Jay on Nostr: In the Softwar thesis, the author lays out Power Projection Theory and the ...

In the Softwar thesis, the author lays out Power Projection Theory and the distinction between physical reality, the world of mass and energy, and abstract reality, the imaginary world within the human mind. He makes the argument that computers and their bits of memory have a similar distinction. The physical state of the changing bits vs the abstract "programs" we see represented by them.

Bitcoin is a physical system in that it uses real world physical power to change the state of abstract bits. It's a system that's the first of it's kind. But what stories we tell about what that system does is entirely abstract. The narratives about how we use it are entirely abstract. Which means, that the idea that Bitcoin is money is also purely abstract. There is nothing physical or inherent to Bitcoin that makes it money, but that doesn't mean that people can't use it as money in their economic lives. That also means that there's nothing preventing anyone else from coming up with a different story of how Bitcoin can be used.