Introduction

"But Idon’t want to go among mad people," Aliceremarked.
"Oh, you can’t helpthat," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’mmad. You’re mad."
"Howdo you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or youwouldn’t have come here."

In October 2018, Arjun Balaji asked the innocuousquestion, Whathave you learned from Bitcoin? After trying toanswer this question in a short tweet, and failing miserably, I realizedthat the things I’ve learned are far too numerous to answerquickly, if at all.

The things I’ve learned are, obviously, about Bitcoin -or at least related to it. However, while some of the inner workings ofBitcoin are explained, the following lessons are not an explanation of howBitcoin works or what it is, they might, however, help to explore some ofthe things Bitcoin touches: philosophical questions, economic realities, andtechnological innovations.

The 21 lessons are structured in bundles of seven, resulting inthree chapters. Each chapter looks at Bitcoin through a different lens,extracting what lessons can be learned by inspecting this strange networkfrom a different angle.

Chapter1 explores the philosophical teachings of Bitcoin. Theinterplay of immutability and change, the concept of true scarcity,Bitcoin’s immaculate conception, the problem of identity, thecontradiction of replication and locality, the power of free speech, and thelimits of knowledge.

Chapter2 explores the economic teachings of Bitcoin. Lessonsabout financial ignorance, inflation, value, money and the history of money,fractional reserve banking, and how Bitcoin is re-introducing sound money ina sly, roundabout way.

Chapter3 explores some of the lessons learned by examining thetechnology of Bitcoin. Why there is strength in numbers, reflections ontrust, why telling time takes work, how moving slowly and not breakingthings is a feature and not a bug, what Bitcoin’s creation cantell us about privacy, why cypherpunks write code (and not laws), and whatmetaphors might be useful to explore Bitcoin’s future.

Each lesson contains several quotes and links throughout the text.If I have explored an idea in more detail, you can find links to my relatedworks in the “Through the Looking-Glass” section. If youlike to go deeper, links to the most relevant material are listed in the“Down the Rabbit Hole” section. Both can be found at theend of each lesson.

Even though some prior knowledge about Bitcoin is beneficial, Ihope that these lessons can be digested by any curious reader. While somerelate to each other, each lesson should be able to stand on its own and canbe read independently. I did my best to shy away from technical jargon, eventhough some domain-specific vocabulary is unavoidable.

I hope that my writing serves as inspiration for others to digbeneath the surface and examine some of the deeper questions Bitcoin raises.My own inspiration came from a multitude of authors and content creators toall of whom I am eternally grateful.

Last but not least: my goal in writing this is not to convince youof anything. My goal is to make you think, and show you that there is waymore to Bitcoin than meets the eye. I can’t even tell you whatBitcoin is or what Bitcoin will teach you. You will have to find that outfor yourself.

“Afterthis, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill — the storyends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. Youtake the red pill — you stay in Wonderland, and I show you howdeep the rabbit hole goes.” Morpheus