Bitcoin is the latest subject where I am diving deep. I read two books on Bitcoin in the past week and plan to read many more. The topic fascinates me because it delves into a cross section of interesting subjects.
In order to study Bitcoin, you must study economics, game theory, computer science, politics, history, and many subsets of these areas. To understand Bitcoin, you must understand the history of money. In order to understand the history of money, you need to build a foundation of economics and monetary policy. And on and on. The web of learning is endless.
Do I think Bitcoin will take over the world as the new currency? No. However, there may very well be a place for it in modern society as digital gold or the highway that we make large payments and cut out the middleman.
In fact, I’ve become much more intrigued by Ethereum and USDC (US Dollar Coin) for a new protocol layer and their future applications with smart contracts and payments. Without Bitcoin, these protocols may never have existed. To understand the nuances and potential applications, the subject forces you to build a strong foundation of mental models in the key areas I’ve mentioned previously.
In the same way that Rubin teaches Josh about philosophy through the guise of the WWE in the classic movie, “Road Trip”, I am using Bitcoin as the basis to study other subjects and revert them to knowledge about crypto.
the counterfactual 