The Great Escape
Prisoner’s Dilemma
Bitcoiners have long been aware of the negative consequences of fiat, especially how it creates bad incentives for businesses to play fiat games instead of serving their true customers. Sadly, the incentives for workers in this system are not different: In order to make progress in your career, most of your time is wasted on corporate politics rather than creating real value.
This is aptly called “fiat mining” among bitcoiners and while many are trying to get away from fiat jobs, the reality today is that there is no easy exit from this system: Freedom tech is early and most projects are still trying to make ends meet with a handful of contributors doing it as a side-hustle. But this is NOT the primary reason we are struggling on this front I believe. It is the fiat mind virus affecting everyone who plays the corporate games. The longer you’ve been playing it the more severe it gets.
It is similar to the mind-numbing effect of advertising: People used to say, “These stupid ads have no effect on me”. But they were clearly wrong, and people nowadays are trying to opt out instead of explaining it away. The more we feed the fiat beast the more we become captured, and invested in the continuation of this system: Whether it is the sunk cost of fiat reputation or the easy money for cheap work, we come up with all sorts of justifications to stay. It is in a way so comforting to play victim with other bitcoiners, joking about how we would talk about bitcoin all day, it is just time to go mine some more fiat.
Deep down we know: fiat jobs are not great ways to ‘stack sats’. Not in the long run for sure. They suck the life energy out of us, turning our hopes and dreams into vapor. Somewhere along the lines you might ask yourself: “Was this worth it?” “For what have I traded my precious time?” Fiat jobs get you fiat prizes: Fake money and fake reputation, in a fake system rigged by fake leaders. It is the modern-day jail where prisoners are incentivized to stay, while they are turned against each other to live another day.
This is reflected on the way people look for jobs as well: Most prominently, if you want to take a corporate cringe-tour, just hit up LinkedIn: The amount of fakeness and cope is hard to overstate. But most people already know the drill, because this is how we spend most of our time awake.
Speaking about waking up: Let’s role-play a little bit, shall we? :)
… Once upon a time you decide to look for solutions instead of excuses. You had enough. You start dreaming about a possible escape: Maybe there is a way out of this place!
Get Ready
Beware though! If we are to get out of this mess, we must do as with all great escape attempts: plan ahead. We will not clash against the cell wall head-first. Let us consider what options we have … you cannot hand in your resignation just yet but what you can do is tackling problems one by one: Okay now, look around you and notice that every single spot in the fiat prison is surveilled and controlled. Anything you’re up to, they will know. This is our first problem. The second problem is that you are alone. You must recruit some people who want to join the escape, but inmates can only speak to each other in the presence of the fiat guards. Whether you’re talking on messaging apps, social media, or with AI, anything you say will be used against you.
Just before you fall back into despair, by a stroke of luck, in the nooks and crannies of the internet you come across this weird niche protocol called Nostr. You don’t even know what these ‘secret keys’ are that people here talk about but this is your only idea, so you generate one.
You follow a few randos and you still don’t have a clue what’s happening here but hey, at least you didn’t have to provide your real name, address, birthdate, mother’s maiden name and a bunch of other sensitive details about yourself! Another interesting thing you realize: People here are constantly talking about how they will escape the fiat mines, so it seems like this is a great place to find accomplices! After muting a couple of really annoying people, you start to make some friends too.
So far, so good!
Action!
One of your friends points out that you really just scratched the surface of what Nostr can do: Firstly, in here anyone can send bitcoin to anyone, once they get a “LN address”. You have by now heard of bitcoin a gazillion times, how it is some unstoppable money the guards cannot control, so you got pretty curious: You get a LN address.
Secondly, you are told you must explore more apps to add to your armaments of freedom if you are serious about your escape. They point you to Zap Store and it just blows your mind: NoKYC app store, where you can verify apps using recommendations from your existing contacts on Nostr?! Freaking awesome, but how do you install it on the iPhone you got? Well, your best friends have one or two things to say about that. You ditch the iPhone, get a Graphene powered Android, and sideload Zap store on it!
This was not easy but now that you tasted freedom, you just cannot turn back. After a while, you become a proper nostrich passing zaps around, having a really good time on Nostr! You also learn about the importance of Self-custody bitcoin but one thing still bothers you: Regardless of the guards not completely controlling you anymore, you are still working in the fiat mines. It is still wearing you down, and the corporate prison is even less bearable now that you know.
Escape!
You heard a couple of reputable people on nostr say that the only reliable way out of the fiat mines is getting a stable source of bitcoin. If they made it, why not me, you ask yourself. You start learning even more to finally get some real experience that is competitive on the free market.
You discover SatShoot, the nostr app for freelancers.
After a lot of learning and grinding, you finally land some Jobs and get paid in bitcoin! You start to feel the fresh air of freedom seeping through the cracks of your prison cell as your side-hustle grows along with the purchasing power of the bitcoin you made.
You could not care less about fiat promotions and corporate meetings now, and your fiat “colleagues” are getting worried: What is wrong with you? “You are acting strange lately” - they say.
You decide “It is time”, and after all that hardship, you finally understand the true meaning of Proof of Work: You resign. You broke free. You have become an Unstoppable Individual.
Reality
Reflecting on the journey you drew some conclusions:
- The real prison has always been in your mind
- Freedom tech allows anyone to break free but not without Proof of Work
- Community is vital: we cannot do it alone
- The fakeness of fiat is rooted in authoritarian lies, NOT centralization alone
- They lie about the tradeoffs to keep you captured for ever
- Nostr and Bitcoin enable Authentic Money combined with Authentic Connections
- Together they create the Freedom Economy
- A new ecosystem where people can choose their desired tradeoff balances
- A spectrum of solutions where centralized goes hand in hand with decentralized, not against each other
- The winning strategy is selecting the right tool for the right job
- There is no end to learning and understanding
- Fiat wants to keep us in check: to not bother, to sleep on it, to rest on our laurels while leeching off us
- To counter this we must take responsibility and never stop learning and exploring
Disclosure
I am @Five , the creator of Bitcoin Plebs and founder of SatShoot, the freelance app built on nostr and bitcoin. Your feedback and criticism are most welcome!