Instead of trying to fix a corrupted system from within, both of these characters decided to offer an objective alternative that would free the minds that could understand them. John Galt did this with his strike; Satoshi did it with Bitcoin.
For those who are not familiar, the book Atlas Shrugged, published by Ayn Rand in 1957, describes the state of the world today. Yes, today we face the same problems we did half a century ago: parasitism, collectivism, state intervention, fiat currencies, etc.
Ayn Rand describes a culture where production is punished and parasitism is glorified. Where consumers that don't produce have more rights than those who actually produce. At the core of these problems, she points to moral relativism as the root cause. She correctly argues that the chaos created in the system is a reflex of the moral law governing the minds of those participating in that system.
Spoiler alert: if you haven't read the book and want to, don't read any further.
JOHN GALT
In the book a guy called John Galt decided to opt out from the system, to stop playing a rigged game that only benefited the parasites at the expense of producers. He decided that he was not going to voluntarily surrender to slavery.
John was a very smart man; some even called him the smartest man on earth. He saw the system as an offence to morality and reason. He even described it as an anti-human and anti-life system.
He began recruiting the best minds, the greatest industrialists, and the most productive and intelligent men to remove them from the system.
This was his core message: Let's show these parasites what happens when the producers revolt and the minds are withdrawn from the system.
SATOSHI NAKAMOTO
Satoshi Nakamoto may have read Ayn Rand's book to get inspired and create Bitcoin. Satoshi understood that the fiat monetary system cannot be fixed because it's not broken; it's working perfectly as designed.
The solution is not to ask for permission but to think by yourself and do something about it. We are not robots that need to be guided by an external force. We have our minds, and our minds have the power to find patterns, solve problems, and create solutions.
Satoshi created a parallel monetary system based on objective value and morality. The fact that bitcoin requires energy to be minted makes it objective. It makes it real! The fact that the protocol has rules that are based on moral principles. The protocol prevents: Inflation / counterfeiting / stealing with a predictable monetary policy.
On the other hand fiat is subjective and can be easily manipulated.
OPT OUT
Galt created a valley, a kind of citadel where producers could be freed, where commerce was entirely voluntary and the only money accepted was gold.
Satoshi created Bitcoin, a parallel monetary system where humans can freely trade without parasitic intermediaries, without inflation, and without asking for permission.
Both of them sent the same signal: Don't let them fool you, do not help them to fake reality, and do not participate in a rigged system.
In this valley only gold was money, but the dollar sign was the symbol of the valley. We have to remember that the dollar was not backed by gold. The dollar was gold before it was replaced by gold certificates and federal reserve notes.
The quality of money determines the quality of the society, and money is also one of the most important elements of civilization. Money is the only tool we can have to trade freely and under voluntary terms. You have to provide value to get value.
Galt created an oath that had to be taken in order to join the valley:
I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.
As we know very well, Bitcoin is a much better solution to this same problem. The dollar is dead, and gold will not be able to serve our modern information age and super-escalated market.
On the other hand, Bitcoin is the new symbol of the free market, voluntary trade and objective value. We have to provide value to get value. Even so, many still try to steal value from others, creating crypto scams and fake securities.
Both created systems where everyone plays under the same rules. Not a system where everyone has equal results. This false idea of equality was created by parasites to justify theft.
John Galt created equality before the law; Satoshi created equality before the code.
If we had to create an oath for what Satoshi did, it would be the following:
I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never work for a currency that another man can create out of thin air, nor ask another man to do the same.
In practice this will mean working ONLY for bitcoin and PAYING ONLY with bitcoin.
FREE MARKETS
They both recognize that you cannot have a free market if the most important element of the market (money) is not free; in the sense that it can be manipulated.
You can never have a free market if you have a central bank. A central bank is the opposite of a free market. By the time we established central banks, we lost our freedom, we lost our constitutional republics, we lost justice, and we lost everything that was good and helped us in the past. This happened in 1913 in the US and in 1935 in Argentina.
Money has to be produced and earned. You cannot fake reality; you cannot create value out of thin air. This is why "the gold standard" was designed to fail; fractional reserve banking is designed to fail. You cannot fake reality. You cannot create value by destroying the value of the currency. You can only redistribute by stealing from producers and giving to parasites.
John Galt said, 'Value comes from the productive mind' and Satoshi said value comes from energy and proof of work.
They both eliminated the possibility of getting value using violence. They both destroyed the incentive structure of the parasite.
Every individual using bitcoin is extracting energy from the system, and that's the best way to kill a parasite. Like Galt explains, this parasite feeds on our voluntary compliance.
THEY DISAPPEARED.
They both gave the world a gift, and they both disappeared. They didn't want to govern the world or become famous. They wanted to bring moral individuals with an alternative.
They both created a self-sufficient system with no leader. And they both make it clear that free men don't need rulers; they need objective rules and a framework where the mind can create without being looted.
Bitcoin is a revolution: every mind opting out in another mind that strengthens the network and weakens the parasitic system of wealth extraction and mind control.
And the best part? You don't need to ask for permission. But... you have to see it by yourself!
"I am not asking you to believe me. I am asking you to look" John Galt
“If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry.” Satoshi Nakamoto
"I cannot convince you. You must convince yourself" John Galt
It's a massive but quiet revolution: nobody needs to ask for permission to opt out; they need to understand why they should and how to do it.
Bitcoin reintroduces fair rules and hard money FOR THOSE WHO DESERVE it. First you need to understand that there's a problem; you have to start asking questions, and you'll finally find answers.
Every bitcoiner is a John Galt in the sense that our mission is to recruit the best minds and producers from the fiat world and bring them to bitcoin.
The first step to kill a parasite is to stop feeding it!
I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never work for a currency that another man can create out of thin air, nor ask another man to do the same.