PART 1: THE BIG IDEA

Okay, listen up - this is wild. What if I told you that:

• The type of money we use changes how we think
• It literally rewires our brain to think long-term or short-term
• And this changes EVERYTHING about society
• From art to science to how many kids people have!

Let's break this down...

PART 2: THE MARSHMALLOW TEST

Scientists did this crazy experiment: They put kids in a room with one marshmallow and told them they could either eat it right away, or wait 15 minutes and get two marshmallows. Some kids waited, others couldn't.

The wild part? The kids who waited did better in life:

• Got better grades
• Had better health
• Less addiction problems

All from being able to think LONG-TERM!

PART 3: THE FISHING STORY

Here's how it works in real life. Two people start fishing:

• Harry (high time preference): Only fishes with hands
• Linda (low time preference): Spends time building tools to help her fish

After a month:

• Harry: Still catching the same amount of fish
• Linda: Built rods, boats, nets, etc., and now catches more fish with less work

Because Linda thought LONG-TERM!

PART 4: TIME PREFERENCE AND ART

Check this comparison:

• Old money era: Michelangelo spent 4 YEARS painting the Sistine Chapel.
• Modern era: Mark Rothko painted some squares in a few hours and sold them for MILLIONS.

Facts:

• Old artists spent YEARS learning and honing their craft
• Modern artists spend YEARS explaining why their lazy work is "deep"
• Modern "artists" create stuff like CryptoPunks, a set of 10,000 computer generated images (24x24 pixels) many of which were sold for >$1,000,000 USD a piece
• Janitors literally throw away modern art thinking it's trash - multiple times - not even joking 💀

PART 5: WHY THIS MATTERS

When money keeps its value:

• People save more
• Think LONG-TERM
• Build for the future
• Make better art
• Invent cooler stuff
• Have stronger families

When money loses value:

• People spend quickly
• Get into debt
• Make mid art
• Stop saving
• Think SHORT-TERM
• Everything gets worse and people YOLO everything

SPICY FACTS 🌶️

• The Swiss (who kept good money longest) still save way more than everyone else
• Most major inventions (e.g. electricity, cars, planes) actually happened during the gold standard era
• Modern families are breaking down partly because of bad money
• The CIA secretly funded modern art to fight communism (seriously!)
• Government bureaucrats now decide what "good art" is (yikes)

Think about it: What would YOU do differently if you knew your savings would be worth MORE in 20 years instead of less?

The government doesn't want you thinking too LONG-TERM... but that's a story for another post!