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A review by rick2
The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto-Hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum by Camila Russo
4.0
One of the better books I’ve read about crypto currency. As there are very few books in general that’s not saying a ton, but if you’re interested in the space, read this. It’s focused on Ethereum but I think it touches enough on other parts of the space that it provides a well done overview.
I think it strikes a line between getting caught up in the hype and having a reasonable distance from the subject talked about. I’ve noticed most authors seem to be the whole hog enthusiast or entirely critical. Perspective and deep synthesis of the technology/space seem entirely absent. Given the low bar set by others, this book was great. It’s definitely a narrative focused book and that’s a drawback if you’re looking to understand the technology. Talking about the drama and the people associated with the movement rather than taking a deep dive on the technology makes for better storytelling, but still leaves a lot to be desired as far as evaluating the ideas. I don’t think a programming language was mentioned more than once or twice in the whole book.
As such, this book definitely has some glaring missing pieces, I don’t think the author really discussed the environmental impacts of Ethereum and similar such technology, which is definitely a negative. There was kind of this unintentional theme of “replacing the establishment“ but what really struck me is that than the Ethereum collective (nonprofit? Agency?) become the establishment in their own way. New boss, same as the old boss, they just talk about blockchain and proof of work more. I think that that could be carried across all of Blockchain is that even though it is an open source project to some extent there’s always this level of gatekeeping based upon the people understanding and who can actually alter the technology. We’re essentially doing this ad hoc across society where we’re moving the institutional partners we have for parts of our life and trying to privatize and profit off that. I think health insurance in the United States is the most glaring negative example, but it carries across a ton of industries. Energy, water, etc.
That said. Don’t read this for impartial reporting or technical illustration. Read this to understand who’s behind the Twitter logos you see arguing with each other. I definitely recommend this to someone interested in the space, but maybe read a little on bitcoin first so you have a general idea of the contacts that Ethereum was created in and response to. I kind of accidentally read Digital Gold and then this book, and that seemed to be a really good pairing.
Claiming we understand this whole phenomenon of crypto/NFTs is like saying we understand how a football game is going to play out after the opening kickoff. There’s an ocean of nonsense not contained in here. Theres also a kiddie pool of nonsense that has still seeped in. That said, There’s a couple quality narrative threads that weave through this book that maybe can give you a bit of an understanding of the types of people that are core drivers of this technology. Read this like a biography of Churchill in the early 1930’s, with a skeptical eye, knowing that a hell of a lot is still to come.
I think it strikes a line between getting caught up in the hype and having a reasonable distance from the subject talked about. I’ve noticed most authors seem to be the whole hog enthusiast or entirely critical. Perspective and deep synthesis of the technology/space seem entirely absent. Given the low bar set by others, this book was great. It’s definitely a narrative focused book and that’s a drawback if you’re looking to understand the technology. Talking about the drama and the people associated with the movement rather than taking a deep dive on the technology makes for better storytelling, but still leaves a lot to be desired as far as evaluating the ideas. I don’t think a programming language was mentioned more than once or twice in the whole book.
As such, this book definitely has some glaring missing pieces, I don’t think the author really discussed the environmental impacts of Ethereum and similar such technology, which is definitely a negative. There was kind of this unintentional theme of “replacing the establishment“ but what really struck me is that than the Ethereum collective (nonprofit? Agency?) become the establishment in their own way. New boss, same as the old boss, they just talk about blockchain and proof of work more. I think that that could be carried across all of Blockchain is that even though it is an open source project to some extent there’s always this level of gatekeeping based upon the people understanding and who can actually alter the technology. We’re essentially doing this ad hoc across society where we’re moving the institutional partners we have for parts of our life and trying to privatize and profit off that. I think health insurance in the United States is the most glaring negative example, but it carries across a ton of industries. Energy, water, etc.
That said. Don’t read this for impartial reporting or technical illustration. Read this to understand who’s behind the Twitter logos you see arguing with each other. I definitely recommend this to someone interested in the space, but maybe read a little on bitcoin first so you have a general idea of the contacts that Ethereum was created in and response to. I kind of accidentally read Digital Gold and then this book, and that seemed to be a really good pairing.
Claiming we understand this whole phenomenon of crypto/NFTs is like saying we understand how a football game is going to play out after the opening kickoff. There’s an ocean of nonsense not contained in here. Theres also a kiddie pool of nonsense that has still seeped in. That said, There’s a couple quality narrative threads that weave through this book that maybe can give you a bit of an understanding of the types of people that are core drivers of this technology. Read this like a biography of Churchill in the early 1930’s, with a skeptical eye, knowing that a hell of a lot is still to come.