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The Four Gifts of Humanity that made Bitcoin Possible

Opinion

The Four Gifts of Humanity that made Bitcoin Possible

We are a species that has the ability to create the most complex communication protocols, from human language and alphabet to print, phones, the internet, and now decentralized communication.

Barak Ben Ezer | 17:59, 12.11.17

Bitcoin's price is breaking records on a weekly basis. While all those who got in early are happy to see their investment continue to grow, it's a celebration of human evolution, ingenuity and the ability to innovate on a mass scale. It’s a resounding proof that when we apply our four most important God-given gifts, we can create, fix, and achieve everything.

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The first two gifts are creativity and a sense of purpose. Those two gifts are exponentially amplified by the third gift, the ability to communicate. There are other species that can communicate as a group, but humans are not limited to the protocols they’ve been given by pure genetics.

We are unique in our ability to create new communication protocols. We are a species that has the ability to create the most complex communication protocols, from human language and alphabet to print, phones and even the internet. The more we improve our protocols, the better we can connect and arrange ourselves into groups. The internet facilitates the connectivity that allows us to arrange ourselves into super-groups, which are then able to experience creativity and a sense of purpose across time and space with exponential powers. 

Neema CEO Barak Ben Ezer Neema CEO Barak Ben Ezer Neema CEO Barak Ben Ezer

This brings us to the fourth gift, morality. Morality is our sense of alignment with what’s right. Technology in itself is empty. It could be our greatest disadvantage, bringing us close to extinction by ecocide, that is, suicide on a planetary scale—the destruction of the natural environment, our home, earth. Technology is also the reason, arguably the only reason,  to remain an optimist.

Technology combined with a sense of what’s right can free us from our wasteful way of life that contaminates our environment and our spirit. With the right technology, we can create electric vehicles, harness solar power, and now also create decentralized communication protocols that can save us from manipulative centralized powers. Decentralization is key because centralization can be very dangerous.

Centralized systems, where all the power sits on the top, are easy to manipulate. They can be controlled by individuals who are not aligned with what’s right. The current internet is a step in the right direction, but it is still flawed, as it is not fully decentralized, and so governments and corporations can still manipulate the type and flow of information.

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Bitcoin is a decentralized communication protocol built for the transfer of value. It is crucial because until recently we had to ask permission from a bank, from a regulator, from a sovereign ruler, just to be able to hold and transfer our own money. The strong cryptographic and decentralized nature of Bitcoin changes that. This is a true evolution of us as a species.

“A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party" (Satoshi Nakamoto, The Bitcoin White Paper, 2009)

Barak Ben Ezer is a Blockchain expert and the founder and CEO of Neema, a digital banking platform for unbanked populations, a Y Combinator company (W2017).
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