A message to those that want to mandate vaccines..

The unvaxx'd repeatedly get accused of being selfish, so let's get selfish for a moment. When it comes to me and my health this vaccine simply doesn't meet my personal standards. It's simply not good enough for me, and I don't deem the balance of risk/benefit to be in my favour.

More to the point though, accepting this vaccine means accepting the premise that I can be forced or coerced into having any medical treatment the state deems 'satisfactory'; and I most certainly don't accept that. Again, it's not good enough for me. Perhaps it's good enough for you, perhaps you're happy with that, but not me.

Of course, people will state that government rules always set the bar for what's a safe standard, and that we all live by these rules already. However, those rules only set a lowest standard - they make sure the food sold in shops doesn't literally poison us, that there's no fraud, misrepresentation or malpractice. They stop medicines and foods from being sold and administered, but they don't force us to consume those things.

We are still free to say: "No, this isn't good enough for me. I'll choose something else; and if there's nothing else I deem good enough I'll choose nothing at all."

Again, the state sets a lowest standard, and it can only ever set a lowest standard. As if it attempted to set the highest it would have to ban literally everything, because everything comes with risk. Fast food restaurants would have to be closed. Every donut or cup of coffee banned. Every medication banned. Every human activity, sport, fairground ride, all stopped. As they all come with risk.

Either that or the state would have to micromanage all these things to perfection. Literally telling us how many donuts we're allowed to eat. Or how much exercise we're required to do or not to do. Likewise it would have to set the acceptable level of risk for any medication administered, as it does now - only in this scenario you'd no longer be able to say "No". It would decide.

So accepting the state can mandate what we do with our bodies means either believing the state knows best, and can manage these things to perfection - or it means simply accepting that it can impose the lowest standard upon you - i.e. whatever it deems satisfactory.

'Satisfactory' may be good enough for you, but it isn't good enough for me, and I don't accept it being forced upon me. So I'll decide what is good enough for me.

(click to enlarge)

Metals, Markets, and Digital Jewellery

Wow, it's December, over two months since my last post - that's flew by. So definitely time for a little update.

Firstly my stocks. I've bought more since my last post, and in that time they've shot up then shot back down again. At one point I'd shot up to about $230 profit, but I'm back down to just $3.86 now 😄 Though that's significantly better than my lowest point which was about -$60.

As I noted in my last post you can follow my goings-on here;

https://www.etoro.com/people/copperlocks

I think I'll leave it until the new year now however, I think I've invested enough. So I'll just watch it do its thing for the time being.

Gold and Bitcoin

Since my last post I've had a little revelation too, and it came in regard gold and Bitcoin. Watching analysts speak on YouTube for hours on end has given me a decent overview.

My main takeaway is that both gold and Bitcoin are competing for the same space in the human psyche. I've been quite scathing of Bitcoin in the past, stating that it isn't backed by anything. However, gold isn't really backed by anything either. Sure, it's more real-world and physical, but its value largely stems from its cultural status and how much people want it, rather than from how useful and needed it is. Shiny shiny, wanty wanty.

Its rarity adds to this of course, but ultimately it's the status, which in part stems from this rarity - gold is the king of metals. In fact, if we sidestep into the esoteric for a moment it's decidedly odd that the most sought after metal just so happens to be the colour of the Sun (with silver, its second-placed sister, the colour of the Moon). It's almost like it has to be this way in some alchemical fashion. This is just how the world works.

As humans we've been living the last six or seven thousand years or so in the age of metals. From bronze to iron to rail and skyscrapers. Metals like copper, tin, etc, have real practical value and usefulness. They've been needed. Whereas gold (and to a lesser extent silver) have been much more ornamental. No one needs gold jewellery, but it's nice to have, and it's perfectly natural that in the age of metals the most beautiful, rare, unreactive and Sun-like would be the most valued. The standard against which every other metal is measured.

It's superficial, but human consciousness demands that something fill this position.

Acknowledging this has made me reconsider Bitcoin (and potentially other crypto assets) in a similar light. If humans are moving into a digital age it stands to reason that this void will need to be filled in the digital world too. We spend so much time online, and the online world has so much practical value, that perhaps we'll likewise end up with a Sun-like digital gold standard - along with other forms of digital jewellery. Things which in practical terms are valueless, but that derive their value from the collective cultural reservoir, and from the human need for bling.

In the real world you flex with a gold watch or necklace, online it may be with some NFT artwork or avatar. It's maybe telling that the symbol for Bitcoin is orangey-gold, and Ethereum is silver. Mirroring the Sun and Moon dichotomy of gold and silver. In this regard you could view all the other coins and tokens as akin to other real world jewellery - the precious and not-so-precious gemstones, crystals, metals and other trinkets. The array of shiny, shiny. Only this time digital and online.

I still remain sceptical of Bitcoin, and unlike gold it isn't rooted in reality in the same way, so some other crypto asset could potentially fill this 'digital gold' role - assuming modern human culture does indeed have a demand for this. However, my attitude has softened a bit. Largely because I'm aware that I would've had a similar attitude to gold had I lived in the distant past.

I imagine myself as a fisherman living a few thousand years ago.

I have my wooden boat, my fishing net and my iron sword. Someone comes up to me and offers some gold in exchange for some fish. Me, being a stoic and non-superficial type of person replies:

"No thanks, gold has no practical use to me, and what value it has in wider society is dependent solely upon the confidence people place in it - which could dissipate at any moment, meaning I'd just be left with some shiny, but useless rocks. That won't feed my family."

Now, of course, all that would be somewhat true. You can't eat gold, and in a crisis a starving man will happily trade his ounce of gold for a single fish, but real crises like that are exceptionally rare, and in hindsight it would've have been smart for the ancient version of me to accept gold as a barter. History has shown it's retained its value.

So I now wonder if I'm making the same mistake with cryptos - "No thanks, Bitcoin isn't backed by anything, so its value is based solely on confidence - which could dissipate at any moment."

Perhaps like gold it's backed by the human need for a Sun-like gold standard - which will always be there to some degree; and which in the digital world will take a digital form.

I've also now recognised that whatever my views are on cryptos their operation and function overlaps with the operation of more practical things online. Such as social media, etc.

So, for example, in the age of metal, having mining technology was (and remains) practically useful for getting copper, tin, etc, but that usefulness also helps to get the gold too. As it's all mining. It's all the same industry. So the people with the knowhow to get the practical stuff also have the knowhow to get the luxury stuff - so why not exploit both. They're both aspects of the same industry. Likewise online it's only natural that the people that are creating useful online products are the same people that will also have the expertise and knowledge to develop crypto currencies. Again, it's all the same industry.

So the superficial and practical heavily overlap.

Even if, like me, you feel no love for crypto (or gold for that matter) it's still smart to have access to and expertise in that arena. As that expertise will also help to develop the online infrastructure that is essential in modern society. If you ignore the online market for 'digital jewellery' those that don't will have a huge edge.

Obviously I'm thinking more on a societal level here than a personal one with all this. For instance, a country or large business for security reasons might want a secure social media platform that they control, that can't be shut off by Silicon Valley. Just as a country might want to maintain its own steel industry to have a degree of self sufficiency in that arena. So if I was a government or a billionaire I'd invest in the crypto or 'digital jewellery' world primarily to develop the expertise and leverage to be strong in the more practical realms. As you can't just do one and ignore the other.

Controlling a social media platform is like controlling a copper mine, or a paper mill. It's a practical asset. Whereas developing a crypto is like controlling a bank or a mint. It's a little more abstract. These are loose analogies, but the point I'm essentially getting at is that you can't be a purist - like the fisherman above - you can't just focus on the practical - as the less tangible markets will be there influencing your world whether you like it or not.

I'm wandering off on a tangent here, so I'll wrap it up :)

I still don't plan on buying any cryptos or NFTs anytime soon, but I'll definitely start paying more attention to these things. Also I'll be interested to see if an inverse relationship develops between Bitcoin and gold as the two wrestle for that same niche in our psyche. I also wonder if the battle between the off-line real world and the online Meta-Matrix world will be reflected in this. Though I would guess the two are both too heavily intertwined for this to be the case.