No reason to reinvent Bitcoin: Part 1 (of 2)
How Bitcoin is analogous to the Wheel
“No reason to reinvent the wheel.” Why do we say that?
A couple weeks back I had a realization; breaking down to it’s fundamentals; Bitcoin as a monetary system is analogous to the wheel for transportation.
Starting with the wheel, it must first be broken down to it’s most fundamental components to begin to understand why it’s a simplified protocol in physical representation.
To call something a wheel, it must have two things:
1. A circular rim that rolls on a surface
2. An axle hole that allows it to rotate
Without both, it’s not a wheel but fundamentally something else.
With these two rules of the protocol in place, we now have the foundation for which a nearly limitless number of applications can be built upon, and improvements in society realized. In the wheel’s case, it was scaled and applied in endless use cases over thousands of years:
~3500 BCE: wheeled vehicles begin in Mesopotamia, marking it’s first known use in transportation
~3000-2000 BCE: the concept spreads to other cultures (Egypt, China) where its applications evolve for agriculture and militaristic uses
~2000-1000 BCE: the design is improved upon, examples being spokes and wheel hubs, increasing efficiency and durability
~1000 BCE-500 CE – innovations such as the chariot further expand utility for uses in transportation
18th-19th century – industrial revolution breaks through to greatly expand the uses for wheels in trains, machinery, and steam powered engines
Note: (one could refer to this period as the S curve in adoption)
20th century – cars, airplanes, industrial machinery expands use cases
A couple key takeaways here:
The wheel is the underlying component existing through time and space
The applications built on top of the wheel allowed for endless inventions advancing human civilization
It’s also important to note that it’s not the wheel on it’s own providing the value. It’s only when it’s built upon is value realized. But removing the foundational wheel itself; no value is realized.
Moving through time, the wheel has been a constant. This is why we don’t reinvent it, it’s core components have been discovered and been used for thousand of years as a foundation to build endless value for humanity.
Understanding this background, in Part 2 we’ll pivot the focus to Bitcoin.