the problem with self-censorship is that over time it becomes easier I've seen more self-censorship this year than any other time in my life and while some places are better or worse I think its a global trend. Heck, i've self-censored more this year than ever before so I'm definitely sympathetic--speaking truth to power has increasingly scary consequences But this worries me as i think the more we self censor the more we rewire our brain, and the more we all do it the less free & expressive society becomes

Bitcoin is money. I strongly believe that's it's most valuable use case In order to make sure that is the future of Bitcoin there is something extremely important you must do today.... Use Bitcoin as money. Earn it for your work & spend it for your wants and needs. And if you want to do even more, make it easier for others to do the same via education or technology

She said yes

Good morning! May your day be filled with volcanos and rainbows (And #bitcoin ofc)

I used the microphone on the baby monitor to talk to my 2 year old yesterday And he was so amazed All day he kept reminding me, in awe, how he heard me like I was with him even though I wasn't It reminds me of that saying about advanced tech being indistinguishable from magic Seeing the world through a child's eyes can feel like magic as well ❤️

Every bomb ever made falls on all of us All violence against free expression of ideas and opinions targets all of us

GM nostr

Who is working on grassroots Bitcoin education? I want to follow you

The beauracracy of birth is crazy The first weeks of my son's life is filled with me sitting in various govt offices and filling out endless forms Granted, I'm getting my infant son two passports and creating as much travel flexibility for him as soon as I can so I may be seeing an extreme version of this but the system dehumanizes us from our very first day of life, and it's almost impossible to opt out ...musings from another govt waiting room...

Another Sunday morning hike up the San Salvador volcano with my son ❤️

When I first got into Bitcoin (2013) it felt like I had found my people. I moved to England and funded grad school there by exploiting arbitrage between GDP & USD Bitcoin exchange rates via p2p selling, but more than the money (which I lost when the police eventually raided my house and seized my assets) the best part was sitting down with hundreds of strangers and chatting while we waited for the transaction to confirm. Bitcoin was rebel money. Twelve years later and so much has changed. The most viral Bitcoin posts on Twitter these days are more likely to simp for the state than to challenge it I don't get to decide who finds Bitcoin useful and for what purpose. I know that's part of it and that it needs to move beyond the niche community it once was to realize it's full potential. I know this is 'good for bitcoin' but it's also boring and unmotivating to me There is still so much signal amid the noise though. Projects such as @My First Bitcoin give me so much hope that as noisy as things have become we are also building that better world that we were dreaming of back when it was just a community of rebels. I'll be using Nostr more and twitter less going forward. This reminds me more of what got me interested in Bitcoin in the first place all those years ago

Raising children teaches you so much about yourself, about all of us One week ago my second child was born. Our two-year old has been a wonderful big brother, but at times he is also having a very dificult time dealing with the change It's the same for all of us. Change is hard. We deny it, resist it and lash out against it. We just hide it better and internalize it more as we grow older The world is at a crossroads and the rate of change--already too fast for most--is accelerating. The best skill for our future world will be adaptability. My children help me see that, and as a parent I consider preparing them for that to be one of my greatest tasks I'm so excited to keep learning from my kids and to try and reflect those lessons back onto them ❤️

I am the proud father of a second baby boy Both the baby & mom are doing great My sons share a birthday so I got to celebrate one birthday in the morning and welcome a new life tonight. What a wonderful, absolutely unforgettable, day 😊

My second child will be born any hour/ day and we are preparing our son to be a big brother I read him a book titled 'I'm a big brother' as one way. I stop and ask questions and talk with him, such as...are you going to do this? Separately, I had thought, he has recently been insistent on getting in front of his stroller, bending down and very slowly and inefficiently pulling it by a bar on the front bottom. It was a confusing behavior until it just clicked this morning.... He is too short to grab the handle from behind and push so this is his way of getting ready to be a big brother like he sees in the book This guy is gonna be the best big brother ever and I'm so excited to see it 😊

Good morning from El Salvador

Happy birthday to @My First Bitcoin ! Four years ago marks the first public record of the project when I registered the website. By this point, there was already a vision and mission statement as well as a basic intro class During the pandemic I did some deep thinking about the world and came to the conclusion that a better world would come if the individual had more agency in their own life and that intro bitcoin education was the best means to that end. As the pandemic waned I made a first attempt at this in Ecuador, but it never got traction. That experience would inform what would come later and lead to registering the website on August 9, 2021 Now, a full Bitcoin cycle later, its hard to imagine how successful this project has become. In fact, I no longer see it as a project but as a global movement This has been both the hardest and most fulfilling work of my life We have a profound opportunity to reimagine what the world can look like and I am as convinced as ever that independent, impartial, community-led bitcoin education will change the world

I just sent out Newsletter #2---this is the first one, sent in January...... FOR A BETTER WORLD Welcome This is the inaugural edition of this newsletter, sent to a very select group of 21 individuals. I’ve meet all of you and deeply respect what each of you do in the space. You know me as the founder of @My First Bitcoin, but this newsletter isn’t about that project. It is about the why behind it. I don’t have to waste words on the tremendous potential of bitcoin to reimage what’s possible—everyone here understands that. However, independent, introductory education is severely undervalued in the space. Why is it so important? Why is this the front-line of the next war? Why are we doing this? I am ultra-bullish on the future of humanity. I also believe that the world is broken, on the wrong path, and hurtling toward a cliff. It’s not a feat of cognitive dissidence to simultaneously hold these truths. It’s a recognition that we now have the tools, like bitcoin, that give us new abilities to reimage our future, yet if we ignore this opportunity, this narrow window, we will speed off that cliff into the dark abyss below. My First Bitcoin is NOT focused on bitcoin education. That is simply a means to an end. The world is broken, in large part, because we have lost the ability to think for ourselves. We have lost agency in our own lives. That has serious second-order effects. If we don’t control our money, if we don’t control our present, that is a strong disincentive to plan and create. Bitcoin allows us to take back control of our money, whose effects can ripple deep into our potential. The more we control our present, the better we can look into the future, the more incentivized we are to build, create and learn. The revolution isn’t a better money, it’s a better human. Introductory bitcoin education is our best tool EVER to change our individual relationship with power. If the problem is that we live in a world where we have lost sovereignty and critical thought, then the solution must be a radical departure from what got us here. Bitcoin will be the base layer of the future world. Independent, empowerment-focused education will be the base layer of a better bitcoiner. However, without a serious and conscious effort to build and entrench an alternative approach, bitcoin education will repeat all the same mistakes that got us here. It will be captured by whoever funds it. If we leave it to corporations and governments to define it, it will dictate to students what to think rather than empower them to think for themselves. The next war will be fought inside each of our own minds. Our best chance for a better world to emerge is to build a decentralized, community-led network of front-line bitcoin educators who empower their students not just to learn about bitcoin, but also about themselves, and their own potential future. The difference may seem subtle in the present but the question of whether we can avoid a legacy-world-mentality takeover of bitcoin education, is the difference between the hope that we can reimagine what’s possible and the fear that we will continue down the same path, speeding toward the cliff’s edge. This isn’t just an idea; My First Bitcoin is the proof-of-concept. And it’s struck a chord. As promising as the work has been inside of El Salvador, the greatest success has been how quickly it has spread. This emerging network of independent bitcoin educators around the world now has roots in over 30 nations. This network will be the front-line offense of the revolution. This has been accomplished, starting from zero, in under 3 years, with under a million dollars, entirely grassroots. We need to make the environment even more hospitable to this emerging life. MFB will continue to work hard on explaining the why, building more infrastructure, and creating more proof-of-work. We need your help with more money, attention, and wisdom.