Bitcoin is a fire breathing Dragon,
A Quantum Computer, an Ice King.
Fire makes the economy go round,
and
Ice brings on necessary winters
that reset the planet for the next crop.
The hotter the bitcoin, the more secure
The colder the qubit, the more pure
Exponentially they run
in unique directions.
Exponentially they become
ever more useful.
Humanity is lucky to have
Bitcoin and Quantum Technologies.
I am lucky that these two
are destined for marriage.
Converging at the nanoscale
to create me, and you, an infinity stone.
Circa 2100
Circa 2100 CE, it will be the 22nd century.
Nobody knows what will happen then. But I know two things, quantum computational technologies will be more mature, and Bitcoin will also be more mature.
They shall no longer be teenagers; they shall be wise sages then. Powerful sages.
The maturity will come in many forms. For Bitcoin, a lot more people will be orange-pilled. When the US Dollar Debt balloons to a nice $100 trillion, you can be sure Billions of people will be Bitcoiners.
It is incredible. If any country on earth spent $1 trillion dollars of debt every 100 days, its economy would soon be in hyperinflationary hell, to collapse not even a year later. But if that country is the USA, via the Federal Reserve, it enjoys a wide swimming pool thanks to global reserve currency status.
But that is not all. The US Dollar also enjoys a ‘Dollar Milkshake’ in the form of investments flowing in from outside the USA or its US Dollar. I mean, most Bitcoiners are Americans, so Bitcoin is keeping the US Dollar afloat!
Let that sink in.
***
So, circa 2100, the US Dollar still rules the Iron Throne. It keeps growing big and strong from all the milkshakes it enjoys, and then there is the one provided by Artificial Intelligence, feeding on our internet data.
At $100 trillion in debt, subways in New York City are now rags, woke-ism is at an all-time high (ATH) and millions of American people choose to “identify” as young, rich, and very beautiful.
In Africa, the oil is nearly gone, but the poverty still stinks. The energy transition is still mostly a theoretical idea, alternations between mild heat waves and raging rainstorms visit everyone who lives in the tropics.
The Cold War between Russia and the USA, started in 1947, still goes on. Occasionally becoming hot every other while, to the detriment of other people.
This is a Dystopia.
At least burgers are still cheap (they contain insects now), and many AI data servers have been relocated to the moon to allow human beings some peace and quiet.
These servers would be buzzing all over the place like bees (that don’t make honey).
Unsurprisingly, Bitcoiners have decided they need another freedom technology on their hands. Bitcoin is being milked by AI, for AI ensures taxes are paid in lossy inflationary dollars. Nobody still thinks the bubble will burst. Maybe the can can be kicked as far into the future as our imaginations allow us.
Bitcoiners learn about quantum computing big time. And underground start-ups are started.
Quantum Hacking the World’s Problems
A Short Story
It is Monday 15th March, 2100.
Finally, the password-cracking monster is created. Call it QKraken. The scientist responsible for this works for a pretty huge company under the ground, off books, and off signals. Code name - Q
After cranking in parallel universes for 8 hours, the QC spits out the key to one of Satoshi's earliest wallet addresses. There they are - 50BTC. 500 million dollars.
He almost pees his pants. "Should I call HQ?" HQ is sleeping. Nobody works past midnight or this early on a Monday. It won’t be rewarded (damned ballooning taxes). So, 8 hours of work on Monday, in the 22nd century, is enough work as it is.
"Should I freaking spend some??" He tries to think, but it is not happening.
SHA256 and RSA are now toast!
His team can finally crack open decades of secrets shored up by millions of people, over the course of decades! Jesus. This is nuclear!
Q tries to think but it is not happening. Computing game theoretic analyses that would make a supercomputer freeze out, he falls asleep at the computer.
And he has this strange dream:
It is Judgement Day, like in the Terminator movies. Someone, perhaps the Russians, get tired of the monolithic power wielded by the US Dollar and its huge AI dogs, so one of them presses the button. Or is it the Joker from the Batman movies?
The countdown is started, and nobody is around who remembers how to press the kill switch.
This is it. This is the Great Filter. Fate is going to reset the clock. Take human civilization back to the Stone Age.
The nukes fall fast and in the thousands. Nothing can stop them. In a few minutes, their parabolic trajectories will be through. Then, hell will engulf the earth.
They all fall harmlessly to the ground. Like dead weights. Why, what happened? …
“Q”
He wakes up. A little frightened.
“You fell asleep at your desk, are you alright?”
“Yes…yes, I’m alright” - wiping slight drool from his mouth.
Vivian looks at him with pitiful eyes.
Q isn’t sure if he even cracked SHA256. He wants to check again, but he is too tired.
Did he stop a nuclear fallout?
Did he destroy encryption?
He decides to go out and check. Forgetting he could just turn on his phone and check if WhatsApp is no longer encrypted.
He gets into the street. It is a usual Monday morning. Nothing unusual.
He needs a break. He goes home.
There is yet enough time to save the world. Of that, he feels sure.
***
Shor-GPT
In a good world, people will want Shor-GPT (a spin-off of ChatGPT). For they are accruing massive amounts of files and accounts whose passwords they never remember.
***
Being a Bitcoiner who loves quantum computers, is like being a nuclear scientist who loves world peace.
At the surface, it is impossible. Then you dig a little deeper and behold, only nuclear power shall cure energy poverty and the cycles of currency inflation rooted in playing the economy like a fiddle (because more useful energy, not more money, creates value in an economy).
If anything, we should perfect playing the atom like a fiddle, not fellow humanity.
It is kind of the same thing with quantum computers.
Yeah yeah, Shor’s algorithm might “one day” hack Bitcoin’s encryption algorithms. Until you realize quantum computers are too busy kicking their own butts at the moment.
But given that Shor’s algorithm (with its logarithmic speed) is stronger than noble quantum algorithms like Grover’s search which could be used for Bitcoin mining (using only quadratic speed), then the reality of hacking encryption is something we need to find good and profitable uses for else it will remain simply destructive.
The first thing is the need, and the second is the cost. Even today, encryption can be hacked at many levels if you have a need and can provide the cost. Say you lose the password to your laptop, hacking it is a good thing.
Say you lose the password to your phone with $50 million worth of BTC; hacking it is a good thing. You don’t care if the process will use a CPU or a QPU or a prayer; you want to open the phone.
This is ethical hacking.
Like crime, unethical hacking spreads when social structures become oppressive to their citizens. Massive debt burdens - like $100 trillion - are oppressive. So the drug use, the crime, and the unethical hacking will only get worse. Whether it be with classical, quantum, or social hacking technologies.
The shabbiness will get worse, and our only hope is to take up laptops and build classical, quantum, social code.
If somebody doesn’t want nefarious characters who build selfish quantum hacking tech, then they should not frustrate plus oppress their poor parents while these characters are still children.
So flip it on its head, and it is a glorious revolution. Hacking, once again, becomes discovery. It is discovery.
We hack away rocks and find gold, oil, and fossilized dinosaur bones.
Hacking is breaking new ground.
Adult humans become alike little children, breaking open their toys to see what makes them tick. So that they can buidl even better toys.
(Aside - This is why I destroyed many of my childhood toy cars).
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” - Matthew 18:3 (Holy Bible)
Heaven, Utopia, awaits us if we change our ways.
Awaits us if we acknowledge that ice and fire, Bitcoin and Quantum Computers, are no enemies. They are two great creatures with great use cases.
And we need to tame them both. Or they will tame us.