In it eighth episode of Separating Money and State, Paulo Márquez reflects on how money is not just a means of exchange: it is a psychological and cultural mediator that influences collective mental health, time preference, planning capacity, creativity and even the meaning of life itself.
Sick money (hyperinflationary or slowly inflationary) produces nihilistic, anxious, short-term and “hunter-gatherer” societies. Healthy money (hard, predictable and gaining purchasing power) generates calm, creativity, craftsmanship, long-term planning and healthy self-esteem. Bitcoin, being the first truly healthy money in modern history, functions as “psychological medicine” for individuals and societies.
The conversation starts from the idea that hyperinflation not only destroys the economy, but psychologically sickens an entire society: it turns people into modern hunter-gatherers obsessed with “seeking money” instead of creating value, generates learned helplessness, chronic anxiety and a “negative personality inflation” where the individual feels guilty for their own poverty when the fault lies with defective money. Basic trust is broken, planning disappears and life becomes nihilistic (“if money dies, everything is allowed”), it replaces any long-term collective or personal project.
The most relevant:
- Bad money = chronic stress → high cortisol → anxiety, depression, creative block.
- Good money = reduced cortisol → calm, planning, creativity and healthy self-esteem.
- Bitcoin is literally “psychological medicine”: pay someone in BTC and you give them certainty that their work will not evaporate.
- Healthy money allows you to “travel to the future” (you gain real time); Sick money steals your time.
- Societies with soft money live in modern hunter-gatherer mode: they seek money instead of creating value.
- There is no deep craft or art when you are in constant survival.