{"id":14855,"date":"2021-08-27T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci028bbb04c00025a2"},"modified":"2021-08-27T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T23:00:00","slug":"why-bitcoin-will-rejuvenate-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/culture\/why-bitcoin-will-rejuvenate-hope","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s Why Bitcoin Will Rejuvenate Your Hope In Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A gloomy outlook on the future is understandable, given the events of the past 18 months. But when we consider things from a wider perspective, we find that this is the best time in history to be alive. And it\u2019s about to get much better, as with Bitcoin we have a chance to solve mankind’s last big problem.<\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine being born in 1920s Czechoslovakia. If you can\u2019t, because you are not familiar with the country\u2019s history, let me paint you a picture of what your life would look like. <\/p>\n

The Bad Old Days<\/h2>\n

Your childhood in the optimistic post\u2013World War I era would be joyful, but these good years would be short lived. <\/p>\n

In your adolescence, you would witness your parents\u2019 rising fear of global economic depression and the subsequent rise of Adolf Hitler to power in neighboring Germany. During the Nazi occupation in 1939 to 1945 you would become a slave<\/a> in the war factories. Some of your friends \u2014 still kids \u2014 would die due to the atrocious conditions.<\/p>\n

There would be a few good years after the war. Though your home country was ravaged and lost most of its gold to Nazi plunderers (happily assisted<\/a> by the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlement), at least it was finally free. However, any optimism would be quickly ground under a communist boot, when the Moscow-directed Communist Party of Czechoslovakia seized power in 1948. <\/p>\n

But you would adjust. In the early 1950s, you would have a job, a family and some savings built up. Those savings would be promptly taken from you in the 1953 monetary \u201creform\u201d \u2014 which was actually a huge redistribution scheme to stomp out any remnants of the middle class. Since you weren\u2019t in the Communist party \u2014 due to principles that your parents instilled in you \u2014 you would bear the brunt of the reform and would be left with almost nothing. <\/p>\n

The 1950s and 1960s would be hard. You would see the disintegration of society: Informers would be everywhere, looking to improve their standing with the local Communist commissar by bringing fresh gossip on counter-revolutionaries. After nationalization and the monetary reform, collaboration with the regime was the only way up. Some of your friends would say the wrong thing at the wrong time and would disappear down the uranium mines<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In the second half of the 1960s, people would timidly look to the future again. Things seemed to be changing. The Prague Spring<\/a> of 1968 arrived and the reformers dropped restrictions on media, speech and travel. People were able to breathe freely again. Alas, these hopes would be crushed under the belts of Soviet tanks. Once again, the country was occupied. The effect on people\u2019s morale was devastating. A 20-year-old student<\/a> commited a protest suicide by setting himself on fire. <\/p>\n

The era of \u201cnormalization<\/a>\u201d would follow \u2014 a return to the Soviet-style everyday grind. People would be living in fear again. Those who could, escaped the country, those who couldn\u2019t found themselves in an \u201cinternal exile\u201d \u2014 a willful disregard of the political situation and dedication of their time to a neutral activity, such as gardening or repairing a cottage in the mountains. The dissidents would try to reinvigorate the spirit of 1968 through a pamphlet called Charter 77<\/a>, but the regime was too strong and the people too afraid \u2014 the only effect would be a loss of jobs and liberty for the authors of the Charter. <\/p>\n

You would become a bitter cynic in the 1980s, after a life full of crushed hopes and friends lost to meaningless cruelty. On your deathbed, you wouldn\u2019t have much hope for mankind. <\/p>\n

Unpopular Opinion: Things Are Great And Getting Better<\/h2>\n

The 20th century was a very depressing time for those born in the wrong part of the world. You could have lived your whole life under a statist boot \u2014 first under the Nazis then under the Communists. A wretched existence.<\/p>\n

After the downfall of the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain<\/a> along with it, the world became a more optimistic place \u2014 and not just for the 400 million people freed from the inhumane regime. Advocates for liberty all over the world finally had empirical evidence of historic proportions that central planning simply doesn\u2019t work. <\/p>\n

There are many more reasons to be optimistic about mankind\u2019s future prospects. The downfall of the Eastern bloc, however impactful, wasn\u2019t the greatest step forward in recent history by far. Practically everything in this world has been getting better for a long time now. Below are just a few of the most striking examples of mankind\u2019s advancement, taken from the magnificent, fact-filled book called \u201cProgress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future<\/a>\u201d <\/em>by Swedish economist Johan Norberg. <\/p>\n