Jay do you buy Lowery’s thesis or do you have doubts?
SOFTWAR AUDIOBOOK - Chapter 5 Part 1 Released
We're now getting into the real meat of this thesis: Power Projection in Cyberspace. Learn how and why software systems tend to form rank-based power hierarchies, and how this exposes them to the same threat of exploitation as in rank-based human society. Cyberspace forms the ultimate abstract reality, software developers and administrators are highly incentivized to assume the role of god-kings in modern software-based empires, and users experience far more oppressive abuse via their software than in any other societal hierarchy of the past.
Zap or comment to get notifications when I release new episodes.
Fountain: https://fountain.fm/episode/BtSVPHnPvXZ0IvlMDCZj
Podcast (Apple, Spotify, etc.): https://serve.podhome.fm/episodepage/softwar-audiobook/12
Wavlake: https://wavlake.com/episode/80e06770-5c53-45e2-af61-c89f71f6385e
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FCcwEj4Sd4&list=PL5MbCqTAnvl9N_meijUAhRu0nb1J2K3t5&index=12
You can also look up "SOFTWAR Audiobook" on most podcast apps or on Youtube to find it.
Download the SOFTWAR PDF: https://mega.nz/file/D0hzgCpb#qo07-vUqP-0YkjUKt92ioPNzo08ayEu3RwvWfsXRH8w
#bitcoin #nostr #grownostr #plebchain #softwar #audiobook #podcast
Discussion
The thesis is valid. If you've read it yourself and want to cite any specific section you disagree with I'd be happy to argue why it's valid.
I have not read Software. A friend bought it and I skimmed it. I have listened to Lowery speak on his thesis more than once. I think it sounds interesting and plausible but curious what others who have studied in more detail think.
It's definitely something you read with an extra open mind, an empty cup so to speak. Because it's just so lengthy and detailed, you'll get lost if you get hung up disagreeing on any specific point.
For example, people who are completely intolerant to the idea of violence in any situation did not like the thesis, at all. People who viewed Bitcoin only through an Austrian economic lens also didn't have a good reaction.
In short: Yes, I do think it's valid.
But, I read it when it came out 2 years ago, and that was a fairly quick read through because it was so novel. My mind was so blown by the ideas in it that I knew I'd need a long time to let it sink in.
So reading it aloud has given me that time to think deeply about its foundations, implications, and applications. Ever time I record, I wonder if when I get to the end again, I'll spot some glaring error or something that just doesn't work. The biggest open question people had was whether it was really feasible for Bitcoin to secure anything other than itself, and that's the last part that I'm going through now.
So I guess, until I've spoken aloud ever single word in it, I'll withhold final judgement.
That was always what I wondered about the Softwar thesis: how is Bitcoin securing anything outside of itself / its network. That feels like a peg and pegs are fake.
This is a bit of a stupid and trivial example, but in the casine on cornychat, we'd bet on the last letter on the block hash for a specific block in the future.
It makes for a very fair and egalitarian betting scheme, where there's no house advantage. So Bitcoin's mining can actually secure globally synchronized random outcomes for use in other places.