Silver Hits $53 — Up 3.4% in 24 Hours 
Episode Four: The Physics of Money
About This Episode
In this episode, Alan Hibbard moves from money as a financial tool to money as a physical force — literally. He introduces entropy as the unseen enemy of wealth. Entropy is the natural tendency of systems to fall apart, decay, or become disordered. It affects businesses, investments, currencies — even your own attention and energy.
If wealth is stored energy, then money must defend against the forces that dissipate or waste it.
Through this lens, Alan redefines money’s core purpose: not just to store value, but to keep entropy low over time. It’s a profound insight that unlocks why gold, silver, and Bitcoin function so well — and why currencies, though useful, are designed for something else entirely
Key Question
How do the laws of physics and thermodynamics apply to monetary systems and their long-term sustainability?Work and Value
Key Insight:
Everything you find valuable reduces the entropy of your life. Anything you try to avoid, such as disease, stress, or crime, causes an increase of entropy instead.
Practical Takeaway:
Since fiat systems increase your personal and societal entropy, they are akin to disease and warfare and should be avoided. Instead, use decentralized monetary systems that require ongoing energy expenditure to resist an increase in entropy.
Storing Value
Money’s primary objective is to keep entropy low. That’s how it ‘stores value.’
Key Insight:
If value is a low-entropy state, then a store of value is something that retains a low-entropy state for as long as possible.
Practical Takeaway:
Don’t assume that anything Durable will automatically “store value”; it will retain its intrinsic value, of course, but to retain monetary value, it must retain its extrinsic value as well (by resisting all forms of entropy).
Creating Value
If you want to get rich, reduce entropy for yourself and others. If you want to stay rich, resist entropy using money.
Key Insight:
There’s no such thing as “passive income.” All wealth comes from actively solving problems, which means creating order from chaos.
Practical Takeaway:
Start small – clean your room, your desk, your mind and calendar. Over time, do this for others in a voluntary exchange. Store proceeds in real money.
Monetary Entropy
Every property of money is a way of keeping entropy low. Without them, entropy rises and value disappears.
Key Insight:
The properties of money that economists and philosophers have listed for thousands of years are all ways of ensuring that entropy stays as low as possible for as long as possible.
Practical Takeaway:
Look for all possible vectors for energy to leak out of a money – at the unit, owner, and network levels. The best money will have the fewest ways and lowest probability for energy to leak.
Currency and Friction
Currency’s primary objective is to minimize friction. We don’t want to ‘waste’ energy when we move our energy.
Key Insight:
If an asset is popular or advertised for its high speed, low fees, or other low-friction properties, then that asset is likely a currency (best for transactions) and not a money (best for saving).
Practical Takeaway:
Currencies are fantastic for making transactions or purchases where speed and low-cost are essential. But they are a poor choice to hold in a financial portfolio long term.
Ready to Take Action?
Apply what you’ve learned and start building your financial future today.
