Bitcoin is Noah’s Ark
TLDR; like Noah’s Ark, Bitcoin is the vehicle by which humanity can be saved from our self-created corruption.
Introduction
In Christian tradition, Noah’s Ark is a symbol of God’s saving of man from his own self-created demise. It is a story of man’s fall from Grace, and God’s perfect justice, and perfect love in rescuing mankind from self-destruction. There are many spiritual metaphors and parallels to be drawn from the story of the Ark, which are beneficial to one’s spiritual life, which I encourage the reader to explore further. This essay reflects on a different parallel — one we’re living through as we speak. I’m certainly not the first person to have drawn this analogy — it’s a really simple one as the TLDR above conveys. Perhaps one of my favorite bitcoin memes is at least 5 years old —
— but what I would like to do is examine it more closely, observing how deep the similarities really are.
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence… for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” Genesis 6:11
At the time of Noah,
“the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that ever intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5.
As previously discussed in Bitcoin is Biblical, this was not an unexpected outcome, given humanity’s freedom of choice. As Robert Breedlove astutely observes, humans will always want more for less. Without the knowledge (via experience) of the long-term consequences of forcefully extracting more for less, nor the technological advancements that gave people the ability to work in mutual cooperation, the unavoidable outcome was widespread evil: men plundering one another to get more for less.
“…for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” Genesis 6:12
Throughout history, this theme of corruption, based on the natural tendency of humans to want more for less, is repeated. It is most noticeable in the measuring tool of human value exchange: money. Unironically, the corruption is most manifest in money, because it is the way by which humans can do the least work to get the highest impact — more for less. The best summary of the repetition of this corruption of money — which is the most worthwhile thing to corrupt because it yields the highest return per unit effort in corrupting — throughout history is detailed in Saifedean Ammous’ The Bitcoin Standard:
- Salt
- Seashells
- Aggry beads
- Commodity metals
- Precious metals
- Fiat money
have all been used as money and have all been exploited to allow certain people to gain value at the expense of others: more for less.
The only way out of the widespread corruption and evil in Noah’s time was a complete reset. The only way out of the widespread corruption today is also the same: a complete reset. Bitcoin is the lifeboat from the impending reset for humanity now, as the ark was the lifeboat to survive the reset of humanity then.
State of the World: Then and Now
Then
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5
The highlighted words stress the extent of the corruption at that time: every intent — as if to say, everything was corrupt.
Now
Comparing this to the current state of affairs in the world on a fiat standard, https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/ comes to mind. The curated charts of change over time since the complete decoupling of money from gold (which was already hanging by a thread) show that nothing is free of corruption:
- Productivity & Wages
- Cost of living
- Debt: personal and at national levels
- Political Division
- Education
- Law & Order
- Incarceration rates
- Healthcare
- Divorce rates
- Birth rates
- Family structure
- Health care
- Agriculture & Nutrition
- Income growth/concentration of wealth
have all been decimated by the corruption of fiat money.
The Flood — Then and now
Actions are not without consequences; then and now. The flood was a cleansing of all the corruption that built up over the years. Today, a “crack up boom” in the words of Ludwig Von Mises, will be the equivalent cleanse, an inevitable result of years of monetary corruption and its impact:
“But then finally the masses wake up. They become suddenly aware of the fact that inflation is a deliberate policy and will go on endlessly. A breakdown occurs. The crack-up boom appears. Everybody is anxious to swap his money against “real” goods, no matter whether he needs them or not, no matter how much money he has to pay for them. Within a very short time, within a few weeks or even days, the things which were used as money are no longer used as media of exchange. They become scrap paper. Nobody wants to give away anything against them” Mises, Human Action, P. 428
This quote perfectly captures what the feeling must’ve been for everyone who wasn’t on the ark at the time of the flood: how when the rain came down after years of them mocking Noah, there is no price they wouldn’t have paid to have taken it all back and been on the Ark with him and his family. Today, the equivalent will be when the masses are finally aware that inflation is deliberate and will not only continue endlessly, but at an ever-expanding rate. There will be no price people won’t pay to get on the Ark that will save them from the crack up boom of the flood of the fiat money experiment and its inevitable demise. Just like the consequence of the flood was a complete system cleanse, so too will the consequence of fiat money be: a complete system cleanse. Luckily for us, we have our ark: Bitcoin.
The Ark: Then and Now
Like the Ark saved those who would listen and board it, so too will Bitcoin save its adopters from the destruction coming from the flood of fiat. The similarities are noteworthy:
“Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.” Genesis 6:14–16
Gopherwood
Then
There’s no consensus on the definition of the Hebrew word גֹפֶר, or gopher. According to Jeffrey P. Tomkins, Ph.D., and James J. S. Johnson, J.D., Th.D., Gôpher is actually a root of the word גֹפֶרית or gophrîth, which is translated seven times in the Old Testament as “brimstone” in the context of God’s fiery judgment on human wickedness. The New Testament Greek equivalent of gophrîth is θεῖον, or theion which means sulfur and can be used interchangeably with the word “brimstone.” The significance in this: sulfur lignified plant tissue (as opposed to sulfur-free lignin) is what gives trees its structural rigidity and makes hardwood trees useable for lumber products.
Now
Likewise — Bitcoin’s hardened monetary policy is what gives it the ability to grow and the network architecture to be built around it. Both then and now: without rigidity, the Ark and Bitcoin would not have survived.
Specifications
Then
God gave very specific instruction on how the Ark should be built; it was not random. It was to be orderly, with layers: lower, second and third decks and contained compartments. It is out of this order that the chaos of the flood was evaded. It was to be covered with pitch. The Hebrew word כפֹרֶ, or kôpher, used to mean pitch (and not very dissimilar from ‘gopher’), most often describes the “covering” payment of a ransom for one’s life or that of an entire village, according to Drs. Tompkins and Johnson. This cover shielded the ark from the doom that came with the flood.
Now
Bitcoin — as a base layer monetary network — is orderly; rigidly so. It has the architecture of linux: rigidity at the base layer (like rigid sulfur lignin in hard wood trees) that can be counted on to layer on top of, as is happening now with the lightning network and 3rd layer applications; like an ark with 3 decks.
Also, like the Ark’s specifications, a money that can survive the fiat flood had to have certain characteristics and specifications: seizure-resistance, censorship-resistance, durability, portability, fungibility, verifiability, divisibility and scarcity: all of which Bitcoin was built and is proving out to be.
Noah — Then and now
- Then:
“Noah was a just man” Genesis 6:9.
The choice of the word “just” (NKJV) is a telling one: it speaks to Noah’s difference from the rest of the world. He wasn’t only “righteous” as it states in Genesis 7:1 — he was fair, moral, honest, impartial, honorable, truthful — whereas others weren’t. Said another way, he pursued truth and was a principled man.
- Now: Bitcoiners, especially early on, were attracted to Bitcoin due to its transparent and just monetary policy. The type of people Bitcoin attracted when there was no fiat denominated price, were those who were concerned with the injustice of the money printing. It was a matter of principles. Even today, people who grok Bitcoin must have the humility to shatter their existing worldview and think from first principals, especially despite all the misinformation about it.
- Then: Noah was atypical; an outcast amongst “normies” of the time for his purview of the world. He lived in complete contrast to what was the norm then.
- Now: Bitcoiners are atypical. They see the world differently, and thus live differently, in complete contrast to what is considered normal now.
- Then: Noah was ridiculed by his fellow men, even as the rain began to fall.
- Now: Bitcoiners are ridiculed, even today as adoption is clear to the entire world.
- Then: Noah took anywhere between 10–74 years to build the ark: ancient proof-of-work.
- Now: Bitcoiners, starting with the cypherpunks built the technology required for Satoshi to discover bitcoin over multiple decades.
- Because of this length of time, and because we know no one other than Noah’s family made it onto the ark and the general state of the world, it can be deduced that those who watched Noah labor daily in the building of the ark would have mocked him incessantly for it. Similarly, the world has no shortage of Bitcoin naysayers, mockers and unbelievers. People then would’ve possibly said “What’s the point of building a giant boat in the middle of dry land?”, just like today many miss the boat on bitcoin (pun intended) and say “what’s the point of bitcoin? We have visa and mastercard!”
- All this time the ark was being built, it was open to all who would’ve accepted Noah’s message. Likewise, Bitcoin is open to all who will accept it.
Uncertainty & Volatility — Then and Now
It was not certain for Noah that the flood would come and wash everything away. Nor was there certainty around how bad it would be if it came. Yet Noah kept building, with a strong and unwavering spirit. It took an inordinate amount of faith, because it was uncertain:
“By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” Hebrews 11:7
Likewise, Bitcoiners keep on building during the times of uncertainty and in the face of adversity. Many have even pointed out that it is during the time of highest adversity — price bear markets of 80%+ drops in fiat-denominated prices, where all hope seems lost — that the best building takes place. Even while they face an endless onslaught of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt), Bitcoiners’ strong and unwavering spirit, especially in the early years, marched them forward.
A similar analogy can be drawn between the storm and the bitcoin’s price volatility. Imagine being in a rain storm that doesn’t stop for 40 days. I write this a day after the remnants of hurricane Ida passed through my region, and the thought of 40 days of what we experienced for mere hours yesterday is a frightening one. Even with today’s modernity, a storm of that magnitude wreaks havoc on humanity. A 40 day storm, without today’s technology would be orders of magnitude more scary. The rockiness of a 40 day storm of Biblical proportion (literally!) must have caused a great deal of mental anguish, even inside the ark, as the water tossed it to and fro. Similarly, as bitcoin price fluctuates, HODLers must have mental resolve to withstand the experience of exorbitant volatility; like a boat bopping up and down on the waves.
The Aftermath — Then and Now
“…all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.” Genesis 7:23–24
The world that the survivors of the flood found themselves in was a very different world than the one they left behind. Everything was gone. Take a moment to imagine the direness of the situation:
- You spend many years building a gigantic boat with ancient tools while everyone in the world outside of your immediate family mocks you.
- Modern day Bitcoiners’ equivalent: the mainstream media, “economists”, the establishment’s mockery of bitcoin and bitcoiners, even as it has increased exponentially.
- You feel vindicated when the rain starts to fall, 7 days!!! after you board the ark you were ridiculed for building in the first place.
- Modern day Bitcoiners’ equivalent: 2013–2020 — where bitcoin catches on to a lot more attention, even though it’s still oscillating wildly in price.
- The flood, which vindicated you, and for which you might have been slightly grateful after all the ridicule you received, starts to threaten your life and rock your boat back and forth for 40 days. You wake up and sleep hoping that your boat-building skills don’t fail you!
- Modern day Bitcoiners’ equivalent: March 2020 — onwards: the flood is here.
- Meanwhile the animals, who might have been adorable for a day, or two, or a week or two, also start to get restless and likely go wild and annoying in the boat you built to save them.
- Modern day Bitcoiners’ equivalent: the crypto bros along for the ride.
- Then the rain finally stops. “Finally!” you think to yourself, “I can get off this boat now and return to normal life.” Only there is no where to go. And there’s not going to be anywhere to go for another 338 days, as the land dries up enough to be habitable again. That’s a full 1 year and 18 days, on this boat with the animals. That’s insane by modern day standards, even if it were a Disney cruise! But you have this boat, and it has kept you safe and you’re thankful for that.
- Modern day Bitcoiners’ equivalent: TBD — who knows how long this fiat experiment is going to last? It might decades before a Bitcoin standard is upon us, but Bitcoiners are patient. We’re in it for the long haul, regardless of how long it takes. One thing is for sure: it has started to rain.
All of this is to say: the journey was (and is) very trying. And the transition to the new world wasn’t easy then, and will not be now. Everything was gone, and the survivors of the flood had nothing except that which they brought into the boat with them. They were in a new land, not native to them, and had a long rebuilding journey ahead of them. A completely blank slate. Similarly for Bitcoiners, wherever this very erratic journey ends, may not be very enchanting. It may land us all in a foreign land, with not much possessions except that which we’re able to get onto the ark. The journey is hostile, the transition — even after we’re vindicated — is painful, and the immediate end is unknown at best. Yet we carry on. Because like the survivors of the flood, we know what awaits us on the other side is worth it. It will be a new beginning; free of corruption by design, and ours to make the best of.
The story of the flood ends with a rainbow, which God places in the sky as a sign of the covenant between Him and Noah and his children. God gives Noah a very similarly commandment to the one given to Adam in the beginning of Genesis: compare Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 9:1. He tells them to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth, and promises never to flood the earth again to destroy it. It’s a complete reset; back to the world as it should’ve been in the first place. A world without rampant corruption and widespread evil. A world the way God intended it to be when He created Adam and Eve. Likewise, today you may hear Bitcoiners speak of a ‘hyperbitcoinized world’ — where the world will be a much better place because ‘Bitcoin fixes this’. This is real and it’s coming, and there’s nothing that will deter us now. Our rainbow.
If you’ve enjoyed this, you might also enjoy: https://medium.com/@rowaishanna/bitcoin-is-biblical-5334d45379bd
