Very interesting is this discussion about cryptocurrency. Yet another derivative of the good old exchange of life support items. Mind you, we humans need to interact with each other, securing our homeostatics… We need food and shelter. Yet, as an individual in current circumstances this is rather difficult to do. So, we interact. Work together. In order to keep up with a balance in sharing between us we keep track by a symbolic definition of a coin.

This symbol is supported by reference to resources we value. Well… So is bitcoin. And right there is the interesting thing. Someone makes up a game, with sheer unending but accumulating difficulty. Spoils of this game are secured by an impenetrable ownership and transaction-interaction scheme. Because of accumulating difficulty to obtain these spoils, their value seems secured. Especially as this part is as transparent as can be.

Yet… What actual resources is this all based on? Except for the continuous growing need for energy and capacity to calculate on ‘mining’ these coins, actually nothing. This system only works on human sentiment. This is a ‘pied piper’ for those who want to see growth and development as human goal in life. Biologically, we have just one goal. Survival. If we make symbols our reference for value, instead of actual resources, eventually it implodes.

These ‘pied pipers’ can be found in many economic systems, because people themselves do not always realise why something has value. Effectively this is built on reciprocal trust. But trust is based on sentiment towards each other. And sentiment is based on expectations. Expectations are based on behaviour and resources we expect the other party to have and show in relation to our own needs.

In our society we live with synthetic needs. On an individual level, this is not much of a problem. Our society is a system to give individuals as much chance to survive as possible. Spending the capacity to survive on expanding the value we experience for the symbol representing just that, is selfdestruction.