Bitcoin, Technics and Time

Bitcoin, Technics and Time

Philosophical exploration through history, technology and timechain

The increase of interest in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is undeniable. Whether considered a hazardous investment, a financial bubble, or the best monetary technology that ever existed, bitcoin is now taken seriously by governments, corporations, media, and society at large to varying degrees.

Nevertheless, the implications of this phenomenon and its philosophical underpinnings remain elusive and difficult to grasp. In this short book, Pietro Battistella explores the deep philosophical connections between technology, history, and bitcoin by bringing together insights from key thinkers in Western philosophy.

In a journey through the ideas of Martin Heidegger, Augustine of Hippo, Emanuele Severino, and Jacques Ellul, the author relates bitcoin to the concepts of technics and time, grounding its narrative within a broader philosophical framework. Battistella argues that this nexus provides a coherent way to interpret bitcoin’s “timechain” within the history of Western thought, despite its disruptive and revolutionary scope.

The book offers a unique philosophical perspective that places Satoshi’s creation in conversation with longstanding ideas about technology, temporality, and human experience. It invites readers to engage in further reflection on bitcoin’s meaning and implications, and to expand the marketplace of ideas in the growing space of bitcoin thought.

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