The physical security provided by Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus method has been a fascinating story this year.
Jason Lowery is a commissioned officer in the US Space Force and a US National Defense Fellow at MIT. He is researching Bitcoin for the US Department of Defense (DoD). Also, his views on the subject are his own and not those of the DoD.
Lowery plans to write his master’s thesis on how proof-of-work miners are similar to militaries. It could be used to achieve global consensus on the current state and chain of liberty and digital property. Moreover, Lowery’s thesis is unique in that it fits proof of work as an evolution from biological. Also, physical patterns of the universe and life.
Lowery explains that billions of years ago, our world was a single cell. Multicellular organisms that involuntarily cooperated gained state and resource control over time. Moreover, power projection evolved in animals to settle resource disputes. It is from antlers to dominant behaviors. Moreover, the rise of hominids millions of years ago. One of those hominids, Homo sapiens, evolved abstract cognition and the ability to scale trust and cooperation beyond Dunbar’s number.
Jason Lowery said life is a game of power projection. It’s usually kinetic power. Cooperation is a great way to improve power projection. Also, collaboration is a predatory competitive advantage. The winners of the kinetic proof of work game wrote history.
The ability to rewrite the chain of custody is preserved by power projection, according to Lowery. Additionally, this is a permissionless protocol by definition. Without the ability to project power, one implicitly trusts a third party to define ownership.
Bitcoin Military Project
A four-billion-year-old power projection game, Lowery argues, militaries are an extension of that game. On top of that, these boundaries are set because power has been projected to counterbalance authority. At some point in history, allowing us to set our own state and chain of custody over resources we control. Militaries project kinetic power to make it costly to not cooperate with the military. Corruption becomes lucrative without a military or some other form of power projection.
No ownership exists without property defense. Indeed, adhering to the legitimate rules of law is a tacit validation of the historical fighting that established them. We use the rule of law to avoid constant conflict, and cooperation increases power projection. No permission or control authority over physical resources can exist without the ability to project kinetic power.
Jason Lowery stated that the power of every bullet, bomb, tank, truck, ship. And submarine, airplane, and soldier is measured in watts. Moreover, defending what needs defending. And yes, creating a massive standing military to defend your rule of law or whatever you claim is inefficient. Invasion or conquest by another military is even more costly.
It is not necessary to use kinetic energy, in which mass is displaced by force, in order to project power. It can be electric by charging a resistor. Both joules per second and watts are used to measure the amount of power that can be projected. Furthermore, the only difference is the source of energy. People are monetizing an entirely new form of property, effectively transforming war from kinetic to electric.
POW
Humans use kinetic proof of work to preserve the physical world and its resources. While water, air, and land will always be in what Lowery calls kinetic meatspace, money does not have to be.
The same principles and proof-of-work, permissionless control structure can be applied to money in the electric domain. Proof-of-work consensus does not bleed like kinetic power projection. Additionally, power projection does not require coordinating or challenging belief structures. To protect, confiscate or legitimize monetary property, humans no longer need to wage war.
Power Projection
We gain more by making this change. Kinetic power projection games are destructive competitions that usually end in death. Unlike an electrical proof-of-work competition, Bitcoin is an infrastructure-building competition that promotes energy abundance and network security.
The transition’s second and third order effects are still unknown. Lowery points out that cheap desalination reduces the need for kinetic battles over fresh water.
Humans are too good at kinetic power projection. Also, the proliferation of nuclear weapons has made it impossible to counter oppressors’ authority. This is to set the state and chain of custody over money. If that happens, we will fail. Also, his thesis will be that humans have lost their permissionless control over money.
Bitcoin is a solution to this problem. On top of that, it is to reclaim a digital permissionless control structure over money and digital property. Lowery compares Bitcoin to antlers built on top of nuclear. A resistant digital defense infrastructure.
The need for kinetic power projection to claim ownership of physical resources will never go away. A global neutral digital money like Bitcoin prevents monetary oppression. Also, it dematerializes the kinetic power projection game required to enforce contractual fiat currencies backed by militaries. Bitcoin fascinates Lowery because it follows the power projection law found in nature and all biological systems. With mutually assured preservation, competitors are motivated to cooperate. Also, everyone benefits from their competitors’ productivity.
Kinetic Power
Contrast this with kinetic power projection games that end in mutual destruction. We can restore a permissionless control structure over money. Remove our money from the spoils of battle to accomplish this goal. Moreover, is by subscribing to Bitcoin. Given that nuclear weapons have hampered our ability to confront oppressors. Bitcoin is not only a national security imperative, but a humanitarian imperative.
Finally, lowery invites the Bitcoin community to join him in refining his theories. What Bitcoin (BTC) means for the human race and our ability to own money and property in the digital realm? It will be interesting to see develop.
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