Consept

Im going to breakdown why i believe bitcoin to be a pyramid scheme, I may be wrong or missing info on some points so please feel free to correct me or debate me if the need arises. Briefly, Bitcoin was intended to be a new form of currency to offer an alternative to the current fiat currencies used globally. The main advantage of bitcoin is that its anonymous and decentralised from governments and financial institutions using the blockchain technology. This means that money can be moved around the world and stored without it being used for investments by these financial institutions, which of course has been a problem in recent years. So why am i saying its a pyramid scheme? Obviously this tech sounds great, but here are the issues - Bitcoin is really only bought now on speculative basis, meaning people are buying it with the express purpose of selling it at a later date for a higher amount. Only 1.3% of bitcoin transactions are used to actually buy anything. Of course people will not want to buy anything if they know that they can make money from holding it, no one wants to tell the story of how they bought a pizza thats now worth $100 million. Currently Bitcoin is not a good currency for mass use, although its relatively easy to make transactions, the fluctuation of price puts people off. If i were to get paid in Bitcoin for example and the price halved, it would mean i would mean i basically did my months work for half the price, yeah i could hold onto it, but i got bills to pay. Essentially to be a widespread currency there has to be a fairly flat value, different currencies do change in value of course but nothing like crypto, in fact governments have to work hard to keep it quite flat so it can be used by the general public. So if people are only buying for speculation, the popularity is because of that, the currency argument is secondary and really an argument to get people to invest into it. If we look at the numbers of who holds bitcoin, we can see it take on a pyramid type shape, with the few who own the most at the top and everyone else at the bottom. The top 0.38% of wallets hold over $790 billion in bitcoin, this is spread between less than 150k wallets. On the flip side around 97% of wallets collectively own less than $50 billion and this is spread between around 40 million wallets. Now keep in mind the value is speculative and rises depending on what others coming in are willing to pay, the new people coming in are buying at a premium which raises the price further, meaning those at the top increase their value by huge amounts anytime someone invests at a premium, which is the basis of a pyramid scheme. Then we might look at who owns these huge amounts of bitcoin at the top, 3 wallets own nearly 3 % of all bitcoin at the very top, these are likely to be the people that created it or invested extremely early, most likely theyll have some connection with the creators if they arent themselves, the rest of the top 0.33% are said to be corporations and rich people that got in early. Corporations pour a lot of money into bitcoin for various reasons but the point is that the wealthiest are still at the top making money for nothing from the average person. So you might say, 'well this is just the structure of loads of investments, look at stocks, gold etc, you have to find someone else whos willing to buy it'. The difference is of course that there is intrinsic value behind stocks, there might be cash in the bank or the could be positive earnings which could mean you make dividends, the whole point is that companies 'produce' something that can grow the business and make income. Gold is a physical metal that is relatively scarce, it can be used in manufacturing, for jewellery etc, it doesnt make money but it has intrinsic value that can be worth something to someone. Bitcoin does not have intrinsic value, it cant make you money, you cant rent it out or use it for any production. Theres always a fiat currency comparison made, people will say 'bitcoin is just the same as normal currency all the stats youve given could also be attributed to fiat currency'. Of course this is true but the difference being, no one, especially not rich people, hold their cash in the hope that it would be worth more later. Fiat currency is simply a means to spend acquired value, its really just a temporary measure that is extremely liquid and is accepted worldwide. Comparing Bitcoin to this is really a false equivalency. Now the wider point here is that people are really looking for a work around of providing value and in some respects it makes sense because you could argue that a lot of peoples value is not being fairly rewarded, especially when you hear of ceos getting 100k x what their average worker gets. But there needs to be an understanding that you cant really work around this, either the value is there or its not and most likely if you have a middle man who youre selling your value to, they are going to make a lot more off of it than you. In fact those at the top are just giving you hope that you can make a lot of money, meanwhile profiting off of your investments. Also keep in mind, if you do make money, its most likely because some greater fool has given you theyre money hoping some other fool will give them their money.

When the bots come out to defend it, you know things are bad

To me it does sound like this is coming from a place fear, could be fear of failure or fear of not being happy but its definitely something. The thing with the system is you do have freedom to go and live outside of it, you can go buy a plot of land and live in the middle of nowhere. If you wanted to do that sincerely you would've just done it instead of posting stuff like this. Nothing is free and it never has been, people for 1000s of years have spent time gathering or hunting food, there has never in the history of man been any system that just does nothing. In fact we are probably as close to that as has ever been, with welfare and potentially ubi coming in and the only reason that's even remotely possible is because the system has been able to provide that. Of course not saying its perfect, many drawbacks including damaging the environment, but it still can be improved. Point is you just have a fear of entering the game and before you've even entered to know what it's like, you've demonised it. It's the equivalent of seeing a girl you like and not approaching and then rationalising by saying 'why do we even have to approach, women should just come up to me'. Just do something man.

That would actually be cool, I always find it can be a bit of a battle keeping them happy with that bit of distance at first they're cool with it but eventually it always comes up like 'we should be more serious etc'

How do you stop it stagnating and do you live together/ spend a lot of time together?

The energy behind this feels bitter and angry, sometimes that can be a good motivator especially if youve been depressed or something previously. However it can also lead to rash, rebellious decisions that dont work out long term or cause so much damage it takes a long time to recover. Your plan can very easily lead to burnout or breakdown. A lot of the times when everyone else is the problem for your negative feelings it could be something to do with you and if that is the case the same feelings will follow you everywhere you go. A move and a fresh start might not be a bad idea but you still have to work on yourself, thats the most important thing.

I've found this biggest problem with relationships, I feel like I always grow so much myself and almost regress in relationships. Even trying to keep it fresh is not easy, I'm currently debating whether to be in one or just do me

You need to question why you're dating, what is the intention behind it? In theory you should be dating people long term to find a life partner, as in if you can't see yourself with this person for the rest of your life after say 6 months or a year then you should question why you're with them exclusively. But also you could be dating just to burn through your karma, so let's say you're having casual relationships at some point you'll probably get bored of it and want something more serious. If you've got this urge for casual stuff and you're in a long term relationship, you'll always have that itch and want to get out. I mean you'd still get the itch regardless but at least you know you've made a conscious decision.

I applaud you taking ownership of how you feel and trying to become a better person. I'm not an expert but I don't think you're highly narcissistic, for one a true narcissist would most likely not even be aware of how their actions affect people. Narcissistic personality disorder is ego-syntonic meaning that the person who has it sees at as a part of them and can even enjoy the traits they have, although other people around them might suffer. As oppose to something like ocd where the sufferer is the one that suffers the most and once to be free of it. I see why you say you have it and maybe you do have some traits of it I don't know, but Narcissism at its core comes from deep insecurity and its a way to mask it. It's very rare that a full blown Narcissist would be worried about how they affect others and the awareness to point out bad behaviors. So I wouldn't be hard on yourself or even use the label, for whatever reason you've felt like you weren't enough and you've done things that you felt ashamed of to make you feel like you were. I think most people have done that including myself, you're going the right way in terms of building up awareness and taking responsibility and that's all you can do.

@JoeVolcano I'm more thinking about how you can actually make this society as great as possible. I have had the thought of yes if everyone's consciousness rose and everyone chose freely the kind of personal transformation you're talking about then yes of course it would be amazing and everyone would be happy etc, but for me it's kinda waste of time as it's not going to happen anytime soon, further to that humans just don't evolve in that way. Development is messy and takes long, as in thousands of years. Your perspective is that things could be much better, but that could and should always be the perspective throughout human history. Where we are now is built on what was down before and where will be in the future is built upon what we do today. Saying this society is terrible and not worth it because everyone is not fully conscious and aware is really absolving yourself of any responsibility.

I think we maybe speaking about different things. But to speak to what youre saying, the more complex the organism the more teaching is required, for example chimpanzees, doplhins, Elephants etc, all have very complicated societies and they are taught how to navigate that society if only by seeing what their parents do or being reprimanded when they do something wrong. As humans we are very complex beings in comparison to other organisms on earth and ass such more direction is actually required not less, to avoid catastrophic consequences. Further its not just about survival or preventing bad things happening its how can we prepare ourselves to live the best life we can and give value to the world around us. I think in general there is a fallacy, its also in libertarian beliefs, that if everyone is just left to their own devices and is free everyone would be fine and happy. What you dont take into account is that our society now IS the product of everyone being left to their own devices, we have organised ourselves in such a way because its the current best way that we can conceive and agree on life to balance autonomy with organisation. I can guarantee you that kids that grow up with someone like the guy in the video as their father will have a very positive outlook on life and will most likely enjoy it as well as being productive. A lot of kids that grew up in hippie communes actually seek structure and go into careers like the army. Point is there has to be a balance between not suppressing kids but also giving them good role models and guidelines

I get where youre coming from but again something like 'men dont cry' I would consider unhealthy masculinity, healthy would be teaching a child how to navigate and express their emotions. The fact is that not teaching your kids anything or just having guard rails, which in some ways i agree with, is also a way of raising kids which could potentially be damaging. Kids in general do need direction and that is the point of role models and parents. Without these they can very easily slip into toxcity especially males, Leo did a video on toxic life purpose which highlights this. Also from personal experience I have worked in a charity that was supposed to help children, the most problematic boys were the ones with really bad home lives and in most case there wasnt a father figure in sight. These boys got into trouble, were watched by the police etc, when hey did have male role models and activities and whatnot you could see that it was something they craved for and desperately needed. So i would argue that you're actually downplaying the need for healthy role models, Ive seen the results first hand and its not good. Also i think there is this fear of restricting people and making them fit into a mould, the goal of a healthy teacher would be to give the guidance for that boy or girl to become the best person they can be. One example would be to teach taking responsibility for your actions, i really believe this one teaching, reinforced with consequences, would literally change a persons life if taught correctly.

lol yeah maybe, but i would say there is value in teaching the next generation but not necessarily forcing them down a certain path. Healthy values can always be passed down, keyword being 'healthy'. Say you had someone who was healthy stage yellow their wisdom could be passed down to the next generation, that is how society evolves. Even you saying adults are stupid the adults before them were probably even more stupid and caused more damage. A good example of this is if you have a genuinely psychologically healthy couple and they raise a kid, they are very likely to be psychologically happy themselves. Most boys go off the rails specifically because they dont have positive male role models, so i wouldnt downplay the importance of it, especially with how destructive boys and men can be without proper guidance. Here is an example of i think incredibly healthy masculinity being taught to young boys, the effect it must have is immense

This can be difficult though, the way i see it as humans we are like conduits for different energies, the masculine and feminine are extremely powerful and important energies. Usually boys and men are the best conduit for masculine energy and women and girls are the best for feminine, of course this is not to say that there cant be great conduits in the reverse I'm just talking generally. So i think its important that healthy masculinity be taught to boys and healthy femininity taught to girls, if it so happens that a boy shows feminine traits then there is no problem in teaching them healthy femininity. Both sexes should also be taught about the other energy and look for it in themselves as well. The key thing is that the other side should not be demonised, it should be understood, explored and integrated. So i dont think we should suppress or ignore this polarisation at an early age and in fact i would suggest that because we have been doing that in the last few decades, ie encouraging men to be more feminine and women to be more masculine or at least to lessen these energies, we have seen a decline in relationships not only a rise in divorce but overall happiness. Dating is also harder for men because they are no longer as masculine as they were and that is what is attractive to women. (I actually experienced this at a speed dating event a few years ago where women were complaining about the men)

Also i think the other point of contention is whether or not young kids should be able to gender themselves and start taking puberty blockers other treatments at such a young age. There have been some issues with de-transitioning, which must be a terrible thing to go through or a therapist and those around the child really encouraging them to go ahead with it when it may just be a phase or theyre not sure how they feel. I think that is a very controversial area because on one hand it could be almost child abuse but on the other it could really help if the child does really know and will stay trans forever. I aint got the answers man!

Im not sure it is a transcendence of ones own sexuality, i might have misunderstood what youre saying, but a transcendence of ones sexuality would end up at no sexuality. For example if you said someone transcended their 'self' in a spiritual way, that would be the realisation that there is no self. However with trans people they are essentially changing from one sex to another. Non-binary might be closer to what my understanding of what you said is. I mean i guess thats where the issues pop up, the sports thing and a couple other issues are the only things that really cause friction with trans people and my take on it is this just comes about from the belief that trans women are exactly the same as biological women. All in all i have no problems with trans people and am not saying theres a fundamental problem with it, i can also empathise with their situation. It probably wouldnt be much different, you should give it a try, im too conditioned to try myself

I have seen a couple of her videos actually which were very thought provoking and well laid out, I havent seen this one but will check it out. This is somewhat true, although I believe 'Black Lives matter *too*' probably wouldve shut down a few of the all lives matter crew and made a bit more sense in terms of what was trying to be conveyed. Having said that 'trans-women are real women' plays out in real world scenarios such as with sports, which then lead people to think that there isnt context to the argument and take it at face value, I think a lot of people would accept the statement if there wasnt this fight for inclusion in womens sports. Regardless if there are some trans people that transitioned early and they have no advantage, there will still be some that didnt and will also claim that they should be included, which could really damage womens sports as a category, Im not saying its a massive problem but I think without clear boundaries it does spoil the integrity of the sport category. Yes I agree she is attractive and it is hard to even know she was born male, I would probably be in the camp of not wanting to date her if i knew. Although im aware this is probably not fair, my generation and those previous and probably a lot of the current generation, will have a problem dating due to how we were brought up and the definition of what a straight man should be. There are as i said also lesbiens that wouldnt be down with that so im not sure the precise reasoning. The other aspect is having biological kids and obviously the genetalia situation. Im sure there are a lot of guys that dont have any qualms about it as well and i think this will also increase in future generations. But i think trans people have to understand that it is a big jump for hetero men that have grown up in a certain way, right or wrong.

Sorry for the pain youve experienced my friend

Im not saying they attempt to pass themselves off as biologically female (some might but its probably a minority), but the statement of saying trans-women are women would need some more nuance around it (as you are attempting to add) as people just seeing that statement will probably go to the idea that trans-women are claiming they biological women. I would also say there a section of trans women or social justice warriors they will vehemently claim that there is no difference between trans-women and real women and that straight men should have no problem dating them and also lesbiens should have no problem with dating, which is very imposing and has caused problems. Again its probably a minority but im just pointing out the extreme view for context. Definitely shouldnt be cancelled or anything like that or even have to hide. I think where the friction stems from is people feeling like they are being forced to see the world from a trans pov which includes the view that trans-women are women without any context. I actually agree with you that trans-women can be put into a category of women, this would actually solve a lot of problems with sports etc and i think its a more honest and real view. Ultimately trans people want to be accepted and there humanity seen for what it is and of course everyone can empathise with that, however to bend categories and not recognise that there is some difference is asking for a deluded view, as in a reality that we dont agree on, to be integrated into the public consciousness and i think that is a lot to ask. Just for clarity im specifically talking about the view of trans-women being the same as biological women with natural conclusion that trans-women should compete with biological women in sports. Heres an example of what im talking about in which the singer Ginuwine was labelled trans-phobic for saying he wouldnt date a trans-woman, he received a lot of backlash for this view -

I think theres been some interesting talking points in this discussion as well the battle to 'win' the argument. @Etherial Cat's take on it is makes me think because it makes sense that the energies we all have are masculine and feminine and in the example of trans-women, in theory lets they have the same amount of feminine energy (however you quantify it), as a biological woman, then the only difference is the body they were born in. But then the only thing I would stop short at is calling them women, as you could for example have a strong feminine energy and still have a biological male body and even present as a woman. I'm not trans so obviously I cant speak for their experiences or how they feel but if you do get to the point where you have to get rid of (quite an important body part) wouldnt there be something to be said for accepting what you are? As in accepting that you are a trans-woman rather than trying to be a biological woman. It seems contradictory to want acceptance from others but then also want to change your body, this doesnt seem healthy mentally. Where I can relate and its by no means the same thing or even close, but growing up I always had a large chest which Ive just recently learnt is called Gynaecomastia, now it doesnt look too bad because Ive been weight training for years, but when i was younger and skinnier in my teen years it really stood out and I would be incredibly self conscious and had an ocd compulsion about it, I would hate when anyone noticed and i never took my top off even on holiday. Essentially it betrayed what i thought i was as a male, I basically had tities! So there was a point where i felt that the only way out was surgery, I even phoned up a place to see how much it would cost. But eventually I realised that the best way out was acceptance, this was me its a part of me and i have to find a way to accept it, it was not easy but i did manage to do it, now I rarely even think about it in a self conscious way and people even compliment me sometimes. All that to say, it seems with trans-people they want to be seen as exactly the same as biological-sexes and i just think fundamentally its not correct, they are different and that should be accepted by both themselves and the outside world. Thinking about it I think this is where a lot of the hate comes from, because youre asking people to buy into somewhat of a delusion. This comes to a head when you have womens sports because it just doesnt make sense for a trans person to be classified as a woman in this context.

There was Racheal Dolezal and she still hasnt said that im just white -

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply, I am feeling a bit more positive about it. It is a challenge definitely but thats what life is about and im kinda looking forward to growing myself more which i can see now stagnated whilst in this relationship. I guess its a faulty belief just from being out of the game for so long, the quality thing is important as ultimately thats what im looking for but at the same time it doesnt help to look at the end goal and get overwhelmed, which i tend to do sometimes, just gotta take it step by step. Thanks for the kind words about the podcast and you're right, its just a matter of pushing myself out there and testing the waters. Yeah to be honest ive probably had the best growth coming off the back of break ups, so it does feel daunting but it will grow me and thats the main thing. It was more me that broke up with her as it just wasnt really working for me anymore and i felt like i was limiting myself. I was using a lot of energy to keep it going and i did feel a bit of relief when it ended, although i was still sad at the same time. Thanks man, its been a while since I was trying to attract 21 year olds lol. One thing with this relationship is that it has given me a certain clarity on what i want and I dont think thered be many 21 year olds that would fit into it, for a long term thing anyway. i think minimum would be 25. But yeah youre right theres a lot there to work on and not even for women but just to grow myself and become better. Yes youre right, I am sceptical about those thoughts, but these are just the thoughts that are coming up, I think it just feels like a massive task but also its the way that im thinking about it which makes it feel like that. Yes it comes from fear and maybe gives an excuse or a way out so its like a way of handling that fear, but in reality there is no way im going to give in to it, I can feel that thats the case hence why I even wrote the original post, i guess I just wanted some motivation and a bit of empathy. Its weird because Ive always done quite well with women but there has always been a fear there of not being able to attract them, it probably comes from some messed up stuff in my childhood but i see a therapist and have been working through this. The emotion thing is something i have been working on so i will continue with that, I can be really hard on myself and not accepting of certain emotions so this is a very important one. Love and thanks again to everyone

So last week I broke up with my girlfriend of 4 years. It was tough because I do love her but i think there were some major differences between us, eg she was a perfectionist and generally im more go with the flow. There was also quite a big culture difference im from the UK shes from South America, although she could speak english fine I found the communication quite tough, this could also be related to personality as well as she was quite serious but also could be immature when it came to disagreements (silent treatment etc). Generally though it felt that i was kind of limiting myself and personality to try and make it work, which is obviously not great and i was getting so many signs that this wasnt the one, even if she did have a lot of good qualities and I loved her. Anyway, when we broke up i did feel a sense of relief and freedom, however it does feel really daunting stepping out into the world and eventually trying to attract other potential relationships. Ive always done pretty well with women and had a little period where i got into pick up (not heavy) in which I was really confident, pushed out of my comfort zone and was quite successful. But now I dont feel that same confidence, Im 37 and for the first time Im feeling a bit insecure about my age, looks, hairline, weight etc, like can i still do it? kinda thing. Ive never really felt like I needed or wanted a relationship, they just kinda happen and im not even sure i want one now but I like to know that if i did want one I'd be able to get a quality woman. For whatever reason theres this fear that I'm just not going to be able to. A bit of a ramble there but yeah just feeling a bit weird after the break up, grateful for any advice

I'm not really an expert but as I understand it transsexuality is when internally you feel that you are a different gender than the sex you were born into. But where it makes more sense to me is someone who was born with a brain that is structurally more similar to the opposite sex, which there is some research regarding mri scans of transgender people. In this case it would make sense that gender dysphoria would occur, however I wouldn't say that a male with gender dysphoria is a woman, I think trans woman makes more sense as they've had completely different experiences in life, not to mention different bodies. Regarding the Mr. Girl quote, I don't know the full context but it does seem a bit harsh considering the brain structure stuff. It's difficult to label people that are otherwise fully functioning as sick especially if they're not hurting anyone, but where I'd agree with him is, that some of trans-women insist they are 'real women' and I think this is a delusion and can also be harmful when pushed on others. But yeah I don't know, what's your take?

How are you defining body dysphoria?