The Road Ahead — with Andrew Edstrom Bitcoin embodies Schumpeterian Creative Destruction. Bitcoin also behaves like a physical natural resource, with unique differences that make it a driving force for effecting fundamental change, much like gold, oil or electricity has done. Bitcoin goes through periodic cycles of varying lengths that inspire a creative rejuvenation…

On institutional incompetence and what to do about it — Trusting Institutions, No Longer The remark above may rank low in the pantheon of Balaji S. Srinivasan’s unfailingly thought-inspiring tweets, but I think there is enough to unpack in here to deserve a short essay. Specifically, it gives impetus for two related thoughts. First, are all proclamations made by institutions to be treated with…

Lessons from the very first case study — Suppose we really knew where new and novel ideas come from — some powerful tool to create ideas. Imagine being able to deterministically engineer innovation into existence. With the switch of a button…poof! In all walks of life we would all instantly become more creative, even those among us who…

We define property rights and examine how Bitcoin paves the way for the next stage in human evolution: Towards H. sapiens bitcoinensis. — 1. Where property rights come from To understand what the intrinsic value of any good really is — be it a bitcoin or a bar of gold; a painting or its NFT; a carrot or a car — one must first take a step back and truly grok property rights. The widely-held belief is this: It…

Bitcoin’s value comes from being an anchor with absolute irreversibility that entrains our present with our future by design. — with Robert Breedlove 1. The Tyranny of the Future Think about the future for a space, as it pertains to each of us individually or even to any combination of us taken as a group, from a couple all the way to the entire world. The present is a point in time, wherefrom you draw several…

A Jeeves & Wooster story — “Some days seem perfect,” I remarked, as I drained the trusty tumbler of its bracing contents. “Don’t they, Jeeves?” Jeeves, who had been setting the bookshelves in order, shelved the task to consider. “Indeed, sir,” he assented. “No, Jeeves,” I retorted, for I had him exactly where I wished in…

“I think the internet warrants a native currency and Bitcoin is probably the best manifestation of that thus far. I can’t see that changing given all the people who want the same thing and build it for that potential.” — Jack Dorsey If you’ve followed Bitcoin with the lightest degree…

Virtuous Habits and the Shameless Bitcoiner — I. Bitcoin-ism Bitcoin has provided us with a veritable catalog of concepts and ideas. …

Metatechnologies and Semicommons — Bitcoin is a metatechnology. Moreover, it is rare metatechnology because it directly enables the creation of semicommons, much like it was with medieval Village Commons. The Bitcoin Village Commons simultaneously curates rules for an overarching open-access commons as well as those for private use cases within semicommons. …