{"id":12962,"date":"2021-11-23T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci0292fb7980002452"},"modified":"2021-11-23T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T21:00:00","slug":"parallels-between-bitcoin-principles-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/culture\/parallels-between-bitcoin-principles-book","title":{"rendered":"The Parallels Between Bitcoin\u2019s Principles And \u201cHow To Be Idle\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Many Bitcoiners have highlighted parallels between some of Bitcoin\u2019s ideals and the book first published in 1997, \u201cThe Sovereign Individual.\u201d To take you in an altogether different direction, I\u2019ll draw attention to a relatively unknown and gentler text, which I\u2019ve noticed also contains a number of parallels to the Bitcoin world. This is \u201cHow To Be Idle<\/a>,\u201d written by Tom Hodgkinson, who also edits the Idler<\/em><\/a> magazine.<\/p>\n

Written in 2004, it predates Bitcoin. But it extols libertarian virtues in the same ways many Bitcoiners do today, such as extolling the virtues of freedom from debt, freedom from consumer culture and excessive consumption, and freedom from the wage slavery which can result from such.<\/p>\n

Firstly, let\u2019s establish some neutral ground on the definitions front, and define the word idle as simply \u201cinactive.\u201d Many would use the word idle as a straight swap for lazy, which has negative connotations, but as we\u2019ll see throughout this article, it\u2019s not quite that simple. Hodgkinson is aware of the many ways modern day society preys on idleness, and looks to fight back, often offering historical precedent.<\/p>\n

Whilst \u201cHow To Be Idle\u201d isn\u2019t directly concerned with economic policy or money, there are persistent themes that are symptomatic of the age we live in which Bitcoiners especially will recognise. Let\u2019s dive into some of the main ones.<\/p>\n

The World Of Work<\/h2>\n

Why do we work? The book is forthright at asking the reader to evaluate the status quo. To quote the text:<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe idea of the \u2018job\u2019 as the answer to all woes, individual and social, is one of the most pernicious myths of modern society. It is promoted by politicians, parents, newspaper moralists and leaders of industry, on the left and on the right: paradise they say, is \u2018full employment\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is a myth convenient to the rich that it is your patriotic duty to work hard. The book quotes the late British journalist and writer Jeffrey Bernard \u201c… as if there was something romantic and glorious about hard work … If there was something romantic about it, the Duke of Westminster would be digging his own f*cking garden, wouldn\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahem \u2014 no punches pulled there then! But there is a subtext here that most Bitcoiners will recognise, with implicit references to Keynesian economics and resulting policies which dominate our lives. In the 21st century the lot for the average working person doesn\u2019t necessarily appear to be getting easier, as aptly shown by WTFhappenedin1971.com<\/a>. It generally requires two household incomes to support a family, rather than one a generation or two ago. Home prices are sky high. Though mortgage rates are low, the path for the young to own a property is to take out huge debt in the form of a mortgage.<\/p>\n

Society is led, naturally, into a lifetime of work. And due to the pressures of inflation, if you\u2019re standing still, you\u2019re going backwards.<\/p>\n

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Working harder to earn a currency made weaker to invest in assets growing riskier is a road to serfdom. #Bitcoin<\/a> is the path to prosperity.<\/p>\n

— Michael Saylor\u26a1\ufe0f (@saylor) December 20, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n