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100 sats \ 3 replies \ @Scoresby OP 11h \ parent \ on: Consensus rules are enough for Bitcoin to succeed or Bitcoin fails bitcoin
Yes, this is definitely an improvement on what I said. It's also helpful for me to think about this in the context of freedom. Consensus being the minimum set of rules we all need to agree to in order for Bitcoin to work.
There is another thing that was said in that thread, that sipa quoted and that I also liked:
the point of Bitcoin is not to take power away from a central group and give it to the people, it’s to take power away from the central group and give it to no one at all.
This is what I have believed about Bitcoin since day 1 (which is for me 2013.) I also have always held Bitcoin Core (in my mind, I don't really want to argue with maintainers) to exactly that standard, and although it didn't always succeed in the most precise definition of it, it broadly has1.
Footnotes
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Note that now that @schmidty's PR is merged, it broadly has once more satisfied the "standard"; if that PR would have been closed, action may have been needed, and I was personally preparing for the contingency, to at least make patches and how-to-patch guides / guix builds, and maybe more, but I am really glad that it isn't needed. ↩
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There's a really great line in Lord of the Rings about Sauron and the ring:
He is in great fear, not knowing what mighty one may suddenly appear, wielding the Ring, and assailing him with war, seeking to cast him down and take his place. That we should wish to cast him down and have no one in his place is not a thought that occurs to his mind. That we should try to destroy the Ring itself has not yet entered into his darkest dream.
It works so well with Bitcoin I used a variation of it on a poster:
Thanks for the insights you shared. It's because of things like this that Bitcoin is endlessly captivating to me.