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Softwar: A Novel Theory on Power Projection and the National Strategic Significance of Bitcoin
This is a high-definition, color-printed manuscript of an academic thesis written by Major Jason Lowery, an active-duty US Space Force astronautical engineer and US National Defense Fellow at MIT tasked with advising senior US military leaders about the national strategic implications of Bitcoin. In this thesis, Lowery presents a novel theory to the US Department of Defense that Bitcoin doesn't just represent a peer-to-peer cash system, it also (and more importantly) represents a new form of digital-age warfare that will transform national security, cyber security, and possibly even the base-layer architecture of the internet. Using scientific concepts from biology, evolution, anthropology, political science, and computer theory, Lowery summarizes the dynamics of power projection in human society and provides an argument for why emerging proof-of-work technologies (namely Bitcoin) will have a dramatic impact on how humans organize, cooperate, and compete on a global scale by empowering populations to project physical power in, from, and through cyberspace. Major Lowery concludes that Bitcoin represents a national strategic imperative that the US should support and adopt as quickly as possible, else it risks losing its lead as a global superpower in the 21st century.
365 pages, Paperback
Published February 18, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 7, 2023
The thesis that Major Lowery develops, and this is a newly published MIT thesis, not a book per se, is very powerful, and well-supported.
It is currently the #1 best seller in the Digital Currencies category, which is a bit ironic because his thesis is the Bitcoin is not just a digital currency.
He argues that Bitcoin is at its core ‘bit power’ which is indeed the case, and that its monetary attributes comprise one use case out of potentially many. The one he most focuses on is cyberwar, and cyber security more generally, and in a context which is essentially non-lethal (to first order).
He argues it helps us to start getting out of the mutual assured destruction trap of strategic nuclear weapons by providing an alternative for dispute resolution: hash wars, wars between computers. And he doesn’t name swarms of killer drones; these are remote ‘battles’ on a network.
He wants policy makers and the general public to broaden their view of Bitcoin to include its national security implications and utilization possibilities, including for protection of critical industries. Bitcoin is based on Proof of Work which requires substantial electrical power and specialized computer hardware competing in a cryptographic lottery.
The substantial electrical power (which for Bitcoin is now over 50% from green inputs) is a feature, not a bug. Bitcoin’s contribution to CO2 is just 1/12 of 1% and improving. Less than gold mining and Bitcoin’s value has been increasing much faster than gold’s over the past decade.
Very few cryptos use Proof of Work for the consensus algorithm. Bitcoin is deliberately designed to be costly in power and clunky just like vaults and fortresses, in order to have the highest possible security. Speed and very low transaction costs are obtainable through the use of second layer solutions such as Lightning which is off-chain Bitcoin but still within the capped supply. Bitcoin has far and away the largest number of machines distributed around the world, several million nodes, ensuring its security. This is a global cyber security supercomputer that also creates secure tokens.
Actually the very creation of each Bitcoin block is a highly competitive process, a winner take all lottery for each 10 minute block. So there is already a ‘Softwar’ internal to Bitcoin. Because of this Bitcoin’s blockchain is extremely secure against attacks, each block added provides exponential increase in security to all prior blocks, unwinding the block chain’s past amd all the transaction records within is impossible as a result.
Bitcoin is also absolutely scarce with a limit in code of 21 million units, each of which in turn is divisible into 100 million Sats to provide a very high value range for transactions.
Because Bitcoin is grounded in real world power and custom cryptographic hashing hardware, it has the potential to provide a base security layer for our Internet that is plagued with a broad range of attacks, and exploits.
Because Bitcoin provides such high security, a non-lethal arms race may develop for hashing power and strategic reserves of Bitcoin.
Consider the email spam problem. What if you demanded people put a stamp on every email they sent you otherwise it would not be opened, that would cut down on your spam. Charge them a few cents in the form of Sats, tiny fractions of a Bitcoin. And unlike stamps, Sats are reusable by the recipient.
Imagine you are a company trying to protect secrets, you could add security layers and interfaces that demanded small amounts of Bitcoin.
Will things develop this way, we do not know, but there is already an extremely competitive hash race of 360 quintillion computations per second globally underway to create this highly secured decentralized ledger.
And all kinds of information can be embedded in transactions not just transfers of monetary value.
Why did I rate it 4 stars? The writing is jargon-laden, and he introduces a lot of new terminology. It is also highly repetitive and somewhat tedious especially, for me, in the early chapters.
If you are familiar with Bitcoin from a monetary standpoint and not a total pacifist, if you agree wars are going to happen whether we like it or not, then you might start around page 230 and go back to earlier sections later.
Pacifists should like the conclusions since he argues kinetic warfare will decrease with softwar between machines only, as a necessary alternative, with no humans on a real-world battlefield (and no kinetic robot battles either).
Now the author intends to write a book version that will be much shorter and more readable, the average reader would prefer that if it comes about.
Bitcoin maximalists clearly are enjoying the book and I find broadly that his views make a lot of sense. I certainly agree that Bitcoin can play a very important role in cyber security more broadly. I think it is a national strategic imperative and like the author believe the US should support the domestic Bitcoin ‘mining’ industry.
The Internet is being increasingly controlled by social media companies who are predators on their own users, monetizing their information. Bitcoin has a chance of helping people wriggle out of that dominance since it can enable secure peer-peer decentralized alternatives.
It is currently the #1 best seller in the Digital Currencies category, which is a bit ironic because his thesis is the Bitcoin is not just a digital currency.
He argues that Bitcoin is at its core ‘bit power’ which is indeed the case, and that its monetary attributes comprise one use case out of potentially many. The one he most focuses on is cyberwar, and cyber security more generally, and in a context which is essentially non-lethal (to first order).
He argues it helps us to start getting out of the mutual assured destruction trap of strategic nuclear weapons by providing an alternative for dispute resolution: hash wars, wars between computers. And he doesn’t name swarms of killer drones; these are remote ‘battles’ on a network.
He wants policy makers and the general public to broaden their view of Bitcoin to include its national security implications and utilization possibilities, including for protection of critical industries. Bitcoin is based on Proof of Work which requires substantial electrical power and specialized computer hardware competing in a cryptographic lottery.
The substantial electrical power (which for Bitcoin is now over 50% from green inputs) is a feature, not a bug. Bitcoin’s contribution to CO2 is just 1/12 of 1% and improving. Less than gold mining and Bitcoin’s value has been increasing much faster than gold’s over the past decade.
Very few cryptos use Proof of Work for the consensus algorithm. Bitcoin is deliberately designed to be costly in power and clunky just like vaults and fortresses, in order to have the highest possible security. Speed and very low transaction costs are obtainable through the use of second layer solutions such as Lightning which is off-chain Bitcoin but still within the capped supply. Bitcoin has far and away the largest number of machines distributed around the world, several million nodes, ensuring its security. This is a global cyber security supercomputer that also creates secure tokens.
Actually the very creation of each Bitcoin block is a highly competitive process, a winner take all lottery for each 10 minute block. So there is already a ‘Softwar’ internal to Bitcoin. Because of this Bitcoin’s blockchain is extremely secure against attacks, each block added provides exponential increase in security to all prior blocks, unwinding the block chain’s past amd all the transaction records within is impossible as a result.
Bitcoin is also absolutely scarce with a limit in code of 21 million units, each of which in turn is divisible into 100 million Sats to provide a very high value range for transactions.
Because Bitcoin is grounded in real world power and custom cryptographic hashing hardware, it has the potential to provide a base security layer for our Internet that is plagued with a broad range of attacks, and exploits.
Because Bitcoin provides such high security, a non-lethal arms race may develop for hashing power and strategic reserves of Bitcoin.
Consider the email spam problem. What if you demanded people put a stamp on every email they sent you otherwise it would not be opened, that would cut down on your spam. Charge them a few cents in the form of Sats, tiny fractions of a Bitcoin. And unlike stamps, Sats are reusable by the recipient.
Imagine you are a company trying to protect secrets, you could add security layers and interfaces that demanded small amounts of Bitcoin.
Will things develop this way, we do not know, but there is already an extremely competitive hash race of 360 quintillion computations per second globally underway to create this highly secured decentralized ledger.
And all kinds of information can be embedded in transactions not just transfers of monetary value.
Why did I rate it 4 stars? The writing is jargon-laden, and he introduces a lot of new terminology. It is also highly repetitive and somewhat tedious especially, for me, in the early chapters.
If you are familiar with Bitcoin from a monetary standpoint and not a total pacifist, if you agree wars are going to happen whether we like it or not, then you might start around page 230 and go back to earlier sections later.
Pacifists should like the conclusions since he argues kinetic warfare will decrease with softwar between machines only, as a necessary alternative, with no humans on a real-world battlefield (and no kinetic robot battles either).
Now the author intends to write a book version that will be much shorter and more readable, the average reader would prefer that if it comes about.
Bitcoin maximalists clearly are enjoying the book and I find broadly that his views make a lot of sense. I certainly agree that Bitcoin can play a very important role in cyber security more broadly. I think it is a national strategic imperative and like the author believe the US should support the domestic Bitcoin ‘mining’ industry.
The Internet is being increasingly controlled by social media companies who are predators on their own users, monetizing their information. Bitcoin has a chance of helping people wriggle out of that dominance since it can enable secure peer-peer decentralized alternatives.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 4, 2023
The Softwar thesis presented by Jason P. Lowery relies heavily on the distinction between physical power (energy) and abstract power (belief system). Physical power is governed by the immutable laws of physics while abstract power is granted to a select few by way of a belief system. As society increasingly adopts and relies on cyberspace for nearly every aspect of our lives, we will need a means of imposing physical controls on something that is, by its very nature, an abstraction. But how do you impose physical costs in an abstract world? – enter Bitcoin.
Proof of work, a primary security mechanism underlying the most widely adopted physical power projector in the digital world (Bitcoin), is a physical control signal in an abstract world. By proving prodigious amounts of physical power was required to achieve some end, consumers of cyberspace can feel more confident that what they are experiencing is not an attack/disguise because there was an associated physical cost (the author offers pinching oneself in a dream as an analogy). Bitcoin has successfully linked physical power (watts of energy) to abstract power (software) such that those wielding abstract power (software engineers) must answer to a higher power (the physics of energy consumption). Bitcoin is physical security in a digital world.
Applying this novel means of projecting physical power in an abstract world (cyberspace), the author theorizes the next evolution of warfighting is likely to be fought non-kinetically. The advent of nuclear weapons seems to indicate we’ve reached the apex of kinetic warfare (mutually assured destruction), so what’s next? – enter Softwar. Machines (e.g. Bitcoin nodes) participating in electronic competitions for abstract power (e.g. ability to write to a public ledger) may represent a new form of non-lethal warfare. Hence the cover of the thesis includes prominent antlers, a representative form of settling disputes physically (not abstractly) without the negative consequences of traditional fighting (bloodshed).
To arrive at these novel theories, the author has masterfully presented the reader with an exhaustive history of survival, evolution, and war fighting in a purposely repetitive manner. While the primary thesis proposes physical power in an abstract world as a basis for security, it is imperative for the reader to understand how sapiens arrived at this potentially defining moment. After all, we’ve been settling disputes physically for thousands of years, and history has proven abstract power structures, such as governments, are countervailed only by use of force (a.k.a. power). In an increasingly digital world, we are at an inflection point where new methods for solving disputes will be required if we, the consumers of cyberspace, are to countervail those wielding the abstract power (think of Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook empire as a single example).
By the end of Softwar, your mostly likely reaction will be, “Of course!” After having digested this 400-page grounded theory work, it seems self-evident to me that physical power in an ever-expanding abstract world (cyberspace) will be crucial for humanity’s security. Bitcoin as a securer of financial information (money) is the primary use case now, but its potential for novel uses – those we can’t even dream of yet - is the suggestion of this thesis. I was left wondering how, specifically, proof of work will be leveraged to secure me and my fellow sapiens in cyberspace, but such wonderment seems to be the intention of the thesis as the author offers his suggested next steps for research in this field. We, as a society, must recognize the difference between physical and abstract power, the unimpeachable dominance of physical power, and only then can we apply it (in ways we can only dream) to this new abstract world we call cyberspace.
Note: an understanding of how Bitcoin works (encryption, proof of work, distributed ledger) is suggested before diving into this work. Otherwise, I found the content easy to consume as the author presented a logical progression from subject to subject.
Proof of work, a primary security mechanism underlying the most widely adopted physical power projector in the digital world (Bitcoin), is a physical control signal in an abstract world. By proving prodigious amounts of physical power was required to achieve some end, consumers of cyberspace can feel more confident that what they are experiencing is not an attack/disguise because there was an associated physical cost (the author offers pinching oneself in a dream as an analogy). Bitcoin has successfully linked physical power (watts of energy) to abstract power (software) such that those wielding abstract power (software engineers) must answer to a higher power (the physics of energy consumption). Bitcoin is physical security in a digital world.
Applying this novel means of projecting physical power in an abstract world (cyberspace), the author theorizes the next evolution of warfighting is likely to be fought non-kinetically. The advent of nuclear weapons seems to indicate we’ve reached the apex of kinetic warfare (mutually assured destruction), so what’s next? – enter Softwar. Machines (e.g. Bitcoin nodes) participating in electronic competitions for abstract power (e.g. ability to write to a public ledger) may represent a new form of non-lethal warfare. Hence the cover of the thesis includes prominent antlers, a representative form of settling disputes physically (not abstractly) without the negative consequences of traditional fighting (bloodshed).
To arrive at these novel theories, the author has masterfully presented the reader with an exhaustive history of survival, evolution, and war fighting in a purposely repetitive manner. While the primary thesis proposes physical power in an abstract world as a basis for security, it is imperative for the reader to understand how sapiens arrived at this potentially defining moment. After all, we’ve been settling disputes physically for thousands of years, and history has proven abstract power structures, such as governments, are countervailed only by use of force (a.k.a. power). In an increasingly digital world, we are at an inflection point where new methods for solving disputes will be required if we, the consumers of cyberspace, are to countervail those wielding the abstract power (think of Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook empire as a single example).
By the end of Softwar, your mostly likely reaction will be, “Of course!” After having digested this 400-page grounded theory work, it seems self-evident to me that physical power in an ever-expanding abstract world (cyberspace) will be crucial for humanity’s security. Bitcoin as a securer of financial information (money) is the primary use case now, but its potential for novel uses – those we can’t even dream of yet - is the suggestion of this thesis. I was left wondering how, specifically, proof of work will be leveraged to secure me and my fellow sapiens in cyberspace, but such wonderment seems to be the intention of the thesis as the author offers his suggested next steps for research in this field. We, as a society, must recognize the difference between physical and abstract power, the unimpeachable dominance of physical power, and only then can we apply it (in ways we can only dream) to this new abstract world we call cyberspace.
Note: an understanding of how Bitcoin works (encryption, proof of work, distributed ledger) is suggested before diving into this work. Otherwise, I found the content easy to consume as the author presented a logical progression from subject to subject.
May 10, 2023
Few books change the way you look at the world and the history of humanity. This book is one of them for me.
This book is an amazing education on biology, anthropology, human history, and of course, warfare, that happens to be a book about Bitcoin.
Any Bitcoiner would find this read very stimulating. Any person interested in the rules of life on Earth would find this book very helpful. "Things are getting real!"
This book is an amazing education on biology, anthropology, human history, and of course, warfare, that happens to be a book about Bitcoin.
Any Bitcoiner would find this read very stimulating. Any person interested in the rules of life on Earth would find this book very helpful. "Things are getting real!"
May 5, 2023
The first three chapters of this book were fantastic in that the author takes an approach to understanding change, adaptation, and evolution by using a method known as process philosophy. He doesn't call it as such, but his method is clearly that. Process philosophy is characterized by an attempt to reconcile the diverse intuitions found in human experience (such as religious, scientific, and aesthetic) into a coherent, holistic scheme. Among other things, the author develops an understanding of why natural evolution has produced war as a means for resolving conflict and why deer have antlers, i.e., to protect the herd against predators from outside, but to reduce fratricide in the herd from the requirement to improve the fitness of the herd by resolving battles of strength and dominance without injury.
The last three chapters of the book expand on these ideas by introducing the concepts of real physical power and abstract power. Abstract power may have real consequences if backed by real physical power. The value of abstract power in having a real impact relies on a belief system that its power is real and not imaginary. This dynamic of real physical and abstract power is explored through various examples in the book. For example, the author makes a strong argument that the US dollar as a reserve currency could easily be undermined should the US exert its power to exploit its global reserve status by denying people's access to the USD through sanctions or debasing its purchasing power through inflation.
As a general overview, the author provides a unique perspective and insight into the way things are, and he uses the analogy of Bitcoin as antlers in resolving future battles between nations in a way that is soft and not hard (nuclear annihilation). For the author and many others, the use case of the Bitcoin network for securing information and its characteristic of a high cost is a benefit that can secure the mutual preservation of society and not its mutual destruction. Hence, the analogy of antlers, as opposed to sharp teeth, is appropriate.
The last three chapters of the book expand on these ideas by introducing the concepts of real physical power and abstract power. Abstract power may have real consequences if backed by real physical power. The value of abstract power in having a real impact relies on a belief system that its power is real and not imaginary. This dynamic of real physical and abstract power is explored through various examples in the book. For example, the author makes a strong argument that the US dollar as a reserve currency could easily be undermined should the US exert its power to exploit its global reserve status by denying people's access to the USD through sanctions or debasing its purchasing power through inflation.
As a general overview, the author provides a unique perspective and insight into the way things are, and he uses the analogy of Bitcoin as antlers in resolving future battles between nations in a way that is soft and not hard (nuclear annihilation). For the author and many others, the use case of the Bitcoin network for securing information and its characteristic of a high cost is a benefit that can secure the mutual preservation of society and not its mutual destruction. Hence, the analogy of antlers, as opposed to sharp teeth, is appropriate.
June 24, 2023
This thesis explains 3 primary things.
1. How animals in nature use a functional pecking order heuristic based on physical power.
2. How humans screw things up by trying to implement dysfunctional pecking order heuristics based on abstract power.
3. How Bitcoin is going to realign humanity with nature by allowing them to use a pecking order heuristic based on physical power in a non-lethal manner.
This thesis goes quite deep into the human condition and I believe Lowery deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for this novel theory on power projection.
1. How animals in nature use a functional pecking order heuristic based on physical power.
2. How humans screw things up by trying to implement dysfunctional pecking order heuristics based on abstract power.
3. How Bitcoin is going to realign humanity with nature by allowing them to use a pecking order heuristic based on physical power in a non-lethal manner.
This thesis goes quite deep into the human condition and I believe Lowery deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for this novel theory on power projection.
July 31, 2023
While this book certainly gives some insights regarding warfare and strategic resource management I found the actual bitcoin thesis lacking. The author clearly grasps the utility of having distributed immutable data but doesn't present a coherent argument how this will be used in the future for other purposes than a ledger (which in itself is also great of course).
Unfortunately it did not live up to the twitter hype for me. If you buy this expecting a bitcoin book you will likely be dissappointed as bitcoin is not mentioned until 2/3rds in.
Unfortunately it did not live up to the twitter hype for me. If you buy this expecting a bitcoin book you will likely be dissappointed as bitcoin is not mentioned until 2/3rds in.
April 28, 2023
This is a thesis and it starts with related introductory bits. It takes you along a story line to understand Bitcoin and explains the immense value and importance of the underlying proof of work solution. It repeats itself repeatedly along the discussion, though it does this to help the reader connect the dots and this didn't bother me. It is full of positive energy and makes you excited to look forward to the near future!
July 3, 2023
This book is a completely fresh take on the value/purpose of Bitcoin. Lowery's theory about power projection being the most important and least understood attribute of Bitcoin is very hard to comprehend but he walks the reader (very slowly and redundantly), through his conclusion.
Only time will tell if he's right but I for one am very glad that I will be looking for signs (and preparing), that he is.
Only time will tell if he's right but I for one am very glad that I will be looking for signs (and preparing), that he is.
October 13, 2023
I am at chapter 3, but others in my local magic internet money group are saying that the book makes leaps in logic to make it's final point. I think it has bits of important truth in the final premise of nation state adoption. The opening point is true but still controversial among the TV-watching NPCs, that Bitcoin is fundamentally _necessary_ for individual freedom, liberty, sovereignty, and preventing a pseudo-liberal anti-religion, UN puppeteered global new world order.
June 30, 2023
What a profound, cerebral thesis. The book puts forth a potentially game-changing view of bitcoin. It is an actual masters thesis and is somewhat intimidating to read. I hope the author successfully makes this thesis into a well-accepted concept. Let’s start the dialogue!
February 24, 2024
Bitcoin delivers global peace and the ability to plan for the future to all participants. Fiat funds useless wars and violence against individuals. Investing in peace and prosperity has never been such a profitable venture.
July 18, 2023
fantastic piece of work!
April 6, 2024
Global super computer! Read this if you want to understand what this means, it will blow your minds.
July 5, 2023
As a fellow warfighting practitioner, student of history (especially war and lately of monetary history) I was extremely pleased with this thesis. Although on the longer side for academia purposes, one can quickly pick out the most important themes and arguments spread throughout and intentionally drilled in and repeated in key areas for reinforcement.
I was able to check my pre-conceived notions at the door and truly appreciate what the author did here, and I honestly believe he has raised the space up and in a very original way, from a MUCH needed different perspective, that of first principles AND warfighting technology and history.
This should be required reading for military, policy makers, and certainly (or especially) for those in the Bitcoin community. This is not another echo chamber of what Bitcoin is doing for the world but rather an extremely articulate and objective analysis on its impact to humanity from a power projection (proof of work) perspective that connects our biological and technological evolution that got us where we are today.
The author tested most/all parts of this thesis throughout multiple communities to solicit feedback over the past couple of years and to boil it down to the most significant impacts of this technology, not just as it relates to national security but what it means for the human race much more broadly.
I am very excited and looking forward to re-reading this and to see what future iterations come about and what public policy and additional research this inspires.
I was able to check my pre-conceived notions at the door and truly appreciate what the author did here, and I honestly believe he has raised the space up and in a very original way, from a MUCH needed different perspective, that of first principles AND warfighting technology and history.
This should be required reading for military, policy makers, and certainly (or especially) for those in the Bitcoin community. This is not another echo chamber of what Bitcoin is doing for the world but rather an extremely articulate and objective analysis on its impact to humanity from a power projection (proof of work) perspective that connects our biological and technological evolution that got us where we are today.
The author tested most/all parts of this thesis throughout multiple communities to solicit feedback over the past couple of years and to boil it down to the most significant impacts of this technology, not just as it relates to national security but what it means for the human race much more broadly.
I am very excited and looking forward to re-reading this and to see what future iterations come about and what public policy and additional research this inspires.
October 12, 2023
One of the most significant and important books I've ever read. The power projection theory from microorganisms to humans an beyond opened my eyes to the world. The role of war and different perspective on Bitcoin. Must read thesis to everyone who is into tech, Bitcoin, freedom, peace, politics and security.
[reading time: 23h10m]
[reading time: 23h10m]
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