The triggering of A BOOK, "Softwar" is a bullseye in the midwit bell curve.

It's a book. Good books progress a debate. They don't validate something you already knew - they make you think about something differently for the first time or introduce new concepts to you that you might not agree with.

It's ok to disagree with or agree with a book as a reminder. It's ok to disagree and go on with your life with an improved position having come from anticipating many people expressing the idea of this book. You are now more prepared and a better conversationalist if you have read the book of your opponent.

The best, and most benevolent reason to write a book is that you have an original thought that benefits from a public debate to improve it or disprove it. If you read a book and you want to disprove the hypothesis of it, then you are actually solution oriented with data and it means you actually read the book.

That's not what's happening here with this book. Midwits are so triggered and even proudly saying that they haven't read the book when no one is stopping them from reading it and just outworking the author on a disproving the hypothesis.

The author's writing style is like Taleb's especially in something like Antifragile. I don't think people are used to reading original and bold hypotheses and what it takes to defend them. Like Taleb does in Antifragile, an original hypothesis is made and then spend many many examples trying to prove it. That's what has to happen when you make a bold claim that is simple to understand but original.

In Antifragile the point is simple. Things die or gain from disorder. Then the entire book is examples of this eg Hormesis, Lung Convexity, Teaching Birds to Fly etc etc. If you disagree with Antifragile's hypothesis then great, show examples of where it's disproved and be grateful that it was an expansive exercise inspired by an author's original thought. They did in fact spend a significant amount of time thinking about a topic and then having the gumption and bravery to put it out into the World.

Out of respect to how we progress conversations and promote original thinking, the least you could do is remember what it takes to get an original thought to the masses.

Softwar is an original thought from an author that is incredibly interesting. I'm not the best person to explain Softwar but I will give my version of it below. The point of this post is that it seems like the people that are so mad about it, haven't read it and fumble mightily on counterpoints with some anger behind the inadequacy of their positions. It is a little ironic that they're not actually doing the work but signaling their intelligence by being angry at the concept. So even before we get into the nuance of the position, I discount whoever has a passionate point on why it's dumb and proudly announces it's not worth their time. There are people that have read this book, disagreed and moved on which is representative of the non-midwits.

As a reminder it's ok to disagree, keep it to yourself and move on. It's also ok to respectfully disagree from reading the book and making counterpoints. It's not ok to represent a behavior that discourages original thinking and chastising people with the bravery to put their original thinking into the World especially if it's progressing the understanding of Bitcoin. Understanding of Bitcoin is the reason why 1% of the population owns it and not 90+%.

That's why this is hate of Softwar is a midwit marker. You're actively moving backwards the attempt to frame understanding for more people with anger instead of work and better counterpoints.

I enjoyed Softwar and not because I agree or disagree with it but it introduced me to new concepts like power projection and defensing property with blood and lives. I had never thought about it that way and was able to communicate this point to friends in military and some family members that I was not able to before and I saw them get to the lightbulb moment. I can even communicate that I don't agree or disagree with it but I like talking about it because it's interesting.

If Softwar enables this type of conversation that was not available to me before then it is not a bad book. Quite the opposite in fact. What Softwar helped me to understand came from the original diagram the author drew up that was the basis for the book. The majority of the book is defending the point of the diagram that shows how property is traditionally. I don't even need to get into the details of the book but this is how I explain what it helped me to realize:

Bitcoin is digital property. Bitcoin is similar to a website domain that a website domain is digital property. In a digital world, you defend your rights to a website with annual subscriptions or you lose your digital property. Digital property before Bitcoin was never immutably your property because you have to do something to keep defending it like paying annually for it or you lose it.

Bitcoin is unlike pre-existing digital property such as website domains because you now have something you can immutably claim as yours (insofar that you can prove you can move it). This is possible because it is provable, verifiable digital scarcity that you and only you can move to show that you and only you have the rights and ability to move it. You are able to move it because of how your ability to do so is defended.

Physical property and commodities are used to being defended by bullets and human lives. Think oil and the petrodollar and your house if someone more powerful wants it by threat of prison from annual tax evasion or threats of power that threaten your life if you don't leave it.

Bitcoin's version of power projection to defend the ability to finally own something immutably is making sure you own as much hash rate as possible which requires no violence to defend.

That's how I understand it and that might even be incorrect but it's kinda shitty that there's much more anger than work and better communication around a concept of this gravity.

Some people finally understand Bitcoin when they finally get what it is that applies to their life the most. If you're angry about this book, haven't read it or have any military background, then yes you must do more work than you're doing now and prove it from better arguments that come from actually reading it.

So in conclusion, I'm not sure what's behind the vitriol with the book when you can just read it, disagree and improve your personal understanding of Bitcoin which will inevitably be improved if you have a cogent counterpoint to Softwar. It just seems like midwit vibes are strong with the ones so angry about book that introduces a new way of thinking about Bitcoin that clearly appeals to an important domain and group of people that talk, speak and think about things in this way.

To save us all some time from the comments, I will be replying with, "did you read the book?". I'm not interested in progressing conversations with people that have a strong reaction to a title of a book without reading it. It's sad this disclaimer has to be made for Bitcoiners honestly.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

I read it and I enjoyed it in a similar manner as you. The light bulb moment for me was significant.

If I could critique your description of it, it would only be the final sentence. I’d implore you to differentiate between owning BTC and having access to hash rate. Then ask if hash rate could be attacked by physical means and if violence is therefore necessary to defend it.

I don’t try to understand why midwits do what they do. They don’t even understand why.

Thank you for representing what this discourse could look like. I'm not able to learn from you if you don't mind helping me understand your critique more. Mind first clarifying which is the last sentence you're referring to I don't know if I'm making the connection from my last sentence saying Bitcoiners shouldn't have to be told to do the work.

Your point is heard on making sure to separate BTC from hash rate. Are you saying that the nature of mining is actually physical from physical miners so they could be theoretically physically attacked?

My mistake.

“…making sure you own as much hash rate as possible which requires no violence to defend.”

This is where I thought maybe he doesn’t understand the difference between owning BTC and having access to hash rate. It surprised me based on the rest of your post though, so I may have misinterpreted or the wording may have gotten past me.

As the network grows, one of the big issues is going to be gaining access to block space in order to actually get your transactions approved. If mining becomes overly centralized, hash rate could be weaponized by those in control of its majority and selective transactions could be denied or just sit in the mempool indefinitely.

I think this creates more of a blend between digital and physical power projection defense and thus could lead to an attack vector on the physical side.

I haven’t thought this through for long enough to consider any real solutions, but just long enough to identify the potential (likely) issue.

lol I'm *now able to learn from you.

did you copy paste the whole book here?

😂😂😂

LOL

Softwar was my favorite book, from what I read in 2024.

Like you said, it broadened my thoughts and thinking process, which I greatly appreciated. I liked the connections to Tesla and Ford, and the military history.

My only negative was that it felt very repetitive as the chapters progressed and some points were dragged on for too long.

Exactly my sentiment. If a book broadens your thoughts, especially on Bitcoin, you don't have to agree with the hypothesis for it to be incredibly valuable.

I enjoyed it too. Especially because I feel like the "money" aspect of Bitcoin has already saturated those that understand money abstractly. The rest will need to learn by experience.

The fact that he didn't talk about money at all, and was using it for other things was amazing. Truly trying to show that the network is way more powerful than we can even begin to understand.

As you said, I can't really agree or disagree, but it gives you a different tact to take when introducing Bitcoin to someone. Just because you responded to one argument doesn't mean everyone will respond to it. This book gives you alternate arguments that might connect with someone else.

I actually ended up with two copies. I have a first edition thesis and I was able to win a signed hardcover. It's my little piece of Bitcoin history whether midwits want to crap on it or not.

About 3/4 though the book now, and it's certainly worth reading for me.

Softwar may be an original thought in its exact manifestation, but it is standing on the shoulders of some older ideas. Lots of people have written about how bitcoin is the next level of power projection beyond kinetic energy, but Softwar seems to be the first formalized thesis on the topic, not just comments in threads.

However, while reading Softwar, it repeatedly reminds me of an author whose books from the 1990s repeatedly touched on the concept of human civilization reaching an unavoidable breaking point after which dissolution and reorganization becomes inevitable. The same author also described pre-industrial societies and their critical need to repeatedly engage in tribal warfare that severely injured, but did not kill their rivals in neighboring tribes.

It makes me want to read these books again (some for the third or fourth time), the books by Daniel Quinn, and his four books most relevant to the topic and theme of Softwar are:

"Ishmael" 1992

"The Story of ₿" 1996

"My Ishmael" 1997

"Beyond Civilization" 1999

Good reads for further exploration of ideas presented in Softwar.

What was the common reason if one, that lead to civilization reaching an unavoidable breaking point? Would the proliferation of a savings technology that actually worked be antidote to any of the reasons?

Great question!

The author unfortunately didn't have a clear idea of all the causes, he was just able to recognize something fundamentally off about it all, and used Mayan civilization as a prime example, claiming that Mayans simply walked back into the jungle and never engaged in civilization building again (his claim, not mine.)

It confused me at the time of reading, and it deserves to be revisited again by me, armed with insight from Softwar. Looking forward to it!

Let me know if you make that connection. That is fascinating.