Live Not By Lies

Why do smart people go quiet when you explain inflation to them? They hear the words. They understand the logic. And then they change the subject.

In this episode, Brian explores what's really happening in that moment — and why Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's challenge to Soviet citizens in 1974 may be the most relevant framework for understanding Bitcoin's role in the world today.

The lie doesn't survive because powerful people enforce it. It survives because ordinary people participate in it — every day, in small ways, by choosing comfort over truth. Solzhenitsyn's ask wasn't revolution. It was quieter and more dangerous: just stop repeating what you know isn't true.

Brian connects this to the hidden nature of inflation, Jeff Booth's deflationary thesis from The Price of Tomorrow, and the civilizational stakes of Bitcoin as an honest measuring stick. He also confronts a real tension: the difference between Bitcoin expanding and Bitcoin being domesticated — and why self-custody isn't just a technical preference but a philosophical commitment.

In This Episode

• Why people shut down when you talk about inflation — and what's really going on beneath that discomfort
• Solzhenitsyn's description of how systemic lies work: everyone knows, no one says
• Technology is deflationary — so why does everything keep getting more expensive?
• Bitcoin as the first monetary measuring stick that can't be quietly stretched
• The co-optation risk: ETFs, custodial products, and the difference between adoption and domestication
• The beautiful game theory: why decentralization must be actively defended, not assumed
• Truth as the foundation of cooperation, prosperity, and civilization itself

References & Further Reading

• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Live Not By Lies (1974 essay)
• Jeff Booth, The Price of Tomorrow

Connect

Stack sats. Live free. Tell the truth — and insist on truth in money.

New episodes every week.

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