Most systems in life function better under centralized governance, but digital cash is one of the rare exceptions where a decentralized system is clearly superior. A centralized culture is far more effective at preserving and upholding its core principles than a decentralized one. Without a strong culture around Bitcoin that actively defends those principles, you end up with scammy shitcoiners running nodes and pushing changes that erode Bitcoin’s foundations. To truly preserve Bitcoin’s decentralized, borderless, open-source, and peer-to-peer nature, people must be centrally aligned around the idea that these characteristics are non-negotiable. When participants interpret the protocol however they like, you get Ethereum, XRP, and thousands of other distractions that waste time and undermine the separation of money and state. You cannot genuinely support decentralized, borderless, open-source, peer-to-peer money while also maintaining your own personal philosophy about what it “really is.” These are Bitcoin’s core principles: • DECENTRALIZED • TRULY SCARCE • CENSORSHIP RESISTANT • A DISTRIBUTED LEDGER • INCORRUPTIBLE (These five properties set Bitcoin apart from every other cryptocurrency) • PERMISSIONLESS • AUDITABLE • TRANSPARENT • IMMUTABLE • BORDERLESS • HARD TO COUNTERFEIT • PSEUDONYMOUS • FRICTIONLESS • TRUSTLESS • PEER-TO-PEER These are not suggestions open to interpretation, they are factual, measurable characteristics. Developing your own personal philosophy around them should not be encouraged. Anything that opposes these principles, whether at the code level or the cultural level, opposes Bitcoin and the separation of money and state. Participants who reinterpret, develop their own “unique philosophy”, or dilute these core principles should not be tolerated. They should be treated with hostility by the culture surrounding Bitcoin for opening the door to changes that erode Bitcoin’s foundations. This also applies to Bitcoin artwork. If it does not align with the mission to separate money and state, then it is not Bitcoin art. Bitcoin art does not need fiat art school pseudo-intellectual, conceptual mental masturbation. It needs artists who are monetary maximalists, fighting with pen, pencil, and brush to destroy fiat.