“I’m interested in one thing, Neo, the future. And believe me, I know — the only way to get there is together.”
-The Oracle, “The Matrix Reloaded”
This article is intended to share some of the conclusions I have drawn from my exploration of the concept of time and why I believe bitcoiners are uniquely positioned to influence the future of humanity. I’m sure that I am not the only one to have wondered down this particular rabbit hole, but I hope I can turn over a few stones and potentially present a new way of thinking about one of our most scarce resources: time. Ultimately, the primary conclusions of this article are focused on the future and how to get there; however, in order to set the stage for these conclusions, I wanted to start with some of what we know and don’t know about time.
When you go outside and look up into the night sky, you are looking into the past. The light that reaches your eyes may have been emitted from those stars thousands of years ago. And what lies beyond the stars visible to the naked eye? Billions and billions of stars and galaxies, some of which we are just now seeing the light that they emitted back in the days of the early universe. Because of the limitations of general relativity, we cannot see beyond what is called the “Cosmological Horizon” which sets the size and scale of the observable universe.
Technically, everything that we can observe within our cosmological horizon is in the past by the time the light hits our eyes and our brains process the information, including things we see and interact with here on earth. The speed of light, also called the speed of causality, is the ultimate speed limit for any communication across the fabric of space. Causality, as it turns out, is the aspect of time that grounds us in reality due to the fact that an effect cannot occur before its cause. Causality locks in an order of events that can be traced all the way back to the big bang.
“It is, of course, the way of all things. You see, there is only one constant, one universal, it is the only real truth: causality. Action — reaction; cause — and effect.”
-The Merovingian, “The Matrix Reloaded”
Time’s order is protected by the ever growing entropy, or disorder, in the universe. The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a system either increases or remains constant for any spontaneous process; it never decreases. Even when we do work to create order, entropy is still increased simply due to the waste heat, noise or other energy leakage that occurs as part of that process.
All living things can be thought of as organisms doing work to create and maintain ordered systems. Life requires a constant energy supply in order to continue fighting against the ever present pull of entropy to break these systems down. The energy addition required for entities to maintain the order required for life is called metabolism. If a lifeform is deprived of its metabolic rate, it would no longer be living and entropy would be free to take hold once again, dismantling the order that was built by the lifeform while it was alive.
To further complicate our understanding of time, there is also a theory that the passage of time is simply an illusion of human cognition.
This illusion cries out for explanation, and that explanation is to be sought in psychology, neurophysiology, and maybe linguistics or culture. Modern science has barely begun to consider the question of how we perceive the passage of time; we can only speculate about the answer. It might have something to do with the functioning of the brain.
-Paul Davies, Scientific American
During my rabbit hole journey on “time” I have been pondering some questions regarding our perception of time. How dependent is the passage of time on my ability to observe it? Should models of the passage of time in the universe include models of human consciousness or time perception? Is our perception of time related connected to our metabolic rate? Could changes in human metabolic rate be responsible for our altered time perception as we age or to why lowering body temperature slows the aging process?
I am leaving these here as questions because I’m not sure that there are concrete answers available. However, if there is some connection between our metabolic rate and our perception of time, it would mean that the passage of time is actually a very personal experience. If all humans actually perceive time differently, this would serve as another piece of evidence as to why the invention of clocks that measure time consistently for everyone was so important for coordinating human activity.
It should also be noted here that the attributes of time in our physical universe have programmatically enforced parallels within the Bitcoin protocol. In his wonderful piece, “Bitcoin is Time,” Gigi details Bitcoin’s fantastic ability to chronical and order events using its own internal time engine.
Similarly, entropy-increasing functions are required to establish an arrow of time in the digital realm. Just like it is practically impossible to unscramble an egg, it is practically impossible to unscramble a SHA256 hash or cryptographic signature.
-Gigi, “Bitcoin is Time”
The fact that Bitcoin has its own definition of time and its own speed of causality is what allows it to impose a fixed immutable order of events, just like in our own universe. However, due to the stochastic nature of Bitcoin mining, Bitcoin’s internal time has limitations when it comes being a clock for coordinating future human activity. The magic of the Bitcoin time engine is about defining the present and recording the past with a degree of certainty that humanity has never before had access to.
While the past and present are critically important for us to recognize and understand, I believe that humans have evolved to place larger cognitive emphasis on the future. As we intentionally choose our actions, we are moving on a continuously progressing on a path to a future state of our choosing. We are mapping out our futures all the time.
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the figure above when I am choosing actions that support my longer term goals. I have been asking myself some of the questions a lot of bitcoiners are starting to ask as they lower their time preference. What goals do I have for my life; what are some future states that I want to be working towards? What actions should I take to reach those goals? What other factors could influence my ability to reach that future and how can I plan and prepare for them?
Predicting the future based on the physical laws of our universe is a simple exercise in comparison to predicting the future of human systems of cooperation. That is to say that it is much easier to predict how gravity will affect an object in motion, than it is to predict which NFL team will win the Superbowl. This is because the actions of other humans are much less predictable than the laws of physics. However, the actions of other humans still need to be factored in as we move towards a future that we desire. Understanding incentives is critical to understanding how other humans are likely to respond to certain situations.
“Practice execution becomes game reality”
-Bill Belichick (NE Patriots Head Coach)
The quote above (which was largely socialized by former NE patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman) is a testament to our ability to see into a highly complex future and plan a set of actions in order to accomplish a specific goal. In the NFL, as a player practices, he develops a clearer picture of the potential futures he may find himself in during a game. He develops a mental map of actions and reactions of himself and the other players on the field for many different scenarios. In this case, he is looking into a multitude of different futures and intentionally navigating his way through them in order to reach his goals during the course of a game. He also knows that if he starts independently moving towards a future state that is out of sync with the rest of the team, he will surely fail. Ultimately, success in the NFL is highly dependent on the team rather than the individual.
This brings me back to the importance of coordination with other humans as we move into our futures. We, as in all of humanity, are choosing the future of our species, together. On the largest of scales we are only going to be as successful as the team (humanity). Now that we are operating in a truly global society, we are faced with the challenge of needing to move intentionally, all together, in order to shape the future of humanity.
“Time preferences are critical to how a society functions. A high time preference person wants things now or as soon as possible. A low time preference person is willing to forego things now for something better later.”
-Jimmy Song, “Why Bitcoin Works”
As many of us bitcoiners have learned, generally speaking, human society has a severe case of nearsightedness when it comes to collectively selecting our future. Inflationary monetary systems and policies have resulted in society placing an enormous emphasis on high time preference behavior largely driven by the fact that we are incentivized to spend our money as fast as possible. I believe that because so many people choosing selfish actions that are out of alignment with the rest of humanity, our ability to clearly see into the future has been severely impaired.
“By virtue of its resistance to theft and rootedness in the thermodynamics of work, Bitcoin portals us into a world of untold liberty, elevated morality, and enhanced productivity.”
-Robert Breedlove, “Our Most Brilliant Idea”
Having adopted a longer time preference, many bitcoiners have developed a much clearer vision of some of the potential futures for humanity. While many of us think that the transition from the dying fiat monetary system to a Bitcoin standard may result in some challenging times, we also believe that the longer term future will be bright if we are ultimately successful.
“When Bitcoin achieves mass adoption, our civilization will have taken a leap forward that is just as dramatic as the comparison between the present day and the horse and buggy era. Like the automobile did, Bitcoin will make possible countless new successful ideas which were previously neither viable, nor even imaginable.”
-Tomer Strolight, “Why Bitcoin is so Much More than Money”
I too believe that there are futures out there that represent huge improvements to the quality of life for humans around the world if we move towards a global Bitcoin standard. But in order to realize this future, we are going to need as many people as possible making decisions in this direction. Perhaps this is why so many bitcoiners can’t help but dedicate their spare time or even their entire careers to educating as many people as possible about the bright orange future that we are working towards.
I believe that in the long term, climate “catastrophes”, global viruses, and other fear driven tactics that intend to force the world to move towards a particular future will not be effective. The future that these policies are striving for is not bright. Most people know, even if only subconsciously, that the mainstream version of the future will be much worse than today. I don’t believe that humanity will be willing rally around the darkness of their future, even when threatened with fear and violence. I believe that the pushback will grow louder and stronger as the pain increases.
Bitcoiners are developing the framework for how we might break off from our current trajectory through time and start moving towards a future where we adopt a hard money standard with strong individual property rights, i.e., a Bitcoin standard. I believe our ability to see the world through Bitcoin lenses allows us to look into the future more accurately; this is our superpower. The fact that we have identified a potential path for a better future that people can voluntarily align themselves with is why we are going to win.
Humanity has the ability to collectively choose the future that we want for our species. That future is going to be set by many individuals making choices, working together and coordinating to set our path through time. Thinking that a Bitcoin future is inevitable or that we can make it there alone is not a path to success. The only way we are going set a new course into the future for humanity, is as a team; and the only way to get our team aligned is through education and cooperation.
Time is a lot stranger than most people really understand. Although our history is fixed in the causality based chain of time, our actions and the choices we make as we blaze a path towards the future are very much still within our control. But each individual can only impact so much, if we want to substantially change the current trajectory of humanity into the future, we are going to need as many people as possible pushing in the same direction.
Generation Bitcoin is the hero generation. Bitcoin is the next breakthrough in physics. Unburdened human coordination is the next energy breakthrough. The study of Bitcoin isn’t the study of the physics of the external world, it’s the study of the physics of the internal, human world.
I encourage bitcoiners to never stop learning and to educate as many people you can about the potential benefits of Bitcoin for the future of our species and our planet. Find other bitcoiners to share and learn with. Support Bitcoin businesses, content creators, artists and educators. If you are a true bitcoiner, stand up and become a leader within your family, company or church. Let’s use our ability to see further out into the future to start affecting change in our lives and the lives of others. I know that I plan on continuing to take life in one block at a time and let my small victories stack up with all the other bitcoiners out there towards our bright orange future.
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