115 sats \ 2 replies \ @cryotosensei 4 Oct 2023 \ parent \ on: Lyn Alden book club part I bitcoin
I think a lot of literary material on BTC has focused either on the philosophical aspect of currency or the blockchain technology that governs BTC mining. However, I find that these books are far removed from the everyday realities people associate with Bitcoin. Why isn’t Bitcoin more widely adopted than it is today? Why do people remain skeptical of it despite El Salvador using it as its official currency for two years? I think a lot has to do with its rep.
Bitcoin is associated with illicit activities such as money laundering and drug pandering. I believe that a book exploring Ross Ulbricht’s involvement in the darknet market needs to be written. I don’t want a simplistic book that portrays Ross as a villain or as a crusader though. I yearn for a book that lets us know the diverse perspectives of people from different backgrounds. How have they used Bitcoin on the Silk Road? Are they grateful or resentful towards Ross Ulbricht? How should they reconcile their opinions about Bitcoin’s utilisation in Silk Road with their feelings about the extent to which they should use Bitcoin in their lives? The sociocultural aspects of Bitcoin need to be dissected further, I feel.
Agree totally with all those points. I can't even parse the Ulbricht discussion anymore. If the dude put a hit on someone else then he should be in jail, and I don't find that to be morally ambiguous stance. If he was just making a marketplace for people to sell weed, that's another affair. The bitcoin narrative is that he's a saint, and the mainstream narrative is that he's a villain, and I don't trust either of those sources and have no time to DMOR and untangle truth from fantasy.
But yeah, the original monetization stage is so fascinating for what it means for society. That's the source of my love affair in this space. What does all this mean? There's the "bitcoin fixes this" response, in which we enter into a new utopia, but that's not satisfying to me at all, nor plausible. But I do think, on the 50 year timescale, it means society will change foundationally.
Would dearly love to see someone dig into that, hard. The Ulbricht saga would be a lens on it for sure.
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People also need to realize freedom is virtuous, and they will.
Trading drugs consensually is a human right, and money laundering is beautiful.
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