These days I empathize with Bitcoin maximalists, there's a certain purity to the whole thing, it's just that the aesthetics of Bitcoin maximalism are bad

Have you talked to one? They simply want to become filthy rich and will cram any world event into their narrow framework as wish fulfillment. 

I love Bitcoin itself, but the maximalists are what limit my optimism (“Surely, these people will not be allowed to become a ruling class.”)

building /bracket | hosting /greatbooks + /gray | ex-BCG, ex-PHD | poli + phil + econ

I bucket that under aesthetics probably, I moreso just mean the philosophical/ideological position of only being interested in Bitcoin

I don’t hold that position myself, but I’ve come around to understanding why one would, and respect it

I don’t see any causal link. IMO the fact that there are “normal” people who “practice” the philosophy (ie only holding BTC and only dedicating their efforts to working on/growing BTC) but don’t embody Bitcoin maximalism aesthetics, means that it has to be accidental. Somehow this weird maximalist cult did end up forming but it doesn’t feel deterministic to the nature of Bitcoin

Another thought experiment being, if Ethereum or any other cryptocurrencies were never invented, would all Bitcoin holders embody maximalist aesthetics? I don’t think so, which means it’s theoretically possible to practice the ideology without embodying the aesthetics.

I see. Do you think that the things you’re grouping into “aesthetics” (ie how the adherents actually live) is accidental to the philosophy or naturally caused by it?