Bitcoin And The Great Filter

Bitcoin doesn't conscionable "break each your models." Bitcoin breaks each cycles.

This nonfiction primitively appeared successful Bitcoin Magazine's "Moon Issue." To get a copy, visit our store.

Energy wealth is the catalyst and extremity of the spear for an intelligent sentient species’ modulation from a Type 0 into a Type 1 civilization connected the “Kardashev scale,” which measures the vigor and technological mastery of a society.

ALL intelligent sentient taxon are connected this path, whether consciously oregon unconsciously, and indispensable scope this constituent earlier they are eliminated by:

• one oregon a bid of megalomaniacs pushing the “red button”;
• some artificial abomination of quality that interprets our mediocre behaviour and frankincense biologic beingness arsenic inferior;
• an asteroid; oregon
• the fiat-funded, sterile authoritarian gulags they physique connected their quest for centralized, businesslike utopias.

This is known arsenic the Great Filter. Energy wealth initiates a measurement alteration successful however integrated quality tin run and forms a captious measurement connected the travel beyond the Great Filter.

WHAT IS THE GREAT FILTER? 

Enrico Fermi was a mid-20th period physicist and Nobel laureate who, upon reflecting connected the vastness of the cosmos, famously asked, “Where are they?”

With the practically infinite fig of stars and planets successful the universe, it seemed similar determination should beryllium different intelligent taxon oregon civilizations susceptible of processing vigor astronomy oregon interstellar travel, yet to this day, nary grounds really exists.

The Fermi paradox is the word utilized to picture this deficiency of grounds for extraterrestrial beingness successful the look of a beingness that should be, by the numbers, bursting with it.

While galore person projected solutions arsenic to wherefore this paradox exists, successful the 1990s, Robin Hanson postulated a mentation that has go known arsenic the Great Filter.

The Great Filter mentation suggests that intelligent sentient lifeforms indispensable recognize a bid of captious steps connected their mode to becoming an interstellar contention and astatine slightest 1 of them indispensable beryllium highly improbable, oregon their interrelated, path-dependent quality means that they indispensable hap successful a peculiar bid and indispensable each hap earlier a large cataclysm.

Hanson suggested immoderate basal hurdles (or steps) paraphrased below: 

1. A satellite susceptible of harboring beingness indispensable signifier successful the habitable portion astir a prima (often referred to arsenic the Goldilocks zone).
2. Life itself indispensable emerge.
3. Those lifeforms indispensable beryllium capable to reproduce.
4. Simple cells (prokaryotes) indispensable germinate into much analyzable cells (eukaryotes).
5. Multicellular organisms indispensable develop.
6. A method of expanding familial diverseness (e.g., intersexual reproduction) indispensable instrumentality hold.
7. Complex organisms susceptible of utilizing tools indispensable evolve.
8. Those organisms indispensable make precocious exertion needed for abstraction colonization. (Many judge this is astir wherever humans are today.)
9. The spacefaring taxon indispensable spell connected to colonize different worlds and prima systems, portion avoiding destroying itself.

But I judge that helium was missing important elements. I judge that the find of vigor wealth is the prerequisite for this expansive goal. Energy wealth initiates a measurement alteration successful however integrated quality tin operate, due to the fact that the representation genuinely represents the territory, successful precocious fidelity.

Bitcoin is our vigor money. It is our zero-to-one moment. An incorruptible scorecard successful the expansive crippled of life. A clip and vigor superconductor enhancing economical (human action) and behavioral feedback loops, enabling coordination crossed clip and abstraction successful a mode ne'er earlier achieved.

It is our instrumentality to get done the Great Filter and we request to retrieve that truthful we don’t get mislaid successful the minutia.

I’ve taken the liberty of adapting Hanson’s enactment into what I judge is much accurate, with an accent connected what I’ve added to his wide list.

1. A satellite susceptible of harboring beingness indispensable signifier successful the habitable portion astir a prima (often referred to arsenic the Goldilocks zone). 
2. Life itself indispensable emerge, possibly arsenic an hold of the randomness inherent successful quantum realm (i.e., proteins).
3. Those lifeforms indispensable beryllium capable to reproduce (e.g., RNA, past DNA successful our case). 
4. Simple cells (prokaryotes) indispensable germinate into much analyzable cells (eukaryotes). 
5. Multicellular organisms indispensable develop. 
6. A method of expanding familial diverseness (e.g., intersexual reproduction successful our case) indispensable instrumentality hold. 
7. Complex organisms indispensable germinate into a taxon susceptible of repeatedly transforming imaginable vigor into kinetic vigor (capable of utilizing tools). 
8. The complex, tool-wielding taxon indispensable observe occurrence (heat energy), frankincense shortening their intestinal tract and redirecting vigor toward the brain. 
9. The accrued encephalon size of this taxon and the interconnectedness of neurons indispensable scope a constituent wherever consciousness emerges and they are capable to pass connected abstract terms. 
10. This taxon indispensable make a instrumentality for measuring time, vigor and scarce resources, enabling them to cooperate and coordinate crossed abstraction and clip (money). 
11. The species, utilizing this technology, indispensable make analyzable societies that culminate into the precocious technologies required for abstraction travel. 
12. The taxon indispensable observe and modulation onto an vigor wealth modular earlier it destroys itself. 
13. The spacefaring taxon tin yet maestro and harness the vigor of their prima strategy and past spell connected to colonize different worlds and prima systems. 

I americium convinced measurement 12 is not lone the 1 astir missing from immoderate investigation by physicists each passim history, but it is the astir important and hard to execute successful airy of the technological advancements of an intelligent taxon and its propensity to privation to “control” the uncontrollable.

Physicists person mastered the empirical survey of substance and, done that success, person forgotten to relationship for the precise existent and precise important complex, random process of life; humanity possibly being astatine the extremity of this “process.”

As a result, they blindly judge that we tin conscionable acceptable world into a bid of models oregon equations, and arsenic such, technologist our mode done the Great Filter without accounting for the analyzable quality of quality consciousness and intersubjective reality. Along this path, they sanitize the precise beingness retired of life.

HUBRIS

In our magnitude and successful our timeline, we’ve had warnings from some sides of the world spectrum, from Newton to Einstein, Huxley to Orwell, Nietzsche to Rand and Schopenhauer to Oppenheimer. They’ve each reminded america that mendacious actions, arrogance and flying with “wax wings” tin lone pb to disaster.

Unfortunately, modernity’s vanity and tendency for comfortableness and control, each which stem from its corporate fear, person conspired to drown retired those voices of crushed and regenerate them with a never-ending watercourse of meaningless sound designed to conform its constituents by numbing them into submission.

In a bid to power everything, fearful humans and the institutions they marque up question to sterilize the variance and randomness retired of beingness truthful they tin trim it to a acceptable of repeatable empirical processes. They abstract everything to the constituent that things are neither carnal nor metaphysical, and everything is relative. Only past tin they consciousness bare capable to beryllium “comfortable.” Huxley explores this improvement successful “Brave New World Revisited,” a bid of essays written 27 years aft his seminal caller by the aforesaid name.

The unsighted pursuit of sterile empirical ends astatine the disbursal of life, astatine the hands of collectivist megalomaniacs, is humanity’s top menace and the lone mode to hole that is to reintroduce effect to quality action. To hole this, the representation indispensable accurately correspond the territory truthful we’re each playing the aforesaid game, by the aforesaid rules.

When you yet go almighty capable to enslave, obsolete oregon stroke yourself up, possibly an asteroid is the universe’s mode of pressing the cosmic reset button.

ENERGY MONEY 

The find of vigor wealth marks the constituent astatine which the subject of substance is capable to talk to the survey of what matters. In this way, it enables, if not a unification, astatine slightest a nonstop narration betwixt physics and metaphysics.

I telephone it vigor wealth not due to the fact that it’s immoderate literal artillery that’s “storing” vigor successful containers afloat of miners. I telephone it vigor wealth due to the fact that it’s the lone signifier of scorecard (money) whose validity is priced successful existent vigor expenditure. The feedback loops betwixt the outgo of validation, the hazard of fraud, and the request successful the marketplace by humans seeking to cooperate connected a functional modular each necktie into work.

When resources, vigor expenditure and the input of clip are tethered to thing that cannot beryllium faked, co-opted oregon cheated, intersubjective worth tin beryllium accurately measured and marketplace signals, that is, prices go real. We statesman to observe erstwhile again what things really cost, and arsenic specified we arsenic individuals and societies tin marque much close worth judgements.

The behaviour astatine the level of idiosyncratic realigns toward earthy bid (arguably the explanation of morality) and, astatine scale, results successful functional, utile coordination among members of a society.

Without thing similar Bitcoin, intelligent sentient taxon cannot utilize their resources efficaciously oregon efficiently capable to go a meaningfully spacefaring taxon earlier wiping themselves out!

They cannot scope the constituent of vigor mastery required to really scope for the stars due to the fact that 99% of what they bash is wasted.

Reconciling physics and metaphysics means an intelligent, sentient taxon tin marque close worth judgments and frankincense precisely measurement and usage the scarce resources it has toward maximizing vigor output and minimizing clip wastage.

Without specified a high-fidelity transmission mechanism, the quantum wastage is not lone excessively precocious but wholly unknown. As a result, the roadworthy to serfdom via the incessant fearfulness of nonaccomplishment and the knee-jerk absorption to “control it all” volition prevail.

Bitcoin fixes this.

THE RENAISSANCE 2.0: MATTER MEETS WHAT MATTERS 

Many, including myself, person called Bitcoin “the 2nd Renaissance.” As I wrote successful a erstwhile nonfiction for Bitcoin Magazine, "Bitcoin, Chaos and Order":

By tying the carnal to the metaphysical, Bitcoin reunites substance to what matters. As such, it has the capableness to heal the satellite successful the astir heavy and meaningful of ways.

This is some close and wrong. 

Right because Bitcoin volition bash this, and we volition acquisition a renaissance of thinking, creativity, science, art, exploration, doctrine and more.

Wrong because it diminishes the magnitude of this discovery. It implies that it is different cyclical lawsuit akin to the Renaissance of yore. The world is acold much grandiose.

I would task to accidental that each large enlightenment lawsuit on our timechain of quality past was a “pre-echo” of sorts, culminating successful Bitcoin.

Whether it’s the legends of Atlantis, the doctrine of the ancients, the gods of Egypt, the emergence of Christianity, the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment oregon the Industrial Revolution, they each correspond beingness reaching for this constituent of “Aufklärung,” done the vas of humanity.

This whitethorn beryllium the archetypal oregon millionth effort astatine crossing the Great Filter and I cannot but find myself successful awe of the sheer gravity of this moment.

FIDELITY

An incorruptible, fixed proviso of wealth is arsenic adjacent to cleanable not due to the fact that of the fig of transactions per 2nd it enables, but due to the fact that of however intimately it resembles oregon embodies the carnal laws of quality and the universe.

By enabling humans to efficaciously measure, negociate and transact the merchandise of their labor, it means worth tin beryllium created, transformed and transmitted with minimal distortion, and it trends toward the elimination of discarded and falsehoods.

One cannot observe fake facts successful the look of an economical world tied to the carnal laws of thermodynamics.

Bitcoin permits maximum fidelity successful quality enactment to permeate society, and arsenic a result, feedback loops are shortened truthful that trade-offs are much evident, consequences are inescapable, and hazard tin nary longer beryllium hidden and consequent losses socialized (moral hazard). Everyone’s tegument is present successful the game, and we each play by the aforesaid rules.

This model unifies substance and what matters due to the fact that the lies indispensable to abstracted the 2 tin nary longer exist.

The survey of what matters, the pursuit of truth, of principles and of meaning tin erstwhile again beryllium anchored to reality, and vice versa. The survey and improvement of substance tin run wrong the model and toward the ends that matter.

This volition person profound implications for humanity and marks what whitethorn beryllium the astir important fork successful the roadworthy since Homo sapiens separated from different hominids.

“Bitcoin fixes this” means we hole the money, to hole quality behavior, to hole the satellite successful clip to advancement beyond the Great Filter. 

On a dependable foundation, we tin cognize what things genuinely outgo and we tin marque close worth judgments successful bid to technologist and innovate our mode forward.

With Bitcoin, the adjacent section successful humanity’s timeline tin genuinely commence.

As Scarface would’ve said, had helium been a Bitcoiner: First we hole the money. Then we hole the world. Then we get the galaxy.