As our first meetup draws near, I would like to give you a heads up on what we will be doing and discussing. First, we will be eating bagels! Please support the The Bagel & I to thank them for hosting us! Second, here are some things to contemplate before we meet:
Bitcoin is complicated.
They say that Bitcoin is everything you don't know about computers plus everything you don't know about economics. That doesn't mean you should ignore it. Driving is also complicated, but your life is immeasurably better because you learned to drive. Most people take an entire Driver's Ed course followed by 30+ hours of supervised driving followed by written and on-road tests. If you did all this to learn to drive, isn't spending a few hours to liberate yourself from designed poverty and financial tyranny worth it?
Besides, you don't have to know everything about Bitcoin to appreciate it and use it. You use the internet every day, but do you really understand how it works? When you buy a bagel with a VISA card, do you know all that happens to make that transaction go through? You spent hours getting that driver's license, but can you build an engine? Most of us cannot, but we understand the value of these things and know how to make use of them. The same goes for Bitcoin. Yes, you can learn how it works under the hood if you want, but you certainly don't need to.
At our meetups, I hope you will learn enough about Bitcoin to appreciate it and use it. We can always go deeper later.
Bitcoin is multifaceted
As mentioned above, there is an economic component to Bitcoin and the technology component. There is also a third important component: the ethics of Bitcoin.
Some of you may be interested in Bitcoin as an investment - a way to make (or at least preserve) more dollars. Some of you may be interested in the blockchain, the decentralized network, or hashing. I hope most of you will take an interest in the ethics of Bitcoin and the morality of money. Yes, money can be moral or immoral. Not just how you use it, but the money itself!
"The Lord detests dishonest scales but accurate weights find favor with him."
Dishonest scales and inaccurate weights are a method of stealing from buyers. This form of theft usually happens at the street vendor level. A favorite theft method used by governments in the past was coin clipping. Indeed, Benjamin Franklin suggested putting the ridged edges on American coins to prove they weren't shaved or clipped. Today, governments prefer debasing our currency by inflation, i.e., money printing. Study it long enough and you will discover that the dollar is a Ponzi scheme that has impoverished billions of people worldwide. You will also discover, as Ron Paul did, that "it is not a coincidence that the deadliest century in human history was also the century of fiat money." Yes, money itself, not just the way it is used, can be moral or immoral.
Of course, different people will be most interested in different components of Bitcoin (or at different times). At our meetup, perhaps try to find someone who is passionate about the same component you are, and swap contact info. In the future, we may hold meetups focused specifically on one component or another.
Come with questions. Write them down and bring them to the meetup! But be warned, Bitcoin is a deep rabbit hole.
Finally, Bitcoin is 16 years old today. Happy Birthday, Bitcoin!
Me and Jessica are looking forward to the meet up!