Here is my two cents on how I understand bitcoin and why it is such a revolutionary idea!!
Bitcoin: A Thermodynamic Leap for Civilization
Earth receives vast amounts of energy from the sun daily—approximately 173,000 terawatts. Yet, all this energy is radiated back into the cold void of outer space. So, what are we actually using?
We’re harnessing the *difference*—the moderately lower entropy of solar energy compared to the high-entropy chaos of outer space. Human ingenuity captures this through technologies like heat engines, which transform large quantities of moderately low-entropy energy into small, concentrated packets of very low-entropy energy, expelling the rest as high-entropy waste.
This principle isn’t just mechanical—it’s universal. Every living thing thrives by exploiting entropy gradients. Historically, whenever we’ve mastered a new way to concentrate low-entropy energy—fire, steam, electricity—civilization leaps forward. But there’s a catch: preserving these precious low-entropy packets over time is a monumental challenge, as everything naturally decays toward disorder.
Enter Bitcoin. Through its proof-of-work mechanism, Bitcoin acts as a thermodynamic "heat engine" for the digital age. It captures the vast, medium-entropy energy available globally—electricity from coal, hydro, solar—and converts it into an extraordinarily low-entropy digital substance: the blockchain.
Unlike physical assets that degrade, Bitcoin’s immutable ledger preserves this digital substance with perfect fidelity over time. It’s not just currency—it’s a thermodynamic breakthrough. Like the steam engine or dynamo before it, Bitcoin has the potential to catapult humanity into a new era of prosperity, redefining how we store and wield energy in an entropic universe.
Isn’t it very simple, Mr. Saylor is naked short MSTR and long bitcoin. He is selling MSTR stocks to buy bitcoin with no intention of ever buying back his stock by selling bitcoin.
“The inner ring” by c s Lewis is a must read
Dear Alden,
I am a great fan of yours and have watched a lot of your podcasts and educational content. I think there is a bigger problem that bitcoin’s block chain will solve than its inherent tokens being a money with better spacial and temporal properties.
Humanity still have to depend on a central authority with monopoly on violence to exercise its private property rights. With the advent of immutable time stamping on deeds and similar ownership documents using todays version of available technology called NFT’s or ordinal’s on the bitcoin blockchain, humanity will be able to circumvent the need for that centralized authority in the future.
Once immutability of the bitcoin network is well ingrained in the society, hierarchy of ownership to the present, of any property inscribed on the bitcoins blockchain will only be just a click away, and all monopolies of violence can be once and for all eliminated for the good. Hope we all will live to see that day.
