietzsche’s Ubermensch, is a possibility, only now
that we cross a new chasm.
Do not allow your preconceived notions or opinions of the characters
whose ideas I’ve drawn from distract you from the deeper truths in these
pages.
Writing this book has been an incredible journey. It’s caused me to
inquire, to question, and to think. It’s given me the opportunity to study
human culture and psychology through a unique lens, to consider how we
got here, where we might go, who we were, are, and might become, and
what this deeper sense within all of us is: this sense of virtue and vitality.
May it do the same for you.
2
A Moral Dimension to the
Universe
Is there a moral dimension to the universe? Where does the soul reside?
Why are we here? What is the meaning of life?
Are we here to have a physical experience, to develop a well-formed
ego, to learn restraint, and do so within a moral context? Are we here to
be vessels for life? Are we just spiritual beings experiencing something
physical? Or are we meat for nature, nothing more than a carbon soup
with trace elements?
Is this life a test to see if we can be virtuous in a realm where there
exists the opportunity to do wrong, to hide, to cheat, to lie and to acquire
unfair advantage? To see if we can be courageous when it is easier to be
lazy, comfortable, weak and cowardly?
Might we actually be here to learn ‘morality’ because such a thing is
not present from inside of the spirit realm? Could that be what’s required
for our soul to transcend the prior state into the next?
Or am I completely insane? Is this all a figment of my imagination?
Maybe.
I wish I had all the answers, but I don’t. Instead I have my beliefs,
first principles and a whole lot of questions - which at the very least are a
pathway to better answers and approximations of what’s true.
I spent most of my twenties as a raging atheist, but as I entered my
thirties I began to slowly find my way back to a deeper appreciation for
religion, because in whatever flavor it comes, it attempts to contend with
many of these questions. Theology is a study of “what matters” and in
a world so caught up in the “study of matter”, it’s arguably never been
3
A Moral Dimension to the Universe
more important. Secularists thought we could transcend or ignore it, but

instead we’ve found that the void left by religion would only be filled by
something else which is often much uglier, shallower and less robust. It’s
why many atheists resemble that description (see Sam Harris).
Matthew Arnold, the Victorian poet, known for his reflections on
education and critiques on a society becoming ever more secular, defined
religion as “Morality touched by emotion.” This is not only a beautiful
description, but accurate in many ways. Religion is concerned with
meaning, and much of meaning is an embodied phenomenon. It’s
something we feel, and without it, we find ourselves “feeling” less and less.
In my opinion it’s a big part of why we live in an era of unprecedented
depression, nihilism and hedonism. Whatever your viewpoint on the
definition or practice of religion, you cannot deny that there is an
emptiness in its absence. Just go visit a church in Italy or walk through
the streets built during the periods of high religion, then go find yourself
a modern office or government building, and walk the streets of a new
techno-city. See how each makes you feel.
I hope this book will give you a deeper appreciation and perspective
of this ancient, sacred heritage of man. For those who are averse to
the religious impulse, you might find that it is something we as humans
cannot escape. Even atheists and scientists are religious!
“We cannot get away from the spiritual no matter how much
money we make or “stability” we acquire. At the end of the
day, we search for poetry when we wish to eulogize the dead,
we search for philosophy when life leaves us in quagmires
of existential crises, we search for beauty when we walk
from one place to the other, and we search for an ability to
understand the narratives of history when we wish to make
sense of the present. Man is not merely a material being with
material needs. He is also a spiritual being with spiritual
needs.”
Megha Lillywhite, Classical Ideals: What’s the use of the Humanities in Society
4
A Moral Dimension to the Universe
For those who identify as religious, I hope you realize that it’s not just
about what you say you believe, what you’ve read, or what creed you
belong to - but that religion is first and foremost a praxis, an act. The
Samurai who embodies the virtues of Bushido may well be a better
Christian than most Christians, and the Christian who embodies the
cardinal virtues may well be a better Samurai than most Samurai. What
you do is who you are. Talk is cheap.
“Few ethical systems are better entitled to the rank of religion

than Bushido.”
Inazo Nitobe, Bushido: The Soul of Japan
Something similar applies to Bitcoin. You’re not a Bitcoiner because you

bought some on Coinbase, or hold a fat stack and a Twitter avatar with
laser eyes. There’s more to it than just running a node and securing your
keys. A life of meaning and wealth, deeper than just the material, requires
greater aspirations.
I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen from the emergent behaviors and
subcultures in the “cult of Bitcoin.” There are strong tendencies toward
homeschooling, health, nutrient-dense foods, localism, community,
family, children, self-defense, self-sufficiency and other generally
life-affirming ideals. These memes turn into micro-cults, and then
become their own norms. It’s a very interesting thing to behold - like
watching a culture evolve in real time.
It’s why I laugh at those who pejoratively label Bitcoiners as “religious
zealots.” They don’t realize that the comment is actually a compliment.
A movement like this must be as religious as it is technological and
economic. Bitcoin is not just “science.” It’s so much more. Changing
the world requires changing the behavior of the people that make it up.
This starts with a narrative. It starts with the adherents to a new order
believing in something not yet manifest, and acting accordingly.
So thank you for the compliment, and congratulations on the self-own :)
5
The Devolution Must Be
Reversed
There’s ample evidence of a lowering of time preference - which has a

direct relationship to behavior - thanks to people’s relationship to Bitcoin.
This is very encouraging, but we are still swimming upstream.
Centuries of civilization coupled with centralisation and increasing
material comforts have transformed men who once had honor and virtue
into soft, weak, and ignoble creatures addicted to porn, Netflix, and Uber
Eats. Of course this degradation is more complex and due to more than
just those factors, but they are the thematic drivers alongside weak, easy
money.
There have been similar periods in history. The following excerpt from
the Samurai handbook, Hagakure, reminds us of this:
“That there are few men who are able to cut well in beheadings
is further proof that men’s courage has waned. And when one
comes to speak of kaishaku [the act of serving as a second in
a ritual suicide, specifically to swiftly decapitate the person
committing seppuku to ensure a quick and less painful death],
it has become an age of men who are prudent and clever at making
excuses. Forty or fifty years ago, when such things as matanuki
[a practice where a Samurai would test the sharpness of
a new sword by cutting through the bodies of condemned
criminals or corpses] were considered manly, a man wouldn’t show
an unscarred thigh to his fellows, so he would pierce it himself.”
The good times that follow hard times soften the men so the door to
bad times is opened, following which the hard men must rise up again
6
The Devolution Must Be Reversed
and painfully recreate good times. So the cycle continues. Nietzsche

most accurately predicted this with his description of the “Last Man”, and
he warned us that if we’re not intentionally doing something to counter
mediocrity, we could well dissolve in our own sludge.
“‘We have invented happiness,’ say the last men, and they
blink. They have left the regions where it was hard to live,
for one needs warmth. Another loves his neighbor and rubs
against him, for one needs warmth. Turning ill and being
distrustful, they consider sinful: they walk warily. He is a
fool who still stumbles over stones or men! A little poison
now and then: that makes for agreeable dreams. And much
poison at the end, for an agreeable death. One still works,
for work is a form of entertainment. But one is careful
lest the entertainment be too harrowing. One no longer
becomes poor or rich: both require too much exertion. Who
still wants to rule? Who obey? Both require too much
exertion. No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the
same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes
voluntarily into a madhouse.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
He was right. We’re at a unique time in human history where there’s

a chance we fail to continue the cycle because of our scientific prowess.
There’s a chance we’re so technologically capable, materialistically
obsessed, and morally ignorant that we obsolete ourselves in some
attempt to beat life into submission. That would be a devastating result.
The ultimate “own-goal” for humanity.
Disgust with this state of affairs, and to the contrary a love of life,
is a big part of why I write. I am called to advocate the virtues in this
book: Courage, Self-Control, Honour, Excellence, Compassion, Duty,
Responsibility, Respect. They’re like a magnet. They attract me, and when
I see them lacking, I feel I have to say something to encourage myself and
7
The Devolution Must Be Reversed
others to push through this stage of the cycle, like our ancestors did before
us. We have to bear our own cross. It’s our duty and responsibility to do
better, to be better, and to turn this madness around.
“Courage is the willingness to face great danger. Since all

animal pro-action presupposes such willingness, and since
all pro-action is an expression of super-abundant vitality,
courage is inseparable from super-abundant vitality in
animals, including the human animal. In other words,
courage is the foundational shape of vital potency in animals.
All other shapes of animal pro-action pre-suppose courage.
It is therefore not surprising that the warrior and the
warrior’s characteristic courage are always celebrated by
noble morality.”
Lise Van Boxel, Warspeak
The upshot to all of this is that in the darkest, most despairing moments,
the greatest potential exists. From a place of weakness, raw strength can
be built. The greatest odds call upon the deepest courage.
This is our opportunity. To be the strong men of this generation.
We can bring about good times, and then just as importantly, inculcate
virtues into our children so that our descendants can carry humanity
forward and hold it to a higher standard. The “Last Man” stage of history is
the soil, rich in manure, where we plant the seeds of the Ubermensch. This
is the trade-off. We may be both the luckiest and unluckiest generation
ever to live. We get to be the founding fathers of a societal shift, possibly
the largest and fastest humanity has ever experienced, but the price of
admission is enduring - and overcoming - clown world.
8
Playing to Win
If winning is arguably the goal of all zero-sum games, then what Bitcoin
does is not “help you win the game,” but instead set up the field so that
winning requires a new set of behaviors, skills and orientations. A new
“meta” so to speak. Put simply, Bitcoin changes the game in the literal
sense (the hyperbolic too) such that winning by cheating is made far more
difficult, and downstream of this is not just the effect on time preference,
but also what I’d argue is the need for a new playbook.
The Bushido of Bitcoin is that playbook. As the world swings back toward
more decentralization, fragmentation, and individual sovereignty, the
need to embody these timeless virtues in order to win at the game of life
will only increase.
You will still be able to cheat. You will still be able to play the parasite.
Some will even still play the money-printing game through some sort of
complex and abstracted rehypothecation - but the key difference will be
(a) the speed of reckoning, (b) the magnitude of damage and (c) the extent
of collateral damage or socialization of losses.
On a Bitcoin standard the speed of reckoning will increase, the
magnitude of damage will decrease, and the consequences will be more
localized. In other words: you get wrecked sooner, it doesn’t damage the
system, and you pay the price.
This is not some magical panacea that “fixes” all humans or their
behavior. But it is a change of terrain, and those who adapt best, will
win. We’ve adapted to a deranged fiat world. We can also adapt to a more
praxeologically honest world.
This might seem like an impossible dream, but it always seems this
way early on. The curious thing about movements is that when the
winners begin to take the lead and move in a new direction, the rest follow.
9
Playing to Win
This is how all trends work and this is how Bitcoin actually “fixes the
world”. The leaders and first movers who adopt this Silicon Age Bushido
as their code, who live with it, lead with it, and win with it, will get ahead.
People will watch, they will see, they will learn. As momentum toward
this new orientation of behavior increases, the social drivers buried deep
inside of us will subconsciously push us in this new direction.
The new Bushido doesn’t need to be advertised. When people see that
winning requires a new set of behaviors, they will memetically follow and
emulate. FOMO kicks in. People change and they don’t even consciously
know why they’re changing. It’s an incredible thing to witness.
The key though, as with all movements, is having leadership with
conviction. People who decide to lead and embody a new mode of being.
It is YOU I’ve written this book for because you’ll need all the help you
can get. This new terrain will not be all sunshine and rainbows. It’s
going to be harsher in many ways, with less room for error, less welfare,
less of a safety net, less government to take care of you, and ultimately
less forgiveness when you make mistakes. A new world demands a new
playbook for behavior, action, and virtue.
This might sound harsh. This is a tougher world, but it’s also a more
honest one. Without mommy-government to come bail you out, you’re
left with the support networks you’ve forged or been born with. So you
better be a good human along the way: build a family, and create deep
relationships with like-valued people. In such a world, it will not pay to
be a Scrooge. Man is not an island, no matter how many AI agents he has
at his disposal.
This “harshness” is the only way to strengthen civilization again. It’s
the only way to upgrade the structure of the house we call humanity. And
this is necessary because we’re not doing very well in the winter of this
season of weak men. We got to the pathetic stage of hiding behind face
diapers from friends and family for two years over a mild sneeze.
To turn it around, humans must become stronger again, not just just
because they have to, but also because they want to. There must be both
a carrot and a stick. All good systems have a reward function. You pay
10
Playing to Win
your dues and are accountable for what you’ve lost, but you also become
richer in many dimensions. On this new terrain, the carrot is not just
a material one, but a spiritual one. When winning is earned, victory is
that much sweeter. When you’ve won by being excellent, you’ve done so by
embodying virtues that the greatest of the greats throughout all of history
have embodied. There is no feeling more powerful than being in sync with
your ancestors and the progenitors of the world. You are aligned with a
deep archetype. On a Bitcoin standard, those who find this alignment will
be most rewarded.
This is the power of the Bushido of Bitcoin. It’s neither an entirely new
or old way, but a blend of old principles adapted to a new terrain. The tools
have changed, the landscape and technologies are new, there is all sorts
of noise, but how we play and win at the game of life will stem from how
the greats have always done it. By being better.
I can’t stress this point enough. To truly win is to win because you
are better, not because you cheated. When cheating becomes the norm,
the entire game changes. Instead of training to become the best boxer
or football player, you instead work toward being the one who buys off
the referees; when everyone begins to see that’s the way to win, then they
all consciously and subconsciously begin to orient that way too. At that
point society splits into layers: you get the layer who makes friends with
those who bought the referee, you get the layer that becomes hedonistic
or numb, and you get the layer that just gives up. This is bad. This is where
we are now.
11
The Interregnum
Coming out of this will not be easy. We’ll have to endure this transition
for a few generations. The next five to ten decades will be like a no-man’s
land as we transition off a fiat standard to a Bitcoin standard.
This “interregnum” will be the most dangerous time because it’s the
phase when two completely opposing value systems clash. Much like
no-man’s land in trench warfare, it’s a zone where neither value system
works well.
The following diagram might help to visualize this:
Getting through this will be the ultimate test. It’s the cold turkey
detox a heroin addict must go through to clean up his system. This is
the most apt description of our modern civilization: a junkie desperate
12
The Interregnum
for another high, dreading the junk sickness of withdrawal, constantly

chasing dopamine, constantly consuming, constantly mindlessly busy.
Detached from nature and reality, ignorant, afraid, lost, and nihilistic.
A sick society is a mirror of the sick individuals that make it up.
But just as the addict’s body still has good in it, our society too still has
good in it. There are people worth admiring and bright spots in all the
darkness. This light is the source of hope for both the addicted individual
and the junkie civilization to which he belongs. It’s this light we must
recognise. In many ways, this is what Satoshi represents. An individual
came along, planted Bitcoin, and moved on, making room for it to do
its thing. Fast forward a little more than a decade and it’s cleansing the
heroin from the system by virtue of making it less and less potent, until
one day, we find ourselves free of the drug.
The key thing then will be to build new habits, because like an addict,
unless we take on a new set of behaviors, we may well just go back to the
old drugs, or find new ones. Bitcoin sets fire to the money-printing heroin
but it also leaves us with the need to find something else to do.
Hence the Bushido of Bitcoin. If we don’t cultivate these virtues, then
we may find ourselves seeking to fill the heroin void with another drug.
Transhumanism, the metaverse, or some other stupidity. We have to
cultivate these new behaviors and codes. Starting now.
13
Equality: The Great Evil
“Equality belongs essentially to decline: the chasm between

man & man, class & class, the multiplicity of types, the will to
be oneself, to stand out – that which I call pathos of distance
– characterizes every strong age.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols
Equality is the great evil of our time. It stands against not only freedom,
but even more insidiously opposes excellence, each of which make the
flourishing of life possible. Equality and quality are mutually exclusive.
Quality is the central theme of culture and civilization. It runs back
through all of human history and forms the basis for tradition, nobility,
distinction, and achievement. Every great figure in ancient literature,
from the Iliad to the Epic of Gilgamesh, embodied the qualities and virtues
listed throughout this book, and as such they became intrinsic to all great
civilizations, Western civilization being the soaring pinnacle. They came
to infuse hereditary nobility, cultural traditions, and governance systems;
they became the North Star for the pursuit of excellence in war, physical
fitness, family, business, and religion.
Equalitiarian ideologies, be they Communist, Socialist, Democratic,
Anti-racist, or any other leftist variation, are a modern invention. They
came about after wealth and stability were developed as a function of this
qualitative foundation. They are the beneficiaries of a structure they had
no part in building, and in their ignorance, are attempting to tear down,
for a vision that is fundamentally anti-life.
This is the fundamental distinction between life-affirming and death
cult philosophies. The former prioritize quality, while the latter demand
equality.
14
Equality: The Great Evil
Leftism in its many forms is a peculiar and artificial death-cult

ideology that deviates from the historical norm. Its core tenet, that “all
men are created equal” has taken root and gained an almost divine, cult-like
status. People on both sides of the political spectrum pay homage to
this idea, despite the fact that it is not only metaphysically impossible,
but is clearly disproven by just looking around and observing human
differences. We are not all equal. We are different. Ignoring reality
doesn’t change that fact. It only leads to the suppression of quality where
it matters, and worse to Streisand-Frankenstein effects where stupidities
such as ‘intersectionality’ rise to fill the ‘diversity-void’ left in the wake of
this blind pursuit. Necessary discrimination and discernment in human
affairs (e.g., differences in pay) come to be seen as malicious, while
equality is made sacrosanct and homogenizes everybody and everything
it comes into contact with (e.g., the woke movement).
Freedom is counter to equality. As soon as you are free, you begin
to de-equalize. The only way to equalize nature or humanity is to force
it, or in other words, to get equality, you must eradicate freedom.
Believing you can have both is a form of schizoid delusion that people
who operate purely from the left hemispheric brain can remain oblivious
to - especially once it’s been pointed out; it takes some professional level
mental gymnastics to reconcile the two.
If you want excellence, freedom, quality, or vitality, you must accept
the truth about equality. You must deprogram yourself and understand
it for the anti-life lie that it is. These are strong words, yes. And they may
hurt. They might call into question parts of your identity. That’s a good
thing. It means you’re learning. The truth often burns in this way. It is an
acid to both lies and stupidity.
15
Resist Mediocrity!
“Violence is not necessary to destroy a civilization. Each

civilization dies from indifference toward the unique values
which created it.”
Nicolás Gómez Dávila, Scholia to an Implicit Text
A culture that embraces homogenization is signing its own death warrant.

A culture that ignores its unique DNA and works to consciously or
unconsciously dismantle the hierarchies and structures that hold it
together will fall apart. A culture that rejects myth, theology, spirit, and a
moral dimension to existence, will soon find that nothing is sacred. From
this point, relativism, nihilism, and debauchery follow.
If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because it is exactly how we got
here. Jash Dholani - the old books guy on X - reminds us that while
“Reason is a useful tool, it can’t become the sole yardstick for judging ALL of life.”
We as a civilisation (especially in the West) are suffering not only from
irrationality but also from over-rationality.
“The modern tragedy is not the tragedy of reason defeated but

of reason triumphant.”
Myth and tradition both deal with deep and timeless questions. To
discard them is to be left with trivialities that harbor only a rational
dimension. This is a shallow existence and one we’re experiencing today.
Dávila said that: “The enemies of myth are not the friends of reality but of
triviality.”
16
Resist Mediocrity!
The opposite of mediocrity is greatness and nobility, in the same way

that the opposite of shallowness is depth. Mediocrity is shallow. It has
roots like astro-turf. It’s the plant in the pot, the nomad with no territory.
Nobility runs deep. It has roots like an ancient Oak Tree. Its territory is
its line, extending back through time. A society that has no reverence for
the noble will ultimately find itself shallow and mired in mediocrity.
“Those who proclaim that the noble is despicable end up by

proclaiming that the despicable is noble.”
It’s no wonder the people telling you to untether yourself from your
ancestors by convincing you they were savages are the same ones telling
you to ignore your body, and the same people who want you to eat
the bugs, to feed you tumors and fake meat, to block out the sun, to
print unlimited money, and to make you a helpless dependent. They
are the same people who will slander the Napoleons, Achilles, Caesars
and Alexanders of history by calling them tyrants, homosexuals, dictators
and “short power-hungry men.” Such people cannot appreciate beauty,
because they are ugly inside. Instead of seeking to climb to the level
of those better than them, they choose to tear them down. Nietzsche
said that resentment was the most vile of emotions and drives. He could
not have been more accurate. It’s not that power corrupts, but that power
corrupts the weak and resentful. The noble use power to reach higher. The
weak use it to tear things down. They revere nothing. They are not the
same.
Ayn Rand echoed this when she said: “Kill reverence and you’ve killed the
hero in man.” While she was a materialist, she had a deep appreciation
for beauty. She knew that virtues such as excellence, integrity and honor
are sacred. She did not frame them as guilt-laden, altruistic facades, but
as what they truly are - acts of nobility. They were something of a higher
order. She had many more layers than the midwits can notice.
17
Resist Mediocrity!
“Don’t let anything remain sacred in a man’s soul— and his

soul won’t be sacred to him.”
Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
Her master works put these virtues on display. Her heroes were not just
businessmen; they were noblemen. They acted “first hand” - as she would
call it. Her villains were the opposite. She drew a deliberate contrast with
the hero, depicting her villains not as ‘dark evil characters’ but as ignorant,
jealous and mediocre people fueled by resentment, who lived what she
called “second-hand” lives. In her words, people who “don’t want to be great,
but to be thought great,” who “don’t want to build, but to be admired as a builder,”
and who put the “the impression of doing” over the act itself.
This class of resentful parasites has been despised by every great and
noble culture since the dawn of time, from the ancient Macedonians to the
Samurai. They are Nietzsche’s slaves and Last Men, and BAP’s bugmen.
They were illustrated in Rand’s books, and today we deal with them in real
life, as the moochers, the looters and the mediocre globohomo class. The
ones who, too lazy or inept to create, are all too ready to take, leech and
destroy.
We must resist this at all costs, for in Rand’s words: “Enshrine
mediocrity—and the shrines are razed.”
18
A Call to Vitality & Heroism
“I welcome all signs that a more virile, warlike age is about

to begin, which will restore honor to courage above all. For
this age shall prepare the way for one yet higher, and it
shall gather the strength that this higher age will require
some day—the age that will carry heroism into the search
for knowledge and that will wage wars for the sake of ideas
and their consequences.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Joyous Science
I want to close this prelude with a call to greatness. This is our time. A new
energy is rising. His timing was a little off, but Nietzsche called it. This
can be forgiven because one can guess what not when, or when not what,
but rarely both when and what. Or perhaps his reference to “about” was
on a genealogical timescale that meant a century or two. In which case,
he may be spot on. Either way, his point stands.
The noble type, the hero of the future will have the capacity to bring
together in a life-promoting manner the ferocious courage that creates
and bends the external realm to his will, along with the self-conscious
intellect necessary to command his inner world. This tension between
opposites, that draws tight the bow (Tonos in Ancient Greek) is the same
tension that makes life possible.
This is the true meaning of “the will to power.” It is the vitality
that constitutes what we typically recognize as life itself, and its highest
manifestation is the hero and warrior who can direct it. How better to
express and experience this vitality than through acts of heroism and the
practice of the virtues listed in this book? Our modern enemy may be
19
well-funded, they may have the institutions, but they do not have the will
or the pothos (an ancient Greek term meaning a yearning, longing and
desire for something higher) that we do. Time is on our side, and coupled
with a deep-seated desire for greatness and some good tooling, we can
shift the course of history.
Will it be easy? Of course not. But ease is not the goal. Excellence is.
You cannot LARP your way into greatness. Not only because other
people will notice, but because you yourself will know this. The higher you
reach, the greater your own conquests, the more you will understand not
only with your mind but with your blood the vitality of the heroes that
came before you, and the more their acts of courage and virtue will inspire
you. You will feel their stories in your bones, and this will fuel your own
desire.
“He who has not experienced greater & more exalted things
than others won’t know how to interpret the great & exalted
things of the past. When the past speaks it always speaks as
an oracle: only if you are an architect of the future and know
the present will you understand it.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Use and Abuse of History for Life
It’s not enough to read about great men and become a Reddit historian.
You must go out and walk the walk. At age 32, Julius Caesar broke
down and wept at the foot of Alexander’s statue, because by that same
age Alexander had conquered the known world. It was a decade later,
when visiting his tomb in Alexandria, that Caesar was able to finally feel
worthy in his presence. He too had now conquered the world, and could
appreciate what it meant to be great.
That is an example of excellence walking in the footsteps of excellence.
And it’s not the only one. Every great ruler, hero, and conqueror modeled
themselves on Alexander, from the time of his death, through Rome, the
Middle Ages, the Napoleonic era, and all the way to the modern day, when
General Schwarzkopf quoted the battle of Gaugamela as the blueprint for
20
a perfect battle. Alexander too modeled and drew inspiration from Cyrus
and Achilles, in the end exceeding them both.
These men of history were all men of vitality. Learn from them. They
were less interested in the minutiae, in the dry facts and figures of history,
but in history’s grand deeds, lessons and stories. They used them to
cultivate a superior will. This is the key, and it’s a constant work in
progress.
I sit here writing this on a train through Germany, not as some
‘sage’ who’s achieved mastery, or a conqueror like Alexander. I pale in
comparison to him and every one of the greats I’ve quoted throughout -
but nevertheless I am inspired by all of them. I am someone on a journey
with a lot of work to do across every one of these dimensions, but each day,
I venture forth, keeping in mind that true understanding is ultimately
physiological. I remind myself that courage, honor, compassion and
self-control are something we must do on a consistent basis, and only
become more important when they become hard. I write this as much
for you as I do myself. It’s my personal reminder. It’s a way to put myself
on the line and hold myself to a higher standard.
“If a man wishes to become a hero, then the serpent must first
become a dragon: otherwise he lacks his proper enemy.”
Only by such acts can we induce the practice of these virtues until they
become a part of our behavior. Only when we employ our physical
faculties toward their pursuit unconsciously, can we truly say that we’ve
achieved any level of mastery - and even then, new peaks can be sought.
We are all apprentices in training.
The key is selecting the North Star that calls us to greater vitality and
heroism, because it’s only by following this light that we’ll move in the
direction of greatness.
This transition to a better world is a multi-generational project.
Whatever greatness we might achieve in our own lives, we will not live
21
to see this new peak of humanity become a reality. But it’s our duty to lay
the foundations. Like the medieval cathedrals commenced by those who
would never see their completion, we today embark on something similar,
but more enduring.
I hope the words on these pages, and the many quotes I’ve sprinkled
throughout, inspire you the way they’ve done me. That they spark
something inside of you that is great and noble.
The heights of our heroism will be found in the establishment of a
sound order that reaches back in time, drawing wisdom and stability
from the traditions of the past, and projects forward into a new age. One
when we look upwards, toward a brighter and more desirable future. An
age in which we once again explore and expand our territories, coming
face-to-face with new frontiers: the way we are compelled to when life is
pulsating through us.
This is what I want to show you, in the pages that follow.
A playbook, for a new world, on a Bitcoin Standard.
The Bushido of Bitcoin.
22
“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great,
some achieve greatness, and others have greatness
thrust upon them.”
William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

PART I
Origins
Introduction
I’ve always felt as though I was born in the wrong era. My wife tells me
this on a regular basis and I am consistently drawn to stories from a time
for which only an echo remains. An age of heroism, honor, valor, and
hand-to-hand warfare.
There is something deeply inspiring about the feats of courage
performed by our ancestors. The fact that we made it this far, without
things like toilets, sanitation, electricity, refrigerators, supermarkets,
and the like is mind-boggling if you think about it. Men crossed hundreds
of miles on foot, with no Nikes or special military footwear, carrying
armor, weapons, and supplies on their backs, over mountains, valleys,
and rivers, to challenge each other, to fight hand-to-hand, smelling
the very sweat, bile, blood and excrement of their enemy, and in the
process, getting stabbed, slashed and wounded; but still, somehow,
surviving. Overcoming all of that, they went on to build the monumental
foundations of the civilisation we live in today.
Humanity when viewed through such a lens is truly awe-inspiring,
and it’s unfortunate that most people don’t appreciate this.
Much of the corpus of modern anthropo-historic study suggests that
the story of humanity is a progressive one. The general view is that
humanity evolved from savagery to barbarism, and from there into
civilization. In fact, if you ask Francis Fukuyama, in the last few decades
we reached the end of history! We finally transcended our savage roots
and are now more representative of… civilized (domesticated?) humans?
Obedient little pets? Who knows.
Others such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Oswald Spengler, Julius Evola
and, more recently, Bronze Age Pervert have pushed back on the notion
of ‘progress’, and made a case for history being cyclical. In their view,
25
Introduction
ancient man was closer to “the gods”, while modern man is but a husk of
his ancestral greatness, who over the centuries has exchanged his honor
and virtue for the material comforts of a soft civilisation.
I used to be in the naive camp of the former, believing that the story of
humanity has, besides a few troughs along the way, been one of “progress”;
but I’ve come to reconsider this and cede mental territory to the latter
arguments. While there has certainly been a general undercurrent of
technological progress, the social, structural and moral fabric that binds
us is undoubtedly more cyclical. Sure, we live in a technological golden
age, but we also live in a moral, intellectual, emotional, and physiological
dark age - a perspective that more people are beginning to agree with, not
least because of the growing amount of supporting evidence.
Obesity rates in the most materially affluent countries have
skyrocketed in the last fifty years, as have rates of anxiety, depression,
drug addiction, autoimmune diseases, autism, sexual confusion,
loneliness, and childlessness. Birth rates are floundering and the nuclear
family is being actively attacked in an attempt to dissolve it. We’re told
that “we live longer on average”, but this is primarily due to lower infant
mortality. The actual human lifespan has not changed that much at all -
but we are fatter, sicker and uglier than we’ve ever been, and there’s no
averaging that can hide it.
26
Introduction
Our nihilistic age is characterized by a pervasive, nebulous sense of

hopelessness and creeping disquiet. We are trapped in a longhouse of our
own making, managed by an administrative class to whom we’ve ceded
ever more power. The world has become one giant HR department run by
crazy cat ladies and a never-ending horde of bureaucrats.
It’s no wonder we have a populace gripped by endless hysterias of
every kind. Be it the fear-mongering by climate catastrophists who’ve
been predicting the end of the world “next decade” for the past century,
the more recent mass lockdowns and paranoia over flu variants, or
the current panic over AI. Add to that the never-ending stream of
nonsense coming out of mainstream media, Hollywood, Netflix, reality
TV, celebrity tantrums, and social media meltdowns, and you’ll get a
sense for what I mean.
We used to have hand-to-hand wars involving real warriors. Now
we have either invisible wars, or “Hollywood Wars” involving actors,
mainstream media, and Time Magazine. Some of it is so clearly
ridiculous that you don’t know if it’s made up or the result of a confluence
of mass stupidity and LARPing. Either way, it has led us into the
Golden Age of Scamming, both visible and invisible. While you work,
these bureaucrats literally scam you through inflation and taxation to
fight bigotry, inequality, terrorism, drugs, Russians, North Koreans, and
whatever the new flavor of boogeyman is this week. Then, to add insult
to injury, people like Sam Bankman-Fried who, instead of being held to
account by those he robbed, are actually protected and praised by the
media, and allowed to fly first class in time for Christmas with the family.
I’m not sure we’ve seen a time in human history so strange and absurd.
There are even multiple accounts on social media dedicated to ridiculing
this “Clown World” - for it truly is.
But despite all of this… there are glimmers of hope. There are cracks in
the facade, where rays of light can enter the darkness. People are thinking
and talking about Rome again. They are hungry for beauty. The Hopf cycle
and midwit memes have become commonplace in online discourse. There
is of course Bitcoin, and the promise it brings - and most important of all,
29
Introduction
is the reawakening of the human spirit and the rekindling of its highest
and most valiant expression: the warrior archetype. It is this energy I will
speak to throughout and do my best to inspire in you, because this is most
representative of life-force.
Whether you subscribe to the progressive theory of history, or the

rise and fall theory, you cannot deny that it is made up of seasons and
cycles, which encompasses both. While history may not exactly repeat, it
certainly rhymes, but it also spirals upwards. The parallels between the
modern West and the Roman empire are inescapable, and if you have the
courage to truly open your eyes and look around, you’ll get the inner sense
that we’re both “at the end of an era” and that “we’ve been here before.” It’s
an eerie mix of feelings that many people are experiencing and searching
for a way to understand. Hence the growing desire to read from ‘taboo’
authors such as Evola and Spengler. But as much as this should concern
30
Introduction
you, it should also give you hope, because we made it then - and if we are
intentional, we will make it through again.
This book will help you make sense of these feelings, understand
what’s happening today, why it is happening, what happened to the great
civilisations whose shoulders we stand upon but have lost touch with, and
ultimately come to terms with the fact that winning requires competing.
You can’t complain your way to victory. With that, my goal is to inspire
you to become a better person through better thought, action and an
ascendant attitude.
We all have battles to fight, both externally and internally. There will
be times you want to take the easy way out of a situation, but your inner
voice, the one which taps into the greater truth of your higher self, will tell
you you’re not on the right path. You are sinning, or “off the mark” in the
original sense of the word. Listen to this one. The inner battle to do what’s
right, even when it’s hard, will call upon the better parts of you. It is for
these battles that the virtues discussed hereafter will be most useful.
History and its stories are incredible teachers - and if you decide to be a
receptive pupil, there is much to learn. You will know you’ve found truth
when it shakes you to your core, moving you viscerally and emotionally.
This is your soul speaking to you. Inviting you to be and do more.
My goal is to open the door for moments like this when you read the
words that follow.
31
A Warrior in a Garden
A warrior is he who brings order and peace through the application of

disciplined violence, when it is necessary. The Chinese ideogram for
warrior 武 (wǔ) is in fact a blend of the symbols for “weapon” and “stop”.
The top part 戈 (gē) represents a “weapon” or “spear,” underscoring the
martial aspect of the warrior, and the readiness to engage in combat or to
defend. The bottom part 止 (zhǐ) means “to stop” or “foot,” symbolizing
both cessation—of bringing conflicts to an end—and the mobility or
groundedness of a warrior.
It reminds me of an Internet legend, that the word ‘meek’ is poorly
translated into English from the Bible’s original Greek word “praus”, and
that the true meaning is something more like “those who have swords,
and know how to use them, but choose to keep them sheathed”. Whether
or not this is accurate, the analogy is a powerful one. Those who shall
inherit the Earth, are the ones who are prepared. They are “The Remnant”.
It of course also echoes the Latin: Si vis pacem, para bellum (if you want
peace, you had best prepare for war).
These are but a few of the profound parallels between East and West
that I discovered while doing research for the book. Seeing how principles
and virtues overlapped in cultures that had no contact, and evolved
independently, tells me that there are truths here. Truths we will explore
as we progress.
The opening quote of the book is:
“It’s better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war.”
This is one of those maxims that sticks with you. It encapsulates

the soundness of preparation, the quiet readiness of one who’s mastered
his craft, and the approach to a life of continual development. These
attributes make the warrior the quintessential archetype of man.
32
No domain exists where the stakes are higher than war. It is why we
are naturally drawn to history and, in particular, historic warfare. It moves
us. In fact, if we really think about it, what is history if not a compilation
of the stories of war and of conflict? Of one man’s will and frame against
another? Of battles and their triumphs and tragedies?
Our greatest stories are the battles of Gaugamela, Thermopylae,
Waterloo, and Sekigahara. They are Edmond Dantes’ fight for freedom
or Tristan and Isolde’s fight for love. These contests always involve some
level of violence, because violence is part of our psycho-biological make
up. It moves us, and unlocks a deep, primal element in our being. We
feel most alive when we are faced with violence. Conflict plays a central
role in life and the greatest battles are thus remembered because they call
upon the deepest part of us to stand up for what we believe.
Aversion to war and conflict is a major blind spot for libertarians.
While I understand why, their disdain for war, violence and conflict may
actually be the reason why it is subconsciously unappealing to so many.
Growth is conflict in action, and operating from a continually defensive
philosophical framework is defeatist. It’s why they are and always will be
the number one losers.
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead” may be the calling card of the young and
stupid, but there is truth in this statement. There is the promise of
adventure and conflict. There is life and vitality in it. Peace is a weak
state because it ignores both the necessity for war, and the virtues which
warriors must embody.
Peace is at best, the period between conflict, and is ultimately what we
experience after life, i.e., in death. In fact, I’ve come to believe that without
war, peace is meaningless. For that matter, without peace, so too is war.
They are forever entwined, like Yin and Yang. Life, chemistry, physics all
require tension and polarity to exist.
Life itself is in a constant flux and battle. It’s a struggle to get out of
bed in the morning, to ensure your kids are fed, that your home is orderly,
that your career is on the right track, that you’re building wealth, that
you’re having an impact. The Lion struggles to catch the deer and the
33
deer struggles to flee. The food on your plate had to struggle to get there.
Billions of sperm had to be discarded and lose the battle of individuation
in order for one to win and create you. All of life involves conflict and, at
times, there are real battles. We must recognise this. To ignore it is to
ignore reality - which only leads to weakness, emptiness and death.
This is why it’s better to be a warrior in a garden and, paradoxically,
why only those who are prepared for war deserve peace.
Si vis pacem, para bellum

War finds us, whoever and wherever we are, so if you want peace, you had
best prepare for war.
War strengthens us, and if we do not face it, we are relegated to the
dustbin of history. We have the choice to literally or metaphorically roll
over and die, or to stand up and fight.
Over the millennia, the great and noble cultures have all found
their roots in war. Whether Macedonians, Romans, Huns, Mongols,
Spaniards, Japanese or Americans, these cultures cultivated nobility and
character through hardship. This reality is lost on moderns, and as a
result, the culture we are left with is lacking something.
The Samurai understood warriorhood as a ‘unified character’ both
cultural and martial, much like Yin and Yang are the differentiated yet
inseparable poles of the one force of the universe: the Tao.
“The sensitivity and efficacy of human nature are a single

quality with distinctions of cultural and martial.”
Thomas Cleary, Training the Samurai Mind
The Samurai handbook Hagakure states that “Warriorhood without culture is

not true warriorhood; culture without warriorhood is not true culture”. Just like
Yin is the root of Yang, and Yang the root of Yin, warriorhood is based in
culture, and culture is based in warriorhood.
Has modern culture degraded because we’ve forgotten the martial
element? Has virtue been lost due to a false peace that we’ve been
34
conditioned to believe is “civil”? Have we tricked ourselves into believing

that by abolishing the warrior culture and replacing it with a comfortable,
peacetime culture we would no longer have war? Has this in fact made
us weak, and thus more susceptible to serfdom, and worse, to less noble
forms of war?
These are important questions.
Modern warfare is increasingly becoming the domain of video-game
players operating drones from a distance, while taking orders from
bureaucrats siphoning money from the people they ‘represent’.
Notwithstanding the hard infantryman who is willing to slog through
the mud and do what a machine or drone cannot, the ancient glory of the
battlefield hero no longer exists. Achilles or Alexander, leading from the
front, is no longer a practical reality.
Modern warfare is far from noble, and to that extent, I can certainly
sympathize with libertarians. To be against such acts of cheap and
despicable carnage is correct, and because much of modern war has
devolved into this state, it makes sense to oppose it by default.
Perhaps we are living in an age where ancient, or Bushido-like degrees
of warlike nobility are not practical in the purely physical sense. If so,
the question then becomes, how can we still cultivate this warrior ethos
in other ways? Where can we find conflict that pushes us to dig deep
inside and make contact with the vital? Can we develop this warrior ethos
elsewhere and apply it to other endeavors? We’ll explore this and more
throughout the book.
The warrior archetype
“Under conditions of peace, the warlike man attacks

himself.”
35
Carl Jung, the foremost student of Freud and one of the founding fathers
of modern psychology, termed the “stored wisdom of the human race” as the
collective unconscious. He believed that we as a species accumulate and
store the knowledge of every generation into this collective unconscious,
and it becomes the software we’re all born with. Steven Pressfield, ex
US Marine Corp and military author, calls it “our package of instincts and
preverbal knowledge”.
Jung described these instinctual packages as “archetypes”:
larger-than-life or mythic personifications of the stages of maturation
we all journey through. These archetypes guide us as we develop, with a
new one coming into play at each stage of life to make it feel more natural
and appropriate.
You might be familiar with some of them. The Youth, the Lover, the
Wanderer, the Joker, the King or Queen, Prince or Princess, the Wise man,
the Mystic, the Monster, and of course, the Warrior.
“The Warrior Archetype is not the be-all and end-all of life.

It is only one identity, one stage on the path to maturity.
But it is the greatest stage—and the most powerful. It is the
foundation upon which all succeeding stages are laid.”
Archetypes tie back into narrative. Stories are how we’re wired to learn,
hence why legendary tales like those of King Arthur and the Knights of
the Round Table, the 300 Spartans of Thermopylae, Alexander the Great’s
conquest of the world, and Japan’s 47 Ronin, regardless of how much is
fact or not, are all subconsciously relatable to us. We each have a warrior
within.
If we can cultivate this energy, we can become individuals with the
weapons needed to bring order and stand strong in the face of tyranny
and ugliness. This is the duty of the warrior, whether in the garden, the
ring, the battlefield, the home or the workplace. This is the duty of those
who shall inherit the Earth.
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Origins of Bushido
Bushido was the name given to the unwritten “moral code” that evolved
in feudal Japan and came to reflect the virtues the Samurai class would
aspire to embody. The earliest known use of the term “bushido” dates back
to the Edo period (1603-1868); however, its principles have much older
roots.
During the Heian period (794-1185), the Samurai began to emerge as a
distinct social class in Japan. Similar to knights in medieval Europe, the
Samurai were warriors who served the nobles of the ruling class, and they
followed a set of ethical principles - which came to be known as bushido,
the ‘the way of the warrior’ - that guided their behavior.
Bushido was formally codified during the Edo period as the warrior
class found themselves without a war to fight. Their noble rank in the
feudal hierarchy of the time meant that they needed to move beyond just
‘fighting’, and begin to think about how to apply these principles to other
areas of life.
They sought to develop and embody a set of core virtues that would
inspire those beneath them, while simultaneously earning them status
amongst their contemporaries. According to Inazo Nitobe, the 19th
century Japanese scholar, there were eight of them:
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Origins of Bushido
1. Justice,
2. Courage,
3. Benevolence,
4. Politeness,
5. Sincerity,
6. Honor,
7. Loyalty, and
8. Self-control.
Like the Magna Carta in Britain or the US Constitution, bushido is

said to comprise the essence of Japanese cultural beliefs, and it continues
to influence the structure and incredible efficiency and efficacy Japan is
known for, despite the ‘fiatisation’ of modern society.
“Chivalry is a flower no less indigenous to the soil of Japan

than its emblem, the cherry blossom; nor is it a dried-up
specimen of an antique virtue preserved in the herbarium
of our history. It is still a living object of power and beauty
among us; and if it assumes no tangible shape or form, it not
the less scents the moral atmosphere, and makes us aware
that we are still under its potent spell.”
In true Japanese warrior style, Bushido was a code handed down primarily
by word of mouth in the form of short maxims, in some cases penned by a
warrior-savant, the most well known being Miyamoto Musashi. The code
was expressed in the deeds of those who embodied the highest ideals of
the Samurai.
There is a strong parallel here between the complex, emergent roots
of Bushido and Bitcoin. Bushido was an organic, emergent growth of
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Origins of Bushido
centuries of military conflict; much like Bitcoin, it was not the creation
of “one brain”, nor was it modeled on the life of a single personage. While
we do have Satoshi and the Genesis Block to point to as ‘starting points’ for
Bitcoin, it too has a more complex history. Much had to come beforehand,
technologically, philosophically and economically. I’m not sure we’d have
Bitcoin, for example, without the works of great thinkers like Mises or
Hayek.
We know that Bushido ‘attains consciousness’ after centuries of
warfare, in the same way Bitcoin attains consciousness in the age of
Quantitative Easing. Both feudalism and the new heroic age we now
embark on are the springs that come after the winter wars.
Bushido and chivalry are no longer practiced explicitly, but it’s my
hope that Bitcoin invigorates humanity enough to once more integrate
the values and virtues inherent to these warrior codes, but, unlike those
of the past, resisting their fading into a new age of madness and moral
relativity.
The etymology of the word

The closest English comparison to the Japanese word Bushido is Chivalry.
Both were a sort of ‘precept of knighthood’ the warrior class sought to
embody, and which demonstrated their noblesse. While their etymologies
are a bit different - for example, Chivalry finds its roots in horsemanship
- at their root, both are more expressive.
The actual word “bushido” is composed of three Japanese characters:
武 (bu) and 士 (shi) which together mean “warrior,” and 道 (do) which
means “way.” The word “do” can also be translated as “path,” “principle,”
or “teaching,” depending on the context. Therefore, the word “bushido”
can be translated as “the way of the warrior,” “the warrior’s path,” or “the
warrior’s principles.”
Bu-shi-do can also, and more literally, translate to Military-
Knight-Way, which was the manner in which fighting nobles should
engage in daily life as well as their vocation.
39
Origins of Bushido
If we look at the Chinese Pictograms that make up the word, we find

the following:
Bu-shi-do 武士道
武 (Bu), meaning ‘war’ as well as ‘military,’ is composed etymologically

of the two radicals for “stop” and “spear”. Bu was that which would subdue
the weapon and therefore stop the spear. Note the similarity between the
definition of ‘meek’ (or ‘praus’) in Biblical terms.
“Shi” refers to a person of great ability or someone of an official
capacity. It often referred to a nobleman of some literary prestige, but
also referenced those who were well-armed. In China, “Shi” were the men
who kept the peace. In other words, the warriors.
“Do”, also known as “Dao” in Chinese, is composed of the radicals for
“movement” and “head” which indicates intelligent action, or movement
governed by intelligence. As mentioned earlier, “Do” is used in reference
to “The Way” or “The Path”. You see it not only in Bushido, but also in
the naming of practices such as Aikido (way of the adapting spirit), Kendo
(way of the sword) or Daoism (way of life), or in Japanese Dokyo 道教.
“A Samurai was essentially a man of action.”
Inazo Nitobe, Bushido: The Soul Of Japan
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Origins of Bushido
Together this deeper etymology of Bushido echoes what is more

commonly referenced when defining it. Bushido speaks to the way of the
nobleman - the practitioner of the arts, both martial and literary. The way
of the man of action, who is both a man of the mind and of the body.
War, struggle, bloodshed and bushido
“In Japan as in Italy ‘the rude manners of the Middle Ages’

made of man a superb animal, ‘wholly militant and wholly
resistant.”
The knightly code of Bushido emerged and evolved during a millennium

of constant struggle and war. Imagine an era of feuding warlords and
clashing Samurai, where the air was thick with the tension of impending
battles. Lands were fragmented under the rule of powerful daimyos, each
vying for dominance over the other. Villages fortified themselves while
the clash of steel rang out on the battlefields. Samurai, bound by a duty
to their lineage and a loyalty to their lords, fought with a ferocity rarely
matched by any other warrior class. In this world where the line between
life and death was as thin as the edge of a katana, the principles of Bushido
emerged. These essential principles were few and simple but helped bring
structure and a sense of stability to one of the most unsettled periods in
Japan’s history.
And much like Chivalry did in medieval Europe, this warring states
period saw feudal structures emerge alongside codes of virtue in Japan. If
Bushido was the spirit, feudalism was the body in which it would reside.
“The light of chivalry, which was a child of feudalism,

still illuminates our moral path, surviving its mother
institution.”
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Origins of Bushido
The warrior class in Japan, from whose character came the inspiration and
force behind Bushido, were known as the Samurai. We will explore their
origins in the next chapter.
The emergence of similar codes of noble ethics and warrior conduct
from parallel eras of chaos and bloodshed in two regions with absolutely
no contact - medieval Europe and feudal Japan - is a fascinating
phenomenon. In fact, it can be argued both codes have been a kind of
virtuous or moral peak for human civilization.
Which leads me to a contentious, at least in Bitcoin and libertarian
circles, idea.
The virtues & morality of war
“War is the foundation of all the arts, I mean also that it is

the foundation of all the high virtues and faculties of men.”
War is a tricky subject. As I mentioned earlier, modern warfare is

something which scarcely carries with it the traditional spirit of valor
or dignity. There is a distance and therefore detachment to war in the
digital age that makes it different to classical warfare, similar to the
difference between buying your packaged and sanitized meat at a brightly
lit, air-conditioned Costco, versus hunting an alert and fleet-footed deer
in the freezing darkness of a winter forest, with nothing more than
stone-tipped arrows shot from a bow made of tendon and wood.
There is a visceral connection between man and beast that lends
the relationship a sense of profundity during and even after the hunt.
This process remains a deep, spiritual rite of passage for warrior tribes
today, albeit far more rare. The popularity of hunting among the rural
communities that provide America’s warrior class is one such example.
There is a different appreciation of life and death when you have to take
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Origins of Bushido
life with your bare hands. Buying the same, pre-packaged meat at the
supermarket carries with it none of this reverie.
The same goes for battle. Two warriors who are dueling to the death
within spitting range of one another inhabit an entirely different plane of
existence than the drone operator dropping bombs on the pixels they see
scurrying about on a computer screen.
I think this is why blood sports like boxing and UFC are so viscerally
popular. They stimulate something primal inside of us. When it’s real
and raw, it is more alluring.
Steven Pressfield wrote “The Virtues of War” almost two decades ago,
and it remains one of the most important books I’ve read.1 It helped me
see warfare as something that can not only be virtuous, but in its noblest
and most honorable forms, is where the highest virtues are found.
There is a brilliant quote from Inazo Nitobe that echoes this same
point:
“Fair play in fight! What fertile germs of morality lie in

this primitive sense of savagery and childhood. Is it not the
root of all military and civic virtue? We smile (as if we had
outgrown it!) at the boyish desire of the small Britisher, Tom
Brown, “to leave behind him the name of a fellow who never
bullied a little boy or turned his back on a big one.” And
yet, who does not know that this desire is the cornerstone on
which moral structures of mighty dimensions can be reared.”
For me, this idea of fair play in the heat of battle, of courtesy and respect
toward your enemy, of duty and a sense of honor in the moment of
bloodlust, is the cornerstone of all true virtue - which is upstream of all
morality.
1 I will quote extensively from this book throughout. Despite the many passages ‘in the voice
of Alexander’ not being factual, since we have no written words from the great man himself,
they do echo anecdotes found in early historians such as Diodorus, Arrian and Plutarch. More
importantly for the purpose of this book, Pressfield’s renditions convey deep truths, the kind
that is felt deep within.
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Origins of Bushido
Without virtue, we would not be here today. We would have savaged

each other into oblivion, or, lacking a higher purpose, would not
have been the kind of species that could endure through millennia of
significant hardships.
There’s something about a fair contest that, even when the intent
is to kill, calls upon the better, nobler part of us. Contrast this to the
frameworks of modernity, designed to detach us from our adversaries
and distance us from the consequences of our actions and whom they
impact. The latter results in a series of battles that are fundamentally
unfair, bringing out the worst in us. We have slowly but surely shrugged
off the virtues that originated in noble warfare, and in the process left
behind the notion of fair play. We’ve been desensitized and led to believe
that winning alone is the goal, while forgetting that how you win actually
matters more.
The bureaucrats who run the institutions that are waging modern
wars don’t care about integrity, honor, or justice. They just want the
points on the scoreboard, and since they don’t have to pay for it in money,
blood or land, they’ll have it, whatever the price. Because they don’t
believe in the sacred, or something ‘higher,’ they are conceited enough
to think there is no such thing as a spiritual cost. They don’t play by a code
of honor or virtue, so the spirit of the contest is ignored. In their mind,
winning is winning, the intangible consequences be damned.
The broader social result of this is nihilism, because deep down,
nobody really wants to play an unfair game. Those who are disadvantaged
give up, and those who are cunning or advantaged enough to compete,
simply lose themselves in the process and become soul-selling humans.
They no longer become better by winning virtuous battles. They instead
become weaker and uglier, desperate to hang onto their ill-gotten gains,
knowing that beneath the facade is an empty cavern of deceit. They didn’t
win because they deserved it, they won because they cheated. So they
become bitter instead of better. This all makes for a vicious cycle, and the
2020s have thus far been the clearest example of nihilism and widespread
meaninglessness we could possibly have asked for.
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Origins of Bushido
Fairness in both war and play is critical. To win because you’re better,
not because you cheated, is noble. And if you lose, it should drive you
to improve and try again, knowing that winning is possible. Only in this
environment can the noblest of virtues arise.
Hence why those who become the new financial, entrepreneurial and
social elite must begin today to think deeply about who we are to become,
and what sort of a world we want to build.
What a failure it would ultimately be for Bitcoin to win the economic
game, only for those who hold all the bitcoin to become like the very
parasites they deposed.
Religious roots
In Japan, there was a unique merging of two schools of spiritual and
religious tradition, unlike almost anything else in the world.
Buddhism, founded over 2,500 years ago by Siddhartha Gautama
in ancient India, spread across Asia and found its way to Japan in the
6th century AD through Chinese and Korean monks. To this day, its
practitioners aim to attain liberation from suffering and enlightenment
through the Four Noble Truths (Suffering, Cause of Suffering, Cessation of
Suffering and the Path to the Cessation of Suffering) and the Eightfold Path
(Right Understanding, Intent, Speech, Action, Livelihood, Effort, Mindfulness and
Concentration).
Shinto, on the other hand, was uniquely Japanese. Unlike Buddhism,
there is no founder or specific body of scripture, but instead a deep
respect for nature, ancestors and tradition. Its name means “the way of
the guardians or gods” and it focuses on the worship of ‘kami’, or deities
who are believed to inhabit natural phenomena such as trees, rocks and
mountains. In fact, Shinto posits that everything has a spirit, no matter
how humble, which includes man made objects.
Zen was a unique Japanese blend of Buddhism and Shintoism that
produced an extraordinarily contemplative spiritual practice that had a
major influence on the moral underpinnings of martial behavior; and
therefore, in time, Bushido. Its influence lives on to this day.
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Origins of Bushido
“What Buddhism failed to give, Shintoism offered in

abundance.”
Without getting into the specifics, for it is out of the scope of this book,
Zen can be thought of as the Japanese equivalent for the Buddhist Dhyâna,
which represents the human effort to reach, through meditation, zones of
thought beyond the range of verbal expression.
The Zen method itself is a contemplation of the absolute for the
purpose of placing oneself in harmony with it. The following from Nitobe
will give you a better mental image:
“Shinto shrines are conspicuously devoid of objects and

instruments of worship. A plain mirror hung in the
sanctuary forms the essential part of its furnishing. When
you stand in front of the shrine to worship, you see your own
image reflected on its shining surface, and the act of worship
is tantamount to the old Delphic injunction, “Know Thyself.”
But self-knowledge does not imply, either in the Greek or
Japanese teaching, knowledge of the physical part of man,
not his anatomy or his psychophysics; knowledge was to be
of a moral kind, the introspection of our moral nature.”
Unlike Christianity, Shinto theology is without the notion of original sin.

In fact, the central doctrine is that of the innate goodness and purity of the
human soul. Despite this fundamental difference, a very similar moral
framework, and duty to something higher, was found in both Japanese
bushido and Christian chivalry. Each code had a similar effect on its
respective feudal society. I believe it has something to do with the kinds
of virtues extolled by each creed, and points to this idea of a golden thread
for virtue and behavior, a way of being that is life-affirming. We’ll come
back to this concept throughout the book.
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Origins of Bushido
Confucian inspiration
“The calm, benignant and worldly-wise character of his

[Confucius] politico-ethical precepts was particularly well
suited to the Samurai, who formed the ruling class. His
aristocratic and conservative tone was well adapted to the
requirements of these warrior statesmen.”
While Zen and Shinto influenced Bushido in a spiritual dimension, it was

the philosophy, ethical doctrines and the teachings of Confucius that were
the most prolific source of inspiration for Bushido.
Shinto doctrines, more than any other creed, had already inculcated
a deep loyalty to the sovereign, a reverence for ancestral memory and an
extreme filial piety into the very fabric of early Japanese culture. There was
an upward flowing respect and a condescending love that came naturally
to the Japanese, and the Confucian enunciation of the five moral relations
found fertile soil in the hearts and minds of the Japanese noble class.
These relations had embedded within them a notion of hierarchy and
order, outlined in the relationship between:
1. Master and servant (the governing and the governed)
2. Father and son
3. Husband and wife
4. Older and younger brother
5. Friend and friend
Confucianism is mostly known for its emphasis on order and

hierarchy. In later chapters on Respect and Duty, you will come to learn
why relations were organized as such, and how they bring order and
stability to a culture. But beyond filial piety (respect for one’s parents
47
Origins of Bushido
and ancestors), it also advocated that individuals should strive to cultivate

virtues such as righteousness, loyalty and benevolence, and that these
virtues should guide their behavior and relationships with others.
Reading, understanding and, most importantly, embodying these
Confucian ideals became a part of the way of the warrior in Japan. Which
brings me to my final point for this chapter, and what will be a central
theme throughout the book.
Embodied knowledge
The Samurai believed in doing, not saying. Action and behavior
demonstrated their faith, knowledge and values, more than words ever
could. This will be a recurring theme in the book.
Inazo Nitobe has a great passage in his book:
“A mere acquaintance with the classics of these two sages [Confucius

and Mencius] was held, however, in no high esteem. A common
proverb ridicules one who has only an intellectual knowledge of
Confucius, as a man ever studious but ignorant of Analects. A typical
Samurai calls a literary savant a book-smelling sot.”
In other words, to just read Confucius is meaningless. One must ‘do

Confucius’ if he is to really show that he understands anything at all.
Nitobe continues:
“…knowledge becomes reality only when it is assimilated in the mind

of the learner and shows in his character. An intellectual specialist
was considered a machine. Intellect itself was considered subordinate
to ethical emotion. Man and the universe were conceived to be alike
spiritual and ethical.”
In Samurai culture, knowledge was not pursued as an end in itself, but as

a means to the attainment of wisdom, which was defined as knowledge
in action, or the ‘doing of the right thing at the right time’.
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Origins of Bushido
Therefore, he who stopped short of this end was regarded “no higher
than a convenient machine, which could turn out poems and maxims at bidding.”
-Inazo Nitobe.
This idea of embodied knowledge was encapsulated by the Chinese
philosopher Wan Yang Ming in the following quote: “To know and to act
are one and the same.”
Toward the end of the book, I will explore the training of the Samurai
and how action is in fact the purest representation of character. In it we
will come to understand ‘embodiment’ as the true measure of wisdom.
For now, let us move onto the Warriors themselves, the men of action,
who were considered the living, breathing examples of Bushido: the
Samurai.
49
The Samurai
The word Samurai roughly translates to “those who serve.” The Kanji for
“Samurai” is 侍. Breaking it down into its components helps us better
understand its meaning and etymology.
The left part of the Kanji, 亻(ren), is a radical that signifies “person”
or “human.” This radical is commonly used in characters that pertain to
human actions or roles. The right part, 寺 (sì in Chinese, tera in Japanese
readings), historically means “temple.” In the context of this character, it
also relates to its original Chinese meaning of “to attend” or “to serve,”
derived from the duties associated with maintaining and serving in a
temple.
The combination of these components reflects someone who serves
or attends to another, particularly in a personal or protective capacity.
Service is central. Over time, 侍 came to be specifically associated with
those who served and protected their lords and their lands with martial
prowess—thus, the Samurai.
The history of the Samurai can be traced back to sometime in eighth
century Japan. The early proto-Samurai, also known as Buké or Bushi
(Fighting Knights), were armed and militant supporters of landowners;
similar to the proto-knight of the early European Middle Ages, for
example the Thegns of Saxon England, who were landholding freemen
and nobles, expected to contribute to the common defense.
As feudalism was formally inaugurated, these warriors became a
more distinct class in the social hierarchy, much like the European cniht
(knecht, knight), the Roman “soldurii” and the “comitati”, who attended the
Germanic chiefs. They were all a rough breed of men, who made fighting
their vocation.
50
The Samurai
“This class was naturally recruited, in a long period

of constant warfare, from the manliest and the most
adventurous, and all the while the process of elimination
went on, the timid and the feeble being sorted out, and only
“a rude race, all masculine, with brutish strength,” to borrow
Emerson’s phrase, surviving to form families and the ranks
of the Samurai.”
It took a number of centuries for this group of warriors to emerge

as a specific, distinct class but, by the end of the 12th century, the
Kamakura Shogunate (literally ‘military government’), was established,
and large-scale landholders (the closest Western equivalents were the
counts) popularized the use of Samurai and formally codified their
privileged status in the feudal hierarchy of Japan.
51
The Samurai
What’s interesting to note from Thomas Cleary’s work is that this

Samurai class was an offshoot or specialization of the already prevailing
aristocracy. The upper classes produced more children than could be
absorbed at the same level of society; because the rule of primogeniture
meant that only one son inherited the full privileges of his father, social
pressures created differentiation in the patterns of livelihood of those
within these upper classes.
“In Japan, as in Europe and elsewhere, those sons of

aristocratic fathers who did not inherit their paternal estate
commonly became warriors or monastics. In Japan both
of these specializations were originally conceived for the
protection of the state; the ancient warriors were first called
“Samurai” or “attendants” because they formed the armed
guard of the aristocracy. When the Samurai eventually
took the reins of government from the aristocracy, as an
independent class, one way in which they manifested their
new status and dignity was to distance themselves from
the “attendant” Samurai label and call themselves bushi,
“warriors” or “knights.””
Thomas Cleary, Code of the Samurai
Following the failed Mongol invasion of the 14th century, the Kamakura
Shogunate was destabilized and Japan ostensibly fractured once more
into rival fiefdoms, each warring for dominance. What followed was
almost two centuries of intense fighting culminating in a re-unification
of Japan which started with Oda Nobunaga, one of the country’s most
well known and ruthless warrior Samurai. Upon Nobunaga’s betrayal
and death, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a prior peasant-class warrior, took on
the mantle. He too was defeated and, ultimately, the most patient and
strategic of them all, Tokugawa Ieyasu, succeeded in formally unifying
Japan as supreme Shogun (military leader).
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The Samurai
It was in this sengoku jidai or “warring states period” that the Samurai
would truly come into their own as the warrior elite. Ironically,
immediately following this peak stage of warriorhood, they would find
themselves without a war to fight, and in need of a new identity.
During the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the subsequent Tokugawa
Shogunate that he founded, there was a long period of peace and
prosperity. The Samurai were no longer required to provide military
force; instead, they were expected to lead civil governance. Their role
slowly transitioned from being warrior knights that fought in battle, full
of vitality and blood lust, to encompassing the responsibilities of teachers,
scholars, physicians, artists and government officials.
There had to be an outlet, and it was in this same period that martial
skills developed into more elaborate systems of philosophical, intellectual
and moral training, known as ‘the martial arts’. It was in the clash of these
two periods, i.e., peak war, where the spirit of Bushido emerged, and peak
peace, where the more formal code of Bushido developed and took root in
Japanese culture.
Nietzsche reminds us that, in the absence of war, the warlike man
turns on himself. This spirit, this vitality, this energy must be channeled.
It cannot be quelled or turned off. Older cultures knew this far better than
we do today, with all our talk about “toxic masculinity” or bioengineering
ways to remove aggression. This kind of thinking is anti-life, and can only
weaken a culture.
The Samurai had behind them a thousand years of training in the laws
of honor, obedience, duty, and self-sacrifice. As such, they were the ideal
candidates for leadership in this new era, and took it upon themselves to
develop a moral code by which to live. They had to. The elder Samurai
perceived, and rightly so, that the end of warfare, an increase in material
prosperity and the decline of knighthood would weaken the warrior spirit,
and threaten both moral and social order. The traditional and practical
philosophies of the Samurai elite thus became the basis for this new moral
code.
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The Samurai
“Coming to profess great honor and great privileges, and

correspondingly great responsibilities, they soon felt the
need of a common standard of behavior, especially as
they were always on a belligerent footing and belonged to
different clans. Just as physicians limit competition among
themselves by professional courtesy, just as lawyers sit in
courts of honor in cases of violated etiquette; so must also
warriors possess some resort for final judgment on their
misdemeanors.”
Inazo Nitobe, Bushido:The Soul of Japan
The ensuing centuries saw the Bushido of the Samurai class exert decisive
formative influence on the whole of Japanese society - the echoes of which
are still heard today.
In fact, neither ‘religion’ or ‘morality’ were taught in pre-19th century
Japanese schools, because Bushido was the vehicle through which the
essence of Japanese culture and virtues (and therefore morality) was
conveyed. It wasn’t until the late 1800s and early 1900s that Americans
and British traveling to Japan brought with them ‘modern’ schooling,
which ‘modernized’ Japan, both for better and for worse. It helped make
the country more technologically powerful, but also distanced it from its
historical roots, which had a weakening effect on its culture. For that
matter, systemised schooling is a large part of what killed the relationship
to feudalism, hierarchy and, in my opinion, eroded excellence all
throughout the world. As the socio-organizational pendulum swung
toward ever-greater extremes of centralisation and standardization, the
focus of schooling became indoctrination, not education - which of
course, only breeds compliant serfs. But that’s for another discussion, or
another book.
I’ll end this chapter with a quote that drives home the importance of a
warlike code of virtue, and its impact on culture.
55
The Samurai
“As a process of many hundreds of years’ duration, this

element of Japanese civilization acquired extraordinary
momentum and force, both politically and psychologically.
Even today the conventional Japanese culture and mentality
cannot be understood without recognizing the residual
influence of those Samurai centuries.”
Thomas Cleary, Code of the Samurai
56
Parallels
For many of you, this book will be your first real exposure to the Japanese
tradition of Bushido. You’re probably more familiar with Austrian
Economics, or Christianity. Before we get into the main course of the
book, I’d like to explore some parallels between them - some of which
might surprise you.
For starters, in my reading of Inazo Nitobe’s Bushido: The Soul of Japan
(written in 1900) I came across quotes from Western philosophical, free
market and conservative pioneers, such as Thomas Carlyle, Edmund
Burke and a gentleman I’d not heard of before, named William Hurrel
Mallock. After doing a little research I discovered Mallock was one of the
early voices of reason in the resistance to socialism and democracy. He
was basically a proto-Austrian! His early work The Limits of Pure Democracy
critiqued the socialist and utilitarian ideologies of his time, and
advocated for a conservative, hierarchical society bolstered by Christian
moral values. He was one of the early thinkers that questioned the
effectiveness of democracy and socialism in addressing the complexities
of human nature and society. Interestingly, if you search for his books
on Amazon, you’ll find none other than Murray Rothbard in the “similar
authors” section.
Inazo references Mallock when describing the influence Bushido had
on the culture in Japan, and how the same ‘essence of aristocracy and
greatness’ influenced the development of all great civilisations, whether
Roman, Graeco-Macedonian or the Renaissance European West, whose
social order was inspired by the knights and their own warrior-code:
chivalry.
57
Parallels
Chivalry
“Chivalry is the Christian form of the Military Profession.

The Knight is the Christian Soldier.”
Leon Gautier, La Chevalerie
The word “Chivalry” first appeared in the English language somewhere

around the 14th century and referred to the code of conduct followed
by knights in medieval Europe. The word comes from the Old French
word chevalerie, which means “knighthood” or “the qualities of a knight”.
It is derived from the Latin word caballus, which means “horse,” and
caballarius, which means “cavalier” or “knight”.
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Much like Bushido, its core virtues were not a formalized list but
an implicit collection that constituted a moral code of the noble knight.
Those virtues generally included courage, martial prowess, courtesy,
honor, generosity, loyalty, and faith.
“It is indeed striking how closely the code of knightly honor

of one country coincides with that of others; in other words,
how the much-abused oriental ideas of morals find their
counterparts in the noblest maxims of European literature.
If the well-known lines
Hae tibi erunt artes—pacisque imponere morem,
Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos,
were shown a Japanese gentleman, he might readily accuse
the Mantuan bard of plagiarizing from the literature of his
own country.”
These well known lines are from Virgil’s Aeneid: O Romans, “these shall be
your arts, to set forth the law of peace, to spare the conquered, and to subdue the
proud,” and they point to something more noble, in the character of a lost
age. Contrast that with the modern view of chivalry as ‘an outdated and
patriarchal concept’ that is no longer relevant for society.
The average university-indoctrinated midwit will argue that the ideals
of chivalry, such as leadership by men, honor, respect and brotherhood,
reinforce “gender stereotypes” and are not in line with modern ideas of
equality. Funnily enough they’re both right and wrong: right because
chivalry is not in line with the ridiculous modern ideal of equality; wrong
because it’s neither irrelevant, nor is there something wrong with this
model of the world or kind of behavior.
Like Bushido, I can’t think of a time in which such a set of virtues or
such a code is more needed. The rhetoric against it, and those it comes
from, is only further proof.
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Historical context
Like bushido, chivalry evolved over time. In the early to middle medieval
period, knights were a critical part of European society and its class
structure. They were men selected for their strength and valor, trained
in the art of warfare and expected to defend their lord’s lands - akin to
the duty a Samurai had to his lord. Also like the Samurai, these European
knights came to be a class and force of their own. They became defenders
of kingdoms and leaders of crusades. They formed their own creeds,
their own codes and their own set of ethical principles that guided their
behavior in all aspects of life. Like Bushido, this code came to bear its
own name (chivalry) and also centered on virtues like honor, loyalty, and
courage. The major difference in Europe was of course the emphasis
placed on the importance of faith in Christ.
In time, as the social fabric of Europe became more complex, and
the need for a knight as the “defender-of-law” or the “warrior-leader”
diminished, Chivalry, like Bushido, evolved. It found its way into broader
European culture and became the behavioral North Star of the nobility.
Notice that both the “Chivalric Code” and “Bushido” emerged in feudal
societies and became a way of life for the warrior class. Both knights and
the Samurai prized similar virtues, and their respective codes became
the bedrock of nobility in their respective civilisations. This all occurred
during roughly the same period in history, but in completely different
parts of the world that had no direct interaction. For those who think
feudalism was backward, think again. The social structure is part of
the soil from which culture springs. Feudalism was clearly unique and
profound in this way.
The virtues of chivalry

Like Bushido, there are varying accounts of what the exact Chivalric
virtues are. Most sources include between six to eight core virtues. I’ve
drawn seven from the works of G.K. Chesterton, the prolific English
writer, philosopher, and theologian. Many of his essays were a tribute to
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the values and ideals of the knightly class, and a reflection on the enduring
importance of their moral code - which he felt was dissolving into oblivion
over a century ago. What a shock he’d have if he could see how far society
has fallen since then. Keep this list in mind as we explore the Japanese
virtues later, and progress through the virtues in this book.
Courage was the willingness to face danger or death in order

to defend what is right.
Loyalty involved being faithful and true to one’s lord, one’s
country, and one’s friends.
Generosity was a willingness to share one’s wealth and
resources with others, and to act with kindness and
compassion.
Honor was the intangible currency of reputation, and the
measure of a man’s word and name. It was the most notable
virtue of Chivalry and central to the nobility of all great ancient
and feudal societies.
Temperance involves controlling one’s passions and desires,
and not being controlled by them. Temperance means
moderation, which is a form of self-control and restraint.
Chastity referred to a purity in thought and deed, and, in
a Christian sense, being faithful to one’s future or current
spouse, in the eyes of God.
Humility is very similar to politeness. It involves being modest
and recognizing one’s own limitations and faults.
Note that like Bushido, this wasn’t just an abstract ‘code’ for knights,
but fundamentally a way of life that shaped their behavior. Practicing
these virtues was the definition of being a knight, as much as being born
into that class. This way of life was so significant to that era that it inspired
entire legends. The Arthurian mythos has its roots here, as do love stories
we’re familiar with 1000 years later, such as those of Tristan and Isolde or
Gwynevere and Lancelot.
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Misconceptions
It’s worth noting that the knight-in-shining-armor holding a rose for
his beloved aspect of chivalry is probably the single factor that most
distinguishes its legacy from Bushido. I’m not sure if this was originally
a symbolic representation of spiritual devotion to a higher ideal - or if it
was really a thing among knights - but it certainly did evolve into a range
of strange pathologies.
The modern ‘simp’ and ‘white-knight’ are two such examples: people
who’ve confused protecting and providing (which are leadership roles)
with pleasing (a follower role). You could also make the case that, over
time, it was this pathological distortion that opened the door for women’s
suffrage - quite possibly the greatest political mistake the West ever
made. Instead of bearing responsibility and leading, men of the West,
confused by this chivalric distortion, bent the knee and put the burden
of political and economic responsibility onto women’s shoulders. In the
process, they mixed emotion into the rational world, and changed the
time preference of politics (the feminine has a biologically higher time
preference than the masculine). We’re dealing with the ramifications of
these issues today.
Beyond that, a second more pertinent and more relevant-
to-our-discussion misconception is the rift between European paganism
and Christianity. There is much misplaced opposition here that needs to
be smoothed out. The truth is, early chivalry, and the original knights
and nobles who embodied it, were both Christian and Pagan - or, more
accurately, Nietzschean. They lived by ancient values infused with
Christian morality. Contrary to popular belief, the medieval period was
not a rejection of positive classical and pagan values, but an evolution
of them - led by this noble-warrior class. This warrior-aristocracy
maintained a patriarchy and competitiveness in all they did, particularly
in their dedication to combat, conquest and the legacy they sought
to leave. They represented both the pinnacle of Christian faith and a
relentless will to power. Contrast them with the peasants of the period,
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who often had a folk-type understanding of the Bible along with many
pagan holdovers, and lived a much more communitarian, collectivist,
and matriarchal existence.
These classical ideals did not merely die with the surge of Christianity,
but in fact lived on among Christians for many centuries, especially in
the most noble classes and warrior castes who would become Spengler’s
original “Faustian Man.” They set the stage for the West’s conquest
of the world - a drive that would manifest in everything from soaring
Gothic cathedrals to ships that crossed the Atlantic, to splitting the atom
and the modern exploration of space. The knight was a warrior and
explorer, driven by an internal desire to discover and claim, to bend the
arc of history. The eternal quests for the Holy Grail, El Dorado and the
Crusades were not just stories - they were acts in which thousands of
men, led by the nobility themselves, crossed mind-boggling distances on
foot, horse or wooden boat to fight wars, place themselves in great peril,
away from family - for the glory, the discovery and the mission. These
‘Homeric’ tendencies were not a coincidence, but a familiarity with their
ancient pagan roots (whether Roman, Greek, Germanic, Slavic, Saxon or
otherwise). The knight, who literally dedicated his life to these endeavors,
was the genesis of this period and his ‘Faustian Spirit’ brought forth the
glory of high medieval Europe and shaped the world for the next 1000
years.
I hope this speaks to you, whether you’re a Christian or Nietzschean.
We have far more in common than not, and in my view, healthy
Christianity can only thrive atop a culture of powerful warrior-ideals.
Speaking of which…
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Christianity
“One remarkable difference between the experience of

Europe and of Japan is, that whereas in Europe, when
chivalry was weaned from feudalism and was adopted by
the Church, it obtained a fresh lease of life, in Japan no
religion was large enough to nourish it.”
This is not a book on Christianity. I suggest you pick up the Bible if you
want that. I’m not here to convert or convince you otherwise. That’s
a journey you’ll need to undertake yourself. That being said, I find the
similarities between it and Bushido fascinating.
Take for instance, the four cardinal virtues of Christianity (virtutes
cardinales) which are considered the most important worldly virtues for
Christians to cultivate, next to the divine virtues of hope, faith and charity.
They are:
Prudence: The virtue of practical wisdom and good judgment.

It involves being able to discern what is right and wrong in a
given situation, and acting accordingly.
Justice: The virtue of fairness and righteousness. It is
the treating of others with fairness and respect, and the
willingness to stand up for what is right.
Fortitude: The virtue of courage and strength. It is the ability
to endure difficult situations and challenges without giving in
to fear or despair.
Temperance: The virtue of moderation and self-control. It is
being able to control one’s passions and desires, and not being
controlled by them.
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Now, not only will you recognise these, or elements of them, because
they’re found in many other philosophical, ethical and theological
traditions; but these four were in fact adopted from the ancient Greek
(pagan) philosophers, most notably Plato, who discussed them at length
in many of his works, particularly in The Republic. These virtues were
associated with the ideal state and well-being of the soul, both necessary
for individual excellence and societal harmony. Aristotle, Plato’s most
famous student, further elaborated on them, especially in his work
Nicomachean Ethics.
The early Christian thinkers, most notably Saint Augustine, clearly
found great value in these virtues. They saw them as not only compatible
with Christian teachings but also as foundational for a moral life that
complements faith. They adapted and added to them the divine virtues
of hope, faith and love (or charity) to create the “seven heavenly virtues.”
What I like about this example, and in large part why I chose to write
a book focused on virtues, is their ability to transcend religion and creed.
While beliefs can vary, timeless virtues are often universal.
Where religion is most powerful is in creating a cohesive narrative
and framework for these select virtues. It’s why I’ve come to admire
and respect Christianity so much. Like bushido, chivalry, and feudalism,
what it stands for is so much deeper than what we’re being conditioned
to believe. Christianity established the moral fabric for the civilization
we still depend upon - despite all its problems. It’s wise not to throw
the baby out with the bathwater, but instead look beneath the surface for
what’s most consistently true. I say this to my ardent atheist friends. I
was a determined atheist in my twenties, angry with the hypocrisy I saw,
conceited enough to think I was above it all, dumb enough to think I would
discover ‘Truth’ on my own, and blind enough to ignore what had been
thought of and discussed for centuries before I was alive. Life experience
has a way of humbling you, and I hope you look deeper here, lest you wind
up like Sam Harris.
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Feudalism
While not really a parallel to Bushido - it is more accurately the era, age,
and social structure from which it emerged - I felt it necessary to include
feudalism here with a challenge and question:
If codes as powerful and profound as chivalry and bushido came from
feudalism, then could its framing as “bad” or “backwards” by modern
politics and educational systems be a farce? What about the beautiful
art, architecture and literature produced during that age? Could this have
been created in an age of spiritual and social retardation? I think not.
Japan was the last great nation to formally and finally abandon
feudalism, in 1900. Despite this, the virtues of the Samurai class, their
bushido, continued to permeate the social structure that came to replace
it. Its echo is part of what makes the country such a unique place today,
despite the negative effects of central banking and government-enforced
equalitarianism. I often wonder how much more interesting and
authentic it would be had the Tokugawa Shogunate remained strong
enough to keep Japan closed to foreigners. The same goes for Europe.
Alas this is something we will never know - and cannot dwell on.
Feudalism in its medieval state was conquered. What replaced it was
economically superior, but a few centuries on, we’ve found it is morally
inferior. We got rich, but soft. We went from having warrior cultures
to victim cultures; from the Olympics of conquest, to the ‘oppression
Olympics’.
We cannot go backwards, only forward; so the question is, how do we
revive the best of the old moral fabric, and blend it with the best of our
modern technological and economic prowess? I believe virtues are the
answer. I’ve dedicated the final section of the book to this examination.
But before we get to that, we must venture into the Ten Virtues of the
Bushido of Bitcoin.
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PART II
The Virtues
The Virtues
The original subtitle of this book was: “A moral code for Bitcoiners”. I
chose to move away from the word “moral” because of how much baggage
it carries, and how easily it can be weaponized. I chose instead to focus
on virtue, which is more universal, and is arguably upstream of morality.
Virtue is more action-oriented. It implies a way of being. Virtues
transcend cultural interpretations, and avoid the “holier than thou”
brow-beating that often comes along with proselytizing about “morality”.
Nobody likes to be moralized at, but virtues - these are things we can all
aspire toward.
Think about courage for example. It is valued cross-culturally, all
throughout history, not because it is divinely ordained or because it’s
written in ancient texts, but because it inspires something inside of us all.
Courage is fundamentally life-affirming and ascendant. It doesn’t need
to be explained or analyzed or described; it is something we can intuitively
see and feel. The same goes for love, compassion, loyalty, respect and the
other virtues we’ll explore in this book. They are actions and ways of being
which make up the framework for ‘morality’.
As will be common in this book, I’d like to begin by exploring the
etymology of the word virtue.
The Japanese term for “virtue” is 徳 (Toku). The kanji is made up of
four key radicals, each with their own associations. 彳 (Chì), the radical
on the left side is often associated with movement or the path one takes.
It suggests progression or the journey of life. 士 (Shì), positioned at the
top right, can mean “gentleman” or “scholar.” Historically, it referred
to individuals of a certain social class who were educated or possessed
qualities associated with leadership and responsibility - both virtues. 寸
(Cùn), which is found beneath 士, means “inch” or “a small measurement.”
It often symbolizes taking care of the details and control or precision of
actions - themes very common in Japanese culture. Finally, 心 (Xīn) at
the very bottom, is the heart radical representing the heart, mind, or the
The Virtues
emotional and moral core of a person. It’s central to many characters that
deal with feelings, thoughts, or spiritual aspects.
The composition of 徳 suggests that virtue is not static but involves
active cultivation and practice. It implies that virtue is something
developed over time, through deliberate actions (彳), guided by wisdom
and ethical principles (士), with attention to detail and control (寸), and
rooted in the heart and mind (心).
The etymology reflects ancient Chinese and, by extension, Japanese
philosophical concepts that virtue and excellence are achieved through
continuous effort and action. This maps tightly onto the etymological
roots of the word in English.
Virtue comes by way of Old (10th century) French vertu, which meant
“force, strength, vigor; moral strength; qualities, abilities”. Vertu derives
from the Latin virtus, which carried the meanings of “strength, high
character, goodness, manliness.” The word virtus is in turn derived
from “vir”, the Latin word for “man”, echoing a similar meaning of the
Proto-Indo-European root *wi-ro*.
In its original context, virtue was less about ‘moral goodness’ in the
modern fluffy sense, and more about the qualities that defined the ideal
Roman male, and implied courage and excellence - particularly in the
context of action and war. In its deepest sense virtue was synonymous
with manhood. It still fundamentally is because it carries a masculine
charge, and implies leadership - something we will get deeply acquainted
with in this book.
The same was true in Classical Greece. Virtue most closely translated
as arete “ἀρετή”, which meant to be “the best” and referred to excellence in
specific activities, most notably warfare.
The meaning of “virtue” has evolved over time. In the twilight of the
Classical Greek era, Plato came to characterize virtue as behavior that
fosters human flourishing or eudaimonia.
Something similar happened after the fall of Rome. With the rise of
Christianity virtue took on a moral connotation and began slowly to move
away from the Classical Roman ideal of strength, excellence and valor.
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The seven heavenly virtues for example, are made up of the four cardinal
virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, originally derived
from ancient Greek philosophy) and the three theological virtues (faith,
hope and charity, stemming directly from God).
The evolution of the word continues across multiple cultural shifts.
Phrases like “by virtue of” echo an alternative Middle English sense of
“efficacy.” The 14th-century Wycliffe Bible, for instance, uses virtue in
places where the King James Version uses power. From the late 1500s,
Virtue also began to apply to women, coming to signify “chastity” and
“purity.”
Today, virtue has become confused. It’s come to encompass a broader
range of moral and ethical qualities, which is both good, because all things
must evolve, and bad, because we’ve lost touch with the essence of the
word. Its over-moralising has led to what is called “virtue signaling” - a
fake attempt to convey or display one’s (mostly empty) morality.
This is why we must never forget the root of the words we use. Words
carry a charge, and their origin will always matter.
With that in mind, in this book, I use “virtue” less in the moralizing
sense, and more in the action-oriented, behavioral sense. Of course, I
can’t and don’t want to completely avoid the moral element - this is now
a part of its meaning - but I strive to stay as true as possible to its raw
essence: excellence and valor.
In the chapters that follow, we will explore the virtues I believe are
the most excellent, vital, and important for leaders to develop within
themselves, and inculcate in their children.
It will take multiple generations for us to turn the tide and set sail
on a new course. We, as stewards, should spend that time working on
ourselves so we can lead by example. We are the only legitimate teachers
and role models for our children, and they are likewise the only legitimate
role models for theirs - not the government, Hollywood, Netflix, Social
Media, their “peers” and certainly not some disembodied virtue-signaling
global organization that thinks it knows best.
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The Virtues
Let us start this section by exploring the virtues of feudal Japan and
their elaboration in the code of Bushido - where the inspiration for this
book came from - and then proceed to the Bushido for a new age: The
Bushido of Bitcoin.
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Ten Virtues for a new, heroic age.
Much of Part Two of the book is indebted to Inazo Nitobe’s Bushido, The
Soul of Japan. This Japanese scholar from the Meiji period had a unique
perspective because he wrote as his country was undergoing radical
modernisation, and therefore before modernists revised all our history.
As such, his book captured a kind of truth regarding the long tradition
of “bushido”, that would be impossible to find today. It is one of those
special books, written in the age before political correctness had infected
culture, which shows us how much things have changed since then.
The following is a definition of each virtue in bushido, in the same
order Nitobe used, along with my interpretation of what each means,
supported by quotes from Nitobe (in italic), and both the Japanese word
and kanji for reference.
1. Rectitude or Justice (義, gi): “the first virtue of the Samurai”. Justice is a
reflection on what is fair and righteous for the purpose of upholding
a moral character.
2. Courage (勇, yū): “the spirit of daring & bearing”. Courage is faith in
action. It is the inner strength to not just know what is righteous
and just, but to act upon it. It’s the ability to face fear, and act despite
it.
3. Benevolence (仁, jin): Japanese tradition considered benevolence,

compassion, magnanimity and affection for others as “the highest
attributes of the human soul”. Compassion is the ability to suffer with
those you love and requires the patience and humility to see the
world from the perspective of another.
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4. Politeness (礼, rei): “the outward manifestation of a sympathetic regard

for the feelings of others.” My focus on respect deals with the broader
regard for not just the experiences and feelings of others, but the
fitness of things, tradition, hierarchy and order.
5. Veracity & Sincerity (誠, makoto): “Without veracity and sincerity,

politeness is farce and a show”. Sincerity, integrity and honesty
fundamentally represent a wholeness of congruence of character.
In feudal Japan, the word of the Samurai was his reputation. The
expectation was that speech and deed were one and the same.
6. Honor (名誉, meiyo): Nitobe tells us that honor implies a “vivid

consciousness of personal dignity and worth”. The Samurai lived by the
highest code of conduct, and it was this honesty, first and foremost
with oneself, that defined honor. Honor is the immortal part of
oneself, that which lives on after one’s physical body has passed on.
7. The Duty of Loyalty (忠義, chūgi): Loyalty is the glue that binds
relationships of both love and respect. In feudal Japan, loyalty and
duty to one’s lord or compatriot were distinctive features. Loyalty
means you keep your word and perform your duty, even if it means
you must give your life.
8. Self-control (自制, jisei): Along with courage, this is the

quintessential virtue of the warrior: “the discipline of fortitude”.
Self-control in Bushido meant the discipline to adhere to this code
under all circumstances, especially when it is hard, whether in the
presence of others or alone.
In addition to the eight listed above, which I’ve adapted to make more
current, I included two more. Together, they complete the ten core virtues
of The Bushido of Bitcoin:
9. Responsibility: (責任, sekinin): If courage is the ability to act,

responsibility is the obligation to bear the consequences of one’s
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actions and the fulfillment of one’s duties. It’s about owning your
decisions and their impact on yourself, others and society.
10. Excellence: (優秀, yūshū): Excellence is the genesis of virtue,

psychologically, emotionally and etymologically. It is the
separation from average and the energy of vitality. Excellence
pushes boundaries, establishes new standards and is the driving
force of progress and beauty.
In the chapters that follow, I will explore each virtue etymologically,

historically, philosophically and psychologically to establish their
importance, how they helped shape the characters of those who built
civilization and, hopefully, to inspire you to pursue each in your own life.
As a homage to Inazo Nitobe’s work, we will begin with the skeleton
that forms the structure: Justice.
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Justice / Righteousness
義
正
The virtue of justice can be defined as the power of resolution or
decision. To decide literally means to cut off other alternatives. To
exercise judgment is to discriminate. Inazo Nitobe quotes an unnamed
Samurai: “Rectitude is the power of deciding upon a certain course of conduct in
accordance with reason, without wavering—to die when it is right to die, to strike
when to strike is right.”
The ancient Confucian philosopher Mencius, called righteousness a
man’s path, and justice the “straight and narrow path which a man ought to
take to regain the lost paradise.”
The Japanese word for “Justice” is Seigi, which is made up of two kanji:
“正義”, although Gi is most commonly used alone.
The first kanji, 正 (Sei), is composed of two elements. The top part
resembles a “lid” or a “cover,” and the bottom is the character for “one” (�).
Originally, 正 depicted a tool used for making things straight or correct,
symbolizing correctness, rightness, or propriety.
The second kanji, 義 (Gi), is more complex. It’s formed by combining
the elements 羊 (sheep) and 我 (self or ego). The original meaning
stemmed from the idea of a sacrificial sheep, a significant motif in
ancient societal rituals. This kanji evolved to symbolize things done for
a higher purpose or duty beyond oneself, encompassing meanings like
“righteousness,” “duty,” and “obligation.”
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Together, 正義 (Seigi) combines these concepts of correctness and

duty to convey the idea of “justice” in Japanese, implying that it is “the
tool for achieving correctness through sacrifice.”
The English etymologies of both justice and righteousness tell us
similar stories.
Just (from the Old French juste) refers to one’s being “morally upright,
righteous in the eyes of God” and comes directly from the Latin iustus
meaning “upright, equitable, lawful, true, proper, perfect, complete”.
Righteous is an alteration of the older word, rightwise, which is
from Old English rihtwis (riht + wis). In Old English riht, from
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root reg, meant “to move in a straight line,”
or “to rule, to lead straight, to put right”. It described actions as “just,
proper, in conformity with moral law” and more literally as “straight,
direct, erect.” Note the similarity with the first kanji of seigi.
Moderns have an allergic reaction to the word “rule” when in fact it
refers to straightness. The tool you use to draw a straight line is a ‘Rule’ or
a “Ruler”.
Wis has its roots in Proto-Germanic wison meaning “appearance, form
or manner”, which evolved into Old Saxon wisa, Old Frisian wis, Danish
vis, and Middle Dutch and Old English wise meaning “way of proceeding,
manner,”
Thus, rihtwis described actions “characterized by justice, morally
right,” and persons who are “just, upright; sinless, conforming to divine
law”.
We see this recurring theme of straightness, morality and fitness, and
it reminds me of another Bushido definition of this virtue:
“Rectitude is the bone that gives firmness and stature. As

without bones the head cannot rest on the top of the spine,
nor hands move nor feet stand, so without rectitude neither
talent nor learning can make of a human frame a Samurai.
With it the lack of accomplishments is as nothing.”
Unkown Author, Feudal Japanese text on Rectitude
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Moral symmetry
“Nothing is more loathsome to [the Samurai] than

underhand dealings and crooked undertakings.”
In the feudal age, duels were seen as a way to resolve disputes and uphold
the virtues of justice, honor, and rectitude. If a Samurai believed that his
honor had been challenged or that an injustice had been committed, it
was his duty to challenge the offending party to a duel as a way to right
the wrong and restore balance.
The duel itself was usually a one-on-one fight, often to the death,
where the winner was expected to show mercy to the loser. The goal of the
duel was not necessarily to kill, but rather to restore honor and balance, a
concept known as “satisfaction”. If the challenger felt that his honor had
been satisfied, he would often spare the life of his opponent.
Dueling and similar rights of restitution were central to all
great cultures and civilisations, from Hammurabi’s Law, which
institutionalized the principle of Lex Talionis (“an eye for an eye, a
tooth for a tooth”) through to the Germanic Wergild (blood money),
which mandated monetary compensation as a means to restore peace
without further bloodshed. These codified and ritualized rights of
restitution not only helped reestablish ‘moral symmetry’ and restore
honor or dignity to the injured party, but they also acted as deterrents.
Much like firearm ownership does today.
While dueling is seen by most as a barbaric remnant of a more violent
and dangerous past, there was something profound about two rivals
facing each other one-on-one to settle their differences or to reclaim
justice, each staking their own life. The knowledge that you’d be called
to account, or the inverse, that you must call someone to account, made
for a different caliber of man. Much of this has been outsourced to the
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state in the modern era, and as such I fear we have not only less justice, but
in many cases, inverted justice.
We are all drawn to a ‘cosmic balance’ of sorts, much like we are
drawn to symmetrical structures and faces: symmetry creates a feeling
of rightness or completeness. Whether it’s the Count of Monte Cristo,
Braveheart, The Equalizer or John Wick, some of the greatest stories
are those in which the protagonist is unjustly wronged, inspiring the
unfolding drama of the hero’s search for restitution through a balancing
of the “moral ledger”. What initially seems like ‘revenge’ is in fact the
restoration of ‘moral symmetry to the universe.’
One of the best known examples in Japanese history is that of the 47
Ronin - the group of Samurai who sought to avenge the death of their lord
in the 18th century. The story has become an enduring symbol of loyalty,
sacrifice, and the importance of justice in Japanese culture.
It begins with a Samurai named Asano Naganori, the lord of a small
domain in Japan. Naganori was provoked into attacking court official
Kira Yoshinaka, and as a result, he was ordered to commit seppuku - ritual
suicide via self-evisceration. Naganori’s retainers - his Samurai - thereby
became ‘ronin’ - leaderless Samurai.
The 47 ronin, led by Oishi Kuranosuke, believed the provocation was
ill-intentioned, and as such decided to avenge Naganori’s death by killing
Yoshiaka. They spent two years carefully planning their attack and
gathering support. Finally, in December 1702, they attacked Yoshiaka’s
mansion and killed him.
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After achieving their goal and restoring ‘moral symmetry’, the 47

ronin turned themselves in. They were sentenced to death for their act,
but as a show of leniency and a sign that the Shogun understood their
commitment to the virtue of rectitude, they were allowed to commit
seppuku, thereby retaining their honor into death.
To date, their loyalty and sacrifice are celebrated as an example of the
highest ideals of Bushido. Books, plays and movies have been made that
still captivate us because of the “moral of the story.”
Righteousness beyond reason

There are of course many instances when the virtue of justice can
transform into something more sinister. Examples of this are plenty in
the modern world where injustice masquerades as “justice” because it was
so decreed. A good way to describe this is “fiat justice”.
This was known in the time of the Samurai. Gi-Ri (Right Reason) could
over time devolve into dogmatic customs, especially in classes of Japanese
culture that did not temper or practice other virtues alongside it. For
example, Inazo Nitobe tells us that:
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“Carried beyond or below Right Reason, Gi-Ri became a monstrous

misnomer. It harbored under its wings every sort of sophistry and
hypocrisy. It would have been easily turned into a nest of cowardice,
if Bushido had not a keen and correct sense of courage, the spirit of
daring and bearing.”
This is why it is so important to weave virtues together in a more holistic

tapestry. The Japanese Bushido had eight core virtues, the Bushido
of Bitcoin has ten so they may act like counter-forces along spiritual,
psychological and emotional lines. A constellation of virtues creates a
healthy tension, tonos, to counterbalance the extremes, ensuring that no
singular virtue is over-indexed for, or deformed, thus becoming a shadow
or a vice.
A skeleton without muscle, mind or spirit is just dry, dead bones. In
many ways, that’s all the state is: a lifeless, faceless, disembodied skeleton
whose role is to serve justice, but whose limbs are easily co opted by those
who lack courage and self restraint, that the apparatus becomes an unjust
tool of mindless homogenisation and oppression. In such cases, rule
ceases to become a rule in the true sense of the word. It becomes crooked,
and Justice is its true victim, along with all those who support it.
Three modern examples of this, incidentally very close to the hearts
and minds of Bitcoiners, are Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and the
Samourai team. These men literally put their lives on the line to expose
truth but, as befits a world in which justice has been inverted, they are
exiled, locked up and tortured instead of being celebrated. How many
others have, like them, sacrificed everything for Justice, only to be repaid
with Injustice?
For example, in order to temper Justice and ensure it does not go awry,
one must practice and embody the virtues of compassion, courage (which
we shall explore next), and most importantly, self-restraint (which we will
explore at the end).
Justice is about balance and moral symmetry, not enforcement.
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Bitcoin & Justice
“Money is a measure of fucks given.”
Devon Eriksen on X.com
Recall justice and righteousness are concerned with “straight lines,”

“rules” and “directness”. Many have called Bitcoin a money of “rules,
not rulers”: a money that transcends opinion, that is more akin to a
physical law, than to anything that came before it. Bitcoin resembles
justice and directness in many ways.
Fixed rules, visible to everyone, make for a fair and therefore just
game.
Furthermore, Bitcoin is both voluntary and open, meaning anyone can
play, and continue to play, so long as they play by the rules everyone
else is playing.
Instead of requiring layers of bureaucracy, banking, central banking,
payment processors, merchant facilities, judicial systems, and a
military industrial complex to secure the promise of buying a coffee
with a tap of a card on a terminal, Bitcoin converts energy (via raw
compute) into a global, always on, monetary unit & network. There is
no more direct form of money.
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Bitcoin has no rewind button. Like real life, it is in continual forward

motion. This means that mistakes cannot be reversed and that the
consequences for poor action and behavior are real. In other words, on
a Bitcoin standard, you cannot rob Peter to pay Paul. In the absence of
a central controller, there is no redistribution. This can be harsh, yes.
But it is just and fair.
What does this do to our behavior? Can it encourage us to be more just
in the way we live? I hope so. The no-rewind or -bailout function of
Bitcoin is incredibly important here. Money talks, and bullshit walks.
In other words: don’t tell me what you believe, show me your bank
account and I’ll tell you what you believe. When people, businesses,
institutions and governments know that there is no bailout coming,
when there does not exist a mechanism to paper over losses, or print
your way out of stupidity while someone else unknowingly foots the
bill, you quickly wise up, or cease to exist. Reciprocally, Bitcoin is more
just than central bank debt money from the perspective of those who
are no longer made to pay for the debts of others via the stealth tax of
inflation.
This “reality” is a forcing function for behavior, and as humans have
done since the beginning of time, they will adapt and orient themselves
around it. There is ample evidence that Bitcoin has this effect on people
(for the first time in decades we have a culture of savers, known as
Hodlers). I’ll explore this further in the chapter on responsibility.
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Courage
勇
気
“Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger
and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to
see that they do not remain as they are.”
St. Augustine
Courage is faith in action. It requires venturing forth into the unknown:

the zone of uncertainty. It is not absence of fear, but a quality of mind
and spirit that enables one to meet danger, in spite of fear. I’m convinced it
is the alpha virtue, and where virtue itself originates. Courage animates
life and is the progenitor of action. Without it, we could not exist.
If justice is the “frame”, then courage is the “soul” of Bushido.
The Japanese word for courage is yū 勇 or more fully, yūki, which
represents the deeper meaning of the word and is made up of two kanjis:
勇気.
Yū (勇), consists of two primary elements. The bottom radical is 力
(riki or chikara, depending on the reading), which means strength, force
or power. The top radical resembles �, a character not commonly used on
its own in modern Japanese, but which means ‘a road with walls on both
sides’ or a narrow path. Together these could be interpreted as “power
confined to a path”, a rather vivid image of courage, like throwing yourself
into an unavoidable battle.
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Courage
The second kanji, 気 (ki), expresses the concept of energy, spirit, or

mood. It represents steam rising from rice, the staple food of the East, as
it cooks, conveying the idea of a vital force or the energy inherent in living
beings.
Together, 勇気 (yūki) combines the notions of bravery and vital energy
to express the idea of “courage” in Japanese. It implies not just the act of
being brave, but also the spirit or energy that drives one to face challenges
boldly.
The word “courage” in English comes from Middle English and
Old French corage, which translates to “seat of emotions” or “spirit,
temperament, state or heart of man”. Corage in turn derives from
Latin cor, meaning “heart”, whose Greek equivalent is kardia, via the
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root kerd - which also meant heart.
We see its use in terms like “encourage”, the modern form of the Old
French encoragier meaning to “make strong” or to “hearten”. There is also
a relationship to the concept of “will”, as in the Middle English fre corage,
meaning “free will”.
I’ve always held courage as the cardinal virtue of greatness. In any great
story, true or fiction, it is courage that stands out to me as the defining
characteristic of the protagonist. It is the inner substance that inspires
the hero to action, and as a result, causes the audience to search within
themselves.
I know not of a virtue more profound.
Confucius, in his Analects, defines courage via negativa: “Perceiving
what is right, and doing it not, argues lack of courage.” Which, turned into a
positive statement, says: “Courage is doing what is right.” I’d go further by
adding; Courage is doing what is right, despite the consequences.
Indeed, Nitobe tells us that in Samurai culture, “Courage was scarcely
deemed worthy to be counted among virtues, unless it was exercised in the cause of
Righteousness”.
Doing what’s right when it’s easy is not courageous. It is simply “Just”.
Doing what’s right when it is hard or risky, or when your fear and desire
for self-preservation threaten to overcome you - that is courage.
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Courage
The foremost warrior virtue
“I shall find a way, or make one.”
Hannibal
We explored archetypes earlier in Part 1. Courage is the defining virtue

of the warrior and hero archetypes. When we think of what animates the
warrior, it is this inner spirit or force of the soul. When we think of what
‘defines’ the warrior, it is this ‘stalwartness in the face of death’.
Steven Pressfield therefore considers it the “foremost warrior virtue”.
He offers the example of the Spartan king Agesilaus, who was once asked
what was the supreme warrior virtue, from which all other virtues derived.
He replied: “Contempt for death.”
The Sacred Band of Thebes, similarly, were known to advance to the
cadence of the flute, and had no call for retreat. Their code was simply
Stand and Die.
In warrior cultures, including that of the Spartans, failure to show
courage in battle would result in severe consequences for the individual
and their family. Courage is the backbone of the warrior code and without
it, all other virtues fall apart. In a warrior’s world, it is the one virtue
that cannot be compromised, and is the one that earned a warrior respect,
glory and status.
“If a Spartan youth failed to show courage in battle, his

fiancée would abandon him. The magistrates would not
permit him to marry or, if he was married already, he and
his wife were forbidden to have children. If the warrior had
sisters of marriageable age, their suitors would be compelled
to part from them. The man’s whole family would be
shunned.”
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Courage
Fighting fear
Courage is the waging of war against the invisible foe known as fear. There
is no adversary that threatens a greater number of men and women, and
when we fight, it is fear we must overcome first. External enemies come
second.
This passage from Pressfield, in the voice of Alexander, captured me
like few others have:
“Those who do not understand war believe it to be contention between

armies, friend against foe. No. Rather friend and foe duel as one
against an unseen antagonist, whose name is Fear, and seek, even
entwined in death, to mount to that promontory whose ensign is
honor. What drives the soldier is cardia, “heart,” and dynamis, “the
will to fight.” Nothing else matters in war. Not weapons or tactics,
philosophy or patriotism, not fear of the gods themselves. Only this
love of glory, which is the seminal imperative of mortal blood, as
ineradicable within man as in a wolf or a lion, and without which we
are nothing.”
We see kardia used here, Greek for heart. Courage is the virtue of the
valiant because it employs something more than the rational intellect to
vanquish fear: it employs the heart and soul.
Fear dissolves in the presence of courage, and it is in such moments
that miraculous things happen: light defeats dark, truth prevails, the
underdog wins, righteousness defeats the crooked.
Winning against the odds is a function of courage. It always has
and always will be. Losing with dignity and honor also requires courage.
The knowledge that one might not win, and their willingness to fight on
regardless, is a defining aspect of courage.
This is why a last stand, or a charge by an enemy, even in the face of
annihilation, are such powerful things. When your back is against the
ropes, and you have nothing to lose, you drop all pretense of fear, and
something primal, visceral and savage comes out of you.
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Courage
Courage is also composure. If courage means doing what is right even

when it is hazardous, then it benefits from calm in the presence of danger.
This spiritual, peaceful form of courage is how someone who has faced
fear on many occasions, comes to fight it. It is best summed up in the
following passage by Nitobe:
“The spiritual aspect of valor is evidenced by composure—calm

presence of mind. Tranquillity is courage in repose. It is a statical
manifestation of valor, as daring deeds are a dynamical. A truly brave
man is ever serene; he is never taken by surprise; nothing ruffles the
equanimity of his spirit. In the heat of battle he remains cool; in the
midst of catastrophes he keeps level his mind. Earthquakes do not
shake him, he laughs at storms. We admire him as truly great, who, in
the menacing presence of danger or death, retains his self-possession;
who, for instance, can compose a poem under impending peril, or hum
a strain in the face of death. Such indulgence betraying no tremor in
the writing or in the voice is taken as an infallible index of a large
nature—of what we call a capacious mind (yoyu), which, far from
being pressed or crowded, has always room for something more.”
Courage is leading from the front

In the battles of the Granicus River, Issus, and Gaugamela, Alexander
the Great employed a specific battle formation, with allied horse on
the left flank, the infantry phalanx in the center, the “Silver Shields”
(distinguished group of highly experienced infantrymen known for their
silver-plated shields) to the right, and the elite Companion Cavalry at the
far right.
Alexander would always personally lead his detachment, riding at the
front on his horse Bucephalus, and wearing a distinctive double-plumed
helmet that was visible to all soldiers. He was always known for being the
first to engage the enemy in leading the charge, and would thus inspire
such courage in his men as no other commander in history ever has.
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He was the pinnacle of leading by example and also embodied the

ancient precept that killing the enemy is not honorable unless the warrior
places himself equally in harm’s way — and gives the enemy an equal
chance to kill him.
Alexander bore all of his scars on the front. In ancient times, this was
a physical sign of courage. It was bad form and considered dishonorable
not only to strike someone from behind, but also to be struck from behind.
To strike from behind implied treachery unbecoming a warrior to be
struck from behind was evidence that one had fled from the enemy. True
warriors prefer death to dishonor.
“The Samurai code of Bushido forbade the warrior from

approaching an enemy by stealth. Honor commanded that
he show himself plainly and permit the foe a fighting chance
to defend himself.”
This ideal was tied into the ancients’ more empowering understanding of
fate, as a sort of predestination. It wasn’t “determinism” as thought of
by the modern atheists or nihilists, but more an understanding that your
death was “written in the sky”, and as such there was no point in being
afraid of it.
The Confederate general Stonewall Jackson was known for his belief
in this kind of predestination. For Jackson, “God has chosen the day of your
death, so you must go out and live your life to the fullest.” With such an outlook,
he embarrassed the Union and beat them in every encounter, despite
being ridiculously outnumbered and under equipped.
You should ponder this. What can you do to lead from the front? Is
there a way to do this without becoming an unnecessary martyr to the
machine? Can we inculcate the essence of this leadership from the front,
and this courage to face danger into our kin?
Let’s explore how warrior cultures did this.
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Courage
Developing courage
“Courage is modeled for the youth by fathers and older

brothers, by mentors and elders. It is inculcated, in almost
all cultures, by a regimen of training and discipline. This
discipline frequently culminates in an ordeal of initiation.
The Spartan youth receives his shield, the paratrooper is
awarded his wings, the Afghan boy is handed his AK-47.”
Steve Pressfield, The Warrior Ethos
Throughout the ages warrior cultures sought to inspire courage in the

younger generation by way of initiation rites. The point of these ordeals
was for the youth to face both fear and death, and conquer them.
The Samurai expression “bears hurl their cubs down the gorge” meant that
the sons of the Samurai were made to undergo severe trials and hardships,
spurred into ordeals such as deprivation of food or exposure to cold, as
methods of inuring them to discomfort and inculcating endurance.
“Stories of military exploits were repeated almost before boys

left their mother’s breast. Does a little booby cry for any
ache? The mother scolds him in this fashion: “What a
coward to cry for a trifling pain! What will you do when your
arm is cut off in battle? What when you are called upon to
commit hara-kiri?”
As these youths grew up, they would seek to ingrain courage into their
‘play’. They would venture into graveyards or execution grounds and
come face to face with the demons of their imagination. They would
re-enact the stories told by their mothers and grandparents, and seek
to embody the courage and character of their forefathers and the great
warrior leaders of legend.
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Courage
It was the same in the Classical era, the most famous example being
the Spartan Agoge, which many of us came to know via the movie 300.
The Agoge was a rite of passage for Spartan boys, designed to transform
them into the most feared warriors in Greece. Boys from the age of seven
would be taken from their mothers to undergo a grueling education that
emphasized endurance, willpower, and the willingness to defend Sparta
at any cost. Through rigorous physical and mental training, these boys
would learn courage and discipline ‘in the body’ and were transformed
into not just “soldiers” but into “Spartans”.
A key element of rites of courage is adversity. Facing it is the key to
developing courage.
Adversity
“The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man

struggling against adversity.”
Seneca, Letters From a Stoic
We will see the theme of adversity come up again and again throughout
this book. Rites of passage themselves are a form of spiritual
awakening, spurred or unlocked through extreme physical, psychological
and emotional adversity.
Adversity is the tool of the rite of passage, and it leaves the traveler
of this world marked for life. The very first rite of passage was the
kicking, screaming and gasping for air as you exit the comfortable, warm
water-world of the womb, to enter the harsh world of oxygen and light.
Light, air and sound all shock you from a state of comfort and safety
into life. In this moment you went from embryo to baby. Adversity
transformed you, forever.
This is precisely what the warrior seeks, and in fact, what any living
‘being of growth’ seeks. There is no growth without resistance. Life itself
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Courage
is a battle against entropy. It is the force that brings order to chaos by

counteracting the tendency to decay.
All great philosophies and traditions have recognised this. Nietzsche
famously said:
“That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”
He believed that by facing and overcoming difficult challenges

and obstacles, individuals can develop resilience, self-reliance and
self-overcoming.
Heraclitus said the same thing 2700 years ago: “Always having what we
want may not be the best fortune. Health seems sweetest after sickness, food in
hunger, goodness in the wake of evil, and at the end of daylong labor sleep.” In
other words, the pain of loss and suffering not only inures you against
future pain, but it enhances pleasure via contrast. It’s why food tastes so
good after fasting, or sex feels so good after a period of abstinence.
Modernity teaches and encourages us to do the opposite: to avoid
suffering, to avoid all pain and to seek only pleasure and comfort. This
is ultimately the path to weakness and is the principal spiritual danger of
peace. Francis Bacon, the famous philosopher and strategist had three
rules. First: Remove Bias, Second: Advance learning and knowledge, and
third: “Be proactive and make moves.” This last one is relevant here, and
for it he advocated not just waiting for adverse occasions to happen, but
to “challenge and induce them.” The path to strength and power is through
challenge, not in its avoidance.
Finally, to clarify, none of what I’m saying suggests that one should
blindly make his life harder than it needs to be. That isn’t courage, but
stupidity. Adversity always exists. The question is: are you leaning into it
and becoming stronger, or avoiding it in fear, and thus becoming weaker?
“Do you always want to have an easy life? Then always stay
with the herd, and lose yourself in the herd.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Joyous Science
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Courage
Courage or stupidity
Like justice, it’s important we separate light from shadow or, in this case,
courage from stupidity. In the East, the distinction between “Great Valor”
and “Valor of the Villain” was embedded in stories and even rights of
passage for children raised in Samurai families.
“To run all kinds of hazards, to jeopardize one’s self, to

rush into the jaws of death—these are too often identified
with Valor, and in the profession of arms such rashness
of conduct - what Shakespeare calls “valor misbegot”- is
unjustly applauded; but not so in the Precepts of Knighthood.
Death for a cause unworthy of dying for, was called a “dog’s
death.”
Knowing the line is hard, and perhaps impossible to describe in words.

The Prince of Mito said; “To rush into the thick of battle and to be slain is easy
enough, and the merest churl is equal to the task; but it is true courage to live when
it is right to live, and to die only when it is right to die.”
There are genuine times in which fear is valid - for example leaning
over the edge of a precipice. Doing so has no deeper meaning or purpose.
Plato said that courage is “the knowledge of things that a man should fear and
that he should not fear.”
Courage is like Love in that sense. It’s one of these things we know and
feel when we see or experience it. It moves something inside of our soul,
and stirs our emotions. It is especially powerful when facing the greatest
of enemies: death. Courage comes to mind when I think of the Spartans
and their final charge at Thermopylae, the unwillingness of William
Wallace to yield on the torture rack, and of course the quintessential
Christ bearing his cross.
There must be a purpose or righteousness underlying courage, else it is
wasted. Alexander leading his detachment from the front had a distinct
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Courage
purpose, as did the dignity with which each of those listed above faced
their deaths.
Life and death
“The real question is not whether life exists after death. The
real question is whether you are alive before death.”
Rajneesh Osho
Courage is the antidote to both great fears of man: the fear of dying and
the fear of living. The fear of dying is self-explanatory, but it’s the fear
of living that is more prevalent in modern society. You might ask, why
should someone be fearful of life, and who are these people? I’d tell you to
look around. The majority of people are content with living a life of quiet
conformity and servitude in order to not place themselves at the risk of
failure. They are afraid to engage their own spark of life, of what it might
mean to fail at an endeavor they commit themselves to.
This is why slavery has and will always exist. Enslavement allows a
man to exist, if not really to live, by giving him guaranteed food and
shelter. It consoles a man from the fear of living because if he fails, he
no longer needs to take responsibility for it. Living with the knowledge of
unfulfilled potential, to know that one could have done better but didn’t, is
the greatest, soul-crushing burden, so to protect his psyche he self-selects
his way into subtle forms of servitude, outsourcing responsibility for the
greater, more meaningful things in life.
The modern ‘citizen’ tells himself that he is freer than his predecessors,
because his society has crafted an illusion of freedom by offering choices
in inconsequential matters, like what airline you can book a flight on,
which brand of car you can buy, and even what flavor of cabal you can vote
for at the polling booths on election day. But in critical matters, such as
how you educate your children, how much and to whom you pay taxes,
what you’re able to use as the means by which you store and exchange
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Courage
the product of your labor - these matters are all decided for you. If you
have a dissenting opinion about such matters, you are reminded of your
‘freedoms’ with a ‘carrot’ such as historical propaganda about “how hard life
was for the serfs” and the fact that “you have a toilet and a fridge in your home.” If
that doesn’t work, you can also be reminded that you do not carry the big
stick, and in an increasingly individualized society, who are you to speak
out? Why take the risk? We’re all independent right? Maybe this modern
slavery thing is an exaggeration? Conforming doesn’t sound so bad after
all…
But this cheap slavery of the mind and soul does not offer true, noble
answers to a man’s deepest desires: to be useful and capable in his life;
to exert his will upon the world; to ignite his spark. The path of slavery
comes with its own price, to be paid on one’s deathbed and once more on
judgment day. Every man who is enslaved knows deep down that he did
not conquer his fear of life, and in failing to do so, he remained a husk of
what he could’ve been. His 900 months on this planet were squandered.
This is why courage is so central. It is the life-affirming virtue. It is
vitality and the will to power in action. It is the spark of life. It’s why I
have such respect for warrior cultures, and the men who make them up.
While it’s true that a warrior might die in battle, he lives more in those
hours than most men do in a lifetime. Alexander the Great may have died
at the age of 32, but he lived many lifetimes, and his legacy lives on today.
The point of courage is to channel life through oneself. We are all
vessels for life. It runs through us, uses us up, then replaces us with the
next living, breathing vessel. This is the beauty and tragedy of life. Death,
despite what the Peter Pans and nerds want to believe, is not a disease.
It is a process. We will defeat neither death nor life. The best we can do
is live with courage and when the time comes, face death with courage,
eyes forward the whole time. Staring in the rearview is an injustice to
this gift. It is a form of cowardice. Choose life, by choosing courage.
Death is the most worthy adversary you will ever face, precisely because
it is unconquerable.
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The enemy
The Brave know the brave. A great enemy should inspire you.
“Indeed, valor and honor alike required that we should own

as enemies in war only such as prove worthy of being friends
in peace.”
Warrior cultures have not only bred courage into their own, but have
respected and modeled the courage in their adversaries. Nietzsche once
said, “You are to be proud of your enemy; then the success of your enemy is your
success also.”
The greatest adversaries had the greatest respect for each other. The
legendary Attila the Hun, who united the tribes of the steppes to bring
Rome to its knees, was not just the general Aetius’s enemy, but was his
spiritual, psychological and mortal peer. By contrast, the weak Roman
senators and aristocrats continually tried to buy Attila off. He would then
take their money, use it to procure more mercenaries and attack once
again, because he disdained such cowardice. He refused to trade courage
for coinage. In the end, it was only the courage of Aetius, who stood
up and faced Attila, that was able to halt the Huns’ advance. Ironically,
today we remember Aetius through Attila, because the cowardly “leaders”
of a dwindling Rome ultimately killed him out of envy and spite. Alas for
them, the great and honorable have the last laugh, for the final emperors
of Rome are remembered not for their valor or courage, but for their
weakness and pusillanimity.
Examples abound throughout history of similar reciprocal admiration
and respect for the bravery of one’s foe. In an earlier, more noble Rome, it
is said that Caesar was enraged at the execution of his rival Pompey, and
that both Antony and Octavius were overtaken with sorrow at the death of
Brutus. In Japan, Kenshin, who fought for fourteen years with Shingen,
wept aloud at the loss of “the best of enemies” when he heard of the latter’s
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death. The idea of a “worthy adversary” and the honor of “dying a good
death” at the hands of such an adversary were sacred in a warrior culture,
and could not be more foreign to a weak, civilian culture.
One of the greatest examples is the scene of the day before the battle
of Chaeronea. Alexander and one of his generals, Black Cleitus, are said
to have crossed the battlefield to speak with the Thebans. During their
exchange, a Theban general of the sacred band introduced Alexander to
his son. Alexander, in admiration of those who the next morning would
likely fight to the death, offered the young man his gem-encrusted dagger,
worth an entire talent of gold, who in turn is said to have replied: “Only,
if you will take this,” giving Alexander the lion’s crest of his breastplate — a
fine item made of cobalt and ivory, inlaid with gold.
It’s such a powerful scene, and one we could barely imagine today. We
see it at times with good sportsmanship, and it brings tears to our eyes.
Why? Because it’s part of a greater ancient archetype that’s within those
of us who are moved by such a gesture. To those with ears to hear, it calls
to something greater within us.
Consider the clash between Alexander and Tigranes, a champion
and one of the most revered horsemen of Persia, during the battle of
Issus. Tigranes, dressed in a brilliant, noble Persian kit, led a line of
Kingsman cavalry that crashed into the Macedonian center line, aiming
for Alexander. The following is an excerpt from Pressfield’s master work
again (Alexander speaking):
“Iskander!”
Tigranes cries my name in Persian, claiming me as his own. His
Meteor plows into Bucephalus like a trireme on the ram. The press
swallows all. The heat sucks the breath out of you. The animals’ necks,
straining against each other, burn like surfaces of flame. “Meteor’s
jaw is so close to my face that my cheek piece catches against his bit
chain. His eye is wild as a monster in the sea. The horses lock up
chest-to-chest, fighting their own equine war, while my antagonist
and I clash like fencers, shaft against shaft, dueling for an opening.
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Tigranes could plunge his lance into Bucephalus’s gorge as easily as I

can sever Meteor’s windpipe with my own. But he will not, nor will I.
“I am Tigranes!” my rival cries in Greek. I love the man. Here is a
warrior! Here is a champion!”
Where is this level of love and respect for the enemy? And the courage
required in order to behave as such? Does it not exist any longer? And if
not, how can we bring it back? It is my hope that, one day, it shall return.
But for that to happen, it’s up to us to inspire the next generations to live
with valor once more, like the ancient warriors did. Your adversary exists
to make you better, but it’s up to you to direct the outcome of this clash.
The noble outcome doesn’t just happen. It is made to happen. These are
the lessons we can learn from the Alexanders, the Attilas and the Caesars
of history. I will close this chapter with one final quote from Pressfield, in
the voice of Alexander.
“I love even those who call themselves my enemies. Alone

meanness and malice I despise. But the foe who stands with
gallantry, him I draw to my breast, dear as a brother.”
Steven Pressfield, Virtues of War
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Bitcoin & Courage
Bitcoin is new. People who project a technological adoption curve

on it, don’t understand it. Bitcoin is just a baby. 15 years is barely
the beginning, for something that is designed to last for centuries, or
perhaps even millennia.
It took thousands of years for gold to monetise and embed itself into
the fabric of our civilisation. Gold is still fundamental to everything
you see around you - we’ve just abstracted so far away from it that
we’ve forgotten. Bitcoin is the first real money we’ve had since gold,
and because of how it’s engineered, we may not see another step change
until we reach the next level on the Kardashev scale.
As such, it takes a degree of courage and faith to put your wealth into
it and to transact with it. If you make a mistake, either in opting for
this new form of money, or in using it, it’s gone. It takes more of that
courage to make that call when Bitcoin is young, and even more so in
proportion to how much of your net worth you put into it. A few basis
points? Not bad. Bitcoin is the only thing you hold? That takes courage
- although by the time people reach that point, they’ve likely come to
understand that it’s the only way forward.
Still, it takes courage to back the greatest lever for a more just and
responsible society, while everyone is against it, ridicules it, or is too
busy gambling on shitcoins.
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It takes courage, too, to avoid the allure of quick riches that come at
you from all sides once you’ve been proven prophetic. I know many
who have sold their soul and reputation just because the money was
easier elsewhere. I also know a few who have been Bitcoin-only from
the beginning and were not willing to lie to others or themselves. These
people I have respect for. At this point in Bitcoin’s lifecycle, you can
certainly make more money (in the short term) from an up and coming
shitcoin, but doing so does very little for moving civilization toward
freedom and responsibility. It’s similar to Wall Street traders who
commoditize everything and anything they can get their hands on, so
they can “speculate” and “trade” their way to more money, for the sake
of nothing but more money.
In a world devoid of substance, where everything has become cheap,
inflated and meaningless, it takes courage to work on something
meaningful, to build something beautiful, to generate real value and
create wealth. Bitcoin makes that possible, because it makes savings
great again.
Bitcoin makes it so that the world rewards the courageous: those
who produce something of value, because they work on something of
substance and meaning. They can set aside the excess product of their
labor, and instead of consoooming into the abyss, or gambling their
way into staying afloat - they can live … and who knows - maybe even
create something beautiful.
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仁
愛
Justice is richer when coupled with courage, because you’re combining
mind and spirit. But so too are both courage and justice made richer
when tempered with compassion. This is part of why Christ was such a
profound and powerful figure.
A tapestry of virtues is the path to depth, wholeness, and well
roundedness, and like all good fractals, each virtue is itself a combination
of all other virtues. Nitobe outlines this beautifully in relation to Courage
in its compassionate form:
“Fortunately mercy was not so rare as it was beautiful, for it is

universally true that “The bravest are the tenderest, the loving and
the daring.” “Bushi no nasaké” - the tenderness of a warrior - had a
sound which appealed at once to whatever was noble in us; not that
the mercy of a Samurai was generically different from the mercy of
any other being, but because it implied mercy where mercy was not a
blind impulse, but where it recognized due regard to justice, and where
mercy did not remain merely a certain state of mind, but where it was
backed with power to save or kill.”
Which brings us to the third virtue: Love and Compassion - both which
condescend and “come from above.”
In modern Japanese, “Ai” is the word for love. Represented by the
kanji 愛, it is composed of a few interesting elements. The upper radical
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of the character is a form of the kanji 爪 (tsume), meaning “claw” or

“nail,” which surrounds the inner part. The middle radical consists of
心 (kokoro), meaning “heart,” or “spirit” and symbolizes emotion and
feeling. Below it is 夊 (sui), a character that suggests walking slowly or
trailing behind, often used to convey the idea of following or pursuit.
Altogether, these elements convey love as an enduring commitment of the
heart. They symbolize the careful and nurturing attention one would give
to something precious or cherished.
There was no such concept in feudal Japan, where words like
“duty”, “affection”, “compassion”, “magnanimity” and “benevolence”,
each pertaining to a kind of relationship between giver and receiver, were
instead used.
Jin, which is represented by the kanji 仁, is the one most referenced
in the context of warrior or cultural virtues. It is composed of two
elements. The right-hand radical is 二 (ni), which means “two.” The
left-hand radical is 人 (hito), which means “person” or “human.” This is
one of the most fundamental kanji in the Japanese language and is often
used to denote human-related concepts. In the context of this kanji, it
symbolizes the idea of two people or the relationship between people. It’s
a representation of interaction or connection between individuals.
Together, they represented the idea of a human relationship or
interaction characterized by benevolence, kindness, or humaneness.
Over time, Jin has come to represent the broader concepts of compassion,
empathy, and humanity. It’s not just the feeling of compassion but also
the idea of ethical and benevolent action towards others.
In English, the word “Love” has somewhat clearer roots, but has also
evolved with time. The modern word derives from Old English lufu which
refers to “affection or friendliness”. It has roots in the Proto-Germanic
lubo which means “to desire,” which itself derives from the PIE root leubh,
“to care, desire, or feel for.”
Love itself has many flavors. The Greeks recognised this, and they
defined love as a threefold force or energy: eros, agape, and philia.
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Eros was romantic or passionate love, related to physical attraction and

desire. Named after the Greek god of love, it was characterized by strong
emotional feelings of desire and longing and was usually associated with
sexuality and the pursuit of pleasure.
Philia was the love of friendship and companionship. It was
characterized by loyalty, mutual respect, and shared interests. It was
the bond between two individuals who share common values and goals,
who’ve shared experiences and ordeals and it is the kind of love found
in close friendships, partnerships and true unions between man and
woman.
Agape was the selfless, unconditional form of love that transcended
personal gain or benefit. It was the spiritual, religious and transcendent
form of love, found in kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. It was a
love that is freely given without expecting anything in return.
Each of these forms of love are unique, and inseparable at the same
time. They’re flavors of the same core substance that we are aware of and
feel in our bones, across both space and time.
The word “compassion” on the other hand, comes from Latin compati
which means “to suffer with”. It is a combination of com- meaning
“together with” and pati meaning “to suffer”. While love is a feeling,
compassion is more of a verb.
I’ve called this virtue ‘love and compassion’ because the essence of what I
am trying to get at is a blend of two things. First, the desire for something
or someone, and second, the feeling of togetherness or a ‘cosmic fabric’
that binds us, akin to the way the 2014 Christoper Nolan movie Interstellar
portrays love as a force or dimension that connects us in a way that
transcends time and space.
The yin of justice
Compassion, sympathy and affection for others were recognized to be

supreme virtues of the Samurai and the highest of attributes of the human
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soul. The combination of compassion and benevolence was deemed

necessary for nobility of spirit and of profession.
What makes this virtue so important is that it is the soft Yin to the
harsh Yang of Justice, the yielding and nurturing feminine that balances
the rigid and disciplined masculine. Compassion does have a feminine
charge and its inclusion is another example of the tapestry I described
earlier, which Nitobe again eloquently describes:
“We knew benevolence was a tender virtue and mother-like. If upright

Rectitude and stern Justice were peculiarly masculine, Mercy had
the gentleness and the persuasiveness of a feminine nature. We
were warned against indulging in indiscriminate charity, without
seasoning it with justice and rectitude.”
Relatedly there is also mercy, which can be considered the masculine

form of this virtue. Mercy is quite prevalent in Christianity and warrior
cultures. It is the gift of compassion bestowed upon the subject by the
arbiter of justice, and carries with it a different kind of charge. It comes
from a place of power, strength and privilege. Lord Masamuné was one
of the most powerful and influential figures of the Sengoku period in
Medieval Japan (1467 - 1615). Despite being best known as a warrior,
he was also a poet, and described the relationship between compassion,
mercy and strength as follows:
“Rectitude carried to excess hardens into stiffness; benevolence

indulged beyond measure sinks into weakness.”
In Bushido, compassion and mercy were considered key components of

being a Samurai, because they implied strength and magnanimity. Both
carrying the burden with another, and bestowing gifts in the moment of
justice, were considered acts of real strength. This was common in all of
the great warrior cultures, not only feudal Japan.
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Magnanimity: love in leadership

The word “benevolence” comes from the Latin benevolentia, which literally
translates as “good” (bene) “will” (volentia). Benevolence is the quality of
being kind and generous, and is associated with actions that are done
to help others. In the context of Bushido, a Samurai who acted with
benevolence was seen as noble and virtuous.
In fact, there was a specific form or flavor of benevolence that was
expected from nobility, and this was not only seen in Japan, but in warrior
cultures all throughout history.
Magnanimity.
Nobody loves or respects a miser. Frugality may be useful in some

contexts, but as a general rule there is nothing expansive, noble or
magnanimous about it. It’s not for nothing that Jupiter, ruler of the
planets, is associated with generosity and good fortune in astrology.
Something wealth and love share is that they both flow, and in doing so,
multiply. The greatest leaders in history have been those who treated their
acolytes, their followers or their people at large, with great compassion
and care.
Contrary to what some may think, magnanimity was highly prized in
warrior cultures, not only toward allies, but also, as discussed in the prior
chapter, toward enemies.
Alexander, for example, would learn thirty to forty of his soldier’s
names every day, and more importantly, remember them. He would
furlough those soldiers who married locally, allowing them to go home
for winter to bear an heir in the spring. He repeatedly paid off his soldiers’
personal debts, and more importantly, he would write personal notes for
those who displayed bravery or valor to pass onto their families. Such
an honor, bestowed upon a common soldier directly from a king, was
unheard of - and speaks volumes as to why Alexander was so successful in
motivating his men to accompany him on his unprecedented conquests.
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This kind of behavior is a truly noble form of love, and like all great
virtues, it must come from a place of truth, not deceit. True magnanimity
and generosity can be felt. One of the best illustrations is a Macedonian
assembly called by Alexander, prior to his march on Persia. I’ll quote
Pressfield again, whose words I believe channel this moment best:
When all the army had assembled, Alexander began giving away
everything he owned. To his generals he gave great country estates (all
properties of the crown); he gave timberlands to his colonels, fishing
grounds, mining concessions and hunting preserves to his midrank
officers. Every sergeant got a farm; even privates received cottages and
pasturelands and cattle. By the climax of this extraordinary evening,
his soldiers were begging their king to stop. “What,” one of his friends
asked, “will you keep for yourself?” “My hopes,” said Alexander.
Love of family and of tribe

Love of family requires no explanation, so there is little to discuss here,
other than reinforcing the importance of such an institution. Family is
not only the most important bond, but also the core unit of civilization
and the smallest, most functional form of “government”.
“The abolition of family ties particularly in the past fifty

years has led to an incredibly dangerous dependence on a
nameless, faceless, incompetent and absent state who views
you as just another entry on a database.”
Mark Moss and Aleksandar Svetski, The UnCommunist Manifesto
Without family ties, without the authority, the structure, and the
education that it entails, we are left dependent on these disembodied
institutions, and just as badly, our peers for our maturation. Such
environments make us susceptible to either equalitarian ideals and
conformity, or they keep us immature well beyond our years, none of
which are states in which we can reach or be vital.
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“The family is the nucleus of the cell, in the body of

humanity.”
Love of tribe is where I’d like to focus this section because tribalism gets
such a bad rap in the modern world, even from pro-family types.
Tribalism is generally considered ‘primitive’, ‘toxic’, ‘closed-minded’
and ‘non-inclusive.’ I would argue first that these are part truths, and
second that they are, in fact, positive attributes. Tribes are by definition
non inclusive to out groups - but they are extremely inclusive internally.
That’s what makes such units strong and cohesive. This is not only for
the anthropological reason of “survival”, but for the psychological fact that
you are more likely to care for those with whom you share space, territory,
values or characteristics, and for the practical fact that you just cannot
love or care for everyone in the same way. Time and energy are limited.
One result of such “tribalism”, and I’d argue a key benefit, is actually
diversity, especially of culture, on a macro scale. A greater number of
tribes means that there is a broader and more varied tapestry of cultures
and norms that make up the whole of humanity.
Without tribalism we’d have no diversity! There are many ways to skin
a cat, and there are different environments in which to do so. Moral
principles seem to converge to a small list, but there are definitely a host
of different customs, methods and flavors in the service, display and
practice of each.
So while there may be some enmity with out-groups, tribalism means
that small groups of people can develop deeper bonds and greater internal
cohesion, leading to a richer array of different groups that can then
cooperate or compete. Both cooperation and competition are vital. This
is why we have sports teams, and why smaller communities are more
pleasant places to live. You can only get functional homogeneity up to a
certain scale. Beyond that it is unnatural and forced. It becomes ugly.
The Bitcoin community is a great example. As it’s grown, it too has
fractured. The natural limits to the size and scale of tribes and cultures
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are something I believe we’ll see more of as the pendulum swings back and
civilization starts to adapt to a hard money standard. It must optimize
itself culturally and economically speaking.
Shared sacrifice
Sir Ernest Shackleton was a British explorer who led an expedition to
Antarctica between 1914-1917. His story became one of the most famous
survival stories of all time.
Shackleton and his crew of 27 men were stranded on the Antarctic ice
after their ship, the Endurance, was trapped and eventually sank. He is
remembered for his incredible leadership during this ordeal. Despite the
circumstances, he always put the well-being of his crew first. He made
sure they worked together to hunt food and build shelter, he organized
games and activities to keep their minds sharp, and constantly lifted their
spirits with his charisma and an indomitable will. If he wavered, he did
so internally, and never showed his men. He was with them always, and
remained steadfast at all times.
Shackleton and his men were able to survive for over a year on the ice
through extreme cold, hunger, darkness, frostbite, scurvy, blizzards and
desolation in an environment few on this earth could endure. This is not
to mention the voyage he and a few men took across the frigid and wild
Antarctic ocean, on a lifeboat, to get to the island of South Georgia where
he assembled a rescue party to save the rest of the men.
Shackleton was the embodiment of courage and compassion, virtues
that ultimately led to the survival of all 27 members of the crew.
2500 years earlier, in another barren environment, Alexander and his
men crossed the scorching Gedrosian desert as they returned from the
“ends of the world” as they knew it. The men and horses were suffering,
their tongues swollen with thirst. Alexander himself was recovering from
a punctured lung sustained during a recent siege, and despite his own
pain, he pushed on, determined to lead his men home.
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The column was strung out for miles, and at one point, a detachment
of scouts came running back to the king. They had found a small spring
and managed to fill a helmet up with water. They guarded this helmet in
order to present it to Alexander intact, and when they did, all eyes turned
to the king and commander, the man who had led them through countless
battles.
Alexander thanked his scouts for bringing him this gift, took the
helmet, and raised it toward the heavens, in what looked like an offering
to the gods. Everyone held their breath in anticipation. Then, without
tasting a drop he poured the entire contents of precious liquid into the
sand.
Immediately, a great cheer rose from the ranks, rolling like thunder
from one end of the column to the other. It is said that by spilling the
water, he quenched the thirst of the entire army. The men believed that
with such a king to lead them no force on earth could stand against them.
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Alexander showed not through words, but sincere, genuine and severe
action that he, the king, was willing to suffer with his men. He could easily
have drunk. He was wounded, and not lightly. But he chose to suffer. This
act inspired the army to endure and make it through the desert; which
they did, with minimal losses.
There is a reason why Alexander became a living legend. There is
a reason why men chose to fight with and die for him. Such a deep
level of compassion implied not only courage, but extreme self control,
responsibility, loyalty, honor and justice. All the virtues which make men
great.
Other than Christ, there is perhaps no figure who exhibited this virtue
more than Alexander - not just because of the deeds themselves - but
because as king he needed not suffer or make sacrifice of himself. This
is what makes his character and the story above so utterly powerful and
memorable.
Selflessness
“Courage is inseparable from love and leads to what may

arguably be the noblest of all warrior virtues: selflessness.”
Selflessness is a form of compassion and a regard for others. It is related

to respect and a recognition that there is something beyond you, whether
a mission, a family, a tribe or virtues worth dying for. Selflessness works
in the home, with the comrade at your side in war, your real friends, and
to some degree, the community around you.
It’s for the betterment of your own soul. You are selfless because it
feels right, not because it looks good on Instagram. It must also be of
your own volition, and something you would in fact do for what Ayn Rand
argued are selfish reasons. Imposed selflessness always masks something
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more sinister. The “we are all in this together” of 2020 was a prime
example of that.
Altruism is a modern interpretation of selflessness. Both Nietzsche
and Rand were correct in their assessment that altruism is a scam
masquerading as a virtue in an attempt to fleece you. This fake
selflessness comes not from a place of love, compassion, or magnanimity,
but from one of lack, envy, and deceit. It is always conjured up by the
do-gooder and meddling classes who want to guilt-trip you into serving
their agenda. And like in warfare, they seek to make you (their enemy)
weak, while making themselves stronger.
Beware those who trumpet selflessness and then impose it as a virtue
on others. Beware the professional “activists” out there using guilt as a
tool to make you feel wrong about doing what’s right for you and those
closest to you. The deeper and more honest meaning of selflessness is
devotion to someone or something that one chooses of their own accord.
Any imposition on others to do the same is exactly where these modern
‘social’ ideologies go awry. People must choose to be selfless because
they want to, and not because they ‘have to’ or because of a mandate by
some faceless institution - especially when it’s made up of members who
embody none of the selflessness which they seek to impose.
This brings up one of the key dangers of compassion. Like justice, it
also can be taken to the extreme. Take the nannyfication of the modern
West as an example. Excessive compassion transformed a once strong
and powerful culture into one full of “safe spaces” for adults, perpetual
victimhood, indiscriminately open borders, flattening of hierarchies, and
the cushioning of all adversity. This has all led to both a suffocation of
truth - which can and often must be brutal - and an aversion to, or more
accurately, an inversion of justice. Up is now down, black is now white,
man is now woman, or worse, none of these exist, and everything is all
the same. Compassion, selflessness and mercy unchecked, can lead to as
many problems as their more honest and organic manifestations solve.
How can we protect against this? Is there a case to be made for
selfishness?
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Selfishness as a virtue?
Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged, one of the most prescient and
insightful novels of the 20th century, also wrote a collection of essays
known as “The Virtue of Selfishness.” In it she argued that selfishness is
in fact a virtue because it is honest, and furthermore, it is the only thing
one should ever expect of others. In other words, it’s a baseline of truth.
To Rand, selfishness is necessary for the survival and flourishing of the
individual, and it is therefore morally justifiable as long as it respects the
rights and space of others.
What she’s referring to is not the same as being cruel or uncaring,
but rather to a rational and moral concern for one’s own well-being and
happiness. Her argument is based on the importance of individualism
and the right to one’s own life. She believed that individuals should be
free to pursue their own goals and values, and that this is the only way
for them to fully realize their potential and achieve happiness. In her
view, the pursuit of one’s own self-interest is morally justifiable because
individuals who act in this way are the people who create value and
contribute to society. Honest selfishness is a prerequisite for all kinds of
achievement.
She tempered this by saying that individuals have a moral
responsibility to respect the (property) rights of others, and that
selfishness does not mean the right to violate said rights. She always
maintained that it is possible to be both selfish and respect the rights of
others.
I agree with this for two reasons. Being selfless does in fact feed some
part of you, so you could almost call it “Spiritual Selfishness.” But key
here is the order of operation. Before you can really be selfless, you have
to develop yourself. Self-development, self-education, self-direction,
self-improvement, self-reliance. These are all forms of selfishness,
necessary to make you competent and capable enough to actually help
others. This applies in a warrior, corporate or general social context. If
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you are fat, lazy, and untrained, the man whom it’s your duty to shield
will be at greater risk. In fact the entire rank will be, if there is a weak
link. If you’re a hopeless dependent and a burden on society, you’re not
making things better. Before you go crusading to help the environment,
migrants or the homeless, get your own house in order. “Clean your room”
as Jordan Peterson would say. The most selfless thing you could do is
therefore to acknowledge this order of operations, and develop the self.
“Put the mask on yourself first before you assist others”, so to speak.
There is also a difference in the context of application. The degree to
which you can be functionally selfless depends on your proximity and
relationship to others. This is an extension of the order of operations.
Your family comes before your community, which comes before your city,
which comes before your country and so forth. The further out you go,
the more selfish you should be. The closer to you and your tribe, the more
selfless you can be.
Selflessness and sacrifice in a unit

When Plutarch asked, “Why do the Spartans punish with a fine the warrior who
loses his helmet or spear but punish with death the warrior who loses his shield?”,
the answer was: “because helmet and spear are carried for the protection of the
individual alone, but the shield protects every man in the line. The group comes
before the individual.”
This tenet is central to the warrior ethos, and this kind of selflessness
is critical to the cohesion of such a unit. This is not evident in a more
mercantile, individualist context where the core unit is not a “band of
brothers” but the individual.
I’m not referring here to the morality of one or the other, but rather
pointing out that context matters. If you’re mission oriented and your
survival depends on working as a unit, selflessness must be embodied by
all of the individuals in the unit. “The group comes before the individual” so
that the individuals themselves can survive. These units are only as strong
as their weakest link, and true leadership is less about showing off and
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more about drawing out of your unit the best they have to offer. The goal
is to increase the baseline.
During Alexander’s Bactrian campaigns, he chose to trek across the
Hindu Kush - what is now the mountainous regions of Afghanistan,
Tajikistan and even Pakistan - in the dead of winter. Many considered
Alexander mad because he had a penchant for taking on the most difficult
marching routes possible and sharing the ordeals with his men. Lesser
men, let alone kings, would have made crossings with their entourage, in
comfort. Not Alexander. He led men both on the battlefield and across the
very rivers, valleys, mountains and deserts in order to gain the advantage
on his enemy, and to inspire his men to greater heights (to raise the
baseline).
It is said that once an old soldier, frozen and almost blind from a
blizzard, stumbled into camp and was helped in by the troops. They gave
him a seat by the fire and prepared hot broth to thaw him out. When
the old soldier had recovered enough to comprehend his surroundings,
he realized that the young man who had given him his seat by the fire was
Alexander himself. The veteran leapt to his feet, apologizing for taking the
king’s place. Alexander is said to have set a hand on the man’s shoulder,
making him sit again and said “No, my friend, for you are also Alexander.”
We will never know whether this is fact or legend, but we can infer
by the distances traveled, the season they were traveled, their terrain and
the kind of culture of the Macedonian army, that this quality of leadership
had to have been present in order to inspire the men.
Does leadership like this exist anymore? Do men like this even exist
anymore? I don’t think so. I certainly do not claim to be one. I have done
things I am not proud of. I’ve lied and cheated. I’ve faltered in the face of
adversity. I’ve taken the easy road many times.
Alas - perhaps this is too high a degree of virtue to expect from modern
man, or too impractical in an age where civilisation is so complex. Maybe
the Alexander’s of history are more of a beacon that lights the way, or an
example for us to aspire toward. They exist to remind us that there is more
in the world than the ‘marketplace.’ We can still give up a seat on the bus
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for the elderly, help the old woman cross the street, or carry her bags up
the stairs. We can still build sanctuaries that have no “commercial value”
but are full of meaning, sentiment and beauty. If you seek something
more substantial, go build something grander. Become a producer and
a provider so far beyond your own needs, that you can help an entire
community or city. This is what great benefactors like the Medicis did,
and why their legacy lives on centuries later.
If you aspire to do great things, become a benefactor who conducts
themselves with greater virtue and compassion. The stories told on these
pages, whether they’re myths or factually true, are here to plant the seeds
of greatness in you, and inspire you to show up as more, in your next
encounter.
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Compassion & Love
Bitcoin & Compassion
A wealthy, mature society can afford to be a more compassionate

society. A broken one cannot. Wealthy, mature people can afford to
be more compassionate. Broken ones cannot.
Bitcoin, by its very nature, encourages meritocracy and value creation
through individual or cooperative effort and innovation. It fosters an
environment devoid of artificial safety nets, or state-enforced wealth
redistribution. This might appear harsh at first glance, however,
it inadvertently nurtures a form of compassion that stems from
individual choice rather than institutionalized mandate.
Compassion, when authentic, is a personal endeavor driven by the
voluntary actions of individuals. The same goes for Mercy. The
decision to forgive others, or to help them, to share wealth, or to invest
in communal projects becomes a direct reflection of one’s values and
principles. It’s something you want to do, not have to. Something like
this can only occur in a wealthy society.
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Compassion & Love
As Bitcoin continues to mature, and holders become more wealthy, they

will be faced with a choice. Kindness and compassion do matter, and
they’ll have the ability to help and impact those around them, or that
matter most to them.
It becomes real. A shift from state-driven to personally-driven
compassion ensures that help and generosity are not abstracted away
into faceless bureaucracy but can instead become tangible expressions
of empathy and magnanimity.
In such a paradigm, compassion is not a policy; it is a personal choice.
Finally - the fixed supply and deflationary nature of Bitcoin prevent
the insidious erosion of wealth through inflation, a phenomenon that
disproportionately affects those furthest from the monetary spigot.
By fixing the money, Bitcoin grants people greater control over their
financial destiny, and makes it next to impossible for parasites to leech
off society. What could be more truly compassionate than enabling
individuals to rise, not through handouts, but through merit?
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Honor
名
誉
“We make men without chests and expect from them virtue
and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find
traitors in our midst.”
C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man
Honor was one of the standout virtues in the feudal era. In a spiritual
sense, I believe honor is a measure of true nobility; in a practical sense, I
believe it is how order was maintained, and the moral ledger balanced, at
an individual and local level throughout history. Today we call it by other
names: someone’s “reputation”, their “word”, or their “handshake”.
Honor implies a vivid awareness and appreciation of personal dignity
and individual worth. It is a reputation not only with others, but with
yourself and your own standards. Inazo Nitobe calls it “the immortal part
of one’s self.”
Gregory David Roberts, ex-fugitive and international gangster turned
author of the world-renowned autobiography Shantaram, said that
“Virtue is concerned with what we do, while honor is concerned with how we do it.”
I think this is a great way to frame it, which explains why gangsters can
in many cases be honorable despite not being virtuous.
The Japanese word for “honor” is meiyo, which is made up of two kanji:
名誉.
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Honor
The first kanji, 名 (mei), represents the concept of name or reputation.

It is composed of two elements: the top part, 夕 (yū), originally depicted
the evening or sunset, but in this context, it represents something
distinguished or known. The bottom part, 口 (kuchi), means “mouth,”
signifying speech or what is spoken about. Together, 名 suggests the idea
of a name or reputation as spoken of or recognized by others, highlighting
the social aspect of one’s standing.
The second kanji, 誉 (yo), is more to do with honor directly. It is
composed of a combination of 言 (gen), meaning “word” or “speech,” and
堯, an ancient Chinese emperor known for his virtue. This character
originally signified the idea of speaking highly about someone, especially
in recognition of their virtues or achievements. Over time, it has come to
embody the concepts of honor, glory, and esteem.
Together, 名誉 (meiyo) combines one’s name and reputation alongside
one’s word or virtue. I find this definition of honor very compelling. It
not only emphasizes a behavior but an identity. Who you are matters.
Once again, there is deep overlap with the etymology and history
of the English word. Honor derives from the Anglo-French word onur
which meant “glory, renown, fame earned.” This in turn comes from the
Latin honor which referred to “dignity or office” and most importantly,
reputation. In fact, this too is where the word honest derives from.
The Latin honestus is formed by adding the suffix “-estus” to “honus,”
indicating a quality of being full of honor. Thus, “honest” originally
conveyed a sense of dignity, integrity and truthfulness with oneself -
qualities associated with being worthy of honor.
In Middle English, honor also came to mean “splendor, beauty and
excellence”, virtues which sprang from or were seen as a measure of a
person’s worth and reputation. Honor is a reputation, an intangible
value, earned and accrued to one’s name. It can’t be bought or sold -
which is precisely what differentiated the true noble class, from the later
“formal aristocratic” classes of the enlightenment. The latter were an
outgrowth of the merchant class who sought to buy their way into nobility
and the king’s favor. They are the ones who ultimately sullied the notion
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Honor
of nobility (and also the ancient conception of the word aristocracy) and
brought about the end of feudalism. We will discuss this further in the
chapter on feudalism.
Honor still means the same thing today, despite not being as common
in the modern world. It is in effect, not just doing what is right, but doing
it in ‘the right way’ - even when you don’t have to, even when nobody is
watching, and even when you have the advantage, or could get away with
doing the wrong or dishonorable thing.
Honor is an inner-righteousness that is displayed through acts or
deeds, tied to one’s identity. A couple of examples will help better illustrate
the point, as words fall short.
In the time of the late crusades, during the ongoing battles for Tyre in
1187, the Great Saladin (Salah al-Din) captured William the Old, father of
his enemy, Conrad of Montferrat - one of the most important military
noblemen of the Third Crusade, and defender of the city. During the
siege, Conrad is said to have refused to surrender as much as a stone
of his walls to liberate his father, and while Saladin could’ve tested this
claim by ransoming William, torturing him, or killing him, it was not the
honorable thing to do.
When Saladin eventually withdrew his army from Tyre in 1188,
William the Old was released unharmed. Not only did Saladin let the
father of his enemy go, he showed him a degree of hospitality which took
his enemies completely aback. This is part of why even the Christian
Crusaders revered and respected Saladin to such a degree. He was not
just a worthy adversary, which is what all courageous men seek; he was
an honorable one. That was rare then. It is even rarer now.
Another even more ancient story is that of the aftermath of the battle
of Granicus. Darius II, King of Kings in Persia, had fled, leaving behind
his mother, wives, and almost the entire royal entourage, who were
captured by Alexander. The Persians were certain that they would be
maltreated, tortured, killed or sold into slavery.
Nothing of the kind happened. In fact, Alexander treated them all with
such a degree of respect and reverence, that Darius’s mother, Sisygambis,
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Honor
famously declared Alexander her “true son” and refused to leave his side
until the end.
Alexander could’ve done whatever he wanted with them. He could
have ransomed them and used them as bargaining chips for the conquest
of Persia and the East - but honor calls upon the greater part of a man to
do what is right. The greater the man, the greater the righteousness and
acts of honor.
This was certainly the case with Saladin, Alexander and many of the
great men of conquest who shaped history.
Shame and appeals to honor
““It will disgrace you,” “Are you not ashamed?” were the
last appeal to correct behavior on the part of a youthful
delinquent. Such a recourse to his honor touched the most
sensitive spot in the child’s heart.”
Appeals to honor are a call to do the right thing, even when more expedient
or advantageous paths present themselves. The earlier examples I gave
were proactive deeds of honor, but in life there are many more reactive
deeds. In other words, an individual is compelled to correct course if their
honor is called out. This helps to create moral symmetry by balancing the
‘moral ledger’ (as we spoke of earlier with duels), and to steer society and
its norms away from utter perversion.
Those who did not heed the call, were often shamed. In fact, shame,
which differs from guilt, is how warrior cultures helped to inculcate honor
in their people.
“Shame is the soil of all virtue, of good manners and good

morals.”
Mencius
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Honor
Shame is the other side of honor. In warrior cultures, honor is a man’s

most prized possession. Without it, life is not worth living. Honor is the
basis for one’s dignity, and is the measure of one’s reputation.
Shame is the method of public feedback used by these cultures to
both deter dishonorable behavior, and to make very clear who could be
trusted under pressure or in the presence of vice, and who could not.
Shame-based cultures are different to guilt-based cultures in that they
impose their values from outside, through the opinion of the tribe or
group. They enforce the code unto its members through shaming, ritual
acts, or shunning and ostracism from the group.
“The Japanese warrior culture of Bushido is shame-based;

it compels those it deems cowards or traitors to commit
ritual suicide. The tribal cultures of Pashtunistan are
shame-based. The Marine Corps is shame-based. So
were the Romans, Alexander’s Macedonians and the ancient
Spartans.”
Another story tells us about an attempted mutiny by Alexander’s men.

They’d made it to India after years of constant, bloody campaigning
through Turkey, Bactria, and the Hindu Kush; through deserts,
mountains, and God knows what else. The men were worn out,
and wanted to turn back. But Alexander, so close to what he believed
was the “edge of the world”, couldn’t accept this symbolic defeat. Not yet.
Not when he was so close.
It is said that he stepped before the army, stripped naked and
proclaimed:
“These scars on my body were got for you, my brothers. Every

wound, as you see, is in the front. Let that man stand forth
from your ranks who has bled more than I, or endured more
than I for your sake. Show him to me, and I will yield to your
weariness and go home.”
Steven Pressfield, Virtues of War (Voice of Alexander)
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Honor
Through this act of physical, public demonstration, Alexander used

shame to challenge the honor of his troops. Of course, not one man came
forward. Instead the men begged their king’s forgiveness, and rallied
behind him for the next stage of their conquest. That is what you call
leadership.
Warrior cultures—and their warrior leaders—were masters of
enlisting shame, not only to counter fear and spark courage in their men,
but more importantly, to goad honor.
“The warrior advancing into battle (or simply resolving to

keep up the fight) is more afraid of disgrace in the eyes of his
brothers than he is of the spears and lances of the enemy.”
Honor is so sacred, and the fear of shaming so damning that many moral
codes are simply known as codes of honor. Nang in Pashto is honor;
nangwali is the code of honor by which the Pashtun tribal warrior lives.
Bushido is the “Way of the Samurai”, implying a “how.” The Chivalric code
was known as a code of knightly honor. Even in modern cultures, such as
the US Marine Corps, the most widely used phrase - often tattooed on a
Marine’s biceps - is the imperative: “Death Before Dishonor”.
The most noble and powerful Samurai were also the most far-sighted,
knowing that dishonoring themselves, even by a slight humiliation in
their youth, would compromise their character. To them, “dishonor is like
a scar on a tree, which time, instead of effacing, only helps to enlarge.”
To bear such a scar was shameful, akin to a metaphysical brand. The
Samurai’s conscience had to be pure and elevated, and honor was its
measuring stick.
This is an area in which warrior cultures differ from Christianity for
example, which is guilt-based. For Christians, the sense of shame comes
from within because ‘God is always watching.’ The Chivalric code seemed
to blend this internal guilt with external shame and this is part of what
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Honor
made it so powerful. Modern culture on the other hand, seems to have

lost both, in its complete disregard for both God and the warrior ethos.
Our culture is sick. Beautiful, excellent and courageous people
are made to feel guilty for the things they worked hard to build or
display, while ugly, fat, resentful and distorted people are protected
from shaming through hate-speech laws and an Overton Window
that has moved so far to the left that centrists like Elon Musk are
considered fascists. Schools reward participation instead of merit, HR
departments and hate-speech laws censor both truth and fact, obscene
displays of debauchery are actively encouraged all which contribute to
a normalization of insanity. The cultural outgrowth of such a cancer
is ugliness and extreme nihilism. The worst behaviors and the worst
practices are on full display, while the best of what we have to produce,
and display, is made out to be evil, and in some places, illegal.
This is why, while some will think it harsh, I believe shaming should
be normalized once more. From a young age, all the way up to old age.
Bullying in school, while not “nice” on the surface, evolved for a reason.
It helped kids, when they were young, calibrate behavior. In fact, if you
go back to the 80s, before society fully softened, movies like Karate Kid
showed us how the kid being bullied was able to stand up and develop
himself. The bully was a catalyst for personal growth! The key is not to
remove the shaming and social pressure, but to have parents, teachers
and mentors channel that pressure to help develop the characters of
their children and students. The same goes for adults, whether in the
workplace or more generally in society.
Shame is integral to honor: you cannot remove one without also doing
away with the other. It is the opposite pole of the same fundamental
substance. If you remove honor, as C.S. Lewis said, do not be surprised
to find traitors and those without heart in our midst. Honor is the soil of virtue
and it is the basis of a strong, beautiful and noble society.
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Honor
“Weakness is in demand—why?... mostly because people

cannot be anything else than weak. Weakening considered a
duty: The weakening of the desires, of the feelings of pleasure
and of pain, of the will to power, of the will to pride, to
property and to more property; weakening in the form of
humility; weakening in the form of a belief; weakening in the
form of repugnance and shame in the presence of all that is
natural—in the form of a denial of life, in the form of illness
and chronic feebleness; weakening in the form of a refusal to
take revenge, to offer resistance, to become an enemy, and to
show anger.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power
Impatience and short temper

Much like justice and courage, honor can be taken to extremes—and in
fact, often is, as social norms turned into dogma in the feudal societies
of both East and West. In Japan, the deeply powerful practice of harakiri,
also known as seppuku, was often mis-used in the later centuries.
“Life itself was thought cheap if honor and fame could be

attained therewith: hence, whenever a cause presented itself
which was considered dearer than life, with utmost serenity
and celerity was life laid down.”
Many Samurai were so consumed by the fear of dishonor that it hung

over them like the Sword of Damocles. This often led to extreme behavior
in the name of preserving their honor. Deeds not justified by the code
of Bushido were performed in order to preserve one’s reputation. Some
Samurai, known for their quick tempers, would react with violence at
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Honor
the slightest offense or even imagined insult. This rashness led to much
unnecessary conflict and bloodshed.
This is why the code must include other virtues such as patience,
respect and compassion. The balance between masculine virtues and the
softer, more feminine virtues, helped ensure that the entirety of the code
did not become a recipe for antisocial or self-destructive behavior. The
challenge for Samurai to balance his desire for honor within this broader
tapestry of virtues, is how real strength came to be measured: the ability
to bear what you think you cannot bear. This was accomplished through
a call to a greater degree of sophistication and nobility, to exercise more
discernment regarding where, when, and to what degree to respond (and
whether even to do so at all). As Mencius said:
“Anger at a petty offense is unworthy a superior man, but indignation for a great
cause is righteous wrath.”
Honor over money

The decision of character has always been of utmost import for the true
warrior. Character comes before economics; honor, before money.
“Chivalry is uneconomical: it boasts of penury. It says with

Ventidius that “ambition, the soldier’s virtue, rather makes
choice of loss, than gain which darkens him.” Don Quixote
takes more pride in his rusty spear and skin-and-bone
horse than in gold and lands, and a Samurai is in hearty
sympathy.”
In 480 B.C, at Thermopylae, the Persian king Xerxes stood at the head of
an army outnumbering the Spartans and their allies by at least fifty to one.
He demanded of the Spartan king Leonidas that he and his 300 Spartans,
along with the 4000 allied defenders lay down their arms. In return for
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Honor
doing so, Xerxes offered him rulership of all Greece, and with it money,
riches, and material comforts beyond his wildest dreams.
Leonidas famously responded to Xerxes’ demand with two words
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ (Molon labe)
Translated as: Come and take them.

This is what it means to place honor over money, and in fact, over life
itself.
Not only did the 300 Spartans cover the retreat of the 4000 allied
defenders, but they fought to the last man to defend the pass. They held it
against insurmountable odds, and made the Persians pay dearly. Their
stand may have lasted even longer had they not been betrayed by the
Spartan turncoat, Ephialtes.
The memory of Leonidas and his brave 300 is enshrined in a
monument containing only the two words: ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Conversely, the Greek city states and generals who sold their people
out are lost to the annals of history, the other king of Sparta is forgotten,
and the name ‘Ephialtes’ is spat upon to this day. This is the eternal price
of dishonor.
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Honor
A century and a half later, Alexander rekindled this memory: Darius

offered to buy him off on multiple occasions, but Alexander refused. He
was called by something greater, compelled toward conquest and destiny.
He was driven by pothos, an inner yearning not measurable in coin or
material value. John Keegan in his book The Mask of Command says: “He
[Alexander] saw that the Persians for all their material superiority were vulnerable
to the confrontation of a superior will, and of the strength of his will he had no
doubt.” This is why the Macedonians conquered the East, and laid the
foundations for the West. It was not for the love of gold, but for glory.
The modern leftoid or bugman simply cannot comprehend this.
This same ideal was embedded into their very culture and social order
of feudal Japan, shaped by the Samurai: there existed such a disdain
for mercantilism that the merchant was near the bottom of the class
structure.
It was Emperor first, followed by the Shogun, then Daimyos, Samurai,
the artisans, then the peasants, and finally below them were the
merchants. The only people below the merchants were the “Eta,” known
as the non-persons, or outcasts.
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Honor
The Samurai, and warriors in most such cultures, viewed the

merchant class as below them, as impure and untrustworthy, because
they were more likely to trade their honor and dignity for money. There
was a saying in Feudal Japan: “the civilians loved money and the soldiers feared
death.”
When the West ultimately came to subjugate Japan (at what cost and
karma?), it was through mercantilist means, thus revealing the flaws of
a strict social structure where the merchant was near the bottom. Still,
there was an undeniable wisdom in that structure. Japan was known for
its orderliness, decorum, respect, cleanliness and beauty. The society
itself maintained a relationship with the sacred, while the West had begun
to lay the foundations for the secularism and collectivism that it’s now
suffering from.
“If it makes dollars it makes sense.”
Boxing manager played by 50 Cent/Curtis Jackson, Southpaw
Does such a quote not make you feel dirty when you read it?
The tendency toward excessive Randianism or Libertarianism risks
trending toward empty materialism if it is not counterbalanced by
something more sacred, like a faith or warrior ethic. The world is full
of those who are all too ready to trade their reputation, compatriots or
children’s futures for not even a bag of silver, but an “account” with made
up digits courtesy of some bureaucrats a thousand miles away.
Whether we’re talking about cheap influencers peddling crypto
scams, bankers selling out their own customers, neighbors snitching
on neighbors, celebrities becoming political commentators, comedians
being paid to push climate agendas, or overweight scientists pretending
they know something about health - it’s the same sickness.
In the absence of honor we find only echoes of Judas. To hell with
truth or justice. Why is any of that important when morality is relative
and when nobody is watching from above? And who cares who’s watching
from the crowd, because there are no standards anyway. Right?
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Honor
We must reverse this, and understand that honor is tied to something

deep within the spirit or psyche. For those who don’t believe in this more
spiritual element, think of it this way:
Honor is like a set of standards, which you first and foremost measure
yourself with, then make public so that your peers, and those who you
respect, can keep you accountable. Being dishonorable is akin to lying
to yourself and such consistent lying creates a dissonance in your own
psychology. So whether you believe in something more metaphysical or
not, there is a clear and measurable psychological price to pay. The path
of dishonor or selling yourself out leads ultimately to dissonance, which
in turn often leads to emptiness and nihilism, unless you’re clinically a
psychopath.
Selling one’s soul for the short-term material gain, and paying for
it with a long-term sentence to spiritual or psychological purgatory is
known as a Faustian bargain for a reason. Dostoevsky wrote an entire
book about this with Crime & Punishment. Theologies from the beginning
of time warned of such trades in a spiritual sense, and warrior codes since
the ancient times guarded against this because they knew this “moral
dimension to the universe” is not just imaginary. Whether you want to
call its judge God, or conscience, the effect is the same. The point is to
hold you to a standard beyond what’s materially measurable.
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Honor
“The present system of paying for every sort of service was

not in vogue among the adherents of Bushido. It believed
in a service which can be rendered only without money and
without price. Spiritual service, be it of priest or teacher, was
not to be repaid in gold or silver, not because it was valueless
but because it was invaluable.
Here the non-arithmetical honor-instinct of Bushido taught
a truer lesson than modern Political Economy; for wages
and salaries can be paid only for services whose results are
definite, tangible, and measurable, whereas the best service
done in education—namely, in soul development (and this
includes the services of a pastor), is not definite, tangible,
or measurable. Being immeasurable, money, the ostensible
measure of value, is of inadequate use.”
Reputation
When nothing is sacred and nothing matters, status is no longer
measured by the character of a man, but by the currency he has access
to. It follows that in a world where currency is fraudulent, so too is status
- in many cases at least. Without intangibles like honor and reputation,
we find ourselves with an inversion of status, which leads to an inversion
in order. Hence why we live in an age where the despicable and resentful
rule.
To fix this, reputation needs to be revalued. Not repriced, in an
economic sense, but re-valued in a social sense. Reputation can be
thought of as the more practical aspect of honor. Like capital, it is
something you acquire and build up over time. It’s hard to earn, very
easy to squander, but can open doors for you that money alone cannot. It
acts like an intangible token for respect and trust that we recognize as real
because we’ve used it in every culture since the beginning of time. Even
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Honor
moderns, generally poor in this currency, and who would rather pretend
it does not exist, still act in such a way that proves it does.
We cannot put a price on reputation - at least not a monetary price.
Those who are trying to tokenize reputation, and turn it into another
material currency, don’t seem to understand this. Reputation is neither
fungible, nor should it be saleable. It operates on rules that are more
culturally influenced, so there is no one version or measure. It’s different
to money which needs to be fungible because it works optimally as a
singular language or measure. The whole point of reputation is that it
is not something you can trade. While reputation can be viewed as a form
of metaphysical currency, it’s important to remember that it’s not money,
and be wary when the lines are being blurred.
Ultimately, reputation matters, and the only way to build it is with
time, honesty and integrity. Nobody is perfect, mistakes will be made,
but the solution remains the same: proof of work.
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Bitcoin and Honor
Honour has to do with one’s word and reputation. This has a number
of things to do with Bitcoin. First of all, Bitcoin is a promise, or a set
of promises. It’s something you can “bank” on, which interestingly
enough is not dependent on the word or honor of a person or group, but
on a unique method of social and mathematical consensus. Through
this process, Bitcoin is something which resembles the traditional
meaning of honor, but goes about it in a novel way.
More important to our discussion is Bitcoin’s impact on behavior.
Reputation has and always will be important. It is an intangible
form of capital, and as discussed earlier, opens doors that money alone
cannot.
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Honor
As the world becomes more digital and interconnected, reputation will

become more important. Doing what’s right, when it’s right, in the
right way, is honorable and separates the noble from the base.
This has always been the case, and is so today, though skewed because
of how prevalent the money printer has become. Fake money is like a
magnet that distorts the image on a screen. Honor is still important,
but the monetary magnet draws attention and energy to places where
it otherwise may not have gone.
On a Bitcoin standard, the virtue of honor will likely be re-evaluated.
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Honesty / Integrity
誠
実
Honesty is related to honor and, as we saw in the previous chapter,
both English words share a common Latin origin. To avoid repeating
myself, I’ll explore instead the etymology of the words which I believe echo
the spirit of this virtue more than any others: integrity and sincerity.
The Japanese word for “Integrity” is Seijitsu, which is made up of two
Kanji: “誠実”
The first Kanji, 誠 (Sei), which is also read as “Makoto,” means
“sincerity” or truthfulness. This is how this virtue is most commonly
referenced in Japanese Bushido. The Kanji is in turn composed of two
elements: 言 (gen), meaning “word” or “speech,” and 成 (sei/naru), which
means “to become” or “to accomplish.” It originally expressed the idea of
words becoming reality, or one’s words being a true reflection of reality.
As “Makoto,” it emphasizes the purity and authenticity of one’s heart and
intentions, representing sincerity, honesty, and faithfulness not just in
words but also in the authenticity of one’s character.
The second Kanji, 実 (Jitsu), conveys the idea of reality or truth. It
combines the elements 宀 (u), which is a roof or a house, and 木 (ki),
meaning “tree.” This character originally depicted a tree reaching its full
potential under a roof, symbolizing growth, fruition, and reality. Jitsu
has evolved to represent concepts like truth, reality, and the fulfillment
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Honesty / Integrity
of promises or potential. This is not to be confused with the word “Jiu

Jitsu”, a romanized version of “Jujutsu” or “Jujitsu”, which is, in Japanese,
composed of two Kanji: “柔” (Ju) and “術” (Jutsu).
Together, 誠実 (Seijitsu) combines the profound sincerity and
truthfulness embodied in 誠 (Makoto) with the concept of reality and
fulfillment in 実 (Jitsu). It conveys the idea of “Integrity” in Japanese,
emphasizing not just honesty and sincerity in one’s words and actions,
but also the deep alignment of these actions with one’s true intentions
and the fulfillment of commitments.
In Japanese, the word honesty best translates to sincerity, and the
Chinese Ideogram for sincerity is a combination of “Word” and “Perfect”.
The etymology of “integrity” is fascinating. Through Old French
integrité, which referred to “innocence, blamelessness, chastity, purity”,
it comes from Latin integritas (“soundness, wholeness, completeness”),
and in turn from integer, meaning “intact, whole, complete” literally and
“untainted, upright” figuratively. Indeed, in- (“not”) and tangere (“to
touch”) combined mean “untouched” or “pure.”.
As for sincerity, it derives from Old French sinceritie, which comes
directly from the Latin sinceritas meaning “honesty, purity, soundness,
wholeness,” in turn from sincerus, “whole, clean, uninjured,” or more
figuratively that which is “sound, genuine, pure, true or candid”.
Both sincerity and integrity share the common themes of untouched
or unmarred completeness, so you can see why I’ve decided to combine
them here. In practice, I believe that sincerity is the softer, more
compassionate twin sister to the more masculine essence, raw and direct,
of Integrity, which was more akin to “Veracity” in the context of the
Samurai.
Sincerity in bushido
Confucius saw sincerity as having transcendental power, almost
identifying it with the Divine: “Sincerity is the end and the beginning of all
things; without Sincerity there would be nothing.”
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For the Samurai, sincerity was an earnestness that comes from deep
inside. It came from a place of courage, while lying was deemed cowardly.
Notice again how the different virtues are woven together.
“The bushi held that his high social position demanded

a loftier standard of veracity [sincerity/integrity] than
that of the tradesman and peasant. “Bushi no ichi-gon”
—the word of a Samurai, or in exact German equivalent,
Ritterwort—was sufficient guarantee for the truthfulness of
an assertion.
His word carried such weight with it that promises were
generally made and fulfilled without a written pledge, which
would have been deemed quite beneath his dignity.
Many anecdotes were told of those who atoned by death for
‘ni-gon;’ a double tongue.”
In Samurai culture, unlike in the West, lying was not considered a “sin;”
that concept did not exist. The Japanese have “tsumi” which translates
roughly as “fault,” “Jaku,” or “Yowasa,” conveying a weakness or fragility
whether physical or moral, and the broader concept of “haji”, which
translates to “shame or dishonor.” Lying, specifically, was denounced as
weakness, and as such, it was considered highly dishonorable.
We saw above how powerful fear of dishonor and shame can be, as
well as the importance of honor in Bushido. This is an interesting way
of dealing with transgression: by framing it as weakness, and therefore
shameful and dishonorable, the impetus to steer clear of such course of
action was all the greater, especially for the warrior class who would put
honor above life.
Perhaps this is why we live in the age of lies. The civilian populace no
longer aspires toward virtues such as honor, while religious calls to “tell
the truth” are seen as ‘archaic’ in secular, post-modern and post-truth
world.
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We’ve witnessed the rise of cowards who believe material wealth

trumps spiritual or moral wealth. They will lie, cheat and steal, just to
‘get ahead’ economically - ultimately selling their own souls for paper. The
Faustian bargain.
In my opinion, it’s far better to die honestly than to live a lie. There
is a wholesomeness to the former, despite the tragic overtones. There
is an emptiness to the latter, which can only conjure up greater levels
of nihilism. It is plain to see as the West continues its decay. Affluence
gotten through lies, degenerating into blind hedonism and aimless
pursuits of YOLO flavored pleasures. It’s sad.
“The coward dies a thousand deaths, the soldier dies but

once.”
William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, act 2, scene 2, lines 34-35.
These are the acts of a hero. To tell the truth in a world of lies. To inspire
others to do the same.
The hero and the logos

In Inazo Nitobe’s chapter on the virtue of sincerity, he draws a parallel
to the Neoplatonic doctrine of ‘The Logos’. You may be familiar with this
concept thanks to the work of Jordan Peterson.
The Greek term logos means “word, speech, statement, discourse.”
The philosophical concept of the Logos is “the divine Word,” it is Truth
with a capital T, the “Golden Thread” and the essence of things. It is the
“indivisible,” another word for “whole” or integer. Notice the relationship?
The great Thomas Carlyle, in his book On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and
The Heroic in History talks at length about the “deep, great, genuine sincerity”
of the Hero. He writes that while most people can “walk in a vain show,”
heroes cannot. Heroes cannot live except in the “awful presence of Reality,”
especially when that reality is coated in falsehoods. This inability to buy
into lies, or indulge in pretenses for social ‘brownie points’, is a core trait
of The Hero.
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The Hero is he who is unable to lead an insincere life, and therefore, he

who embodies the Logos. He goes on a journey, faces down demons and
monsters (i.e., lies), and prevails because he walks with God (i.e., truth).
He returns from his journey renewed and complete, a living example of
alignment with certain ideals or principles, for all others to emulate. He
discovers truth and brings it back.
“The hero organizes the demands of social being and

the responsibilities of his own soul into a coherent,
hierarchically arranged unit.”
Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
The Hero is belittled, dismissed, demonized and fought because he

opposes the ‘established order of lies’, yet he continues onward (and
upward). He seeks to instantiate an alternative ‘mode of being’, as John
Vallis would say: “grounded in a more coherent and high-fidelity perception of
‘what is’ — that is, one which is more truthful.”
The Hero cannot abide by views or decisions just because they are
common, socially acceptable, or have the experts’ approval. He rebels
against the decreed (fiat) order of things. He resists the conditioning of
society that seeks to place him in a box. The Hero discovers how to tap
into a deeper, subtler truth: Instinct.
Jash Dholani reminds us that: “Being heroic is not a conscious decision - it’s
a healthy instinct,” and Carlyle writes of the heroic figure: “His sincerity does
not depend on himself; he cannot help being sincere!”
The Hero has gone by many names throughout the ages. He was
Achilles at Troy, Ulysses in the Odyssey, Prometheus with the Fire,
Leonidas at Thermopylae, Alexander on his conquest of the East, Jesus
as the Messiah, Thor or Odin of the Norse, King Arthur of Brittania, and
Miyamoto Musashi in Japan.
In all of these cultures, the Hero was praised for his unwavering
integrity and sincerity. In Japanese culture, Samurai mothers would
teach their children to embody the virtues of Bushido through the
example of heroic figures.
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The hero has a deep appreciation for time and energy. He wastes
none of it on illusions. His sincerity is the source of his greatness. His
unrelenting grip on reality is why his actions have weight.
It’s useful to understand this idea via-negativa: what not to do. Carlyle
describes the opposite of a hero as someone who falls into skepticism and
insincerity. Skeptics replace action with endless questioning, dilettantes
replace commitment with permanent dabbling, and insincere people hide
cowardice behind irony and sarcasm.
The Hero, the man of integrity and sincerity, is the man of action.
The Hero is a man of radical responsibility, which I’ll explore in the next
chapter.
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Bitcoin and Integrity
Integrity, much like honor, revolves around consistency of actions,

principles, and values, regardless of external observation or pressure.
The Bitcoin system is in itself an embodiment of integrity. It is “whole
and complete” in the sense that we know its maximum supply and the
full ruleset. It is a ‘Truth-Machine’, not unlike the Logos: it just is, in
its glorious completeness.
As a transparent ledger, recorded and distributed worldwide, it is as
honest a record of human action, value and money as we’ve ever had
(and possibly ever will have). There is no papering over what’s there.
Bitcoin is an immutable record, an incorruptible source of truth.
It goes further. Bitcoin’s consensus mechanism is the most elegant
solution we’ve seen to ensure honest node operation in an adversarial
environment. By combining monetary incentives, the real cost of
energy, cryptography and the law of large numbers, Bitcoin orients
validator behavior toward honesty, without the need for coercion,
trusted collaboration, or trusted third parties: it solves the Byzantine
Generals Problem. At the same time, it incentivizes individuals and
collectives to cultivate integrity.
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Bushido is a playbook for life on a Bitcoin Standard. I believe that in

such a world integrity, like honor, will be valued more than guile and
opportunism. The entrepreneur will earn more than the trader. The
producer will be valued more than the consumer. The short-termism
and nihilism will give way to a lower time preference and greater
meaning.
Bitcoin not only embodies integrity at a systemic level, but demands
it from individuals. Still, practicing this virtue is not easy: Bitcoin
alone does not fix that. I believe it is our duty to cultivate this Logos
within, and do it not “because Bitcoin”, but because it makes for a more
wholesome existence; first for ourselves, then radially outward.
These are the acts of a Hero: to tell the truth in a world of lies, and to
inspire others to do the same.
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Responsibility
責
任
The root of a large number of the world’s problems is the renunciation
of responsibility. The same applies to individuals. Too much emphasis is
placed on the value of freedom, and too little on the virtue that makes it
possible: responsibility.
The Japanese word for “responsibility” is sekinin, which is made up of
two Kanji: “責任”
The first Kanji, 責 (Se), conveys the idea of obligation or debt. It
is composed of two parts: 貝 (kai), meaning “shell” or “money,” and
尺 (shaku), representing a unit of measurement. Those familiar with
Nick Szabo’s “shelling out” might notice something here. Originally,
this character symbolized the idea of holding someone accountable for
something, as in measuring or weighing their actions against a standard.
Over time, it has evolved to represent the concept of responsibility in the
sense of being accountable or liable for something.
The second Kanji, 任 (Nin), means duty, and represents a man
standing next to a king, by combining the elements 人 (hito), meaning
“person” or “man” and 壬, which means either king, monarch or chief; or
the ‘best and strongest of its kind.’ The traditional interpretation of 壬 is
that the three horizontal strokes represent Heaven, Man, and Earth and
the vertical stroke is the king: the one who connects them together. This
is also relevant, for it is the king, or the ‘best and strongest’ who must bear
the greatest weight: the burden and duty of responsibility.
Together, 責任 (Sekinin) combines the notions of accountability and
the bearing of duties to convey the idea of “responsibility” in Japanese.
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This term emphasizes not just the act of being accountable for one’s
actions, but also the strength necessary to bear the weight that comes
with being responsible. This virtue, like all great virtues, is both a
privilege and a burden. It encapsulates the sense of having a moral, social,
or professional obligation to act correctly and take charge of the roles
or tasks one is given. The etymology also relates very strongly to the
deeper idea of money as an obligation or debt: the measurement of one’s
monetary obligations to the sovereign, for example. It’s something like ‘a
man standing next to his king, ensuring that exactly what’s owed is given
to the other.’ The fact that ‘duty’ itself is ‘man next to king’ is very feudal.
Once again, we find similarities in the origins of the English word.
Responsibility, like response, comes from Latin respondere, in turn from
the verb spondere, which means “to pledge,” “to engage oneself” or “to
promise.” Its roots go back to Proto-Indo-European spondeio, meaning
“to libate” or “to pledge,” which also gave Greek spendein, “to make a drink
offering.”
Together these essentially mean “to answer to the original act”, “to
promise in return”, or “the payment of consequence” - all which were
ritual in nature.
As such, responsibility defines a “Quality of being which promises to
answer for the consequences of the actions taken in the original place”. A virtue,
etymologically reinforced here, of immense importance.
The absence of responsibility

Responsibility is not explicitly enumerated in Chivalric codes, Bushido, or
even in the Christian Cardinals, all of which focus on other virtues more
valor-like or spiritual. So why do I include it here?
For three reasons. The first is that responsibility is implied in each of
these codes. If you look at the language used to describe the virtues of
most warrior codes, the tone of responsibility is central, and the deeds
emerging from the exercise of those virtues, often reflected as much. In
Bushido for example, Samurai were willing to take responsibility for their
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actions and to restore their honor even at the cost of their own lives,
through the ritual act of seppuku. No other culture backed their words
with such a profound and symbolic deed.
Secondly, the scale of the civilizations who witnessed the emergence
of such schools of thought was far more local. There didn’t exist
“grand cities” (at least not as they do today) in which people could
hide, with widespread “welfare programs” funded by money expropriated
from people, for ‘public goods’, or “Wall Street” via which banksters
could create a never-ending array of financial products to suck up the
excess liquidity from a central bank that is literally robbing everyone via
inflation.
Yes - the Romans, the Chinese, the Japanese and the great European
empires of the Enlightenment all developed sophisticated societies with
administrative classes, bureaucracies and micro-versions of the statist
abominations we live within today, but they were far smaller in scale and
impact.
Finally, we are social species and naturally grow closer to those we
are responsible for. The linkages of mutual responsibility, and the
fulfillment of those responsibilities, are to a large extent the glue that
holds society together. Prior cultures were tribal, communal and deeply
connected, so responsibility was a part of their DNA. Today we live in a
hyper-individualized world: people are more connected to their iPhones
than they are to their families. Instead of being present at dinner, people
are scrolling Instagram, hooked by dopamine hits their personalized
social media feed literally feeds them. Instead of training together at the
gym, everyone’s walking around with headphones on, lost in their own
personalized playlist. Ironically, most of these playlists and feeds are
actually similar, which if anything, is a testament to our deeper desire
for connectedness.
We are so extremely independent, that we are alone. We’ve become
isolated from one another to such a degree that people, especially
the younger generations, have lost touch with how to connect and
communicate with other human beings. They literally text each other
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while sitting across from each other. Social experiments have been done
on the street where an actor will snatch a bag from a woman right in front
of a crowd of bystanders. Instead of doing something about it, people
will watch the crime occur in front of them, they will cross the street or
pretend to be on their phone to avoid doing anything about it. The ‘brave’
ones might record and post it on social media. In fact, it’s gotten so
bad that instead of being celebrated, the people who actually do take on
responsibility in public places, and do something about a nuisance or a
crime, are made an example of. Jordan Neely was one such case in 2023.
Extreme individualism is how you erode responsibility and are able to
take someone’s freedom or control them. A single branch is easy to break,
but tie a bundle together and it’s much stronger. All of the stupid rules and
regulations imposed on us, the humiliation rituals of wearing masks and
being x rayed and strip searched at the airport, are only possible because
we’re isolated and individual. The bureaucratic and parasitic classes need
this. They actively look for the lone wolf and swoop. Imagine some
petty mask enforcer trying their tactics on a group of deeply-connected,
responsible strong men. It doesn’t work. The petty tyrants lack the
courage and the will, so they convince us all that individualism is the way,
and then pluck us one by one.
The “renunciation of responsibility” has been baked into our very
social, economic, political, physical and psychological existence.
Modernity is one big game of Responsibility Hot Potato. It’s even coded
into the language we use and our cultural norms. You’re no longer
responsible for your own health, but somehow vaguely responsible for
everyone else’s. You’re not responsible for your own home, but vaguely
responsible for the entire global climate. You cannot defend yourself, but
you must be a martyr for the poor refugees in other countries.
Such inversions and perversions cannot last, except to the detriment
of the host, which is why I’m being explicit about this virtue for the
Bushido of Bitcoin. Responsibility is fundamentally at the root of all the
great virtues. In fact, you cannot truly practice courage, honor, duty,
justice or love without it. It must be central to the life of anyone seeking
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to be a leader, and core to the spirit and DNA of any new civilization that
we build from the ashes of the democratic welfare state.
Agency and NPCs
“There are three types of people in this world:

Those who make things happen,
Those who watch things happen,
Those who wonder wtf happened.”
Unknown
Responsibility is being “answerable” for one’s actions and accountable

for their consequences. It is a measure of maturity and strength.
Responsibility and the ability to respond, are liveness tests. The difference
between a living being with agency, and an NPC, is simply the virtue of
responsibility. It differentiates the living from the zombies.
Humans are adaptation machines. We observe, we ingest
information, we calculate both consciously and unconsciously, we
decide, then we act, after which we observe again, ingest, calculate,
decide and act - and so forth, until the day we die. The distance between
our actions and their consequences is a measure of how well we, and
therefore our societies, can adapt and improve.
The OODA Loop was developed by US Air Force Colonel John Boyd. It’s
a decision-making framework which stands for Observe, Orient, Decide,
Act. It describes a continuous process of interaction with a dynamic
environment: one observes the situation, orients oneself by analyzing the
information and past experiences, decides upon a course of action, and
then acts on that decision.
It was designed for application in a military context, but really,
it’s a description of agency and life. It’s about being aware of one’s
surroundings, orienting, making decisions, acting, then adapting as
necessary. The key to it all is responsibility and being accountable for the
results of the decisions you make and actions you take. Remove that and
the loop breaks down.
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Outcomes, results and consequences, like pain and pleasure are

feedback mechanisms. They are central to an actor’s ability to respond
and adapt. Adaptation is how life ‘finds its way’. In fact, if you cannot
adapt, are you really even alive? I would argue no. You are inert. You don’t
move by your own volition, but by the inertia of an external force. You are
passive. The unfortunate reality is many are like this. Some call it “going
with the flow”, while others simply remain oblivious to their environment
and operate in a state of eternal unconsciousness. They are the herbivore
equivalent of humans. Vessels for agents “in the Matrix”.
When your entire society is full of such automatons, don’t be surprised
that totalitarian states arise, supported by mindless crowds eager to obey
mindless mandates. Understand this: If you want to take away someone’s
freedoms, first relieve them of their responsibility. This is the trick, and this
is the psyop! While everyone’s been so focused on their “freedoms” and
“rights” they’ve forgotten about the other side of the ledger, and slowly
relinquished responsibility for all the things that matter in life, from their
minds, their body, their families and their relationships. They’ve become
dependants of the State, and wonder why they’re no longer “free.” The
truth is, they no longer deserve it. They’ve behaved like cattle, and have
come to be treated as such.
Oswald Spengler, in his book Man and Technics, differentiates between
different life forms, with a kind of hierarchy. At the base lies inert matter,
the non-living substrates of the world—rocks, water, and air. These are
the fundamental building blocks, lacking agency or the ability to respond.
They exist in a state of static equilibrium, subject only to external physical
forces.
Above this, we find plants. While still anchored, they represent a leap
in the hierarchy of life because they interact with their environment in
a more dynamic way, absorbing nutrients, growing, and reproducing.
However, they remain largely passive.
“It doesn’t take much intelligence to sneak up on a leaf.”
Larry Niven, The Ringworld Engineers
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The next layer is the herbivore. These creatures introduce mobility and
a degree of basic agency. Their lives are a constant search for food
and avoidance of predators, driven by survival instincts rather than a
conscious, vital, desire for life. They do not hunt - they gather and graze.
Their physiology and physiognomy are designed for defense. Their eyes
are on the side of their heads. They have impeccable smell and hearing,
to warn them of danger, so they can run away from something. They are
herd animals, similar to the Human NPC, whose physiognomy and life is
reminiscent of such creatures. You see it in their eyes: that often empty,
“deer-in-the-headlights” look. Their lifestyles are largely sedentary, spent
either in an artificially-lit office cubicle, or a home office with Netflix and
social media in hand while they graze on vegan snacks. This archetype
prides themselves on not eating their cattle brethren, instead, choosing to
ingest industrial sludge made of soy and chemical plant extracts, so long
as it comes with an ethical “vegan and cruelty free” tick on the box. It’s
no wonder the same kinds of people line up to be injected with strange
foreign toxins “for their safety.” There’s a reason we call them sheeple or
cattle.
“What is the opposite of the soul of a lion? The soul of a cow.”
Oswald Spengler, Man and Technics: A Contribution to a Philosophy of Life
Carnivores are the next stage of life. They are hunters. Their prey is
not a plant that just sits there, but a herbivore which runs, and is often
larger, heavier and can, at times, hit back. Furthermore, carnivores must
hunt and outwit both their prey and other competitors. This requires
a higher level of awareness and adaptability, a finer attunement to the
environment, and the ability to make more complex decisions. Their
physiognomy and physiology are once again designed for it. The eyes of
the preying animal give it a target. A lion’s eyes are in the front of his
head, so he can triangulate and attack. While the herbivore runs away
from something, the carnivore runs toward it. This direction is everything
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and once again describes humankind extremely well. Some people have
“predator eyes.” Their psyche & physiology are goal oriented. They choose
something to focus on then run toward it. They are by definition leaders
and rarely part of a great, massive herd, but a small, tribal pack. While
herbivores have strength in numbers, carnivores have strength in soul.
“The animal of prey is the highest form of mobile life. It

implies a maximum of freedom from others and for oneself,
of self-responsibility, of independence, and an extreme of
necessity where that self can hold its own only by fighting
and winning and destroying. It imparts a high dignity to
Man, as a type, that he is a beast of prey.
A herbivore is by its destiny a prey, and it seeks to avoid
this destiny by escaping without combat, but beasts of prey
must get prey. The one type of life is of its innermost essence
defensive, the other offensive, hard, cruel, destructive. The
difference appears even in the tactics of movement — on the
one hand the habit of retreating, fleetness, cutting of corners,
evasion, concealment, and on the other the straight-line
motion of the attack, the lion’s spring, the eagle’s swoop.”
Oswald Spengler, Man and Technics: A Contribution to a Philosophy of Life
Humans are the apex predator because we hunt the hunter. We transcend
all other life forms because we are imbued with the highest agency. We
are the animal of peak responsibility and adaptability. This is precisely
why we have conquered the world and learned to literally transform
matter and energy with our hands, our minds, and the mechanical
appendages they’ve produced. What you’re reading now and the very
fact that you can read it, is proof of that. Alas, many have forgotten
this. Nowadays, more humans are more herbivore than carnivore, and
the carnivores among us have lost touch with this vital energy. We’ve been
overcome by a sense of guilt about our greatness and in doing so have
shirked our responsibility. By dropping the load, we’ve become weaker,
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and left the world without leadership and guidance. Like sheep without a
sheepdog or shepherd.
The only cure is radical responsibility and ownership.
The psychology of responsibility
“He who blames others has a long way to go on his journey.

He who blames himself is halfway there. He who blames no
one, has arrived.”
Chinese Proverb
Radical ownership is not a new idea. It is deeply ingrained in the psyche

of the best of us, and remains a core tenet of high performing teams
and leaders. This is evidenced by the popularity of personalities like
Jocko Willink, retired Navy SEAL commander and author of Extreme
Ownership, and Jordan Peterson whose core message in 12 Rules for Life
is about taking responsibility and ownership. Before them, it was
Tony Robbins and the personal development crowd, with their emphasis
on owning what happens in one’s life and placing oneself ‘at cause’,
not ‘at effect’. Going back even further is Alfred Adler, the forgotten
father of psychology, whose entire psychological philosophy centered on
individual responsibility. For the great warrior cultures of the past, this
was a way of life. It’s always been there, and no matter how much modern
society conspires to ignore it, it will always be there, because it’s part of
our DNA.
Alfred Adler held the individual responsible for his own mind
and behavior, instead of “external events,” arguing that it wasn’t
on-going therapy or etiological reasoning, but the courage and honesty
to take personal responsibility which helped deal with psychological
issues. According to this school of thought, known as “Individual
Psychology,” each person is an integrated whole striving toward an
outcome: each feeling, each belief and action taken, while seemingly
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irrational, ultimately represents a choice made by the individual, not

something happening to them.
Adler infamously didn’t believe in trauma, which triggered his
contemporaries and especially modern psychologists. He didn’t deny the
existence of traumatic events, of course, nor the mental and emotional
scars they leave, but he emphasized that people have the capacity to
choose and direct their behavior, and therefore their reaction to such
events; yes, you may be traumatized, but that’s not the end of the story:
instead of placing yourself at the effect of trauma, powerless against it,
you have agency to deal with it.
His work is largely glossed over in modern psychology, most likely
because it negates the need for ongoing therapy, medication and the
never-ending labeling of every emotion as a syndrome or disorder, not
unlike how the Austrian School of Economics, which does away with
the bureaucratic central banking apparatus, is conveniently ignored.
Coincidentally, Adler too was Austrian; there was clearly something about
that region and era.
The problem with most modern psychology and all kinds of therapy is
that by dwelling on trauma we enable its effects, giving it both life and
significance. Looking back over the last century, mental health issues,
depression, and a plethora of syndromes and disorders have steadily
increased, in lockstep with the rise of ‘psychology’ both as a discipline and
as a well-funded institution.
We have come to ignore the body and the very things that make
us alive. We’ve drugged the feelings which are otherwise signals
to act, into oblivion and replaced them with numbness and docility.
Through this modern psychology, we’ve separated the mind out, while
trying to make everything safe, comfortable and not your fault. By
abdicating responsibility in this way, we’ve made it okay to be a victim.
Remember this: victims are not free! That is precisely because they
are not responsible for their own circumstances or how they react to
said circumstances. A victim is a slave, whether to circumstance or his
own beliefs. If you’re wondering why we’re surrounded by compliance
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maximalists and the world has turned into one big game of Oppression
Olympics, this is it. It’s not the grand conspiracies we should be worried
about, but the renunciation of responsibility, and the obsession with
things you cannot change or influence.
This is the whole point of Adler’s school of psychology. It is teleological,
meaning that it is concerned with the present and the future, the things
you can control or have influence over. Contrast this with essentially all
modern schools of psychology which are etiological: they focus on how
past events and biological factors impact psychology, that is, things you
have very little influence over. One is goal oriented, the other is causation
oriented.
In other words, you have more power and control over it than you’d
like to admit. Which is ultimately another way of saying you’re more
responsible for it than the world would otherwise have you believe. It’s not
what happens to you but what you do with it that matters. The bro-psychologists
were right again, as were the personal development gurus.
“No experience is in itself a cause of our success or failure. We

do not suffer from the shock of our experiences—the so-called
trauma—but instead we make out of them whatever suits
our purposes. We are not determined by our experiences, but
the meaning we give them is self-determining.”
Alfred Adler, What Life Could Mean to You
For over fifteen years I’ve triggered my psychologist friends by calling

depression an act or a behavior, not a syndrome or disease. You don’t
“get” depression, you “do” depression, by choosing to remain in that state.
It’s not just something that happens to you, or that you catch like the flu.
It’s a choice or at most, it’s a temporary feeling. Of course, life knocks you
down, and instead of feeling elevated, you occasionally feel de-pressed.
That’s normal, it happens to all of us - and it’s your body’s way of telling
you to take stock and introspect for a minute. This feeling is a healthy
signal from the nervous system to adjust your behavior, a warning that
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you are lacking focus or meaning in your life. Instead of using it as the
catalyst for change, or riding it like the wave of emotion that it is, modern
psychology short-circuits the natural process by teaching you to numb
yourself into oblivion with drugs, or marry the feeling and label yourself
“clinically depressed.”
Unsurprisingly, behind the myth that depression is a “chemical
imbalance” that needs to be “corrected” via the use of medicines or drugs,
we find a multi-billion dollar SSRI industry. But it’s a scam as blatant
as the idea that printing money creates more wealth. A recent review
published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, which looked at studies
involving thousands of people across decades of research - found no
evidence that depression is even caused by serotonin abnormalities, nor
by lower levels of reduced serotonin activity!1 Despite mounting evidence
against this myth, and the common sense, first-principles approach of
“bro-psychology”, the trends toward more drug use for depression and
less responsibility for choosing to don these labels both continue.
You are taught to feel powerless about whatever situation or
circumstance you are in, and as a result, you abdicate your responsibility.
Your ’trauma’ and labels such as depression, bi-polar disorder, anxiety
and the like are just enabling your choice to keep focusing on what’s
wrong, instead of doing something about it.
You are always choosing how to feel, think and behave, whether
it’s conscious or not. In the end, it serves a purpose. It is you and
only you that can associate meaning to an event or a circumstance.
Acknowledging this requires courage and honesty. You must resist the
modern, medicated, feminized, therapy infused schools of psychology
and instead choose responsibility. This approach will make you elite, in
the true sense of the word - and it will forever be the case, because it is
always easier to blame others for your feelings of inferiority. The hard
and noble road, the road of radical ownership is for the few. For the
responsible and the excellent.
1 Moncrieff et al. (2023), “The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the
evidence,” Molecular Psychiatry, 28/8, pp. 3243-3256.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
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“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way
I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of
one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given
circumstance.”
Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
The energy of responsibility

Responsibility applies more to adults than to children or adolescents, and
more to men than it does to women. Responsibility comes with maturity
and it carries a masculine charge. This doesn’t mean the latter cannot be
responsible - but there is a spectrum and a charge.
Responsibility is a weight. It’s something you carry, and men, both
psychologically and physiologically are designed to lift and bear weight.
It is why they are called to “carry frame” which essentially means to hold
space, demarcate territory and assert standards. When a man does so,
he brings order to the world around him, which frees the young and the
feminine to explore, learn, nurture, play and love.
When a man doesn’t take on this responsibility, he burdens those who
depend on him. You see it with children who parent their parents, and
with women who, because of the weakness of their men, have to pick
up the frame. Both in time develop resentment toward their parents or
partners because they cannot let go and be free.
“To be a man is to bear responsibility for all things.”
Jerr, The Wall Speaks
Weight and responsibility age you, which for a man is more acceptable
since we physiologically age later and remain fertile for longer. It’s not
the same for children and women. Ignoring this ignores the real cost.
We’re only children once, and exploration is critical for early development.
Women are literally designed to bring life into the world, and it is a man’s
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duty to create the frame and structure around her so she can do this safely
and freely.
We have a saying in my household: “Everything is my fault.” Wife is
annoyed? My fault. Food didn’t taste good? My fault. Traffic on the
road on our way somewhere? My fault. I really mean everything. It may
sound harsh, but it’s true, and I wouldn’t have it any other way, because it
puts me in a position of ultimate responsibility. It means I can fulfill my
instinctual role as a man and a husband, and more practically, that I can
actually do something about it.
This energy extends beyond the household and through to society. The
cycles of history can even be defined as the rise and fall of patriarchies.
They grow and conquer, only to be run by weak men, who are easily
corruptible and fail to maintain it. These weak men are then overrun
by more vital invaders who are more patriarchal. We are living in the
third innings: weak men behaving like women, and women, deceived
with stories of independence and careerism, acting like tax-paying weak
men. This not only lacks the strength of structure, but kills the charge
between genders. Instead of the attraction that comes from polarity, we
have the eternal friendzone: a place devoid of charge and life. Instead of
building, being fertile and flourishing, society is engulfed in equality and
sameness: where everyone is a copy of a copy of a copy.
This is all on men, who have abdicated their responsibility to lead and
bear the weight. And the truth is, because there can be no vacuum of
frame or leadership, the world currently operates from a feminine frame -
one which does not carry the charge of responsibility or order. One which
is not designed to bear weight, and is crumbling before our very eyes.
Feudalism and all warrior cultures were patriarchal. They were
hierarchy and responsibility-based, because they were father-led. A
matriarchal society is communal and egalitarian by nature. It works in
the home but it doesn’t work at scale. Civilisation demands excellence
and differentiation. The world is not a womb, nor is it the warm embrace
of the mother. The world is the wild, and it is a man’s duty to build
the structures that can withstand and protect. It is not a woman’s duty
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or responsibility to bring order to society. Her energy brings life and

vitality to the structure and order man constructs. It’s about time we
remembered this.
A man is designed to carry his responsibility, and the amount he can
carry is the true measure of his strength. A strong man is responsible
for his territory: he is the father who bears the responsibility for his
family; the man who runs a company and thus bears responsibility for his
employees; the man who mentors the young and thus bears responsibility
for the development of their character. This is what it means to be
powerful.
We all know that with great power comes great responsibility, but the
inverse is also true. With great responsibility comes great power, and
power is a good thing. For too long we’ve been told that “power is evil” that
“power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” but I’ve come to
realize that this is a lie.
Power only corrupts the weak. Power, like technology, is agnostic.
Put technology in the hands of a sadist, and they will use it to dominate
those weaker, and to bring down those who are better. This is
communism in action. It’s why everything that comes from communism
is ugly. It’s anti-life. It’s an attempt to make everything the same.
The man who bears the responsibility for his people or for an idea
that changes the way the world works, the Nikola Teslas, Steve Jobs, and
Alexander the Greats of the world. These men were the truly powerful.
Notice I did not say “Christine Lagarde,” “Janet Yellen” or “Joe Biden.”
When I talk about strength or power, I am not talking about the man who
steps on the ant and calls himself a hero. I am not speaking of the heads of
central banks, petty politicians, and meddling bureaucrats who exist only
to suck wealth out of the system. These people are too weak to actually
build something, so they lie, cheat, and steal from others. They are the
most dangerous kind: the weak with access to power. The envious and
the ugly.
It is our job, as men of strength, to claim power, by first taking
responsibility.
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Freedom is NOT a virtue
“Freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere

arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness.
That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the
East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on
the West Coast”
Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
The libertarians and freedom maximalists among you may have noted
that freedom is not listed as one of the virtues. This is because it’s not
a virtue but a value. Values are something you desire while virtues are
something you do. Freedom is a “state” we all seek, that can only truly
come about as a result of taking responsibility. In fact, it is meaningless
without responsibility. It’s like flesh without bones. It’s taken me two
decades to come to terms with this. My younger self held it as the
highest ideal - and a part of me still does - but freedom, like happiness,
is a side-effect. We experience it individually and collectively, when we
embody the virtues that make it possible.
Furthermore, it’s not even freedom that you really want. What you
actually want is agency and autonomy. Freedom is a nebulous term
like spirituality, which devoid of a clearly defined frame doesn’t mean
anything: at that point, we are talking specifically about autonomy, the
capacity to choose from a set of available options. Absolute freedom is
absolute chaos, which doesn’t really exist, or if it does, is unstable and
unsuitable for life. Freedom maximalism quickly falls apart with one
question: Where does your freedom end, considering it may be in conflict
with mine? This conundrum proves that freedom is only meaningful if it
exists within a framework of duties, responsibilities and boundaries (this
is the definition of autonomy) - and if you really want to enhance your
“freedom”, you need to increase your responsibilities and the boundary
of your domain (which requires power). You are not entitled to freedom,
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you can only earn it. When someone tries to take unjustly what you’ve
earned you must fight to protect it, and you cannot do that without taking
responsibility.
Consider the military dictum that ‘rank hath its privileges’. Privileges
can be understood as liberties or freedoms; and that they come along with
rank is not accidental, because the privilege of rank implies the burden of
responsibility.
“You have never tasted freedom, friend,” Dienekes spoke, “or

you would know it is purchased not with gold, but steel.”
Steven Pressfield, Gates of Fire
By way of example, King Leonidas I, whom we encountered earlier,

was the king of Sparta between 490 BC and his death at the Battle of
Thermopylae in 480 BC. He was one of two kings at the time because the
Spartan constitution established a diarchy—a system where two kings
ruled simultaneously, each coming from different royal families: the
Agiads and the Eurypontids. Leonidas hailed from the Agiad dynasty, a
lineage believed to be descended from the demigod Heracles.
It was Leonidas who took the initiative to lead a small force of Greek
allies, including his famous 300 Spartan warriors, in their heroic stand
against the massive invading army of the Persian Empire.
Leonidas was a king. A man with wealth and power, who like many
other city-state leaders of the time was free to side with the Persians in
return for silver and gold. But he didn’t. He knew the price for true
freedom was a responsibility to his land, people and legacy. So he chose
to fight, fully aware of the certain death that awaited. He led his men
against all odds, not merely as a duty to Sparta, but for the future of
Greek civilization, and what it represented. He chose freedom in death,
over servitude in life. He chose to be an agent, not a subject. He took
the responsibility to preserve what they valued most, while others ‘freely’
chose to do nothing. How many modern statesmen could compare with
such a man? None, of course.
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His leadership at Thermopylae and his decision to fight to the last man,
inspired and galvanized Greece into a defense that changed the course
of history. It also immortalized Leonidas and 2500 years later we still
remember his sacrifice. The Eurypontid king, on the other hand, was
entirely forgotten.
Rights and responsibilities

Most people who talk a big game about “freedom” and “rights” outsource
responsibility for their thoughts, their actions, their health, wealth,
families, psychology, safety, relationships, work and just about
everything else of import in life. The state, HR department, the
experts and the pharmaceutical companies now take care of all of these.
Feeling sad or depressed? It’s not because of how you’re living, what
you’re focusing on, the label you’ve adopted or your decision to blame
someone else - it’s just a lack of Prozac. Are you fat and unhealthy? That’s
not your fault, and certainly has nothing to do with what you’re eating
or your sedentary lifestyle. It’s a syndrome and a lack of Ozempic. A
few vials will fix you right up, along with a dose of body positivity! These
people are the opposite of autonomous. They are automatons.
Know this: responsibility and rights are reciprocal. In the same way
you cannot have freedom, without first taking responsibility for that
which you want to claim dominion or freedom over. The former is the
price paid for the latter. The only question is who’s footing the bill? These
are universal equations you cannot cheat: You cannot be responsible for
something and not have the freedom to act on it; you cannot have the
freedom to act without being responsible for your actions. It thus follows
that without responsibility, there can be no rights, no freedom and no
liberty. If freedom is one side of the coin, responsibility is the other.
The modern managerial state is an affront to this truth. It’s like a
giant condom suffocating society in a bid to make everything ‘safe.’ It
denies people agency over their own lives and reduces their exposure to
the consequences of their actions. This makes them stupid, weak and
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unable to adapt, and kicks off a vicious cycle. The bureaucratic apparatus
needs more stupid people to substantiate its existence, and more stupid
people need a larger bureaucratic apparatus to support them, resulting in
a spiraling reduction in responsibility, whose outcome is akin to that of
the condom it resembles: sterility. Sterility of ideas, sterility of culture,
sterility of products and services and ultimately, as evidenced by the
falling birth rates, actual sterility.
There must be a “Renaissance of Responsibility”.
Maturity
Responsibility was and always will be the most mature and evolved of
human attributes. You only transcend childhood and enter adulthood
when you take responsibility.
“Masculinity is male maturity: a measure of how

competently a man shoulders his age-appropropriate
responsibilities.”
Noah Revoy, on X.com
We live in an age of infantilism where everything is being “dumbed down”

so that the lowest common denominator of subhuman can ‘understand’.
It started gradually, decades ago, and is now at the ‘suddenly’ stage,
where math is racist and honest use of language is banned for offending
people. Can it get worse? I’m sure it can. Stupidity knows no bounds.
But can it last forever? No. Stupidity is also self-defeating. Right now,
the very thing keeping the show going is the fact that mature, productive
people foot the bill for the overgrown children throwing the party. As
soon as the money dries up, the party is over. This is actually another of
my favorite attributes of Bitcoin. It offers a release valve, and an exit for
anyone tired of paying for other people’s mistakes. This is good because
mature, sensible, responsible people can have more to do good things
with, while the immature will either be forced, by economic necessity, to
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mature or just dissolve in their own squalor. Either way, it’s a net positive
for humanity.
In this sense, there is a lot to be optimistic about. The tumultuous
period we’re in is a sign of humanity in the throes of adolescence. As a
species, we are on the verge of something greater and more profound.
We are mid-rite-of-passage, and the infantile part of us is throwing a
tantrum because it knows its time is up. But no matter the extent of the
madness, this too shall pass.
With greater maturity comes greater agency, and only with agency
does any real freedom exist. It’s your time to choose. Will you be the
main character or just another NPC? A victor or a victim? A carnivore or
a herbivore?
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Bitcoin & Responsibility
Bitcoin is the Renaissance of Responsibility.

The same powerful property rights that free you to do as you please with
your wealth also place the onus on you to secure it against loss, theft
and waste.
Responsibility is the cardinal virtue for Bitcoiners: you find it
embedded at every step, from the radical custody and storage methods,
the lack of “support line” or rewind button, to the importance of
privacy and the weight of the decision to part with sats, due to
Bitcoin’s deflationary nature. I’ve coined the term Responsibility
go Up Technology (RgU Tech) as a play on the “Number go Up
Technology” meme in Bitcoin circles, and I find it far more compelling.
One-way functions with no “rewind button” force you to think twice
about what you are doing. They come with added weight. Bitcoin
forces you to grow up, to be an adult: as the absolute owner of your own
wealth, you become the steward, the bearer and the guardian. This
is real power, and responsibility, the social implications of which are
nothing short of profound. Like nature, it is unforgiving: it’s as real as
it gets. You adapt to it, it does not adapt to you. Like life itself, it’s up
to you to decide how to direct your time, energy and attention.
If reality can be described as that which you cannot rewind or

reverse, then Bitcoin is the realest money we’ve ever had.
The infantilization of individuals is a regression and de-sophistication

of civilization. It is a sickness. Responsible Money is the cure. A
sound money standard will have a maturing influence on humanity.…
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It will go a long way toward the obsolescence of the managerial state

and the revival of agency. Through a relationship to responsible money
we have a chance to become more free, and with greater freedom, we
can look to the higher ideal of excellence and greatness.
Bitcoin makes the economic game fair and real. Nobody can win
because of a money-printing monopoly. Such fancy methods of
cheating become impotent. This cuts at the very heart of the parasitic
and short sighted world we live in. It ensures consequence is localized
and socialization of poor decisions is minimized. The onus is on
the individual to climb and prosper, within the context of a fair
economic game, made so through a radical ownership of one’s wealth.
Bitcoin rewards competence and responsibility, while stupidity and
carelessness is more likely to be penalized.
There is already some evidence that Bitcoin inspires responsibility
beyond finance: many Bitcoiners are reclaiming agency in domains
such as nutrition and health, knowledge, self-defense and survival,
family and the appropriate gender roles, and much more. It seems to
transform people who come into contact with it: “You do not change
Bitcoin, Bitcoin changes you.”.
The truth underlying the “Bitcoin Fixes This” meme is precisely the
localization of consequence for the actions taken by economic actors.
So will Bitcoin itself be enough to revive civilization? Time will
tell. We are now at the sink or swim stage, and the temptation to
behave irresponsibly will only get stronger with more wealth. As
we transition from the current paradigm to the new one, chaos will
increase and scams and psy-ops multiply. But, as the saying goes,
anything worth having is worth fighting for. These are the “interesting
times,” in which legends are forged. My prediction is that the
responsible will come out on top.
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優
秀
“While in India and even in China men seem to differ chiefly
in degree of energy or intelligence, in Japan they differ by
originality of character as well. Now, individuality is the
sign of superior races and of civilizations already developed.
If we make use of an expression dear to Nietzsche, we might
say that in Asia, to speak of humanity is to speak of its
plains; in Japan as in Europe, one represents it above all by
its mountains.”
Character. Excellence. Mountains - These are the symbols of nobility and

that which is most ‘good.’ Why? It will come to make more sense in the
sections that follow.
The Japanese word which most closely translates to “Excellence” or
“Greatness” is Yūshū, which is made up of two Kanji: 優秀.
The first kanji, 優 (Yū), conveys the idea of superiority and what for
most seems counterintuitive: gentleness. To be superior does not imply
that one is mean or brutish, but in fact comes with the inclination and
duty to be kind and gentle. As noted in a prior chapter, “love” comes
from a higher place and condescends. The kanji itself is composed of two
parts: the phonetic component on the right 憂 (yōu), which alone means
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“to worry,” and the radical 亻(ren, indicating “person” or “human”) on the
left, is a simplified version of 人. The combination suggests a person
of outstanding qualities, with an undertone of care and consideration.
Over time, 優 evolved to represent the integrated concepts of excellence,
superiority, and kindness both in terms of intellect and character.
The second Kanji, 秀 (Shū), represents the idea of standing out or
excelling. It combines the elements 禾 (nogi), a symbol for cereal or
grain, and 乃, which is an archaic possessive particle, meaning soft and
clingy. The imagery in this character can be thought of as a grain stalk
that stands out for being particularly tall or well-developed, symbolizing
the idea of being outstanding or exceptional. It can also be interpreted as
‘the ones who possess the grain’ which would denote status and nobility
in an agrarian society. Each of these interpretations imply “elite” - whose
etymology we’ll explore later.
Together, 優秀 (Yūshū) combines the notions of superiority and
standing out to convey the idea of “Excellence” in Japanese. This term
emphasizes not just achieving superior status or results, but qualities of
distinction and the surpassing of ordinary standards in both ability and
character.
In English, the word “excellence” comes from Latin excellentia, which
means “superiority” or “eminence.” It refers to the quality of being
outstanding or exceptional at something. The word is made up of two
parts: ex + cellere.
Ex is a word-forming element, which in English means “out of, from,”
but also “upwards, completely, without,” and “former”, and “out of, from
within; from which time, since; according to; in regard to” in Latin. Ex
itself comes from the PIE root eghs which means “out”.
Cellere is Latin for “rise high, or raise, or tower,” and its participle,
celsus, means “high, lofty, great.” They are related to Latin collis
(“hill”), or columna (“projecting object”). Their PIE root is Kel, meaning
“to be prominent”, and also “hill.” Kel is the basis for many words
you’ll recognise, both current and ancient: in modern English, colonel,
colonnade, column, culminate; in Greek: kolōnos “hill,” kolophōn
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“summit;” and in Baltic languages such as Lithuanian, kalnas “mountain,”

kalnelis “hill,” kelti “raise;”
Tying it all together, we find that excellence is the virtue of rising up
and standing out, emerging out of the ordinary, the commonplace and
the expected. Excellence is the virtue of distinction and significance.
Excellent is the man who climbs the mountain, and excellence is the
mountain.
Participation awards, democracy & the death of

excellence
“Set up standards of achievement open to all, to the least,

to the most inept—and you stop the impetus to effort in all
men, great or small. You stop all incentive to improvement,
to excellence, to perfection.”
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
Both excellence and greatness refer to a form of superiority and

distinction that reaches for the heights. They imply an earning, a raising
or climbing, all of which are emergent in nature. Excellence does not
come from above, but in fact leaves a trail to the summit where it is then
admired and beheld.
In the modern world, unfortunately, it has almost become a
derogatory term, as though ‘being the best you can be’ were some form
of extremism. And perhaps it is in this context. I couldn’t think of a more
fitting viewpoint in a world that attempts to amplify lies, glorify laziness,
applaud sloth, and praises “the average Joe”.
Collectivist ideologies such as socialism, communism and of course,
the most insidious, democracy, are all the politics of “average”. They
encourage people to trade excellence and personal potential for a ‘share
in a faceless whole’ in which they are merely cogs.
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A prime example of this ‘cancer of average’ that seeped into the minds
of my generation are participation awards. That sort of idiocy would have
been laughed at in prior ages. Today, these participation awards have
metastasized into the celebration of nihilism and indolence. We have
an almost complete inversion of virtue on our hands, where excellence
is sneered at and perceived as evil, while victimhood, conformity, and
disability are extolled.
In the physical realm it manifests as overweight mannequins, the
vilification of health and fitness as “extremism” and the lunacy that going
to the gym is somehow “bad for your health.” We’ve seen the utter
destruction of beauty pageants and swimsuit magazines, which used to
appreciate beauty and hold it to a high standard, but now let anyone in,
and worse, give the title to the objectively ugliest participants on account
of some ‘systemic’ disadvantage.
In the emotional and psychological realms, if you are happy, driven, or
confident, you are now seen as having a medical condition that needs to
be looked at. You are likely labeled as toxic, overbearing, or too ambitious.
In fact, if you are a healthy human who experiences both emotional
highs and lows, you are quickly labeled bipolar and doped up on drugs
to ‘stabilize’ you into some median range where numbness becomes
your center of gravity, and you lose the fuel that would otherwise have
compelled you forward into potential excellence and greatness.
In the spiritual realm, we are no longer taught about distinction or
quality, but about acceptance and ‘oneness’ - whatever that means. We
are fed a steady diet of spiritual complacency where “nothing is your fault”,
“you are enough” the way you are, “there are no consequences”, “we are
all the same”, “we’re all in this together”, and that if enough people in
the world simultaneously ingest hallucinogenic substances, we will all be
peaceful and happy.
Sounds like a Marxist dream to me.
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The soul of man craves war, challenge and distinction. Peace is for
recuperation and bliss is a reward, but if there’s nothing to recuperate
from or be rewarded for, what is a man’s purpose?
Beware of unearned rest and reward. The price you pay is the vitality of
your mind, body and soul. This is the path to decadence, the opposite
of excellence: the pursuit of the common and easy, in place of a striving
toward the rare and the great. It is the elevation of self indulgence over
self discipline, the valuing of now at the expense of the future, the rising
of time preference. Decadence mocks and denigrates all that is noble.
It elevates sarcasm, materialism, apathy, and detachment, all of which
ultimately lead to nihilism. Decadence is a demonstration of weakness,
and passivity.
“Decadence is materialistic - it mocks idealism, the

numinous, and the profound, and in place of the aesthetic of
beauty, it champions the ugly and the banal. Decadence is,
fundamentally, a manifestation of what is weak, shallow,
pretentious and vain. It is the philosophy, and the aesthetics,
of the coward.”
Chad Crowley on X.com
The only antidote to this sickness is a striving for excellence and a

commitment to bettering oneself.
Decadence decays.
Excellence elevates.
Excellence in a warrior context

A band of brothers in war are of ‘one mind and one body’. They live and
die for each other.
As Dyonekes said, “You fight for the man beside you.” In such a context
there is a dissolution of the individual into the group, from which springs
the unit or männerbund (alliance of men). But don’t get it twisted - this
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is not a ‘democracy’. This is a small unit of elites, each of whom would

die for the other in order to live forever in the hearts and minds of their
comrades.
In times of war, such a cohesive instinct prevails. The rational,
hesitant, self-preserving mind, anyone operating from that kind of
individualist paradigm, is eliminated.
In warrior cultures, men are spurred onward and they drive each
other upward by embodying and amplifying excellence. To be clear, this
is not the narcissistic urge for self-aggrandizement, but the desire to
earn the good opinion of their fellows, and benefit them. Men become
great individually so that they may be great collectively. This is how the
individual inspires his brethren and vice-versa.
“The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the
wolf is the pack.”
Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book
Note that mantras such as “we’re all in this together” work in such a
context, whereas they fail in a civilian or commercial context. Is it because
they lack micro-unity, and a code of virtue to orient toward? Is it because
they lack a war to unite them, and instead settle for a false peace that
slowly turns their drives inward? Could the continued domestication of
man cause him to slowly become resentful and bitter, like a caged animal
unable to stretch itself out into the expanse of the wild. Is it better to
be caged in safety or free in conflict? Is the ignorance of war, and the
internalization of these drives something that makes us not only weaker,
but also less likely to aspire toward virtue? Could peace in fact, be an incentive
for mediocrity?
As is often the case, context and scale matter. Scale because you
cannot have a band of brothers beyond a certain number. Deep bonds
and relationships are by definition scarce and few. Large scale militaries
have been defeated by smaller, tight-knit, mission oriented militaries for
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this very reason. Look no further than the late Persians against the Greeks,
and later the Macedonians.
Average in a civilian context

The opposite of excellence is not ‘bad’, but average. This is one of the
key distinctions that makes modern civilian and martial collectives so
fundamentally different.
While the latter must be small coherent units - their very survival
depends on it - the former are large conglomerations of people, masses
whose survival is less dependent on the man beside them, and whose
mortality is not a pressing daily factor. In time, at scale, and without
a unifying mission with strong leadership, these civilian collectives can
develop into political free-for-alls where the incentive is to be average,
or worse, incapable so as to qualify for handouts. This is democracy in
a nutshell. Without strong leadership and a cohesive code of virtues,
these civilian collectives lose their moral compass, they devolve into a
sea of needy victims demanding handouts. And those who have the
capacity to provide and produce must do so not because they want to, not
because they’re going into battle together - but because some bureaucrat,
who neither knows them, nor would bleed for them, said so. This
is a toxic cocktail for a society and we’ve seen it administered in our
modern day and age. It turns everyone into an enemy, and transforms
all relationships into purely transactional ones.
When this happens, the only dimension in which modern, civilian
man remains “together”, is his collective compliance and a ‘shared sense
of average’. Being just another number, who neither rocks the boat nor
rows too slow, while soul crushing, is at least safe. It’s also perfect for the
giant HR-apparatus of the modern state. The less excellence and variance
you need to deal with, the more easily you can manage everything. In
fact, the one-man-one-vote system of governance is quite useful for
maintaining this status quo.
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Under the guise of “equality and fraternity for all” these large civilian
societies condition people to ‘vote’ themselves rights for, and receive
benefits from, things that they have not produced but which they feel
entitled to. Why? Because the ‘average person’ is just here to participate,
and participation is enough. Attendance alone makes them deserving of
stuff, because of course, in such a society, “they are enough.” You deserve a
say just because you were born. Beware this trap of entitlement.
There is a reason why the greats, whether Socrates, Aristotle,
Alexander, Voltaire, Napoleon Carlyle, Nietzsche, Spengler, Sowell or
Hoppe have been so critical of such ideas as democracy and equality. They
identified them as the antitheses to greatness and excellence. Nietzsche
saw and described it more clearly than most. He envisioned an age where
everyone would feel permanently broken:
“Here everyone helps everyone else, here everyone is to a

certain degree an invalid and everyone a nurse. This is then
called virtue.”
In such an environment, strength and excellence are frowned upon, while

weakness and mere adequacy are glorified. In such an environment,
humans devolve into crabs in a bucket; this is where we are now.
I believe we shall one day look back on this age with pity, but also with
gratitude that there were some men willing to buck the trend of average
and ignore the siren call of ‘peace’, ‘ease’, and ‘average’. The warriors of
the modern age.
I hope Bitcoin’s brutal and unforgiving economic simplicity will
smash both equality and average to pieces so that those who inherit what’s
left of civilization will orient themselves in such a way that virtue, in the
deepest sense, becomes the North Star for themselves and those they
influence. In fact, I hope that Bitcoin can orient society in such a way
that we can engage in honest warfare and competition once more, where
winning happens because you’re better, not because you cheated.
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There are few things more noble than becoming the best you can be, in
your chosen vocation, your behavior, your etiquette, with your family, and
in your community. To do so requires effort and the sacrifice of your most
precious assets: time and energy. This is praiseworthy and the origin of
the foundations we stand on.
The great man theory of history

The “great man theory of history” says that the course of history is shaped
by the actions and influence of a small number of exceptional individuals.
These “great men” are responsible for many of the major events and
developments in history, because their decisions and actions have had
such an outsized effect on the world.
I wholeheartedly believe this to be the case because humans are
inspired to action in the presence of greatness. Sure, goblins and
leftists behave the opposite, and sheeple are largely directed by whichever
shepherd herds them, but this actually supports my position: when a
great man rises, the goblins are defeated and the sheeple are led to the
promised land.
It’s been the case in every generation across all of recorded history.
From Gilgamesh to Alexander, from Caesar to Christ, from Constantine
to Charlemagne, from Medici to Da Vinci, from Ieyasu to Meiji, from
Napoleon to Bismarck, from Jobs to Satoshi. It is the same in the greatest
fictional stories too. Tolkien, Herbert, Rand and Simmons wrote of
heroes, not of average men.
Greatness fundamentally gives direction. In the same way that the
great rivers absorb and carry forth the many streams that make it so,
greatness of character and spirit requires one to illuminate the direction
which the many will follow. In this way, they shape history.
“You’re just fine the way you are” and “be average” are the mantras
of today’s morally-bankrupt society, designed to discourage people from
standing out. “Don’t you dare shame others through your success or by the
achievement of a great feat”.
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Luckily for humanity though, the deep, inner desire for greatness
cannot be quelled. It burns inside the best of us, like the infinite flame
of the soul. In fact, it’s during periods of mediocrity that greatness builds
up inside of key men, gathering itself until it explodes on the scene.
“Great men, like great periods, are explosive materials

in which an immense force is accumulated; it is always
prerequisite for such men, historically and physiologically
speaking, that for a long period there has been a collecting,
a heaping up, an economizing, and a hoarding, with respect
to them — that for a long time no explosion has taken place.”
Excellence continues to drive the world forward, despite every social

construct seeking to shut it down. May it once again take its rightful place
as the North Star, as we transcend the era of equality. Let us once again
wage war on average in the pursuit of excellence. Let us become elites in
the true sense of the word.
Be elite
“The best choose progress toward one thing, a name forever

honored by the gods, while others eat their way toward sleep
like nameless oxen.”
Heraclitus
In our pursuit of excellence, we must reclaim the word elite. Traditionally

speaking, the elite were those who worked to improve their society. They
were the leaders of men, leaders of industry and patrons of the art and
beauty that fills the old towns strewn throughout Europe. Today’s elites
are not elite - but parasites who seek to undermine society. They spend
their time leaching from the producers, bloating the government with a
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bureaucratic managerial class, revising history and filling the minds of

the young with toxic ideology. Their goal is to weaken our culture with
degeneracy and ugliness. To sully our history, and leave the world ugly,
unsafe and uninhabitable while they retire to their opulent mansions
behind private security.
As a result, the word elite is today erroneously conflated with parasite.
This has to change. We must rediscover its root, and take it back. It comes
from Latin elitus, which means “choice” or “selected,” itself from eligere, “to
choose” or “to select.” The PIE root of the word “elite” is leg, which means
“to collect” or “to gather.”
To be elite is to be the ‘selected’. The choicest or the selected means
‘the best’ and thus to be elite is to be the best in your field, to be the cream
of the crop, to be distinguished and outstanding. In short, to be excellent.
Most people suffer from anti-elite syndrome. And while I can
sympathize, their misunderstanding of the true meaning of the word
causes them to point their vitriol in the wrong direction. In fact, many
are so brainwashed by narratives of the average man, that they’ve come to
hate anybody who excels. This disease of average is prevalent even in the
Bitcoin space. You hear it when people say stupid things like “we are all
Satoshi”, or celebrate being a “pleb”. This also has to change.
We are not all Satoshi. Satoshi did something far greater than any of us
probably ever will, and to lay claim to that is both arrogant and ignorant.
Yes - I understand the reference to the whole Guy Fawkes thing - which is
cute - but it’s extremely inaccurate and disingenuous.
Aspire to be “like” Satoshi in grandeur and virtue, but do not claim you
are him.
Furthemore, the pleb thing is not just cringe, it’s hands down false, or
will be soon enough. Just being in Bitcoin makes you part of tomorrow’s
economic “elite”. Barring any mistake, you will wield significantly more
financial and social power than someone who comes into Bitcoin a decade
from now.
What will you do with that power? Of course, that is the focus of this
book. It stands to reason that you must at some point come to terms with
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the fact that you are no longer a “pleb” but part of a small group of people
who are at the very least, economically “elite.” You should recognise this
and begin to develop the attributes of a more holistic individual, working
toward excellence in other areas of your life. You cannot hide forever
behind the pleb moniker as an excuse for sloth or poor behavior.
Humility is important of course: “stay humble”, but strive also
to upgrade your behavior, enhance your vocabulary, deepen your
knowledge, and become more cultured. With great power comes great
responsibility. You don’t want to be some rich turd in a Lambo, or the
eternal Twitter troll. There’s much more to life than that.
To operate on a higher energetic plane, we need a grander perspective.
We must climb the mountain. We’ve been tricked into believing that
“average” is ok, because it represents the little guy. But the truth is
that there is nothing aspirational about being average. Average doesn’t
require courage, passion, drive, responsibility or self control. Average is
a low energy state, and a small story designed to make you give up on your
dreams–to trade all you could possibly be for what you’re told you should
be.
Pursuing excellence is one of the highest callings in life, as is the
practice and cultivation of the virtues presented in this book. The world
needs strong leaders - not trolls, plebs or parasites - there’s plenty of that
around. As a Bitcoiner, this duty rests with you.
“Equality belongs essentially to decline: the chasm between

man & man, class & class, the multiplicity of types, the will to
be oneself, to stand out – that which I call pathos of distance
– characterizes every strong age.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals
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Bitcoin and Excellence
Bitcoin is a framework for excellence.

A lot of people think Bitcoin’s greatest contribution will be to lift the
masses up and “help the weak”. While that will likely occur, it’s my
(unpopular) belief that Bitcoin’s greatest impact on mankind will be
to make the strongest stronger, the best better and the most powerful,
more powerful.
This scares some people because they’ve erroneously come to believe
things like “power corrupts” or that “absolute power corrupts
absolutely”. What they fail to realize is that power, like technology,
is agnostic. Power is a measure of the rate at which work is done or
energy is transferred, it is the capacity to channel energy. Power is a
reflection of vitality and youth. These are not evil. On the contrary,
what’s evil is to be against life. What’s evil is to convince everyone
that the life-force inside of you, your ‘Will to Power’, is wrong.
If you want a powerful, meritocratic society, you must encourage
strong people to become powerful, by rewarding them for winning and
for merit! Not for cheating, lying or stealing, not for quitting and not
for just ‘participating’, but for achieving.
Bitcoin encourages a life-affirming approach to living. It is a
framework for excellence, and a bulwark against corruption. To win
on a Bitcoin standard, you must be better. When the parasitic are
starved and weak of character are no longer rewarded for losing, we
can reward the best of us and inspire others to be better, stronger and
more powerful.…
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In such a civilization, we can develop the power and thumos to travel

to the stars. Without it, we will wither away and recede into the dark
ages.
Powerful individuals = powerful society

Energetic individuals = energetic society
None of this implies the masses will or should be trampled. First of all,
true strength seeks not to trample the weak, but to test itself against a
worthy opponent. Second, a rising tide does and will continue to lift
all boats. Instead, what I am talking about is our collective focus.
You go where you look. If you’re always looking down, that’s where
you will find yourself. If you focus on the masses, don’t be surprised
if you get more “average”. On the contrary, if you can set your sights
on excellence, you are more likely to find greatness. Groveling in the
dirt comes from a different place in both the mind and the soul than
does reaching for the stars. It’s a different quality of energy. It’s the
difference between ascendant and descendant.
Bitcoin is alive and ascendant. It aligns us toward excellence because
it puts a real and accurate price on things. Like life itself, it is
unforgiving. There is no rewind button. Those who waste and
squander it must pay the price. Those who save, invest and deploy
capital, will reap the rewards.
History is shaped by great men. With the dawn of a new age, what will
you do, what seeds will you plant, what foundations will you establish,
how will you show up, who will you raise, that might change the course
of history and drive humanity to a higher energetic standard?
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尊
敬
“In its highest form, politeness almost approaches love.”
There are five dimensions of respect, each which have a direction: respect
for yourself, respect for others, respect for tradition, respect for authority
(that which is above us), and respect for your enemy. We’ll explore each in
the coming sections, but before we do, let’s look at the etymology of the
Japanese word, which is exceptionally rich.
In Japanese, the word for “respect” is sonkei, which is made up of two
kanji: 尊敬.
The first kanji, 尊 (son), means to revere or venerate someone that
is noble, or something that is precious. It derives from Tibetan (btsun)
meaning venerable and is also used to refer to something wonderful,
glorious or marvelous. It is composed of three elements: the top
resembles a wine vessel or an altar, which in ancient cultures symbolized
reverence for a deity or for high nobility: the middle part, 寸 (sun), means
“a small unit of measurement” which in this context conveys the meaning
of something precious or valuable; the bottom, 廾, represents a pair of
hands, which together means to ‘set in place a valuable or precious cask.’
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Together, 尊 represents valuing or holding something in high regard,

carrying it with esteem, and placing it where it belongs.
The second kanji, 敬 (kei), expresses ‘awe’ and the act of devoting
oneself or focusing attention on something. It is made up of two
elements: on the left, 茍, which is sometimes interpreted as a sitting
dog, symbolizing loyalty, watchfulness, attentiveness or deference, all
qualities associated with respect; on the right is 攵 (pu), a radical
denoting the act of striking, and the application of authority. Phonetically
speaking, 耂, an ancient character representing an old man with long
hair, (age or experience) is also embedded. The complete kanji signifies
both deference towards someone with wisdom, authority or experience,
and the act of concentrated devotion. Keep both in mind as we proceed.
Together, 尊敬 (sonkei) combines the ideas of esteem, reverence,
devotion and awe, brought together to convey the notion of “respect”
in Japanese, which underlies the social harmony characteristic of their
culture.
For completeness, we must also include the virtue of rei (礼), which
is more often referenced in traditional Bushido. Rei, most closely
translated as “politeness,” is about social etiquette and proper conduct,
and therefore deeply related to respect. It is also a Confucian term for: a
system of various regulations.
The kanji 礼 is a simplified version of the ancient 禮 which is a
combination of 示 (shi), a radical indicating “altar” or “show,” and
豆 (mame), which originally depicted a container for offerings, and
referred to ceremony and performing rites at an altar. Historically, it
symbolized rituals, formal conduct and ceremony; over time it evolved
to represent manners, etiquette, and ‘appropriate behavior’ - all external
manifestations of respect, or politeness. The modern form 礼 contains
the simplified radical乚, meaning: ‘to hide; to cover; to shield’ - representing
the care one takes with something precious. Altogether rei is about
being intentional and expressing both respect and devotion through one’s
actions and behavior.
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Both rei and sonkei are essential. They are also complementary.
Together they contribute to a more holistic understanding of respect.
While rei focuses on the outward expression of respect, sonkei emphasizes
the internal aspect. I believe this is a big part of why Japanese culture is
so rich in the dimension of respect.
The Western tradition in respect was similarly deep. In English,
respect means “to regard or notice with especial attention.” It derives from
French respecter, to “look back”, which comes from Latin respectere, the
frequentative of respicere, “to look back at, regard, consider,” which in turn
is made up of re- “back” + specere “look at”. The Latin form originates from
the PIE root *spek, “to observe”. We see the use of specere in other words
such as “introspect”, from the the Latin introspectus or introspicere, which
means to “look at, look into; examine, observe attentively,” from intro-
“inward” + specere “to look at.” Also in “to speculate,” a verb most maligned
in modern times, yet essential to the entrepreneurial function.
There is a clear intention when it comes to respect, and central to it is
an observation of that which ‘came before’ and that which is separate to
you. Modern society has lost touch with what came before and as a result,
turned itself into something more childish and petulant, demanding
“rights” and “respect”, but refusing to earn either.
Respect for oneself

Dignity is the highest ideal of the sophisticated and aristocratic man. You
cannot have respect for others without first having respect for yourself.
And like all kinds of respect it cannot be demanded or forced. It must be
earned.
To develop self-respect, you must do something that demands your
best. You must push yourself to, and at times, beyond, your limits.
Nietzsche argued that the path to self-respect and dignity lies in the
constant overcoming of oneself, in transcending the commonality that
fetters the masses in mediocrity. You cannot merely exist within the
confines of what has been deemed acceptable or comfortable; you must
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strive to push beyond these boundaries, to explore the reaches of your

potential.
The word “dignity” has its roots in Latin, derived from “dignitas,”
which means “worthiness,” and “dignus,” meaning “worthy.” It is not
something bestowed by societal accolades or external validation. It is an
intrinsic quality emanating from those who live according to their values
and who dare to create themselves anew through the fires of trial and
ambition. Such individuals do not seek respect; they command it through
their actions. They understand that to have respect for oneself, one must
be willing to suffer, if necessary, in order to grow, adapt and evolve. This
is precisely what makes such people rich, and ultimately, noble in their
bearing.
Ignorance of this fact is a large part of why the modern world is so
poor. It’s not only that infinitely printed money has hollowed out the
capital base of civilization, but it’s that people no longer have respect
for themselves. It shows in the abominations we call “modern art” and
the kinds of people in positions of influence and power; it shows in the
hatred and envy these people have for the beautiful and the great which
came before us. There is no more dignity in the mind, body or soul of
the mindless masses. There is only emptiness. The NPC is real, and it is
everywhere.
Case in point were the last few years. While adaptation may be
humanity’s greatest strength, it is also its greatest weakness. People
either adapt to freedom by taking on more responsibility, or they adapt
to slavery by renouncing it in exchange for what is often just the
illusion or promise of safety. As mentioned earlier, the slow, consistent
renunciation of responsibility leads inexorably to the erosion of freedom.
It’s very hard to notice early on because comfort and safety feel so nice.
The movie Wall E comes to mind when I think about this, and is a
caricature of the first few years of the 2020’s.
Never in my life would I have expected a sane human to degrade
themselves to the point of “showing their papers” and wearing a face
diaper in order to drive a car, eat at a restaurant or go to work. If you’d
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told me that in 2019, I would’ve said “No way. Every restaurant will go
bankrupt”. Clearly I was wrong. The slavish, mindless masses donned
their face diapers, injected themselves with experimental medication, got
their paperwork and lined up 6 feet apart so they could buy groceries and
eat food.
To lower oneself to such a level is to have no dignity and no pride. It’s
a clear example of a world filled with people who have adapted to slavery
because they have slowly renounced individual responsibility. Society
itself no longer has self-respect.
This is why a code of virtue is so important to have. Humans, as
adaptation machines, will adjust to almost anything. We can and have
adapted to a society devoid of beauty and dignity, across the board,
because we’ve forgotten the virtue of respect. This is doubly important
for men, considering they are the ultimate bearers of this responsibility,
and the recipients of respect. For a man to earn it from outside, he must
cultivate it from the inside. He must defend his name, his honor and
his reputation. He must strive to reach his highest potential, to develop
his mind, his body and his spirit, and finally, he must seek an honorable
death. He owes himself this much, and by doing so, he pays it backward
to his ancestors and forward to his descendants.
To fix society, we must fix the relationship we have with ourselves. To
build real wealth again, we must become wealthy from the inside. We
must develop dignity. We can and will adapt to something higher and
more vital, if we choose to. But it cannot come from a place of desperation.
Nobility is determined and driven, but it is never desperate. Holy Roman
Emperor Charles V advised his son: “Fortune hath somewhat of the nature of a
woman, who, if she be too closely wooed, is commonly the further off.” When drive
and determination become desperation, fortune backs off. You must
behave with dignity and composure, even in the worst of times. This is the
ultimate goal and the ultimate gift. It’s not how much money you have -
you can always make more of it later - but how much dignity you can build
and maintain. This is the virtue of true wealth.
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Respect
Respect for others

Samurai were expected to have respect for their master, their emperor,
other Samurai, and even their enemies. There was a decorum in their
behavior that signified their moral standing and therefore how they were
viewed by both their adversaries and their followers.
Respect, much like courage, was taught from a young age. Customs
such as bowing in the presence of others, or how to walk, sit, and speak,
were taught and learned with utmost care. These customs extended
beyond the home too. Thomas Cleary, in “Code of the Samurai” notes:
“Wherever you sleep, don’t point your feet in the direction of your
employer. Where you set up straw bundles for archery practice, don’t
let the arrows land in the vicinity of your employer, and when you set
your spear and sword on their racks, don’t point the tips toward him.”
This politeness toward others is something often mentioned by foreigners

that have visited modern Japan. Their deference in hospitality is quite
unlike anything else in the world. The following excerpt from Nitobe
vividly illustrates this:
“You are out in the hot, glaring sun with no shade over you; a Japanese
acquaintance passes by; you accost him, and instantly his hat is
off…..all the while he talks with you his parasol is down and he stands
in the glaring Sun.”
While a Westerner might assume this is foolish, Nitobe explains the

Japanese custom and line of thought as follows:
“You are in the sun; I sympathize with you; I would willingly take
you under my parasol if it were large enough, or if we were familiarly
acquainted; as I cannot shade you, I will share your discomforts.”
Do you recall what we explored earlier in compassion? Little acts of this

kind are not mere gestures or conventionalities. They are the “bodying
forth” of thoughtful feelings for the comfort of others. In Japanese culture,
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Respect
descendant from the virtues of respect and compassion inculcated in

Bushido is the idea that we should weep with those that weep and rejoice
with those that rejoice. This deep form of empathy is a remnant from a
prior age that is still embedded in the DNA of Japanese culture.
An example which struck me as particularly interesting and profound
is the approach to gift-giving in Japan. On the surface, it may seem a little
strange in the West, but when you understand the reasoning, it makes
sense.
In the West, when you give someone something, you sing its praises to
the recipient; in Japan, they depreciate or slander the gift. The underlying
idea is, to quote Nitobe, that in the West:
“This is a nice gift: if it were not nice I would not dare give it to you; for
it will be an insult to give you anything but what is nice.”
In contrast to this, the Japanese logic runs as follows:
“You are a nice person, and no gift is nice enough for you. You will not
accept anything I can lay at your feet except as a token of my goodwill;
so accept this, not for its intrinsic value, but as a token. It will be an
insult to your worth to call the best gift good enough for you.”
If you place the two ideas side by side, you’ll find their essence is similar,
but “The American speaks of the material which makes the gift; the Japanese speaks
of the spirit which prompts the gift.”- Inazo Nitobe
I believe such deep forms of respect and politeness are embedded in
Japanese culture because of the enduring influence of Bushido, and the
fact that it was the last major civilization on earth to dismantle feudalism.
The feudal social order gave pattern and structure to their culture.
There was a reason why table manners grew to be a science, tea serving
and drinking were raised to ceremony, and a man of education was
expected to master all of these. Which brings us to the spiritual discipline
of the ‘respect for tradition’, of which etiquette and ceremony were said
to be the “outward garments”.
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Respect
Respect for tradition
“Tradition is not the past, but that which does not pass.”
Dominique Venner
Julius Evola was an Italian philosopher of the mid-1900s who promoted

the values and principles of a metaphysical and perennial tradition as a
timeless unifying force. He was an advocate for spiritual and aristocratic
hierarchies as antidotes to modern egalitarianism and materialism, and
was a big inspiration for me, in coming to terms with this ideal.
I came to understand that Tradition does not mean a blind
subservience to that which came before - as critics of conservative
thought are often right to point out. For a true traditionalist, the value
in preserving elements of the past is recognized, but it is not universally
applicable. For example, there is very little in Communist traditions or
institutions that merits conservation.
Traditionalism is more than caution, timidity, or conservatism.
Rather, it’s a commitment to quality. It is the careful application of
judgment and discrimination. It’s acknowledging that certain things are
superior to others, and that striving for excellence across various domains
- be it in physical fitness, entrepreneurship, martial skill, religious faith,
or even homemaking - is worthwhile. Tradition is the belief in the
significance of distinction, from the humblest personal projects to the
loftiest economic and political achievements.
This is the genesis of etiquette. While tradition is inwardly
experienced as a reverence to those whose shoulders we stand upon today,
it is outwardly embodied in the practice of etiquette, which cultures
such as Japan, Victorian England and much of pre-1900’s Europe had in
abundance.
Sure, some practices became more ornamental than functional, but
their essence can be traced back to something more meaningful and
useful than moderns can easily comprehend.
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Inazo Nitobe spends almost the entire chapter on the virtue of

politeness discussing etiquette as the most “princely” of virtues and
one which has particularly deep roots in Japanese culture. A particular
example is the tea ceremonies Japan is so well known for.
“To a novice it looks tedious. But one soon discovers that the way
prescribed is, after all, the most saving of time and labor; in other
words, the most economical use of force—hence, according to Spencer’s
dictum, the most graceful.”
“Much less do I consider elaborate ceremony as altogether trivial; for
it denotes the result of long observation as to the most appropriate
method of achieving a certain result. If there is anything to do, there
is certainly a best way to do it, and the best way is both the most
economical and the most graceful.”
This “grace” in behavior was the practical element associated with
etiquette, but there was also more importantly a “spiritual significance
of social decorum”. Etiquette came to be understood as moral training,
involving a strict observance of propriety. By constant exercise in correct
manners, one brings all the parts and faculties of his body into ‘perfect
order’ and into such harmony with oneself and one’s environment as to
“express the mastery of spirit over the flesh.” The famous Ogasawara school of
etiquette in Japan summed it up in the following terms:
“The end of all etiquette is to so cultivate your mind that even when
you are quietly seated, not the roughest ruffian can dare make onset
on your person.”
While etiquette, to the uninitiated, is just an ‘elaborate ceremony’ - to

the cultured person, it is a reflection of spiritual strength, grounding and
depth. The word “gracefulness” actually means an “economy of force”.
“Fine manners, therefore, mean power in repose.”
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The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to respect these traditions. You
realize that while change is necessary, it’s arrogant to ignore or disregard
ceremonies or traditions that have developed over long periods of time.
Many are there for a reason, and have stood the test of time because of
their qualitative value. Removing them can open the door to all kinds of
disasters. One of the clearest examples is marriage and gender roles. The
west is facing its greatest ever decline in birthrates, not by accident. An
entire generation of millennial women in their thirties are having to come
to terms with the fact that their pool of suitable male partners has shrunk
by a factor of 10 overnight, because they were convinced to spend their
best and most fertile years working for somebody else in an office - all so
they could be a tax and wage slave. At the same time, an entire generation
of millennial chose to remain adolescents well into their thirties and are
now wondering why they’re alone and have no family, children or social
skills.
While many things have contributed to this and other social declines,
two key factors are the over-indexing for “progress at all costs” and
“equality.” This progressive mindset, applied to everything, has led to the
deconstruction of the very foundations that took millennia to build in the
first place. The wisdom of those who came before us has been disregarded
as archaic and irrelevant to the collective detriment of us all. It’s been
replaced with the clueless, shallow viewpoints most often adopted by
midwits and immature, self-proclaimed revolutionaries who are quick to
pull the rug from underneath their own feet, for some misguided notion
of equality or progress.
Thankfully, there are glimmers of hope. I’m not sure if it’s a function of
my bubble, or if my generation is maturing, but there seems to be some
real momentum back in this direction. People are slowly realizing that
something is “rotten in the state of Denmark.”
The idea that we’re somehow better than those who came before us
simply because we are more materially capable or politically democratic
is not only full of hubris, but wrong. Perhaps the only dimension in
which we can call ourselves “more advanced” is technology. In all else we
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have actually regressed. People are psychologically, physiologically and

spiritually weaker than ever before, and thus poorer where it matters.
Just because we found better and faster ways to manipulate materials,
does not mean we can do the same with basic humanity, morality, and
principles. Virtues, ethics, and principles are not materials - they are
something more enduring.
This is why a respect for tradition is so critical. Life is not only about
making material progress so that everyone can have a toilet and a fridge.
This is a Marxist misconception. An enduring and meaningful philosophy
of life observes that which came before it and pays its respects. Tradition
is not about regressing to the past; it’s about honoring the past. The goal
isn’t to rewind but to recognize and preserve the beautiful, the excellent
and the timeless for future generations. Tradition in this sense becomes a
spiritual and moral guide for the future.
Respect for authority
“Respect goes up, love comes down.”
Elliot Hulse, Podcast: Principles of Biblical Masculinity
Respect applies not just to the past or to tradition, but to authority -

another word most moderns have an allergic reaction to.
Respect and love are similar, except for their direction. Love
condescends, while respect ascends. I think a lot about the quote above
because it contains a profound truth.
As noted earlier, the Japanese language didn’t have a word specifically
for love, but there were virtues that came close to describing it: respect
is one of them. To “treat with deferential esteem, regard with some degree of
reverence,” was to respect your superiors.
The liberal, classical liberal, and modern libertarian movements, all
have major juvenile tendencies, one of them being this disrespect for
authority. In some cases, it is aimed at false, or fiat, authority, which
is fine, but it often goes much further - to their own detriment.
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Authority is necessary. Authority is sacred. When I talk of authority, I

am referring to earned authority, because that is the only true form. When
you’ve put 10,000 hours of blood, sweat and tears into a craft, you are an
Authority, with a capital A. You are the master, and traditionally speaking,
the apprentice comes to you to serve and to learn.
As a wise, moral and just authority, it’s your duty to lead, to guide
and to condescend your love onto those who come to you for advice, for
guidance, and for leadership. That is the point of a good leader, and as a
student, apprentice, or disciple, you pay for this first and foremost with
respect.
The Authority does NOT respect the apprentice, in the same way as
the parent does NOT respect the child. This is a complete inversion of the
love <> respect relationship. Respect goes up, and love comes down. The
master is superior, the apprentice is inferior.
This is the correct way in all functional hierarchies, and is a big part
of the reason the French Revolution broke so much more than it fixed. It
should be called the French Devolution, because it simply undermined all
forms of authority, from the father in the household, all the way through
to the father of the country, placing in their stead the Republic; that is, the
State.
Sure, there was a lot of fiat, unearned authority present in the 1700’s,
and perhaps this lack of true authority is what allowed for the inversion
to actually occur. Things had decayed to such a degree that change was
inevitable. The king was no longer worthy of leading or sitting on the
summit. Perhaps there was such a clamoring for one’s own skin, that
structure, respect, and order be damned - each layer of the hierarchy
sought to invert the one above, until the entire social structure was upside
down, or inside out.
Whatever the case, the net result was that respect was forced to flow
the other way, and in the process “love” was replaced by spite, anger, and
hate. This is what happens when you break order and inhibit the natural
flow of things.
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Napoleon brought order and hierarchy back for a time. His

competence, particularly in warfare, helped cement his authority - but
we all know what happened next. Unfortunately, the disease caught on,
and the European decay truly set in.
The net result of these inversions was the opening of an equalitarian
Pandora’s Box that destroyed Europe and from which a never ending
stream of new absurdities continues to emerge to this day.
In order to buck this trend and heal, in order to build a strong future,
we must, as we move forward, do two things. We have to rediscover,
reconnect with, and learn to respect the cultures and traditions of the
past, and secondly, we must reconstruct hierarchies of competence. We
must place authority where it belongs and orient ourselves around it.
Doing so may be the only way we can heal the divides and allow for love
to flow once more.
Respect for your enemy
“It’s better to be the enemy of a good person, than the friend

of a bad one.”
Japanese Proverb
We discussed elements of this in the honor and courage chapters but it

bears repeating here. That felt for the enemy is perhaps the noblest of all
forms of respect, because it’s the hardest to do.
If the greatest life is lived by being the most vital, forthright,
courageous, and honorable version of yourself, then it stands to reason
that your greatest enemy will challenge and call upon the greatest parts of
yourself. What greater gift could one ask for than a life fully lived?
Ancient warriors considered a “good death” at the hands of a “worthy
adversary” one of the highest possible achievements, for it compelled
them to greatness. As such, while they sought to defeat and kill their
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enemy, they took them on with profound respect. They didn’t see them as
‘evil’, but saw the better man as the victor. This is such an important point.
This reminds me of Nietzsche’s conceptualisation of good and bad,
instead of good and evil.
The idea of ‘evil’ was conjured up by those who could not compete with
‘good’.
The ancients and nobles did not concern themselves with such petty
ideas, and you see it in the grandeur of their texts. In Homer’s Iliad,
for example, neither King Priam nor Hector were painted as either “evil”
or pure “villains” even though the Iliad was written by the enemy of the
Trojans. If anything, Homer emphasized the nobility of the Trojans, and
the story is therefore one of a higher and greater struggle. I believe this
is what makes it more truthful (factual is irrelevant), and is the reason it
has stood the test of time.
Traditionally speaking, nobility never considered the lower types their
enemy. They didn’t even register them. The enemy was an opponent of
similar vitality, and to win meant to defeat them on a level playing field,
because you were genuinely better.
“To become better, I must play a fair game, not some rigged
stupidity where I “win” because the other guy had his hands
tied behind his back. There is neither honor nor dignity in
that. One does not get better nor advance by cheating. That’s
what the plutocrats and parasites do not understand, that’s
why they are inferior, and that’s why they will forever be
bitter and envious of the natural elite.”
Aleksandar Svetski, Remnant Part 4.
Samurai culture, and the entire saga from Nobunaga through Ieyasu and
on to the ultimate unification of Japan under the Tokugawa Shogunate, is
full of such deep, memorable struggles.
One that comes to mind is linked to the blood-stained ceilings of
five serene temples in Kyoto Prefecture. These temples – Yogen-in,
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Genkoan, Shoden-ji, Hosen-in, and Myoshinji - house ceilings made

from the floorboards of the Fushimi Momyama Castle, where Ieyasu’s
feudal lord, Torii Mototada, and his 380 warriors held out for 11 days
against a vastly superior force of 40,000 soldiers. When they were finally
breached, instead of surrendering, Mototada and his men committed
seppuku (ritualistic suicide), resulting in their blood soaking into the
floorboards. These warriors were honored and became legend. Today
they are remembered through the story of “The Bloody Ceilings of Kyoto.”
The greatest contests, battles, and most valuable trials come from
competing against that which could actually defeat you. And even if you
are defeated, as Mototada or Leonidas and his men were, by staring death
down, you honor life, and your name lives on forever. This is the gift of a
worthy adversary.
To be truly honorable and worthy of remembrance, is to have respect,
for yourself, for others, for tradition, for authority and and even for your
enemy. This is key to a richer, deeper and more meaningful connection to
life.
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Bitcoin and Respect
Bitcoin is a unique blend of classical principles and modern

technology.
Its relationship to respect is to do with hierarchy and authority.
The framework for excellence we discussed in the prior chapter also
establishes a hierarchy rooted in competence and merit. In other
words: a natural order.
This is one of the unique things about Bitcoin. While it is a
new technology, and a fundamental reinvention of money, it is
simultaneously a nod to the life-affirming principles that have, and
always will make humanity ascendant.
Every age of greatness is marked by an adherence to a set of virtues
and principles. By creating a monetary network, which like life, has
no rewind button, those same virtues once again become prevalent. In
a more economically honest world, we begin to respect what works.
We rekindle a respect for authority and tradition. We develop the
maturity to respect one another, because we respect ourselves, as more
sovereign individuals.
Bitcoin is the dignified individual’s choice…
…not because it’s going to help all the disadvantaged, but because it’s
fair and right. Bitcoin is not for altruistic virtue signaling, but for
better, fairer competition. That’s what counts, and it’s only in such an
environment that the best of us can emerge. It’s our duty to plant the
seeds for this.
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As stated, all these forms of respect start with a respect for oneself.
When dignity is lacking at the individual level, it makes for weak, poor
people and a weak, poor society.
There is no dignity in working, building a business, and trading
what you’ve produced for toilet paper money printed by a bunch of
bureaucrats 10,000 miles away, especially when they can just print
more of it for their own benefit, at your expense.
How can you claim that you are free and sovereign, when you work,
expending real time and energy in exchange for that which another
can literally conjure up out of thin air?
Would you go to work tomorrow and at the end of the week accept
payment from your boss in the form of a high-five, or some sticks and
stones? Of course not. So why would you demean yourself by trading
your labor for literal Monopoly money? There is no dignity in this.
Bitcoin is about respecting oneself and having the dignity to know your
worth, which then radiates outward.
A strong and vital society is one where people’s labor, value, effort, and
ingenuity are genuinely rewarded, while the parasites and “traders”
are starved. One where, as Confucius said, “the producers are many,
and the consumers are few.”
This requires a re-evaluation of time preference, which at scale, is
determined by the hardness of the money and the quality of the culture.
A Bitcoin standard goes a very long way toward fixing this.
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忠
義
Duty and loyalty are often seen as separate virtues, but in Japanese
Bushido they were combined as the broader and more holistic “Duty of
Loyalty”. I’ve thus chosen to combine them in a similar way here, because
duty can be understood as the practical expression of the bond that is
loyalty.
“The duty of loyalty, was seen as the keystone making feudal

virtues a symmetrical arch.”
Bushido and Chivalry share a number of virtues in common with other

systems of ethics, and it is this one above all that is their most distinctive
feature: a sense of loyalty to your comrade and a fealty to someone or
something greater, whether to lord, king, country, God or glory.
The Japanese word for “loyalty” is chūgi, which is made up of two Kanji:
忠義.
The first kanji, 忠 (chū), represents the concept of loyalty, devotion and
duty to someone or something higher. It is composed of two elements:
the bottom radical, 心 (kokoro), meaning “heart”, and the top radical,
中 (naka), meaning “middle” or “center.” This symbolizes the idea of
one’s heart being centered or steadfast, conveying a sense of unwavering
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devotion and fidelity. A sense of connection to another, originating from

deep within one’s values and psyche.
The second kanji, 義 (gi), as we have seen with the Japanese word
for “justice” (seigi), represents righteousness or justice. It combines 羊
(sheep), symbolizing a sacrificial animal in ancient rituals, and 我 (ga),
meaning “self”, thus conveying the idea of setting aside personal interests
for higher principles, a promise, a moral duty, and a commitment to
doing what is right.
Together, 忠義 (chūgi) combines the steadfastness of the heart with
the commitment to a righteous promise. This term reflects both a duty
and devotion to some higher cause, but a loyalty and fidelity grounded in
ethical principles and a deep desire to follow through, regardless of the
consequences.
It’s worth noting briefly that the modern Japanese term for duty
is 義務 (gimu), which encompasses the idea of obligations and
responsibilities one has towards society, their family, or their personal
roles, with 義 (gi) once again meaning “righteousness” or “justice,” and
務 (mu) “task” or “service.” For our purposes, I’ve chosen to focus on chūgi
as the closest interpretation of this virtue.
Once again, we find similarities in the origins of the English word
“loyalty.” It comes from Old French word loialte, which means “fidelity”
or “faithfulness”, and is related to leal from the Latin legalem, from lex
or “law”, in reference to being “faithful in carrying out legal obligations; or
conformable to the laws of honor.”
The PIE root *leg- is fundamental in understanding this connection.
It signifies “to collect” or “gather,” and it forms the basis for a wide
range of terms associated with law, legislation, and legal obligations
across various Indo-European languages. The root reflects the process of
collecting or gathering societal norms and codifying them into laws and
regulations. This process is inherently linked to the concept of loyalty,
as being loyal in this context implies a commitment to uphold, follow,
and gather around the set of laws and ethical standards that a society
establishes. Fealty also arises from this root.
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In ancient societies, the law was not just a set of rules but a collection
of the moral and ethical expectations of the community. To be loyal, in
this sense, meant to adhere faithfully to these collected norms and to act
in a manner that was in accordance with the collective wisdom and legal
frameworks of one’s community. Loyalty thus not only refers to a strong
sense of commitment or devotion to someone or something, such as a
person, group, cause, or principle, and a fidelity in carrying out one’s
obligations; it also entails a commitment to the law and its underlying
principles of justice, honor, and communal welfare.
“Duty” comes from the Old French word deu, which means “owed” or
“due.” It refers to an obligation or responsibility that one must fulfill
because of a social or moral code. Its Latin roots are found in debere,
meaning “must” or to owe something, to be under obligation to and for
something, or to be bound to do something; “I ought”, “I must”, “I should.”
The PIE root *gʰabh- (“to give or receive”) is closely related to “habere”
(to have). This root encapsulates the exchange of goods, services, or
promises, laying the groundwork for the concept of duty as an owed
obligation: “I have to”.
Note how energetically and practically speaking, duty and loyalty are
both closely related to both honor and respect, and much like both, are
virtues of nobility. To remain faithful, to keep your word, to carry out your
obligations, to be bonded by your word, to pay your dues, to earn your
stripes, and do what you said you were going to do - these are the traits
and behavior of an elite individual, a gentleman, and of an aristocrat, in
the traditional sense of the word.
Loyalty: beyond the individual

If love descends and respect ascends, loyalty goes both ways. It is the glue
which bonds relationships that transcend mere commerce, proximity and
even respect. One can trade with and have respect for a stranger, even an
enemy - but one owes neither loyalty. This is a virtue reserved for the few.
The concept of loyalty to something beyond oneself, central to
Samurai and other warrior cultures, is something lost in the world of
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the individualist. Coming to terms with this reality has been quite
profound for me, especially having been so enamored with the modern,
libertarian-like creeds of individualism. My prior book was even centered
around the virtue of individuality! But I’ve come to realize that the
Randian / Rothbardian / Anarcho-Capitalist creeds feel rather empty,
cheap, and isolated in comparison to the richness and profundity found
in warrior cultures.
Consider the depth of bond shared between warrior clans and band of
brothers like Alexander and his Royal Companions, or the Sacred Band of
Thebes, the Persian Immortals, the 300 Spartans, the Templar Knights,
the 47 Ronin and other Samurai clans, or the Arthurian Knights of the
Round Table. These sorts of ‘männerbund’ - a brotherhood of men, with
shared values, rituals and loyalty to each other - literally transformed the
world, and built the very foundations we stand upon today.
Similar bonds exist today, but they are fewer. And those at scale have
metastasized into something shallower. You see it in street gangs for
example. There is loyalty, but not of the same flavor because they are
often driven by fear, money and Instagram-status. There might even be
honor in these organizations, but they are missing the other virtues and a
higher raison d’être for why they exist. But despite being only an echo of the
männerbunds of old, there is something here for us to learn - and that’s
the fact that there is a yearning for brotherhood and loyalty among men.
There is a desire to form a tribe, despite years of social conditioning that
“tribalism is bad”. Turns out it’s not. Turns out it will always occur, and
if not guided consciously and ritualized, it will become an ugly, violent
version of itself.
The degree of ‘asabiyyah’ within a community determines whether
it will rise or fall. Asabiyyah is an Arabic term referring to group
consciousness, solidarity, and self-belief. It is not necessarily based on
race, but on kinship and the loyalty that binds a group. Medieval Arabic
historian, Ibn Khaldun, popularized the term as the chief ingredient in
the rise and fall of civilizations.
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We must recognize that while yes, the individual is the only ‘real’ unit
in a society, it is the tribe that is most important. Humans are social and
familial creatures. We do not, and cannot exist as individuals. We are
biologically and psychologically designed to live and operate in groups,
and the in-group, the tribe, is held together by loyalty. This metaphysical
territory must come first: before economic reality, and before, in many
cases, one’s own life. When a tribe becomes an individual unit, it creates
the kind of force-multiplier that can transform the world. In fact, it’s
the only way to establish tradition and culture, because these emerge
from the tribe whom you are loyal to, build bonds and establish norms
with. Loyalty is beyond immediate commercial concern - it is about low
time preference and lineage. Loyalty to the tribe implies a loyalty to
one’s traditions and lineage, to one’s ancestors and descendants. Once
again, this is ever more important for men. We exist today because our
ancestors fought and toiled. They invested their time, their energy and
their life force into the creation of what has culminated into you and I.
We each have a responsibility to continue this unbroken chain, to add our
time, energy and life force to it, and to pass the baton to our descendants.
As men of honor and loyalty, we bequeath unto our children, and thus
their children, and their children’s children, unto eternity, lessons, genes,
ideas, capital, blood, and a story. It is your duty to make sure all of these
elements are as vital and meaningful as possible.
Flattery is not loyalty

For a long time I believed that individuals are all that exist or that
collectivism and just being a part of a group while losing one’s own agency
is the root of all evil. I even at times believed that loyalty was an outdated
concept, that tribalism was brutish. The trouble with all such misguided
beliefs is that there is a kernel of truth in them. To untangle what’s true
from stupidity requires understanding nuance, so allow me to establish
what I do not mean by loyalty and duty.
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Loyalty is often conflated with ass-kissing or flattery - especially in

modern circles where material wealth has become the ultimate goal.
You see this in the so-called “high classes” of today’s social circles: the
Hollywood or MTV types, or the crypto-bros wearing Louis Vuitton
jumpsuits and Rolexes, showing off to their followers, surrounded by a
close group of NPC yes-men with no agency of their own.
In warrior cultures, such sycophantic sucking up to the master or
lord was scorned. They valued dignity and gave respect where it was due.
Think about how the first leaders and kings must have come about. They
were not entitled little brats as Netflix would have you believe. They had to
prove themselves leaders of men. Over time, some of these lineages and
cultures devolved into ass-kissing where natural authority was replaced
by fake authority, but there was often some sort of violent ‘cleansing’
that rebalanced things and reformed a hierarchy worthy of fealty. This
correction has always been necessary and is precisely where we find
ourselves today. In order to build a new culture we must sacrifice the false
gods and idols it holds up as beyond question.
“A man who sacrificed his own conscience to the capricious

will or freak or fancy of a sovereign was accorded a low place
in the estimate of the Precepts. Such one was despised as
nei-shin, a cringeling, who makes court by unscrupulous
fawning, or as chô-shin, a favorite who steals his master’s
affections by means of servile compliance.”
The other nuance is to do with conformity. It’s critical for a tribe to operate
as a unit, and I’ve come to understand that sometimes, leadership has a
better view or a grander plan which the team must follow - even if it means
doing so blindly. But, once again, this doesn’t imply lack of agency. The
Samurai were some of the most fiercely loyal warriors in history, but if
they saw their lord or leader dishonoring himself repeatedly, they would
take action - even if it meant sacrificing themselves through a ritual act.
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Keep these nuances in mind. When I speak of loyalty, I don’t mean

sycophantism, but a deeper bond between people. I’m not talking about
blind obedience but cohesion and unity. Loyalty always comes from a
place of dignity, love and respect - even though it is neither of the three.
Duty & love

I have already mentioned that feudal Japan had no direct translation of
the word “love”. The duty a wife had to her husband was a form of loyalty
and respect, which combined to represent their conception of ‘love’. More
broadly speaking, and depending on the context, words like benevolence,
compassion, politeness, and in fact, duty were used.
Duty can be understood as an expression of the loyalty you have to one
another. It isn’t unlike love, yet different. A Samurai had a duty to the man
beside him and to his lord. He would be ready to give his life for both.
In Bushido, the chivalric codes of Christendom, and among ancients,
dutiful respect had a reverent, ascendant charge, much like respect. It
was upward flowing to that which was considered socially, hierarchically
or spiritually above you. The children and mother to the father, the
Samurai had a duty to his daimyo, the daimyo to the shogun or emperor,
and the emperor to the gods, what we in the west might call, “the higher
good”.
On the flip side, was noblesse oblige - a French phrase meaning
that the obligations of nobility extend beyond mere social or economic
status. Noble status was understood to come with significant ethical
responsibilities and duties to act generously and nobly toward those you
protect, govern, lead and provide for. This is the kind of love the noble,
the lord and the king has toward his people. He considers them “his
people”, much like the husband does his wife and children, or the master
does his apprentice. This is the magnanimous kind of duty and love,
condescending from above as compassion and benevolence.
This condescension, together with the ascendant, respectful duty
subjects had to their superiors and the loyalty they each had to each
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other, made feudalism the basis for the most powerful cultures around
the world and is why feudalism was so stable, contrary to popular belief.
The average peasant had objectively less resources and material wealth
than the average person does today, but he also worked only 2 out of 3
days, had a big family, and celebrated holidays. Compared to modern
wage-slavery, loneliness, tax harvesting and theft via inflation, feudal life
doesn’t sound so bad.
Duty, love and respect are necessary in a functional society, and they
pass through tiers from the little, through to God, and back. Children
respect their mother and father, the wife, her husband, the husband, his
lord or his mission, and so forth up the hierarchy to God or the gods, and
back again as each tier condescends love, while providing and protecting.
They each have a duty to each other.
Some of this thankfully still exists, and I’ve seen a renaissance in
this sort of thinking that gives me hope. Behaving in such a way is a
form of maturity and humility. But we need more, because the humility
associated with duty has been eroded to the point where even people
reading this might be correlating it with slavery or servitude. This is a
childish viewpoint.
Think about it this way: Jesus considered himself a servant of men,
despite being a leader. He embodied the most magnanimous kind of love
and in return was revered by all. There is a quiet dignity in service, and the
virtue of duty is the embodiment of dignity in the service of that which you
love most. That’s the essence of the term.
The greatest leaders throughout history were similar in their nature.
They didn’t demand loyalty or respect but earned it. They loved those they
led and felt a duty of care toward them, while maintaining a duty to that
which they aspired toward or fought for. Those who followed felt a duty
toward both their leaders and the greater good, which formed the basis
of their loyalty.
Contrast this with modern society, where loyalty and duty are
sniggered at. There is an abundance of soft men and if we are to be
the strong men of the next cycle who build structures that will absorb
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the worst of future weak-men cycles, we should ask ourselves today the
following questions:
What is it that you have a loyalty toward, or are willing to pledge
allegiance to? What is your duty or mission in life? Who and what do you
love enough to go and fight for? What will you sacrifice when the time
comes to pay the price for your beliefs?
Duty & sacrifice

Duty is the exercise of loyalty when it’s hard or inconvenient to do so. This
is why it requires courage, respect, selflessness, and most importantly
sacrifice.
Moderns often view sacrifice as a superstitious relic of the past. This
happens on both sides of the philosophical and theological aisle. Whether
it’s the soft Christians who read the Bible and make rationalizations
about sacrifices being purely “metaphorical”, or the historians and
anthropologists whose scorn you can taste when they describe the
‘barbarity’ of the ancients and their methods. What they both fail to
realize is that real sacrifice is deeply spiritual, symbolic, and righteous
- and that’s why it is both holy and meaningful. A sacrifice is the action or
embodiment of true duty and loyalty in the service of that which you love
and honor.
Ironically, despite this conceited air of superiority, symbolism and tea
leaf-reading still run much of the world. We’ve removed the pain and
sacrifice elements to make the symbols more palatable, but things haven’t
really changed much beneath the surface. Look no further than the top
end of economics and finance. People hang on every word the Federal
Reserve chairman says, trying to divine what they mean by this word or
that gesture. Like voodoo on a grand scale, traders begin to draw pictures
and patterns on charts while using magical “sentiment analysis” all in an
attempt to decipher and predict what will happen next.
I say this not to discredit the importance of symbology, but to make
clear that this is a deep part of our psyche. The symbology of sacrifice
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still moves us. It’s found in the greatest stories, and is the substance
of the most profound words we read or hear, and the bravest of acts we
see. Just because we’re not sacrificing goats anymore, doesn’t mean we’re
any different from our ancestors. We’ve only changed the setting and
the desired outcome - which is where the decay seems to lie. Instead of
prophesying greatness and glory, we’re prophesying how to get rich quick
so we can acquire “creature comforts”. Instead of real blood sacrifice,
we’re playing risk with video games and internet funny money.
Humans are profoundly symbolic creatures, and there is a depth of
realization that comes with the act of sacrificing that cannot be described
in words. Whether that’s the sacrifice of an animal to a higher power -
representing your sustenance - or the burning of the boats to take the
island - representing your escape or chance for survival. A real, tangible
sacrifice charges human beings in a way that fundamentally transcends
the spoken word. It is ineffable.
Symbolism is the most powerful artform, and sacrificial acts are the greatest
expression.
Modern equivalents are of course of a softer nature, but still important.

Leaving a relationship, for example, in order to become the best version
of yourself is an act of sacrifice. You may have to let someone you love and
are comfortable with go, in order to truly become the person you need to
be.
In order to build something of great value—a business, a book, a
home—you may need to sacrifice time with your friends and family, your
health, your free time, and your immediate enjoyment, but as the 20th
century Dutch historian Johan Huizinga said: “The height of heroism is
reached in men who renounce the pleasures of life.” There is a reason why time
preference is the ultimate marker for the health of a civilization.
Bitcoin is actually a great example here. To learn about Bitcoin and
really appreciate it, many of us sacrificed bitcoin by losing it, gambling it
away on shitcoins or selling when we were up 600% at $0.32. We spent
thousands of hours “going down the rabbit hole” to really get it, and then
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Duty & Loyalty
“HODL’ed” through ups and downs to earn the the appreciation of its
purchasing power.
These are all rites of passage and leave marks on our psyche.
Everything we do has a price, and I believe the ancients knew this at a
far more visceral level than we do. They practiced it through rituals some
might see as ‘barbaric’, but which were in fact deeply symbolic, and which
moved men to action more than any words ever could. Furthermore, they
were conscious and intentional about it.
Luckily, some of us are still building spiritual and psychological
muscle away from mere strokes of the keyboard. Some of us are creating,
developing and producing. It’s you I’m talking to here. It’s time to
recognise the importance of symbolism again, and see how you can
integrate it into your life and praxis. People want to feel something, and
there is no better way to make them feel. For inspiration, let’s look to
feudal Japan.
The Samurai were the bravest and most radical of all when it came to
the use of sacrifice in their display of loyalty and duty.
When a loyal Samurai had either shamed or dishonored himself, or
when as a vassal, he believed that his lord was acting in error or might
bring dishonor to the clan, he would make the point not by “talking at
length”, but through a sacrificial act. He would say his piece, often in the
form of some last words or a death poem, and then proceed to take his
own life through the painful act of seppuku.
Duty was so embedded within the culture that it called upon the truly
courageous to give their lives in order to make a point to their superiors,
whom they served.
Think about the level of courage, integrity and commitment that such
an act requires. Seppuku was not just a quick suicide by slicing the throat.
It was literal self-evisceration. A ritual suicide by disembowelment, made
with a deep, horizontal cut across the abdomen. It is one of the most
painful ways to die, and it was expected that the Samurai would show
little to no emotion in the face, as any excessive contortion was seen as
weakness.
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Barbaric? I think not. This was a level of dignity, courage, honor,

sacrifice and loyalty that few if any other cultures in history have ever
displayed. Certainly no contemporary culture displays this level of
commitment.
“When a subject differed from his master, the loyal path for
him to pursue was to use every available means to persuade
him of his error, as Kent did to King Lear. Failing in this,
let the master deal with him as he wills. In cases of this
kind, it was quite a usual course for the Samurai to make the
last appeal to the intelligence and conscience of his lord by
demonstrating the sincerity of his words with the shedding
of his own blood.”
A similar Western example I came across is the Devotio, or Roman Blood

Sacrifice. The word itself is Latin for ‘vow’ and ‘devote’, which as the
combination suggests is an act of duty and loyalty. It was considered a
final attempt or ultimate act by a Roman devotee to sacrifice himself in
exchange for his god’s favor in triumph over an opponent. Chad Crowley,
author and translator describes it as follows:
The religious ritual of the Devotio embodies the ancient Romans’

fervent faith in divine intervention and valorous self-sacrifice. This
hallowed ritual, a form of heroic suicide, symbolizes the ultimate
act of devotion, where the shedding of one’s own blood serves as the
paramount offering to the gods. In this ultimate act of Votum—a vow
made to a deity in anticipation of a request being fulfilled—Roman
devotees, embroiled in the throes of battle, would willingly offer their
lives to the chthonic gods, the deities of the underworld. In this
mortal exchange steeped in blood and valor, the Roman who made the
sacrifice sought Rome’s triumph over an enemy opponent.
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As a leader and man of virtue, you should seek to embody such duty.
I don’t suggest that you commit seppuku should a family member buy
Ethereum, or perform a final blood sacrifice if they identify as non-binary,
but that it’s your duty to guide those whom you love, care about and
can influence toward better outcomes by leading from the front - and if
necessary, sacrificing something of value in order to make a lesson more
symbolic. Talk is cheap. Actions, especially sacrificial ones, count.
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Bitcoin, Loyalty, and Duty
Loyal to your lineage

Other than a duty to yourself - the self respect we discussed in the prior
chapter - Bitcoin comes with a duty and loyalty to your future self,
your family, to your community or tribe, and for a select few, a duty to
the world. These loyalties transcend Bitcoin. When you build wealth
and become a person of power and influence, you are faced with the
question of meaning and legacy. What is your life about, where will
you find meaning and how will you be remembered?
If you’ve agreed with anything written in the book so far, then you will
also believe that you have a duty to not only live by these principles,
but to pay them forward. In fact, paying forward is an expression of
your loyalty, to your friends and family, to your civilization, to your
ancestors and ultimately to your descendants. This is the ultimate
lowering of one’s time preferences and perhaps the most fundamental
utility of a sound money like Bitcoin.
Consider the structure of the Bitcoin network, with its indelible
transaction record in the blockchain. It is profoundly “traditional”
in the sense that it is one, unbroken string of recorded, mathematical
history. It is law, and demands loyalty. What does economics look
like when the blockchain is five thousand years old, and who will your
descendants be?
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Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.

To be a Bitcoiner comes with the duty to be an honorable person,
because having freedom comes with the responsibility to do something
with it. Life is more than just being able to do “anything you want.”
It’s also about duty, sacrifice, compassion and justice. While Bitcoin is
engineered to be largely impervious to bad actors and to function in an
adversarial environment, a strong culture is made up of people loyal
to each other, who live for more than their base-pleasures. People take
on the duty of leading and providing, the responsibility of being a role
model, and the courage to fight for that which has meaning.
While you are free to go and run an Only Fans pimp racket - should
you? You could go out to pump and dump a shitcoin on retail, but
should you? You could go out and peddle experimental medications,
but should you? These decisions become more important in a world
where loyalty, duty and therefore reputation mean something. And
this day will come. When the ever-present desperation underlying a
world with broken monetary properties is gone, there will no longer
be an excuse. It will be time for us to construct lineages that last a
thousand years, and these start with a loyalty and duty that transcend
the individual.
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Restraint / Self-Control
自
制
“For strength of character in the race as in the individual
consists mainly in the power of sacrificing the present for
the future, of disregarding the immediate temptations of
ephemeral pleasure for more distant and lasting sources of
satisfaction. The height of heroism is reached in men who
renounce the pleasures of life and even life itself for the sake
of winning for others, perhaps in distant ages, the blessings
of freedom and truth.”
Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture
I place this last because it is the virtue that ties all the others together.
Other than courage, self-control (or restraint) is the quintessential warrior
virtue. It is the virtue of maturity. Bitcoiners talk a lot about ‘time
preference.’ This is where it comes from.
In Bushido, the Japanese word jisei most closely translates to
“self-control”, and is made up of two kanji: 自制
The first, 自 (ji), means self. It is a simple character, pictographically
representing a nose, which was historically used as a symbol for the self.
The second kanji, 制 (sei), conveys the idea of rules or governance. It
is composed of elements that include 刂 (a variant of “刀” meaning knife
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or blade), and “攵” (a variant of “攴,”) which as seen earlier, represents the
act of striking and relates to the idea of action or authority. It suggests
the imposition of rules or restrictions, and can be read as either the law
of the governing sword, or the law governing the sword.
自制 (Jisei) combines the self with the idea of control, authority and
regulation. Together these kanjis emphasize the ability to govern one’s
own actions and impulses. This is reminiscent of the Chinese ideogram
for warrior, 武, made up of the characters for weapon: 戈 and stop: �. A
true warrior has, ultimately, the ability to control oneself.
The English word “restraint” comes from Old French restreinte, which
means “constraint, restraint, or limit.” It comes in turn from Latin
restringere, “to bind back, hold back, or restrain.” Restringere is made up
of re- “back” or “again,” and stringere “to draw tight or bind.”
Over time, the word “restraint” came to be used in English to refer
to a variety of situations in which something is held back, controlled,
or limited. It can refer to physical restraint, such as being tied up
or confined, as well as more abstract notions, such as self-control,
moderation, or limitation - the latter is what interests us.
Self-control as a broader concept is important here, and so is the
etymology of both words. Self originates from Old English “self, sylf”
(West Saxon), “seolf” (Anglian), meaning “one’s own person, self; own,
personal; same, identical.” It derives from Proto-Germanic “*selbaz,”
found across many Germanic languages (e.g., Old Norse “sjalfr,” Dutch
“zelf,” German “selbst”). The Proto-Germanic root “*selbaz” traces back
to Proto-Indo-European (PIE) “*sel-bho,” a suffixed form of the root
“*s(w)e-,” a third person and reflexive pronoun, also used to denote the
speaker’s social group, implying a sense of “(we our-)selves.”
The word control emerged in the early 15th century as “countrollen,”
meaning “to check the accuracy of, verify; regulate.” It comes from
Anglo-French “contreroller,” which means “to exert authority,” and
from Medieval Latin “contrarotulus” (“a counter, register”), combining
Latin “contra” (“against”) with “rotulus” (a diminutive of “rota,” meaning
“wheel”). The concept of “control” historically relates to the idea of
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checking or verifying accounts by a duplicate register, a method for

maintaining accuracy and regulation.
Restraint and self-control, in the virtuous or ethical sense, thus refer
to the ability to direct oneself and resist impulses that might lead to
harmful or destructive behavior. It is the act of exercising personal
authority or regulation over one’s own actions, emotions, or desires.
It is the application of an internal ‘check’ or governance over oneself,
analogous to how external controls regulate the accuracy and order of a
system or process. Self-control is in the deepest sense, the prerequisite
to self-ownership, agency and ultimately, free will. Without self-control,
you are at the behest or control of something else - be it circumstances,
impulses or another person. Without self-control - if you recall our
discussion on radical responsibility and agency earlier - you are a slave.
Self-control, self-ownership, self-sufficiency
“There is no true scholar who has not the instincts of a true

soldier in his veins. To be able to command and to be able
to obey in a proud fashion; to keep one’s place in rank and
file, and yet to be ready at any moment to lead; to prefer
danger to comfort; not to weigh what is permitted and what
is forbidden in a tradesman’s balance; to be more hostile
to pettiness, slyness, and parasitism than to wickedness.
What is it that one learns in a hard school? To obey and to
command.”
The slave is not virtuous; neither is the unhinged man. It is not

virtuous to live as a dependant, or off the sweat of another, and there is
certainly no virtue in imposing on others ideas you yourself do not live
by. Central planners and bureaucrats are much like HR managers and
airport security staff: they revel in the creation of arbitrary rules and
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decrees - almost as if it gives their life meaning. Their army of NPCs

then spend their lives blindly enforcing these orders under the guise of
whatever flavor of morality suits them at the time - all as if it was asked
for - and worse, with other people’s money and resources. There are few
things in the world as vile as a self-proclaimed ‘savior’ that nobody wants.
This is why we find the WEF types so repulsive, and all those who support
and impose their fake order.
What most people truly desire is to follow great leaders, not because
they have to, but because they want to. A great leader, a man of virtue, or a
true hero, does not bestow himself that title, nor is it decreed by some fake
globalist organization; it is freely given by others to the man who leads by
example, from the front, demonstrates extreme self-control, and inspires
through vitality and action.
“Being alive constitutes an aristocracy which there is no

getting beyond. He who is most alive, intrinsically, is King,
whether men admit it or not.”
D.H. Lawrence, Essay: Aristocracy
Two great figures come to mind here: Christ and Alexander.

Christ is the ultimate image of restraint. By bearing his cross, he
became a symbol of the ideal mean, and the son of God. He rejected the
offer to turn stones into bread, despite fasting for forty days in the desert
wilderness; he refused the kingdoms of the world the Devil presented him;
and he refused to be crowned King of the Jews. He stood before Pontius
Pilate, and his accusers, and he did not bend. The dignity with which he
bore the cross changed the fabric of civilization, morality and behavior;
the very course of human history.
Alexander is second only to the figure of Christ. He was the first man
over the wall, he rode the lead horse in a cavalry charge, he would eat last
and most sparsely at the banquet, all despite his position. He would sleep
on the hard ground when he could sleep on a luxurious bed large enough
for ten; he would abstain when he could’ve been with concubines in the
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harem; he would show incredible mercy and magnanimity when he could

have been savage - as demonstrated by his treatment of Darius’ family -
and he took great care to know the names and stories of as many of his
men as possible, visited them in the infirmary, while wounded himself, in
order to inspire them to strength. All the great leaders who came after him
followed this example - and the result was that men voluntarily followed.
Alexander was also known as the general who banned his men from
looting after victory. After the battle of the Granicus, he declared that
none of his soldiers would be allowed to sack the countryside. They were
to come into the territory as liberators, not as thieves, which was rare in
ancient warfare.
He carried this frame onward. At the battle of Issus, the rematch
with Darius, the Macedonians once again pulled off an incredible victory
against incredible odds (Diodorus and Arrian suggest the ratio may have
been as high as 40:1, while modern historians place it closer to 5 or 10:1).
On Alexander’s return from pursuing Darius, he found the Macedonian
army plundering the Persian camp, helping themselves to “riches in such
quantities as our men have never seen—horses and women, stacked arms, suits of
mail, golden vases, bags of money meant as soldiers’ pay” (Pressfield, Virtues of
War).
He was taken aback with despair, which became rage at this
“defilement” of his army’s good name and raison d’être. Alexander gathered
his generals and commanded that they line the men up for drills - right
after a bloody battle and an incredible victory! He’s said to have drilled
them long into the night as punishment for this behavior - against the
protests of his generals.
Stephen Pressfield illustrates this powerfully in The Virtues of War, in a
speech Alexander gives to his men:
“Brothers, I will suffer your crimes this day out of my love for you only.
But hear me now and sear these words into your hearts: That man who
disgraces this army again, I will not chastise as I do this night, as a
father punishes his sons with care and concern for their character, but
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will banish that man from me and from this company forever.”
“Ultimate responsibility for this debacle lies with me. I have not
impressed sufficiently upon you, my officers, the code of chivalry by
which I expect you and this army to conduct yourselves. Therefore I
shall take nothing from the spoils. That portion that would have been
mine will be distributed to our wounded and mutilated comrades and
donated to raise memorials for our fallen.”
The next morning, all of the loot, gold, vases, everything, had been laid
out in front of Alexander’s tent, but he remained unmoved. He refused to
acknowledge them for another day until he was begged by his generals to
respond. Ultimately, a soldier named Socrates the Redbeard, bandaged
and beaten up, comes forward and says:
“Have we not been true to you, Alexander? Have we not bled for you,
and died for you? Have we failed you ever, or served you with anything
less than all our hearts? What more do you want of us?”
To which Alexander responds:
“I want you to be . . . magnificent.”
The power of NO
“I teach the No to all that makes weak—that exhausts. I

teach the Yes to all that strengthens, and stores up strength.”
Restraint and self-control are effectively the act of saying no. No is a

standard: it is the setting of a boundary and the building of a wall. It is the
separation of what’s important and what’s not. Hierarchies exist because
of “no.” Chaos comes from the never-ending yes.
Moderns live in a “yes-man” society, so it’s no wonder they are so
agreeable, so quick to jump onto the next trend, so inclined to conform
and to obey arbitrary mandates. Most people have no staying power.
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Their language and beliefs are all about inclusivity and open-mindedness,
they lack gumption, the will to sacrifice and the fortitude to experience
short-term pain for the potential or promise of long-term gain.
Since the Berlin wall was (rightfully) taken down, society has
(wrongfully) decided that it’s a good idea to tear down every other wall or
structure that was meticulously built across the millennia. Unbeknownst
to us, we tore down the very walls of the house we lived in and are now
wondering why the roof is leaking and the squatters have settled in.
The ability to say no is a superpower. It means focus, it means staying
on the path, and it is the basis of a low time preference. Without ‘no’, you
cannot have a future. We’ve all heard about the marshmallow experiment:
the ability to delay immediate gratification is the prerequisite for doing
something greater and more meaningful later. This is true for health,
for wealth, for relationships and for anything of value. You can’t build
wealth if you spend everything you make; you won’t get healthy if you eat
every time you’re a little hungry. Compounded results cannot occur if you
succumb to every urge.
Saying no to a temptation requires courage, strength and fortitude.
Whether it be no to the drink, drug, hallucinogen, women, bribe, shitcoin,
snooze button, fast food, seed oil, chocolate, or the elevator instead of the
stairs. Refusing to take the easy path takes an act of will.
Furthermore, no is freedom! We’ve been conditioned to believe yes is
the manifestation of freedom and choice, but no is in fact also a choice
- and often a more powerful one. Slaves must say ‘yes’ to everything,
but the master and sovereign individual is he who can say no. Alot of
modern personal development and spiritualism has got this wrong. The
incessant focus on “yes” has taught people to be overly agreeable and
therefore helped undermine their fortitude. They’re so open-minded that
their brains have leaked out.
Saying no to one thing actually means saying yes to something else.
This is how you prioritize and create a hierarchy. No helps you focus and
do what’s right and important, instead of being distracted by the noise
and options. Elon Musk and Steve Jobs are famously men of no.
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The eternal yes, and the inability to delay gratification has led us to an
age of mass consumerism. The very economic indicators we use are built
around consumptive measures. We are drowning in a never ending sea of
stuff, content is everywhere, media is everywhere, cheap plastic products
are everywhere. We are bombarded with inputs via all our senses, and as
a result have become completely desensitized. We can no longer hear the
subtle tones or taste the subtle flavors. It’s all noise.
To counteract this, and to reclaim sanity, taste and beauty, we must
learn to say no more often and to become more selective. We must
exercise judgment: discern and discriminate, separating wheat from
chaff. Furthermore, we must say no not only when it’s easy to do so, but
especially when it’s hard to do so. For the no to truly mean something,
you must say it when you think you cannot.
The mantra must become quality over quantity. Recall the definition of
excellence and elite! The select. The choicest. To make a choice, and to
select, fundamentally means saying yes to one or a few things, at the
explicit exclusion of all else. In other words, selection comes from more
no, and less yes. And ultimately, by saying no to most things, you are
giving proper weight to the things you say yes to: you state your respect
and appreciation for them. This is what it truly means to value something.
The monster
Self-control is only a virtue if your unconstrained self is capable of causing
damage. Only a dangerous man can truly be “nice.” Only someone with
the capacity to be a monster, and with the strength to keep it in check, can
lay claim to this virtue. It’s why Jordan Peterson says that the best men he
knows are the most dangerous ones. It’s also why women are instinctively
attracted to the bad boy. This archetype of man is the real protector. The
man who could crush her, is also the one who can most keep her safe.
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“Nobody deserves to be praised for goodness unless he is

strong enough to be bad, for any other goodness is usually
merely inertia or lack of will-power.”
Francois de La Rochefoucauld, Reflections: or Sentences and Moral Maxims
Self-control is the virtue of maturity, because it’s not the man that
can swing a hammer to crush an egg that is truly powerful, but he
who can swing it and stop the hammer before the point of impact.
“Praus” is an ancient Greek word that is often translated as “meek” or
“gentle” in English;, however its classical meaning is much richer. One
interpretation is that “praus” described the virtue of strength under
repose, or power under control. It was used to describe a previously
wild horse that was tamed and trained for war. Jordan Peterson and
other Christian scholars often translate it as “those who have swords, and
know how to use them but choose to keep them sheathed”. Whatever the exact
definition, the idea of strength under repose is important. The best
men are dangerous, because they have the capacity to inflict harm, but
consciously decide not to. They check their inner monster. As I have
repeatedly emphasized, it’s not power that corrupts, but weakness. It’s the
weak who run around crushing eggs with a hammer, and inflicting harm
on those who cannot defend themselves; it’s the yes-man who lacks the
fortitude to say no; it’s the conformist, that is most vile and ugly. He is
not the progenitor of action, but the reagent. He is the slave who lacks
courage and agency, the one outsourcing responsibility for his actions.
He is inertia, devoid of life.
The man of virtue takes responsibility and has the courage to fight the
greater foe. He takes on risk, he consciously unleashes his monster. He
cultivates it. He knows that it’s when you “can” do something, but do not,
that you have real power and strength. Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon all
embodied this. Instead of just doing what was obvious or easy, they chose
to do what was at the very edge of possibility. They consciously directed
their energy toward climbing higher, reaching farther, and making the
unknown known.
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Non-interventionism
“The essence of the interventionist policy is to take from one

group to give to another. It is confiscation and distribution.”
Ludwig Von Mises, Human Action
Non-interventionism is an expression of self-control. It is a character

trait that powerful leaders exhibit (they do not micro-manage), that great
societies have baked into their laws and norms (privacy, free speech,
right to defend oneself), that great parents exhibit when they allow their
children to explore - even if it means they can hurt themselves - and
that intellectual heroes such as Mises, Menger, and Rothbard advocated,
above all else.
Dystopian societies are built on micromanagement, interruption,
interference and surveillance. They are built on the idea that the
human beings who make them up are numbers on a spreadsheet, that
can be mathematically manipulated as though they’re all equal. This
approach ironically makes the populace more docile and dependent on the
nanny-state, slowly eroding not only freedom, but agency and the free will
of the people under its yoke. Constant interventionism and surveillance
come from a place of desperation and inner projection. The people who
believe that society must operate like a modern HR department are often
overweight, depressed, ugly and envious. They have no self-control, so
they project this lack of virtue onto everyone else. They erroneously
believe everybody else is as weak as they are, and if they are presented with
any evidence to the contrary, someone who is better, stronger, smarter
and more beautiful - they will do everything they can to tear them down.
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“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good

of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better
to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral
busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep,
his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who
torment us for our own good will torment us without end for
they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They
may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time
likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings
with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and
cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put
on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason
or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles,
and domestic animals.”
C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)
For too long we’ve let the bureaucratic micro-managers of the world lord
it over us. Proximity to the money-printing apparatus made that possible.
There they found a place where they could hide and stealthily extract
wealth from everybody else. They didn’t have to produce or risk anything:
we assumed that risk, while they funded themselves into positions of
power and influence. From these positions, and in their infinite stupidity,
they decided to then interfere with us, surveil us, humiliate us and make
their petty presence known.
It’s time we changed that, and the hour is now upon us. You can feel
it in the air. In late 2023, a shot was fired that was heard all around
the world: Javier Milei won the Argentinian presidency on the back of a
non-interventionist message. He brought the Misesean message into the
mainstream.
“Stop fiddling with things” is the maxim of the Austrian Economist.
Until Milei, this position has mostly been relegated to obscurity, or falsely
wielded to attract votes. Everything else in modernity has been about
intervention taken to a degree of unhinged excess.
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For a century now the Austrian credo has been non-interventionist, a

call for fiscal and financial restraint and responsibility. Now with Bitcoin
in hand, the time has come for an age where their sound, first-principles
line of thinking shall not only be vindicated, but become the playbook for
those who want to exceed and excel in life. Imagine a future in which
books on success and personal development are those written by Hoppe,
Sowell, Hazlit and Mises, instead of snake oil salesmen pushing more
consumerism. That would be a true intellectual golden age.
Bitcoin is the first step, and leaders like Milei will continue to step
up. But it’s not enough. Bitcoin fixes the fundamental ‘meddling with
the money,’ problem but it will take time - probably three generations
- to really come out on top. And even when it does win, there will
be opportunities to drive ourselves into excess in other areas of life,
individually and collectively. This is where restraint becomes the ‘sacred
virtue.’
Temptation has such a powerful allure, and the ability to say “no” and
walk away from it in favor of a higher calling, a greater commitment or
because it could be detrimental in the long run, is truly a ‘holy virtue.’
If courage is the peak virtue of the warrior, then self-control is the
peak virtue of the leader. If he has self-control, he inspires others around
him to be better, and therefore has no need to micromanage their lives.
Contrary to the meddling middle managers, a true leader turns the desire
for control inward.
He who has no self-control, loses the respect of those he leads, and
thus reduces his influence. Ironically, any subsequent imposition of
control over others has the opposite effect. Conversely, he who has
supreme self-control inspires it in others, and thereby increases his
influence.
Leading by example is the key. Nobody really respects or follows the
fat personal trainer. Remember that.
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As future socio-economic elites, the temptation to intervene will be

strong. It will be your duty to abstain, and I hope this chapter serves as
a catalyst to build that muscle. Draw inspiration from the examples of
Christ, Alexander, Leonidas, and even Satoshi.
Satoshi’s disappearance
Finally, considering this is the last chapter of the virtues section, I’d
like to pay homage to Satoshi. Whoever he was, he displayed a level of
self-control that very few since the ancient warriors I’ve examined in the
book have.
He could’ve been the richest, most famous person in the world. But he
had the foresight, strength, courage, and self-control to do what no man
has done before: to fix the greatest social problem of all (the money) - by
disappearing.
This is what separates Bitcoin from all the shitcoins. It’s this initial
sacrifice that makes it special. This is the immaculate conception of
immaculate money.
Similar to Christ and Alexander, the exact facts of the story do not
matter. What matters is that there is a fountainhead who performs an
extraordinary feat, only to remain in spirit and in myth - but not in
person.
The greatest movements are founded in this way.
Satoshi’s disappearance was critical to the solution and without it,
there would not have been a solution. If you stop to think about that, you
may after a while come to appreciate the gravity of this move.
Its importance is only further highlighted when you see the character
of the people who’ve come since then. Each of them have come not to
solve a problem, but to enrich themselves at the explicit expense of others
through fraudulent or stupid means. Whether Vitalik, Hoskinson, Heart,
CSW, or Bankman-Fried, these people, if they serve any purpose at all,
show us what it looks like to be completely incapable of self-control. They
are all the exact opposite of Satoshi, and a perfect illustration of what
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happens in the absence of this virtue. That kind of contrast in itself

is a gift, so in some perverse way, I guess we can thank each of these
characters for that.
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Bitcoin & Self Restraint
Bitcoin is restraint in action.

Up there with responsibility, Bitcoin is the literal and metaphorical
embodiment of this virtue. Perfectly self-restrained by the consensus
ruleset that defines it, Bitcoin is the first time we’ve engineered
something that is so fundamentally valuable, while also perfectly
finite.
• A restrained total supply of 21 million coins.

• A restrained block size creating demand for space.
• A difficulty adjustment which restrains block time.
• A network resistant to change (restrained rules) because
coordination doesn’t scale.
This fact has an incredible impact on people, which is to think twice

before acting. By localizing the consequence of one’s actions - as I’ve
noted multiple times in the book - people learn to be more intentional
with how they behave. When you can’t just paper over a loss or
get bailed out, you learn to value the future more. Lowering time
preference is an exercise in self-control and intentional restraint.
Maturity itself is the ability to know and be perfectly capable of doing
something, but having the fortitude and self-ownership not to (if not
doing so is the honorable thing).
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The Immaculate Conception of Immaculate Money.

History shows that restraint is necessary to ensure the soundness of
money. Satoshi, recognising this, engineered a money with particular
in-built restraints, boot-strapped it long enough for a critical mass of
nodes to be achieved, so that they actually restrain each other, then
disappeared so that it would grow to be outside the reach of even the
most powerful governments and organizations.
In doing so, he displayed a level of self-control out of the reach of
most, save for the ancient warriors I have examined in this book. This
primeval sacrifice, this immaculate conception, is what distinguishes
Bitcoin from the shitcoins.
Satoshi launched Bitcoin toward the same realm that is forever out of
our reach, but that we are also forever inspired by. Call it Physics. Call
it Purity. Call it Perfection. Call it Harmony. Call it Beauty. Call it,
dare I say, God-like.
I know that’s a big claim, but Bitcoin seems to live here, and in doing
so, relieves us of that which we cannot bear full responsibility for
individually or by committee: maintaining the ledger of praxis and
value. This frees us up to channel our willpower toward pursuits we
can be held accountable for, while this ‘ledger in the sky’ continues to
keep score, forever.
Bitcoin’s example acts as a reminder to embody greater restraint in our
own lives, and in the other pursuits, quests and adventures we find
ourselves on.
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Closing Out
A new socio-economic standard requires a new way of life. As

institutionalized lying, cheating and stealing is made more difficult, the
door opens for creating a new, more honest and ascendant culture. To
build the kind of civilization we know in our blood is possible, we must
start with virtue and behavior - and this is the playbook to make it happen.
It’s no coincidence that the virtues we covered have come up
repeatedly across all the cultures whose civilization are the foundations
we stand on today. Their cross-cultural presence points to something
very important: virtues transcends beliefs. Humanity had and will continue
to have many differing beliefs, not only in different religions, but within
the same religions (how many sects of Christianity or Islam exist, alone?).
Virtues like excellence, courage, compassion and loyalty have and will
remain valued by all of them, because they are fundamentally exceptional.
They are the antithesis of average.
“Virtue has all the instincts of the average man against it: it
is unprofitable, imprudent, it isolates; it is related to passion
and not very accessible to reason; it spoils the character, the
head, the mind — according to the standards of mediocre
men; it rouses to enmity toward order, toward the lies that
are concealed in every order, institution, actuality — it is the
worst of vices, if one judges by its harmful effects on others.”
A focus on virtue is also more useful than ‘morality’ because the former is
more practical (behavior) while the latter is more theoretical (belief) and
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Closing Out
therefore simply ignored or used by immoral people to browbeat those

who do care about morality. Of course, there are also virtue signalers
everywhere these days, but they are easy to spot, because their behavior
does not match their words. Like a fat person lecturing an athlete on health
or fitness - something doesn’t add up. Things like courage, integrity and
responsibility are much easier to recognise. This is also why I laid out the
etymology of the words which express these virtues, and gave examples
of what they looked like in practice, across cultures.
Besides, people who spend all their time talking about “morality”
usually have something to hide, and those who believe them are often led
astray. This is why it’s best to select for action, behavior and principles
or, in other words, virtues. The greatest cultures throughout history
understood this, and also knew that war and conflict are integral parts
of life: “si vis pacem, para bellum.” They were the most powerful, because
they existed at the nexus of life and death.
I do not suggest we return to earlier times - we cannot - but we can
recognise the principles themselves and begin to integrate them into
something new. “Nothing new under the sun” and “change is the only thing
you can be certain of.” Both are true, and we must contend with this
paradox. Somewhere between these two concepts lies the truth and the
way forward.
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PART III
Integration
Integration
How do we integrate these virtues into our modern society, and even
more importantly, into a future, post-post-modern society? Is it even
possible in the current paradigm or does there need to be a wholesale shift
away from where we are now? Do we have to build something entirely
new? And if so, what are the challenges we will face along the way?
This section will explore four key areas: culture, governance, wealth
and cycles - and the history, make-up, challenges and opportunities
related to each. We will grapple with and try to answers questions such
as the following:
• How do we contend with the mismatch between civilian and warrior

cultures?
• Was history shaped by the crowd, or great men?
• Was feudalism as bad or backward as we’ve been led to believe?
• How did democracy and an over-indexing on equality turn the west

from ascendant and powerful, to weak and decaying?
• What really happened in Zimbabwe and what does that teach us

about today?
• Does material affluence breed weakness and entitlement, and what

can we do to limit the damage?
• Why money and power are necessary, for beauty, culture,

civilization and legacy.
• How cycles and seasons shape everything from the smallest atomic
and cellular process, up through the technological winds that shape
society, and beyond.
• How technology and economics are related, and together bring both
abundance and dependence.
Integration
Finally, we’ll look at Bitcoin’s impact and relationship to all of these. As

I said at the outset, I won’t focus on whether or how Bitcoin will prevail
economically. That’s the base assumption for the book, and I’ve also listed
various resources at the end of the book which you can use to validate
those claims. I’m more interested in whether or not humanity wins if
Bitcoin wins, and if so, what does it win, in these four key domains.
What’s undeniable is that the current socio-economic paradigm
cannot continue, and we will certainly move into a new one. Bitcoin
is simply in my opinion the leading candidate for becoming the new
monetary and economic substrate.
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Culture
The word “culture” derives from the Latin cultura, meaning to cultivate or
‘care for’ and stems from the Latin colere, which means to tend to the earth
and to grow or nurture the soil. It wasn’t until the 1500s that “culture” was
more widely used to refer to human society, and came to mean something
more like learning and taste; the intellectual side of civilization, and in the last
couple centuries, the collective customs, norms, ideas, and achievements of a
people.
Culture exists everywhere: from the petri dish and garden, to the
home, school, football team, the company you work in, and the society
you live in. Culture matters because it shapes and guides all of these. It is
not only upstream of politics and governance, but of civilization, because
the ideas, customs, and social behavior of the people who make up society,
influence all three. People who are strong and vital, produce a culture
with similar characteristics, which leads to the kind of governance that
breeds more vital people, and so forth. The reverse is also true: weak
people bring about bad or hard times, for this very reason.
Peter Drucker, the great management consultant, educator, and
author famously said: culture eats strategy for breakfast, which means that no
matter how great your business, marketing or product strategy is, it will
fail without a company culture that encourages people to implement it.
The same is true for your football team, society, the home, and every other
domain I mentioned above. You can theorize all you want, but when the
rubber meets the road, who is going to execute it? What do they believe,
and how do they behave?
Culture is defined by many things. In the context of a society, it can
include the period of time, the climate (is it always hot, like at the equator,
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Culture
or does the temperature vary significantly, as in temperate zones), the

landscape and territory (flatland, mountains, deserts, ice caps, islands,
etc), religion, race, history, and the biological predispositions of the
people the size of the population, the food and diet, the gender split and
roles, material affluence, music, the arts, scientific capacity, holidays,
traditions, architecture and much more. As with all complex systems, it’s
not possible to know what has the most impact, because all parts influence
each other. Trying to take one piece out and analyze it in isolation is a
fool’s errand and peak left-brain thinking. This is why leftists are always
breaking things: they are blind to the gestalt, seeing only the part they are
most concerned with - to the exclusion and detriment of all else.
Cultures are alive, and they are always changing. It’s impossible for
them to remain in stasis. This is a good thing, because life must continue
to experiment. If it stops, it is no longer alive. But it comes with its
own set of challenges, particularly when the change is somewhat artificial
or imposed. Humans are unique in that sense, because we are both a
part of the culture and can have an outsized influence on it, almost as
if we’re external to the system. This means we need to be careful. The
upshot is that we can evolve very quickly, but we can also ruin the very
culture we are a part of. Wisdom and experience thus suggest that we
take care not to blindly deconstruct everything around us like children.
Reinventing the wheel every generation is not so smart. This is the
purpose of tradition(s): to maintain a tether to what’s worked in the past
and to maximize survivability into the future.
Cultures naturally form traditions as stabilizing mechanisms,
because changing or destabilizing a culture is relatively easy. By forcing
a big change in one dimension, many other things have to change for the
system to find a new equilibrium. This is true of sourdough, of the local
biosphere, and of social cultures - hence why immigration is such a big
issue. A large number of people entering into a territory, who don’t share
the same values, beliefs, behaviors, or norms, will have a huge impact
on the home culture. This is not a novel concept! Governments take
great care to ensure you’re not bringing fruits or vegetables that might
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Culture
carry foreign parasites into the country - but they conveniently ignore it
when it comes to human biomass. They’ll import everyone and anyone,
then blame young men, capitalists, or Trump for all the problems they’re
experiencing.
Another method for changing culture is to ‘nudge’. Humans are
adaptable and we recalibrate as we go. If things change little by little,
you slowly accept or tolerate more and more, inch by inch, until you wake
up and find that the principles you lived by are no longer adhered to,
the person you were is no longer the same and the culture you lived in
no longer exists. This is akin to slowly boiling a frog in water. As with
most things, the nudge works both ways: compounding and attrition. It’s
how we build great cathedrals, wealth, physical bodies, and cities, but
also how we age, get fat, introduce participation awards, are overrun by
other cultures, and slowly turn into leftists. The most “right-wing” of
right-wingers today would have been considered leftists only a couple of
centuries ago.
This is why a strong, unyielding minority matters. A vital culture
needs both change and tradition. In fact, it’s in the tension between them
that we find the most optimal path - like the tension between the virtues.
The intolerant minority keep us true to tradition, while the mavericks
inspire us to change. This creates a charge. Those who guard the gates,
and secure the territory might look and feel harsh, they might even act
as an impediment to freedom, but they serve a greater purpose in the
grand scheme of things. Just as freedom and responsibility combine to
produce autonomy in an individual, the warrior culture is the necessary
tether to tradition, order, and justice that makes possible for civilian
culture to exist and flourish. They are the force that keeps us upright and
resists attrition, so that other elements of civilization can produce and
compound.
You need both, but modern society has all but discarded the noble
shades of intolerance, replacing them with open-ended liberalism and
a suffocating totalitarianism that is not warrior-esque, protective or
inspiring, but instead feels like some blend of a nursing home and
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Culture
children’s playpen. As much as we must fix the money, we must fix the
culture.
Civilian & warrior cultures
“The civilians loved money and the soldiers feared death.”
Feudal Japanese Proverb
What place does the warrior ethos have within a greater civilian society?
Steven Pressfield, in The Warrior Ethos, tells us that “Spartans and Romans
and Macedonians, Persians and Mongols, Apache and Sioux, Masai and Samurai
and Pashtun all share one advantage over Americans: They were (and are) warrior
cultures embedded within warrior societies.”
The opposite is the case for all modern, developed nations, whether
the United States, Australia, or Russia: modern militaries are warrior
cultures embedded within civilian societies. For many this is a desirable
structure, as Pressfield notes:
“A too-strong military, unfettered by civilian restraint,

might be inclined to adventurism or worse. No citizen
disputes this or wishes to set things up any other way. The
joint chiefs answer to Congress and to the president—and
ultimately to the American people. This is the state that
the Constitution intended and that the Founding Fathers,
who were rightly wary of unchecked concentrations of power,
had in mind. But it is an interesting state—and one that
produces curious effects.”
The problem is, civilian and warrior cultures don’t sync up very
well. Warrior virtues and principles are not broadly shared by the
civilian populace, and quite often, they diverge completely. Selfishness
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Culture
and selflessness as explored earlier in the book is a prime example.

Let’s look at three others: freedom/duty, pacifism/aggression, and
comfort/adversity.
“Sacrifice, particularly shared sacrifice, is considered an

opportunity for honor in a warrior culture. A civilian
politician doesn’t dare utter the word. Selflessness is a virtue
in a warrior culture. Civilian society gives lip service to this,
while frequently acting as selfishly as it possibly can.”
Steven Pressfield, The Warrior Ethos.
Civilian societies prize individual freedom, while warrior cultures value

cohesion, duty, and a responsibility to the unit. Soldiers, much like
sailors, are a part of a unit. You cannot just “do what you want”.
In 1786 the British Royal Navy vessel HMS Bounty was sent to Tahiti
to acquire breadfruit. The voyage through the Atlantic and around to
the Pacific was horrendous, and ultimately ended in a mutiny and series
of events which inspired a number of stories and a motion picture two
hundred years later. Before the mutiny, the Bounty first had to round Cape
Horn. Despite most of the crew disagreeing with the captain’s decision,
they did it anyway and survived by a hair’s breadth because they worked
like a unit. Men in such an environment must operate this way. You are
at war with the ocean, and there is no room for choice. You can’t just “sit it
out” due to some libertarian principle of self-determination. No. Instead,
you must serve, you must perform your duty, you must put the practical
reality over the theoretical idea - or you and everyone else will simply
perish. Such high stakes environments are wholly incompatible with the
civilian principles of extreme individuality, and self-determination.
A civilian society optimizes for peace and pacifism, while in warrior
cultures, it is the exact opposite: aggression is deeply valued, cultivated,
and channeled. In the civilian world, we are taught that aggression is
anti-social, whether that is libertarians referencing the Non Aggression
Principle, or how any form of violence or aggression is discouraged by
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Culture
civilian authorities. Of course, aggression is something that must be kept

in check, but it cannot be “eliminated”. A tension between the poles of
aggression and peace is necessary. The trouble is, modern society has
taken safety, peace, and pacifism to an extreme. From the never-ending
messages of “for your safety” at the airport, the train, or the bus, to
the computerization of the cars we drive that now “warn” you erratically
about every movement you make, to the ridiculous ‘safe spaces’ for adults
in the workplace. Everywhere you look, you see weakness coddled and
encouraged, while strength and aggression are vilified.
Finally, adversity. Warrior cultures not only train for adversity, but
they revel in it. To be hard, one must train hard and live hard. There is
no shortcut. Civilian culture on the other hand is all about comfort, from
the participation awards given out at school, to the convenient apps we
use to get a cheap dopamine hit or food delivered to our door, to the beds
we sleep on, to the “ergonomic keyboards” and cushioned office chairs
that are sold to low-T office workers staring at screens, through to the
endless cocktail of antidepressants and numbing agents people are fed
by therapists and psychologists every time we feel a little uncomfortable.
This is a warrior’s idea of hell. Without adversity, how can one become
strong? To build muscle, one must first tear it down. It is the same for the
mind and spirit. Adversity for a warrior is not only the key to growth, it is
a way of life. For civilians, luxury and ease are the goals while adversity is
just a “problem to be solved”.
“Adversity makes men, prosperity makes monsters.”
Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
There is clearly something to be learned from warrior cultures, especially

when you compare their character and competence to the mediocrity of
modern man. The Japanese Samurai, the European knight, the Greek
hoplite were held both in high esteem and to account. Instead of trying to
emasculate men with seed oils, mundane office work, and safe spaces, we
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Culture
need to rethink their role in society. In Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers

the only true citizens with the right to vote were those with military
service. Europe in its peak required sacrifice for suffrage. Men paid
for their full charter of rights with blood, tears and pain. Switzerland’s
mandatory military service is an interesting modern example: a citizen
warrior ethic embedded in a broader civilian culture that is neutral in war,
but can fight if it needs to. Whatever the approach, there is a yearning and
need for this warrior energy to be re-integrated into society.
Iron sharpens iron

A warrior class or culture is like the border enforcement mechanism, or
the white blood cells of an organism. It keeps the boundaries intact
and maintains the standards and integrity of what’s inside. Traditions,
enforced by this conservative, intolerant minority, develop strong virtues
and guide future generations. Without them the safety the civilian center
enjoys erodes or evaporates, and the entire culture collapses.
So how do we keep them sharp? Conflict. Anyone who tells you we will
reach an age where conflict is transcended and we will live in perpetual
peace is about as stupid as those who think we’ll reach an age where money
is no longer required. Both statements are naive and wrong.
We will always have conflict and we will always need money, because
resources and energy are finite, time is irreversible, and we all have
preferences. This is why we are biologically wired for territory and why
private property is so fundamentally necessary. It’s an extension of what
works in nature, and gives us a mechanism to deal with the inevitable
conflict that comes from real scarcity. At some point in your life, you will
have to resort to violence in order to defend it. No matter how many books
you’ve read by Mises, or how much you believe in the Non-Aggression
Principle, some idiot is going to come into your house - that has neither
read those books, nor believes in the NAP - and will try to take your shit. At
this point, you are already playing defense. You are on the back foot. The
capacity for violence is more important than the violence itself, but in the
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absence of the latter, the former begins to diminish. Western civilization

is here now. We’ve sterilised everything to such a degree, that we are now
too soft to even fight back, when we are actively being invaded, pillaged,
robbed, and raped.
Ignoring the brutal facts of life and trying to theorycel your way out
of them is a waste of everyone’s time, so let’s instead reframe conflict
as: a good thing that is central to life; and violence too, by extension. If
we appreciate that conflict is not only inevitable but necessary, that iron
sharpens iron, and that only in the face of real danger can we discover
what we’re truly made of - then we might have a chance at turning this
cultural decay around.
As it stands, we have leftoids and trust-the-science nerds trying
to engineer conflict and aggression out of humans with implants or
vaccinations in a misguided attempt to “hack” biology. Just like blocking
out the sun to prevent climate change, this will surely end in disaster.
The truth is, we will always have disagreements. That’s what it means to
be different and unique. That’s what it means to be alive. Aggression
emerged for this reason. It’s extremely useful. Warrior cultures were
successful because they learned to direct it. What we’re lacking in the
world today is not more weakness, but masculine strength and the innate
capacity for violence.
If these people are successful in removing the aggression gene, or
continue on with their experiments to lower testosterone, humanity
will morph into a species of compliant pets. I’m sure this kind of
domestication is useful for those who lack the agency necessary to live
their own lives, and especially useful for the kinds of so-called ‘leaders’
that require putty, not people, in order to maintain their fake and weak
hold over society. But only a fool would call this progress, and only a petty
tyrant that wants a compliant, malleable mass of NPCs to direct, would
think it a goal worth pursuing.
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Real man has agency, and he can choose to be sophisticated or savage.

He is unique because he is both rational and primal, both beast and saint.
If you remove the beast from man, he becomes nothing but a slave or a
pet. Likewise if man does not work to be sophisticated, he is nothing but
a wild animal. So we must work towards both. That being said, it’s better
to be a wild animal, than a pet, as it is better to be a warrior in a garden,
than a gardener in a war.
Ultimately, the existence of a warrior class is critical to the integrity,

stability, and longevity of a civilisation. It strengthens its men, and
provides structure and safety for its women and children.
The remnant
“Democracy basically means: of the people, for the people, by
the people. But the people are retarded.”
Rajneesh Osho
I’ve always believed in the importance of excellence and, in recent years,

I’ve also come to believe that it is most embodied by a natural one percent.
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Those who are the best in their fields share a special intrinsic ingredient or
set of characteristics that drives them to exceptionalism. They naturally
exude excellence, which is by definition uncommon.
I call this kind of people “The Remnant” because they are a kind apart:
non-conformists, who are not only unique in ability, but often eccentric
in character. I first wrote about them in 2021, at the peak of the global flu
and lockdown hysteria. I was struck by how utterly ridiculous the entire
world had become when I walked into a store to buy water, in the jungle,
and was refused service because I wasn’t wearing a mask! I remember
looking at the cashier and seeing a humanoid roomba vacuum cleaner
telling me “I can’t accept your money”. The only few people I found with
any pushback happened to be those who also had a disdain for ideas like
democracy and equality, so I wrote an essay about them: the Remnant.
I’ve found more recently that this persona also aligns quite closely with
the warrior archetype, and they are naturally drawn to the virtues I’ve
explored in this book.
Contrast this with the run of the mill “masses:” the kind of people who
settle for average and are either unable to find the ambition and drive to
do, build, or create something significant, or worse, who scorn, belittle or
mock those that want to; those who conform and blindly do what they’re
told, despite clear evidence to the contrary. In my Remnant essays I
offended many by saying that these people don’t matter. I stand by this,
not because I despise them or want the worst for them; to the contrary, I
want the best for everyone. I mean it because the lives they lead and their
opinions are mostly noise. At best they are irrelevant and at worst, they
are obstacles or impediments to greater things.
“The masses resemble inertia. The dumb, deaf, blind default

that will not change unless a new force is applied. They
are the 80% of the Pareto distribution that make 20% of the
difference.”
Aleksandar Svetski, The Remnant Essays
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Luckily for those of us with agency, and in fact humanity at large,

inconvenient or contrarian truths, upheld by the few, always prevail in
the end, despite mass obedience to falsity. It’s the same old story, and
is as true for destruction as it is for progress and opportunity. This is why
all great civilisations are oriented toward excellence and beauty, and are
superior to those built on participation awards and alms, which are weak,
brittle, decadent and backward.
“Social evolution, in so far as it is other than biological,

may be defined as the unintended result of the intentions of
great men”; further, that historical progress is produced by a
struggle “not among the community generally, to live, but a
struggle amongst a small section of the community to lead,
to direct, to employ, the majority in the best way.”
William Hurrel Mallock, Aristocracy and Evolution
If the remnant can be defined as those exceptional individuals with the

highest agency, who consistently embody the warrior virtues, then it is
they who will be leaders of the communities that make up new, more
beautiful and vital civilizations.
The great stories
“In the most chivalrous days of Europe, knights formed

numerically but a small fraction of the population, but, as
Emerson says, ‘In English literature half the drama and all
the novels, from Sir Philip Sidney to Sir Walter Scott, paint
this figure (gentleman).’ Write in place of Sidney and Scott,
Chikamatsu and Bakin, and you have in a nutshell the main
features of the literary history of Japan.”
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There is a reason why the greatest stories are those in which a hero faces
off against insurmountable odds or sets off on an impossible quest. The
oldest written epic is that of Gilgamesh, who not only confronted the gods
but embarked on the search for immortality. The Bible is similar: it tells
of central figures that had to do the impossible, such as Noah building
the Ark and saving all of life on Earth, Moses escaping from Egypt, only
to have to part and cross the Red Sea, and of course Christ, who not only
overcame the greatest of temptations, but who ultimately prevailed over
death itself.
It is for the same reason that Homer wrote of Odysseus, Achilles, and
Hector, the bravest and most virtuous of all - and not of the forgotten
soldiers. It’s the same reason we today have zombie movies, in which
the protagonist fights for survival against the mindless hordes running
rampant through the streets. There is a reason why Morpheus was looking
for Neo and not just any random person to unplug from “The Matrix.”
“The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy.

But when you’re inside, you look around. What do you
see? Business people, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very
minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do,
these people are still a part of that system, and that makes
them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these
people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are
so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they
will fight to protect it.”
Morpheus, The Matrix
Every great story requires a hero and his crew pitted against an anti-hero
or a villain and their crew. The masses remain in the background. They are
like a limited-animation canvas against which the main characters battle
- but they are not players in the game. At best they don’t really matter, and
at worst they make up elements of the “construct” that can easily be used
to impede progress or create further obstacles.
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The great flatteners of modernity require these Non-Player Characters

for the stable operation of their centrally planned models. The masses
are ideal NPCs because they lack both nuance and vitality, making them
easy to mold and direct. Excellence is in the way because it interrupts the
‘program,’ which is why weak, parasitic “world leaders” want to eradicate
it, and any person exhibiting it, by equalizing us all.
Alas, such experiments always fail, even in the movies! The architect
from Matrix II, explains as much to Neo. The first ‘simulations’ failed
because they were too “perfect.” They did not resemble reality, and were
thus rejected. Mechanical perfection is not alive but dead. It cannot
account for the anomaly that is the human spirit, or will to power -
however you’d like to frame it.
This is an important lesson for future builders of society. The
temptation and even social pressure to “manage” things will be great,
but often the path to take will simply consist in leading by example and
embodying the right virtues - even if that leads to more unequal outcomes.
You cannot sacrifice the excellent and the just for the equal and the
nice. There is both a hierarchy of importance, and an order of operations.
The only way to truly help those around you is to inspire others to rise, not
to cut yourself down to their size. Help, yes, but do this by helping yourself
first, and by your example you will inspire others. Modern equalitarianism is
ignorant of this fact and it’s a big part of why we’re in this mess. We’ve
built a society for automatons, and wonder why we have so many of them.
Learn from these mistakes, and build for beauty and greatness instead.
The rest will take care of itself.
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“If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization,

then be prepared to accept barbarism.”
Thomas Sowell, Knowledge and Decisions
The term governance originates from the Old French word governer, which
means “to steer,” which itself derives from Latin gubernare, also meaning
“to steer” or “to direct.” The Latin term was directly borrowed from the
Ancient Greek word for steering or guiding, kybernao. The Greek root kyber
relates to the act of steering or piloting a ship and over time, and evolved
in usage from the specific act of steering a vessel to the more abstract
concept of guiding or governing a political entity or organization.
Note that governance refers to the processes and systems of governing,
while government refers to the specific institutions and entities that carry
out the act of governing. This is important because if the governance
model is rotten, broken, or corrupt, switching out the government will
have little overall impact. You need to fix the governance problems first -
which ironically may require a government or governor willing to sacrifice
themselves for the cause.
Satoshi’s development of Bitcoin is a profound example of governance
reform in the economic domain. Governance, politics and society itself
rest on an economic base, so economics is arguably the most important
element. By establishing a governance model for money immune to
centralized control and open to anyone, Satoshi was able to separate
money from the state, and thereby fix the root cause of the thing which so
often poisons the rest of the governing apparatus. As such Bitcoin opens
the door for a truly new world where we can build better and more robust
governance models.
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There will always be a need for guidance and steering. The idea that
society can somehow exist without governance is ridiculous - there needs
to be some sort of steering mechanism. You don’t build a car without a
steering wheel or a navigation system of some sort, whether a human is
driving it or not. What this implies is that there is a governor or -ment
of some kind in charge that enforces the rules, or does the guidance.
Whether that entity or mechanism is centralized or decentralized, large
or small, bottom-up or top-down, human-driven or autonomous is up
for debate. We all have our preferences, though some things clearly seem
to work better than others. The key is to focus on good governance, and
to make sure that if government does get corrupted, it can be removed
before it poisons the chalice and ruins it for everyone else. There is no
perfect solution, but strong virtues and principles, inspiring leadership,
and of course sound money and economics are all essential ingredients.
Democracy and equalitarianism
“Nobody is more inferior than those who insist on being

equal.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Marshall on 3:16am.co.uk
Almost every government in the modern era is a democracy of some form

or another, a situation which arises from the axiomatic belief that ‘all
men are created equal’. Taken to the extreme, this is the ideology of
equalitarianism: the idea that there is no difference whatsoever between
the capabilities of any two individuals or groups of humans. This century
gave rise to the most radical levels of equalitarianism, making ideas
such as ‘democracy’ and ‘equality’ sacred cows in the mind of modern
man. These ideals represent the greatest psychological obstacles to the
reintegration of the great virtues into modern culture.
Too many people are convinced that we’ve reached peak civilisational
order, or in the words of Fukuyama “the end of history”, thanks to the
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panacea that is democracy. As such all our efforts should be toward

making every process “more democratic” and every structure more
“equal”. Unfortunately for them, and the rest of us, the truth is just
the opposite. Democracy and equalitarian-like ideals are more likely the
greatest threats to excellence, and therefore to the survival of the human
race. The only peaks Fukuyama was right about were the democratic
peak that is coming apart under the weight of its own stupidity, and
perhaps the social and cultural peaks we reached in the nineties - that
actually came as a result of inertia from prior decades and centuries of real
progress and excellence, not ‘democracy’. Since doubling down on these
flawed ideals, we’ve managed to reverse a lot of our ancestral progress and
begun to erode the very foundation of the West.
Humanity is now at greater risk of dissolving into the gray goo
of average than it is of being defeated by any form of 1984-like
totalitarianism. The latter at least calls upon the human spirit to rise up
to a challenge. The former nullifies the need for spirit altogether and is
more insidious. The greatest threat to excellence is not some great evil
or tyranny, but mediocrity. Nietzsche warned us of this over a century
ago, as did Hans Hermann Hoppe in his excellent book Democracy: The
God that Failed, in which he summarizes democracy as sophisticated theft
orchestrated by parasites and powered by the blind masses.
Democracy has many problems, but the most important issue is its
equalitarian essence. This places it in the same class as communism and
socialism. These are all “governments of mediocrity” and are dangerous
for both economic and biological reasons. Their gradual erosion of
private property and individual agency, and their replacement with a
disembodied bureaucratic apparatus meant to be ‘representative’ of large
swathes of people, simply turns into the tyranny of the lowest common
denominator. Such forms of government - the “great flatteners” as we
should call them - incentivise equality over quality, the ordinary over the
extraordinary, the ugly over the beautiful, the disabled over the able, the
stupid over the intelligent - all in the name of equality.
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Governments of the mindless majority are oriented in such a way

that their constituents are economically tied together en masse, each
with a hand in another’s pocket, while simultaneously spiritually and
emotionally disconnected from each other because people cannot develop
meaningful relationships and localized communities at nation-state
scales.
They are the very worst of both worlds, and are only made possible by
the existence of a mechanism for theft, whether by voting or through the
more sophisticated method of printing money. These large homogenous
regimes become bloated, wasteful, and top-heavy. They lack the
dynamism and structural diversity necessary for adaptation. In time
they run out of resources and competence, so they collapse or dissolve.
The issue this century is that they’ve become larger than ever because of
mass populations, mass migration, mass politics, and most importantly,
money printing. This is why Bitcoin is such an important ingredient. It
limits the possibility of such equalitarian structures to reach scale again
by rendering them economically infeasible.
“In the doctrine of socialism there is hidden, rather badly,

a “will to negate life”; the human beings or races that think
up such a doctrine must be bungled. Indeed, I should wish
that a few great experiments might prove that in a socialist
society life negates itself, cuts off its own roots. The earth is
large enough and man still sufficiently unexhausted; hence
such a practical instruction and demonstratio ad absurdum
would not strike me as undesirable, even if it were gained and
paid for with a tremendous expenditure of human lives.”
There is something about democracy that simply breeds ugliness and

envy. Nietzsche captured this anthropological element most accurately
when he framed socialism as an illness and form of biological warfare that
eats away at the human organism. To really drive this home, let’s look at
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a real example of how this inherent resentment ruined one of the most
prosperous, peaceful nations on earth.
“In the beginning, the Republic is ruled by great citizens

with a strong sense of justice. Gradually, their sons start to
chase status more than justice, and the means to measure
character becomes money. The Republic then descends into
a Plutocracy, where a few rich men exploit the citizens with
schemes and debt. In response to this, the citizens form
into a mob to defend themselves, so the Republic becomes a
Democracy. Now, there exists a giant impulsive mob…
If one man is willing to promise them the world, he can have
the Republic for himself. He announces he will save the mob
from the Plutocrats and he will forgive all their debts...if
only they grant him power. At this, the People cheer, and the
final stage ensues...The Republic is passed out of the hands
of the People and into the hands of a Tyrant...”
Uberboyo on X.com, summarizing book 8 of Plato’s The Republic
Rhodesia and its affront to the equalitarian lie

Everyone knows that Zimbabwe is a failed state. People will point to
Zimbabwe’s multiple hyperinflations and hand out worthless trillion
dollar Zimbabwean notes at Bitcoin conferences, as meme-like omens of
the dangers of money-printing. Almost everyone, however, is completely
ignorant of who and what Zimbabwe was before 1979. In fact, most won’t
even know the name of that lost country: Rhodesia.
Rhodesia was a British colony founded at the beginning of the
twentieth century, with an economic model founded on large, modern
plantations farming cash crops. Despite being lightly populated and
landlocked, it was prosperous, industrializing, and known as the
“Breadbasket of Africa” because it exported food to the rest of the
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continent. Its main difference with the other British Dominions

– Canada, Australia, New Zealand – was that Rhodesia had a
property-based voting system, which ensured that people with actual
skin in the game had a greater say, thus ensuring more responsible
governance. The country also had an extremely selective immigration
system, with a strong preference for men of proven ability and character.
As a result of these features, Rhodesia preserved a form of life more
characteristic of the old British landed aristocracy, long after this had
been largely abandoned elsewhere in the Anglosphere.
Despite Rhodesia’s evident success, it found itself beset by nearly
universal trade embargoes while battling communist terrorist militias
trained and funded by the Soviet Union. Why did the West abandon
Rhodesia, while it quietly supported its supposed enemy, the USSR, in
its campaign to destroy a prosperous and peaceful land? The ostensible
reason was that Rhodesia’ property-based voting franchise prevented its
black population from voting. Great Britain demanded majority rule as
a condition for independence, which the Rhodesians balked at, for they
knew that allowing everyone an equal say would destroy their country.
Rhodesia was not a “racist” country: there was no requirement that
one be white to vote and there was no apartheid system, as in South
Africa. Rhodesia had better white-black race relations than America, and
no race-based slaughter like the Congo and other failing African states at
the time. The charge that Rhodesia was “racist” was a mere excuse. The
truth was that as one of the only stable, prosperous countries in Africa,
Rhodesia showed that a propertied voting republic worked far better than
“mass democracy.” Its very existence showed that limiting political power
to a natural, propertied elite led to a better government, a more orderly
society, and a more prosperous economy than democracy. Rhodesia
was a clear example contrary to the equalitarian agenda being pushed
everywhere in the world.
The “collapse of Zimbabwe” was not caused solely by money printing,
but by the replacement of Rhodesia with Zimbabwe. The forced
removal of a functioning aristocratic political system that worked, and
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subsequently, the expropriation of the productive landed gentry, is what

killed Rhodesia. Printing trillions of dollars of worthless money came
later, as a symptom of the sickness that is equalitarianism, not the cause:
the money printer was more like a way of scraping up the “last loot.”
Zimbabwe never recovered, and remains a broken, bankrupt state to this
day. Will Tanner, of the American Tribune, explores this in much greater
detail.
Feudalism
“So the light of chivalry [Bushido], which was a child of

feudalism, still illuminates our moral path, surviving its
mother institution.”
If codes as powerful and profound as chivalry or Bushido came from

feudalism, then what are we to make of the way it is framed within
modern politics, as “bad” or “backwards”? If it was as evil, broken, corrupt,
and dysfunctional as we’ve been led to believe, then why are we still drawn
to the beautiful art, architecture, and literature produced during that age,
centuries later? How could a backwards system produce such a beautiful
culture?
The common claim is that “feudalism is bad” because “it was despotic.”
There’s no doubt that there were periods in both the East and West
in which despots rose to power under feudal systems, but how is that
different, or worse, than what we’ve seen in the post-feudal democratic
age? At least under feudalism, a despot’s days were numbered by his life
expectancy. Now, we are faced with a faceless hydra that sucks the life
out of civilization, and there’s little you can do about it but “vote harder”
(which doesn’t do anything).
People are quick to confuse duty with a lack of liberty. They conflate
a devotion to something higher with mental or spiritual imprisonment,
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which is the viewpoint of an infant, a socialist, or a run of the mill

libertarian. Duty, loyalty, and the responsibility they come with, are
virtues. They are choices that lead to a strong, beautiful, and devoted
cultural structure.
“Under the regime of feudalism, which could easily

degenerate into militarism, it was to benevolence that we
owed our deliverance from despotism of the worst kind. An
utter surrender of “life and limb” on the part of the governed
would have left nothing for the governing but self-will,
and this has for its natural consequence the growth of that
absolutism so often called “oriental despotism”, as though
there were no despots of occidental history!
Let it be far from me to uphold despotism of any sort; but it
is a mistake to identify feudalism with it.
When Frederick the Great wrote that “Kings are the
first servants of the State,” jurists thought rightly that
a new era was reached in the development of freedom.
Strangely coinciding in time, in the backwoods of
Northwestern Japan, Yozan of Yonézawa made exactly
the same declaration, showing that feudalism was not all
tyranny and oppression.”
This gross misunderstanding of feudalism is somewhat expected

considering what happened during the French Revolution. While the
revolutionaries may not have been entirely successful at the time, the
Pandora’s box they unleashed in their eradication of feudal order and
overthrow of the paternal order (both in the home and in society) led
the world to the worst collectivist, despotic atrocities seen in the history
of mankind. The monarchies that ran Europe before the 20th century,
despite their bickering and feuds, were far more peaceful and noble than
the communist blobs that emerged after the Bolsheviks took hold in
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Russia, to say nothing of the soft tyranny of managerialism emerging in

modern society.
“A feudal prince, although unmindful of owing reciprocal

obligations to his vassals, felt a higher sense of responsibility
to his ancestors and to Heaven. He was a father to his
subjects, whom Heaven entrusted to his care.”
Liberally-oriented moderns have developed an innate distaste for

paternalism. There is a knee-jerk reaction to words such as “patriarchy”
or “masculinity” as immediately evil or “toxic” and “big-brother” like.
Ironically the same people who believe this often support arbitrary global
mandates on health, weather, travel, speech, science, education, politics,
food, biology, and media coverage.
These movements are full of dysgenic psychological infants with no
life experience. The Jacobins, Bolsheviks, eco-terrorists, LGBTQ+++
activists, BLM supporters, and Antifa movements all share in common
cohorts of these entitled brats and environments of unhinged liberalism,
irresponsibility and chaos. It’s as if they never had anyone to guide or
raise them - which is actually often the case. In fact, the rise of these
movements coincides with the decline of fathers in households, spanking
and even bullying. Role models are key to the healthy development of any
child, and their job is to maintain order with authority. We fail our kin
when we fail to be the best adult versions of ourselves. The same applies
at the grander social scale, and was a major part of the role a warrior class
would play: the institution of a local paternal order. Children used to
both fear and respect their elders, especially the warriors, and thus they
learned manners.
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“Bushido accepted and corroborated paternal

government—paternal also as opposed to the less interested
avuncular (young / youthful / liberal) government.”
There’s a reason why backward political ideologies such as communism

and democracy didn’t exist while a strong warrior class and a feudal
hierarchy did. The warriors had to fall for these stupidities to rise up.
Imagine one of these purple-haired eco-terrorists gluing their hands to
the Tokaido road in front of a procession of Samurai on horseback, or
throwing oil on a painting in the halls of the regional daimyo. They
couldn’t. Not just because either act would be their last, but because
youths grew up in an environment of respect, so the conditions for such
behavior did not exist. It was not “oppression” as Marx would have you
believe, but a respect for the order of things.
Modern leftists in particular are allergic to order, and caught up in
fantasies of ‘absolute liberty’. They begin to skew the meaning of words
like freedom, power, man, woman, rights or revolution.
“Revolution in the primary sense doesn’t mean subversion

& revolt, but really even the opposite: return to a point of
departure & ordinary motion around a center.”
Julius Evola, Essay: The Inversion of Symbols
Traditional societies understood revolution as a movement that kept the

moral and social universe spinning in harmony. Think about the meaning
of the word in physics. An object’s revolution refers to its trajectory
around the center or focal point, like a planet revolving around the sun.
This revolution keeps the planet in a stable orbit, it does not undermine
the orbit and change it because Jupiter was “mean” to Mars. Contrast
that with how we’ve come to understand the word today. Revolution now
means a movement away from stable centers, a destruction of regularity
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and an inversion of order. It’s the complete opposite of the traditional

meaning, and puts everything in a constant state of instability.
“Modern Revolution is like the unhinging of the door, the

opposite of the traditional meaning of the term: the social &
political forces loosen from their natural orbit, decline, know
no longer nor center nor any order, other than a badly &
temporarily stemmed disorder.”
Julius Evola, Essay: The Inversion of Symbols
There is a biological and memetic recognition that a return to paternal

leadership and traditional “revolutionary” stability are what’s needed to
correct our bent-out-of-shape society and inverted culture. For this,
patriarchs of a new caliber must rise - mature and responsible men who
both respect tradition and have the courage to venture forth and establish
something new.
It was only after the fall of feudalism that we opened the door to true
despotism and large-scale democide, worldwide. Democracy and mob
rule lead to the fall of nations, peoples, and empires. Money printing
comes after and helps it along.
Russia, Europe, China, Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America
have all been mired in conflict of the worst kind since the overturning
of the monarchic or feudal hierarchies that existed beforehand. The
resultant power vacuums in each territory were filled by parasites and
megalomaniacs from both sides of the aisle, who captured power by
virtue of “the masses”. The petty money changers and bureaucrats -
whom the knights and Samurai of old would have struck down on general
principle - managed to send entire generations of good, strong men to
their slaughter for their own private, economic gain.
Most people seem to agree that fascism was bad, but far less vitriol
has been aimed at communism, despite it having been objectively worse,
killing in excess of 100 million people in the past century, and convincing
another few billion that being lazy, entitled, compliant, and mediocre is
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the optimum way to live. Karl Marx’s books are readily available, and
his statues stand tall in many places around the world. Contrast that
with authors like Julius Evola or Guillame Faye, whose books are almost
impossible to find because they’ve been labeled fascist or right-wing -
despite the contents being a compelling vision for an ascendant world of
beauty, strength and tradition. There is something seriously rotten going
on here.
Might makes right
“The Free Man is a Warrior. I do not believe in any Rights

that are not supported by the power required to enforce
them.”
There will always exist the need for governance, and the governor is often
the one with the biggest stick. Force is the most fundamental form of
communication, because it requires no common language, no shared
values, no pre-defined concepts, and taken to its logical end, definitively
settles any kind of dispute.
Underneath all the sophistry and fluff, might ultimately makes right.
This doesn’t mean that the governor must rely solely or even primarily
on the stick. Good governance comes from good leadership. By
inspiring people and pulling them along you create more leaders who
each have more autonomy. Ruling by fear and punishment is ineffective
in the long run because it produces hatred towards you, and a class
of dependent lemmings who can’t think for themselves. Furthermore,
using or resorting to force is risky, generally expensive, and mostly
not very enjoyable. This is why humans have developed many different
proxies for force, such as persuasion, deception, negotiation and money.
While these do not directly rely on violence, they are all proxies for the
same underlying asset: force. Good governance requires using these
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proxies first, but also having the ability to enforce order and punish
transgressions with direct methods when needed.
Big sticks are also necessary for deterrence. Like all animals, we can
smell weakness, and that stench attracts predators. If you are incapable
of attacking, you are incapable of defending - and therefore, you are
incapable of leading. This is why they say an armed society is a polite
society. It’s not just a fancy quote. The threat of violence and force must
exist beneath the surface of civilized society. You must be able to prevent
others from messing with you or your people, be that your family, your
tribe, or your countrymen. The best way to avoid violence in the first place
is by making it known you can be extremely violent, to make sure your big
stick is visible and has marks on it. This is the point of being a warrior
in a garden and not a gardener in war. Warriors were the pinnacle class
because they were able to cut through all proxies when necessary. The
best of them learned to channel and master violence, and found ways to
embed it into their culture via their strongest men.
I am sorry to break it to my libertarian and Austrian Economics
friends, but even the private property rights upon which you base your
entire philosophy, hinge on the capacity to enforce those private property
rights. When push comes to shove, the coalition with the biggest stick
is the ultimate enforcer. The law of the jungle applies. Might does make
right.
Even in mature societies, where the game theory of governance is
increasingly influenced by either economics, religion, or morality instead
of direct force, what’s beneath it all is still the threat of violence and the
ability to enforce it. Punishment is deeply entwined with all morality and
religion, and it fundamentally sits behind every commercial contract too.
So while I understand the Misesean and Libertarian arguments about
means and ends, mutual benefits and cooperation, these things can only
exist on the bedrock of private property and contract rights that can be
enforced.
Finally, the very act of respecting private property and choosing to
trade and cooperate, instead of stealing and pillaging, carries with it an
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implicit motivation. Economic prowess itself leads to better technology

and if intelligently used, better weaponry (defensive or offensive) in order
to deter aggression. Either way, you seek to strengthen yourself, or form
a coalition for greater mutual benefit and power (a greater capacity for
violence) which ultimately means that you can deter others with sticks
that might currently be larger than yours.
Welcome to the world of contracts, strategy, and statecraft, which the
West mastered before everyone else, explaining why it spread civilization
across the globe.
Violence & localism
“All men have an instinct for conflict: at least, all healthy

men.”
Hilaire Belloc, The Silence of the Sea
Most in the Bitcoin community, and the broader libertarian or AnCap

world, are proponents of the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP) and believe
that the use of force against another individual in the appropriation or
confiscation of their private property is wrong and immoral. While this
is the correct logical stance within a safe and stable civilian culture, it
ignores the reality of what keeps the civilian safe in the first place and
glosses over the fact that not everyone is a libertarian with 150 points of
IQ. This is a mistake costing the West dearly today.
So long as we live in a world where intelligence, culture, status, and
wealth differ, while time, resources, and energy remain scarce (which they
always will), the use of force or violence to take something that is not yours
will play a role in human relations. You may personally be able to keep this
drive in check, but will others? And how will you deter them if not?
Even if the ‘returns to violence’ decrease in the digital age as
Rees-Mogg & Davidson predicted in The Sovereign Individual, this doesn’t
mean that violence will disappear. A rich and robust civilisation (or world)
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that exhibits true diversity - not the woke kind, but something more
like the complex ecology of a rainforest or the broad range of species
in the plains of Africa - is made up of a variety of different cultures,
each of which compete or cooperate. This implies a couple of things.
First of all, conflict is going to occur. In fact, localism breeds conflict.
Similar to a healthy biological system, the result of more localism is more
inner amity and outer enmity. Individual life forms or territories are
internally cooperative but externally competitive, which can and does lead
to conflicts.
The second relationship between localism and violence has to do with
size and scale. Because all growth comes with excess and waste, there
must be some sort of mechanism for the failed experiments to be cleaned
out on a regular basis. It’s better that this corrective element triggers
early, and more often; not when everything is tied together, entirely
interdependent and therefore fragile. This is akin to how small, frequent
fires are a more natural and holistic method of forest management.
Compare it to the vain attempt (as in California) to ‘avoid all fires’, which
only leads to an accumulation of dry underbrush that provides fuel
for devastating infernos that burn everything down. These ‘small fires’
and ‘frequent corrections’ are the violent part of the necessary “creative
destruction” any truly ‘living system’ goes through. It’s not supposed to
be clean, sterile, and uneventful. There is violence along the way, but it’s
kept in check.
Localism and healthy conflict have an impact on the size and scale of
a society. The larger the population, the more advantage multi-polarity
has over unity because not everybody gets along or sees things the same
way. Unity works best locally. The modern statist paradigm has it
inverted, sowing division at the local level via mass immigration and
multiculturalism, while demanding “unity” at the highest level, and
telling us we are “all in this together”. This clearly doesn’t work. When
a system scales in size, it finds a point at which it can no longer
operate effectively, so it fragments. This is why centralization beats
decentralization at the scale of a small business and why startups don’t
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require a board, while decentralization beats centralization when you

look at larger organisms such as nature or society. The latter requires
more frequent experiments with more frequent failure, and corrections
to avoid having the entire structure break all at once.
This is why a political landscape with fewer “large states” and more
internally homogeneous but externally heterogeneous micro-territories
is a good thing: more frequent micro-conflict is a feature, not a bug. We
need more localism and tribalism and less of this large scale, homogenous
globalism that’s being rammed down all of our throats.
Conscious classes
“There needs but one wise man in a company, and all are wise,
so rapid is the contagion.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Use of Great Men
Nitobe echoed Emerson’s words when he said that “No social class or caste
can resist the diffusive power of moral influence.”
Virtues are contagious. This is the reason why all great civilisations
were led by strong men who set the example. Unfortunately, the same
is true of vices, and this is part of the reason that modern states are so
broken. They are rotten from the head down. So-called leadership is not
only visibly ugly and deformed, but they are unabashedly corrupt. They
will steal, from right in front of you, and then gaslight you into thinking
that they’re doing you a favor.
The captain steers the ship. The leader leads the way. By setting the
example, whether in the family, the company, or the community, and
embodying the right virtues, the rest tend to follow. This is also why
the most enduring and vital civilisations and “codes of life” have always
come from warrior cultures: it is among warriors that the sharpest iron
is found.
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“What Japan was she owed to the Samurai. They were

not only the flower of the nation, but its root as well. All
the gracious gifts of Heaven flowed through them. Though
they kept themselves socially aloof from the populace, they
set a moral standard for them and guided them by their
example.”
So what can we take from the past that worked? Social classes
are one example. They’re something nobody wants to talk about, but
they have always played a role in society and always will. Feudalism at
least delineated them clearly and consciously. Today’s democratic order
merely obfuscates them.
In traditional feudalism, the workers worked, the farmers farmed,
the warriors warred, the merchants did business, and the monarchy led.
There was a clear separation of duties, and everything worked together
well enough for them to build both civilization and lasting architectural
beauty - despite the much lower technological sophistication of their
time.
Clear social classes are useful because they let you know where you
stand. Only with awareness and clarity can you do something about your
lot. We will always have classes of people - you can try to wish it away all
you want, but it’s like wishing away gravity. It’s better to be consciously
aware of them, and to construct society in such a way that there is some
sort of permeability for the anomalies, the standouts and productive to
rise, while the liars, cheaters and the weak descend.
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Wealth
With culture and governance covered, we need to address what sits at

the base of all society and civilisation: wealth and economics. While
some people are naive enough to call it “a made up construct”, it’s in
fact a real and inescapable measure and evaluation of human action.
Praxeology, the study of human action, pioneered by Ludwig Von
Mises, and expanded upon by Murray Rothbard, Friedrich Hayek, Hans
Hermann Hoppe and others into what is known as the “Austrian School
of Economics”, is the most useful and sensical study of this necessary
component of life I’ve come across.
In this section, I will ask the tough questions about money, honor,
and society, particularly in light of the fact that the modern world is
over-indexed for pure materialism. Does wealth ultimately corrupt us?
I believe there is wisdom in the separation of these different forms of
value, and their measures - and ignoring either one has consequences.
The great Japanese warrior culture was ultimately subdued by the richer
and more affluent West. Culture, technology, capital, power - all rest on
the foundation of economics, so you cannot throw the baby out with the
bathwater: it’s a balancing act. Too much obsession with and ignorance
of the economic dimension lead to failure.
Economic ignorance is at the core of why feudalism in general failed,
and to use Marx’s phrase, why “The bourgeois burst from asunder”. Division
of labor and trade determine how complex and therefore powerful a
society can become. The largest empires may have been forged through
military might, but they could only subsist on the real wealth generated
by the markets they established. These empires finally ended when trade
did too, often spectacularly as their final rulers went on to debase their
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currencies. Money is power and you must learn how to channel it. This
is why Bitcoin is such a force of nature. We live in a material world and
you ignore this at your own peril. Learn from those who failed in the past,
despite their great virtue:
“Hence children were brought up with utter disregard of

economy. It was considered bad taste to speak of it, and
ignorance of the value of different coins was a token of good
breeding. Knowledge of numbers was indispensable in the
mustering of forces as well as in distribution of benefices and
fiefs; but the counting of money was left to meaner hands.”
The Samurai who lived by a non-commercial code came to regret being

disdainful or ignorant of money, and while some families adapted, many
were not equipped for the ‘new world’. The resulting inversion of the
Japanese hierarchy was similar to the end of feudalism in Europe, and saw
the replacement of the warrior class with the merchants and the traders,
and those who understood numbers. Many Samurai, whose honor could
not be bought and who did not understand trade, were left in a position of
great disadvantage commercially speaking. Their lands were taken from
them in exchange for government bonds, which some attempted to enter
business with, only to find that they were outcompeted both by the honest
but capable merchant and especially by the shrewd trader whose moral
flexibility did not care for things like honor, duty, or integrity. In fact
the trader class sought vengeance on the Samurai class, so they would lie,
cheat, and steal, just to take revenge. As such, the traders and merchants
prospered with the modernisation of Japan, while many of the old warrior
class suffered.
The lesson here is not that we should become lying and scheming
traders, but that we must master money like we master the sword or
the pen. The Samurai families who did this became extraordinarily
powerful, particularly because the “unscrupulous trader” approach has a
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short lifespan. They brought bushido principles like honor and integrity
into the Japanese commercial culture, not unlike other parts of the world
where the nobles found their way into business, and compounded their
wealth over time. Some of the oldest Japanese businesses can be traced
back to Samurai families and founders.
That all being said, things are never as simple as “be virtuous” and
“master money” and all will be fine. We live in the century of fiat, where
the incentives are skewed to support the parasite, the psychopath and
the scheming trader - especially since 1971 when the US dollar came off
the gold standard. Since then, the global economic pendulum has swung
hard in their favor. The allure of the money printer is too strong. The
optimum orientation for economic actors is to align as much as possible
with the central banks and money monopolists. Easy money is like a
cancer in the body of economics, because it transforms everyone into a
trader or gambler not only to win, but to just survive. At the top end
of town, faceless corporations form up, that are either directly led or
influenced by the traders and parasites of Wall Street. These soulless
organizations care not for things like virtue, morality, or humanity, nor
are they troubled by the damage their experiments can and continue
to cause, because they’re not concerned with providing services to real
customers - they are interested in their proximity to the monetary spigot. Why
would Big Pharma go to all the trouble of serving people when they get
free money via the government or from central banks? Who is the real
customer in this case? It’s all very simple when you follow the incentives.
This absence of conscience and lack of substance is quite sickening
to say the least, but it’s no surprise that these parasitic classes of people
are at the helm. We opened the door for them with the destruction
of the warrior class, our betrayal of the nobility, and our adoption of
stupid beliefs such as “power is evil” and “average is moral”. We’ve been
hypnotized into a trance, believing that money itself can be conjured up
out of thin air by bureaucrats. Instead of abandoning the lie, we go on
feeding the beast with our own blood, sweat, and tears, and promise it
the blood, sweat and tears of future generations.
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It’s about time we woke up to this, and fixed it - and we can only do so if
we successfully blend wealth of character with material wealth. You have
to both adopt the virtues laid out in this book, and master the economic
game. Money is power, and power is necessary - not evil. Power is your
capacity to channel energy, and money is fundamentally just that: energy.
By becoming better, smarter, and more affluent, we will beat
them at their own game. We can, like the Medici did during the
Renaissance, build a beautiful world. The vision and sheer force of
character of these warrior-explorer-merchant-nobles changed the world,
not unlike Steve Jobs and Elon Musk have done more recently. To
ultimately wrest control from the parasites, we need a new class of leader:
warrior-merchant-philosopher-kings, like some blend of Alexander the
Great and Steve Jobs. This new archetype is the most likely candidate for
Nietzsche’s Ubermensch, and we are seeing early signs of his arrival with
the rise of great men like Bukele, who have both the strength to be a leader
of men, and the economic acumen to go with it.
How far could we go, if more like him rise up, and we as a people, have
the courage to both put our weight behind the movement and stay the
course?
To the stars, and beyond.
Does wealth corrupt?
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole

world, and lose his own soul?”
Jesus Christ, Mark 8:36 (KJV)
In late 2022, I had a Twitter exchange with author and teacher Will
Knowland about whether or not wealth and morality were divergent. I
defended the notion of wealth as moral, while he challenged it. Having
thought about this further, it’s not so clear cut.
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Material wealth in particular, seems to have an erosive effect on the

behavior of individuals, and by extension, the ‘morality’ of civilization
itself. I know that might sound incongruent coming from someone who
wrote The UnCommunist Manifesto, but bear with me.
Material wealth is a paradox of sorts. We seek and pursue it, and when
we finally grasp it, we tend to abandon the character we developed in order
to attain it. This seems to apply to both individuals and societies. You see
it with rich people who become slothful, disgusting humans (we have our
fair share of Louis Vuitton-wearing examples in crypto), and also in the
falls into decadence of Rome, Constantinople, France, and today the US.
The Ancient Macedonians under Philip II and Alexander were hard,
courageous mountain-men. They crossed the Granicus as a brotherhood
of warriors, for glory and honor. They yearned for something higher than
the pursuit of material wealth: they sought to reach the ends of the Earth,
and to claim space. But something changed once they conquered Persia,
if not among the core generals, then at least among the upper middle
ranks of men, who became ‘soft with riches’. These men had never seen
such vast wealth, and it slowly corrupted them. Many of the customs
that seeped into this new Persian-influenced Macedonian culture were
materialistic.
There was certainly a kind of high culture and nobility that came with
it, but it was a different, softer, more elegant form, for Persia itself had
transformed in the three centuries since Cyrus the Great had defeated
the Assyrians and built the then-largest empire on Earth. Persia went
from being led by Cyrus the Great to being defeated thanks to Darius,
“the one who flees”. It is said that in the end the Persians defeated the
Macedonians by softening them with material wealth, much like how the
Mongols were absorbed into the vastness of China and its lavish courts.
There is substance to this argument when looking at what happened after
Alexander’s passing. The generals who inherited the empire, while all
powerful men in their own right, were not Alexander and could not fill
the vacuum he left behind. They were born atop the mountain already
and the only thing that could really have kept the empire together was a
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spirit that wanted to continue reaching and climbing the next mountain.
Perhaps that was Alexander’s greatest flaw. He was too great. Nobody
could fill his shoes, so those who remained sought to consolidate and
keep what they had. The infighting that ensued split the empire into four
primary factions, which within a few generations, became weak and were
ultimately defeated by a new breed of militant warrior: the Roman.
The Romans of the early Republic had a hunger and ruthlessness that
nobody could match, and this energy is precisely what set the stage for
their Empire. They had the will and desire to reach beyond what even
Alexander could in his lifetime. Where he was one man, Rome was an
institution with the same spirit of conquest and pothos. It was so powerful
that it remains the basis of all Western Civilisation to this day.
“The early Romans fought not with gold, but with iron.”
Unknown
But alas, in time, the same softening befell the Romans. The political class
amassed material wealth, and despite the more robust structure of the
Roman-state, their civilisation began to reflect its leadership and began
to weaken. The Romans, in their twilight, started to fight with gold, and
no longer with iron. It got to the point where they could not negotiate
with their enemies any longer. The Huns, under Attila, almost wiped
them off the map within a decade. Attila despised Rome for how weak
it had become. The elite senatorial classes of Rome tried in vain to buy
him out, while watching Rome burn. Attila used the money the Romans
paid to him against them, before rounding each of them up and putting
them to the sword. The only person who was able to halt Attila’s advance
was Flavius Aetius - a warrior-statesman who was considered the last of
the “true Romans” - and he did so with the sword. He was the only man
Attila would respect. Ironically, after saving Rome, the political elite had
him assassinated, and within a couple of generations, Rome had fallen
entirely. It was replaced by a Christo-Pagan infused proto-Germanic,
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Frankish, Saxon, and Celtic western-man which established, using the

tracks laid by the Romans, the Christian West and became the next great
global power.
In the early days of Christianity, there was a militant asceticism in the
practice and image of its leadership. It wasn’t so much that “poverty is
great” but more that the early Church and its leaders represented and
lived by faith, courage, purity, and abstinence. They were militant in
their beliefs, and it was precisely with this energy that they managed to
take hold after the fall of Rome, and to establish a common substrate for
the different European factions and cultures strewn across the continent.
But, as the Church became an institutional center of economic power,
it came to weaponize guilt to extract wealth from the people while they
lived in luxurious monastic ‘poverty’. A thousand years later, the Catholic
Church suffered a fate somewhat similar to the Romans. Their moral
decay and hypocrisy set the stage for the Reformation, which transformed
Europe once again.
A few hundred years later, and somewhat connected, was the final
chapter of the French Monarchy. What was the richest, most powerful
state throughout most of the medieval European period, with roots in the
strongest, most warlike and chivalric leaders of all (e.g., Charlemagne),
had become a center of debauchery. Louis XVI was too afraid and
effeminate to stand up to his people and take charge. Like Darius he chose
to flee, and was ultimately beheaded by his own.
Japan was subdued by riches too. The Tokugawa Shogunate resisted
foreign intrusion for centuries, but in the end was overcome by the allure
of silver and a new class of merchant who came to guide the emperor
in national affairs, rendering the Samurai impotent. One of the last
great warrior cultures was replaced with a Western-inspired merchant
and trader culture, creating in the process, a confused national identity.
This new culture has remained a strange superposition on the country -
like a suit that doesn’t quite fit.
Today it is America and more broadly “the West” that is decaying.
Affluence and wealth are to social parasites like sugar and honey are to
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ants. They make way for the entitled and weak, while attracting the
decadent and depraved, thus often leading to an age of decay. This is what
philosophers like Spengler and Nietzsche saw coming long ago.
“Luxury was thought the greatest menace to manhood and

severest simplicity of living was required of the warrior class,
sumptuary laws being enforced in many of the clans.”
We are now living in the late stages of this material corruption in the
West. The eradication of the spirit that made it successful is in full swing,
echoing all those that came before it. A new age of goblins and creatures
- that we all thought belonged to fairy tales, but are proving to be real -
has come. Blue-haired, multi-gendered, dysgenic deviants are all over
social media, and being normalized across the board. The broader social
order of the West is looking more and more like Germany’s 1920s Weimar
Republic. Gambling, YOLO, scamming, and fraud is being peddled by
degenerates who are either too stupid to know the difference between
what they’re selling and what they’re supposedly fighting (the case of
many crypto people), or genuine scammers who know the game they’re
playing and looking to take full advantage.
LARPertarians will argue that it’s “people’s right to sell whatever they
want if someone else wants to buy it”, ignoring the fact that this very
attitude is part of the problem. Just because you can, doesn’t mean
you should; just because the technology exists to neuter young children
doesn’t mean you should make it widely available. Just because someone
wants to pay to be punched in the face, doesn’t mean it should become
part of the culture. Just because you can make money by conjuring
worthless tokens, doesn’t make it right. Not everything is material and
not everything has a price. Dignity and honor are not measured in gold,
fiat, or Bitcoin.
So can the modern world be redeemed? I think so, as long as
redemption doesn’t mean some reversion to the old, but an integration
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of the old, and a construction of something new. Wishing for a past

that will never return, or watching it all just burn to the ground like the
accelerationists would like, are both defeatist attitudes in my opinion.
There is a middle path. There is a white pill - which requires the most
courage to take. I call it contrarian optimism. The ability to see what is
wrong with the world, and not conform to it, coupled with the courage
to know it can be better and to work towards that. Remember that true
courage is when the odds are against you, when all hope is lost, when it
seems that the foe is unbeatable. At that moment, will you rise to the
occasion? Or will you stand by and wait for another to do so? We’re at that
moment now. It seems impossible at times, and the chances of prevailing
against such a corrupt and omnipresent system are slim. But these are the
fights all true warriors seek. The worthy foe. The biggest dragon.
“If a man wishes to become a hero, then the serpent must first
become a dragon: otherwise he lacks his proper enemy.”
Some things, money can’t buy

The Samurai were forbidden to become merchants. In fact, not only was it
forbidden, but it was a profession they saw as below them. In their social
hierarchy, merchants - and especially the trader class - were considered
lower than peasants, for at least the peasants did honest work.
This was similar in other militant ancient cultures. Lycurgus, the
quasi-legendary lawgiver of Sparta who established the military-oriented
reformation of Spartan society, did so by mandating that iron be used
as money, not gold so that storing any large amount of wealth was
impossible without drawing attention. In fact, household economics was
also delegated to the women in order to keep the men out of it. These
decrees were made so that the military men were focused on war and
conquest, which made Sparta the most feared and powerful of all ancient
warrior societies.
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Honor before money was central to all warrior cultures. It established

an order that was resistant to corruption and extended the “strong man”
period of the cycle. It gave warriors something greater than ‘loot’ to strive
for, and for the rest of us remains key to maintaining meaning beyond the
material. Pure materialism is a key factor in the progression to the “weak
men” stage of the cycle, because a core tenet suggests that everything and
anything can be bought or paid for with coin, including morality, virtue
and reputation. This is why governance models that are purely economic
and utilitarian (like libertarianism) are so susceptible to decay: truth and
morality simply have a price. This is the definition of corruption.
“The present system of paying for every sort of service was

not in vogue among the adherents of Bushido. It believed
in a service which can be rendered only without money and
without price. Spiritual service, be it of priest or teacher, was
not to be repaid in gold or silver, not because it was valueless
but because it was invaluable.”
Materialism also leads to nihilism because it lacks a connection to the

sacred. The Samurai, particularly those who practiced Bushido and
sought to be bushi or warriors, knew this so they separated the currency
of spirit (honor / reputation), from the currency of material for their
own spiritual development (i.e., beyond just the need for social order
and cohesion). In fact, they valued spiritual currency more than they
valued material currency. Nitobe reinforces the prior statement with the
following:
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“Here the non-arithmetical honor-instinct of Bushido taught a truer

lesson than modern Political Economy; for wages and salaries can
be paid only for services whose results are definite, tangible, and
measurable, whereas the best service done in education — namely, in
soul development (and this includes the services of a pastor), is not
definite, tangible, or measurable. Being immeasurable, money, the
ostensible measure of value, is of inadequate use.”
Notice how well he understood money: “the ostensible measure of value.”

That definition is more accurate than what 99.99% of modern economists
will tell you. Notice also the emphasis on separating money from the
immeasurable and non-tangible. Not all value can be measured in money,
and this is critical for maintaining a relationship to the ‘moral’ or sacred
dimension of the universe. While material wealth is important, spiritual
wealth remains something no amount of money, whether Federal Reserve
Notes, gold bullion, or Bitcoin can buy. The pursuit of profit at the
expense of virtue and character is as empty as the pursuit of winning on
the battlefield at the expense of your honor and soul. These statements
might not be ‘rational’, but they’re real.
So what do we do with this knowledge? Can we reverse the spiritual
decay that is set in motion these past few centuries, and made infinitely
worse with a money printer? And more importantly, can we thread the
needle between spiritual and material wealth? I believe so, but it requires
two things. One, linking more tightly actions and consequences, through
a sound money standard and two, recognising that there is another
necessary measure for wealth: honor and reputation.
Money matters
While my goal has been to make you appreciate the often inverse
relationship between material wealth and morality, I am NOT here to
tell you that money or even the love of money is the root of all evil. Far
from it. The problem is less with money itself, and more with people
forgetting that there are things money cannot buy, and also the fact that
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those without honor or character amplify all that is broken in them when
they come into money.
To channel Ayn Rand: money is not evil but a “token of honor.” She
classified two kinds of parasitic class. ‘The moochers’ were those who
would “take your labor by tears”. They beg for alms and use guilt to draw
it from you because they lack the pride and competence to do anything of
value themselves. While the ‘looters’ would cheat and use “force” (not their
own, but that of the moochers) to extract wealth from the productive class
because they also lack the character or competence to build something of
value themselves.
Rand said that money embodies the idea that “the common bond among
men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange of goods.” I would
augment her words to say unnecessary suffering, because some exchange
of suffering is always going to occur, and shared suffering is critical
for developing bonds with others that far transcend those that can be
measured with money alone. That being said, what Rand is referring to
is a Stalin-like figure, who simply sucks dry the lands, wealth, and lives
of those more practical and productive than he. That sort of behavior is
not a ‘shared sacrifice’ for something greater, nor even an exchange of
sacrifice, as two warriors on the battlefield might have. It is just empty,
immoral thuggery. I agree wholeheartedly with Rand that “Money will
not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the
incompetent.”
Money cannot tell you what to value or how to behave. Money is a
tool to realize your values and achieve your purpose. Poor values or poor
purpose? Money will help you achieve them both. We see this all around
us - people getting rich through means that don’t add value to society,
but suck from it, whether that’s shitcoins, OnlyFans pimping, porn,
transgender surgery, ESG and climate initiatives, fake meat, the entire
SSRI and psychological medication industry, child-trafficking, politics,
medical experimentation, and the myriad other social engineering
initiatives that make money, but don’t make sense. Money earned via
lies, deceit or compromise is self-defeating in the end. You’re not being a
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“libertarian” by printing your own money (shitcoin) just because there is

demand from stupid people. You’re no better than the rest of those who
profit from social debauchery. Our values are reflected back onto society
by how we all live and behave.
“Did you get your money by pandering to men’s vices or men’s

stupidity? By lowering your standards? By doing work you
despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will
not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy.”
Yes, there are degrees of bad, but it comes from the same place. Like I
said, just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should. There are infinite
problems worth solving that will both create wealth and make the world
a better place. These are worth your energy and effort more than selling
your soul for silver - because whether there is a heaven or not, you only
live once in this world. Dignity and legacy have a price you can’t measure
in money.
This remains my greatest concern for the new wealthy, which is why I
asked the question at the outset: who do we become as we’re catapulted
into a higher socio-economic status? The only solution is to work on your
values and develop key virtues along with working on your fortune. You
have to do both at all times. Slaves and parasites sell their souls, their
dignity, and their honor for money. The point of being sovereign is that
you do not.
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Wealth and the family unit
“Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth

produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist,
backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce
it.”
Bitcoin should help move individuals and the world in a better direction,
because it’s a common standard for the language of material value that
nobody can change or issue. As such, humanity is freed up to focus on
building real wealth and capital: blood, territory and legacy. There is more
to life than just money, and the sooner we free ourselves from this narrow
paradigm, the better.
Family is real wealth. It is a biological investment that compounds
over generations. If guided well, it can become something powerful and
grand; if guided poorly it can turn into something vile and weak. Both
Nietzsche’s Ubermensch and his Last Man are outcomes of poor or sound
investments in family. Neither will randomly sprout from nowhere. They
are long-term, intergenerational projects involving the compounding of
conscious decision-making across multiple lifespans, in the case of an
Ubermensch, or unconscious meandering in the case of the Last Man.
Compounding is the eighth wonder of the world, and family is its
biological manifestation. Conscious mate selection, conscious living,
careful nurturing of one’s offspring, family rituals, religion, rites of
passage, and the passing on of wealth from father to son, are all elements
in the ancient process of cultivating one’s lineage.
Some might ignorantly laugh at this and call you an elitist or a
eugenicist just for talking about passing on “good genes”. Do not let
these bitter, brainwashed fools deter you from what your soul and DNA
are calling you to do. Family is the most important unit, and is precisely
what’s been attacked by the globalist, communist, slave, and ghoul classes
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of the world because it is an institution of savings and compounding, not

only of material wealth, but of biological, intellectual and spiritual wealth.
It’s our job to pave the way, figuratively and literally speaking, for
tomorrow’s new leaders to come into and drive the world forward and
upward again. This is a large part of why money is so important, and you
cannot ignore it.
Philosophy aside, the practical reality is that savings are the
cornerstone to a stable, sovereign life and civilization. You cannot plan
for the future, you cannot have a family, you cannot build a community,
you cannot think long-term, you cannot exchange goods or services with
others, and you cannot build any form of beautiful or ascendant society,
without first being able to save using a common medium that can also be
exchanged.
People in religious and conservative circles rail against the destruction
of the family unit. They (accurately) point out that women are working
mindless jobs so they can be tax slaves, instead of staying at home,
performing their most vital duty: bringing life into the world and raising
it. They are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that it’s almost
impossible for a family to survive on a single income, and that because
of this, many couples are remaining childless for longer so they can “save
up” while others are giving up on it altogether because it’s like running
on a treadmill. The harder they work, the less they can save, and the more
trapped they feel. Everyone knows there is something wrong, they can see
all of the symptoms, but they are oblivious to the fact that it’s a function
of a very particular upstream problem.
It’s not just Disney and Netflix destroying families, because
propaganda alone doesn’t work unless there is some evidence or
“fault” to point at. If everything is fine, it’s hard to cry wolf. But if the
world around you is broken, it’s very easy to identify a scapegoat and
direct people’s vitriol towards it. Global warming, evil capitalists, the
patriarchy, the unvaccinated, Trump supporters, white people, gym bros,
men, colonialism, or whoever else some mainstream midwit reporter
wants to complain about. It’s the classic magician’s sleight of hand. The
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real trick is not so evident initially, but when you know where to look, it
becomes so obvious.
If your money is increasingly becoming worthless, then both husband
and wife need to work. If you’re both working but you cannot save,
then you put off children because you cannot create the economic buffer
needed to take the necessary time off. You are then left with a choice to
either “YOLO” and remain “DINKs” (dual income, no kids), or gamble, or
live in relative poverty, month to month on a single income, or take on
the stress to both raise children and work a job to help pay the bills - so
the kids end up raised by the school and the state.
It’s no wonder people are choosing to enjoy life and defer the family
(until more often than not, it’s too late, biologically speaking). It’s no
wonder their time preference is skewed toward shorter time horizons
and, downstream, behavior adapts. They remain adolescents into their
thirties because it’s economically impossible to get ahead anyway, so why
try? They see their friends take on extra jobs, only to pull their hair out
trying to manage family, work, relationship and kids, so they ask: “why
should I put myself through that?”
This is actually somewhat rational at a superficial level, but of course
comes with the price of not having kids, of not passing on your genes, of
not leaving a legacy and ultimately of ending your lineage, and making
society weaker (through low birth rates). We are all human, and as
much as we can tell ourselves abstract stories and rationalize all the
things, we are wired to procreate. We desire, more than anything else,
the ultimate act of creation: bringing life into the world. But because
the economic system is so broken, we are trapped. Trapped between
the future biological regret of extended adolescence and the current
economic pressure of trying to start a family while consistently playing
catch up.
There is a whole generation of childless 30-somethings who are
beginning to feel the biological regret of their otherwise rational
economic decisions. It’s no wonder people are so angry. It’s no wonder
they’re gambling on shitcoins, or fantasizing about living forever. It’s
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no wonder porn, AI girlfriends, climate crusades, and superfluous social

media stupidity are all so popular. These are all coping mechanisms.
Broken money breaks everything else downstream. It destroys the
individual, the family, the community, and in time, it destroys the state
itself, unless they have full, digital, panopticon control over it - which is
why they want CBDCs so badly. They will distract you with fairy tales
about AI, racism, and climate change, while the real threat is coming to a
bank account near you.
Money is supposed to make possible an exchange of excellence
between voluntary peers, but this exchange is worthless if the money is
fake. It quickly becomes an exchange of degeneracy and desperation -
which is evident today in the twilight of the West.
So if you have any interest in the importance of family, children, or
legacy, then saving independent, incorruptible money (i.e., Bitcoin) must
be the central part of your economic focus. It cannot be ignored. If
you’re conservative - in either the traditional or political sense - and you
have not migrated onto a Bitcoin Standard, you are doing yourself, your
family, your legacy, your community, and the world a major disservice.
Every debauched civilization has at its core, a debauched money. When
you come to realize this, everything else becomes clear. So wake up and
stop supporting the enemy. Pull the umbilical cord connecting you to the
Leviathan. Stop supporting the parasite and cease degrading yourself by
trading your precious time, energy, and your family’s future for some
bureaucratically conjured-up token they can print out of thin air and
control from their distant office. Have some self-respect and store your
wealth in Bitcoin.
If you’re a Bitcoiner, it’s your duty to go have a family and build wealth
beyond just the material and economic. That’s why I wrote this book.
“Number go up” is cool, but there is more to life than the amount of
satoshis in your wallet. You have the opportunity to lay the foundation
for a better future.
And if you’re already doing both, then perhaps it’s time to focus on
building beyond just your family. We need leaders who can take on more
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responsibility and channel more power. We have to actively throw the

parasites out and take back control of the ship.
Power and money

It’s not only okay to be rich and powerful - it’s necessary. It’s the duty
of those who have the will, desire, and capacity to leave their mark on
the world. It’s the duty of the father who seeks to provide for his family,
the creator who wants to produce and solve problems, and the leader who
seeks to govern and guide his people.
This is why, despite all his flaws, Trump is a greater leader than any
other modern American politician could ever hope to be. He walked the
walk before he talked the talk - and people know it. In fact, they don’t
even need to know his past, because they can feel it when he speaks. He’s
unique, quirky, and often crude, but he’s authentically himself - which is
rare.
Contrast him with career politicians who have never produced
anything of value in the marketplace or worked a day in their lives. Not
only are they actors, but they have a degree of detachment and insulation
from the populace that makes them tone-deaf and ignorant to the reality
and needs of the people they supposedly serve. These politicians, like
parasites, are beneficiaries of wealth and resources they did not help
build or create, and as such, they can’t help but take it all for granted.
They wield power and have money because the monetary system and the
political system are interwoven, not because they are worthy of being
called ‘powerful individuals.’
Power and money are deeply entwined. Everyone knows that, but
few can tell you why. Let’s answer this question at a high level. Think
about what each of them are. Money is a kind of “crystalised energy”
representing an amount of value generated, that can be stored and
transmitted across time and space. It represents resources and time.
In physics, power is defined as the rate at which work is done or energy
is transferred over time. So if money is a form of metaphysical energy,
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and power is the capacity to channel energy, there is a clear relationship,

beyond just their surface level associations. You have potential power if
you have money. Beyond that, your ability to move it and do with it as you
please is a measure of how much actual, functional power you have.
“In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when
you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the
power, then you get the women.”
Tony Montana, Scarface
What is politics? Politics originally referred to the affairs of the city and
its governance. It comes from the Greek politikos, meaning “of, for, or
relating to citizens.” Today it carries a broader meaning, which I would
sum up as “the game of social influence and power.” There is a relationship
between money, power, and politics. Traditionally speaking, if you were
a major landowner, employer, or a benefactor of some sort, then you had
influence and power, particularly over local resources and thus politics.
This is natural and worked quite well when the “state” was small because
the landowners who made the decisions had skin in the game. It was their
land, lives and wealth on the line - so morally, functionally and practically
speaking, their opinion mattered most. This was the reality for most of
Western history, bar a few periods of excessive state growth, which always
ultimately led to a fracturing, because the larger the territory, the harder
it is to maintain influence and power (let alone absolute power).
Fast forward to today, and we find ourselves at a new fracturing
point; only this time, it is far more exaggerated than ever. For the
past two hundred years, we’ve seen a continued consolidation of political
power into the hands of a larger and more distant “state” apparatus that
no longer has any skin in the game. In fact, the level of dissociation
from the polis (city/state) and the politai (citizenry) has never been so
large - and that is due to multiple factors, the two primary being
the abolition of landed/hereditary/royal family ruling class and their
replacement with a ‘democratic state’, along with the creation of central
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banks and their sole-right to issue money and govern monetary policy.
This transformation of the ruling class from visible families who owned
the property, into an obfuscated apparatus that controls the property but
doesn’t directly own it, has turned the state into a hydra. In that scenario,
we no longer have governance by the competent and naturally elite - we
have instead one giant resource siphoning machine that attracts parasites
like moths to a flame.
Those who wield political power today are not powerful individuals
who built their own wealth and know how to channel it, but most
often frauds who use the wealth of others to fill their own dead-end
bags. There is no higher purpose or desire to create something beautiful,
because none of what they have is theirs. In the same way you don’t do
improvements to, or for that matter even care about, the car you hired
from Thrifty or Budget, today’s ruling class cares nothing for the territory
they temporarily ‘rent’ governance over. They use their position to get
closer to the money printer and do their best to siphon as much as possible
during their tenure. Their entire goal becomes: print more money, to
amass more political power, so they can print more money to amass more
political power. And all the while, you and I pay for it.
This makes the game unfair, and people know it: “rules for thee, but not
for me.” These fake elites have sullied what it means to be powerful and
wealthy, and in the process convinced otherwise good and capable people
that “power is evil”, and that “power corrupts”, all so as to create a vacuum
they can fill. It’s about time we changed that, and I believe that Bitcoin
separating money from state is a critical step in that direction.
Money and culture

People are longing for a world that is good not only for the elite man, but
also the common man. One where everyone has skin in the game. We all
know it did one day exist, despite what we’re taught in school, because
when we visit Europe or old America, we see it.
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We all know deep down that art is a reflection of the quality of a society,
and if you compare what we have today, with what was created during
the Medieval period, and you’re honest with yourself, you cannot help but
wonder if what we’ve been fed about that period and its noble families was
all a lie. Sure, there was (and always will be) injustice, corruption, and
stupidity, but was it really as dark, backward and brutal an age as we’re
led to believe?
I don’t think so. It seems to me that only a society which cares about
its common people would go to the effort of making the streets beautiful
for them; only a society which valued beauty and valor would commission
public art depicting it. On the other hand, only a society which values
neither, and whose ‘leaders’ are detached from both the people and the
property, would allow the streets to decay. In fact, they might even go
so far as to tear down anything that can remind its inhabitants of prior
beauty and greatness, lest their charade be uncovered.
Modern public art, modern copy/paste architecture, the defacing and
destruction of antique art and the statues of the greats who forged our
civilization, are all symptoms of the latter: an attempt to bury the past
and induce social amnesia. But some of us are remembering, and some
of us are waking up to realize that society is not faltering today because we
lack the talent to produce things of beauty. No, on the contrary: the blood
of great artists, sculptors, philosophers, and inventors flows through our
veins too. We possess a blood memory that no amount of cognitive and
cultural brainwashing can erase. And it’s precisely this that we must latch
onto. Society is faltering and becoming increasingly ugly because the best
of us have abdicated our responsibility to be rich, powerful benefactors,
and in doing so, have left a vacuum for the parasites to fill. We have
forgotten who we are, and the truth is, we are descendants of the families
who were successful enough to live, bleed, breed, and pass life down to
us. It’s about time we woke up and honored that gift by doing something
great, producing things of value, and making the world more beautiful.
There are many ways to do this. Not all of us will have the talents
of a Michelangelo or a Da Vinci, who come first to mind when thinking
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about Renaissance Italy. Their paintings of the Sistine Chapel and the
Mona Lisa continue to captivate people centuries on. But those of us
who have neither the talent or ability to produce the art directly can
certainly become patrons and benefactors who make that kind of work
possible. The glorious Renaissance artworks that people of all religions,
backgrounds, and cultures continue to make pilgrimages to today were
made possible by the patronage of the great families - who not only
permitted, but encouraged their creation.
Chief among those patrons was the Medici family, and the greatest
of them all was Cosimo de’ Medici (1389-1464), also known as Cosimo the
Elder. He was the ultimate patriarch and visionary founder of the Italian
banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the
Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century.
While the effective founder of the family was Giovanni di Bicci de’
Medici (1360–1429), who amassed great wealth in trade in the early 1400s,
it was Cosimo that consolidated the family’s power and established the
so-called elder branch of the family that would go on to fuel the very
Renaissance itself. The beautiful artworks, the Sistine Chapel, the Statue
of David, the Uzzi Museum, the Duomo di Firenze - are all part of what
makes Italy one of the most visited countries in the world today, five
hundred years on! People are drawn to its ancient and classical beauty,
in large part thanks to the vision and patronage of a single family and the
vision of one great man.
“The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who

cannot fly.”
Meanwhile, the same people who enjoy the fruits of the labor funded
by these former rich and powerful families, have come to believe that
these people and their wealth and power are somehow evil. Make it
make sense! This is brainwashing on a grand scale, and it’s not only
the modern democratic state that’s to blame. Christianity in the West
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became its own worst enemy by teaching otherwise good people that
poverty was virtuous, while power and riches were evil. This guilt and
misplaced envy is precisely what the parasites picked up on and used
to justify the creation of the modern state and convince great men to
abdicate. Nietzsche picked up on it and warned us of what would happen
if we went down this path. Instead of listening, unfortunately, everyone
laughed at him. Otherwise good people chose poverty instead of building
wealth and power, and justified it with religion. Many do the same today
but use “the globalist government” as the excuse. In doing so, they make
way for genuinely evil and corrupt people to fill the power vacuum. And
this is how they’ve come to control modern culture.
Make no mistake about it. It’s not that film, media, technology,
advertising, medicine and publishing are evil, and it’s not even that they
are run by crooked people. The fault lies with all of us, with the good
people who abdicated our responsibility to build, lead and create these
things. Our choice to not be involved is where the problem stems from,
and what we must first address.
Ask yourself this. What if just and virtuous people were in charge of
these industries? What kind of beauty and grandeur might be produced
or created? The Renaissance was but a glimpse of what’s possible.
Imagine what we could do with our modern technological prowess and
the help of precision machines, AI, and software.
The Renaissance was a time when good people weren’t afraid to be
rich, and therefore powerful. They used that power and their vision to
influence culture. They embedded the virtues they lived by into the public
works and the art that we, centuries on, admire. It is time we found the
courage to be like this again: to leave the world more beautiful than we
found it.
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The final of the four pillars is the one that ties everything together: the
cyclical or seasonal nature of life, humanity, society and the universe itself.
This is a concept so deeply woven into the fabric of our consciousness that
it’s embedded in the everyday language we use: “What goes around, comes
around,” “There’s nothing new under the Sun,” “the cycle of life.”
This is because cycles are everywhere. They make up reality. There
are micro and macro cycles, long cycles, short cycles, and super-cycles
fractally composed of smaller and smaller cycles all the way down. They
start with the very smallest of the small: the quantum fluctuations that
make up the foam of the universe and the electrons orbiting a nucleus;
then scale up and through biology with the metabolic cycles of the cell and
the larger organism, including its hormonal cycles, reproductive cycles,
sleep cycles, and it’s very life cycle; biology extends into environmental
cycles such as the hydrologic cycles that move water around the world
through stages of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, run off and
back again, and the climatic cycles which give us seasons and drive
the migration cycles of herds of wildebeest in the Serengeti, flocks of
snow geese in the Arctic, and schools of salmon in the Pacific, who after
migrating to the ocean to grow and mature, return to their original
freshwater birthplaces to spawn and die.
These cycles are all nested inside greater planetary, solar, and celestial
cycles like the Earth’s rotation, giving us night and day, or the Moon’s
orbital cycle around the Earth which literally attracts the ocean toward
itself, producing tides and stabilizing the Earth’s tilt. Zooming out we
find Earth’s orbital cycle around the Sun which gives rise to the year
and the seasons that cycle within it, along with the orbital cycles of the
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other planets, and their moons, which protect us from asteroids and
together gravitationally stabilize the Solar System. Solar cycles such as
the eleven-year sunspot cycle, two of which make up the twenty-two year
Hale cycle (or magnetic reversal cycle), influence the solar winds and the
interplanetary magnetic field which forms an integral part of the delicate
balance making life possible on Earth. These all flow into longer cycles,
such as the 80,000-year Milankovitch cycles arising from the Earth’s
eccentricity (which drive Ice Ages) and the 26,000-year precessional cycle
(the ‘great year’ of astrology, which leads to the changing from one
astrological age to the next), on through the longest and largest time
scales, such as the 30 million year cycle with which the Sun bobs up and
down through the Galactic disk, and the 225-million-year ‘Galactic Year’
of the Sun’s orbit around the Galactic Center.
Everything is clearly part of a cycle at some level, and when you zoom
out and observe from this vantage point, you can’t help but laugh at the
globalists and bureaucrat archetypes who believe that “they know best” or
that their policy is the right one. Particularly entertaining are the climate
catastrophists convinced that they can predict the weather decades from
now while being constantly wrong about next week’s weather. They’re
certain that the Earth’s climate is so heavily influenced by what we do
here, but conveniently ignore that it has been changing for 4 billion years
because of what happens ‘out there’. That anyone can even know what
“better” means in the context of such a complex system, or at such grand
scales, is the height of hubris: the Fatal Conceit, to echo Hayek.
The early 2024 cloud-seeding activities and the subsequent floods and
storms in Dubai are a perfect example of how meddling with complex
systems can backfire. And this is a relatively small-scale experiment when
it comes to environmental tampering. Some of the more stupid ideas, like
“blocking out the Sun” to prevent further global warming could prove far
more catastrophic for everyone, not just the residents of a single city.
The truth is that things change and when one season comes to an end,
another one spawns. With each change, new opportunities and hardships
arise and this is really how life finds its way. Understanding the stage or
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season you’re in is more important than trying to change it. In the case
of the climate, for instance, the world has its own climatic cycles linked
to its relationship with the atmosphere, biosphere, the Sun, the Moon,
and the rest of the planets in the solar system. These relationships are
the real cause of global warming and cooling, phenomena which have and
will continue to occur with or without humans in the equation. Thinking
these changes are solely the result of the anthroposphere is ignorance or
naiveté at best, malice at worst. Unsurprisingly, the people who couldn’t
predict that inflation would occur if they printed copious amounts of
money, or who thought that shutting down the entire global economy over
a flu variant was a good idea, are the same who think they can predict
what’s going to happen with the weather and climate decades from now.
These meddlers will gaslight you into believing that taxation and
regulations on human activity will somehow defeat the celestial cycles
that have been going on for unfathomable timespans, long before
humanity existed. They want to put their fingers in everyone’s pies
because they cannot make one of their own. These are self-proclaimed
saviors nobody asked for: false leaders, fake elites, and cheats whom
nobody respects because they don’t respect themselves enough to build
their own wealth, so they must take it from someone else. We must
discredit them at every turn and remove them from positions of power
before they do more damage.
Life cycles
We zoomed out to the climate, the planets and the stars. Let us now zoom
back into the human life-cycle and observe how it continues in a social,
financial and civilisational context.
We are born into the world, helpless and entirely dependent on our
mother. As we grow up, we learn, adapt, discover, become functional
(some of us at least), reach adulthood, find our peak, we continue to
mature further and then, slowly, we begin to lose the best of our faculties,
we age, and ultimately, get to the point where we’re once again helpless
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and dependant, before we die. This is the cycle of life, and within it there
are “seasons.” Each season comes with advantages and disadvantages,
and when we finally complete our journey, and have experienced all the
seasons, our time comes to pass on. Those who come after us then pick
up this cyclical mantle of life and continue forth on their own journey
through the seasons. This is inescapable.
The movie Benjamin Button is the story of a man whose seasons of youth
and life are inverted. He starts old at birth, and dies young as a baby.
Like all great fiction, it brings with it a number of deep messages. We
cannot escape hardship, no matter what stage of life we’re in, and even
if we were to become more youthful as we chronologically aged, we can
neither escape a beginning nor an end. What makes the beginning of life,
and life itself for that matter, special, is that it has an end. What makes it
transcendent is that one end signals a new beginning. One light goes out,
another comes on, and the cycle continues.
There’s a big lesson here for all the singularitarians who wish to live
forever as brains in a vat. I used to think I’d live for at least 250 years. 500
was my ‘goal’. The naivety of youth! I don’t discount that we may increase
our lifespans, and ideally extend our health spans too, but I no longer
count on such fanciful ideas, nor do I buy into stupidities like “aging is a
disease” that “we must defeat.” Aging is a cycle, and it’s beautiful. We can
of course do things to mitigate the downsides (that are associated with
weakness, not age), but there’s a line between that and cyborgification, or
the Peter Pan syndrome in which people like Bryan Johnson are trapped.
Johnson, if you’ve not heard of him yet, spends millions each year
attempting to “defeat death”, and while his mission may give us some
useful data, I am not convinced it makes any sense. Not only because
we’re all so bio-individual that the data itself will not be all that useful but,
more importantly, because spending the remainder of your life obsessed
with trying to defeat aging - a battle you’re just going to lose - is not
practical. It’s a bit like driving while staring at the rearview the whole
time. Instead of experiencing and enjoying the fruits of life at this stage,
you are constantly obsessed with clinging on to a past version of yourself.
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In doing so, you miss out on the beauty of the season you’re in - a bit like
someone who remains inside with the A/C on all summer to ‘stay out of
the heat’ but misses out on the sun, sand and beach.
There’s an even more serious side-effect with these life-extension
obsessions, namely the increased risk aversion and extended adolescence
from actually succeeding in adding a few more decades to our lives. See
boomers and Gen X as a light example. What impact will an extra decade
have on people’s maturity, or their desire to procreate? Could this make
people even more safety-oriented (the opposite of courageous and alive),
more comfortable, weaker and, ultimately, the opposite of vital (think
sterile - like a hospital) while ironically having almost no influence in the
grand scheme of things? Does an extra few decades really matter in the
grand cosmic sweep? Perhaps, but not at the expense of a life of freedom,
courage, risk and experimentation. Better to die courageously on the
battlefield of life, than as a hospitalized neurotic in a prison of your own
fear. Trying to defeat the seasons or cycles is not only naive and immature
but fundamentally, artificial. Like lab-grown meat: it just doesn’t really
work, taste the same or do the job - I don’t care how much money is spent
“refining the science.”
We’ll see this interventionist issue coming up again and again in this
chapter. Take close note, because there is an important lesson here.
Social and economic cycles

The human life-cycle gives rise to the most relevant cycles for our
discussion: the abstracted social, cultural, political, technological and
economic cycles that we create and contend with as an extension of
our individual lives. While I disagree with many of his conclusions
and his political stance, Ray Dalio, the billionaire hedge fund manager
and founder of Bridgewater Associates, has done some great work
documenting the economic and financial cycles humans both produce
and experience. Most notably this includes the short- and long-term
debt cycles, which frame and drive the economic paradigms we live in.
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These cycles, like all cycles, are nested within each other. The short-term
cycle, which typically lasts between 5 and 10 years and consists of periods
of economic expansion and recession, exists within a longer-term debt
cycle that spans 50-75 years and is characterized by periods of debt
accumulation followed by a deleveraging phase.
The long-term cycle begins with low levels of debt leading to increased
borrowing, which fuels economic expansions. Eventually, debt levels
become unsustainable, leading to a financial crisis. The deleveraging
phase that follows involves debt reduction, austerity measures, and
sometimes defaults or restructurings. It is closely associated with the
political and social cycles he outlines, that shift between periods of peace
and stability and periods of conflict and disruption. The beginning and
end of these long-term debt cycles are connected to wealth gap cycles and
what he calls the cycle of “Internal and External Order”, in which regions
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cycle between periods of strong internal and external order and periods
of disorder. In this case, internal order refers to domestic political
stability, while external order refers to a country’s international standing
and influence.
If this all sounds familiar, it should. Recall “Hard times create strong
men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and
weak men create hard times”.
The quote is from a post-apocalyptic novel by the author G. Michael

Hopf, called Those Who Remain. It’s also discussed in detail as a theory
of “generational seasons” in The Fourth Turning by Neil Howe and William
Strausse.
Even if you’ve not heard of it before nor read any of these pieces, you
will be intrinsically familiar with it because it is archetypal. It’s buried
in our collective unconscious. You see it in every great story, fact or
fiction, all throughout history. Indeed, the greater the tale and grander
the epic, the more of a seasonal or cyclical undertone it carries. Dalio’s
work puts a quantitative economic wrapper on this exact concept so it’s
more palatable to the sophisticated reader.
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That being said, he is far from the first to discuss economic and
political cycles. The Austrians had put all of this together in what’s
known as “The Business Cycle” well over a century ago. Ludwig von
Mises, in his seminal work The Theory of Money and Credit, published in
1912, introduced the concept of economic cycles driven by monetary
intervention. He showed that artificial manipulation of interest rates by
central banks leads to misallocation of capital (malinvestments), which
eventually necessitates a painful economic correction.
This is also best illustrated with a chart, where the boom periods are
fueled by monetary or credit intervention, creating artificial growth, and
are followed by a correction where rates increase, consumption decreases
and recessions follow. The ironic thing is that a free market when left
alone has a natural business cycle which follows the same pattern. The
only thing that intervention does is exacerbate the boom-bust periods,
making them more severe. Sound familiar?
Both nested within and also adjacent to these economic and financial
cycles (these things are complex and interrelated) are a whole range
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of technological cycles, each with their own fractals that swing from
centralized to decentralized, aggregation to disaggregation, creation to
destruction, innovation to iteration, stagnation to progress, obsolescence
to advancement, and decline to resurgence. Nikolai Kondratiev, for
example, studied the long-term cyclical movements in economies and
the technologies they birth. The Kondratiev wave, or K-wave as it’s now
known, is a 40 - 60 year cycle that has periods of radical innovation which
kick-start growth, followed by a period of incremental development and
ultimately a phase of stagnation. Anecdotally, he also predicted that all
fiat currencies have a life cycle, and ultimately trend to zero value.
Beyond K-waves, we find hype cycles, like Gartner’s famous one
depicting how the hype and interest around a particular technology or
idea is over-emphasised in the short term, which, when expectations are
not met, leads to a cratering in interest where nobody cares anymore,
setting the stage for real, robust, long-term development to occur, driven
by those who are really interested and working at the core of these
technologies.
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The S-curve cycle represents the adoption of new technologies,

networks, products or services. These are particularly useful in showing
how progress takes time to compound enough for either a network-effect
or adoption and awareness to reach a tipping point - and when it does
happen, growth is explosive. This is the “gradually, then suddenly”
concept in action.
But, as with all such cycles, growth is not infinite. Once market
saturation occurs, the growth tapers off - which opens the door to the next
innovation, the next technology, the next trend and the next big idea.
James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg, authors of The

Sovereign Individual, introduced the concept of mega-political cycles,
which are larger-scale patterns that contain within them the more
immediate generational, technological, and financial cycles, but are
characterized more by the “returns to violence” of a particular period.
These civilisation-scale cycles span approximately 500 years each, and
each one is marked by a transformative shift in social organization;
for example, a large empire such as Rome disintegrates into the
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distributed fiefdoms of Medieval Europe. These cycles are driven by a

blend of monetary transitions (easy/fiat to hard/sound money standards,
and back), cultural transformations and technological advancements,
particularly in the domain of weaponry (e.g., the discovery of gunpowder,
or the development of armor). Davidson and Rees-Mogg argue that
we’re navigating the third of these monumental cycles in the AD period,
where the emergence of digital technologies such as encryption and the
Internet will challenge the dominance of the nation-state and, in its
place, trigger the rise of the ’Sovereign Individual’. So far, their book
has proved quite prescient. Despite being written almost 30 years ago,
they managed to predict everything from Facebook or YouTube to Bitcoin,
and even the recent travel restrictions. We are certainly in the throes
of the paradigm clash between centralized globalism and decentralized
localism. While both are accelerating - depending on the day and the
news-source you subscribe to, either one could be considered to be
‘winning’ - I’m cautiously optimistic that the trend is in favor of the latter;
if not for everyone, then at least for a new, natural elite.
The pendulum is swinging from centralized back to decentralized
because the cost of defensive technology (economic, kinetic, and
communications) is decreasing so quickly that it’s creating a massive
differential compared with the cost of attack and coercion. The returns
on the kinds of aggregate violence the current cycle has been built on are
no longer as tenable - and this is driving the current paradigm to reach
a crescendo and, ultimately, sunset. The clash is part of the process, and
will make way for something new, which will be the focus of the final part
of this book.
A time and a place

This exploration of cycles would not be complete without including
the work of the father of ‘civilisational cycles’ - Oswald Spengler.
In his seminal book The Decline of the West, he developed the theory
that civilizations are born, grow, mature, become senescent, and die
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according to a predictable pattern that he analogized to the life-cycle of

a biological organism. Spengler believed each civilization has its own
unique soul, which manifests in its culture, arts, science, architecture,
mathematics, legal systems, religion, and societal structures. The
life-cycle of each civilization follows the exploration of the ‘world symbol’
at the heart of each cultural soul. Over time, civilizations move from
a culture phase (rural, vital, creative and organic) to a civilization
phase (urban, mechanical, sterile and inorganic), culminating in their
inevitable decay. Spengler cites Rome as an example of the civilization
stage following the Classical Greek cultural stage, with Alexander the
Great as the midpoint. The modern West, which Spengler calls the
Faustian Civilization, echoes this with Medieval Europe representing the
cultural stage, followed by the United States of America representing the
civilisational stage (which we’re now well into) and Napoleon, in this case,
representing the midpoint, like Alexander before him. The point is that
each stage has its genesis, peak, and twilight - the latter can happen either
gracefully with a synthesis of old and new, or can be marked by decay,
over-extension and debauchery. Either way, no matter how powerful the
society, culture, or civilization, the cycle remains inescapable.
Spengler is often characterized as a pessimist because his work
focused so much on the decline of the West, but I prefer to think of him
as a realist. His point was not that “it’s all over and we should give up”, but
more that we need to understand and respect the stage of the cycle we’re
in. When a society, similar to a human being, matures, it will inevitably
be less lively and expansive. Instead of trying to do what it did when
it was younger, it should recognise and adapt. When you’re 60, you
probably can’t deadlift the same weight you could at 30, and that’s okay.
The new season bears a different sort of fruit: we trade youth for wisdom,
opportunity for experience. When you’re older, you might not be able (or
want) to work as hard as you used to, but you have wisdom that can be
applied. In fact, if you remain vital, you can probably do more with a
single phone call than you could have at twenty-five with a full 365 days
of work.
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This is the key to Spengler’s philosophy, and ultimately to the point

of this entire chapter. We should recognize that each stage of life has
its own strengths and weaknesses, and try our best to act accordingly.
The seasons will inevitably change and the stage will move on - trying
to hang on in vain is a futile exercise. In the case of ‘The West’, not only
are the circumstances which made the civilization great and powerful no
longer there, but the next stage is going to require a cultural focus, and
is thus incompatible with the current framework. Ironically, the more
desperately some try to hang onto the current decaying civilization the
more they will turn it into a totalitarian caricature of itself, fueling the
actual reaction that drives the counterculture we’re already experiencing
today. Something new is birthing - an energy that will transform the
current social paradigm.
So what does this all mean? Many things, but most importantly, that
we need to ask better questions, such as:
• Given the cyclical nature of existence, can we even avoid these

cycles?
• If not, can we short-circuit them?
• Should we even attempt to do either?
• If cycles represent life, what does an absence of a cycle represent?
• Is there another way?
• Can we dampen the cycles, or build structures to protect us when

we’re in the trough of the cycle or the winter of the season?
• Can Bitcoin help with the latter?
• Or is it too just another thing that will pass?
Finding answers to these questions matters more than just diagnosing

clown-world and reminiscing on a past that will never return. Instead of
blindly and ignorantly hanging onto what’s dying, or trying to ignore the
cycles and artificially change them, we need to figure out how to work with
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them. Tradition is necessary not because it is ‘from the past’, but because
it is concerned with that which does not pass. We need both.
I wrote this book to challenge myself, and anyone reading it, to think
beyond today. The pace of change is faster than it has ever been, and
perhaps the greatest difference to prior civilizational shifts is that grand
changes that took centuries to occur previously may take generations
instead. Future leaders will have a whole new set of challenges to face and
they must adapt accordingly. Recognising the stage of the cycle they’re
in, and leveraging the timeless virtues explored in this book, will be key
to this adaptation and navigation.
With that, let us move onto the next chapter, and the big question.
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“Fix the money, fix the world” - that’s the promise many Bitcoiners rally
religiously behind. But is it true? Could it really be that simple? Is Bitcoin
a silver-bullet that fixes incentives enough for behavior to orient back to
normality, and perhaps even excellence?
Maybe. I used to believe it fervently, but in the two years I spent
writing this book, I’ve come to a different, more nuanced understanding.
I now think of it less as a “silver-bullet”, and more like a keystone to a
bridge: without it, the bridge cannot be completed, but alone, there is
no bridge.
Bitcoin Fixes This means: Fixing the money has positive downstream
effects on culture and society, because action and consequence are more
intimately entwined, and therefore localized, so good decisions are
rewarded, while the socialization of poor decisions is limited.
I’m still convinced Bitcoin will have profoundly positive long-term

effects on society, but they will take generations to come about and
require more effort on our part. Behavior and culture don’t just
change overnight. There is an inertia to overcome first, before any real
turnaround, let alone positive motion can be had. We’ve just begun the
pushback stage - to slow the decay - which is why it feels impossible at
times. Our descendants will carry the responsibility of rounding the cape,
and theirs will reap the rewards and push in a new direction. Our duty,
like Sisyphus, is to keep pushing the boulder up the mountain. There is
no time for black pills, and giving up certainly means losing. We have
truth and beauty on our side - along with some other tools (like Bitcoin,
Nostr & the Internet). We need to use everything at our disposal.
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To close out part three of the book, I will explore the impact Bitcoin has
on the four pillars of civilization we just discussed. Does its introduction
into the life of the average individual help nudge them into the direction
of greater virtue?
Could Bitcoin expose the equalitarian politics of the past century as the
frauds they are, leading them to bankruptcy, and their ultimate demise?
If so, could it lead to a world in which cultures become richer and, by force
of economic reality, more unified locally, while more diverse at the macro
or international level?
Could Bitcoin help establish a more robust “structure” that can better
weather the weak-man stage of the civilisational cycle? Could this lead
to material and moral wealth actually aligning in a way they’ve not done
before?
I believe the answer to all of these is mostly yes - which is a big claim.
So let’s explore why before we proceed to part 4 of the book, the one that
makes all the difference: a praxis.
Culture
Bitcoin impacts culture in various ways, though I’ll focus on two here.
One is the depth or richness of culture at the micro level (we’ll start the
discussion here) and the other is cultural variance or diversity at the
macro level (which we’ll examine afterwards).
Culture is upstream of politics and therefore civilization too. Society
and the human cultures it contains are emergent phenomena influenced
by many things: territory size and location, terrain (flat/mountains),
climate (cold or hot, the presence of absence of strong seasonal
variations), religion or beliefs, the behavior of leadership or key figures,
rewards and punishments, shared values, family/blood ties, economic
affluence, time preference, and more. It’s the last two I’d like to focus
on here.
Time preference in particular is a measure of maturity. The lower the
time preference, the greater the ability to abstain or defer gratification.
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In other words, the less you discount the future in relation to the present,
and thus the more future-oriented you are. Saving and cooperation are
generally signs of low time preference and economic maturity, whereas
frivolous spending, blind consumerism and theft are signs of high time
preference and immaturity.
This is where we find Bitcoin’s first major influence on culture. By
minimizing the ability to confiscate wealth, both at the individual and
the institutional levels, Bitcoin is much harder to steal directly (theft) and
indirectly (inflation) - one can imagine that in time, the incentive to thieve
diminishes and the incentive for cooperation or competition increases.
Put simply, you get less of that which is more expensive or hard to do. It’s
extremely easy for the government to take 40% of your paycheck before
it lands in your bank account, or even to freeze your bank account for
that matter. They are the arbiters and controllers of both the corporate
and financial systems. With Bitcoin, on the other hand, it’s not so trivial
because they do not own the network and cannot influence its operation.
At best they can scare people and try to suppress the price (both futile in
the long term).
Economically speaking, cooperation and competition are better for
both the producers and the consumers in a society, because they drive
more effective and efficient use of capital (resources, time, energy). This
is basically the essence of capitalism: using the resources, time and energy
at your disposal in the most resourceful way possible (assuming you’re
rational).
All else being equal, having a form of money that is incorruptible and
hard to confiscate should result in a shift away from thieving and toward
cooperation, and a subsequent lowering of time preference. Insofar
as time preference is related to maturity, this should also lead to a
maturing of culture through grassroots means (mature people → mature
culture) and to an increase in economic prosperity. This is not theoretical.
Both first-principles reasoning and overwhelming empirical evidence
(see early America, Australia, Canada or the West in general) show that
division of labor, strong property rights and competition drove incredible
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prosperity - so strong indeed that despite decades of destruction via poor

economic and political leadership, these regions are still the wealthiest on
earth.
This chain of maturation becomes a positive feedback loop and
actually gives the culture more time. With more time, man grows an
interest for activities, such as play, art and philosophy. In other words,
when we create wealth and therefore time, we create the possibility for
higher culture. Unfortunately, this also comes with the risk of some using
that time to conjure up socialist programs and equalitarian stupidities
of all kinds. This is the double-edged sword of material prosperity we
discussed at length earlier. The elite class in this period are often weaker
men, prone to the corruption of the flesh and inclined to support such
stupidities. It’s important we remain most vigilant right when we are
most wealthy (a lesson for people and cultures). Thankfully, Bitcoin may
be of use here once again, as a kind of “economic circuit breaker” that
triggers when weak men come into power and begin letting things slide.
It’s very hard to hide losses on a sound money standard, but very easy
with money you can print. The equalitarian policies enforced by the weak
descendants of earlier culture builders have always fallen apart, but not
without significant collateral damage - like an invisible virus or cancer
in the body, they destroy much more than what you see on the surface.
The greatest damage occurs when these ideologies endure for extended
periods of time, which can only really happen when the parasitic elite are
able to mask the relationship between their policies and the consequences,
through the debasement of money.
It’s a trick as old as time. Paper over real losses with fake money. The only
thing that’s changed is its institutionalization. It’s now like a polished
magic trick. Slow enough that nobody realizes it’s happening, subtle
enough that it seems stable, and broad enough that little by little it creates
massive wealth imbalances and distortions in the game before anybody
can do anything about it. Like death from a thousand cuts, or slowly
boiling a frog. This monetary debasement is imperceptible theft - like the
Wesley Snipes and Jason Statham movie Chaos, where the bank robbers
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install a virus on the computer that, instead of stealing millions from

accounts, steals less than a hundred from millions of accounts to avoid the
sensors. They get away with it in the movie, like central bankers have been
getting away with it for over a century. In an economy, we are the sensors,
and inflation evades most people... until it doesn’t, at which point they
panic, and it becomes hyperinflation. If you want to understand how
hyperinflation works, think of a person who can’t really swim, standing in
a pool with a rising water level. They’re fine until the water reaches their
neck. Soon they’re on their tip-toes, trying to keep their mouth and head
above water, but the water keeps imperceptibly rising. The panic doesn’t
really start until the level reaches the lower lip, and really kicks in when
their entire head is submerged - but by then it’s too late to learn to swim.
We’re seeing this play out in real time around the world today. We’re
somewhere between inflation evading most people and the hyperinflation
panic stages. The water is about chin level. It’s evident in the growing
sense of angst that everyone feels. People are angry and they don’t even
know why. They’re clamoring for free healthcare and government stipends,
and wondering why despite the handouts, they still can’t get a break. Most
people have no idea why the price of food, gas and housing has doubled,
or tripled in barely three years. In fact, it’s up by a factor or ten in less
than five decades. So they blame “the capitalists”. The guys that can swim!
Meanwhile, someone is pouring more water into the pool, drop by drop.
Bitcoin makes this whole game of monetary inflation and hidden
theft much harder to play. In fact, it’s impossible to issue new bitcoin,
so if you adopt it, you’re on that standard, and if you do not, in time
the money you’re using will trend to worthlessness against Bitcoin (soft
money always loses, in time, to hard money). Therefore, like a force of
nature or a physical law, we either choose to adapt to its reality, or pay the
price of not doing so. This is the genesis of the saying: “You don’t change
Bitcoin, Bitcoin changes you.”
This does not preclude insanity! Bitcoin is not a panacea for the human
condition. Nothing is - that sort of thinking is utopian and shallow. Of
course there will be derangement syndromes emerging in cultures where
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their affluence - on a Bitcoin standard - allows for stupid ideas, but the
consequence of said ideas should in theory be more evident because it’s
harder to paper over the losses or fraudulently adjust the ledger. It’s my
hope that this will be enough to put the brakes on dumb behavior, or force
the constituents of said culture to re-analyze and adapt before the decay
or cancer of equalitarianism takes root.
Adaptation is necessary, and for it to be effective, the speed of feedback
is critical. Money is a signaling mechanism. Prices transmit information.
But, like any other network, when the cables through which messages are
transmitted are broken, rusted, or damaged, the information necessary
to make decisions is distorted. That’s what the money printer does to a
society and its economy. Garbage in, garbage out.
So, to recap: We have lower time preferences alongside better
signaling and information flow through the economy. Together,
they make the case for why Bitcoin, as sound, incorruptible and
difficult-to-confiscate money, should lead to, or at least serve as a better
foundation for, more long-term-oriented, responsible, and thus richer,
deeper, and more mature cultures.
Which leads into the second point on culture: macro variance and
diversity.
Governance
Bitcoin is anti-equality technology, and it will impact social and
economic governance by making it more hierarchical, economically
sound and multipolar.
First, good governance is hierarchical. Chains of command are
necessary not only for delegation and separation of duties (focus), but also
for speed of decision-making and accountability. Fiat governance models
are subject to death by bureaucracy and the tragedy of the commons,
where everyone and no one is responsible.
Equalitarian experiments will suggest that we’re all unique, but
conveniently ignore the inherent differences between people. The truth
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is that humans are not equal, precisely because we are all unique. Spoils
naturally go to the winners, while the losers are left with feedback. Fair
and functional games have winners and losers, and society - which is a
form of game - needs to know who to reward and who to punish in order
to prosper. If people are free to win, they must also be free to lose. In fact,
freedom and equality are diametrically opposed. When you give people
freedom, they naturally de-equalise themselves; and in order to equalize
them, you must force them back into sameness by suffocating all natural
variance and stripping them of their agency and freedom.
Second. Remember that while good governance is derived from
leadership, inspiration, and maturity, what underlies all governance is
ultimately the threat of violence, and in an environment where good
governance is lacking, or made impossible because of cultural mismatch,
no accountability and lack of order (hierarchy), things can get ugly.
Governance models don’t often scale to very large numbers because
people are naturally diverse in their thinking, beliefs, values, culture,
behavior, intellect and levels of maturity. You can’t just force them all
to agree. Secondly, because territories vary in their climates, access
to natural resources, local norms, history, size, soil, and heritage, they
lend themselves to different forms of governance. Some are more
hierarchical, some more tribal, others are more egalitarian and in some
places, governance is entirely absent. This differentiation in approach
causes many problems, and is a big part of why multiculturalism has
never worked, and most often ends in either short-term violence to keep
things in order, or long-term violence due to the decay that comes with
open policies and disorder.
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“Multiculturalism will destroy America. There is a danger

that large numbers of Mexicans and others from South and
Central America will continue to come to the US and spread
their culture across the whole of the country. If they breed
faster than the WASPs [White Anglo-Saxon Protestants]
and are living with them, whose culture will prevail?...
It would be sad for American culture to be changed even
partially.”
Lee Kuan Yew, Visionary Founder of Modern Singapore
The large-scale, homogenous zombie-states resulting from the

equalitarian experiments of the last hundred years are inorganic
and fragile, and should’ve collapsed by now; but they’re fed by the money
printer, so they subsist on life support. Take the European Union as an
example. It’s both a parasite sucking the resources from the European
people, and forcing the destruction of their cultures, and also a complete
economic and political disaster. Within Europe alone, people live
completely different lifestyles. Italians and Germans both have their
own unique values and norms. People come to Italy for the food, the
architecture, the leisure, history, weather and the Mediterranean Sea.
They go to Germany for different reasons. Trying to blend everyone
into one economic melting pot clearly doesn’t work and creates an
opportunity for these parasites to take advantage by printing more
money, crusading against more Quixotic problems (while ignoring the
real ones) and forcing “services” that nobody needs onto everyone (see
electric car mandates, plastic bottle lids, vax passports). This is made a
thousand times worse by importing people from countries and cultures
that do not share the values. European countries, at the very least, have
shared histories and religions. The people being imported most often do
not, and it destroys what little integrity is left. Europe was much better
off beforehand, as a patchwork of independent nations, each with their
own decision-making power. Case in point, Hungary was recently fined
€200m by the EU for protecting their own people and “not abiding by EU
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asylum rules.” The same goes for the USA. The federal government is a
bloated malignant cancer, leaching from its people and from the better
managed states. Luckily for Americans, the Founding Fathers enshrined
greater autonomy at the state level - and that’s in my opinion why the US
remains the best of a bad bunch.
In any case, what does this have to do with Bitcoin and money? Simple:
fiscal responsibility and solvency. Without a hard limit on monetary
expansion, I don’t see why any government or governance structure would
ever practice fiscal responsibility or satiate its desire for expansion. When
someone else is paying for dinner you eat as much as you can, right? With
such power at your fingertips, and a high degree of immunity from its
consequence, why would you not continue to just spend and consume?
Why would you not create larger and larger bureaucracies to maintain
the status quo? The truth is, easy money necessitates that you keep
growing the Leviathan, if for no other reason than to prove you have
“checks and balances” - which of course, leads to more bureaucracy, and
the bureaucratic death spiral continues.
Free money leads to a bloating of the government far beyond what
would otherwise be economically feasible. Bureaucratic tentacles are fed
by a constant flow of funds and find their way into every corner and crevice
of the machine, until so many places and people depend on it or are
entangled by it that it seizes up the entire contraption, and nobody can
breathe. Then of course, something snaps. I don’t believe we are far off
from that breaking point in the West.
Consider the alternative. A money with not only a hard limit, but a
verifiable one that becomes a common standard. What might that lead
to?
Growth will require investment or deployment of real capital. In other
words, there better be a real return on that initiative. You cannot just grow
for growth’s sake. When you cannot thieve your way into more money,
when you have to pay for your own meal, maybe, just maybe, you’ll be less
inclined to order everything on the menu. When it’s real money on the
line, you need to prioritize (think about how people play poker with real
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money on the line versus play money). The incentives change. To survive,
you have to focus your energy and attention on efficiency, on greater
productivity, on something actually useful. Furthermore, you are more
inclined to mind your own business, instead of getting into everyone
else’s like some annoying activist. You might want to orient toward your
strengths and trade with someone who is leaning into theirs (division
of labor). Think about what this does on a social level. When you can’t
just print more money to pay for your ever-growing tentacles, they are
much harder to expand, and you literally cannot create more dependents
because you cannot pay for or feed them. Goodbye illegal immigration,
goodbye welfare, hello stronger, tighter borders.
On a long enough time scale, Bitcoin’s economic immutability will
result in smaller governance structures that operate more effectively
and efficiently. Couple that with variations in all of the other factors I
mentioned (religion, territory, climate, culture, race, heritage, etc.) and
you can imagine that we might ultimately develop variance in culture once
again.
“Oh the horror!” The midwits might say. “How will I live without a
Starbucks on every corner, or without a McDonalds in Bali or that Burger King
in Venice, Italy?!”
My answer would be: “You can finally live authentically.”
As these more economically and territorially localized regions emerge,
they will begin to find their own culture, their own style, their own flavor,
and ultimately become stewards of their own destiny. What a colorful and
truly diverse world that would be. And how much better than the gray goo
of multiculturalism being forced down everyone’s throats today!
In fact, this is not only more compelling, but also anthropologically
sound. Robert Ardrey is a bit like the “Mises” of anthropology. In his
book The Territorial Imperative, he argues that territory is at the root of
cooperative species’ biological drives, even more so than sex. He outlines
how territorial species of all kinds develop “in-groups” and “out-groups”
via instinctual territorial lines that delineate who is part of the group
and who’s not, or what is one’s property and what is not. Humans do
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this in very sophisticated ways (property rights, walls, homes with doors
and locks, cryptography, online communities, you name it). Every other
species does it via more basic, biological methods.
Relevant to culture and governance is the fact that inside the territory,
there is amity, while outside there is enmity, which result is internal
homogeneity and external heterogeneity. We call this “tribalism”, and it’s
often framed as a negative thing - but to the contrary, beyond the nuclear
family, a healthy cohesive tribe is the most important unit for a strong and
cohesive community and culture. Tribes are of course prone to come into
conflict with one another, but as we established in the prior chapters, this
is not necessarily a bad thing. Competition and conflict are necessary for
growth. Iron sharpens iron, and so too does the marketplace.
I should also clarify that the existence of mature cultures,
differentiated from another and therefore more diverse, does not
imply some fantasy utopia where we ‘transcend’ conflict, competition
or even warfare. That’s childish thinking. If anything, we will likely
have more frequent conflict in this kind of world, perhaps even more
micro-warfare, and certainly more competition - all of which are good
things. They keep the human race sharp. If we must struggle (and
remember that struggle is essential to growth and life) then we should
aim to have a better quality of struggle! Not the hopeless, dystopian,
big-brother-like struggle. Let’s actually compete. Culture on culture.
Method against method. Warriors against warriors. Business against
business. Athlete against athlete. School against school. Even warrior
cultures against commercial ones, or in alliance with commercial cultures
toward a common end. Greatness lies ahead if we grasp it. But we must
cut the chains of fiat to reach it.
I believe Bitcoin will help transform culture for the better and force
better governance. By standardizing and bounding the money, it changes
the economic calculus for expansion, and increases the difficulty of
artificially maintaining large scale monocultures. It makes room for a
rich mosaic of smaller cultures, each of which can develop greater depth.
This kind of environment may well foster the rise of new warrior cultures,
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or even the integration of the warrior ethos into different cultures around
the world.
Wealth
“To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the
creation of the best power within you - a passkey to trade your
effort for the effort of the best among men.”
There are two things to deal with in relation to Bitcoin and wealth. One is
the general problem of “corruption by wealth” with which we opened the
prior wealth chapter. The other is the large variance in holdings among
Bitcoiners, to which I also briefly alluded a few pages back. Let us now
explore this further, before we move onto the more important question of
material corruption.
On a Bitcoin standard, we’ll have large variations in wealth, similar
to what we’ve always had. There are people who today stack satoshis at
the same rate as Michael Saylor stacks full bitcoin. And in the future,
people will work an entire week for a paycheck in sats, equivalent to what
someone today has purchased for the price of a McDonald’s happy meal.
You might think this “unfair” and yes, in some ways you might be right.
It’s also unfair that some people are born prematurely, some with a low
IQ, some on a bad day, some in a certain era, some to bad parents, some
five minutes before a bomb drops in Yemen, some in the slums of Africa,
some to a central banker, and some to the richest man in the world (some
of whom still want to commit suicide or disfigure their body). Remember:
we cannot equalize things - we can only build better, fairer frameworks.
Bitcoin is such a framework, but we don’t just go from where we are
to a Bitcoin standard overnight. Who hears about it, when they hear
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about it, and what they do with it, has little to do with Bitcoin itself,
and almost everything to do with the person and the environment in
which Bitcoin is emerging. Therefore, it’s what we all do with Bitcoin that
ultimately counts. Finding a way to access it, taking the time to study
it, and accepting the risk to buy and hold it will be a matter of luck, effort,
will, time, energy, and desire. It is the same with all such paradigm shifts.
If you have a bone to pick, do so with the current system. It has far
greater levels of wealth disparity than a Bitcoin standard ever will. There
are central bankers who make in an hour what some people make in a
lifetime, not because they’re adding any value to society, but because they
are closer to the monetary spigot. And worse, they can do so not just
without adding value, but by actually destroying value, destroying lives,
and destroying society!
That is truly unfair. When you can rig the game and continue to pay
yourself at the expense of the other players in the game, you can’t lose!
You do not need real customers because the state apparatus can extract
money from people through inflation or taxation and hand it to you. You
don’t really need to fight to win, because you win by decree. By fiat.
Ultimately, this game ends, because everyone gets poorer. The
match-fixer keeps squandering his stolen wealth, because why not?
There’s more where that came from. Everyone else just gets robbed,
and in the process loses the will to keep producing, or worse, chooses
to partner with the match-fixer and distort the game even further,
accelerating its demise.
That’s where we are right now; and I can’t think of a worse situation for
humanity to be facing, economically or psychologically. It’s no wonder the
world is going to hell in a handbasket.
So while there will be a disparity in wealth on a Bitcoin standard, in
time, the distribution will more closely and accurately reflect the very real
differences across the populace. This is about as authentically fair as we’ll
ever get - and a hell of a lot fairer and just than what we have now. With
that settled, let’s now look at Bitcoin and corruption by wealth.
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First of all, I don’t believe this can ever be entirely “solved” because it’s a
cycle, and, as we discussed, cycles are forever. That being said, I do believe
Bitcoin can have a positive impact because it can help manage or dampen
corruption via the threat of real, irretrievable loss. What do I mean?
It’s like the difference between real life and a video game. Lost or spent
bitcoin cannot be reprinted. Corruption is cheap today because it’s easy
to hide with fake money. But when things have a real cost or, at the very
least, are more accurately priced, corruption can become very expensive.
When nobody can play “banker”, and when indirect theft (traditionally
the winning strategy) is made next to impossible, winning requires a new
strategy. This leaves three main options: (1) direct theft - which comes
with a host of dangers of its own; (2) cooperation; (3) competition. The
latter two are the most practical for mature people, tribes and societies.
Sound money helps increase the proximity of consequence and action.
In the absence of a means of replenishing your wealth through some
obfuscated form of confiscation, one is less inclined to risk and squander
it so easily, or gamble it away on fanciful ideas. Think of it this way:
if politicians had to pay for their welfare programs personally, you can be
sure they wouldn’t be campaigning for them. When bad decisions actually
cost you directly, you either adapt and make better decisions, or you are
made obsolete, thus rendering your decisions and actions irrelevant in
the future. Either way, problem solved.
The descent into the “weak men create bad times” stage of the cycle is
accelerated by weak men getting access to the money printer, or the state
apparatus, and then the money printer. In fact, it takes a weak man to
conjure up the idea of a money printer in the first place, and the same
archetype to want to continue it because they’re too small to compete
without a handicap. But no matter how many times society collapses due
to the destruction of money before we return to a sound money standard,
the cycle keeps repeating. The obvious question therefore is, how can I be
so sure that Bitcoin is different, when all prior attempts have failed?
Well, at the risk of sounding like your average midwit: this time it
actually is different. Bitcoin isn’t about “going back”. It’s a zero-to-one
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techno-socio-economic breakthrough. It’s not a physical object like

gold, that requires storage and abstraction to scale. It’s more like a
decentralized digital constitution whose participants actually make up
the network. It’s a completely novel approach to money that results in
something with an immutable set of promises. It uses human behavior,
energy cost, and probabilities to ensure that nobody can change it. The
incentives are finely tuned and balanced. It’s not perfect (perfection
doesn’t exist), but it’s by far the best shot we have at creating an
incorruptible form of money, and it has critical economic mass (worth
over $1T) - which is a key factor in succeeding.
What’s stopping people from building their own versions and printing
their own money? Creating your own money is clearly very lucrative. Well,
not a lot these days. The average developer with a laptop can spin up a
shitcoin and people buy it. It’s happened 25,000 times already. But, like
all frauds and scams, reality prevails in the end. Narratives built on lies
are fragile: they can give the illusion of winning for a while but, in time,
they shatter. Bitcoin is becoming an economic mean, and every deviation
that occurs ultimately collapses back on itself. These corrections become
economic lessons that our anthropic consciousness learns from. The weak
are washed out, the strong consolidate, and the process repeats.
“But it can’t be that easy!” I can almost hear you saying through the page.
So hear me in return: I never said it was going to be easy. But just like
losing weight, it is that simple. Stop eating so much, and you’ll drop the
pounds. Stop printing fake money and the economy will be less fake and
corrupt. Rinse, repeat, and in time, the strong and productive rise to the
top.
In the end, one of the most effective ways of dealing with the moral
decay hastened by the allure of material wealth and corruption is with an
incorruptible economic framework, like Bitcoin. The cycles will continue,
the allure of easy money and corruption will always be there. All we can
really do is build better economic structures that help us point things in
the right direction.
Which brings me to my final point.
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Cycles and games

Ignorance is not a winning strategy for life, and this certainly applies
to the cycles of life. Anyone who thinks they can arbitrarily decree
their elimination only creates a false continuity that has disastrous
consequences when the veneer of stability shatters. The result is a
correction that overshoots, well past the mean.
So, if cycles are inescapable, what can we do - especially when it comes
to the destructive and ugly stage of the cycle? Is there a more holistic or
mature approach? I think there is, and it revolves around building better
structures. In a social sense, this means better, more antifragile cultures,
and therefore stronger and more resilient people. In an economic sense,
a mechanism to minimize fraud, theft, and corruption.
Let’s ‘build’ on this structure metaphor. We build structures, like a
house, to help us weather the elements: storms and, in particular, the
bad seasons. If we know that winter is coming, we want to make sure we
build it in such a way that we don’t all freeze to death. If we know that
earthquakes or hurricanes are frequent, then we must build accordingly.
You see this reflected in architecture and building styles all around the
world. When survivability is the name of the game, strong, antifragile
structures with enough insulation are required. Not strictly rigid ones,
made of glass, for example. A structure with a high degree of survivability
must be both framed and adaptable.
To understand this fully, let’s take a look at the games we play. What
we call “society” and “civilisation” are simply a series of games played
at a macro level, characterized by a whole array of roles, rules, and
goals. Economics represents the resource allocation aspect of this game,
while philosophy dictates our approach or the methodology of our play;
culture is the style, and politics forms the decision-making structure
governing power dynamics. Participants, acting as economic players,
strategize to amass resources and control territory, with wealth serving as
the scorecard. Competition, education and negotiation mirror strategic
gameplay as players vie for advantages in political power, wealth and
cultural influence.
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The best games also have meta-goals, beyond just winning on the
economic scoreboard. For example: to become a better person, to reach
farther, to see the yet unseen, to find meaning, to leave a legacy, to create
beauty, and to procreate life. Unfortunately, many of these have been
forgotten as we’ve skewed so far toward the purely material. In fact,
ignoring these meta-goals has led us to nihilism and despair. We no
longer care “why” we’re playing - all we are interested in is the tangible or
visible points on the scoreboard, and we’ll sell our souls for those points.
This is obviously unhealthy for both the players and the games they play.
In all societies, there are different primary categories of players that
vary based on the era, the period, the culture, and other factors. The
modern world, the one we’re living in right now, has four primary
archetypes of players which I’d like to explore, to illustrate the point.
Player type one is the “state” and includes central bankers, politicians,
big-tech/pharma/chem and anyone tied to or associated with the money
printer. This player wins, no matter what they do or how they play.
They’re the banker in Monopoly, or some magical leprechaun who wins
each round in poker, irrespective of the hand they play. This is the
category most coveted by those who are hungry to win at all costs, whether
that means lying, cheating or stealing, and is often characterized by those
who lack the honor or integrity to win a game because they are actually
better. You might call them the elite. I call them the parasitic elite,
because they suck the life out of the game.
The second category of player is similar in their hunger or desire to
win, and are cunning enough to understand the game, but are actually
competent at their craft and can produce things. They might not end up
with the finger directly on the money printer button, but they know how
to make friends with those in the first category. They know how to partner
with them, and oftentimes use them. The parasitic elite craves friends
(because he doesn’t have any), and he knows he needs to build alliances
with men of true power and competence. If he’s pragmatic enough, he will
also acknowledge that he can’t be the only one that wins, lest the game end
too soon; so, he offers incentives (both implicit and explicit) for players to
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orient themselves around him. Second category players are the ones who
get these offers, and some (not all), take them. Think of the poker game
analogy again: now the best, most skillful players, instead of playing a
good poker game, simply play a good “make friends with the leprechaun”
game. This category of player may be found in Wall Street, Silicon Valley
and other major financial centers.
We’re left with two more categories. The third is the hard working
player. This is the middle class and includes workers, craftsmen, artisans,
most entrepreneurs, single- and even double-digit millionaires, and
generally people who actually play because they want to become better,
sensing that there is a deeper meaning to the game of life. This category of
player keeps the game going. So long as they exist, and continue to believe
in the game, the others can play. To a large extent, this is where most
people are, and in a healthy society this ‘middle class’ is large and stable.
But in a rigged game, this category becomes less of a place you remain
and more of a transition point to either category two or four. In fact, the
faster this third category erodes, the faster the game ends. Hyperinflation
happens when they give up. People realize that they’re carrying all the weight
and, as they start to burn out, they decide either “screw this, I’m going to join
category two and get my share”, or they opt for…
The fourth category is the end of the road. The nihilist, the hedonist,
the forfeit, the dropout. Why play if the game is rigged? It’s easier to just
give up! There’s many gradations to this category, from the homeless, to
the welfare recipient, to the hippie, to the perpetual philosophy student,
to the doomer or the basement-dwelling 40-year-old teenager. These
people either lack the gumption, talent, skill, or luck to jump to category
two, or they are deeply intuitive and feel how rigged it all is, so they throw
in the towel and just drop out of the game altogether. Many more of
course are born into category four, and taught to believe victimhood is
moral. As such, like crabs in a bucket, they bring down anybody who tries
to rise up from there, and because they are in proximity only to category
three players, they try to bring them down too.
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As the fake-game begins to break and the numbers on the scoreboard

accrue to very few (especially those who clearly cheated), the third
category dissolves. The second category, often composed of those more
intelligent, may create new things to numb or distract the fallen (social
media, VR, entertainment), while category one begins to loot the game
for everything they can, while they still can. Because we ignored the more
important meta-goals, the game has become meaningless. We are empty
and nihilistic. Instead of playing the deeper and more functional game,
we end up with a fake state of play and four categories of players that soon
become just two. Category one and four become a pincer that crushes
category 3, corrupts category 2, and ultimately leaves two remaining
players: ultra-rich and slave-poors.
How does Bitcoin fix this? Does Bitcoin fix this? And what does it all
have to do with structures and cycles? Two things: one, the game or rules
of the game are a form of structure; two: the game itself goes through
seasons or cycles.
First of all, Bitcoin as sound, incorruptible money helps by making the
first category of player obsolete, or changes the very nature of category
one into something more akin to a monarch with skin in the game.
This in turn completely changes the economic calculus for category two
players. Category three becomes less psychologically burdensome and
more sustainable and category four, while likely to continue to exist,
would (should?) become less enticing because the other styles of gameplay
become more compelling and their rewards more achievable. Let’s
explore each (white pill alert).
Category one, option one: this player and their position is made
obsolete. The parasites who otherwise would’ve been printing money or
conjuring up ways to win by cheating will either be starved of oxygen and
cease to exist, or if they do survive, will find new ways to scam, lie, cheat,
and steal, but be forced to do so in smaller or more local dimensions; that
way, they inevitably (a) do less damage, and (b) are more likely to answer
for their behavior. “Try that in a small town.”
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Category one, option two: the nature of this player and this role
completely transforms. It becomes some sort of CEO-King-Ubermensch
that leads his nation, people and territory like an Alexander the
Great-meets-Elon Musk. There is great power, but also great
responsibility, and most important of all: skin in the game. Either
outcome is superior to what we have today, and I would bet that we’ll
have a mixture of both. The key is to eliminate the money printer.
Next, the category two player: the entrepreneur, the mega-artist,
the ruthless general, the hyper competitive, cunning, and adept players
who were making friends with the leprechauns before, will now compete,
produce, and create. The calculus for winning will no longer have
anything to do with proximity to the monetary spigot, but to the efficacy
of their “meta”. Sure, there will be some bad eggs, most likely the
psychopaths, but I would guess that this new kind of playing field will
be good for the souls of such players because, like the greatest ancient
warriors, they will have a worthy foe to compete against. They will get to
play for excellence, glory and power. In such an environment, one could
imagine a new elite that will either become the new category one player, or
become the noble class around the CEO-King that keeps him accountable.
The most erudite of these category two players will recognise they
need help from the middle class to gain alpha, so they might seek to
inspire or lead them, knowing that more and better talent means more
and better products, services, customers and power. You could imagine
an upward spiral in such an environment. Category three players who
may have previously been teetering on the edge of nihilism, hedonism,
or hopelessness, may be more inclined to continue playing because there
is actually a real chance of winning their micro games. The situation is
no longer hopeless. In fact, knowing that you can win just might inspire
more of these players to reach for the new elite categories, because they
won’t feel like they’re selling out. What was once a burdensome and often
hopeless category three could slowly become a broader, larger and more
populous category where winners progress, losers receive feedback, and
the game itself gets more interesting, useful, and worthwhile to play.
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Finally, the bottom category. It’s not something you can eliminate, in
the same way as you can never eliminate evil, darkness, sadness, ugliness
or depression. They will always exist, but if the other options are viable
and compelling giving up might slowly lose its appeal. If the first step to
climbing up out of the valley of despair is not as hard as it once was, some
might choose to climb. And for those that stay, perhaps instead of being in
a state of complete destructive nihilism, it becomes something else, like
a place of rest, or a more innocent or innocuous kind of state.
This sort of structural change is a big deal and is, in my opinion, at
the core of why Bitcoin helps with the seasons and cycles. Bitcoin helps
create an economic environment, and therefore a socio-political one, in
which weak men can do less damage! It’s like building a shelter with a
new material, so that when the winter comes around, as it inevitably will,
we’re warm and insulated, with well-stocked stores and won’t freeze or
starve to death if any idiots who have come of age decide to run amok and
play with fire.
With Bitcoin, we have gone from a social structure made solely of
twigs and thatch to one that incorporates wood, steel, concrete, glass, and
other materials for structural integrity, strength, aesthetics, insulation,
and connection to nature. It can protect us from the elements, shelter
us from storms, keep us grounded and elevate us with its beauty, and -
despite the inevitable damage done to the structure from the internal and
external seasons - it can remain intact for the next generation of strong
men to come of age. Even if the damage done by the weaklings and idiots
is severe, the structure can endure. Instead of needing to rebuild again
from scratch, the new generation of strong men can make the necessary
repairs and build onwards to new heights.
This is how a Bitcoin standard may at the very least dampen the weak
men/bad times part of the cycle, and allow humanity to better conserve and
compound its progress. This is the key to real civilisational progress.
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In closing
Finally, to bring this all back to Spengler: the goal is to grow old and wise,
gracefully. When a civilization has passed its peak, it will continue to
age until it dies, and something new will be born. Whether this death
comes as a result of natural causes or from stupidity is the important
factor. With Bitcoin we might extend the natural lifespan of a civilization,
because its destruction does not occur every few centuries thanks to
debauching the money. This civilizational life-extension may be what’s
necessary for us to reach for the stars, and at the risk of sounding even
more hyperbolic, might be the key to seeding new civilisations across the
galaxy. Compounding growth is the only way to get there, and time is the
key factor in that equation.
Whatever the ultimate end, Bitcoin establishes a framework for a
robust game with fair rules and more than just material goals, but access
to higher meta-goals. I also view it as a resilient structure that can
dampen the effects of bad seasons and down cycles, whether they are
self-inflicted or the cause of bad luck and poor timing. Furthermore, by
putting power back where it belongs (into the hands of those with skin
in the game), it acts as a bulwark against democracy and equalitarianism
- institutions and ideologies that have wrought nothing but destruction
and poverty worldwide, particularly in places such as Rhodesia that were
once the breadbasket of a continent. In the end, Bitcoin should lead to
better games, stronger structures, stronger people and less equality. All net
positives.
With that in mind, I’d like to finish this section with a call to action.
Talking about virtue and morality is one thing, practicing them is another.
Most people, including so-called Christians, Conservatives, Moralists,
Libertarians, and Bitcoiners talk a big game online about what they
believe, but are in reality as Netflix-obsessed, social media-addicted,
antidepressant-addled and sludge-consuming as those they claim to
oppose. There is little practical difference among them and the mid-wits
they laugh at from their screens and keyboards.
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The only valid expression of virtue is a practice or “praxis.” If you are just
proclaiming your belief in something, and doing nothing in the form of a practice
or discipline toward its attainment, then you are just LARPing.
Everything I have discussed about culture, greatness and wealth
thus far hinges on the fact that while Bitcoin’s presence helps with the
incentives and establishes a better framework, the onus remains on the
individual to act.
In order to win, grow, evolve, adapt or improve - whatever the game
- you must act. That will never change, and you cannot shirk this
responsibility. Thus my challenge to you is that you take what you will
from this book, and then go do something about it!
Don’t just read the words here. Practice.
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PART IV
Praxis
Praxis
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not
enough, we must do.”
Bruce Lee,Tao of Jeet Kune Do
Knowing about the virtues discussed in Section 3 is one thing. It’s a bit
like having a map - a good first step but only meaningful if you’re going to
use it. Adopting these virtues is the next step, and can only come about
through action and practice. If knowing them is the map, then developing
them is like taking the journey itself. This is where true character is built.
“The first point to observe in knightly pedagogics was to build

up character, leaving in the shade the subtler faculties of
prudence, intelligence and dialectics.”
Samurai and knights were men of character because they were first and
foremost, men of action. Yes, some were also scholars, artists, lords,
fathers, priests, and poets, but that all came second to their identity
as men of war and action. Their morality was fundamentally expressed
through what they did and not only by what they said.
In this chapter we will look at the role action, territory, training and
rites of passage played in both classical and warrior cultures, then explore
how these can inspire the training and development of a new elite class
for a world on a new socio-economic standard. The future is what we
make it. We may no longer be riding around on horses with swords at our
hilts, but there are certainly new weapons to wield, and new territories to
conquer. We need to carry this energy forward, along with the new tools
at our disposal.
A Man of Action
“Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.”
Henri Bergson, Speech at Descartes Conference 1937
To understand Bushido meant to act in the way of Bushido. The virtues

characterized the behavior and informed the actions of a Samurai who
considered himself a bushi: a man of war. Recall that Bushido was an
unwritten code, not some list of commandments drawn up on parchment
and taught at an academy. It was a way of being, and could only be
expressed in deeds. Thinking or reading about it was not enough.
“People whose minds were simply stored with information

found no great admirers. Of the three services of studies that
Bacon gives—for delight, ornament, and ability—Bushido
had decided preference for the last.”
Simple “book-knowledge” was insufficient to be considered a true

Samurai or bushi. Wisdom and action were considered deeply entwined.
Knowledge alone was at best an accessory. Comprehension is only the
first step on the path. To truly understand is to act. Mastery occurs when
the knowledge is in your body.
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“The tripod which supported the framework of Bushido was

said to be Chi, Jin, Yu, respectively, Wisdom, Benevolence,
and Courage. A Samurai was essentially a man of
action. [T]he word Chi, which was employed to denote
intellectuality, meant wisdom in the first instance and gave
knowledge only a very subordinate place.”
This concept is more relevant in the modern age, as we drown in ever

expanding oceans of information. Knowledge has become a cheap
commodity, so much so that it is just noise. In fact, so too has the
dissemination and synthesis of this knowledge. The rise of generative AI
and tools like ChatGPT only serve to exacerbate the problem. It’s now not
only insufficient to be able to read a book, but also trivial to summarize
it. Never has there been less value tied to mere knowledge or the ability
to just intellectually grasp it. The classic teacher archetype who ‘talks’ but
does not ‘do’ is in trouble, and even more so the midwit content creator
who talks a lot but says very little, and does even less. These new tools will
separate the doers from the talkers, so much so that only one’s ability to
act congruently will set one apart from the bots.
The Nietzschean Ubermensch is the man of action: the one who
separates himself from the mediocrity of the average; the one who bends
the universe to his will. In an environment of pure potential, he stands
head and shoulders above the rest by being kinetic. By transforming
potential knowledge into real action.
Such a man will hone his body and mind to be ready for any challenge
that may arise, and do so in a way that they are one. This is why
training is so important. Training is philosophy in action. The very word
“philo-sophia” means the “love of wisdom,” and before it was formalized
as a distinct discipline in the ancient world, it was an action-oriented
ideal. It was a ‘learning by doing’ and a ‘gaining of wisdom’ in the act of
living - a very different concept to the modern, overly cerebral definition
of Philosophy.
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“To the ancient Greeks, philosophy embodied more than the

pursuit of truth. It represented a way of life, a continuous
journey towards self-discovery and personal growth. It
was about the dynamic process of being and constantly
becoming. The Greeks did not perceive philosophy as an
abstract intellectual exercise, as it is commonly viewed in
contemporary times. Instead, it was a way of being and
becoming, influencing their actions, decisions, and the very
course of life.”
Chad Crowley on X.com
All great warrior cultures mirrored this. In feudal Japan, a Samurai’s

training consisted mainly of fencing, archery, jiu jitsu, horsemanship,
the use of the spear and the sword, and tactics. Calligraphy, ethics,
literature, history, and good writing were of concern insofar as they
helped to sharpen action.
“Literature was pursued mainly as a pastime, and

philosophy as a practical aid in the formation of character,
if not for the exposition of some military or political problem.
Religion and theology were relegated to the priests.”
This is precisely my point for leaders of the future. The words on these
pages should inspire you to action - not just to pick up another book. The
mind and the body are inseparable. Physiognomy, physio-psychology,
body language, mobility, action, character - they are all woven together,
and they apply to women just as much as they do to men.
Modernity seeks to transform you into a brain in a vat, in part
conspiratorially, and in part through its perpetual pursuit of ease. The
result is that you succumb to comfort and are mastered by technology.
True mastery lies in the realm beyond comfort, and requires you
transcend technology, by becoming the protagonist of the story. You
must use it, not the other way around. You are either the producer or
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the product. You are either master of your domain, or you are slave to
circumstance. You either establish your own territory, or you are a guest
(or a captive) in somebody else’s.
Territory is fundamental: it’s at the heart of evolution. And life, at
its most basic level, is the struggle for ownership of space. From the
primordial goo that gave rise to the earliest life-forms, through to the
modern civilizations that sprawl across the globe - the essence of life has
and always will be an impulse to claim, cultivate, and conquer territory -
and we humans are its prime vessels.
This deep-seated instinct extends beyond land ownership or the desire
to control resources. It is the pothos that drove Alexander to conquer
the known world and to reach its end, and compelled Magellan to
circumnavigate the Earth on a ship made of wood and cloth. It is a
yearning to claim space, and, by extension, claim our destiny. Our destiny
is a destination, or a place, or a territory.
Territory is not just physical, it is also metaphysical: it includes the
body, the mind, and the spirit. It is psychological and emotional, starting
with you and radiating outward. Your family is your territory. So is your
business, your reputation, your land and your community. As a man, your
wife and kids are your property, in the deepest sense of the term: it is your
job to protect and provide for them. As a chieftain, captain, CEO or a
leader of any kind, your tribe, crew and team are under your dominion
and therefore protection: it is your job to lead and guide them.
The size of your territory is proportional to the quantity of life force
that you can harness and channel. This is the true definition of will to
power. And this is why your capacity to be dangerous is fundamental
to your existence. Your territory is that which you can defend. All else
is borrowed. Your territory is the terrain you can act on at will. This
is why the man of action is king. Action separates the master from
the apprentice and the autonomous from the automaton. The master
knows the body is where action originates and thus where real mastery
manifests. How to harness and command this, how to do, how to be and
how to act are the subjects of the following chapters.
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The body must be trained: the mind is nothing without it. The separation
of mind and body is a deeply erroneous construct. The mind evolved
with the body - it didn’t just appear one day, making the flesh suddenly
animate and sentient. There is no mind without body, and there is
no body without the mind; they are inseparable. Do not fall for these
brain-in-a-vat fantasies from transhumanist nerds who lack physical
vitality. They seek to bring everyone down to their level because they’re
too weak to raise themselves up.
The human mind evolved as an extension of the human hand - an
appendage with such utility, dexterity and complexity that Spengler
called it a “weapon unparalleled” in the history of life itself. The hand
changed our relationship to the world around us, and in so doing altered
our entire physiology. We became the apex predator because we stood tall
on two legs, our eyes looked ahead, triangulating distances to home in on
a target while our hands could create in reality that which we envisioned
in our mind. No other organic appendage in the animal kingdom was
or is able to create tools that enhance its own capabilities to control and
manipulate space.
Combined with forward-facing eyes, we have the ultimate predatorial
combination. The human eye observes, while the hand acts; the eye seeks
out cause and effect, while the hand deals with means and ends. I’m not
sure there is a deeper set of psycho-physiological truths than these.
This is why training is imperative, and all training must be
action-oriented. Reading is a good place to start, but nobody won a race,
conquered a territory or built a business by simply reading words on a
page. Action was ultimately required.
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“Words change nothing. They are at best signs of change.”
Ernst Jünger, On Pain
Physio-psychology
“There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest

philosophy.”
“Mind over matter” is bullshit. I don’t care how much you “think” you can
lift, it’s only when you get under the barbell that you’ll discover the truth.
That’s not to say that the mind doesn’t count. It will help get you there,
and might help push you that final couple of percent, but it’s the body that
does the work. The truth is you cannot separate mind from body, and true
intelligence is both mental and physical. They reinforce each other. It’s
more like body and mind over space and stuff - although that doesn’t roll off
the tongue as well.
Nietzsche uses the term physio-psychology to describe this
body-intelligence, and builds a large part of his philosophy on the
following foundations: the mind and the body evolved together, there is
no separation between them, and one cannot live without the other. This
echoes Spengler’s position on the human hand heavily influencing the
development of the human mind.
The key take-away is that you are an embodied being, consisting of
more than just eyeballs, fingertips, genitals and some gray matter trapped
inside of a skull. While a disembodied brain in a vat may be Yuval Harari’s
erotic fantasy, it is thankfully not yet a description of reality, nor is it
either viable or desirable.
Your thoughts and actions involve every part of your being. You
literally think with the entirety of your body - not just with your mind.
Your muscles, organs, brain, central nervous system, and the blood
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flowing through your veins are all involved, whether you are a scientist,
athlete, artist, poet, or philosopher - your collective faculties come
together in order to understand and create. This extends then beyond
the physical and into the spiritual. The mind, body and spirit are all
intertwined and work together to create a unified whole.
“A flabby body will produce flabby thought; weak arms will

produce weak rhetoric. This is not mere analogy, it is biology.
The entire tenor of your thinking is a complex product of
hormonal cascades. Adipose tissue is estrogenic, it makes
you think like a eunuch. Testosterone insufficiency will
inflect your manner of thought, the topics you direct your
attention to, the way you approach them, the conclusions you
draw. You think that you are thinking with your brain, but
in truth you are thinking with your belly-rolls; your brain
is merely there to rationalize what your abdominal padding
has already decided upon.”
John Carter, Postcards from Barsoom: Just Fucking Lift Bro
“Virtual Man” is not progress. He is a dead end. Separating out the mind
and placing it in a jar to somehow ‘transcend’ meatspace is nonsense. The
marketing departments run by bugmen and bureaucrats seek to make
you weak: they want to bring you down to their level so they develop
convoluted ideas of singularities and trillion-dollar AGI tinmen, while
spotlighting emaciated keyboard warriors in Time Magazine so that your
mental imagery of success becomes a Sam Bankman-Fried, Sam Harris,
or Vitalik Buterin.
They want you to think that the body doesn’t matter, so they’ll never
tell you that Plato was a champion wrestler whose name actually means
“broad-shouldered”. They will ignore the fact that Miyamoto Musashi
was a warrior first, and a philosopher second. They will call Saints like
St. George ‘myths’ and pretend they did not achieve incredible physical
feats in the defense of truth and God. They will call Alexander a ‘brute,’ a
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murderer, or a homosexual, while ignoring the fact that he was Aristotle’s

greatest student. They will forget that Thucydides was a general as well as
a scholar, who 2500 years ago famously said that:
“The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its
warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done
by fools.”
Perhaps these ridiculous ideas initially came from a place of naivete,

because ease and comfort are sought-after when a society becomes
wealthy and comfortable - but the false advertising has turned nefarious,
and it’s time you woke up and peered through the veil.
“A well-built physique is a status symbol. It reflects you

worked hard for it; no money can buy it. You cannot borrow
it, you cannot inherit it, you cannot steal it. You cannot hold
onto it without constant work. It shows discipline, it shows
self-respect, it shows patience, work ethic, and passion. That
is why I do what I do.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger, The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding
A well-developed body and mastery of a movement is not just ‘aesthetic’.

It’s a clearly visible symbol of status that money cannot buy. It puts
on display virtues such as patience, courage, discipline, excellence,
determination, respect, and devotion. It is “proof of work”, and shows
that the spirit of the individual that constructed that body and mastered
the movement, is one that can make necessary sacrifices. It shows you
can not only think, but feel and do.
“To see is to be deceived, to hear is to be lied to, but to feel, is to

believe.”
Bruce Lee
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The bugmen and globalists are and have always been most afraid of a
virile and vital populace. This is why they sought to trap us indoors for
an indefinite two weeks: to weaken our spirits while they emaciated our
minds and bodies with electronic comforts and seed oils. They know that
the weak of body are weak of spirit, and easily ruled: it’s not rocket science.
But they failed, because some of us are just too stubborn. Bro-science and
bro-psychology remain undefeated.
Anyone who has studied and observed body language or physiognomy
intuitively understands this. Masters of their craft, like Tony Robbins
and Derren Brown, are modern exemplars who have put this to use.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) studies the language of the mind
and, unsurprisingly, one of its core principles tells us that more than
half of all communication is non-verbal, body language. Whether these
percentages are exact is beside the point. It’s intuitively accurate and
people know that while the mouth can lie, the body tells all. Even the
tonality we use carries many times the weight of the words it comes with.
There are multiple layers of truth to this. For example, your physical
level of fitness is a better indicator of your beliefs on health and fitness
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than what you say. If you’re fat and sick, your opinion on health and
wellness can be immediately discounted. There are also much deeper
truths to this with respect to facial structure, posture, mannerisms, and
the look in someone’s eye. This is the bro-science of Physiognomy, about
which Shopenhauer had a thing or two to say:
“There are some people whose faces bear the stamp of such artless
vulgarity and baseness of character, such an animal limitation of
intelligence, that one wonders how they can appear in public with such
a countenance, instead of wearing a mask. There are faces, indeed, the
very sight of which produces a feeling of pollution.”
People don’t like to talk about physiognomy or weight because they’re hard
to hide and point to deeper truths. They prefer to talk about things they
can easily wriggle out of, like spirituality, politics, or the news. And when
you do bring up either, the guilty will hide behind meaningless tropes
like “don’t judge a book by its cover” (ignoring the fact that book covers
influence buying behavior). Truth is brutal at times, but it exists to correct
us.
“Manhood coerced into sensitivity is no manhood at all.”
Camille Paglia, Sex, Art and American Culture: New Essays
Finally, none of what I’m saying implies that you ignore the development
of your mental faculties or that you become a dumb brute. There are
endeavors more cerebral in nature that require you to use your brain and
to think. This is inescapable. But I am telling you that a strong body is
critical, especially if you want to build and maintain a strong mind. Case
in point, Steve Jobs was the greatest entrepreneur who ever lived. What
more could he have done, had he taken a different path in how he treated
his body? Had he better understood that the body needs more than just
plants, or that movement and a strong frame are necessary for a vital
disposition, might he have done more? We will never know. The point
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being: do not ignore the body. It is as much a part of the mind as the
brain is. Work on it, develop it, grow it, strengthen it. Become dangerous.
It will make your mind and spirit powerful.
Mastery
“Thinkers think & doers do. But until the thinkers do & the
doers think, progress will be just another word in the already
overburdened vocabulary by sense.”
Francois de La Rochefoucauld, Reflections: or Sentences and Moral Maxims
Earlier in the book I said that mastery, in its essence, is a state of

profound proficiency and authority in a particular field, marked by a
lifelong discipline and the embodiment of duty, excellence, and respect. I
defined it as “authority in the purest sense”, and related it to competence
and hierarchy. Here I’d like to build on this and the prior chapter, by
giving you a physio-psychological framework for understanding how to
develop mastery.
First of all, understand that true mastery is physical. It resides in the
body. Understanding something intellectually is one thing, but knowing
it viscerally is something entirely different.
Mastery is when action becomes instinct. A panther moving gracefully
is intelligence of the deepest kind on display. No words, written or spoken,
are necessary. Only pure instinct and action. It’s one of the most beautiful
things to witness.
Humans have both an advantage and disadvantage here. The power of
our minds creates a separation from the body that can move us away from
our instincts, making us clumsy and weak; but, if we direct the mind and
unify it with the body, we can, through dedication and practice, achieve a
level of mastery and accomplish things no other species can. We’ve built
civilization on the basis of this capacity.
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With that in mind, let’s look at the four stages of attaining and
achieving mastery.
Stage 1: You begin with unconscious incompetence (you don’t know what
you don’t know),
Stage 2: You develop conscious incompetence (awareness of your
shortcomings),
Stage 3: You move into conscious competence (you can, but must
concentrate to execute)
Stage 4: You reach unconscious competence (you don’t think, you just do).
In other words, it’s in your body, and you’ve achieved mastery.
Few people ever reach the final stage, and this is why it’s both so rare
and valuable. Mastery is qualitative, not quantitative: it takes sacrifice,
effort, and focus. Deep, deliberate practice over time literally enhances
the fatty tissue in your brain that surrounds the neurons firing during
your praxis. This intentional process physically embeds it deeper into
your body and being.
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This is the power of merging mind and body. When the act becomes
second nature, or instinct; when you transcend doing, and actually start
being.
Such mastery and instinct will set future leaders apart from the rest.
The bravest of men, the progenitors of ‘action’, will be like lions among
sheep. They will act, not only speak. They will have the capacity for
war, and the self-control to direct it. They will understand the true
meaning of freedom because they have the strength to carry the necessary
responsibility. These will be the new “Masters” of the world, because they
are in charge of their own destiny.
Pain
Pain and adversity are not villains, but compatriots on the journey of
self-discovery. Jünger defined discipline as a “constant and voluntary
contact with pain.” Whether the goal is strength, endurance, courage, or
self control, instead of trying to minimize pain all the time, we might seek
instead to gradually increase how much pain we can bear. The goal being
not an escape from pain, but a transcendence or integration of it.
“In our sensitive world, we try to marginalize pain and

shelter life from it. In a heroic age though, the approach to
pain is completely different. In a heroic age, “the point is
to integrate pain and organize life in such a way that one is
always armed against it.”
Ernst Jünger, On Pain
This integration of pain into life, particularly as a marker of a heroic

age, is a powerful point. It’s reminiscent of the ‘hard times build strong
men’ stage of the cycle. Jünger writes: “Tell me your relation to pain, and I
will tell you who you are!” Pain, and his relationship to it, reveals a man’s
stature. It’s a proxy for endurance, tenacity, courage, and self-control.
“How much can you endure” is another way of asking: How strong are you?
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Your character can also be measured through pain, because during such
an experience, social pretenses slip away and what’s left is what Jünger
called “man’s innermost being.“ Another way of saying “what’s true.”
So this begs the question: Have we lost touch with this truth in our
technologically advanced age? Technology and material affluence are
means by which we remove pain from life - an admirable pursuit - but
it does have side effects, especially when we forget the greater role of
technology: which is the extension of the Will to Power and the capacity
to act. Over-indexing on pain removal comes with the removal of the
signaling mechanisms that would otherwise cause us to act. It also
removes an important scale by which we measure growth. Is there some
way we can maintain the signal, while improving material conditions?
Can we escape the “affluence trap”? It requires a broader view and
approach. Bitcoin helps in an economic sense by localizing economic
consequence, but it’s not enough. We also need to train to build character
and virtue. One way of doing this is learning to overcome (not escape)
pain.
Our tolerance to pain improves when we lean into it. Experiencing
intense agony can diminish the impact of minor pains, which positively
affects your capacity to confront physical and cognitive distress. “Pain is
weakness leaving the body.” If you befriend it, it will sharpen you; if you fear
it and avoid it, you will blunt yourself.
“A life of comfort has the opposite effect. It can decrease your

capacity to withstand painful experiences, which can in turn
lead to the avoidance of harsh truths and the seeking of solace
in comforting lies and social conformity.”
John Carter, Postcards from Barsoom, Truth Hurts
Have you not seen evidence of this lately? This is why becoming soft of
body also makes you soft of mind and spirit. Your entire thought process
is intricately entwined with your hormones. Excess estrogen will literally
make you think like a woman or a eunuch. Your thoughts, the topics you
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focus on, the way you approach them, and the conclusions you come to
are all affected by your hormones and your body fat percentage. You may
think your brain is doing the work, but it’s often your gut that’s in charge.
Your brain is just there to do the “logical close” on whatever your body was
already sold on. Think about how this relates to the nerd’s misguided
attempts to develop “aggression vaccines” or to minimize testosterone
in men. By changing the body, you also change the mind. They are
entwined.
“Life has become entirely too safe, we are trapped in an

eternal nursery that has become a prison, and it is corroding
our very souls. Our lives in this luxuriously padded jail
are largely denuded of physical peril, meaning we have few
opportunities to develop physical courage.”
John Carter, Postcards from Barsoom, Just Fucking Lift Bro
To turn this pathetic state of affairs around, we have to confront pain and
face danger. Certainty is at the base of the hierarchy of needs for a reason.
It’s not something to aspire toward, but something to stand upon. Yes you
need it, but it’s not the goal. A life of constant safety is a prison sentence. A
life of autonomy and freedom requires contending with both danger and
uncertainty. Greatness is something you reach for despite great personal
risk. By leaning into adversity and facing pain, you can rise above it.
By training physically, you grow and develop the kind of body that
can carry your mind and spirit forward, and the best way to do this is
alongside others who can push you, and via rituals and rites that force
you to contend with pain (when necessary) and ordeals.
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Q: How does one become a true leader, a warrior or Bitcoiner?

A: The same way you become a true anything: Time and ordeals.
Rites of passage have existed since prehistory. They were present in

tribes and cultures all over the world, irrespective of location or people,
from as early as tribes themselves existed. They’re yet another practice
lost in the malaise of the modern materialist world - at least the conscious
and intentional practice of a rite or ritual that is meant to symbolize the
entry or exit from one period or paradigm into another. The world is still
certainly full of rites which people perform unconsciously on a regular
basis, that largely have no meaning or transcendent value. For example:
participation in the public schooling system, the humiliation rituals at the
airport or the four-year election cycle. Some might even have an echo of
meaning: Steven Pressfield argues that the yearning to join the modern
army, despite the low pay, the lack of respect and recognition and the
absence of just cause, remains alluring because of its ancient roots. He
may be right, but this too is disappearing as nihilism sets in, and people
realize that the parasitic elite who want to send them to war are actually
their real enemy.
“One answer may be that the young man or woman is

seeking a rite of passage. One way to do that is to go to war.
Young men have been undergoing that ordeal of initiation
for ten thousand years. This passage is into and through
what the great psychologist Carl Jung called “the Warrior
Archetype.”
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It’s time we developed new, conscious and transcendent rites that draw
from the old remaining current and relevant. The Bitcoin journey itself
is a strange example, and one that emerged organically because of how
wild of a proposition it is. Bitcoiners are a bunch of crazy people who
not only agree that the world is in dire straits, but believe a better world
is possible and that we have a practical and effective way forward! I call
this contrarian optimism. You’re against the grain, but you have hope for the
future. The most famous meme in all of Bitcoin is HODL and, funnily
enough, it implies endurance. Holding On for Dear Life through the ups
and downs, and resisting all of the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt) along
the way, with everyone from your family to your spouse, teachers, favorite
authors, the talking heads and others you may or may not admire calling
you stupid, really takes a special kind of person.
While it’s a good start, there’s much more to do. We are all going
to be tested, voluntarily and involuntarily. The hysteria of the first few
years of this decade was an example of the latter. Those who held strong
and didn’t succumb to the propaganda, succeeded - at least for now. We
must prepare ourselves for the next ordeal; and, in order to do so, to be
better prepared for these involuntary, but inevitable, challenges of life,
we need to both develop and undertake voluntary rites of passage. Social,
economic, cultural, spiritual, psychological and physical. Like any form
of training, it is a process of inoculation, and only in this way can you build
real muscle.
Traditional rites of passage

We discussed sacrifice earlier, and we’ll touch on it here too because
it is central to all the male rites of passage throughout history. I will
focus on these because I am a man, and female rites of passage are very
different. Women bring life into the world, and in doing so experience
their transcendence; men, on the other hand, experience transcendence
when we stare death in the face. Nietzsche correctly pointed out that
we are ‘the barren sex’; as such, our roles, our drives and the rites that
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emerge from them differ significantly, as does our relationship to pain

and suffering.
For men, pain leads to growth: exposure to pain is how we strengthen
ourselves, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually; it’s how we
prepare ourselves to perform our duties in life, whether that involves
conquest, creation, providing for those we love or protecting them from
the harsh realities of life. A man will shed blood for the duties that matter
most, but in order to do so without breaking, he must be strong enough.
“Men nurture their societies by shedding their blood, their

sweat, and their semen, by bringing home food for both
child and mother, by producing children, and by dying if
necessary in faraway places to provide a safe haven for their
people.”
Professor David Gilmore, Manhood in the Making
The word nurture sticks out here, because we think of nurturing as a

feminine trait... which it is, but men nurture in a fundamentally different
way from women: men nurture through sacrifice. The descent into hell is
so prevalent in ancient literature and mythology because it’s a metaphor
for pain and suffering. To “climb out of Hell” is to defeat one’s demons
(flaws) and to learn of something higher and more beautiful (Heaven) in
the process. It’s part of an archetypal initiation and a ‘facing of death’
that all heroes - and for that matter, all males who become men - must
undergo.
Rites of passage transform the boy into a man, and the man into a
warrior. These often-hellish ordeals scar or alter the initiate in some way,
so he emerges anew. They are acts that transform the actor. To be clear, I
am not saying that “all suffering is good.” Conscious suffering, suffering
freely undertaken and endured, can produce these effects. Pointless
suffering, for example the pain of a long illness, or the drudgery of life in a
PoW camp, does not necessarily do so - although it can, if one is conscious
about it and uses it. Recall our earlier discussion on Adler’s psychology of
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responsibility: the key is agency. Preparation is the responsible person’s

antidote to life’s unfair, but inevitable suffering. This is the underlying
wisdom of the ancient rites.
Youths of the ancient Macedonian mountain tribes were only
considered to have ‘come of age’ after killing their first boar. If you’ve
seen a wild boar in real life, you’ll know that’s not something trivial. Their
next great act, necessary for transformation into a soldier and leader of
men, was to take the life of a man on the battlefield. Both were symbols
meant to close the door to one chapter and open the door to the next,
simultaneously teaching courage and establishing a new identity.
Another example was the footrace held each year among the boys of
Sparta. They had to run ten miles, barefoot, carrying a mouthful of water
and weren’t allowed to swallow the water, but instead had to spit it out
at the end of the race. This was a rite that entrained self-control and
restraint above all else. There are many such examples which may, to the
modern materialist, sound ridiculous. Why should I put myself or my
offspring through such pain when I can have everything I want at the tap
of a smartphone screen?
Therein lies the difference between a consooomer and a conqueror.
The former feeds the belly while the latter feeds the soul. If courage
maketh the man, then ordeals are not only desirable, but necessary for the
proper formation of man. They are built into the very structure of the
myths and narratives that shape history, knowledge, and even our very
language.
Figures such as Beowulf would “travel deep into the woods” or “venture
out across the seas to defeat the monsters,” and likewise Christ himself
would “descend into Hell to defeat Satan” or “rise up and conquer death.”
Contrast that with a “Jimmy went to therapy because he was feeling
anxious” or “Greg couldn’t say no to a bag of chips.” It’s about time we
pushed ourselves again. If Beowulf could swim to the bottom of the
swamp to wrestle Grendel’s mother, surely you can lose a few pounds.
Rites of passage emphasize adversity, endurance, and self-sacrifice.
They develop one’s ability to handle fear and pain, and in doing so build
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tenacity. Strength could be described as your ability to be comfortable in

uncomfortable circumstances. I don’t know of any other way to stimulate
and develop the quintessential virtues of man and warrior - courage and
self-control. Life is the gymnasium for the soul, and ordeals or rites are
the weights. To embody the great and noble virtues, we must earn them.
St. Benedict’s Rule says:
“Do not grant newcomers to the monastic life an easy entry, but, as the
Apostle says, Test the spirits to see if they are from God. Therefore, if
someone comes and keeps knocking at the door, and if at the end of four
or five days he has shown himself patient in bearing harsh treatment
and difficulty of entry, and has persisted in his request, then he should
be allowed to enter.”
Courage is the backbone of morality, and its absence is why modern

society is so morally weak. Without ordeals — without an opportunity
to prove themselves, and actually earn something through real danger
and struggle — men feel incomplete; instead of reaching the peak of their
individual capacities, they live in a cocoon of quiet safety and ignorance,
where things like courage are superfluous.
The color, flavor, and very energy of life are felt most keenly at the edge
of death. This is why men are fundamentally drawn to extreme sports,
why they are compelled to compete, why they fight, why they build. Men
must earn the feeling of being alive. It’s the price we pay to truly feel.
Movies like ‘Fight Club’ - nihilistic undertones aside - were successful
because they touched on these primal truths and spoke precisely to the
lack of fire and danger in the life of modern man. Tyler Durden was a
manifestation of this suppressed masculine impulse. He was a modern
Saint Benedict who rallied men that were disenfranchised, empty and
longing for meaning. And like St Benedict, he tested initiates before they
could join the Fight Club inner circle. They had to wait on his porch for
three days while being insulted and told to leave:
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“This is how Buddhist temples have tested applicants going

back for bah-zillion years. You tell the applicant to go away,
and if his resolve is so strong that he waits at the entrance
without food or shelter encouragement for three days, then
and only then can he enter and begin training.”
Tyler Durden, Fight Club
It’s no accident that this is a recurring theme. The warrior spirit is drawn
to it like a moth to a flame. It yearns to grow, and knows the obstacle is
the way, and pain is the price. Rites of passage are simply the gymnasium
for the mind, emotions, and the soul. Enduring suffering prepares our
mind and spirit as much as it does the body, which itself is conditioned
through consistent and rigorous training - the topic of the next chapter.
The German soldier and philosopher Ernst Jünger wrote in his memoir
Storm of Steel “there is nothing to set against self-sacrifice that is not pale, insipid,
and miserable.” He describes pain as the truest experience of being alive.
It’s the only thing that is real, and now, but also transcends time and
space. Pain uses the body as a portal to the deeper parts of our minds
and spirit; learning to play with it or enduring it can prepare us for more
in all dimensions of life. This is why we train. We transform the inner, by
stressing the outer.
Modern rites of passage

In Sparta, boys of noble and warrior families stayed with their mothers
until the age of seven, at which point they were taken and enrolled in the
agoge, “The Upbringing.” They were given one rough cloak to wear all year
long and a sickle-like weapon called a xyele. They were allowed no beds
and had to sleep outdoors in nests made of the reeds they gathered each
night from the river. This training lasted until they were eighteen and
could be officially enrolled in the Spartan army - at which point they were
considered men and warriors.
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Does this mean we send our children out, alone in the wild for a
decade to fend for themselves? Of course not. This is an example
meant to inspire you to ask what sort of agoge you can develop, within
your family, or together with your tribe and community, such that your
boys may turn into men. How can you create an environment of useful
adversity that teaches the virtues listed in this book, while inflicting
enough pain to inure and strengthen your son in preparation for the
physical, psychological, and emotional challenges he will surely face in
life?
Can we really adopt a new bushido or warrior ethos in the modern
age? Time will of course tell. It’s certainly less likely in a liberal or
‘modern democratic’ paradigm, for such frameworks are anti-excellence.
I’ve also become less convinced that it’s possible in a Libertarian culture
over-indexed for freedom and liberty. We have to move onto something
stronger.
To me, the answer lies in a culture of excellence. An Aretocracy, even
more so than a Meritocracy, although they both go hand-in-hand. Only a
civilization whose North Star is excellence, even more so that freedom,
can be ascendant. This is ultimately the goal: to grow and ascend. It
is the opposite to (and only cure for) decay. The development of such a
society demands both agency and standards which, in turn, require the
institution of conscious rites of passage.
Today’s world is full of unconscious rites because we tried to
ignore the reality of their existence, or we actively suppressed them,
causing the impulse to manifest in other grotesque ways: like some
Frankenstein-Streisand effect. The only thing we achieved was the
replacement of traditional rituals and directed rites with strange,
unnatural and completely unconscious ones such as getting blind-drunk
when we hit 21, or spending 18 years in school for the ‘privilege’ of
becoming a wage and debt slave with a pet or three, a sterile relationship,
and more month at the end of the money. These are ordeals indeed, but
more akin to a materialistic meat grinder squashing the soul of anyone
and anything that runs through it.
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It doesn’t matter whether this was planned and intentional, or if

it’s an emergent outgrowth of ignorance and envy. What matters is
that we fix it, and to do so, we must claim conscious control of the
primal desire for rites. And by conscious I mean intentionality, not
the ayahuasca-induced hippie kind of fluffy nonsense. I mean willfully
tapping into the primordial instincts buried deep in our subconscious
and into our collective archetypal supra-consciousness to extract wisdom,
and couple it with the modern technologies we have at our disposal, to
develop something new and powerful, that is also relevant to this age.
We are not “retvrning” back to some previous era. The only way
forward is through because what lies ahead is not what’s behind us. Yet
neither can we ignore what came before like some progressive midwit.
The thread to the past must remain tethered, like an eternal umbilical cord
connecting each of us all the way back through time, to the earliest men of
power that spawned us. Whatever we create has to be new at the edges, and
old at its core.
New rites of passage must be crafted with this principle in mind. Their
application and practice will happen first and foremost within the family
unit, which will once again become central, and then extend outward to
the race or community in which those values are shared.
This, along with the practice of said virtues in entrepreneurial
pursuits, leadership in the community, the home, and in our own lives
is how we will weave these rites into the fabric of a more beautiful age.
“Let us be, then, warriors of the heart, and enlist in our inner
cause the virtues we have acquired through blood and sweat
in the sphere of conflict—courage, patience, selflessness,
loyalty, fidelity, self-command, respect for elders, love of our
comrades (and of the enemy), perseverance, cheerfulness in
adversity and a sense of humor, however terse or dark.”
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By reinvigorating a respect for order, hierarchy, and traditions, we can

set our sights on the next frontier. Eyes must forward, shoulders back, chin is
toward God - Jerr. By doing so, we can rebuild the parts of our civilization
that are broken, and reinforce the parts that currently bear all the weight.
We have better materials and new tools to work with now, so we can do
this - if we just choose.
Bitcoin is a beautiful example because it performs this repair and
reinforcement quite uniquely in a social and economic sense. It is
imperfectly perfect. It’s a place in which entropy and order collide to
form a sound heartbeat, every ten minutes. It’s a modern solution
with a classical ethic. It’s simultaneously the oldest form of money; a
transparent ledger, boring, hierarchical, and sound, and it is digitally
alive; infused with energy and literally operating as information. It has
transcended the limitations and shortcomings inherent in all forms of
money to date, be they fiat, digital, or physical, while maintaining the
very constraints that make money, money.
Such an elegant mix of these seemingly opposite concepts is both
inspiration and proof that we can do something with our lot. It’s up to
us now to use it as a catalyst for other social, moral and psychological
integrations. I’ve argued in the past that this synthesis could help
lead toward a better integration of left brain and right brain, or the
unification of matter (science) with ‘what matters’ (philosophy). It
might foster greater cooperation between empirical/material progress
and spiritual/religious constraint, and perhaps it can even lead us to
develop the kind of character that can maintain a high degree of virtue
and material affluence.
These are the opportunities that lie before us. The upshot of having
gone through hell are the scars and experiences we’ve collected along the
way. These give us a depth we did not previously possess. It’s now up
to us to use them for something new and more beautiful. Instead of
outsourcing our future to politicians, priests or experts, we can claim
the physical and spiritual vitality that is being stolen from us - or more
accurately, that we’ve allowed to be stolen.
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We can build beautiful families, cities, art and a beautiful future if we

have the courage to fight for it. What’s required is an ascendant energy. I
can see this happening in the coming years and decades. Men are already
coming together and forming brotherhoods, women are coming together
and creating their own sacred spaces. Rituals are being formed. A new
vitality and desire for excellence and beauty is being generated.
It’s early days, and none of us are perfect. We have and will continue
to make mistakes along the way, but if we can adapt and are willing to
embrace the pain of the ordeal, we can learn and in the process become
both smarter and stronger. If we continue to aim at something higher, as
Thomas Carlyle would call “the heroic ideal,” then we will infuse life with
meaning again, irrespective of whether we reach this ideal or not.
“Carlyle argues that we shouldn’t despair if the heroic ideal

seems unattainable. A bricklayer can’t lay a perfectly
perpendicular wall, but the ideal of perpendicularity helps
him lay an acceptable and strong wall. The ideal of the heroic
plays the same function.”
Jash Dholani on X.com
I’m excited by the prospects of such a future, heartened by what I have

seen amongst the groups of people I am in touch with, and encourage you
to do the same or to reach out. It’s time we rebuilt our physical, emotional,
spiritual and psychological muscles.
Slaying the inner dragons

Rites of passage mostly focus on the development of virtue, but there are
also rites for helping the initiate deal with vice. In fact, while much of
this book has centered around virtue, little has been said about dealing
with vice which is, in many ways, just as important and, for some people,
harder to deal with. I’d like to address this here.
Virtue is the North Star we orient toward, and vice is that which we
must keep at bay while on the journey. Vice comes in many forms, and
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goes by many names. Symbolically and spiritually, it is Satan, and his

demons; metaphorically speaking, it is the dragon you must face, or your
own inner enemy; and practically or psychologically speaking, it is your
bad behaviors, habits and tendencies. We all have them, and all people,
cultures and societies have come up with ways to contend with them.
Christianity has one of the more sound models for understanding vice,
via the seven deadly sins. Pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and
sloth represent the fundamental moral failings that derail a person from
the path of virtue. Each sin, in its essence, reflects the corruption of
something that, when properly directed, could otherwise lead to growth
or good. For example, pride is a distortion of self-respect, and greed is
an exaggeration of the desire for security. Christianity deals with these
sins through confession to a trusted authority, repentance to a higher
authority, and also quite powerfully, through community. People are
encouraged to acknowledge their vices, seek forgiveness, and actively
strive toward virtue. This framework was so useful that it helped pull the
west through centuries of economic and technological development and
establish one of the most powerful civilisations on earth. Atheism does
the world a disservice by ignoring this - the results of which are clear.
The warrior ethos represents another way to deal with vice by framing
it as an “inner enemy” that must be fought and subdued. In this paradigm,
vice is recognised as an ever-present part of you, that you may never
ultimately defeat but will forever contend with. This inner enemy is your
eternal enemy, which is why they say that the biggest battles you will face
are the ones within.
“Here is the Warrior Ethos directed inward, employing

the same virtues used to overcome external enemies—but
enlisting these qualities now in the cause of the inner
struggle for integrity, maturity and the honorable life.”
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In cultivating your capacity for war, you must also learn to direct it inward.
Your inner dragons, be they doubt, anxiety, fear, cowardice or any of the
sins mentioned above, are shadows of your ultimate inner enemy and hide
the treasures that make you a man of virtue. Steven Pressfield calls this
“Directing the Warrior Ethos inward.”
The Indian warrior epic, the Bhagavad-Gita, references this inner
battle in a story. The great kshatriya (warrior-noble) Arjuna receives
spiritual instruction from his charioteer, who happens to be Krishna -
God in human form. Krishna points across the battlefield to soldiers,
archers and spearmen whom Arjuna knows personally, is related to in
some cases and feels deep affection for — and commands him to kill them
all. Arjuna is torn, but with Krishna by his side, he musters the courage
to do what’s necessary because, as Pressfield notes, the names of many of
these enemy warriors, in Sanskrit, can also be translated as the names of
key vices.
“Inner crimes or personal vices, such as greed, jealousy,

selfishness, the capacity to play our friends false or to act
without compassion toward those who love us. In other
words, our warrior Arjuna is being instructed to slay the
enemies inside himself.”
Steven Pressfield, The Ethos of War
Many similar ancient fables teach and remind us that living a life of virtue
requires we slay the foes which constitute our “weaker” selves, and wage
war on the vices and inner demons that sabotage our path to becoming
the best and highest versions of ourselves.
I’m reminded of the 1993 film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, with Jason
Scott Lee. They did an incredible job showing how one of the strongest
men of our age was plagued by demons all his life. We all have demons and
we all must face them at some point. How do the great myths and stories
instruct us to do this? Not by ignoring our baser instincts, for they are
full of wisdom, but through the practice of self-discipline and the mastery
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over these drives and instincts. In other words, by the interior exercise of
our otherwise externally directed warrior ethos.
We are each a living, breathing ball of drives and instincts, of habits
and subconscious predispositions that we’ll never fully understand. We
must learn to be ok with that, or else it can drive us mad. Unhinged,
or undirected, the drives themselves can and do cause unnecessary
suffering, both in the internal and external worlds.
Some realize this and fall into nihilism. They feel that they are a slave
or subject to their drives and that there is no point to any of it, so they give
up on trying to direct them. Life becomes stripped of deeper meaning
because “all meaning is just made up anyway”. Others come to terms with
this reality in other ways. Some detach themselves, becoming monks or
ascetics: they believe the right path is the one which does not engage with
these drives. Buddhism and Stoicism could be considered to be in this
camp, and of a similar essence.
Other people, oblivious to this fact, wind up killing themselves. Their
demons overcome them. Some spend their entire lives sabotaging
themselves and the lives of those around them. Others yet become
hedonists, pouring their energy, seed and vitality into whatever cup is
placed before them.
There are those who, upon discovering the harshness of reality, find
solace in alternate dimensions opened up by psychedelic substances like
mushrooms or ayahuasca. I know many of them, and you quickly discover
a pattern: they have trouble contending with the world and their drives in
the absence of a ‘ceremony’ or more ‘medicine’ to ‘heal’ something. It’s a
slippery slope, if not done from a place of grounding in the harshness of
reality.
The majority just remain oblivious NPCs, floating through life like
a feather in the wind. Blown up, down and around in circles by the
overwhelming consensus of the drives around them. They’re like an iron
filing, surrounded by magnets. No agency of their own, but a vessel that
absorbs the drives of the crowd and environment around them. Not to be
unkind here, because we all have that tendency - energy is infectious; but
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the reality is that some people are more prone to being mindless zombies
than others.
There are of course people that are a blend of all of the above. In fact,
many of us have at one point or another experienced one or more of these
states, or learned to cope with reality and deal with inner demons through
such means. Some of us grow up, while others remain trapped there
forever like Peter Pan. Those who grow up, in my opinion, turn to God,
to community, to brotherhood, virtue, or something else - but always,
crucially, something higher. They seek to understand themselves, their
traditions, their ancestors and the men or women of life and vitality who
bent the arc of history. They are able to find inspiration, not escape, in
such pursuits. They seek to order, govern and channel their inner drives
and wage war on their lower selves. They inhale virtue, and exhale their
vices. They seek to affirm life and inspire, before it is their time to expire.
I have found such inspiration myself in the likes of Christ, Nietzsche,
Homer, Alexander, Attila, and Napoleon. The lives of such men have
helped me find greater meaning in my own. In dark times, their stories,
their words, and their characters have all helped inspire me to strength,
and to face my own dragons. My goal with this book is to give you some
inspiration to find your own, be they heroic examples, God, community
or all three. Vice will forever be present, and the temptation to give in gets
stronger with time. You must find ways to contend with it, which leads
me to one of the most potent methods for men.
The männerbund
The männerbund, literally translated to “Alliance of Men”, is the kind of

association, group or brotherhood that all men seek to build, foster and
operate within. It’s a deep drive within us, and can manifest in both the
most constructive and destructive ways.
Modern society has conspired to disband such associations with labels
of toxicity and extremism. Having swung so far toward the individualist
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side of the spectrum (libertarianism is also to blame for this), any group
of men working toward a common goal - whether of substance or not - is
seen as suspicious. As a result, men either suppress this natural instinct
and become isolated or, because they’re just deemed evil by default, they
lean into it, forming street gangs and the like. Society quickly discovers
that you cannot eliminate the männerbund: all you can do is create an
environment in which there are less incentives to be a strong, honorable,
virtuous or heroic band of brothers. Where there were once prides of
lions, there only remain lapdogs and packs of hyenas.
Technology amplifies things here again, and also transforms them. It
has distanced us from each other while, paradoxically, simultaneously
connects us to others at opposite ends of the world with like values.
Couple that with a politics that has surrounded you with sheeple and
mindless NPCs all too willing to comply while screeching at you for the
act of breathing oxygen, and it’s no wonder you feel isolated in your own
physical domain, and go online to seek that connection.
Even the modern army is no refuge from this divide and conquer-like
mind virus. You can see it both in the incredible drop in enlistment and
in the kinds of people now enlisting. These organizations are merely the
hired enforcers of a state apparatus which neither honors them, nor fights
for honor anymore. The institutions of war have become devoid of all
virtue and morality. Respect, honor, and duty come a distant second to
blind compliance. If you are a part of one, I suggest you think deeply
about what kind of world you want to see, and what you’re doing to either
make that a reality, or not. We’re in a fight for the soul of man, and we
need all the best men possible.
If you’re not in that environment, and you find yourself alone,
frustrated or perpetually online, then it’s time to venture out and literally
construct this in real life: get off Twitter and go to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu dojo;
go hunting or camping with a group of men and build a bond; take it upon
yourselves to build an all-male bar, or an all-male fight gym; go build a
business, or a house together. Get physical. Do something dangerous.
Use technology where applicable to feed your mind and connect with
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like-valued men. These online connections can turn into offline tribes,
but you have to move beyond the keyboard.
Find each other again, literally and metaphorically. Build an alliance
of men to protect your women, your families and your tribe. Use
this alliance to strengthen each other and hold each other accountable.
Develop rites of passage together. Learn from the ancients once more:
“When they were boys, Alexander and his friends were forced
to bathe in frigid rivers, run barefoot till their soles grew
as thick as leather, ride all day without food or water and
endure whippings and ritual humiliations. On the rare
occasions when they got to rest, their trainers would remind
them, ‘While you lie here at ease, the sons of the Persians are
training to defeat you in battle.’”
Your band of brothers should be selected carefully. They are not merely
those whom you’ve known the longest, and also not only those who are
nice to you; in fact, beware of the latter, for a true friend will call you out
when you’re not living up to your potential. Your truest friends in that
sense are those who might come off as assholes, because they’re unwilling
to waver or to watch you violate your own standards. Just being in their
presence is like a rite of passage. They are your reminder to wage war on
vice, as you are theirs.
“Those who want the best for you are by definition those who
demand the best from you. These are your true friends. These
are your community. These are the Remnant. In order to be
among them, you must be the best and most honest version
of yourself. There is no greater aspiration in life.”
Aleksandar Svetski, The Remnant Essays
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Rites of Passage
Your truest friends are the ones who would shed blood for you, and you
for them; they are the ones whom you can train with, whose family you
would guard and in whose care you would feel safe leaving your family
should something happen to you; they are those you practice and sharpen
your wits with.
Find them, and deepen your bonds. To do this, you must filter. You
must create layers and levels. To become one of the brotherhood, initiates
must endure ordeals; they must prove themselves and work for it. Recall
my earlier comments about Saint Benedict and Fight Club. A brotherhood
is a meritocracy and an aretocracy. For men to feel alive, they must earn
their stripes. There are no participation awards in real life, and if you want
excellence, you must build it into your micro-culture.
This is how you raise each other up, and I’m not sure there is anything
more fierce or powerful in the world than a group of virtuous men with
a common vision and the highest of standards. Like Alexander and
his Royal Guard: a handful of men together on foot and on horseback
reshaped half the known world in the span of a decade.
If this book serves only to inspire the formation of a few such groups,
then my work here is half done. The other half will consist in meeting you
out there in person.
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The Bitcoiner’s Arsenal
“Bushido made the sword its emblem of power and prowess.

When Mahomet proclaimed that “the sword is the key of
Heaven and of Hell,” he only echoed a Japanese sentiment.
Very early the Samurai boy learned to wield it.”
Every warrior culture had their chosen weapon, be it the Arthurian

Excalibur, Attila’s “Scourge of God”, Apollo’s bow, Aries’ lance,
Alexander’s helmet, the hoplites’ doru or the Spartan shield. In Japan, the
“Soul of the Samurai” was said to reside in their katana. These weapons
became talismans.
Bitcoiners and the modern warrior must also wield weapons and tools
that are both symbolic and practical. Like the Samurai’s sword, they have
to serve a purpose higher than just cutting your enemy down. Before
we explore what those are, let us look at one of the most symbolic
warrior-weapon symbioses in history.
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The sword of the samurai
“It was a momentous occasion for him when at the age of five
he was apparelled in the paraphernalia of Samurai costume,
placed upon a go-board and initiated into the rights of the
military profession, by having thrust into his girdle a real
sword instead of the toy dirk with which he had been playing.
After this first ceremony of adoptio per arma, he was no more
to be seen outside his father’s gates without this badge of his
status, even though it was usually substituted for everyday
wear by a gilded wooden dirk. Not many years pass before he
wears constantly the genuine steel, though blunt, and then
the sham arms are thrown aside and with enjoyment keener
than his newly acquired blades, he marches out to try their
edge on wood and stone. When he reaches man’s estate, at
the age of fifteen, being given independence of action, he can
now pride himself upon the possession of arms sharp enough
for any work.”
Much of the Samurai’s early life was a “rite of passage” and journey toward
earning his sword. How it was forged, carried, treated, when and how
it was used, and ultimately passed down - all were processes sacred,
charged with meaning, and over the centuries came to be ritualized.
The sword was not just a physical weapon, but a symbol of the
Samurai’s commitment. It was seen as an extension of the Samurai
himself, and its proper use and handling were of the utmost importance.
This devotion to the weapon touches on something very important, and
largely lacking in our age, namely mastery.
Mastery is the state of being highly skilled and proficient in a
particular field or endeavor. It is the result of dedicated practice,
discipline, and a constant striving for self-improvement. It is not just
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about achieving a certain level of skill, but about a lifelong commitment to

learning and growing. It requires embodying virtues such as self-control,
duty, excellence, and respect.
Mastery is not a destination, but an ongoing process of incremental
improvement. To become masterful at anything you must have
the humility necessary to subordinate yourself to authority, and the
perseverance necessary to endure the journey. Mastery requires
discipline, a desire for beauty, and the constant pursuit of perfection.
Mastery is authority in the purest sense, and as an apprentice or
individual that seeks to attain it, you must understand that authority, like
mastery and respect, must be earned. They each require the sacrifice of
time, energy, and often pleasure and leisure in order to attain them.
The Samurai are in many ways the quintessential symbol of this
devotion to mastery. They were deeply engrossed in the practice of their
craft, be that the use of the sword, calligraphy, strategy, horsemanship,
archery, etiquette and governance.
“He committed his soul and spirit into the forging and
tempering of the steel.”
They took their vocations on for life, starting out as apprentices with an
upward flowing respect for their master, until one day they too became
masters whose duty it was to lead and develop the next generation.
Recall our earlier discussion on excellence. People who are obsessed
with anarchy or pure freedom or “masterlessness” and are always
complaining about some “tyranny of authority” are not to be taken
seriously. To be masterful is a thing of beauty. True authority is
earned reputation. It accrues via the sacrifice of time, intent, and energy.
Authority is competence. Without it we are left with an equalitarian orgy
of mess, where up can be down down, black can be white, man can be
woman, and right can be wrong.
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Authority is necessary order, and righteous restraint. The master has

the ability to abstain. He is the one who, having developed each of the
initial virtues, integrates and keeps them all in check. Self-control is the
virtue of maturity, mastery, strength and true power. If courage is the
Alpha, self-control is the Omega.
“The question that concerns us most is, however, did Bushido

justify the promiscuous use of the weapon? The answer is
unequivocally, no! As it laid great stress on its proper use,
so did it denounce and abhor its misuse. A dastard or a
braggart was he who brandished his weapon on undeserved
occasions. A self-possessed man knows the right time to use
it, and such times come but rarely.”
A man with true authority and mastery has learned to channel his
impulses. He understands that he is but a combination of drives, a
furious array of primal energy seeking an outlet. He does not ignore
these drives or try to suppress them. He acknowledges them and, like
the captain of a ship, he directs them.
It’s our job to ‘Make Authority Great Again’. In a world of instant
gratification, five minute abs, one day business turnarounds and teenage
influencers masquerading as leaders, mastery is rare. This is precisely
where the opportunity lies. The very word “master” is seen as a symbol
of oppression and hate by the resentful equalitarians. Authority is
shunned and disparaged. Self-control is almost entirely absent. Respect
is framed as an entitlement instead of a virtue, and poor decision-making
is socialized so people are unaware of the consequences of their actions.
These outcomes and ideologies are only possible in the absence of
hierarchy. They could never have taken hold in a culture of excellence
and mastery, which is why you didn’t see them in the age of the Samurai.
The warrior class was the lynchpin that kept the hierarchy in place. It’s
about time we stopped complaining and started building new hierarchies
of competence to move us back to quality and away from equality.
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It’s time to develop proficiency with a new kind of toolkit. A modern

arsenal.
The strategic arsenal

The journey of a Bitcoiner is a rite of its own and, for the select few who
choose to be defenders and advocates of the network, a devotion toward
learning to use their chosen weapons should echo what I’ve described
above about the Samurai. Hard work. Dedication. Humility. Curiosity.
Most people get into Bitcoin in a similar way. They generally start
small, buying a little on an exchange or receiving it from a friend, or
if you’re really an OG, got it from a faucet in the early 2010s. From
there, perhaps, your interest is triggered. You see things happening
with the price, you might read a few articles, or even watch a couple of
classic videos on YouTube by Andreas Antonopolous. This might lead you
to Bitcoin Twitter, which has and continues to be quite an interesting
Schelling point for Bitcoiners, despite the noise on there.
Along the way you may have heard things like “not your keys, not your
coins”, which have hopefully inspired you to explore self-custody. You
may have even read or seen something by the likes of Michael Goldstein,
with an emphasis on “running your own node”.
Along this journey, there is an ever increasing call for greater
proficiency in the use of these tools, which - make no mistake about it -
will become weapons when the time comes to fight.
Let’s review some of them now, and then dig into necessary skills
beyond just those relating to Bitcoin, because it’s not good just being a
nerd that knows how to cut some code. You have to develop your other
faculties too.
Tools & weapons
Keys
In Bitcoin, your keys are the centerpiece. They’re akin to the sword of the
Samurai. How you forge (derive), store, and treat these keys determines
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whether or not the bitcoin will remain in your custody. If you’re to learn
one single concept in Bitcoin, this is the one. Develop the skills necessary
to manage and secure your keys properly. All else comes second.
Node
The node comes next. Only noblemen, warriors, knights, and Samurai
rode horses, because they were first-class citizens. They were sovereign
protectors of property, like node operators are the sovereign operators
and custodians of Bitcoin’s consensus rules. First-class Bitcoin citizens
are the law, because they run the code.
Mining / Validating
The greater the hashrate, the stronger the network. The node and the keys
are the two most important weapons to master in the Bitcoiner’s arsenal,
along with mining - which could be likened to the shield to extend the
analogy.
Participating in mining, adding hashrate to the network and
being rewarded for it make both you and Bitcoin stronger and more
impenetrable. This industry will continue to grow as the Bitcoin network
infuses itself with the global energy grid. Ultimately, it will form the
backbone of the two largest markets on earth: money and energy. Don’t
sleep on it.
Bitcoin-Adjacent Protocols
There is significant technological progress being made with protocols

that are related to, connected to, or adjacent to Bitcoin. One of the
most promising is the Nostr protocol, which might form the basis for
a new generation of applications that leverage a global, open social
graph. Nostr is an incredible new identity-centric protocol whose
topography makes way for rebuilding the social layer of the web in a
way that is more censorship-resistant, private and deeply integrated
with the Internet of money (Bitcoin). It’s very early days, but there
is a whole universe of products being built that leverage its social
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graph and digital primitives. Satlantis.io is but one example: a social

network for “sovereign individuals” - which combines elements of Google
Place, Meetup, TripAdvisory, Instagram, NomadList and alternative
food directories like Seed Oil Scout - all with the express purpose of
establishing parallel networks in the real world. There are many other
products too. New public squares, new Patreon, Substack, YouTube
and Spotify equivalents - all which leverage your social graph, and are
accessible with the one key. This means you own your profile, your
content and your follower/following list and by connecting to relays
(servers, essentially) of your choice, you can better curate content and
not be owned by an algorithm. Perhaps in time, as the protocol becomes
more robust, giants like X and Instagram will be forced to build their
applications as clients on Nostr, and re-engineer their architecture to
adapt. I wouldn’t sleep on this either.
Other protocols that are more directly Bitcoin-related include the
Lightning Network, Fedi, Cashu and the Liquid Network. They are all
what’s called “second layer networks” on Bitcoin that enable cheaper,
more private and faster transactions, higher network throughput, and
really deliver on the promise digital cash without compromising on the
core promises of the Bitcoin network, such as censorship resistance,
decentralization, and immutability. While it is still early days, the
Lightning Network’s growth map is eerily reminiscent of the early
Internet.
Identity & Reputation
Whether your identity is real, pseudonymous or anonymous, you will

need to build reputation. This maps quite well to the concept of
honor. Online reputations will become increasingly important in a world
becoming more digital, full of AI-generated noise and midwit frenzies.
The question is, who will own this reputation and this identity? And
furthermore, how does one ensure the integrity of this identity in a world
full of bots, spam and fake accounts? This is where tools like Nostr come
into play once more. Most people will settle for a government-issued
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digital ID, which tracks and monitors everything they say and do; it will
likely also be tied to a CBDC, which combined, are the noose around
the neck. It’s imperative you do not find yourself on these gallows. You
must place similar importance on your digital identity, as you do with
your money. Bitcoin is a bearer instrument, which you own by virtue
of controlling the keys. Nostr is the same: because it is not issued by
a central organization, but instead generated by math, you are able to
spin up many identities. This allows you to build separate reputations,
which could be extremely important both in cyberspace and meatspace.
Many of the smartest people I know have done this, so they can speak
the truth and avoid being silenced by the bureaucratic meat grinder. It’s
also important beyond just avoidance of political or societal risks. In the
best case scenario, owning your identity on a protocol like Nostr is a bit
like owning your email list in a csv file. It is yours, and no matter what
happens to the app or platform you’re using, or the algorithm they’ve
decided to prioritize, your list and reputation all remain yours. Why
would you build an online asset, whether audience, reputation or profile
in any other way? Why would you allow someone else to own it? These
tools are indispensable in the new world.
Skills
Skills are paramount: technical, social, psychological, spiritual, physical,

emotional. The more you master, the more masterful you become. The
following are some of the most important for now, and especially into the
future.
Privacy
Master privacy. That should include financial privacy (through hygiene

practices such as coin control and Coinjoin) and also your general online
presence. You can think of privacy as armor. Learning pseudonymity and
anonymity may save you one day, and at the very least gives you more
power and control over your life, because it expands what you can say and
limits your enemy’s ability to attack you.
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Many people in the Bitcoin circle call privacy a human right, and while
I agree with their sentiment, I don’t agree that it’s a “right” necessarily.
Privacy is a service, but an extremely necessary one if you want a society
full of adults that have agency, autonomy and can practice free speech and
wrestle with ideas. Without privacy, you infantilize civilization, turning
everyone into a toddler at daycare, while the nanny keeps a watchful eye
over everything you do.
Thus the key here is: if you agree with the broader sentiment of the
book that in order to build a strong, beautiful and ascendant civilisation,
we need men and women of agency and virtue, then privacy should be
a standard we all expect from products and practice ourselves. Privacy
demarcates territory, it establishes private property, and in the same way
we build doors to our bedrooms and learn to close them so we can have
our own space, we must build, support and use products and services that
help to establish our own space. Having Big Brother or some bureaucratic,
middle-managing nanny state surveilling over you all the time is for
midwits, serfs and NPCs.
“Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the

world.”
Timothy C. May, Cypherpunk Manifesto
Communication: Spoken or Written
You must have something to say, and then know how to say it. Jordan
Peterson reminds us that learning to write and speak are superpowers.
These have and always will be some of the most important skills. Caesar
was known for being a master of rhetoric, a master of strategy, and a man
of action. Communication changes everything. If you can learn to clearly
articulate ideas, positions, and concepts, you can be a leader in business,
a leader of men, a leader in your community, and lead your family. You
must of course support your words with action, else they are meaningless -
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but the ultimate mix is a man of great vision, great words and great action:
The Philosopher-Warrior-King.
Words and language have a huge influence on how we think, and
therefore what we choose to do. A single social media post, or
well-written article can lift the spirit of the reader and compel them to
action. At scale, this can and does change the world.
Most of us will not be warriors in the old style, nor will we be in a
position like that of the Samurai or knight, so we need to cultivate mastery
in areas where the pen or word might be mightier than the sword.
Nietzsche was a prime example of this. He was a philosopher
bookworm who brought vitality to the world through the art of writing.
His writing was sharp, dense, full of sensory imagery and charged with
big ideas. It’s no accident his aphorisms are some of the most quoted in
the world.
“It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in

a whole book.”
There has been a significant amount of high-quality literature that’s come

from Bitcoiners, which is encouraging. My recent deep dive into other
corners of Twitter have also revealed to me absolutely incredible thinkers,
some of whom I’ve listed in the resources section of this book, and one in
particular who helped me edit this book!
If you are interested in, or are already writing: keep at it. For most
people who are not technical, this is an area they can lean into.
Networks & Community
Once you know how to speak or write, you need people to share these ideas
with. The männerbund is the obvious example, but so too are women’s
circles, meetups, your gym, local food networks, the people you work with
and more. This is a large reason why platforms like Satlantis.io exist and
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why protocols like Nostr are becoming increasingly important. They help
you build networks online, which ideally you should then deepen offline.
This is why you need, and where you apply, reputation. Networks open
doors and have always been a superpower, maybe even more so nowadays
where people live next to and on top of each other in concrete boxes,
without ever knowing the names of the people around them.
Notice I use the word “networks”. That’s because friendships are hard.
They take a lifetime to build and require more than just common values,
but time and shared experiences. The goal is to take the best of your
networks and build deeper relationships (friendships), but you need both.
It’s almost like a funnel, and it is not something you can wait on or push
for later. Deep relationships take time to build. There are no shortcuts.
The lone wolf theory is bullshit. I’ve had to learn that the hard way.
The sooner you begin to build the necessary networks, the sooner you can
deepen them - which in time may lead to true friendships. Perhaps not
the kind that warriors like Leonidas had with his 300, or that Alexander
had with his Royal Companions, but your own version nonetheless.
Modern, individualist culture has separated us - and the libertarians
are very guilty of this sin. Every man for himself is a failed strategy. The
tribe wins, and to build a functional, trustworthy tribe takes time and
effort. Tribes and small collectives > the individual. It took me a long time
to learn this one. The strongest unit in civilization is the männerbund.
Once you’ve found these people, don’t just talk over Telegram or Twitter,
but go and spend time together and share experiences. Better yet, share
ordeals. Go hunting, camping, fighting, get on the mats or in the ring,
build a business. Push each other.
Finally, and very important: seek not just “like-minded” people but,
more importantly, “like-valued”. The most robust tribes are like-valued
and multi-minded. This creates a powerful cross-section of skills, while
ensuring everyone is on the same ‘ship’ or ‘mission.’ I cannot stress
this enough. A powerful network and true friendships are the ultimate
weapon.
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Programming & Digital Product Skills
“Cypherpunks write code”

There’s no way to escape it. We live in an increasingly digital world.
Learning to master the tools of cyberspace will give you an edge. If you
have a predisposition for math, language or logic, this is an area for you.
You must of course balance this with movement, because it’s easy to get
lost behind a keyboard when you’re getting dopamine from the screen -
even if you’re producing something.
I’ll also place within this section anything essentially to do with
computers: graphic design, UX, prompt engineering, video editing, data
science, social media, online marketing; these are all digital skills relevant
in a digital age. Pick that which fits you most, that which you enjoy and
can be the best at, and add it to your arsenal. This will increase your ability
to generate income and enhance your options.
Finally, in the age of AI, many are afraid that these skills will
become obsolete. I do not think this is the case. In the short-term,
language models and other AI tools are at best only able to produce
average, middle-of-the-bell-curve results that, if anything, can replace
the mid-wits and the content, code or designs they currently produce;
hence why I call it “Midwit-Obsolescence-Technology”. If your work is
exceptional, you actually have an advantage and stand out even more.
Medium to long-term, you should simply look to integrate these tools
(which is all they are) into your workflow. Once again, as an artist,
programmer and creator with agency, you will have the upper hand. This
will always be the case.
Entrepreneurship
Beyond just programming and the associated digital skills, are the
ever-necessary skills of the entrepreneur. The ability to notice a problem,
to think up a solution, to communicate, to negotiate, to share a vision
and inspire others toward it, to develop the fortitude necessary to see
the vision through, and undertake this entire ordeal - despite the odds
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- will never be made obsolete. No amount of AI or computation can ever

produce agency - and this is above all else what the entrepreneur brings to
the table.
Specialists are most likely to be replaced through automation in
whatever form it comes. Entrepreneurs on the other hand, are hard
to replace because they are generalists who choose to specialize in a
particular problem space. The best entrepreneurs are not afraid to
experiment and fail so they can learn something new. They can synthesize
lessons from various life and business experiences, and bring a new
perspective to the endeavor they’ve chosen to contend with. Their unique
understanding of the world enables them to solve problems in a novel way,
and fundamentally forge a new path.
The term “entrepreneur” originates from the French verb entreprendre,
which means “to undertake.” This verb itself derives from Latin inter
(between) and prendere (to take or grasp), which itself traces back to
the Proto-Indo-European root preh, meaning “to take.” This is quite
interesting, because in order to take, undertake or to grasp, you must
have agency. The entrepreneur is an agent and, in my view, some blend of
the merchant and warrior archetypes. He will go to war with a problem
and profit by producing a solution. With this profit he will go to war with
a new problem and continue building (think Elon Musk).
Entrepreneurship demands leadership and vision. The mix of
skills it entails is something very few people have, and that the world
genuinely needs. This is why it’s the skill set that offers the greatest
potential for monetary reward. If you can couple this with solving a
meaningful problem, then it can also deliver a high degree of spiritual
and psychological reward. It is like modern day warriorhood and, in many
ways, the entrepreneur and creator is a blend of the warrior and merchant
archetypes. The entrepreneur goes to war with a problem, serves his
customers, and uses his wealth to forge an empire in line with his vision.
This is different to the trader archetype. Sitting in front of your
computer deciphering tea leaves and charts is not a productive pursuit.
Understanding markets and the macro environment might be a skill, but
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only insofar as it makes up a part of something entrepreneurially more

holistic. Alone, it’s far less fulfilling than building and creating something
of value.
The digital age brings with it incredible new entrepreneurial
opportunities. The atomic, one-person business is now a reality. The
creator economy is worth hundreds of billions annually and it will
continue to grow as we transcend the cubicle economy that preceded it.
If you can write, teach, think, learn and solve problems, you can build
an audience, create a product or service and develop a real business that
adds value to the economy. In fact, coupled with the rise of Nostr and
Bitcoin, you will for the first time ever be able to do all of this and get
paid directly by your audience, without the constraints of legacy banking,
walled-garden platforms and outdated jurisdictional frameworks.
The modern world is broken in many ways, but the technological
undercurrent offers an opportunity to transform things for the better
at an unprecedented scale. Bitcoin is a major catalyst for a whole slew
of transformations that are together culminating in a paradigm shift of
such magnitude and significance as has not occurred before. It’s in these
moments that the greatest opportunities lie.
Trial, Error and Thick Skin
Deeply related to entrepreneurship, but warranting its own section is the

tenacity to try things and get back up after falling over, or ‘coming back’
after failing.
Everyone has to start somewhere, and failure is the most powerful
teacher. Most people do not even make a start because they lack a mentor
or teacher that will tell them this. They’ve been taught that pain, adversity
or failure are bad, and that they should instead focus on feeling safe and
comfortable, that participation alone is enough. This is false, as we’ve
discovered throughout the book.
This is also not helped by purity commentators, whether on social
media or in real life, who have a lot to say, but have done a whole lot
of nothing when it comes to actually building a business. Ignore those
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people. Everyone has to start somewhere. You are NOT going to get it
right the first time. In order to dig to the center of the earth you need
to start from the surface. By definition the beginning will be superficial,
and you yourself, when you look back on your early work, will also find it
cringe and superficial. That is a good sign! That means you have grown,
which is the whole point of life and the entrepreneurial fractal within it.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out
how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds
could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who
is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and
sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes
up short again and again, because there is no effort without
error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms,
the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high
achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he
fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be
with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor
defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt, Speech: Citizenship in a Republic
It takes time to build something meaningful and beautiful. So pick

something, and build a business. Make mistakes, learn from them, and
then try again. I’ve made every mistake in the book - but what’s kept me
going is that I kept going. Almost a decade ago I decided to go on Shark Tank
in Australia, young, stupid and naive, to raise money for our fledgling
business. We had a fantastic idea, but it was my first real tech startup,
and we were a bunch of kids who went from working in my lounge room
for six months to actually raising some money and learning how to build
a product and a business - on the job!
I look back on those days with fondness. We were all so innocent, and
doing our best. I would slave away at the office for eighteen hours every
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day of the week. I was always first in and last out. Setting both the pace
and the standard. We didn’t succeed. It was an idea perhaps not before
its time, but certainly under-capitalized and quite frankly, not executed
very well. Had I known what I know today, perhaps we’d have had a
chance. But this was the price we had to pay for a series of experiences
that I’m sure each person on the team used as a prerequisite for any of
their individual future successes.
Writing this makes me want to write a Bushido of Business too. There
are certainly parallels to how the Samurai and noble classes of the west
transformed themselves into some of the most economically powerful
families in the world. In fact, some of the largest companies in Japan are
run by descendants of Samurai families. The virtues are clearly applicable
cross-contextually.
In any case, the skill of tenacity can be learned, and the only way to
learn it is to be the man in the ring. You must be willing to try, experiment
and fail - not for the sake of failing, but for the opportunity to succeed
and prevail. And if you do not, the result of losing should be a lesson and
thicker skin, so that you can go back and try again.
Cultivating self-control
Conscious abstinence is spiritual and psychological training.

Early Christians like Paul of Thebes and Anthony the Great would
put themselves through physical and mental ordeals as a way to purify
their souls. They became known as ‘The Desert Fathers’ and inspired the
entire Christian monastic movement. Traditional Eastern philosophies
and religions, from Zen to Buddhism to Hindu, have similar practices.
A feature of Samurai culture that was preserved far longer than
other warrior cultures was their profound focus on the incremental
improvement of an artform of their choice. Whether martial arts,
literature, calligraphy, archery or swordsmanship, they would devote
themselves to an awe-inspiring degree. This was productive self-control
at its finest.
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Fasting is another common example and widespread practice.

Christian culture adopted it as a way to practice restraint by sacrificing
the ‘worldly pleasure’ of eating, thereby appreciating food (sustenance)
more, and experiencing a piece of what Christ might have in the
wilderness (compassion). This is also central to Islam, with Ramadan.
Fasting, in all traditional cultures, takes on a spiritual significance
because it requires strength of spirit. Willpower is a spiritual force. If you’ve
ever fasted for a significant period, you can attest to this. Your willpower
grows, you appreciate the simple things more, and when you finally eat
again, your senses are alive.
Fasting remains a powerful practice today. It is often sold as a health
remedy in the West, which it can be when done right, but I believe the
primary benefit is the inculcation and training of self-control. Having
access to food in abundance, but being able to abstain from eating is a
powerful practice.
Beyond fasting are practices of silence, meditation, or prayer. A
powerful silence practice known as Vipassana can now be done as part
of a professional retreat that involves a shorter 5-day period of silence,
or the traditional and more deeply impactful 10-day practice. This might
strike some people as crazy, but the impact on the mind, body and senses
is staggering. You come out of it with a deep sense of stillness, and you
can once again truly listen, taste, and see. It’s like the taste of food after a
long fast, but for the rest of your senses. You also don’t need a retreat to
do this. Book a cabin in the woods for a week, and practice silence.
Another practice is sexual abstinence, which in men’s circles is known
as “Semen Retention” or “No Fap”. It might sound stupid to some of you,
but again, the ability to voluntarily control your desires is of profound
importance. Sexual energy is powerful, vital, and life-giving. If you learn
to direct it, by first having the self-control to ‘save it’, you can experience
its benefits in the form of greater creativity, higher testosterone, and
increased energy. Some of the greatest thinkers, warriors, fighters and
leaders all throughout history practiced periodic abstinence. They would
do so before battle, or during writing and thus channel this energy into
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the pursuit at hand. Mike Tyson once said: “I always read that the great
fighters never had sex before fights and I was a young kid and I wanted to be the
youngest heavyweight champion in the world, so I restrained myself from sex for
around five years.”
Working with your hands
When the crowd zigs, it often pays to zag. If the more cerebral or
communicative pursuits (or both) don’t draw you, learn to work with your
hands. Learn a trade. Most moderns can’t use a screwdriver or a hammer.
If you’re able to construct things, fix things, produce things, grow things,
cook things or heal people by using those magical appendages, then you
set yourself apart from many of the people in this world who only know
how to scroll, tap or type.
This doesn’t have to be something that brings you income, nor even be
your core mission. It could be as simple as tending a garden and growing
food, or learning to cook; or something more complex, like building a
table, a library cabinet, or what I think every man should do at some stage:
be involved in building his home. One of my personal goals is to one day
build a sauna with my own two hands.
You may even be able to couple this skill with some sort of digital
component, and pass on your knowledge to others who are interested.
There is huge potential as the creator economy becomes the medium for
all future learning.
Hunting is another, which I was not sure where to categorize. It’s not
just shooting, and it’s not supposed to be some degenerate or flagrant
taking of life. There is a deeper relationship to be found between predator
and prey. There is an entire ritual to be observed in the taking of a life and
the subsequent treatment and work that needs to be done to for example
turn that life into sustenance. This is another entire rabbit hole, which I
suggest you explore.
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Movement
You must learn to move, and then continue to move, and refine your
movement. The body and the mind are linked. If your body decays, your
mind does too. Move for strength, move for fitness, move for utility, learn
to move with grace; learn to defend yourself, and also how to attack if and
when necessary. Remember: “it’s better to be a warrior in a garden, than a
gardener in a war.”
Movement was a core part of the Samurai’s training, and should be
central to the training of everyone reading this, man or woman. The
Samurai trained in jiujitsu, kenjutsu (which later developed into kendo: way
of the sword) and other forms of martial arts. You can do many of the
same today. There is more available than just lifting weights at the gym.
“Jiujutsu may be briefly defined as an application of

anatomical knowledge to the purpose of offense or defense.”
Building physical confidence and mastery has an incredibly positive

impact on your emotions and your psychology. When you develop a
relationship with your body, you enhance your vitality and transform your
relationship with the world: you become more confident, and powerful.
Sacrifice your health and ignore this dimension at your own peril.
Self-defense
Deeply related to movement, but also important enough to stand on its

own, is self-defense. Health and aesthetics are incredibly important.
Feeling and looking good is beautiful and beauty is godly; but being able
to use your body is such a way that you can defend yourself gives you a
deep-seated confidence that aesthetics alone cannot.
Self-defense also extends beyond what you can do with your body to
what you can do with a weapon, and with your mind. Shooting a gun, for
example, requires not only motor skills, but knowledge of how to use the
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weapon itself and a psychology of calm, alertness and self-control. You

should also learn to use other physical weapons: a knife, a sword, a stick;
not to go out and beat up random people - that’s what a two-year-old does
- but so that if some muppet comes at you or threatens that which you love,
you will not cower away.
“In combat, you do not rise to the occasion. You sink to the
level of your training.”
Dave Grossman, On Combat
There are many avenues for these practices, and some of my favorites are
BJJ, MMA and of course marksmanship.
Rituals
“Rituals are to time what home is to space: they render time

habitable.”
Byung-Chul Han, The Disappearance of Rituals
The Art of Ritual
To deepen networks you need to develop rituals and experiences. There

is an entire set of skills required to put together an experience and lead
people through it. You need a blend of deep domain knowledge, great
communication skills and the ability to guide. You need to be able to tell
a story, to listen and observe, to intuit, and know when to push, or when
to ease up, to know when to start, when to escalate and when to finish.
Study and practice rituals of all kinds. Religious rituals are incredibly
powerful. Baptism, Christmas and Easter in the Christian faith,
Ramadan in Islam. Find yours. You can also look into ancient
gender-specific festivals. The Thesmophoria, for example, was celebrated
by women in Athens to honor the goddess Demeter and involved rituals
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and ceremonies related to fertility and agricultural abundance. Men were

prohibited from participating or witnessing such rituals, in the same way
that women were not allowed to be a part of male ones.
Gender-specific rituals are particularly important because they allow
both men and women to develop bonds within an environment geared to
their biology, physiology, psychology and temperament. It helps to make
men more masculine and women more feminine - something modernity
is sorely lacking, and a necessary tool in both the development of virtue
and the management of vice.
Rituals of Time
Beyond the art of ritual, are actual rituals themselves. Time is something
we are all subject to, and each have a unique relationship with. We’ve
come to define and demarcate the progression of time via measures
such as minutes, hours, days and years - but there is so much more
to this phenomenon than what we measure. When cultures were more
connected to the natural flow of life and the cyclicality of seasons, they
developed simple rituals more aligned with these natural arcs, whether
it was the daily rising and setting of the sun, the monthly full moon
cycle, the summer or winter solstice, new year celebrations, and even
significant holidays (holy days).
Rituals associated with these cycles can be incredibly simple and
require no investment, so there is no excuse not to start today. Get up with
the sunrise and sun gaze, or develop a wind-down practice that begins at
sunset, respecting your circadian rhythm. Turn off your phone at night,
have a set time for family dinner, create your own ‘Sabbath’ and spend
Sundays off of technology, do a 24-hour water fast every new moon, or
plan a new weekend adventure every other month. The options are plenty.
Give some real time and attention to your native holidays. Go above
and beyond what you’ve normally done to make these days a special time
with friends or family. Set intentions, share moments together, connect
more deeply. Spend a day or two each quarter reconnecting to your vision
for life, your goals, and reflecting on what you’ve accomplished. You’d be
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amazed at what zooming out can do for your sense of gratitude and your
relationship to time. Finally, learn to relax. I say this more for myself
than anyone else, as my mind is always on. I believe that cats have this
right: they know how to relax, but they also know how to take intense
action when needed. Most of us in the modern world would benefit
from learning how to relax better (it’s about quality), and annual festivals,
celebrations or other special occasions are a great chance to do that.
Psycho-Spiritual Rituals
Rituals are disciplines that train and condition the mind, body and spirit.
The modern world is full of schizophrenia, anxiety, confusion and doubt,
in part because there is a lack of psycho-spiritual scaffolding in place to
keep at bay the ocean of unconscious noise and detritus we’ve filled it with.
We used to have a lack of information - now we are starving for signal.
The problems here stem from a mix of scientism around psychology
on the one hand, and unrestrained hippie approaches on the other.
Psychology is, in my opinion, more art than science. By trying to turn
it into a hard science, and ignoring the spiritual component, we’ve made
the mind, and the people it animates, more machine than human. This is
why psychiatry and therapy are so dry and dead. Worse, this approach
has created an entire pharmacological industry that preys on people’s
weaknesses, conjuring up a new label to “treat” every few months. The
other side of the coin is not much better. You have people that think
they “broke out of the matrix” because they had some form of psychedelic
experience. Their default mode networks are disrupted and they see the
world through a new light for a moment, but when they come back to
reality, there is a disconnect, so they long for the experience once more.
A rare few with good grounding and a strong enough constitution might
integrate the experience and become more, but often these experiences
open the door for people to go on journeys they’re not equipped for.
“Psychonauts,” or “Neuropharmacologists” - which is just a fancy way of
saying psychedelic junkie - tell themselves they’re doing it “in the right
setting” and “for the right reasons” but in reality are just dependent on
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those states to feel whole or certain. It’s why so many go back to the jungle,
everytime they feel a little anxiety... until they fry their brains.
I recognise that there are powerful tools that, if used by very few,
select people, can lead to incredible insights and breakthroughs - but
their wide use and appeal are a net negative for society. These substances
fundamentally uproot and open the subject. I think we have more than
enough of that in the world today. What we need is a little more closed
borders, closed-mindedness and grounding. We need deeper roots,
and more strength. The very fact that they’re called plant-medicines
implies that the people taking them are weak, broken or sick: not a
great foundation to build from, and also not how the ancients used these
substances. They were part of greater, more profound rites in which
strong men, leaders or initiates under guidance were challenged. The
Ancient Greek ‘Eleusinian Mysteries’, for example, involved exclusive
invitations, a pilgrimage to the location, a series of ritual practices and
drinking the ‘kykeon’. The invitations were reserved for the warriors and
the wise, and the experiences were less about “healing” and more about
“insight” or “access” which had to be earned, and could only be done by
the strong, wise or committed. This is something your run-of-the-mill
psychonaut knows nothing of. So the question then is, what kinds of
psycho-social rituals can lead to more strength, grounding, fortitude and
wisdom?
Once again, there are many that require neither money nor resources.
Prayer and meditation are two obvious examples. Meditation more for
clarity, focus and calm. Prayer more for intention, guidance, gratitude
and access to higher wisdom. Some people might write these off as fluff
or woo-woo, but do so to their own detriment.
There are more intense and esoteric options that are probably not for
everyone. Ancient cultures, particularly among Native American tribes,
performed ‘vision quests’. These rituals involved extended periods of
isolation in nature, often with no food or water, and used these moments
of intense vulnerability and exposure to the elements to find clarity and
guidance from a higher power. Yes, often these were combined with some
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form of psychedelic substance; but notice it was not for “healing your
childhood trauma” - but more for visions and access to something greater.
Another is active dreaming or active imagination. Carl Jung viewed
the mind as a complex interplay of conscious and unconscious forces;
rather than seeing it purely as a calculator or learning machine, Jung
believed the unconscious held vast reservoirs of archetypal wisdom.
Active Imagination involves intentionally engaging with the unconscious
and using dreams or the imagination to teach, guide and reveal. Astral
projection, somewhat related to this, is like a more advanced and ancient
version of active dreaming in which the subject attempts to create
an out-of-body experience and direct it in the dream state. The CIA
experimented with this and other more wacky ideas. I’m not personally
sure what’s true and what’s fiction, but Jung’s approach is certainly worth
considering, especially for creatives.
Finally, I’d point to writing as another method. It forces you to
order the mind, and really think things through. Journaling is incredibly
powerful and often far more effective than therapy for people dealing
with stress or problems. The greatest of the great, all throughout history,
turned to the pen when they were not using the sword.
Purification Rituals
All rituals are somewhat forms of purification - whether of the mind,

spirit or body. Misogi is a specific Japanese concept involving an
intense but brief challenge, or purification ritual aimed at cleansing
oneself. Traditionally it involved things like standing under cold and
intense waterfalls, embarking on a strenuous or dangerous climb, or
meditation in a painful posture or location (e.g., multi-hour horse stances
or meditation in the snow). Either way, the point is to use pain or danger
to bring you into the present and thus purify the body and mind.
Modern variants of Misogi have started to gain traction - clearly
because men have this yearning inside of them. People are now
developing and undertaking challenges outside of their domains of work
or personal interest, with the goal of self-improvement, or breaking
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beyond one’s current limits. Wim Hof and the entire ice-bath / cold
exposure movement is a civilian example. Hell Week is a modern military
example: a grueling weeklong initiation into the US Navy Seals which
people like David Goggins brought into mainstream consciousness. There
are also more traditional examples still practiced, like the ‘marathon
monks’ of Mount Hiei who run around 1000 marathons in 1000 days in
search of enlightenment.
The point here isn’t to spend the next three years running marathons
daily, or to try and become the next David Goggins. Purification rituals
are less about the challenge itself and more about the transformation
that comes from undertaking and overcoming such an ordeal. The goal
is to emerge from the experience with a clearer mind, free of the noise
of past or future. The best ones are designed to bring you into the
present and strengthen your fortitude. Overcoming these ordeals is
symbolic and, like any ritual or rite of passage, you come out of it having
shed either limitations or doubt, or you’ve gained a new insight and,
often, rediscovered a sense of clarity and purpose that might have been
previously lacking.
Settling Disputes
Less of a ritual, but relevant here as an addendum is dueling. Its removal

from society has simultaneously separated behavior from consequence
and outsourced the application of said consequence (or moral symmetry)
to some flaccid, uninterested bureaucratic appendage of the state. This
has had some significant unintended consequences on how society
functions and its level of maturity, restraint and respect.
Yes, there were valid reasons for its abolition at the time. The advent of
more sophisticated weaponry came with the almost guaranteed waste of a
young life, over what might have been a trifling matter; even more serious
matters would in many cases not warrant someone’s death. However,
by removing dueling we also over-feminised the world. State policing
and democracy slowly made all acts of male aggression illegal, whether
necessary or unnecessary. Men are no longer able to fight or settle
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disputes directly, so instead they resort to other more political, indirect,

and effeminate ways to deal with anger or injustice. This causes them
to turn inward, becoming envious, resentful and, worst of all, acting
without honor.
Can we learn from the past and bring back localized violence but
be more sensible about the approach? Maybe. In December 2019, two
Brazilian politicians settled a long dispute over a waterpark conservation
project by fighting each other in the cage, during a 3-round MMA fight.
“Alaric the Barbarian” (on X.com) noted:
“At the very least, men should be able to choose to fistfight without
interference. Those Brazilian politicians stepping into an octagon over
some zoning dispute — that is civilization, and far more honest than
typical politics.”
Contrary to popular belief, there must be some way to settle disputes that
does not boil down to social gaming or indirect scheming. The necessary
substrate for a culture with honor is the very real threat of violence.
Dueling is the ritualization of violence for this very reason. The mutual
agreement to combat creates an environment where the consequences
for poor behavior are more directly felt, and served by the party being
infringed upon. It also forces men to learn how to back their word up
with action, resulting in a stronger society.
This is the only truly civilized way to settle conflicts!
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In Closing
As the battle for the soul of humanity rages on, Bitcoiners, being the
most likely group to ascend economically speaking, have a duty to become
better people, and men in particular must lead. Learning and mastering
these skills, tools and rituals along the way is critical.
This is obviously not an exhaustive list, but a teaser. It’s your job to dig
further and find your chosen sword or vocation. You also don’t have to do
or master all of it: the best archers were not always the best swordsmen;
the best writers may not be not the best fighters. My emphasis on
entrepreneurialism doesn’t mean you have to be an entrepreneur. In fact,
most people are not wired that way, and that’s fine. Some of you are
more suited to being excellent operators or managers. There are a few
savants able to achieve mastery across many of these dimensions, but
those people are the exception; if you are one of them, then power to you:
be the one who inspires the rest of us! If not, that’s fine. Focus on your
strengths and do your best to round things out between practices that
involve your body on the one hand, and mind on the other.
For those of you who are thinking “but it’s not so easy.”
Yes, correct - it’s not supposed to be easy. Learning something new never
is. Earning something takes time, patience and dedication. You’ll have
to endure failure and participate in things you don’t like. Welcome to life.
It’s not always sunshine and rainbows.
A common example of this is people with a reticence toward learning
how to use Bitcoin. Their derision usually amounts to: “I don’t want to learn
how to secure my keys, run a node or learn how to use a wallet, because it’s hard.”
The truth is not that they can’t, or that it’s necessarily hard, but that they
can’t be bothered. They say this is a problem with Bitcoin’s UX, but in
reality the problem is in their (un)willingness to learn.
398
In Closing
If that’s been you, wake up. You learned how to use a smartphone
to scroll on Instagram. I’m sure you can learn to back up a seed phrase
and send a transaction. What we end up with is often a reflection of our
willingness to adapt. You may not like it, but I’m sorry - this is fair. Reality
doesn’t care about your feelings.
Learning the skills and the use of the tools listed above is also going
to help you develop the virtues discussed in this book. How, you ask?
Through practice. Virtues are not innate qualities or inherent traits,
but behaviors developed through repeated action. Aristotle argued that
virtue is not something that can be taught through lectures or theory, but
rather something that must be learned through practice and habituation.
This view has important implications for moral education and character
development: rather than simply teaching moral principles or rules, we
should focus on cultivating virtuous habits through practices like the ones
listed above. Practices that require you to act out the virtues you want to
teach!
Not sure where to start? Go find a Bitcoin conference. Search for a
skills retreat. Join a martial arts gym. Subscribe to a newsletter. Watch a
podcast. Meet some people and put yourself out there. Go face your fears,
get punched in the face, approach that girl you’re afraid will reject you,
start that business, quit that shitty job, add that extra plate to the barbell,
and whether you fail or succeed, keep going. If you fall over, learn why, then
get up again. All of this builds your character and, in the end, that’s what
counts.
If you’re up for the challenge, take it up a notch and hold yourself
accountable with some key metrics. Go hunt your own meal, squat twice
your bodyweight, make your first dollar online, do a three-day water-only
fast, learn to submit someone in BJJ, run a six-minute mile, spend an
entire week offline, give a 20-minute presentation, or learn how to fix
and splint a broken arm. All of these milestones, while arbitrary, require
a deep process of learning and embodiment that will force you to be
disciplined, master some skills and become a more capable badass.
399
In Closing
And finally, if you’re still not sure where to start, or you have started
and want to join a brotherhood of men doing similar things, feel free to
reach out to me directly and I’ll point you in the right direction. My direct
messages are open across all platforms.
400
PART V
What the Future Holds

“He with the longest memory, owns the future.”
Unknown
I spent a lot of time beating up the modern world in this book, and for
good reason. We are living in a broken simulacrum, with clown world
running on repeat. That being said - I want to make clear that it’s not all
bad. Despite the madness and moral debauchery there is not only hope,
but a lot of good, and much to look forward to. I still believe this is the
greatest time to be alive. In this final section, I want to light a fire in your
soul. I want to encourage you to think and feel, so you’re inspired to build
the future.
So long as the smallest blade of grass protrudes from the concrete or
the weakest rays of light pierce the darkness, the opportunity for beauty
remains. It is up to our generation to turn things around. This is our cross
to bear, and we shall prevail, because life and vitality are both on our side.
What comes next will draw from the best of what came before, and will
manifest in a new, greater and higher form.
Our civilization is the most powerful since Rome - but it rose from
Rome’s ashes. The modern world, powered largely by shared, western,
Christian values has reached its zenith and is now in decline. It too will
be replaced by something new and more powerful that will rise from its
ashes. This is our time.
Pressure is necessary for transformation, and not all transformation
is equal, even under equal pressure. One substance is crushed, while
another turns to diamond: the same is true with people. Clown-world will
turn most people into Nietzsche’s Last Man. The consooomer archetype,
plugged into VR goggles, with soy and bug juice injected right into their
veins. It will also awaken lions: it will turn them into leaders, men and
women of vitality, of aligned thinking and action, beautiful and pulsating
with energy. Project that difference out a few generations and you’ll get a
sense for what is on the horizon. A new strong and noble class, separate
from a weak, base class.
This is nothing to be afraid of. It is the natural way of things. We
all reap what we sow, and it magnifies across generations. We’re at
the bifurcation point now. Modern technology, combined with Bitcoin,
Nostr, the Internet, online learning, communities and digital public
squares like X, will transform the world faster than anyone can possibly
imagine.
It’s already happening. What we know today about health, strength
training, food, sunlight and supplementation alone can help build
superhumans. Add to that our technological prowess and access to an
ever-greater quantum of energy, along with a global, interconnected
economy built on an incorruptible monetary base and communications
network - and you have the makings for an extraordinarily bright future.
We just need the courage to claim it. It’s on us now.
403
The earth has become small, and on it hops the Last Man,
who makes everything small. His species is ineradicable as
the flea; the Last Man lives longest.
“We have discovered happiness” – say the Last Men, and
they blink.
They have left the regions where it is hard to live; for they
need warmth. One still loves one’s neighbor and rubs
against him; for one needs warmth.
Turning ill and being distrustful, they consider sinful: they
walk warily. He is a fool who still stumbles over stones or
men!
A little poison now and then: that makes for pleasant
dreams. And much poison at the end for a pleasant death.
One still works, for work is a pastime. But one is careful lest
the pastime should hurt one.
One no longer becomes poor or rich; both are too burdensome.
Who still wants to rule? Who still wants to obey? Both are
too burdensome.
No shepherd, and one herd! Everyone wants the same;
everyone is the same: he who feels differently goes
voluntarily into the madhouse.
“Formerly all the world was insane,” – say the subtlest of
them, and they blink.
They are clever and know all that has happened: so there is
no end to their derision. People still quarrel, but are soon
reconciled – otherwise it upsets their stomachs.
They have their little pleasures for the day, and their little
pleasures for the night, but they have a regard for health.
“We have discovered happiness,” – say the Last Men, and
they blink.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra: The Last Men
404
Visions of the Future
“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without

vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change
the world.”
Joel Barker, Future Edge: Discovering the New Paradigms of Success
A state and a government are two different things but they are often
conflated. A government is the specific body in charge of the direction
and governance of a territory or a people; a state includes the government,
along with the economic apparatus, the military, internal security such as
the police, the intelligence services, the regulatory apparatus and the civil
service. It is the complete tool or structure that orders, demarcates, and
governs a territory.
There are many kinds of state models. Rome was a multiracial state
in its twilight and so too is the modern USA. There were aristocratic
states like the medieval monarchies, which have no real analogue today
outside of perhaps Rhodesia in the 60s and 70s, although it was a “landed
republic” not a monarchy. There are also city-states as were characteristic
of Ancient Greece, and which places like Singapore resemble most closely
today.
The most common modern state is the nation-state, which became the
standard after the Treaty of Westphalia which ended the Thirty Years War.
The nation-state traditionally centered on a racial group, although most
modern ones have morphed quite a bit in the last half century, thanks
to mass migration. The word “nation” originates from the Latin word
natio, which itself comes from the verb nasci, meaning “to be born.” Natio
405
originally referred to a group of people connected by common birth or

origin, and was used to describe tribes or ethnic groups with shared
ancestry. Thus the word “nation” means “of shared birth” and, technically
speaking, the nation-state was a structure established to help govern a
population of people who are culturally and ethnically related.
Unfortunately for the anarchists out there, there will never be a
full dissolution of the state. It has always, and will always exist in
some form. Only the name and style will change. As such, the more
important question to address is what will future states look like? I
have a number of ideas on this, all which point to a move away from
democracies and large-scale, equalitarian states, in large part thanks to a
changing monetary paradigm. As outlined in section three, economically
non-viable territories and regions will find it impossible to persist
without collapsing or intentionally splitting into smaller units that are
more coherent and functional. I believe this will lead to a patchwork
of state and governance models that vary based on territorial factors
like the local climate, altitude, size, geographic location, locally available
resources, along with social factors like ethnicity, culture, religion, and
history.
In The UnCommunist Manifesto, Mark Moss and I argued that on a
Bitcoin Standard we will see the rise of meritocracies. These are societies
oriented around merit and will likely lead to more hierarchy, because
people apply themselves to different things in different ways, all to
varying degrees. Think of how a good business functions and who gets
promoted versus who gets fired.
406
“We propose a transformation and reorganization of society

not by decree, but by the natural, emergent force of
competence and liberty.
One of dynamic inequality, where classes continue to
exist (they always will), but are permeable. Where the
opportunity to rise up is available to all, and so too is
everyone subject to the risk of failure and falling down the
hierarchy. Upward motion becomes a function of work,
competence, skill, talent, perseverance, desire, will and of
course, luck. Downward motion a function of waste, poor
calculation, mistakes, bad judgement, immoral behaviour,
incompetence, laziness and of course, bad luck.”
Visually, this could look like the figure below. Notice how there are still
classes but, because they’re permeable, you ideally create a population
structure that is thicker in the middle, and more like a circle - which
is probably what America looked more like in its heyday. A larger and
healthier middle class, fewer poor people and an elite who by definition
are a smaller fraction of the total.
I’d like to take the idea further and suggest that there will most likely
be many variants of meritocracy. The one that I think will be most
407
prevalent, because of operational efficiency and the effectiveness of great

leadership, is Meritocratic Feudalism. Imagine “CEO Kings” who lead for
many decades, treat their territory like their home, their citizens as their
family and have the commercial and economic acumen of a Jeff Bezos or
Elon Musk. This is what I described earlier in the book: an archetype that
is some blend of Alexander the Great and Steve Jobs. People like this already
exist. President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador is a prime example, as
was Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore. LKW made Singapore the economic
powerhouse of Asia within a few decades, with minimal land, no natural
resources, and a tiny population. Bukele has completely transformed El
Salvador within one term, making it the safest state in the entirety of
the Americas - which is a remarkable feat when you realize it was the
unsafest when his tenure as president commenced. It’s no wonder he has
the highest approval rating of any leader in the modern world. Beyond
this format, I’m sure we will also see Meritocratic Republicanism, and
even Meritocratic Democracy, where your ability to vote is based on what
you “bring to the table,” economically or socially speaking.
I can also imagine Holocracies, with governance models that replace
bureaucrats with mystics. Think “Sol Brah” as the head of a new
micro-state’s health ministry and Joe Rogan as the voice of the nation.
Aretocracies are another idea: modern warrior societies built around
excellence, like “Neo-Spartas”, with highly advanced military orders and
strict warrior cultures. Bioregionalism is also interesting: this idea
recognises that cultural, political and economic systems can be more
sustainable if they are organized around naturally-defined ecosystems
and environmental features. It expands beyond arbitrary nation-state
boundaries and ties its people directly to a territory, ecosystem and local
knowledge. Examples of different bioregions might include wetlands,
deserts, prairies, forests, jungles, marshlands and even the arctic.
Another approach is some sort of non-localised or “distributed state”
model, similar to the Jewish diaspora. The Jews are a borderless state unto
themselves sharing a common culture and religion and, to a large degree,
DNA. A future version of this might be “Digital Nomad States” where
408
participation requires certain meritocratic markers, economic capacity,

or standards of aptitude and biological excellence. This is not unlike clubs
and associations (secret or not) which many of us are familiar with, and
have clearly worked since the beginning of time. This also leads to another
few potential variants. Religion-based states, or DNA/ethnicity-based
states. Both of these could actually transcend borders and territory,
and we have prototypes of each today. Utah for example is practically
a Mormon state. I can also imagine a Catholic state, where citizens
are far greater in number, and obviously not confined to the Vatican
territory. Likewise, DNA or ethnic states, which also exist today in some
form (you hold a passport from a particular nation); but, instead of it
being migration based, it is blood-based, similar to how the UAE works:
almost anyone can become a resident of the UAE, yet only Emiratis can be
citizens. This model also extends beyond borders, and can include a hub
or a home like what the UAE territory fundamentally represents.
Some might say this is not possible in places like Europe for example,
but I’d argue that it is! Norway, with all its oil wealth, could literally be the
Abu Dhabi or Dubai of Europe. Instead, it’s become a sterile, feminized
country with low energy, more interested in celebrating pride month and
importing immigrants who clearly do not fit in. They make their own
people feel guilty, while invaders are welcomed who then cause trouble
in the streets. I speak from first hand experience, when I was there last.
Little hoodlums selling drugs and riding around on scooters with the
stands down so they can scrape the concrete and be a public nuisance.
Oslo is such a beautiful city, and the country itself has so much potential.
The people are clearly intelligent, but you can feel the despair. They know
they’re being invaded, but it would be “mean” or “wrong” to point it out.
Contrast that with how Dubai treats their own people, how they treat
guests & tourists and how they treat immigrants. If Europeans, and
Westerners more broadly speaking, drop their guilt and embrace both
their own people and cultures, the kind of transformation that occurred
in Dubai, Singapore and El Salvador is also possible there.
409
There are many other models to explore, but I will cover them all in
depth in a subsequent book. For now, instead of me telling you more, allow
me to show you a vision of the future.
410
The Sovereign Cross
An Executive Alliance Story.
Block 4,025,430: Morning, November 11th, 2084

The gray sky of the Old World hung like a stained blanket over the
dilapidated concrete structures. No guards patrolled these streets —
only the rheumy eyes of a surveillance state long past its peak. A cool
wind carried the scent of rotting garbage. Flickering security cameras
strained to stay functional. The jittering hum of malfunctioning drones
patrolling the streets added to the cacophony of a dying city. From inside
the perimeter of UN Zone-12, remnants of civilization limped along,
shadowed by crumbling towers that once boasted grandeur.
The familiar stink of fried circuits burnt in the air, and beneath the
constant hum of neglected machines, corruption thrived, as it always
has. In these zones, black market trade occurred between smugglers
and functionaries. This was where Thane did his business, exploiting the
chaotic fringes of a regime that was too underfunded to fully monitor
itself.
Beyond this decayed perimeter zone lay the cold heart of New Brussels,
the largest UN City in West Europa. It was stark and clean, with
brutalist megastructures rising in geometric silhouette against the pale
sky. The sterile streets of the inner sanctum were lined with steel
and concrete, devoid of color or life. Automated transports glided
along pre-set tracks, and perfectly calibrated drones swept the streets,
vigilant for any disturbance. Inside the spires, the elites—gene-tweaked
bureaucrats engineered for precision—lived out their carefully managed
lives, isolated from the decay on the fringes. A world was as lifeless as the
machines that ran it, Thane reflected.
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The Sovereign Cross
He turned back to Functionary Kline, who was standing across from

him in the ramshackle office, eyes cold and glassy. Their skin had the
sheen of artificiality, like an AI-generated image brought to life. Kline
was an androgynous, low-level bureaucrat, their sharp, angular features
a product of the UN’s sterile laboratories, literally engineered to serve the
Secretariats of the UN.
The functionary’s gaze locked onto Thane’s as he settled into the chair.
“The Deputy Director sends her regards,” Kline began, voice clipped and
flat. “She asks when you will be returning to the UN? This… smuggling
business of yours is becoming dangerous. Straddling two worlds is going
to catch up to you sooner or later.” Thane shrugged, leaning back in his
chair, his gaze drifting momentarily to the long-dead cameras hanging
impotently from the ceiling. “Since when did the UN care about the
wellbeing of people like me? As long as you get your toys, your Secretary
General and her friends are happy, right?” He kept his tone casual, but his
eyes were sharp.
The functionary’s lip curled in distaste, but they held their composure.
“We don’t approve of UN citizens living in the Executive States.” Their
voice dripped with heavy contempt. “Those so-called bastions of
freedom.” They made the phrase sound like a curse. “Free Markets
and capitalism, but only for the rich. No regulations, no morals, no
humanity.”
Thane smirked. “It’s not so bad” he said, nonchalantly. “And I
don’t make waves.” He thought how much more humane NeoAlexandria
actually was, compared to this shithole. But there was no point explaining
that to this creature - they would never understand.
The functionary snorted softly. “Of course, they’d let in a smuggler
like you without blinking, but God forbid any of our people want to enter.
Only Sovereign IDs accepted. Ridiculous. They’ll close their borders to our
citizens but sell us their technology when it suits them.”
The elites of the UN couldn’t stand the Executive States, not just
because they embodied everything the UN opposed — capitalism,
free-markets, individual freedom — but because they were a closed
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The Sovereign Cross
society. The UN was always pushing for assimilation and globalism. “One
people, one world,” as their slogan went. When the Great Remigration
of the forties and fifties failed, the world split. On the one hand
were regions like NeoAlexandria, Bayernland, Salvador, Formosa, the
Vredeburg Republic, and the Free State of Texas - whose people came to
be known as New-Worlders. On the other were the ‘Old-Worlders’ of the
UN mega-states like West Europa, Eurabia, China, Australand, and the
American Democratic Union.
Thane shifted the conversation back to business. “What they do with
their land is their problem. It just means I can bring the tech you need over
here for you and your pals. So let’s skip the politics and get this done.”
The functionary’s eyes narrowed. “You’re right. You wouldn’t
understand anyway.” Their tone was sharp, dismissive. Then, almost
without pause, the functionary’s gaze shifted to the slim case in Thane’s
hand. “Did you bring the latest model?”
Thane opened the case, revealing fourteen sleek, black,
high-bandwidth brain-computer interface chips, the kind that could
connect directly to any networked system.
Thane locked eyes with Kline. “Not the latest, but you couldn’t afford
the latest.”
The functionary’s lips twisted into a tight line, their synthetic
features betraying their frustration. “Things shouldn’t be about price,”
they muttered, their voice dropping into the low, rehearsed tone of
propaganda. “Goods should be traded based on need, for the benefit of
the many, not the greed of the few.”
“You can believe what you want,” said Thane. “All I know is, these are
genuine Neuralinks, not the shitty Microsoft Synapse you people are still
using. If you want them, you have to pay for them. Simple as that.”
The functionary’s eyes flicked back to the chips. These weren’t just
tech — they were power. Their expression tightened, but they said
nothing. Officially, the UN denounced all trade with the Executive
States, labeling them anarchist states, and in many cases refusing to
formally acknowledge their sovereignty, but in reality, they needed them.
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The Sovereign Cross
The truth was as obvious as it was embarrassing: without black-market

trade, the elites of the UN City would lose control of their sterile
world. The commodities Thane brought — mostly luxury goods, high-end
electronics, and even things like free range beef and butter — were critical
for both the way of life the UN elites were used to, and for their grip on
power.
“They’ll do,” the functionary muttered, trying to feign nonchalance.
“How much?”
“Two point four million Sats,” Thane stated flatly, and quickly added;
“Which is a fraction of what they’re worth to your boss.”
The functionary broke into a mild sweat. “That’s more than I have
authority to pay you.” Regaining their composure they quickly added,
“But I do have UN credits I can transfer to make up the difference.”
Thane pulled back the case. “Bitcoin only. That’s non-negotiable.”
UN credits were not only in a constant state of inflation, but everything
was traced and tied to his UN identity and social credit score. There
was no way he could explain that kind of income without it either being
frozen, confiscated, or taxed 80% - which was basically the same as being
confiscated.
The functionary’s face tightened, their composure faltering just for a
moment. “But it’s impossible! The Deputy Director has given me strict
instructions and a strict budg-”
Thane cut Kline off. “I’m not risking my life for your boss. If you can’t
afford it all, go find another vendor, and don’t waste my time.” Thane knew
he was being a little overly aggressive, but he’d been here before, and knew
others who had compromised, only to end up in jail, or have their mobility
privileges suspended for unexplained income. No chance he was taking
that risk.
Kline stared at him with those cold eyes, then, face once again
expressionless, said flatly, “Here is your two point four million.” And
added, with a voice suddenly colder. “You’d do well not to get too
comfortable. The world might tolerate people like you for now, but
straddling both sides won’t work forever. You are vulnerable alone.”
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The Sovereign Cross
Two point four million received, his AI assistant Selene informed him
a moment later through his own Hyperion-Grade NeuraLink. Moving the
sats to a mixer now. Mixers erased all traces of Bitcoin transfers, before
being consolidated with other unspent transaction outputs and deposited
into cold storage.
“I’m not alone,” Thane shrugged. “And nothing is forever.”
He picked up his briefcase, turned and left the dim office. The
functionary’s gaze clung to him like a shadow, making the spot between
his shoulders itch.
Outside, the wind carried that familiar border zone stench, and as he
stepped back into the decaying sprawl of Zone-12, he couldn’t help but
think about the gap between the old and the new worlds — and how his life
was a series of action scenes from right in the middle of it. He also couldn’t
get the functionary’s final comment out of his mind. You are vulnerable
alone. Was that a threat? Should he be worried?
No time to dwell on it. Cleo was back home in NeoAlex, probably
worrying - as usual - about his latest mission. He’d almost forgotten that
their last conversation was a bit heated. Babe you have to stop crossing over so
often. Something’s going to go wrong one of these days... and I don’t want to even
think about what I would do if I lost you.
Cleo. Please. I’ve got this under control. I’ve almost saved up enough to buy
lifetime residencies for both of us. Once we’ve got permanent Sovereign IDs, I’ll be
done with that UN shithole
You’ve been saying that for years now! Why do we need lifetime residencies?
Why can’t you just get a job here and do it the normal way?
Cleo … I’m not having this conversation again! You see the Capitol building
out there? You see the AeroDome? You think that was built by people who settled for
normal? No. It was built by people with vision, power, and money. I’ve got plans.
For you, for me, for your mom and dad. For all of us. We’ll have more than we ever
dreamed of.
But what if you get caught?
I’m not getting caught! Fuck!
Ah, women. Beautiful, emotional, and irrational. He couldn’t wait to
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The Sovereign Cross
see her again. Selene, let’s get the hell out of here. Get me a new Iris Lens
printed. I’m taking the tube.
I’m spinning one up now, Selene replied. This ID has enough social
scoring to get you into the city and back out to Zone 9.
Great, thought Thane. Deal is done. Time to go home.
Would you like me to upgrade your Sovereign ID’s to permanent
status? Asked Selene
Twenty million each right?
Yes, replied Selene matter-of-factly,
And everything else is in order too?
Yes, Selene said again.
Thane met all the genetic requirements, his ideological and cultural
alignment scores were all in the top one percentile, as were his health and
fitness scores. His record was clean, and his IQ, EQ and aptitude scores
were well above standard. It was just the payment remaining.
Well... it’s what we’ve been saving up for. Do it.
He’d run dozens of these missions in the last few years. The money
from this deal, along with what he’d saved up over almost a decade
of smuggling, would give him enough to upgrade both his and Cleo’s
Sovereign ID memberships to permanent, and leave some to start his
TransitDrone fleet. Once that’s done, he thought to himself, I’ll do a ritual
burning of my UN passport and start really making some money. No more
border crossings, no more smuggling... Well, at least it wouldn’t be him
personally doing the smuggling anymore.
Block 4,025,436
Thane picked up his pace, heading for the local tube station that connected
the outskirts to the city center. The iris scanners at the entry were one of
the few things still functional in Zone-12, along with the sentry drones
on the carriages. It was the only way to keep the dregs of society from
overrunning the inner city.
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The Sovereign Cross
By the time Thane had entered the terminal, the PolyCell Forge in his
briefcase had produced a new Iris Lens to Selene’s specifications. He
pressed his thumb on a particular section near the corner, which upon
scanning his thumbprint, silently slid out a small compartment revealing
two perfectly circular, translucent disks. The Iris Lenses contained a full
UN-identity. Alright Selene, he thought as he entered the terminal, Who
am I?
You’re an accountant from the lower east side of Zone 12. Your name
is Marshall, you have 3 pet Chihuahuas, and you’re dating James from
Zone 9, who is also an accountant.
Wait, what? You picked a gay guy with 3 dogs?
You’re too well dressed to be straight, and it’s a little more believable
coming from this side of town, at this time.
Thane sighed audibly. Yeah I guess you’re right. Here goes.
He lined up behind what looked like a stressed out lawyer, who was
hurriedly pulling electronics from his briefcase, hands shaking as he
fumbled through the security gate. It was a pathetic display, and Thane
knew the routine well — just another part of the charade. The gate
was deliberately placed before the iris scanner, forcing anyone without
enough social credits to endure the humiliating pretense of security
theater, only to be denied access to the tube afterward.
When it was Thane’s turn, he stepped up to the scanner, his face a blank
mask. He was nervous every time he did one of these imitation scans. If
it didn’t work, or if Selene ever made an error - which was highly unlikely
- he’d be fucked. Fear is the mind killer, Selene whispered inside his head,
sensing the increase in his heart rate and half jokingly referencing one of
his favorite books.
Right.
The blue light flashed, cutting straight into his eyes. He winced
internally, forcing himself to keep still. I hate these fucking scanners. It’s
like they’re designed to blind you, little by little.
The door ground open, and Thane placed his briefcase on the security
tray. The briefcase was designed with reflective surfaces that tricked
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The Sovereign Cross
scanners into showing innocuous images of paperwork or mundane

cargo. The deception was seamless.
Block 4,025,439
The tube ride wasn’t long. The sprawling border zones were connected to
one another, and to New Brussels, by a tube network laid out like a hub
with spokes. It allowed for rapid travel between the zones and the inner
city, but getting from one zone to another required either multiple tubes
— which drained mobility credits — or the use of an autonomous vehicle,
a luxury that few could afford.
As he sat there, Thane thought about the hypocrisy of this place. The
Secretary-General, the Deputy Director and her inner circle lived lavishly,
propped up by the same contraband that smugglers like him risked their
lives to deliver, all while their subjects starved. This was the equality they
bragged of. He used to feel a little guilty about his role in it all, but not
anymore. Not since he realized that people here actually enjoyed their
slavery. They voted for the UN, they voted for multiculturalism, they
voted for NeoCommunism. The masses here didn’t want freedom — they
wanted comfort, the kind that would make them sick, fat, and docile. They
chose this life.
Thane hadn’t.
His parents had been different. They were alive when the world
shattered, the countries split and nations dissolved. They understood the
truth, saw it with their own eyes, but they never had the means to escape.
Instead, they moved to the fringes, to the outskirts, which at the time
were not so bad. They grew their own food — real food — while they could,
before the bans. Thane’s childhood was marked by the smell of roasting
meat, fresh milk, eggs, and the warmth of a self-sufficient life that now
only existed in the Executive States. It was that diet that made him stand
out. He grew strong, muscular, vibrant — everything his peers were not.
The other children in his school looked pale and weak by comparison.
Malnourished, even. And that difference didn’t go unnoticed. The school
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The Sovereign Cross
board reported his family to the Department of Sustainable Consumption.

Their enforcement arm, the Nutritional Equity Council, showed up at
his home one night. When the agents discovered his parents had been
purchasing “excessive” animal products through underground markets,
their social credit score was nuked.
He remembered the day it happened — his father being escorted out
of the house by men in gray uniforms, his mother standing frozen in the
doorway. Their status destroyed, their bank accounts erased, they had
become pariahs overnight. Forbidden from owning property, stripped
of their mobility rights, they were sentenced to a life of obscurity in the
border zones.
That day lit the fire inside of Thane. He knew he couldn’t live in a
world where every aspect of life was measured and dictated by faceless
bureaucrats. He wouldn’t be reduced to a number on a social credit ledger
like his parents. That’s what led him to escape into NeoAlexandria, and
run the risks he ran now.
Block 4,025,444
Thank you, mom and dad. Thane said a little prayer for them, and stepped off
the carriage at Central Station to the familiar crush of bodies and the low
hum of announcements in the air. He blended into the crowd, but not well
enough. The people around him were pale, hunched, and malnourished.
Thane’s broad frame marked him as an outsider. He felt the stares almost
immediately.
The guards stationed at the entrance to the next tube platform
exchanged glances, their eyes lingering on him a bit too long. Not because
they knew who he was — he hoped — but because someone like him didn’t
belong here. He was too healthy, too well-fed, and unlike the local elites,
who often had a similar stature, he had a tan. His skin was all too human.
They don’t like the look of you, Selene piped up cheekily.
No shit, he replied.
But it seems they’re looking for you, Selene continued a moment later
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The Sovereign Cross
in a more serious tone. A facial recognition alert has been triggered.

You’ve got about sixty seconds before the guards find out.
He cursed silently. His instinct was right. Not so much about being
watched, but about that slimy functionary’s tone and final words. The
bureaucrat must’ve sent his details to the authorities so they could trap
him here. There’s no fucking way I’m getting trapped here.
Selene, find and fabricate a new Iris Lens. Something that’ll get me
through the next checkpoint. The old lens was linked to his face now. A
new one was the only shot. If it fooled the scanners, he could get through
the next checkpoint and on the next tube.
Already on it. Twelve more seconds.
The seconds ticked by like hours as Thane maneuvered through the
station. He kept his eyes forward, pretending not to feel the growing
tension. Ahead of him, the checkpoint loomed, the next obstacle between
him and home. Fully automated, reliant on iris scans — in this case, the
weak point in the UN’s obsessive surveillance network.
Ready! Selene chirped proudly. Thane’s fingers quickly slid over that
familiar corner of his briefcase. He popped the old lens out and slipped
the new one in with a smooth motion that looked like nothing more than
rubbing his eye. His vision blurred momentarily, then snapped back into
focus just as he neared the checkpoint.
Alright, he thought, trying in vain to calm his nerves. Let’s hope this
works.
Of course it’s going to work. When have I ever let you down?
He stepped up to the scanner, staring straight ahead as the blue light
swept across his eyes. It blinked once, paused, and then turned green.
**Verified.**
Thane exhaled, and picked up the pace as he stepped beyond the gate.
Selene, has that alert escalated?
Not yet, but once they match your face to the gate they’ll know you’re
going to Zone 9. They’ll also link the lens you used, so we can assume this
one is burned.
OK … so plan B…“Agghhh.”
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The Sovereign Cross
Thane had barely turned the corner when every muscle in his body
spasmed and everything went black. No sound, no warning — just a
sudden jolt of electric fire coursing through his nerves. Two SentryBots
had hit him with pinpoint taser shots. He dropped to the floor,
unconscious before he even registered the attack.
Block 4,025,475
Thane came to slowly, his senses returning in fragments. His limbs felt
heavy, almost like he was in a high gravity chamber. He tried to move,
but nothing responded. His arms were locked into place by metal cuffs
that ran from his wrists half way up to his elbows, and his legs were the
same, although he couldn’t look down because his head was also in some
sort of brace. Before he put it all together, he heard Selene’s voice whisper
to him. Thane. I’m sorry. I didn’t see them coming in the terminal. I’ve
been unable to get a proper read on the room because your eyes were shut
the entire time, but judging by your vitals, the room temperature and the
coordinates, they have you in an interrogation cell.
Thane had heard of these cells before. Smugglers, regime dissidents,
and people unlucky enough to have gotten their hands on some Bitcoin
but too clueless to properly mix it were brought here and tortured until
they gave up access to their funds - and in many cases, they were
lobotomized. It’s OK. It wasn’t your fault. Can you transmit?
No. It seems this head brace is also a signal blocker of some sort-
“Mr Drakos,” a familiar voice came from the darkness. “How good to
see you again so soon.”
Kline, thought Thane as a fury rose up in his solar plexus. “I thought
our deal was concluded? What’s all the fuss about?”
“Mr Drakos. The deal was never concluded. It was merely ... delayed.”
Kline’s voice carried an air of an animal toying with its prey.
“What do you mean delayed?” responded Thane with in ice his voice
I could fucking strangle this little lizard if I could get my hands on
him, Thane said to Selene.
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The Sovereign Cross
Not to worr-
Kline cut in with a venomous tone, “You didn’t think you could just
take the equivalent of four hundred million UN Credits and just leave, did
you?”
“Take? I sold you fourteen NeuraLinks!!”
“This is the UN Mr Drakos. We neither use nor recognise NeuraLinks
or StarLinks or any other corrupt capitalist technologies.”
Thane remained silent, trying to gather his thoughts. Don’t worry,
said Selene again, this time managing to add, I managed to send a sig-
“You were arrested for illegally transporting contraband, and
defrauding a public officer of the UN for a sum of four hundred million
UN Credits.”
“Fucking wha- ARGHH!” Thane’s scream tore through the room as a
surge of electricity ripped through his body. The cuffs around his arms
and legs glowed faintly, as they delivered targeted shocks. His muscles
spasmed uncontrollably, his vision blurring with the intensity of the
pain. The interrogation chair was sophisticated, designed to send shocks
directly to his nervous system, bypassing the skin. His heart pounded in
his chest, his entire body trembling as the charge subsided, leaving him
gasping for breath, drenched in cold sweat.
“You will hold your tongue Mr Drakos. Every time you interrupt
me, my assistant, Mr Flloyd, will gladly remind you that you are in our
custody.”
“Yeah, and we don’t take kindly to criminals in this country,” added the
assistant, stupidly.
Thane glared back at the functionary with a gaze that could pierce him.
Kline looked away, unsettled by those cold blue eyes and continued, with
some uncertainty in his voice, “you have one chance at being released, and
that is to return the money. You will still be charged with smuggling, but
I am sure the Deputy Director will see to it that any sentence is lenient.”
“And If I can’t?” Asked Thane, with a slight smirk, that defied his pain
and exhaustion.
“Then we will make you,” replied Kline with a cold finality.
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The Sovereign Cross
After all these years, thought Thane, these people still don’t understand how
Bitcoin works.
“You do realize that Bitcoin transactions are irreversible right? This
isn’t some UN credit system or CBDC. Once it’s spent it’s spent.”
“Spare me the lecture on finance Mr Drakos. Just have your fancy BCI
chip transfer the money back to-”
Before the functionary could finish his sentence, the wall behind him
lit up and exploded. Thane felt the heat of the blast and winced as
small debris flew toward him and struck him in the face. Through the
smoke he could make out four dark silhouettes. Hyperion Hoplites! said
Selene, sounding extremely pleased with herself. Thane watched as four
black-armored Hoplites stepped into the room, quickly and efficiently
neutralizing Kline, his assistant, and three guards who Thane hadn’t even
noticed until they sprung into action.
One of the Hoplites approached Thane with a plasma cutter, its blade
flickering with bright blue energy as it sliced through his restraints.
Behind him a swarm of UN SentryBots flew into the room. The other
Hoplites were waiting for them, and dropped the drones out of the air
with quick Micro-EMPs bursts before they could get within range.
“Mr Drakos,” said the Hoplite that had just cut Thane free. “My name
is Commander Dios. We are here to extract, and bring you back to
NeoAlexandria. Are you injured?”
Thane was still half in a daze, no longer from having been knocked
out earlier in the day, but from watching the show in front of him, and
wondering if he was dreaming.
“Mr Drakos, are you injured?”
“No … no ... I’m ok. But, how did you-?”
I was trying to tell you, said Selene sheepishly.
“We’ll explain on the ride home. Right now, we need you to come with
us.”
Did you organize this? Asked Thane
Yes. One of the relatively obscure benefits of top tier Sovereign ID
membership, is access to an extraction team, said Selene triumphantly.
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The Sovereign Cross
Block 4,025,511
On board the Sovereign Cross TransitDrone, Thane leaned back and

exhaled. The adrenaline had worn off, leaving a dull ache in his joints,
head and muscles. But it was ok. Thane was on the way back to
NeoAlexandria.
How much did that just cost? he asked Selene, knowing the answer
wouldn’t be pleasant.
Six hundred thousand, Selene replied sheepishly.
Thane let out a short, dry laugh. Of course it did. That’s more than I
made on this job. He shook his head at the absurdity of it. Busted my ass
for this deal, only to piss it away on the same day, thought Thane, then added
to Selene, I’m surprised I even had that much.
Well … you didn’t, not exactly, Selene admitted. After paying for
the two Sovereign IDs, you had some left over for the deposit on your
next TransitDrone. Instead of paying for that, I opted for the extraction
insurance which you were now eligible for. Given Kline’s tone earlier, I
ran some probabilities and figured you’d need it. And I was right, she
concluded smugly.
Thane stared out the drone’s window, and then looked back over at the
Hoplites. He couldn’t even be mad. Selene had once again saved his ass,
but the irony of it all stung his ego. Thank you Selene, Thane said sincerely.
I guess yours and Cleo’s intuition was right this time.
Women are like that, replied Selene, in a cheeky tone
At that moment, one of the Hoplites walked over, his face obscured by
the sleek exo-helmet.
“Mr. Drakos, you were fortunate today. We were already in the Neutral
Zone when we received the extraction order, and the coordinates from
your assistant. Had we been farther away, it might have taken longer.”
“I guess I am pretty lucky,” replied Thane, straining to hide a smirk.
“There’s some standard identity verification and clearance to do back
at the AeroDome, but your assistant can begin handling the details now.
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The Sovereign Cross
You have a direct uplink via the Drone’s Beacon. For now, just sit back and
enjoy the ride.”
I’ll take care of the docs, said Selene. You just relax.
The TransitDrone soared over the Southern Europa/NeoAlexandrian
Neutral Zone. These were fully autonomous buffer and trade zones
that were owned and operated by Amazon Industries: the robotics &
automation arm of Amazon Global, Inc. No one lived there. From up here,
the grid of blue-gray warehouses and connective tracks almost looked like
a giant circuit board, etched into the earth.
Block 4,025,535
As they crossed into NeoAlexandrian airspace, the scenery shifted
dramatically. Below, the industrial grid gave way to the natural beauty
of green rolling hills, their contours softened by a network of glistening
silver tributaries that all fed into the great River Thumos - which hadn’t
existed half a century ago, until the visionary founder of NeoAlexandria
led its construction. From this height, the river shimmered like a vital
artery, flowing from the towering mountains in the north down into
the heart of NeoAlexandria, a city whose towering steel columns and
glistening glass domes resurrected the ancient spirits of a grandeur once
thought forgotten.
Within fifteen minutes, the outline of the city came into view. The
hills met the gleaming skyline where sleek, silver towers rose out of the
landscape, interspersed with lush green parks. Thane couldn’t quite
make it out from this height, but he imagined the park across from his
apartment near the Elysian boulevard.
It was such a contrast to where he had just been. While the UN
outskirt zones were drab, gray and suffocating, and their city center was
as sterile as a hospital ward, NeoAlexandria was alive and vibrant. It
seemed to literally breathe. Thane remembered the first time he came
to the city. The blend of the natural world and modern technology was
striking. Organic beauty combined with the refined, engineered elegance
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The Sovereign Cross
of modern architecture, where reflective glass and steel structures shot

upwards, adorned with NeoGothic arches and intricate facades.
As they entered the city perimeter, Thane caught a distant glimpse of
the AeroDome, and the swarm of TradeDrones surrounding it, flying in
and out with goods from all the members of the Executive Alliance. This
trade is what made the city prosperous, and he was a part of it. Thane
smiled as the drone descended toward the AeroDome, which was flanked
by the great stone and bronze statue of Alexander the Great. It was a
fitting symbol for this place: a city built on vision, courage, and the will
to achieve the impossible. The moment they touched down, Thane felt a
weight lift from his shoulders. He was home.
“Welcome home Mr Drakos,” said one of the Hoplites.
“It’s good to be back,” replied Thane.
“You’ll need to head over to the Members Gate for re-entry procedures,”
the Hoplite added, pointing toward the sleek terminal building.
Don’t worry, whispered Selene, All the docs are completed. You just
need to scan and sign.
I guess this is what it feels like to have a full Sovereign ID eh?
The re-entry process was smooth. NeoAlexandria prided itself on
how members were treated. The service was almost as good as the
departure lounges in the main terminal, only minus the entertainment
and relaxation chambers.
As Thane approached the Members Gate, he was greeted by a
NeoAlexandrian border officer. “Welcome home Mr. Drakos,” said the
officer.
“I’ve probably said this like ten times now, but seriously … it’s good to
be home.”
“I’m sure it is. I can see here you’ve had a rough day.”
“It could’ve been much worse had your boys not arrived in time.”
“It’s our pleasure to serve,” said the officer. “The Sovereign Cross
division is one of our city’s finest, and they specialize in operations like
these.”
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The Sovereign Cross
“They really are,” replied Thane, and added, “Not cheap, but worth
every Sat.”
“Indeed. Everything seems to be in order with the documentation. I
can see here that it was all submitted by your assistant. Your extraction
was covered by insurance, and your membership is active, so just a quick
scan to sign off the contracts, and you’re good to go.”
Thane leaned forward for the retinal scan. A brief beep signaled his
clearance.
“You’re all set Mr Drakos. Everything’s been sent to your assistant.
Enjoy your time back home.”
“Thank you,” said Thane as he walked through the Member’s Gate,
down the hall and on into the great arrivals terminal of the AeroDome.
The AeroDome was connected to Tempus—the underground
magnetic transport system engineered by the Boring Company half
a century ago. Instead of going straight home, Thane took a brief
walk through the terminal to pick up a gift for Cleo, who would not be
expecting him so soon. The atmosphere was vibrant, a stark contrast
to the tube terminals in the UN. Here, people were full of energy,
chatting, laughing, and engaging with each other. It was the sound of
humanity. The air was clean. The colors were alive. The terminal was a
seamless fusion of nature and technology with translucent walls and high
ceilings flooding the space with warm, natural light. Vertical gardens,
lush with greenery, lined the walls, purifying the air and creating a
living, breathing structure. Towering NeoGothic arches framed the sky
embodying the city’s philosophy of progress, beauty and harmony.
Block 4,025,545
Thane stopped by a boutique and asked the attendant for the finest
flowers, chocolates, and wine they had. “Make sure it’s the best — price
doesn’t matter.” The attendant smiled and quickly assembled the items
into a stunning little gift bag which came out to 1650 Sats. A fortune back
in the UN, and a decent sum here in NeoAlexandria. Thane didn’t hesitate.
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The Sovereign Cross
The money he earned from this job would more than set them up for the
future. He zapped the attendant 2000.
Thane turned to leave, his mind already anticipating the evening
ahead. Cleo wouldn’t be expecting him, and that would make the surprise
even sweeter. But just as he was about to exit the boutique, he stopped
short. There she was. Standing at the entrance, arms crossed. Her bright
eyes caught his immediately. She looked both furious, and relieved.
Selene... did you—?
Maybe. The AI sounded smug again. He made a mental note to check
her personality settings.
Before he could react, Cleo had walked over and slapped him, the
sound sharp and surprising.
“Promise me you’ll never do that again!”
Thane rubbed his cheek. He couldn’t help but laugh. “Ha! There’s
my girl.” Without missing a beat, he picked her up, ignoring the curious
glances of passersby. “I promise.”
Cleo grinned and wrapped her arms around him. For a moment,
the world outside faded away. The familiar scent of her hair flooded his
senses, grounding him in the present.
Thane leaned his head in, and gently kissed her. Cleo kissed him back.
The kiss was slow, warm, and filled with the unspoken relief of having
made it back.
428
A New Heroic Age
“Enough of the squalor of democratic humanity. Time to

recognize the aristocracy of the Sun. There will form a new
aristocracy, irrespective of nationality, of men who have
reached the Sun. In the coming era they will rule the world.”
D.H. Lawrence, The Sun Worship
The path we’re on is exactly the one we, as a species, had to take. Mingled
in with the stupidity is much potential, and if we can find a way to weave
the principles of this book together with our profound technological
power, Bitcoin, the Internet and our understanding of the mind and
consciousness, we will build a civilisation unlike anything that came
before it.
My parents would never have understood the nuances around things
like seed oils, blue light, relationship polarity, sound digital money or
digital creator skills, let alone the myriad of other refined concepts you
can find on the internet today. They did what they could with the tools
they had, and with the comfort level they were conditioned for. The
tools we have at our disposal are so much more powerful, and those who
harness them effectively will lay the foundation for their children to truly
become supermen and superwomen.
This period of human history will not only herald the largest wealth
transfer in human history, but I’d go so far as to call it a speciation event.
Those who cut through the noise and find the signal will build significant
wealth, networks, and power: they will plant the seeds for dynasties that
will one day go to the stars; their descendants will be powerful, strong,
noble, and ascendant. At the same time, and in stark contrast, the
growing horde of NPCs will become ever-more dependent on a broken
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A New Heroic Age
state apparatus that needs to continually suck them dry and surveil their
every move in order to maintain its fickle grasp of power, and the thinly
veiled illusion of safety.
These diametrically opposed trends will set the stage for a true
bifurcation. On the one hand, a love of life and a desire to reproduce,
build and create will lead to population, power and wealth. On the other,
envy and spite, fueled by beliefs such as “women don’t need a man” or that
there are “37 genders” will lead those who hold them to their own end as
failed experiments, or withered branches of their family trees: the first of
their line who failed at finding a good partner and raising a family; total
biological and social failures, who did nothing but score an own goal to
spite their own team.
But... this is nature’s way of healing. It has a way of organically
removing failed experiments from the gene pool. Beauty and life always
win in the end, and this is why I believe that we had to go through this. We
are the marble, and we are sculpting something new.
“Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both

the marble and the sculptor.”
Alexis Carrel, Man: The Unknown.
The spirit of greatness most manifest in the “Western Man” has been
dormant for too long, like a lion at rest, or a bear in hibernation.
The parasites and hyenas have become overly confident and arrogant,
thinking they can nip at our heels, torment our families and tear down
everything beautiful around us, as if we won’t notice. They’ve confused
our tolerance and slumber for weakness. But we are neither weak nor
entirely ignorant. We’ve been asleep and overly courteous, tranquilized
by a society we helped construct. Now we are coming awake, and getting
angry - which is precisely what the bureaucratic class is most afraid of.
They know deep down, as we do, that there has never been a time when
the hordes of goblins and trolls were able to stamp out the flame of beauty
and virtue. Each era has its heroes, and this one is no different, bar the
magnitude of our potential.
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A New Heroic Age
This is our moment, and to claim it requires a new code, and a new
playbook. While Bitcoin is a measure of wealth, real wealth comes from
the virtues we live by. If all we do is create Bitcoin, but continue on living
poorly, we have failed. If we allow civilization to devolve into one giant
dumpster fire, we have lost. It’s time to wake up. We must build, create,
construct, and live lives of virtue and meaning.
Confucius said “Virtue is the root. Wealth is the result.” He might have also
said: It’s not that Bitcoin fixes everything - but our choice to use Bitcoin, and to live
by ascendant virtues - that really fixes the world.
The truth is, while Bitcoin’s existence might encourage better, more
virtuous living, that does not make a virtuous life a given. This is
something we must work at. This will require a new playbook and new
alliances, formed among those of us who are life-affirming, whether
you call yourself a Bitcoiner, AnCap, Libertarian, Christian, Muslim,
Pagan, Nietzschean, Faustian, White, European, American, Westerner,
Randian, Conservative or whatever. If you’re on the side of life, you’re
with me.
“History belongs above all to the man of deeds and
power, to him who fights a great fight, who needs models,
teachers, comforters and cannot find them among his
contemporaries.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Use and Abuse of History for Life
This ‘bushido’ is not a new religion, nor does it take the place of your
religion. It is a playbook and set of virtues we can all align on. We don’t
even need to be friends! Just an alliance, of the kind of men who, even
though they’re not of the same tribe, can have respect for each other.
Like the leagues which made up Ancient Greece, Alexander’s army or the
Crusaders. There’s no reason why we cannot be mature enough to ally
around virtue. The hardcore Nietzschean Vitalist, Randian Objectivist
and Christian Absolutist have far more in common than they have in
opposition - and they all for damn sure share a common enemy in the form
of the meddling bureaucratic parasite class.
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A New Heroic Age
This is how you fight and defeat a larger enemy. You develop the kind
of respect that I can only describe as what you feel when “fighting a worthy
adversary.” The kind when you can look at your opponent and nod at him,
and in the nod is everything. Without words, you’re saying: “I know who
you are - where you’ve been. I get it. Yes.” And he nods back, because he knows
too. This precise energy will keep such an alliance together and lead us to
victory. The creeds, religions and tribal cult differences all come second
to being men of honor, worthy of respect.
This is why I wrote this book. I’m not here to tell you what to believe,
that’s up to you to decide. This is a book about the virtues we cannot
ignore if our goal is to build an ascendant civilization. Who we become is
determined by how we behave. The fiat apparatus is completely captured,
and there is no return. It will only become more sterile, barren and
grotesque, and like an ever-receding piece of land in a flood, there will
be less and less available for those who choose to remain. For the rest of
us, a new land awaits.
“For believe me! — the secret for harvesting from existence

the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is: to
live dangerously! Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius!
Send your ships into uncharted seas! Live at war with your
peers and yourselves!”
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science
There is more than enough room and we can do so much more and
so much better with the resources we have on this Earth - to say nothing
of the solar system and the galaxy which await. Like Julian Simon, the
great 20th century economist, said: “we can never run out of molecules, only
ingenuity.” There is ALWAYS more space to claim and energy to harness.
Life abhors both a vacuum and a defeatist.
So go forth, and reach for the stars. Feel the burn of conviction, and bend the arc
of eternity towards you. Become dangerous. Become... inevitable.
432
“I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting
the great and the impossible.”

Afterword
In 2022 I took a hiatus from business to travel a little, get married and
do some writing. During that time, I binge-listened to more than ten
thousand hours of history podcasts and both history and historical fiction
on Audible. I think my Audible listening average, alone, for 2022 was
92 hours per week, alone. There were moments I got so absorbed in the
stories that I forgot what year I was living in.
I took notes during moments of inspiration, but generally just spent
that time absorbing ideas and concepts. Your brain is wired to learn more
from stories than from abstract philosophy, which is why experience
counts so much: it’s a lived story. Which makes sense considering that
narrative is how we’ve learned since the beginning of time. History is a
collection of stories about where we came from, and the men and women
who bled, suffered, laughed and played, in order to create the civilisation
we stand on today. As such it’s become a subject very dear to me - and I
guess for most men too (we’re always thinking of Rome).
When it came time to do the actual writing, what I’d absorbed over
that time, and all my life in fact, seemed to come “through me”. I put
the core of the first major draft together in the course of December 2022,
from an Airbnb in Sao Paulo. I’d wake up at 5AM each morning to weave
together ideas from notes strewn all over the place. It was all coming
together quite nicely until... I started reading Nietzsche’s work in January
of 2023, and in particular Lise Van Boxel’s Warspeak. In it I found a kindred
spirit that I wish I’d discovered earlier.
Nietzsche was a special mind. Sure, he lost the plot in the end and died
alone - but the line between genius and madness is very fine. How many
people thought Christ was mad? Was he not also framed as a criminal?
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Afterword
How about Alexander? Caesar? Napoleon? Cortez? Jefferson? How about

the more modern great men: Tesla, Ford, Jobs, Musk and Satoshi? The
greatest men are also the most prone to insanity because they see reality
differently. Oftentimes, what they actually see is the future, and many
who were thought crazy at the time were vindicated posthumously. If the
modern world tells us anything at all, it’s that Nietzsche was one of these
prophetic men. The sign of a true visionary is when their work not only
remains, but becomes more relevant after their death.
My discovery of Nietzsche’s work sent me down a number of rabbit
holes which inspired me to write a new draft, much expanded from the
first. As the concepts and ideas I had grappled with in the past, but not
so clearly articulated, all of a sudden started to unlock, I wrote a second
and third draft, each building on the prior. Around the same time, I
discovered a brilliant writer on Substack who went by the name of “John
Carter.” I began reading his work and was immediately captured: not
only was it sharp and witty but extremely aligned with my message. My
appreciation of his work led me to reach out and enquire if he’d like to
edit my book, since I had a disagreement with the original publisher.
Looking back now, the extra year that went into the book was the best
thing that could’ve happened. John challenged my half-baked ideas, and
encouraged me to elaborate on the better ones.
I went on to write a fifth and sixth draft, at which point the book took
on a new energy. Compared to the early drafts (which I may one day
publish) there was an ascendant tone in my words. There was a sense
of power coming through the pages. The earlier drafts focused a lot on
what was wrong with the modern world, and how the warrior past was
morally superior, while the new drafts took hold of the lessons from these
great men and, like a shield and sword, thrust them into the belly of the
nihilistic present and made way for a grand vision of the future. This
transformation brought the book to life and increased its quality tenfold.
In the six months that followed, we moved into heavy editing, which
produced a seventh and, in the final days of September of 2024, an eighth
draft which is the book you’re reading now. I’m sure he and I could’ve gone
435
Afterword
on for another year, refining it, adding sections, elaborating and cleaning,
but we had to draw a line somewhere. In fact, the book had ballooned to
150,000+ words, which we had to cut by 20%. This, my young friend Louis
Pomaret described aptly: “haha writing is the easy part, editing is harsh like
cold water on the heated blade. That’s where greatness is.”
I believe we found greatness, and in fact, also an opportunity to
continue. Some content we cut, because it didn’t do the book justice - but
some was so good that, quite honestly, warranted its own book. There
was an entire “Part 6” in the seventh draft, titled: “The Metaphysics of War
& Beauty.” There was also the beginnings of a much longer “Visions of the
Future” chapter. The former was entirely extracted and will make up the
core content for Book 2 of the Bushido of Bitcoin series of books - which
I aim to publish in 2025. The latter was condensed and, as you know if
you’ve read this far, made way for a story to show you what the future
might look like, instead of explaining it to you in abstract terms. These
“visions of the future” will also form the basis for future Bushido-related
books, both fiction and non-fiction.
I look forward to the future. Writing the book changed me. I was in a
place of relative darkness and disillusionment when I wrote the first three
drafts. My wife would continually tell me “You live in another world” and “you
were born in the wrong century.” And she was right - I felt that. But as the
book transformed from a ‘dark red-pill’ into a white pill, and ultimately
became a clear pill, so did my outlook on life, my hope for the future and
my determination to not only talk about it, but to go on and build.
In the end, that’s my hope for you, in reading this book. Ross Stevens
very kindly called it a modern day Declaration of Independence, which is very
humbling. While I’m not sure I deserve such a comparison, I do hope that
it inspires modern young men, in the same way the words written by the
Founding Fathers of America inspired the young men of their time. The
duty sits with you, to make the future better. Life is not going to be all
sunshine and rainbows. As Rocky Balboa said: “it’s a mean and nasty place,
and it will beat you to your knees permanently if you let it.” The key is that you do
not let it, the key is that you get up, and keep moving forward. One foot
436
Afterword
in front of the other. The future can only be what we make it. So make it
beautiful, glorious and ascendant. Leave the bugmen behind.
One final note…
A bunch of people will be offended by different parts of the book,
whether it’s my sharp views on democracy, equality or the future,
my elevation of feudalism or my ideas on Bitcoin as a framework for
excellence, as opposed to a panacea for the poor; but the truth can often
hurt, and I hope offense gives way to a new understanding of the world.
I’m also aware that others will be mad at my weaving together of Christian
and Nietzschean principles, calling it blasphemy or hypocrisy. To you,
I would like to say this: those who are on the side of life, beauty and
goodness must find an alliance. Christians, Nietzscheans, Bitcoiners and
Austrians have far more in common with each other than not. Bringing
together these worlds and finding common ground is what I hoped to
achieve with this book.
Can you imagine what might come of a Christo-Nietzsche-Hoppean
worldview, built atop a Bitcoin standard? In my opinion: the new West.
So whatever you may think about the compatibility, or lack thereof,
of these ideas, I hope that they’ve inspired or moved you in some way. If
you’re a Nietzschean, I hope I’ve brought you closer to Christ, and if you’re
a Christian, I hope I’ve brought you closer to Nietzsche. If you’re none
of these, then perhaps I’ve revealed new rabbit holes for you to go down.
And if I’ve just pissed you off, that’s fine too. As John Lydgate said: “You
can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of
the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
Such is life, and such is the exploration of ideas at the edge. This
is where I choose to live, and I accept the consequences. Thank you for
reading book one of the Bushido of Bitcoin.
Aleksandar Svetski
September, 2024
437
Thankyou
I want to close out by saying thank you for reading this and supporting my
work. I hope it was either genuinely eye, mind or soul opening (perhaps
all three).
If you’d like to follow me or my other work, you can do so by following
me here:
• @SvetskiWrites on X, Instagram and Substack
• @Svetski on Nostr (all of you should be on Nostr)
Or just go to: Linktree.com/Svetski

You can also check out the UnCommunist Manifesto & The Bitcoin
Times (both on Amazon), which I co-wrote with many great authors from
across the Bitcoin space.
Subscribe to my “Remnant Chronicles” Substack. This is where I will
elaborate and workshop the ideas discussed in the book. Keep an eye out
for opportunities to go deeper into this work with a community of fellow
warriors, and if you would like to reach out to me directly, do so via any of
my socials, or email me at: [email protected]
Finally, if you’d like to experience the power of Bitcoin, you can tip me
via Lightning or On-Chain below.
438
Thankyou
Final Ask
The visibility and reach of this book, at least on Amazon, will be influenced
by how much and how well it is rated. If you found value in the book,
I would sincerely appreciate you leaving a review on Amazon. You can
also share free chapters of the book with people by sending them to
BushidoOfBitcoin.com.
Thankyou in advance for doing that.
Each share and review goes a long way.
Aleksandar Svetski
439
Appendix
If you found value in the book, and would like to go deeper, the following
are the most valuable resources which I referenced, and I hope come in
handy on your journey.
Resources and References

In 2020 I came across a book written by James Clavell, known as Shogun.
This incredible piece of historical fiction had a deep impact on my life
and really sparked my appreciation for feudal Japanese culture. It
reignited my love for history, and spurred me down the rabbit holes which
culminated into this book. Shogun has now been turned into a show,
which thanks to the inclusion of Hiroyuki Sanada as the main character,
did the book justice.
I highly recommend reading it, and the entire saga that follows.
Beyond that, I have a full list of books below which I read, in whole
or part, listened to and dissected during my deep dive. Below that are
some notable substacks and blogs worth subscribing to. The lists are not
exhaustive, but I have tried to order each one by influence.
Books
This list contains books which I read during the time I was writing The
Bushido of Bitcoin:
• Bushido, The Soul of Japan: Inazo Nitobe
• Shogun: James Clavell
• Virtues of War: Steve Pressfield
• Man and Technics: Oswald Spengler
• Warspeak: Lise Van Boxel
440
Appendix
• Warrior Ethos: Steven Pressfield
• Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Empire: Kenneth H Harl
• Thus spoke Zarathustra: Friedrich Nietzsche
• The Courtney Series, Books 1 - 13: Wilbur Smith
• The Gay Science: Friedrich Nietzsche
• Decline of the West: Oswald Spengler
• Gates of Hell: Steven Pressfield
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress: Robert Heinlein
• The Afghan Campaign: Steven Pressfield
• Medieval Europe: Chris Wickham
• Endurance: Alfred Lansing
• A Short History of Man: Progress and Decline: Hans Hermann

Hoppe
• The Book of 5 Rings: Miyamoto Musashi
• The Art of War: Sun Tzu
• Man’s search for Meaning: Viktor Frankl
• Atlas Shrugged: Ayn Rand
• Attila “The Scourge of God” (full series): William Napier
• Maps of Meaning: Jordan B Peterson
• Killing Rommel: Steven Pressfield
• Metaphysics of War: Julius Evola
• The handbook of Traditional living: Raido
• On pain: Ernst Yünger
441
Appendix
• Hagakure: Yamamoto Tsunemoto, William Scott Wilson

(Translator)
The following books, while not directly quoted or referenced in the

book, I know have influenced my thinking in some way.
• The UnCommunist Manifesto: Aleksandar Svetski & Mark Moss
• Musashi: Eiji Yoshikawa
• The End is Always Near: Dan Carlin
• The Bitcoin Standard: Saifedean Ammous
• The Era of the Crusades: Kenneth H Harl
• Hyperion (The full saga): Dan Simmons
• The Late Middle Ages by Philip Daileader
• Democracy: The God that Failed: Hans Hermann Hoppe
• For a New Liberty: Murray Rothbard
• Starship Troopers: Robert Heinlein
• Modern Man in Search of a Soul: Carl Jung
• Dune: Frank Herbert
• The History of Ancient Rome: Garret G Fagan
• The Madness of Crowds: Douglas Murray
• Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: William L Shirer
• The Wall Speaks: Jerr Rrej
• Training of the Samurai Mind: Thomas Cleary
I’m sure I could continue, but to try and list all of the books,
podcasts and essays I’ve consumed would add another chapter to the
book. All I know is that their information is embedded somewhere in my
subconscious and it’s come out as what you’ve read here.
442
Appendix
Substacks and blogs worth subscribing to

The Remnant Chronicles: https://remnantchronicles.substack.com/
Social 2.0: https://futuresocial.substack.com/
Postcards from Barsoom: https://barsoom.substack.com
The Cat was Never Found: https://markbisone.substack.com
Old Books Club: https://oldbooksguy.substack.com
The American Tribue: https://www.theamericantribune.news
Becoming Noble: https://becomingnoble.substack.com
Born on the Fourth of July: https://williamhunterduncan.substack.com/
Locklin on Science: https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/
443
About the Author
I wasn’t sure what to write or how to describe myself in this bio.

Most people know me for my writing. Whether it’s the UnCommunist
Manifesto I co-authored with Mark Moss in 2021, or the Bitcoin Times
publication, which at the time of this writing has six editions published,
alongside 30 world-class authors, or the two million plus words I’ve
written online, via my personal blogs, Zerohedge and Bitcoin Magazine.
So... Am I a writer? An author? What about a content creator? Maybe
a Bitcoiner? Or a “right wing Bitcoiner” ? Problem is, that doesn’t do my
main vocation justice. I’ve been building businesses for longer than I’ve
been writing.
I came to realize that I have three distinct, but interrelated lives and
associated identities, so at the risk of sounding self-important, I’ve listed
them below, in no particular order.
1. Writer/Author.
I love writing. There is something special about exploring and refining
one’s ideas by splattering them on a page and grappling with their
meaning, flow and style. I intend to publish at least another 10 books
before my time on this Earth is up, maybe more.
I will also continue to write regularly on my Substack and Nostr via
The Remnant Chronicles publication. If you’re interested in ideas related
to what I covered in this book, and want to get previews for up-coming
books, that’s the place to go.
2. Entrepreneur.
This was my first vocation, beginning at 13 with trading Pokemon cards
and wrestling collectibles. I left University to pursue riches in the
business world and along the way made every mistake, broke every rule,
444
About the Author
earned a fortune and lost it all on multiple occasions - stories I will share
one day in writing.
In 2017 I founded the world’s first Bitcoin-only savings app:
Amber.app, and in 2024, my team and I open sourced the first
Bitcoin-centric large language model: The Spirit of Satoshi.
Since discovering that much of the AI space is fraught with hype and
solutions looking for problems, we found our way into developing a new
kind of social platform. Satlantis is a niche social network for nomads,
communities, parallel economies, frequent travelers, remote workers,
geo-arbiters and sovereign individuals.
I believe I found my personal Ikigai and I intend to dedicate the next
decade of my life to this project, so alongside writing about the future in
books like this, I’m also actually building it. If you’d like to follow that
journey, search for the “Social 2.0” publication on Substack or Nostr.
3. Personal/Family.
Last but not least, is my personal life. This is my private enclave, which I
share only with my wife and closest of friends. I try to live a unique life
full of “magic moments”, because once it’s all said and done, memories
are all you’re left with, and legacy is all you can truly leave behind.
If you’d like to discover more, you can do so via any of the following
links and social media platforms:
445
About the Author
Linktree:
Linktree.com/Svetski
Satlantis & Nostr: @Svetski
Instagram, X and Substack:

@SvetskiWrites
446
Book 2: The Metaphysics of
War and Beauty
The following is a half-chapter from The Metaphysics of War and Beauty,

book two of The Bushido of Bitcoin series. As mentioned earlier, I had a lot
more to include in this book, but it was getting excessively long. I decided
instead to give some of these ideas the time they deserve, in a dedicated
follow up to the first book.
This excerpt is from what was one of my favorite original chapters. It
is just a teaser, but I hope it whets your appetite for the second book.
447
Beauty Will Save the World
“If you crush a cockroach, you’re a hero. If you crush a

butterfly, you’re a villain. Morals have aesthetic standards.”
Friedrich Nietzsche: Work cited
Of Nietszche’s many profound aphorisms, this is one of my favorites

because it cuts right to a deep, visceral truth that few want to admit to
intellectually, despite agreeing with intuitively.
The beauty of his statement (pun intended) is that the rationalist
will argue with it, the equalitarian and democrat will be offended, the
moralist will tell you that it’s unethical, the theologian will say it’s wrong,
the hippie will tell you it’s cruel and the materialist or atheist will
disagree on subjectivist grounds. All of your modern, sensible, ’civilized’
conditioning will try to tell you it is unfair... but when push comes to
shove, you will step on the cockroach and praise the person who does,
while you are very unlikely to do the same to a butterfly - and if you did
see someone do it, you would be immediately, intuitively enraged by it.
You might not say anything, but you will feel the anger, and this is precisely
why it matters.
Visceral reactions like this reveal the deepest truths. They go beyond
the intellect and our rational psyche. They are physio-psychologically
true and reside deep in our subconscious. These are instincts, developed
over thousands of years of human experience. The lessons learned and
heuristics developed across generations become the intuition we store in
our blood, bodies and DNA - none of which can lie.
Beauty transcends dimension. It is found in the material and the
metaphysical, the poor and the rich, the small and the large, the young
and the very old, the perfect and the imperfect.
448
Beauty is simultaneously objective and subjective. It’s the only thing

we know of with this paradoxical quality, other than the divine (which
says a lot about what beauty really is). Beauty is everlasting and fleeting,
powerful and fragile, dangerous and nurturing, all at the same time.
Beauty can be found both in war and peace, conflict and cooperation,
violence and love.
“Music is liquid architecture, architecture is frozen music”.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Few things are as beautiful (or violent) as a thunderstorm crackling across

the sky, a lion hunting, or a volcano erupting. Few things are as beautiful
(or peaceful) as the calm and stillness of the mountains or a tranquil cove
in the Mediterranean Sea. There is beauty in the cold, barren, Antarctic
ice caps, and in the hot rolling desert sand dunes of Arabia. There is beauty
in the smooth contours of a woman’s body, and the jagged edges of a sheer
rock cliff face. There is beauty in the creation of life and the explosion of
an orgasm. In a cavalry charge and in the march of a phalanx. Beauty
is found in both deed and object. In both the uncharted, wild ocean of
the Atlantic, and in its historic crossing. It is both natural and man made.
There is beauty in the precision of a Swiss-made watch and in the chaos
of the Amazonian jungle. There is beauty in the creative destruction of
deep work and in the leisure of stillness. The combustion engine and the
jet airline cutting through the sky are both marvels of engineering and
beautiful in their own right. Likewise there is deep and profound beauty
in the sword which has, throughout the centuries, shed the blood of many
foes.
Beauty is beyond rational, but we can also rationalize it. It is beyond
measurement, but we can in fact measure it, because it’s found in the
fractals that make up life: the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio,
musical octaves, geometry, mathematics and numbers themselves. These
patterns are not only beautiful, they underpin the structure and melody of
449
the universe (uni-verse: one-song). Great artists can hear this song, and
when they do, they draw the beauty out for the rest of us to appreciate.
Men like Newton, Tesla, and other great thinkers of the world can see
these patterns in their mind’s eye, and with it, they can engineer the
beautiful structures, motors, and engines that power the world. We are
all in some way connected to this ’source’, and when we tap into it, we
produce the most beautiful things.
Beauty is the right thing at the right time. There is a time for war, and
there is a time for peace. There is a time for life, to violently create, grow
and expand. There is a time for it to slow down and take a moment of
respite.
450
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose

under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a
time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and
a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a
time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones
together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from
embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to
cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and
a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time
of peace.”
The Bible, KJV, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8,
Beauty, like truth, cannot be decreed - it can only be recognised. Beauty

is something we feel, not something we think. Rationalization comes
after the fact. You cannot be told a thing is beautiful; you just know it.
The sunrise, the mountains, a beautiful face, a Van Gogh piece, an Aston
Martin or the elegant curves of a beautiful woman. We might experience
these in unique ways, but we all recognise their beauty intuitively because
they ignite a feeling of some sort in us, be that awe, admiration, desire,
love, appreciation, or even envy.
451
“Beauty is a form of Genius — is higher, indeed, than Genius,

as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts of the world,
like sunlight, or spring-time, or the reflection in dark waters
of that silver shell we call the moon”.
Oscar Wild, Picture of Dorian Gray
The opposite of beauty, ugliness, has the same visceral characteristics.

You know it when you see it. It has a repulsive effect. Compare for
instance a Dylan Mulvaney to a Monica Belucci. Unless you have some
sort of mental derangement or psychological deformity, you intuitively
know (whether you’re man or woman, gay or straight) that Monica Belucci
is beautiful while Mulvaney is ugly. In fact, a good test for whether or not
someone is psychologically sound, is their answer to this question.
This specific example tells us a lot about the practical role beauty plays
in life and the universe. It acts like a magnet - it is literally an attractor -
drawing or compelling us toward that which is life-affirming. Belucci is
an example of a woman that represents fertility and life, while Mulvaney
represents the end of the line, or a failed experiment. You don’t need to
rationalize any of it. You instinctively know the truth. We are biologically
wired to value such beauty because it’s a signal for health and vitality
(evidenced by the multi-trillion dollar health and beauty industries).
“Beauty is the splendor of truth.”
Plato
Truth is another key word here. If the highest good were the peak of a
mountain, truth would be one slope while beauty was the other. They are
deeply entwined and beyond their metaphysical relationship, serve the
similarly practical purpose of helping us predict the future. The more true
something is, the more likely it is to result in accurate decision-making,
thus decreasing uncertainty and increasing survivability. Similarly,
organic beauty which often represents something Lindy (time-tested),
452
well-formed and healthy, increases the probabilities of survival and

continuation.
This brings up another key point of confusion. Beauty is organic. In the
same way you cannot decree it, you cannot fake it - at least not for long.
The beauty industry, despite all the money and effort that goes toward
creating artificial beauty, still falls short of natural beauty which can
only be developed over generations through organic means: intentional
breeding, healthy upbringing, adherence to natural, timeless principles.
Biohacking, shortcuts, make-up and plastic surgery will only deceive you.
The same goes for the food industry, and the myriad products developed
to try and emulate what looks naturally beautiful and appetizing. Billions
are spent each year on artificial colors and flavors in order to pass things
off as appealing (beautiful), but ultimately make you sick and desensitize
your natural taste buds - to say nothing of abominations such as fake
meat, dairy alternatives and seed oils.
It’s no coincidence that truth and beauty are the most co-opted
qualities of all, and even more-so in a broken society. They are
fundamentally critical for life. But in the same way that artificial truths
(lies) have a short life, artificial beauty does too. This is why the evil witch
loses in the end. She covets beauty because she doesn’t truly possess it
herself. She tries to take that which is not hers, and cannot appreciate
the inevitability of the cycle.
Here we find another paradox of beauty: it is both within reach
and out of reach. It is both eternal and ephemeral. While its highest
manifestation (God) is out of our reach, it acts as a North Star and an
intuitive guide to life. While beauty is timeless, you’re not supposed to
be beautiful forever. This is a feature, not a bug. When people say: “oh
but beauty fades” in an attempt to discredit its importance, they actually
reinforce it. Yes! Beauty DOES fade, but it does so for a reason: so that we
are compelled to continue! Beauty is not stagnant. The entire point of it is
that while you may get close to it, and some may even reach it, neither you,
nor I, can ever hold onto it. Those who touch, taste, smell and experience
it, do so for a fleeting moment, before it manifests elsewhere and shines
453
brighter - once again, compelling the next generation to pursue, discover,

express and create.
Realizing this forces us to face and come to terms with the fact that
our time in the limelight is limited and we will die. And when we do,
the only questions remaining are how, when and why. There is no living
forever. Peter Pan is a fantasy for a reason and no amount of science, pill
popping nonsense or Bryan Johnson caricatures will change that. We are
not supposed to remain young forever. Life, like everything else which
exists, is made up of seasons as cycles….
See you, in the second book of The Bushido of Bitcoin.
454

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THE BUSHIDO OF

ISBN 9798991756600 B&W Hardcover

Lyn Alden, Author of ”Broken Money”

““The Bushido of Bitcoin” explores historical frameworks from

Mark Moss, Author and Host of the Mark Moss Show

Zuby, Rapper, Podcaster and Author

Robert Breedlove, What is Money Podcast

Jash Dholani “The Old Books Guy,” Author of Hit Reverse.

“Aleksandar takes the reader on a journey through the age of heroes

Jerr Rrej, Author of The Wall Speaks

Why is this book necessary? xxi

Who is this book for? xxiv

1. A Moral Dimension to the Universe 3

2. The Devolution Must Be Reversed 6

5. Equality: The Great Evil 14

7. A Call to Vitality & Heroism 19

10. Origins of Bushido 37

11. The Samurai 50

Part II: The Virtues 68

13. The Bushido of Bitcoin 73

14. Justice / Righteousness 78

16. Compassion & Love 105

17. Honor 124

18. Honesty / Integrity 143

19. Responsibility 152

20. Excellence 175

21. Respect 192

22. Duty & Loyalty 210

23. Restraint / Self-Control 227

24. Closing Out 243

Part III: Integration 245

25. Culture 248

27. Wealth 278

28. Seasons and Cycles 301

29. Can Bitcoin Help? 315

Part IV: Praxis 338

30. A Man of Action 340

31. Training 344

32. Rites of Passage 355

33. The Bitcoiner’s Arsenal 372

34. In Closing 398

Part V: What the Future Holds 401

35. Visions of the Future 405

36. The Sovereign Cross 411

37. A New Heroic Age 429

38. Afterword 434

About the Author 444

BONUS CHAPTER: Beauty Will Save the World 448

This is a book for heroes, unapologetic seekers of excellence, and those

Studying the virtues of these warrior cultures (below), it is no wonder

The Last Stand

train, and then train some more.

“There was a footrace held each year among the boys of

The Bushido of Bitcoin

“If a Spartan youth failed to show courage in battle, his

Steven Pressfield, The Warrior Ethos

by feeble, self-interested, “not on my watch” central bankers printing

In times like these, character emerges. Unfortunately, for

Bushido inspires Bitcoiners to adopt a similar mindset: once in power,

The first sign of civilization in an ancient culture is evidence