Sovereign by James Dale Davidson and William Reese Morgue
Sovereign is one of the books that changes forever how you see the world. It was released in 1997 but the impact of blockchain technology on the extent to which it is expected will keep you cool. We are entering the fourth stage of human society, moving from industry to the information age. You need to read this book to understand the scope and scale of how things are going to change.
As it has become easier to live comfortably and earn money anywhere, we already know that those who will truly improve in the new information age will be employees who are not associated with any single job or career and are position independent. The pull of choosing where to live based on cost savings is already more attractive, but it transcends digital mobility and freelance gigs; The foundations of democracy, government and money are being shaken.
The authors predicted the collapse of Black Tude and the Soviet Union, and here they predict that the growing power of individuals will be matched by decentralized technology that is moving away from the power of government. The death toll for the nation-state, they predicted with extraordinary prudence, would be personal, digital cash. When that happens, the dynamics of a snatching government through taxes on hard-working citizens like fixed bandits will change. If you are a person who can solve human problems anywhere in the world, then you are about to enter a new knowledge elite. Don’t miss this one.
Preferred Quote: “When technology is mobile, and transactions in cyberspace, as they do increasingly, governments will no longer be able to charge more than the price to the people who pay for them for their services.”
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Whenever I want to impress someone with how good this book is, I ask: “Do you want to know the basic difference between a human and a monkey? A monkey can jump on a rock and down and wave a stick around and shout to his friends that He saw threats coming in their way. ‘Danger, danger, lion!’ Even a monkey can lie. It can jump down on a rock and move a stick around and shout at a lion when there is no lion. It can only fool around. But what a monkey can’t do is jump. Get up and go down and wave a stick around and shout, ‘Danger! Danger! Dragon!’
Why? Because the dragon is not real. As Harari explains, it is the human imagination, our ability to believe and talk about things that we have never seen or touched that have enabled the species to collaborate so much with strangers. There is no god in the universe, no race, no money, no human rights, no law, no religion, and no justice beyond the ordinary imagination of man. We make them like that.
All of which is a rather great proposition of where we are today. After the Cognitive Revolution and the Agricultural Revolution, Harari guides you through the scientific revolution, which began only 500 years ago and which could start something completely different for mankind. Of course the money will remain. Read this book to understand that meaning is the greatest story of all time and that belief is the raw material from which all kinds of money are made.
Favorite Quote: “Sepians, by contrast, live in three-dimensional reality. In addition to trees, rivers, fears and aspirations, there are stories of money, gods, races and corporations in the sapiens world.”
The Internet of Money Andreas M. By Antonopoulos
If the two books mentioned above help us understand the historical context in which Bitcoin first appeared, then this book expands on ‘why’ with contagious enthusiasm. Andreas Antonopoulos is probably the most respected voice in the crypto space. He has been traveling the world as a Bitcoin missionary since 2010 and this book is a summary of the discussions given on the circuit between 2013 and 2016, which have been hard to publish.
His first book, Mastering Bitcoin, is a technological deep-dive into technology, aimed specifically at developers, engineers, and software and system architects. But this book uses some of the preferred metaphors to explain why you can’t ban or block Bitcoin, why scaling debates aren’t really important, and why designers need help to lock Bitcoin into widespread adoption.
“When you first drive your brand new automobile in a city,” he wrote, “you are riding on horse-drawn roads with infrastructure designed and used for horses. No light signals. No road rules. No paved roads. And what happened?” The car got stuck because they were no longer four feet in balance. ” But the fast moving hundred years and the cars that were once ridiculed are absolutely ideal. If you want to swim through the philosophical, social and historical influences of Bitcoin, this is your starting point.
Preferred Quote: “Bitcoin is not just money for the internet. Yes, it is the perfect money for the internet. It is instantaneous, it is secure, it is free. Yes, it is money for the internet, but it is much more. Bitcoin is money for the internet. “If you realize it, you can look beyond the price, you can look beyond the volatility, you can look beyond the FAD. At its core, Bitcoin is a revolutionary technology that will change the world forever. Join.”