Hi, I'm Gigi.
Most people know me as the author of Bitcoin is Time.
Some people know me as the author of 21 Lessons, which is a little book I wrote a long time ago. I also say "GM" a lot.
I used to be a software engineer. What I am now is unclear to me, at least at this very moment. Things are in flux. LLMs are doing most of the coding these days, so my usual go-to introduction of "writing words and code for bitcoin" isn't too accurate anymore. I guess it's all words now.
I care about people, I care about ideas, and I care about freedom of speech. The Logos, if you will. I care about freedom and prosperity, which is why I care about the inalienable property rights that bitcoin represents. I care about privacy, encryption, truth, beauty, and free and open-source software.
I care about the internet, and what it used to represent. I hope that my kids will be able to enjoy a free and open internet, just like I used to. I hope that they can express themselves freely, without being forced to use their true names. I hope that they can escape the eternal doom loop of cheap dopamine and endless car crashes that is the current iteration of the internet.
Where do we go from here? I don't know. I will do what I can to help bring about a better future. A more prosperous, more stable, more sane future. I am aware that technology is not enough, just like cryptography is not enough.
I believe it is in our power to build a better internet: an internet worth having.
The onus is on us.
Gigi
16:11 @ 956,516
He Hanged Himself in the Morning ā We may enjoy our room in the tower, with the painted walls and the commodious bookcases, but down in the garden there is a man digging who buried his father this morning, and it is
Speaking Freely - On the Oxymoron of Free Speech Platforms ā I was speaking to a friend recently and the problem of free speech came up. I shouldnāt call it a problem, actually, as it is the solution to a problem. The problem is a perennial
Bitcoin's Meme Wars ā Someone whose star continues to rise once said that āBitcoin isnāt just memes.ā I disagree. Itās all memes, all the way down. Let me explain. Whatās in a meme? Before we get into the weeds
A Vision for a Value-Enabled Web ā We all know that the Web is broken in more ways than one. Clickbait, misinformation, bot farms, anonymous "troll-demons"āthe list is as endless as it is depressing. How did we end up here?Ā I believe
Bitcoin Is the Rediscovery of Money ā Bitcoin is the rediscovery of money. It isĀ money reconsidered. It is the removal of counterparty risk. It is the purest, fastest, soundest money, re-imagined from the ground up. It isĀ computational proofĀ of historical events, building up
Dear Crypto & Fiat Bros - An open letter to the confused and dismissive. ā It should be obvious by now, but I'm afraid I'll have to spell it out anyway: Bitcoin, not blockchain. Bitcoin, not crypto. Bitcoin, not distributed ledger technology. Bitcoin, not DeFi. Bitcoin, not Web3. Bitcoin, not
Bitcoin Is Digital Scarcity ā We should treat computers as fancy telephones, whose purpose is to connect people. Information is alienated experience. Information is not something that exists. Indeed, computers donāt really exist, exactly; theyāre only subject to human interpretation.
Cryptography is Not Enough - A long(ish) Speech on Paradoxes and Antinomies ā Warning: This presentation contains example private keys. Do not import any sample keys or send bitcoins to any of the associated addresses; you will lose your money. Watch on YouTube This talk was originally given
The Words We Use In Bitcoin - Words, Language, Terminology, and Linguistic Attacks ā It canāt be said often enough: Bitcoin is confusing. However, itās not complicated like a Rube Goldberg machine is complicated. Itās just very foreign and thus very misunderstoodāit is a completely new thing. āThereās nothing
Inalienable Property Rights - The Law, Language, Money, and Morality of Bitcoin ā If speech and the free exercise thereof is sacred, then Bitcoin is sacred, because all that Bitcoin requires of you is to think and to speak.
The Freedom of Value - How Value-for-Value Fixes the Monetization of Information ā The internet has a problem. Few people know that this problem exists, but hey, that's the nature of serious, non-obvious problems: they are invisible until they aren't. The problem with the internet is that information
Magic Internet Money - The Magical Origins of Bitcoin ā Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Arthur C. Clarke Technology is a marvelous thing. We are so quick to accept things as they stand, rarely taking the time to reflect on how magical
Implications of Outlawing Bitcoin ā Bitcoin is complicated and scary. Just like fire, electricity, computers, and every other ground-breaking invention before it. It is complicated and scary because most people do not understand how it works and why it might
Bitcoin Is An Idea ā Donāt worry about people stealing an idea. If itās original, you will have to ram it down their throats. Howard H. Aiken Thereās no flesh or blood within this cloak to kill. Thereās only an
Bitcoin Is Time ā One luminary clock against the sky Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. Robert Frost, Acquainted with the Night (1928) Time is still the great mystery to us. It is no more than aĀ concept;
Dear Family, Dear Friends - A letter to all of you who still have no bitcoin. ā I am writing this letter because I am convinced of two things: (1) our current money is fundamentally broken (2) using superior money will benefit you in particular ā and society in general ā in
Dear Bitcoiners - An optimistic letter to friends and foes around the globe. ā The madness of this world became obvious in an instant. Everything is changing way faster than most of us ever imagined ā but Iām not worried. To the contrary, Iām weirdly optimistic ā because of
The Rise of the Sovereign Individual - How power is re-aligning itself in an internet-native world ā Not too long ago, the internet was a fringe phenomenon. Very few people saw the benefits of a global communications network. Even fewer people had the vision and the foresight to see what it might
Proof of Life - Why Bitcoin is a LivingĀ Organism ā The definition of life has been a challenge for scientists and philosophers alike. While many definitions have been put forward, what precisely differentiates the living from the non-living remains elusive. Are viruses alive? DNA molecules?
