{"id":29491,"date":"2022-11-10T21:46:56","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T05:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29491"},"modified":"2022-11-10T21:47:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T05:47:13","slug":"a-bitcoinfused-about-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-bitcoinfused-about-bitcoin\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bitcoinfused about Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Saifedean Ammous is an Austrian based scholar focused on the research and teaching of bitcoin. In his foundational book <em>The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking<\/em> he lays out the various components and interworking of the cryptocurrency bitcoin. I must admit that this is not a topic that I easily understand and even with the help from several videos explaining it through visual presentations, it is still a bit confusing to me. However, I can appreciate Ammous\u2019 ability to communicate clearly on a subject that was generally misunderstood at the time he wrote this. I immediately came to respect him as a scholar when in his preface on the 2021 edition he articulated that there are clear mistakes in this book but attempting to fix those would be much more work than writing another book which is exactly what he is doing. This took me back to the beginning of our reading to Shultz\u2019s <em>Being Wrong<\/em> and the power that is held when a mistake is simply owned.<\/p>\n<p>As I read, I continued to come back to one sentence in the prologue: \u201cThere is no alternative to personal responsibility for anyone interested in using this network, and that is the real investment that needs to be made to get into bitcoin.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> As Ammous dives into the core components of this cryptocurrency throughout this book, the role of government in this and traditional currency, and speaks to several common questions, he continues to point towards the need of individual responsibility. Perhaps it is because the systems currently in place are riddled with clear lack of responsibility and accountability that make me lean towards the cynical in that even with the best intentions, this currency will not be any different over the course of time. Will it be able to hold to the standards that it is beginning with? Can those within this network all demonstrate personal responsibility?<\/p>\n<p>It may be because of the heaviness of personal circumstances I\u2019m walking through at the current moment that makes this weeks reading all the more challenging to engage in, however, I appreciate having a resource that I can return to or point others towards as this continues to grow in popularity around the world. I can see how this reading connects to some of the previous books we\u2019ve read, namely:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Factfulness<\/em>: How the different instincts will interplay with this new currency, inevitably shaping its perception and usefulness.<\/li>\n<li><em>Molecule of More<\/em>: Are those involved in this network currently in it simply for the thrill of anticipation?<\/li>\n<li><em>Sway<\/em>: What are some of the biases within bitcoin that need to be explored and addressed? With a digital currency does it automatically eliminate participation for areas of the globe with less access to reliable internet?<\/li>\n<li><em>The Map that Changed the World<\/em>: I\u2019d like to see the bitcoin map overlayed on traditional currency to help better navigate and understand it.<\/li>\n<li><em>Thinking Fast, Slow<\/em>: What system is being primarily engaged with this new currency? Does it hit the same receptors in our brain when spending as cash\/card does?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For me, I walk away with many more questions than answers. However, the fact that I am asking specific questions gives me hope that I perhaps am less confused about cryptocurrencies than I was prior to this week.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Ammous, xvii.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saifedean Ammous is an Austrian based scholar focused on the research and teaching of bitcoin. In his foundational book The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking he lays out the various components and interworking of the cryptocurrency bitcoin. I must admit that this is not a topic that I easily understand and even [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2437,2442,2004,2439],"class_list":["post-29491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ammous","tag-bitcoin","tag-lgp11","tag-the-bitcoin-standard","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29491"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29493,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29491\/revisions\/29493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}