Goal

Goal of this effort is to create a 5 to 6 episodes Netflix mini series, titled “Bitcoin Learning Reality Show”.

Purpose

The purpose of this effort is to solve the problem where people have heard a lot about Bitcoin, but they either aren't interested in understanding the underlying technology driving this new wave of innovation, or find it very difficult.

People interested in buying and selling Bitcoin but not interested in understanding and learning how Bitcoin works

Understanding the science and technology that drives Bitcoin will empower people to appreciate the beauty, the new challenges, and the new opportunities presented by this wave of innovation that has only just begun.

Such understanding will also lay the foundation for a non computer science person to grasp the inner workings of hundreds of other innovations happening in the CryptoSphere world, both on and off various BlockChains.

I agree with Naval Ravikant that CryptoSphere space is going to drive the 3rd major internet transformation after the web and mobile.

Quick Historical Context

Starting sometime in late 2016, I spent thousands of hours over many months, trying to learn the computer science fundamentals that made Bitcoin and other CryptoCurrencies possible.

Then in October of 2017 I bought my first $101 worth of Bitcoin.

And started a demo youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9ZZD4tiRbyOcuIkcMnsamA/

At the time, alongside doing a software engineering job, I used to volunteer at a local media house so that I could learn filmmaking. I felt compelled to write stories, and I wanted to craft those stories into movies.

But the Bitcoin obsession started distracting me, and I tried to convince my film friends to make a TV show instead, one that would teach people the inner workings of Bitcoin — its underlying computer science, cryptography, data structure, protocols, etcetera.

I even gave Bitcoins to friends, and had them buy me a beer with the same Bitcoins that I had just transferred to them, to demonstrate how cryptocurrencies can be used in the real world.

Despite all of this, we failed to make a TV show that could teach people how the underlying technology of Bitcoin worked.

Primarily reason of failure was how I kept getting distracted with newer ideas and many scattered efforts.

Another reason of failure was we didn't have a clear idea of what the Bitcoin learning show should look like.

Reality Show Idea!!!!

Despite being a computer science engineer, the combination of all the things that I was trying to learn in about crypto in 2017 was so hard, that it would hurt my head.

After months of studying these innovations over and over, slowly at first and then all of a sudden—I was finally able to wrap my head around the math, the algorithms, data structures, and all the geeky stuff that makes Bitcoins, Blockchains, and cryptocurrencies possible. I still not understand every minute detail of it, but the all the major building blocks were now clear (no pun intended) :-)

That feeling of finally getting it was extremely rewarding.

A reality show can capture both of these things, the frustration of trying to grasp a complicated tech, and the joy of getting it. And not for me or any other computer kid, but for bankers, tax lawyers, hedge fund managers, construction workers, social media managers, college students, etcetera.

Allow me to share how such a reality show can be approached in the next two sections — focus of the show, and proposed design of the show.

Focus of the Show

Focus of this show will NOT be to teach participants how to buy or sell bitcoin. It will be to help them learn things like —

  1. What are the steps of Bitcoin mining algorithm? Can you explain me those steps the way you can explain me how to make a pizza? Take some flour. Add water. Knead it to make dough. Then roll it in large round shape. Put some shreded cheese and some toppings on it. Bake this whole thing in a hot oven. Take it out. Place some more toppings. Eat.

  2. What does an actual Bitcoin look like? Does it look like an actual coin with capital letter B written on it? Does it look like a number in our online bank statement? Does it look like an entry in an excel sheet cell with magic properties? Does it look like matrix movie code inside a computer?

  3. What are the various parts and properties of a blockchain? What is a data structure in general? What are some good examples of different kinds of data structures? Is the presence of rows and columns in an excel sheet a type of data structure? What are some unique properties of a blockchains when compared to other data structures? How a series of technologies invented in the last 50 years makes these properties possible?

  4. Why is Bitcoin called a cryptocurrency? What is cryptography and what are some easy examples of it? What are some insanely hard examples of it? What is a Nonce? What is a Hash? What are compression algorithms? What is collision probability? What are different kinds of hashing algorithms?

  5. What do Bitcoin wallets hold if they don't hold the actual cryptocurrency? Why do the FROM and TO addresses in a bitcoin transaction look like garbage? What are public-private SSH keypairs? How are they related to Bitcoin addresses and crypto wallets? Why are such addresses needed in the blockchain world?

  6. How can anybody trust what is real what is fradulent without a central authority? Say if I have an actual US dollar or Indian rupee, the respective central government and central bank of the US or India can tell me whether it is real or fradulent. However if I have a bitcoin, and there is no central authority in the bitcoin world, who gaurantees whether what I have is real or fradulent? How do they do it?

Participants will learn all the above answers, and more.

Through a gameplay of sorts.

Proposed Design of The Show

(( todo refine the rough points below into a better reality show structure, talk to friends ))

  • have two groups of each of the below
  • A and B sets
  • 5 people or so in each set
  • get them all in a hotel for a week
  • ======
  • wall street hedge fund types
  • bank employees
  • software engineers
  • illegal immigrants
  • artists who are probably broke
  • teachers from primary middle high school
  • construciton workers
  • pole dancers
  • arts and humanities college students
  • computer science college students
  • witches and tarrot card readers
  • etcetera
  • ======
  • teach group A underlying tech of crypto
  • through gameplay of sorts
  • record everything
  • all questions
  • inhibitions
  • understanding
  • hot takes
  • ======
  • match learned group A with unlearned group B
  • college students A + bank employees B
  • bank employees A + illegal immigrants B
  • wall street A + witches B
  • have A explain what the learned to B
  • however they would like
  • build in a trust, scoring, and reward system
  • record everything
  • ======
  • edit it all into 5 to 6 episodes mini series

In 2017 I was drawn in by the hype around Bitcoin, and the sudden rise of it, but my obsession was about learning and teaching the computer science fundamentals that made Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies possible.

It pains me even today that someone like Warren Buffet, one of my many Gurus that I look up to, did not understand the brilliance of Bitcoin's technological innovations, and publicly chastised this great human acheivement to be some ponzi scheme.

Innovations happening in CryptoSphere can have the most profoundest of positive impact on humans around the world. These innovations are not without their challenges. There is a shit ton of shit in this digital wild west. But Warren Buffet is wrong.

We need a reality show that uses gameplay to convert the most complex computer science tech into learnable and accessible knowledge. This knowledge will benefit all stakeholders of society.

An entertaining and compelling Bitcoin Learning Reality Show must be made.