BitcoinStu on Nostr: also, society is not a nebulous concept. If you study history you'll find that groups ...

also, society is not a nebulous concept. If you study history you'll find that groups of people have been organizing into groups we call societies, which are typically characterized by a shared language, shared laws, shared culture, and so on.

Another thing you will discover, if you study some history, is that societies have been killing each other as long as there has been history. In fact the history of human civilization is mostly the history of war.

Before the industrial revolution wars were pretty cheap to fight, and taxes were low. That's because wars were fought mostly with raw manpower. You had to feed an army, and equip them, transport them, train them, but relatively it was pretty cheap.

But after industrialization societies required more energy and economic power to defend themselves or wage war on other societies. And as a result, taxes went up.

Most successful societies eventually become over-extended regionally, or more recently, globally. When that happens the society debases it's currency.

It happens again and again. So much that you can say it's the default behavior for a society.

If you imagine some magical world where there is no war and all 8 billion humans all get along and trade with free markets in a global society with rule of law and property rights, that's great. That's the world we would all like to see.

But to think this is somehow easy to achieve is naive. Human civilization is a difficult thing for us. We try. Sometimes we do well for a little while, but it usually turns to shit and we all start killing each other again.

If you think that your life was not facilitated by the society you live in then you are again naive. The debt you own to society is the same debt you owe to your family, your friends, you community, you country, and the human race in general.

Are taxes theft? Sure, you can define them that way. They are taken by force so they fit the definition. But the idea of a global society without taxes is a very long way from reality and if you think bitcoin is going to usher in that world in a few decades you're naive, again.

Your position sounds to me like "You're taking my money that's not fair and so you shouldn't do that" and that somehow that can just happen.

The world is a complex place, societies are complex, and the idea that you'll live in a world without taxes is naive.