Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road. — Stewart Brand
In a few decades, bitcoin will become so intrinsic to global culture that no one will remember a time when it did not exist. By then people will use it, without any special awareness, just like the internet. But if you asked most people what bitcoin is today, you would likely get different responses. Each correct and wrong in their own way. Why? Because it is an evolving technology that cannot be explained without context.
This subjective version of bitcoin that exists in people’s minds, is a result of their background. So you will perceive it differently depending on where you fall on the social, economic or educational spectrum. If we accept the above premise to be true, then it would be foolish to constrain bitcoin to a single technical definition. After-all, nobody holds the internet to a precise perception despite how ubiquitous and transformative it has been over the decades. This is one of many similarities we count on bitcoin imitating over the years. Now let’s explore how different people perceive the internet.
If you asked an elderly man in his fifties what he thought the internet was, he would probably say; “email”, AOL or one of the legacy portals he endured over the dial-up connection days.
If you asked most millennials in their thirties, they might reply with whatever services they use for work or entertainment.
If you asked a citizen in a politically oppressed regime, they might say it is an expensive luxury that only government is permitted to use freely. The few that have it, might describe it as a portal to a parallel world where cats are deity.
If you asked a drug dealer, she might say it is a means for researching the best strains of Indica or a tool for drop shipping so she never has to meet her customers in person.
If you asked immigrant workers, they might say it is how they keep in touch with family around the diaspora.
If you asked a sex worker, he might say that it is a tool for getting paid out of his living room through a webcam. That way he would never be in danger of altercation with a violent female. Reverse genders if you find it more tasteful.
If you asked a computer scientist or an IT professional, then things start to get interesting. They might say things like “it is a set of rules for transferring bits of information through a network of computers that requires a common language. This common language makes it possible to create a universe of applications that benefit society”.
As you see, it is simply impossible to define something with such a multitude of consequences without applying relevant context. Now let us attempt to define bitcoin as perceived by people in society today.
THE ELDERLY GENT
A man in his fifties who grew up with AOL and YAHOO as the “internet superhighway” might describe bitcoin as magic internet money. In time, it could become the most convenient way to send his grandkids an allowance.
THE MILLENNIAL WOMAN
Like the elderly gent, a young woman would still describe bitcoin as magic internet money with a hint of taboo because her government says it is bad. She believes her government like most of her peers. But when she finally succumbs to curiosity, she discovers the best savings technology ever.
THE OPPRESSED CITIZEN
To a citizen from a politically oppressed regime, bitcoin would be a financial technology that saves them from irresponsible fiscal policies that precede hyperinflation. It is insurance against bad government decisions.
THE DRUG DEALER
To a drug dealer, bitcoin would be a means of pseudo anonymous payment and elimination of violence from a dangerous trade. You would be able to save your hard earned drug money when regular banking institutions won’t touch you.
THE IMMIGRANT WORKER
If you sought economic prosperity in a foreign land, bitcoin would be a one stop shop for all your remittance needs. You won’t need to take any days off to queue at a money transmitter or remember your mother’s maiden name. It would be that technology that replaced all the predatory middlemen who took a piece of your money every time you sent some back home.
THE COMPUTER SCIENTIST
If you were a computer scientist, it would be a protocol for value transfer. A protocol made possible by solving a problem that baffled the best computer scientists for decades; The Byzantine Generals problem. And by the way, if you don’t know what that is, then it is unlikely that you could have discovered bitcoin before 2011. You then realize that it is a set of rules on which applications can be built, just like the internet. The only difference is that all the applications will have economic and financial consequences right out of the box.
Let us further explore how high level professionals might see bitcoin though the lens of their responsibilities.
THE MODERN ECONOMIST
If you were a computer literate economist, bitcoin would be cryptographically verifiable digital scarcity. The first time we can prove that a digital asset is indeed scarce with fixed supply. Before bitcoin, you could replicate anything digital to the point it became worthless, making it uninteresting to economists. Bitcoin breaks the mold. It is digital and you can’t create more as you please.
THE ACCOUNTANT
If you were an accountant, it would be a new paradigm in accounting called triple entry bookkeeping. You discover a secure global ledger system where credit and debit entries are not audited by Deloitte or Price Waterhouse, but by a built-in cryptographic entry. This ledger is self balanced and self audited. It almost feels like the reason you would soon be out of a job.
THE HEDGE FUND MANAGER
If you were an investment fund manager that traded in liquid assets with risk management, then bitcoin would be a new asset class with asymmetric upside. It would be a tiny but essential allocation to your portfolio that is not correlated to anything you have ever traded. It would be a hedge if all your other thesis go south.
THE CENTRAL BANKER
If you were a central banker, it would be your life’s work codified to mathematical precision. A monetary system with no central issuing authority and no central regulation. It would be an incorruptible version of everything you’ve been trying to accomplish.
THE REGULATOR
If you were charged with monitoring compliance of contractual obligations to the government and citizens, then bitcoin would be a shiny new thing you should leave alone until you understand better. You cannot regulate something you don’t understand. You risk stifling innovation and you will not be able to enforce any rules you dictate in ignorance. Imagine regulating the internet with post office rules.
THE FINANCE MINISTER
If you were an executive or cabinet position holder in charge of government finances, bitcoin would be a new asset class you need to learn about quickly. Because it is neither issued nor regulated by a competing sovereign state, it could be your hedge against unfair International sanctions.
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT BITCOIN?
By now you should be convinced that there is no one size fits all definition for bitcoin. “If you don’t get it or don’t believe me, I don’t have time to explain it to you.” With that out of the way, why should you care about Bitcoin? Because the first application of bitcoin is money. Do you remember the first application of the internet? It was email. Now think about this: email versus money.
The early internet was a simple protocol for information transfer. It included something called SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol ) from which we built email. Email was slow and it delivered text within minutes. We optimized SMTP for speed and built messaging services. We further optimized to include video. This unleashed a torrent of streaming services which introduced the era of YouTube. Next, we added reputation systems and built services like Amazon. We then added geolocation and the Internet gave us Uber and Airbnb. This oversimplifies but it conveys the idea that we arrived at the modern web through step by step iteration.
In a similar way, bitcoin is a protocol for value transfer. We are in the SMTP days. The really early days where we transfer value by signing a private key (completely encapsulated from users). Can you imagine what we will build on top of that? Can you imagine the services that will exist when we get to the “Uber” era of bitcoin? Can you imagine the applications that will be created when bitcoin becomes native internet money? Certainly no one can, but we often make educated guesses based on current trajectory of development and the fact that we are hard-wired to go after low hanging fruit. Creativity is hard work.
With unlimited upside and a non-trivial downside, the most important investment you can make today is to educate yourself about this new technology. Will it survive indefinitely? Nobody knows for certain, but you should never bet against innovation. How seriously should you take Bitcoin? Probably more seriously than you should’ve taken the internet in the early eighties.
Now, you understand why We wrote this book and why bitcoin is important. Next, you should find out why We study early bitcoiners in the “INTRODUCTION”. Lord Thoth sees your growth and rejoices. Now send him your prayers and subscriptions so He can serve you better.
Well explained perception of Bitcoin of different people.