Introduction

In this essay we will give a brief history of crytocurrency leading up to Bitcoin, give an overview of the Bitcoin protocol by summarizing key sections of the whitepaper, and briefly discuss Bitcoin’s use of cryptographical proof and computational security instead of trusted third parties within the protocol.

What happened to “Don’t give out your name on the internet?” Within the past 15 years, the desire for online anonymity has vanished – as “normal people” joined the digital world, the number of “creepy people” worth hiding your identity from seems to have dropped in comparison. Despite the perceived safety of the online world, remaining anonymous still has its merits.

Anonymity addresses ideas

In an ideal world, political debate occurs detached from the people debating the topic. When discussing the gender wage gap for example, fact-based discussions should be possible between any two individuals, regardless of gender, salary, or race. Productive discourse where different interpretations of the same statistics should occur, where arguents, not participants, are rebutted and questioned. This ideal world does not exist.

Forgiveness has a negative connotation these days. We see forgiving each other as weak — as not standing by one’s values, as giving up one’s pride. This view is incredibly counter-productive and, in my opinion, the cause of many problems in today’s society. Here is the actual definition of forgiveness:

forgive (verb)

• to cease to feel resentment against (an offender)

Source: Merriam Webster

This definition is all that forgiveness has to be — not pardoning or excusing someone for their actions, but instead letting go of anger towards them. Grudges may appear to make someone “tough” and “strong,” but all they do is keep someone’s mind tormented by the people they despise. It is very easy to hold a grudge—grudges make one feel powerful without requiring them to do anything. However, true power in one’s life stems from overcoming this negativity and taking control of one’s emotions.

Choosing sides is fun. Be it politics or pop culture, nothing validates an opinion better than classifying opposing opinions as wrong. Sometimes, as seen by Holocaust deniers or the anti-vaccine movement, it’s possible people can be completely and utterly wrong. However, in the general case, both sides have merits and both sides have pitfalls. When trying to gain a perspective of the bigger picture, it’s best to position oneself somewhere in the middle.