This is an op-ed written by David Wu, business development and communications specialist at bitcoin investment platform Coinbits, and Dave Birnbaum, product manager at Coinbits.
Every generation has bones to pick with those who came before. but, Generation Zthose born between the late 1990s and early 2010s have a particularly valid complaint: Previous generations have stolen their futures.
Also called “Zoomers”, this group was forced by lockdowns and school closures to socialize through webcams during their formative years. these 68 million Americans Their lives have been disrupted by social upheaval, destruction of wealth, and cultural decline, all during the prime of their youth.
Many Zoomers do not yet realize the scale of the crime that has been committed against them. Some wake up. Either way, they will soon each need to get involved to pay for decades of financial and monetary mismanagement by previous generations.
But the situation is not hopeless. There is a tool Gen Z can use to achieve payback. Instead of embarking on a dismal project to rebuild our shattered financial system, only to bring back the rents and inequalities that once existed, Zoomers can leave their mark on history by using bitcoin to build a new system that is resilient, fair, and just.
Like the Greatest Generation, which rebuilt America on strong foundations after confronting the greatest threat to humanity that has ever emerged, Generation Z can channel its well-earned sense of betrayal and loss to create a world order worthy of its own. Children and grandchildren.
Backrests in the corner
I called sometimesThe loneliest generationGeneration Z has been sold by seniors, who have refused to make the sacrifices necessary to allow future generations to thrive. The psychological warfare being waged against Zoomers is sometimes subtle, but more often than not it is not. In schools, the media, and the Internet, they are exposed They are attacked because of climate, race, and exploitation, and are told that their future has been stolen by villains who selfishly refuse to solve these problems.
In fact, this is half the truth. Zoomers’ future has indeed been stolen, but not by polluters and racists. Instead, globalized elites, smart enough to see their system fail but not brave enough to take responsibility for it, have plundered the financial and cultural capital that the Greatest Generation bequeathed to us.
As part of the cover-up for this crime, the Zoomers endured a constant onslaught of dismal publicity. They were told The world will end in 10 years. Climate anxiety is widespread Among a generation that has been instructed to feel guilty for their existence rather than being called upon to create new things and solve problems. Previous generations shot at the moon. Today’s elites disdain space exploration Lest the missiles affect the weather.
All this yielded predictable results. Zoomers suffer from high rates of suicide, depression, anxiety, and many more I feel that life is meaningless.
Politicians are unlikely to offer a solution. Attracting the Gen Z voting base is a shameless game Mind manipulationAnd Signs virtue And the righteous seize power. political leaders deny the truthAnd they claim they can engineer boom using central planning. Public schools and universities generally fail to provide a quality humanities education, depriving an entire generation of the intellectual tools needed to notice this deception.
Increase awareness of the problem
However, many members of Generation Z are reaching significant milestones as they make their way through the ruins of the university system and join the workforce. We recently met Jack Nicastro, a current student at Dartmouth College, who thinks he can see politically motivated pessimism:
“Mainstream culture is hopelessly (and intolerably) pessimistic, especially appropriate technology,” said Nicastro. “Politicians are capitalizing on the masses’ concerns about technology, automation and artificial intelligence with their usual demagoguery to advance an illiberal politics agenda, as evidenced by the TikTok hearings.”
Sid Gundapaneni, a student at Binghamton University, offers a similar perspective, stating that he is “optimistic in a broad sense” about standards of living, though he is less certain about the future of freedom:
“From the point of view of liberty, I am unable to maintain such confidence – and I think there are long-term consequences for that,” he said. “But for now, governments and supported industries are showing no fatigue in their explosive growth.”
Dealing with the challenge
The financial and monetary crises facing Generation Z are significant. The national debt More than 31 trillion dollarsUnfunded liabilities exceed $187 trillion. Thanks to the politicized and incompetent Federal Reserve, so is the American economy Headed towards stagflationIt is a bad phenomenon in which inflation and unemployment are severe at the same time.
Leaders of major political parties Claim Social Security and Medicare reforms are off the table. Brian Riedel, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, recently mentioned that both programs “will run a budget deficit of $116 trillion over the next 30 years, according to CBO (Congressional Budget Office) data”.
Some Zoomers understand the need for reform. in Wall Street Journal article Offering student commentary on Social Security, Mark Panjaitan, an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin stated, “Instead of putting dreams of retirement in the hands of a faltering Congress, I would advise everyone to rely on the fruits of their labor.”
Another, Ryan Callahan of the University of Virginia, claimed, “No matter what changes Congress makes, Social Security will be a ghost of what it used to be by the time my generation can gather.”
With the political process unable to meet the basic needs for change, let alone ambitious projects that require sacrifice for the sake of future generations, voting and activism cannot solve this problem on its own. At our current trajectory, the amount of economic growth required to pay off our debt is almost mathematically impossible—except for a technological breakthrough that rearranges the chessboard.
A generation prepared for bitcoin
The defining feature of Zoomers that makes them worthy of their name is that they move incredibly fast. Generation Z grew up on an informational diet of frantic stimulation. Its members are quick to learn new technologies and good at using them to create new content, apps, and social experiences.
as researchers at McKinsey male“Members of Generation Z…are true digital natives: from the youngest to the oldest, exposed to the Internet, social networking, and mobile phone systems.”
The fast-paced, technology-centric way of life predisposes Zoomers to Bitcoin. While previous generations may balk at not knowing Bitcoin, Zoomers are too more Comfortable with Bitcoin compared to traditional banking and financial products. They are well positioned to build the infrastructure needed to bring Bitcoin to billions of people – and change the calculus facing the problems of their time.
Return journey
Although Bitcoin provides hope for Zoomers, they must prepare themselves for what lies ahead – a difficult journey back to a balanced and free society. The preparation will require independent study to compensate for the poor education prevalent in public schools and higher education. They will need to organize their own communities using encrypted communication networks in the face of censorship, intimidation, and surveillance. Existing institutions, such as the legal, financial, public service, and corporate leadership spheres, must be permeated with the means to impose drastic reforms.
Additionally, they will need to understand that Bitcoin provides an essential part of this means. Bitcoin is leverage in a world where Gen Z has very little. They will need to reject the false promise of “encryption” and relearn the ancient art of long-term thinking.
Every generation deals with crises, but some generations are called upon to face particularly difficult challenges. The greatest generation went to war to protect humanity from totalitarian regimes. Zoomers must now face the repercussions of decades of monetary and financial irresponsibility, and the devastation it has wrought on their freedoms and culture.
They didn’t ask, but for a generation of young people struggling to believe that their lives have meaning, the call to rebuild with Bitcoin is perhaps the greatest boon they could receive. It won’t be easy, but it’s worth it.
This is a guest post by David Waugh and Dave Birnbaum. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.