There Is Only So Much Nothing
Internet forum archive, 2013
user19384
Bitcoin hit $100.
I was going to buy some when it was $12.
Guess I missed it.
cryptobro42
You didn’t miss it.
There are only 21 million.
user19384
Yeah, but it already went from basically nothing to $100.
Who is buying it from here?
cryptobro42
People who want Bitcoin.
user19384
Why?
cryptobro42
There are only 21 million.
user19384
Beanie Babies were scarce too.
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Family group chat, 2021
Dad
So this Bitcoin thing.
Isn’t it basically Beanie Babies?
Me
Not really.
There are 21 million Bitcoin.
There will never be more.
Meanwhile governments are going to keep printing currency.
You can disagree about the price, but that’s basically the bet.
Dad
There’s nothing behind it.
Me
What’s behind a dollar?
Dad
The United States government.
Me
That’s the part I’m talking about.
Dad
lol
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Three months later
Dad
What do you think about Solana?
Me
Oh no.
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Financial Independence Forum, 2037
indexmaxxer
I don’t understand why you people make this so complicated.
Just buy the global equity index every paycheck.
Literally nobody beats it over 40 years.
coldstorage
Nobody?
indexmaxxer
Fine, basically nobody.
coldstorage
And everyone knows this?
indexmaxxer
Yes.
That’s the point.
coldstorage
Everyone automatically buys the same companies every two weeks regardless of valuation and you don’t see anything strange about that?
indexmaxxer
They’re profitable companies.
There are real cash flows underneath them.
coldstorage
Sure.
At what price?
indexmaxxer
You sound like one of those Bitcoin people from twenty years ago.
coldstorage
I am one of those Bitcoin people from twenty years ago.
indexmaxxer
Then you should understand why indexing works.
coldstorage
That is exactly why I’m nervous.
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Machine Economy Forum, 2051
probeDaddy
Anyone looking at Proxima manufacturing contracts?
oldBitcoiner
No.
probeDaddy
Why not?
oldBitcoiner
Because no human being is going to Proxima Centauri.
probeDaddy
Humans don’t need to.
oldBitcoiner
Great.
So now we’re buying factories nobody can visit.
probeDaddy
Autonomous probes can.
oldBitcoiner
The probe hasn’t even arrived.
probeDaddy
That’s why the contract is cheap.
oldBitcoiner
What happens if it lands on the planet one to the left?
probeDaddy
You bought a single-planet contract?
lol
You need the three-body manufacturing index.
Individual landing-site exposure is for degens.
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Stellar Assets Discord, 2058
yieldfarmer_actual
Comets are massively undervalued.
You get raw materials and energy replenishment while maintaining trajectory.
Basically mobile infrastructure.
sunmaxi
Comets are a scam.
yieldfarmer_actual
Of course you’d say that.
sunmaxi
They sell you on “recharging while moving” like it’s a car.
The math doesn’t work that way at industrial scale.
Factories produce more probes.
Probe factories are the long-duration asset.
yieldfarmer_actual
Source?
sunmaxi
Physics.
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Stellar Assets Discord, 2059
sunmaxi
Okay.
I changed my mind about the factory thesis.
Stellar royalties are cleaner.
yieldfarmer_actual
lol
sunmaxi
No, seriously.
A star has measurable energy output.
If a Dyson swarm eventually captures some fraction of it, you can model the upper bound.
You’re buying a claim on future harvested energy.
oldBitcoiner
You cannot own a star.
sunmaxi
You could say that about digital property in 2010.
oldBitcoiner
No, this is different.
Governments are obviously going to regulate this.
sunmaxi
Which government?
oldBitcoiner
The UN. United States. Somebody.
sunmaxi
The probe launched eleven years ago.
oldBitcoiner
Then they’ll order it to stop.
sunmaxi
It forked.
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StellarFinance, 2072
FundamentalsMatter
Alpha Centauri Energy Trust is trading at 61x projected annual output.
Sixty-one.
Even assuming 94% swarm coverage and perfect energy transmission, the valuation makes no sense.
longstars
You’re using current compute prices.
FundamentalsMatter
I’m using extremely generous compute prices.
longstars
Current compute prices.
FundamentalsMatter
There physically is not enough energy in the system to justify this valuation.
longstars
People said the same thing at 30x.
FundamentalsMatter
That doesn’t make it less true!
longstars
Have fun staying terrestrial.
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Retirement Forum, 2081
SolarDad81
I’m 24.
Should I just put 15% into the Fifty Star Index?
retiredGenAlpha
Probably.
Just don’t assume stellar energy always goes up.
SolarDad81
How could it not?
There are only so many nearby stars.
retiredGenAlpha
Jesus Christ.
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Void Markets, 2089
nothingburger
Anybody else accumulating Volume 91-B between Sirius and Procyon?
retiredBitcoiner
You are literally buying nothing.
nothingburger
Correct.
retiredBitcoiner
There is no star.
There is no planet.
There is no energy.
There is no infrastructure.
There is nothing there.
nothingburger
Low-latency nothing.
retiredBitcoiner
WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?
nothingburger
Autonomous shipping traffic between Sirius and Procyon is projected to increase 800% over the next century.
That region is useful for routing, compute relays, storage, and future construction.
retiredBitcoiner
It is empty space.
nothingburger
There’s only so much empty space near civilization.
retiredBitcoiner
There is an effectively infinite amount of space.
nothingburger
Not nearby.
retiredBitcoiner
This is Beanie Babies.
nothingburger
You literally bought Bitcoin.
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Family dinner, 2096
Grandkid
Wait.
You bought Bitcoin when governments could just print more currency?
Me
Yes.
Grandkid
And there were only 21 million?
Me
Yes.
Grandkid
And it was globally transferable?
Me
Yes.
Grandkid
And nobody could make more?
Me
Yes.
Grandkid
Then what was the risk?
Me
It fell 80% every few years.
Grandkid
So you bought more.
Me
Eventually.
Grandkid
That was so obvious.
Me
It absolutely was not obvious.
Grandkid
You bought a fixed-supply asset while the competing currency inflated forever.
Come on.
Me
People thought it was fake internet money.
Grandkid
People were stupid.
Me
I thought $100 was expensive.
Grandkid
You could buy an entire Bitcoin for $100?
Me
Yes.
Grandkid
And you didn’t?
Me
I THOUGHT I MISSED IT.
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Later
Grandkid
Anyway, I bought more void.
Me
No.
Grandkid
What?
Me
Absolutely not.
At least a star produces energy.
You are literally buying nothing.
Grandkid
There is only so much nothing.
Me
You have no idea what it will be worth.
Grandkid
That’s why it’s cheap.
Me
There is no way to value it.
Grandkid
Yet.
Me
Nobody even knows what empty-space rent will look like in a machine economy.
Grandkid
Exactly.
Me
What if the probes just route around it?
Grandkid
Grandpa.
That’s priced in.
Me
This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
Grandkid
You said Bitcoin was obvious.
Me
Bitcoin was obvious.
Grandkid
Of course it was.
You already know what happened.