Bitcoin 2021 pre-events
Morning. Miami, Day 3. Bitcoin conference, Day 1.
Who was I kidding that I wouldn’t keep writing on this publication? The reality is, to publish on my public account requires so much work and concentration and time! But here I am in Miami at the Bitcoin 2021 Conference and the choice is write something informal or write nothing at all.
I’ve so far been to two ‘unofficial’ events, as the conference doesn’t officially begin until today, when at 9am Mayor Francis Suarez will give his opening remarks, followed by the great Ron Paul.
How do I feel about what I’ve seen so far? Very good. Because what I’m finding is people with passion and vision. I’m finding people who are stirred enough by Bitcoin and the opportunities it offers to come all the way out to Miami to engage with the community and learn more about it. Meaning, it’s a highly selective bunch. A collection of people who truly give a shit. An unnatural and rare concentration of people who are collectively imagining a new future.
Now I feel like value propping Bitcoin to you, since I don’t know that you know what I’m talking about, or why we’re actually all here. That would take a lot of energy. I would love to do it, and might at some point. But for the sake of time, I’d better just stick to my impressions going into the conference.
Of the two events I’ve gone to so far: first was BitDevs on Wednesday night, second was Underground Citadel, sort of a prepper event.
Starting with BitDevs. Here’s how it works: imagine a room full of nerds with several people hosting. The hosts go over recent developments of interest to technical Bitcoiners and then asks the room to comment. The format is absolutely fantastic, because the average level of intelligence and knowledge of Bitcoin in the room is so high, you can get to the bottom of things quickly. Truth is uncovered, or at least pursued and gotten closer to.
One of the hosts will put a paper up on a projector with certain sections highlighted, go over it, and then ask the room a question, or give it a chance for general response. Often there are comments, and even small debates among the crowd. But what is so utterly fascinating to observe is that everyone, all 100 of them in attendance (I exclude myself because I know nothing, I was just drug there by a friend), clearly have a shared framework for truth, and the conversation proceeds entirely in good faith. There was no bickering, no posturing, no ego-based attacks and hot-headed assertions. Just people mutually exploring a topic and coming to general agreement and understanding. Not to get too sociological, but this is something humans are designed to do, which many of us never do. It’s the performance of a civic function, collective truth-seeking in your field of interest. The knock on effects are countless. You’re incentivized to educate yourself so you can share, and you receive social rewards, form bonds, develop trust and status in the community. That communities like this exist in Bitcoin is probably a large reason for its success. When I see this, it makes me want to get involved in forums like this in my areas of interest.
Because here is what you observe, and this is a very important point. You observe that the better angels of our nature can be brought out by such an environment. Nowadays it’s easy to assume that a room full of opinionated people trying to have a discussion will simply fracture and eventually yell at each other. Descend into chaos because all of us are man-babies and can’t help but get angry when things don’t go our way. The truth is the opposite. Humans have a special social setting for such an environment that you don’t even know exists until you see it in action. Mutual respect, listening intently so that you can participate, choosing your words carefully because they’ll be heard by all. It’s basically the opposite of social media. If our society is going to save itself, it’s going to do it through rooms full of people like this, hashing out problems and finding out the truth by the millions, all over the country.
On the way to the bar after the meeting, I met a guy in town from New York who goes to a sister church of mine, and we have mutual friends! I love coincidences like this. He works for a hedge fund and was exploring Bitcoin as an area of economic growth. It turns out he hadn’t even explored Bitcoin’s ethical benefits like granting people financial sovereignty, improving governance by forcing the state live within constraints, severely reduce wars and mass incarceration, etc. etc. I told him to read Thank God for Bitcoin.
Okay, I spent all of my time writing about why I like BitDevs, and now I don’t have time to go into the Underground Citadel. Here’s a brief summary of events if you’re interested: There were talks about geoarbitrage, 3D printing guns, group decision-making, educating kids outside of the state through things like homeschooling and unschooling, food security, and keto and animal based diets for optimal nutrition. Full day.
It was a glimpse into the more intense freedom-minded Bitcoin crowd. I would say the below quotation sums up their sentiments.
Okay, gotta sign off and get ready. If all goes well today I’ll see Mayor Suarez, Ron Paul, Saifedean Ammous, Dan Held, Nick Szabo, Michael Saylor, Max Keiser, Allen Farrington, Tim Draper, the Winklevi, Pomp, Jack Dorsey, and Alex Gladstein speak today. What a tidal wave of badassery. I’ll try to provide an update mañana, although the likelihood that I won’t be prohibited from writing by a hangover is pretty low.
Have a good day, y’all!
