Watched "Challenger" on Netflix (the story of the space shuttle tragedy in '86). Mind's been on this Fourth Turning idea lately (h/t @Bquittem). Fourth turning is all about chaos, institutions crumbling, and laying new foundations. Bitcoin couldn't be more perfectly suited.
1/n

Mid-eighties—we slid from the second into the third turning. Second turning is when "Society is reaching its high tide of public progress." That was NASA in the 70s and early 80s. My mom, who saw Challenger on TV, said it felt "completely safe"...and then national tragedy.
2/n

You know what other tragedy happened in '86? Chernobyl. It's a parallel path in my eyes as Challenger—in the midst of the "high tide of public progress," a revered institution gets a little over its skis and f*cks up epically, irreparably changing the "mood" of the era.
3/n

So what's the point? When I first heard about the Fourth Turning framework, I was more than a little confused and probably thought it was a little silly and oversimplified. Watching "Challenger" helped me FEEL the mood of the 80s, and it's starkly different from today.
4/n

When you live with someone and see them everyday, you don't as easily notice changes to their appearance as a distant relative would, someone who only sees them once a year at Christmas. Same thing happens with eras. It's hard to notice them unless you zoom out.
5/n

America in 2020 FEELS different than America in 1986. Do you feel a national pride for NASA? For any government agency? In the 80's, wearing NASA t-shirts was (unironically) cool. What's cool today? In my eyes, you know what the coolest thing is?—being a Yang Gang bitcoiner.
6/n

"The Fourth Turning is an era in which the availability of social order is low, but the demand for such order is high." What is the UBI movement (and by extension, the Yang Gang) if not a craving for social order? Life for the plurality of Americans is chaos without it.
7/n

What's helpful about the Fourth Turning framework is that it stops us from thinking that "going back to the good ol' days" is desirable or even possible. "Generations create history, and history creates generations." Like nature Herself, in adapting we ensure our survival.
8/n

For those of us born after 1944, 2008-present marks the first "Crisis," or Fourth Turning, of our lifetimes. What follows will be a "High" (first turning), where "Society is confident about where it wants to go collectively." Now is the time for big, hairy conversations.
9/n

What awaits us on the other side is unknowable, but now more than any other period in our lifetimes, following our morals and ethics and weird ideas that our friends and family think are stupid could pay off. All is chaos in a fourth turning; we build new safety nets.
10/n

It's why I couldn't be prouder to be part of the Yang Gang, a group of people who believes in Humanity First as a North Star. The received wisdom of our youth is discovered to be largely fairytales. Time to remake society in ways that work for us, not our ancestors.
11/n

UBI is part of it. And so is Bitcoin (capital B refers to the protocol/network, lowercase b refers to the currency). The way I see it, it would be a phenomenally savvy move by the Federal Reserve & US Treasury to start accumulating bitcoin for our coffers. "Just in case."
12/n

But sinking institutions don't usually realize they're sinking. The "temporarily embarrassed millionaire" comes to mind as a metaphor for America as a nation. We underestimate the winds of change.
13/n

I'll end my rambling by admitting I don't have the answers. In my bones, I believe all societies should adopt UBI as a monetary policy (Consumer Monetary Theory, not MMT: )

And I also believe my loved ones should move their savings into bitcoin.
14/n

UBI and BTC are, to me, contradictory.

But that does not frighten me. The adage about "I am large, I contain multitudes" comes to mind. Contradictions...spice of life.

The scary/exciting part is that, like never before in our lifetimes, where we go from here is up to us.
15/n

More resources on the Fourth Turning framework: https://www.lifecourse.com/about/method/the-four-turnings.html
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