Forgetting â Forgetting is a gift. We donât like to forget, but itâs a gift nonetheless. If youâd ask random people on the street whether theyâd like to have perfect memory, most of them would probably say
Careful, Icarus - Why "on-chain zaps" are a terrible idea â Yesterday I relapsed. Not alcohol, or drugs, or gambling, or anything of that sort. It was something worse: having an argument online. Back when twitter was still called twitter I found myself getting into many
Caring about Sloppypasta â Things are insane right now, and maybe Iâm too. Be that as it may, I feel like Iâve been a broken record for the last 18 months. Maybe longer. Some nights I wake up at
What's left of the internet? â I didnât leave the internetâthe internet left me. And despite the âitâs not X itâs Yâ structure of the previous sentence, and the em-dash used, a real human wrote this. Or more accurately: is currently
Building Boris - Highlights From My 21 Days of Insanity â It all started with a simple question: âWhat could I demo next Friday?â Oh, what an innocent question. Who wouldâve thought that one of the consequences of asking it would be me going borderline insane
He Hanged Himself in the Morning â We may enjoy our room in the tower, with the painted walls and the commodious bookcases, but down in the garden there is a man digging who buried his father this morning, and it is
Speaking Freely - On the Oxymoron of Free Speech Platforms â I was speaking to a friend recently and the problem of free speech came up. I shouldnât call it a problem, actually, as it is the solution to a problem. The problem is a perennial
Moral, IntegritĂ€t und PrivatsphĂ€re â Bitcoin ist nun 14 Jahre alt, und wie fast alle Teenager ist die orange MĂŒnze meist un- und missverstanden. Bitcoin ist digitales Geld, Bitcoin ist elektronisches Gold, Bitcoin ist nur fĂŒr Verbrecher, Bitcoin ist schlecht
Reality â Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesnât go away. At least according to Philip K. Dick. But what if something unreal sticks around and lingers? Does it become real, or have
Lethargy â Lethargy. A state of comatose torpor. Oh, what beautiful words. Oh, what a horrible condition of relentless agony. Iâm not sure if thereâs a way to do this right. I wanted to say what Iâm
Die Frage Nach der Energie â Als Bitcoiner haben wir das Argument rund um die Energieverschwendung schon zu genĂŒge gehört: Bitcoin verbraucht mehr Energie als ein kleines Land, Bitcoin bringt die Ozeane zum Kochen, Bitcoin verdreckt und verschmutzt, macht unnötigeâja sogar
Bees â Bees are marvelous creatures. As are most creatures, I guess. Without bees, there wouldnât be any flowers. Without flowers, there wouldnât be any bees. I was walking along a beautiful path today, as I do
Lightning Ă€ndert alles â Lightning Ă€ndert alles. Es ist nicht die einzige Lösung, und es ist auch nicht das Ende der Fahnenstange, aber trotzdem Ă€ndert es alles. Lightning ist Bitcoin und setzt Bitcoin frei. Lightning lĂ€sst Sats flieĂen, ermöglicht
Writing â Writing, for some reason, is one of the most powerful things you can do. I wrote a personal mission statement a couple years ago. They say you should write things down. They say the pen
Bitcoins Are Not Mined, They Are Issued over Time â Out of all the misconceptions when it comes to Bitcoin, the misconception that âminersâ are creating âbitcoinsâ is probably the most asinine one. No, miners are not creating bitcoins. Miners are trying to create valid
Purple Text, Orange Highlights - How nostr can benefit readers and writers. â Not too long ago, I tried to paint a picture of what a vision for a value-enabled web could look like. Now, only a couple of months later, all this stuff is being built. On
Hesitancy â Hesitancy tells you something. Iâm not sure what it is, exactly, but it is something. If there wouldnât be something there would be no hesitancy, all there would be is âfuck yes,â followed by immediate
Bitcoin's Meme Wars â Someone whose star continues to rise once said that âBitcoin isnât just memes.â I disagree. Itâs all memes, all the way down. Let me explain. Whatâs in a meme? Before we get into the weeds
Lightning Prisms â One aspect that is still massively under-utilized is the programmability of Bitcoin. While simple things like scheduled payments and automated payment splits do exist, we are undoubtedly still trapped in conventional thinking when it comes
Eggs â We didnât hear them land on earth, nor did we see them. The spores were not visible to the naked eye. Like dust particles, they softly fell, unhindered, through our atmosphere, covering the earth. It
How to build a nostr gm bot - (without writing any code) â Iâve been bullish on nostr for a while now, but even I am surprised by how swift the ecosystem around this open protocol has been growing. Yes, itâs still early days. But itâs the perfect
Displays â Displays rule our world. They dictate our lives, replace our jobs, facilitate our interactions, and filter our world. One day, many years ago, I went to a shopping mall, which is something I usually donât
Finishing â Finishing things is hard. Starting things is easier. Not easy, mind you. But easier. Iâve read Start Ugly a while ago, or at least Iâve started to read it. Some things stuck with me. Iâm
Editing â Editing is divine, or so the saying goes. A wise man once said that âthe secret to life is send tweet.â There is no place for editing in this philosophy, even though there is an
Yesterday â Yesterday was a good day. Today is not. Itâs funny how this works, isnât it? Nothing changed. Yet everything is different. Feels different, looks different, smells different. The rational mind tries to argue it away.
A Vision for a Value-Enabled Web â We all know that the Web is broken in more ways than one. Clickbait, misinformation, bot farms, anonymous "troll-demons"âthe list is as endless as it is depressing. How did we end up here? I believe
Bitcoin Is the Rediscovery of Money â Bitcoin is the rediscovery of money. It is money reconsidered. It is the removal of counterparty risk. It is the purest, fastest, soundest money, re-imagined from the ground up. It is computational proof of historical events, building up
The Other Side of the Coin - Computational proof of the chronological order of transactions â Cryptography is only one side of the coin, and cryptography is not enough. Why? Cryptography is not enough because cryptography requires secrecy. It requires key holders, and when it comes to a global monetary system, we
Bitcoin ist... â Bitcoin ist 12 Wörter, verschrĂ€nkt mit dir. Und doch wird es mehr als 12 Wörter brauchen, um dies zu erlĂ€utern. Wenn man ein Dutzend verschiedene Leute fragt, was Bitcoin ist, bekommt man zwei Dutzend verschiedene
Dear Crypto & Fiat Bros - An open letter to the confused and dismissive. â It should be obvious by now, but I'm afraid I'll have to spell it out anyway: Bitcoin, not blockchain. Bitcoin, not crypto. Bitcoin, not distributed ledger technology. Bitcoin, not DeFi. Bitcoin, not Web3. Bitcoin, not
Bitcoin Is Digital Scarcity â We should treat computers as fancy telephones, whose purpose is to connect people. Information is alienated experience. Information is not something that exists. Indeed, computers donât really exist, exactly; theyâre only subject to human interpretation.
Creativity â Creativity is a mystery. It is creation, inspiration, andâof courseâtranspiration. You actually have to sit down and do the thing. You have to be creative. But what does it mean, âto be creative?â A creative
Cryptography is Not Enough - A long(ish) Speech on Paradoxes and Antinomies â Warning: This presentation contains example private keys. Do not import any sample keys or send bitcoins to any of the associated addresses; you will lose your money. Watch on YouTube This talk was originally given
I Miss the Old Satoshi â I miss the old Satoshi, straight from the node Satoshi. Chop up the code Satoshi, set on his goals Satoshi. I hate the new Satoshi, the lawsuit Satoshi. The always rude Satoshi, go on a
The Words We Use In Bitcoin - Words, Language, Terminology, and Linguistic Attacks â It canât be said often enough: Bitcoin is confusing. However, itâs not complicated like a Rube Goldberg machine is complicated. Itâs just very foreign and thus very misunderstoodâit is a completely new thing. âThereâs nothing
Freedom and Privacy - Two Sides of the Same Coin â We take many things for granted: running water, electricity, washing machines, the internet, our mobile phones, and a myriad of other technologies. But itâs not only tangible things that we donât think twice about. In
Inalienable Property Rights - The Law, Language, Money, and Morality of Bitcoin â If speech and the free exercise thereof is sacred, then Bitcoin is sacred, because all that Bitcoin requires of you is to think and to speak.
The Egg of the Phoenix â Youâve heard it before: "Bitcoin fixes this." It sounds like a joke at first. An off-hand comment uttered by a complete fool, by someone who is at least partly delusional. Surely, bitcoin doesn't fix this? Right?
The Freedom of Value - How Value-for-Value Fixes the Monetization of Information â The internet has a problem. Few people know that this problem exists, but hey, that's the nature of serious, non-obvious problems: they are invisible until they aren't. The problem with the internet is that information
Tyranny â Tyranny comes in many forms. Some tyrannies are more obvious than others. Or, what seems to be the case currently, sometimes tyranny is obvious to some, ignored by most. I have my suspicions why that
Magic Internet Money - The Magical Origins of Bitcoin â Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Arthur C. Clarke Technology is a marvelous thing. We are so quick to accept things as they stand, rarely taking the time to reflect on how magical
People â People are the most wonderful thing. Full of potential, full of joy, full of wonder. Whenever I see people, I see dancers, artists, musicians, builders, gardeners, plumbers, and poets. Unique human beings, with hearts and
Dreams â Dreams are a curious thing. They are vivid and real; until they arenât. In the ârealâ world, once you fulfill a dream of yours, the dream becomes reality and thus vanishes. What is real in
Moving Towards a Bitcoin Standard - The Stairway to Omnipresence â What a historic day. The first country moved towards a Bitcoin Standard, albeit partially. A lot can be said about Bukele's decision to make bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador. Yes, it is a government
Implications of Outlawing Bitcoin â Bitcoin is complicated and scary. Just like fire, electricity, computers, and every other ground-breaking invention before it. It is complicated and scary because most people do not understand how it works and why it might
Bitcoin Is An Idea â Donât worry about people stealing an idea. If itâs original, you will have to ram it down their throats. Howard H. Aiken Thereâs no flesh or blood within this cloak to kill. Thereâs only an
Seeing â Seeing is believing. We construct our reality based on our experiences. More often than not, what we do not experience is not part of our reality. What we can not see does not exist. Seeing
The Responsibility of Adopting Bitcoin â There is a saying among bitcoiners, and it becomes more truthful and apparent as time goes on: You donât change Bitcoin. Bitcoin changes you. Why is that? At first, I wasnât sure how to answer
Bitcoin Privacy: Best Practices â There is a sacred realm of privacy for every man and woman where he makes his choices and decisionsâââa realm of his own essenÂtial rights and liberÂties into which the law, generÂally speaking, must not intrude. Geoffrey
Humility â I have a drinking bottle that I got a couple of years ago. I believe my sister gave it to me. It simply says: âWhat if youâre right, and they are wrong?â Being right isnât
Bitcoin Is Time â One luminary clock against the sky Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. Robert Frost, Acquainted with the Night (1928) Time is still the great mystery to us. It is no more than a concept;
Creation â There is creation, and there is death. I realize more and more that if Iâm not creating, Iâm dying. Slowly. On the inside. But, for whatever reason, it is still almost impossible for me to
What Is 21ism? â Morpheus: I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole? Neo: You could say that. Morpheus: I see it in your eyes. You have the look of
Crushing â Like crashing waves along the shore, lifeâs challenges - big and small - donât come isolated, and once a big one hits, you can be sure that another one - equally big, or even bigger
On Bitcoin's UX â There is an ongoing discusÂsion in the Bitcoin space revolving around the topic of user experiÂence, or UX for short. Bitcoin still feels weird, clunky, and compliÂcated at times. The main reason for this is
Why I Joined Swan Bitcoin â I have a picture on my wall that says the following: âYou literÂally ought to be asking yourself all the time what is the most imporÂtant thing in the world I could be working on right now,
True Names Not Required â In 1981, at a time where the internet was in its infancy (and I was just a gleam in my fatherâs eye), the legendary mathematician, computer scientist, and science-fiction author Vernor Vinge published his prophetic
Dare â Dare to be different. Dare to try something new. Dare to struggle, dare to fail, dare to start anew. Dare to go out into this world, dare to dream, dare to give it your all.
The Bitcoin Journey â A couple of weeks ago I had the immense pleasure of giving the opening talk at the Value of Bitcoin conference. I would like to revisit some ideas of this talk and maybe dig deeper
Habits â We are creatures of habit. Our bodies are shaped by what we do routinely, over and over again. Many of the things we do daily are in the realm of the unconscious: we donât think
Dear Family, Dear Friends - A letter to all of you who still have no bitcoin. â I am writing this letter because I am convinced of two things: (1) our current money is fundamentally broken (2) using superior money will benefit you in particular â and society in general â in
Dear Bitcoiners - An optimistic letter to friends and foes around the globe. â The madness of this world became obvious in an instant. Everything is changing way faster than most of us ever imagined â but Iâm not worried. To the contrary, Iâm weirdly optimistic â because of
Dear Legacy People â The world you know and love is no more, even if it isnât obvious to every one of you just yet. We will look back at this moment in time, the months we are currently
Bitcoin's Habitats - How Bitcoin is surviving and thriving between worlds â As I have argued previously, Bitcoin is a living organism. But where does this organism live, exactly? As with many questions in the world of Bitcoin, exact answers are hard to come by. Living things
Bitcoin's Eternal Struggle - How Bitcoin Thrives on the Edge between Order and Chaos â Bitcoin works. No matter what other opinions you hold about this strange phenomenon, it undoubtedly works, marches on, or, as I (and others) have previously argued, is alive. Even if most of the world would
Bitcoin Boots on the Ground: Venezuela â JosĂ© is a bitcoiner. Like many others, he discovered bitcoin a couple of years ago and is fascinated by the technology. Unlike many others, however, JosĂ© lives in a country where the traditional financial system
Sanity â Sanity. Faith. Has the world gone mad? Or is it me? I must confess that I lost faith in the sanity of the world. H.G. Wells Sanity. What defines sanity? Some people say sanity is
How to Kill Bitcoin â What follows is an elaborate, in-depth, and practical step-by-step guide on how to kill the beast which is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is remarkably resilient. As Rep. Patrick McHenry famously said: governments can not stop this innovation.
Joy â Occasionally in life, there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart. Martin Luther
The Rise of the Sovereign Individual - How power is re-aligning itself in an internet-native world â Not too long ago, the internet was a fringe phenomenon. Very few people saw the benefits of a global communications network. Even fewer people had the vision and the foresight to see what it might
Proof of Life - Why Bitcoin is a Living Organism â The definition of life has been a challenge for scientists and philosophers alike. While many definitions have been put forward, what precisely differentiates the living from the non-living remains elusive. Are viruses alive? DNA molecules?
The World is Waking Up to Bitcoin â Not too long ago, Bitcoin was a niche interest. Cryptographers, cypherpunks, and some libertarian-minded folks were the only ones interested in the idea of magic internet money. Fast-forward to today, and the U.S. President, the
Brevity â It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. Robert Southey
Ships â One part of the journey seems to be over. However, as is the case in all of life, there is no clear separation between parts. So I wonât try to create one. One journey comes
Words â Words have to be one of the greatest inventions of mankind. Granted, itâs a stretch to say that the spoken word was invented. The written word, however, undoubtedly was. What an astonishing thing a book
Ladies â What a strange thing is man! And what a stranger is woman! What a whirlwind is her head, and what a whirlpool full of depth and danger is all the rest about her. Lord Byron
Bitcoin's Gravity - How idea-value feedback loops are pulling people in â Bitcoin is different things to different people. Whatever it might be to you, it is undoubtedly an opinionated and polarizing phenomenon. There are certain ideas embedded in the essence of Bitcoin, and you might be
Calling â Callings are a very strange thing, and I sometimes find myself in a pickle trying to explain phenomena like these rationally. There are certain things you have to do, but you canât really explain it.
Happiness â Thomas Jefferson wrote about the sacred and undeniable truth that all men are created equal and independent. And that from this equal creation inherent and inalienable rights are derived, among which are the preservation of
Strangers â We have met many people in the last few months. Some remained strangers, some became friends. Most we wonât see again. Of course, in these foreign lands, it is we who are the strangers. âAnd
Technological Teachings of Bitcoin - What I've Learned From Bitcoin: Part III â What is Bitcoin? The many answers to this question are as interesting as they are varied. Bitcoin is both a social and a monetary phenomenon, but it is also a technological one. The intersection of
Dance â âI stand at the seashore, alone, and start to think. There are the rushing waves ⊠mountains of molecules, each stupidly minding its own business ⊠trillions apart ⊠yet forming white surf in unison.
Paths â We have been told that all paths lead to truth â you have your path as a Hindu and someone else has his path as a Christian and another as a Muslim, and they all
Waves â Most things seem to arrive in waves. Good things and bad things, motions and emotions, living things and inanimate objects, challenges and opportunities. The line between surfing a wave and being crushed by it is
Outlook â There are apartments in the soul which have a glorious outlook; from whose windows you can see across the river of death, and into the shining city beyond; but how often are these neglected for
Ducks â âWhere are we heading?â âUpstream.â âWhy? We will just drift down again, ending up right where we started.â âExactly.â
Birds â There are people who love birds so much they free them. There are others who love them so much they cage them. Gene Wolfe
Stairs â Wherever we go, we encounter stairs. Steep ones and flat ones, both to wonderful places and to nowhere. They are everywhere, no matter where you are, no matter what you do. Up implies down. Difference
Remembrance â Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among
Economic Teachings of Bitcoin - What I've Learned From Bitcoin: Part II â Money doesnât grow on trees. To believe that it does is foolish, and our parents make sure that we know about that by repeating this saying like a mantra. We are encouraged to use money
Idling â So much to do, yet so little time. What am I gonna do, with the time that is mine. So much to say, both silent and loud. Everyone wants to idle. But no idling allowed.
Street Art â Sometimes I wonder why the ârationalâ world, the world of science and technology, is often so far removed from the arts. It seems to me that everyone, no matter the discipline, is after the same
Philosophical Teachings of Bitcoin - What I've Learned From Bitcoin: Part I â Some questions have easy answers. âWhat have you learned from Bitcoin?â isnât one of them. After trying to answer this question in a short tweet, and failing miserably, I realized that the amount of things
Contrasts â Darkness and light. Fire and ice. Water frozen like diamonds and boiling in pools due to volcanic heat below. Long, black nights lit up by dancing auroras. Iceland truly is a land of contrasts. There
Days of Gray â Despite hours of darkness, in a land far away, vivid colors begone, enjoying some days of gray. Itâs okay to be average. You donât have to be exceptional at everything you do. You donât have
Wanderers â It is strange how leaving an all too familiar place immediately shifts oneâs perspective of the past, the present, and the future. Maybe thatâs why so many people fall in love with traveling: it seems
The Magic Dust of Cryptography - How digital information is changing our society â Imagine you have a hammerâââa magical hammerâââwhich can smash anything into pieces with one stroke. Not only that, this hammer can completely pulverize everything it touches into a fine gray dust. Further imagine that there
Bitcoin's Energy Consumption - A shift in perspective â You might have heard that Bitcoin wastes a tremendous amount of energy. You might also have heard that Bitcoin will use half a percent of the worldâs electric energy by the end of the year,
Not all code is words, but some words are code:
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