Speaker 2
Yeah, so I think my journey really began around 2010. I just became really enthralled with the liberty movements. I became enthralled with Austrian economics, and that was kind of the jumping-off point for me. Ron
Speaker 2
guy? Yeah, yeah, I'm a big proponent of Ron Paul. And then I was heavily trying to get active in the libertarian party. And around 2013, I kind of had some disenchantment or disillusionment with the state of the liberty movement for practically achieving liberty. And I kind of had an existential crisis with what I was doing with my life and decided to switch transition my career. And I just kind of accepted that this is the world that we have to live in, kind of try and live in as best we can. And it really wasn't until 2021 when that's when Bitcoin, I guess, that's when I really took the Orange Pill. I'd heard about it in the past, but I never did the work. And for me, Bitcoin represents a practical solution to achieving liberty. And I just, that was the Hoekwine Stinker for me. And it's been like that ever since. Interesting.
Speaker 1
So in 2013, when you say you became kind of disillusioned with the Liberty movement, I think I certainly felt that way earlier in the timeline for me. But I know a lot of Bitcoiners, people that subsequently became Bitcoiners, felt that at some point, you have potential, is ideology is the desire to have your ideology adopted throughout the world more broadly, is that idealistic, almost certainly, right? And so especially if there's a mismatch, and anyone who's Liberty minded in the world today, especially at that time, but of course, still would have seen a mismatch between a Liberty oriented ideology and what prevailed in the world at the time. And at least from my perspective, I was disillusioned in the same way, and I was despondent. And I didn't like what I gave up in order to do what you just said, which is kind of just like move forward pragmatically and practically, well, I throw up your hands, I can't really change the world. It's all going to hell anyways, at least I can carve out a little slice of world for myself and the people I care about. And maybe that's good enough. And that there's always a pragmatism in that approach. I mean, you have to do that regardless. But I felt a certain disappointment in that approach, because it meant you had to give up on a certain aspect of your idealistic notions. And we often use the term idealistic as being like, people use it with naivety, right? Like you think like, Oh, if you're being idealistic, you're being naive. But, and there's some of that, you know, you got to be careful where you draw the line. But I think it's really important to have, you know, what you believe to be the ideal predicated on very clear, paramount fundamental values and principles that you are going to orient your life by. And if you're saying like, well, I'm going to give up on that, then of course, it's going to be, it's going to eat away at you a little bit because you're basically saying like the things that I think are best to orient my life by and that I'd like to see out in the world, are not being appreciated or accepted or adopted out broadly in the world doesn't mean you can't embody them yourself. And I think that's the responsibility that we all have is to embody the values and principles that we actually think are right true and good, regardless of what the broader circumstance we find ourselves in is what's going on there. But all the better, if we can close the gap, if we can, if we can embody those things and they're being appreciated or upregulated or incentivized out in the broader world. And at least for me, you know, that was one of the things that Bitcoin, what made me so excited about Bitcoin is like, Oh, this looks like the instantiation of those very values and principles that I had so that were so elevated in my own mind and a mechanism for their propagation out into the world. Like, wow, great. Like now, now this actually seems like an actual practical method of getting those principles out into the world. Because prior to that, it just seemed insurmountable. It's like, yeah, sure, you can, you think whatever you want about what the best principles for a flourishing and free society might be, but who gives a shit? You ain't gonna turn around that boat, you know, or you're not gonna turn around the Titanic there. And Bitcoin, you know, changed that perspective for me. And for me, that was why that feeling of despondence and despair turned to enthusiasm and hope and energy and that kind of stuff. So I know that was long winded, but it was that kind of a similar thing that transpired in your life or were there any differences?