\1 Try this one on:

#Bitcoin is a distributed, append-only, eventually-consistent, content-addressable key-value store written to by public auction.

Multisig UTXOs are stateful synchronization primitives enabling "database transactions" for client applications at higher layers. \2 Congrats if you made it past tweet #1! (Phew)

This thread explains the tweet above by comparing bitcoin to NoSQL databases.

To be clear, bitcoin is *much* more than "just" a database. But we might learn something from thinking about it like one.

First, a little history...

\1 "#Bitcoin is a game we play where we can easily tell when someone is cheating."

When I first saw this (in some ELI5 bitcoin Tweet) I thought it just some pithy phrase.

But over time this simple sentence has come to resonate with me as a profound summary of the bitcoin ethos. \2 Bitcoin IS a game, but an *infinite* one, where the goal is to keep playing -- not a finite game where the goal is to win.

"Finite games are theatrical, necessitating an audience; infinite ones are dramatic, involving participants"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_an…

\1 Ready to get weird?

I'm excited to announce a new speculative series "Bitcoin Astronomy" about hyperbitcoinized humanity colonizing space.

Part 1 "The Law of Hash Horizons" follows the Muskcoin Revolution of 2140 and its consequences for bitcoin.

unchained-capital.com/blog/law-of-ha… \2 Assume hyperbitcoinization on Earth.

Lightning & mesh networks, PoW merging with energy production, the fracturing of nation states & global corporations, environmental degradation & mega-engineering marvels -- hyperbitcoinization delivers it all.

What happens on Mars?

1\ I gave a weird talk (even for me) at the incredible #RefactorCamp2018.

I presented five schemes, each increasingly crazy, requiring more bullshit tolerance. My title slide below should give an idea of what this talk was like.

Read on for short desc. & links to each scheme. 2\ The first scheme I call the "Nakamoto Point":

The share of global energy used by PoW mining will increase until the marginal revenue from burning 1 kWh of PoW mining = revenue from selling that same kWh on the grid (currently PoW is a >10x premium!)

1\ Do any other Bitcoiners like the book "The Once & Future King" by T. H. White?

It's one of my favorites and I've been revisiting it recently, thinking about cryptocurrency, political representation, & blockchains. 2\ It opens with Merlyn teaching a young King Arthur (Wart) about different forms of government, the fallacy of "might makes right", all through a series of adventuresome allegories.

Disney's "The Sword in the Stone", is a cute (if imperfect) adaptation of this part of the book.

\1 I continue to struggle with @ParityTech's software design decisions. My #Parity node keeps dropping peers. The advice I get is "upgrade to the latest unstable version". Parity is even configured to auto-update itself by default. Why do I have to run at the edge just to work? 2\ Parity is either (a) consumer software or (b) bad software.

It's (sometimes) OK when consumer software forces you to upgrade b/c, as a consumer, you're dumb & insecure. Business (or prosumer) software achieves a higher level of security & control by sacrificing ease of use.

1\ A thought experiment: The year is 2277. You're the bartender at a spaceport in a faraway Earth colony on a planet orbiting α-Centauri: a distance of ~4 light years. Guy walks into your bar, slams down a credit chit, and asks for a drink.

How do you know his money is any good? 2\ If the credit chit were guaranteed by a bank or a blockchain or something local to α-Centauri it'd be easy, just like it is here on Earth in 2018.

But say this guy is fresh-thawed after his long journey from Earth aboard a lighthugger. What kind of wealth could he even have?

1\ Have you heard this reasoning? "#Ethereum is better than #Bitcoin because it can do more." => "The EVM is Turing-complete and Bitcoin Script isn't, so Ethereum is a better cryptocurrency." => "Bitcoin's creators were too early/stupid/blind to make Bitcoin Turing-complete." 2\ This is a blatant misunderstanding! To a non-technical person, Turing-completeness and being able to compute anything is *obviously* better. But programmers know that Turing-completeness is Pandora's box: you don't know what it contains and you can't close it once opened...

1\ Physicists have a word "crank": a person who doesn't know physics but persists in promulgating their personal theory. Cranks pop in all fields of physics but especially in certain areas: quantum mechanics, field theories, relativity, cosmology, &c. 2\ Why these subjects? B/c they are abstract & esoteric. It's hard to crank in Newtonian mechanics because your bogus theory is easily disproved by direct human experience. It's easier to crank in quantum b/c few outside the tribe of physics really understand quantum mechanics.