Natalie Smolenski She has become a household name in the Bitcoin community in recent times by revealing her unique insights into Bitcoin, and the way it is shaping the world.
This PhD-holding, Bitcoin-related anthropologist has a book that she edited as well as a contribution to it. The Satoshi Papers, Reflections On Politics After Bitcoin Bitcoin Magazine Books (published by Bitcoin Magazine Books, and available for purchase) pre-order now).
This book contains texts by some of the leading academics in Bitcoin research, such as Andrew M. Bailey and Leopoldo B. Bebchuk. It includes pieces entitled “Easy Money, Easy Wars? The Evolution of War Finance, Forever Wars, and the Prospects of a Bitcoin Peace” The following are some examples of how to get started: “Dispute Resolution Without the State,” Smolenski’s colleagues and she explore potential changes in politics and power as a consequence of Bitcoin’s existence and proliferating.
Smolenski sat with me to talk about why she published. Satoshi Papers At this point in time, she explains who the book aims to reach and why it isn’t a bestseller. “apology” Bitcoin.
Why did The Satoshi Papers come together?
A friend of mine named Lee Bratcher with whom I founded the Texas Blockchain Council and set up the Texas Blockchain Summit suggested that the time may be right to publish some essays about this moment in the historical adoption of Bitcoin — that this was a refounding moment for the American Republic.
It seemed like a good opportunity to gather works by interdisciplinary voices in order to discuss and explore the relationships between individuals, society, and state after Bitcoin.
It was a mission for me to do so. I started the Texas Bitcoin FoundationThe charity is focused on education and has 501(c3) status. In order to concentrate more on the scientific and theoretical issues, I took a break from policy.
What was your process for selecting the contributors to the book?
We invited some of them personally because I was familiar with their work and knew they were Bitcoin experts. Some of them said they would be back. “Yes, we’d love to contribute an essay.”
We sent out personal invitations and also held an open call to submit papers. These went through several rounds. In the beginning, we asked people to submit an abstract. We then provided feedback on those who we felt could be good candidates for a full paper.
Initial drafts were received from some. After that, we went through a second set of edits to make sure the arguments were strong.
What is political economy?
The term political economy has been around for a long time. Political economy was a field that existed before economics and political science were separated. It studied the way states and societies created wealth. Adam Smith, for example, did this in Wealth of Nations.
Many people who are now considered economists were called political economists because, at the time, they realized that markets are heavily influenced by how human societies structure themselves. The market does not follow the state. Some people have recently made this argument, but the truth is that it’s much more nuanced.
Recent years have seen a return to or revival of interest for political economy. This is partly due to the belief that mainstream or traditional economics cannot adequately explain market nuances without considering political factors.
Bitcoin: How will it affect the Political Economy?
This is a big question that the different essays of this collection approach in various ways.
The issuance and maintenance of money is one of many functions of the state — legitimately or illegitimately — depending on your theory of the state.
Bitcoin is automating one of the national state’s functions. It does not, however create a centrally-managed token which functions as a jurisdictional medium for exchange in debt settlement for countries all over the world.
Bitcoin can be seen as a form of tension between the state and nation, without necessarily undermining it. It’s an area worth exploring.
Bitcoin provides an alternative to currency issued by governments, but that does not mean they will be eliminated. Bitcoin forces governments into accepting the fact that they don’t have control over what is used as a currency, unit of accounting, or medium of trade by their citizens.
The Second Amendment reminds government officials that they do not own the monopoly of violence. The state must exist in tension with the sovereignty of the individual — which includes the right to transact and the right to bear arms — and that means there are limits to state sovereignty.
What makes this book different from other Bitcoin books published to date?
Bitcoin has been the subject of very few academic books. This is the main example I can come up with. Resistance MoneyThis year’s release is.
Satoshi Papers is different in that, rather than being a consistently-authored volume, it is a compilation of articles by different scholars from different disciplines. This book is an assortment of voices in various social sciences on Bitcoin. This is the only book that has this kind of content.
Another thing I’d like to say is that the other thing you should know about sets Satoshi Papers apart is that it is not an apology — and I use that term classically — for Bitcoin in any way. Apologia It is an argument or justification in support. Bitcoin isn’t something we are arguing about. Bitcoin is here. This is the truth. It’s a fact, both materially and socially.
The questions we explore in this document are: What type of power does Bitcoin possess? What are significant geopolitical and political trends that shape the way self-sovereign technology architectures are created and expressed? This tells us something about the social nature of money.
Like language and law it is a socially emergent phenomenon. It does not need the government. There are still top-down management vectors that influence the way money is used by human societies. In a way, the volume explores that tension between bottom-up and top-down vectors of organizational socialism.
Why are academics not only reluctant but also largely against Bitcoin?
The academy has unfortunately been at the center of what can be called, I believe rightly, a “cultural revolution” in Anglophone nations and the West in general. It seems that there is a push for emancipation of historically marginalized communities. It has had a significant impact on scholarship and has led it in a direction where the government has become more important than the civil society or the individual in achieving the emancipation project.
So there’s a general suspicion against anything that resembles individualism. This is seen in practice as a way to exploit people. In this context, Bitcoin and other movements that are more akin to individualism, have become popular. “anarchist-coded” The following are some examples of how to use “right-coded” — even though I would argue that there’s nothing right wing or left wing about Bitcoin — exist in a highly-politicized tribal environment and are identified with political enemies.
The volume is crafted very deliberately to make a statement in the Bitcoin community, largely by not making any excuses for Bitcoin. We’re certainly not taking a deferential stance. Bitcoin is an actuality that social scientists must take into account. Some people may find it offensive. You may not like it.
It is important to have a sense of self-confidence. Satoshi Papers This comes with being academically rigourous, and being able intervene in the discussions within the academy. They are well-versed in the tradition, the literature, the linguists and can speak with them. The authors do not apologize for the things that they will eventually presuppose to be part of world architecture.
Bitcoin is going to become the standard currency for everyone. The fact is, they may not even realize that Bitcoin will become a standard part of how they do business. This is a great opportunity for the people in academia who are able to listen and see to actively engage in dialogues about these topics.
You have a specific audience in mind when you write a book.
Philosophers, historians and economists are all examples of economic historians.
Is this a book that a person who is able to read would enjoy? Bitcoin Standard You might also be able to read.
The book is unique in its appeal to both academics and lay readers. The book is easy to understand and is suitable for both the lay reader and the scholar.
It is the epilogue of the book. “Peer-To-Peer Is A Human Right”This is the text of a talk you made in April this year at the Bitcoin Policy Summit. Why is it important to make this point so explicit, particularly to academics.
Today, the majority of social sciences and humanities are left-oriented, for want of a more accurate term. However, what this means has evolved. The political left in the late-19th and early-20th centuries was heavily influenced, as was the case even up to mid-19th-century, by the anarchist reform movement. This was due to a long tradition that was similar anarcholeftist thoughts. This essentially disappeared after World War II.
In Europe, the Bitcoin anarchist tradition is more prevalent than in The States. Did you notice this?
It may well be the case. It’s possible. I don’t know the current state of Western Europe’s academy. But I think that is plausible.
It was a kind of triumph for a very statist, even communist, approach in the American and Anglophone academic worlds that persists to this day. There’s a skepticism of any individualism, or anything that smacks of bourgeois arrogance, reinstating social hierarchies.
It’s just the peculiarity of our historical moment. I think that as state surveillance and control turns on some people in academia, there will become a more widespread awareness of the importance of bottom-up approaches for emancipation.
It’s difficult for many people right now to picture. The state is seen as a solution for social injustice and oppression.
The Federal Reserve works with the government to print money, and many people don’t realize the dangers of this. Why do academics not discuss the negative effects of currency debasement.
The political imaginations of many social scientist have been shaped in a way by the idea that capitalism, and capitalists are the primary enemies of humanity.
They’re searching for the Leviathan because they want something powerful enough to take down the Elon Musks, whom they hate and blame for almost every social problem. This kind of caricatured vision is not very redeemable.
There are some people who might even share that prejudice, but they are also rigorous thinkers who want to engage with arguments of rigorous nature. “a different perspective.”
It is a problem that culture war tends to generate responses just as narrow and simplistic as the original point of view. If you have a caricatured view of the world, it will tend to draw other caricatured views. It becomes just a bunch of tit and tat, which doesn’t lead anywhere. One of the objectives of Satoshi Papers It is important to approach the discussion from a new perspective.
This book is not Republican. It is not a book about Republicans. apologiaAs I mentioned, this is true for any ideology or political orientation. It’s an intervention into a scientific debate about the origin and character of money.
If you disagree with any of its statements, then you can do so. There they are. We welcome differences of opinion. We want to hear if our authors have made a mistake, but this is not a place for ideological battles.
What are your hopes for the Satoshi Papers and what do you want people to take from it?
It’s the idea that you don’t need to wait for government in order to be free. It is not necessary to wait until the government.
Take control of your own life, My God. It is possible, you can do it. Here are examples from throughout history of people who have done so.
Two papers are included in this book which speculate about the following question: what could the credit standard look like if bitcoin was used? What different scenarios could future presidents pursue in terms of fiscal policy for the United States?
We are trying to show that the horizons of political possibilities is much wider than what we imagine as embattled culture warriors.
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Source: bitcoinmagazine.com
