Lists can help solve some of Twitter’s major pain points
“Unfollowing everyone on Twitter and switching to lists for better control of my feed. Nothing personal, love you all! “ — Github CEO Nat Friedman 9/19/20
Twitter is my favorite social network.
It is a treasure trove of enlightening blog posts, news articles, research papers, and video content that I would never see in the stagnant echo chamber that is my Facebook news feed; a place filled with content posted primarily by former classmates who seem to have frighteningly homogenous political opinions and little apparent interest in seriously engaging with opposing viewpoints.
Originally posted on my personal blog
Bitcoin is one of the 21st century’s most remarkable innovations. The ability to send and receive value over the Internet without relying on a centralized intermediary signifies a paradigm shift in the evolution of money. Bitcoin’s disruptive influence has extended far beyond money and could reach nearly every aspect of the global economy as there are several other social constructs that have the potential to be transformed by open blockchains. Blockchain-based technologies can help us digitize essential constructs, like contracts, in a manner that is less vulnerable to manipulation by third parties i.e., trust-minimized.
Originally posted on my personal blog
When I first discovered Bitcoin in 2011, I believed it would be widely recognized as an important and valuable technology within a few years. Now, nearly nine years later, it’s almost painful to look back and realize how naive I was.
I’d like to briefly reflect on what I wanted to happen, what actually happened, and what I hope the future holds for open blockchains and cryptonetworks.
Early Dreams, Harsh Reality
In 2011, I wanted to see people questioning the existing monetary system managed by central banks and thinking deeply about the nature of money. I thought people…
Originally posted on my personal blog
This Year’s Favorites
Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages, by Carlota Perez
Dark Age (The Red Rising Series, Book 5), by Pierce Brown
Architects of Intelligence: The truth about AI from the people building it, by Martin Ford
Tiamat’s Wrath (The Expanse Series, Book 8), by James S. A. Corey
Hayek’s Challenge: An Intellectual Biography of F.A. Hayek, by Bruce Caldwell
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, by Jon Meacham
The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom
The Rest
The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust, by Kevin Werbach
Myers Briggs Typology vs. Jungian Individuation, by Steve Myers
Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing our Digital Future, by Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson
Systems Thinking for Social Change: A Practical Guide to Solving Complex Problems, Avoiding Unintended Consequences, and Achieving Lasting Results, by David Peter Stroh
Team Human, by Douglass Rushkoff
Unblocked: How Blockchains Will Change Your Business (and What to Do about It), by Alison McCauley
The Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu
Stand on Zanzibar, by Josh Brunner
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain
Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic, by Charles Hugh Smith
Zero to One: Notes on Startups or how to Build the Future, by Peter Thiel
Propaganda, by Edward Bernays
The Open-Source Everything Manifesto: Transparency, Truth, and Trust, by Robert David Steele
Stubborn Attachments: A Vision for a Society of Free, Prosperous, and Responsible Individuals, by Tyler Cowen
Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories, Vol. 1, by Isaac Asimov
Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events, by Robert J. Shiller
The Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence, by Delegates of the Constitutional Convention
Bitcoin eliminates the role of a single central authority in the creation and use of money, but its fate will be largely be affected by the actions of centralized corporate third parties.
I’ve reviewed how some of the world’s largest companies integrating blockchains into their operations and thinking about the technology to provide a starting point for assessing the role they might play in driving the adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
Square/CashApp, Twitter
Jack Dorsey, co-founder/CEO of Twitter and Square, has been following Bitcoin since the whitepaper was published and has recently become quite active in the cryptocurrency space both…
How cryptocurrency-powered markets could disrupt betting, finance, forecasting, scientific research, and governance
Introduction
In early 2016, I speculated that decentralized prediction markets could give us the power to easily “Google” the probability of any imaginable event occurring.¹ Now that the first market has been running for seven months, it’s time to re-evaluate the potential of what was at the time a theoretical and unproven technology.
Prediction markets allow users to buy and sell shares in the outcome of specific events. After the event occurs, users holding shares of accurate event outcomes are rewarded while users holding the inaccurate ones lose their money. Share prices fluctuate between 0 and 1 based on supply and…
The current massive downturn in cryptocurrency markets feels strikingly different than previous ones.
Amidst the all too familiar proclamations of Bitcoin’s death and assertions that cryptocurrency is a scam, I’m starting to see clear signs of meaningful adoption beyond speculation.
These are some of the forces that I believe will gradually propel cryptocurrency across the chasm that separates starry-eyed early adopters from the pragmatic members of the early majority whose support is required for mainstream adoption.
Institutional Adoption
Some of the world’s largest and most influential institutions are embracing cryptocurrency with open arms.
Bakkt is a startup owned by the operator…
An increasingly large number of influencers are arguing that games will help facilitate mass adoption of blockchains, and that blockchains will significantly disrupt the gaming industry.
The highest number of games are currently being built on Ethereum’s blockchain, so I decided to take a look at some of the most interesting Ethereum-based projects, cut through the hype, and briefly review what’s actually being developed.
Companies, Studios, and Games
Studio: Lucid Sight
Crypto Space Commander is a Massively Multiplayer Online game (MMO) where players build a fleet of spaceships, collect resources, craft items, and battle with pirates and other players as they travel the…
Lessons Learned From My Seven-Year Journey Down the Cryptocurrency Rabbit Hole
Hodl is an intentional misspelling of the word “hold,” which is used among cryptocurrency enthusiasts when encouraging traders to resist the urge to sell one’s holdings in response to market fluctuations. — Know Your Meme
I started buying Bitcoin around $7/BTC and Ether around $1/ETH. One of the most common questions I get is, “What attracted you to Bitcoin?”
The short answer is that I was fascinated with the concept of a global, decentralized, digital currency issued and managed by a peer-to-peer network.
I wanted to understand how, and if, such a radical concept could work. The more I learned…
Within 10 years, cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based technologies will be used by billions of people and largely integrated into the global economy.
If I’m wrong, then a disturbingly high number of successful people working at important organizations are wasting time and money integrating useless technology into their systems.
Nasdaq
New York Stock Exchange Owner, ICE
Goldman Sachs
J.P. Morgan
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
Bloomberg
George Soros
Central Banks and The International Monetary Fund
