bitcoinwell on Nostr: What do Sumerian tiles from the Neolithic have in common with Bitcoin? Beyond their ...
What do Sumerian tiles from the Neolithic have in common with Bitcoin? Beyond their monetary parallels, bitcoin and the Sumarian tiles share a history of innovation. But how?
Time for Bitcoin deep dive!
During the neolithic era some 8,000 years ago, human civilization in the Middle East began to proliferate. Agricultural centres started to grow and grow, sustaining increasingly larger populations.
The ancient Sumerian city of Uruk grew to become one of the world's largest ever, with a population of several thousand. As the hunter gather way of life evaporated, a new form of governance emerged; a complicated Social hierarchy - an upper class and a working class evolved.
Previously, each city or town would have an individual who would count everything, such as taxes and barter trade. Essentially, each town selected a savvy math brain to be a 'walking spreadsheet'.
However, the city's own success resulted in the demise of the ability of walking spreadsheets to track everything. Mr. Spreadsheet needed some support to remember all the debts and their form (no standard currency, remember!).
The solution?
A physical reminder to denominate the amount owed.
Mr. Spreadsheet issued tokens to depict debts owed, for example, 10 goats or 10 sheep. These 3D tokens eventually became inscribed into tablets, closely resembling written language by today's standards.
Today, we'd call these tablets a ledger or a trade log. The Sumerians invented a new form of accounting - single-entry accounting. Now, a physical trace accompanied larger-scale trade and debt balances, enabling society to better scale and coordinate capital.
How do these clay tokens relate to Bitcoin?
The clay tokens were the innovation that transitioned a society from a mental form of accounting to a more standardized form of single-entry accounting.
Single-entry accounting would remain the only way to track resources until double-entry accounting was invented in Italy some 7,500 years later, ending the era of single-entry accounting and introducing the era of double-entry accounting.
Perhaps it is a coincidence, but the invention of double-entry accounting coincided with the start of the Renaissance and intellectual revolution of the West. 🤔
Bitcoin famously ushered in a new accounting standard - triple-entry accounting. Single- and double-entry accounting increased scalability and capital coordination but was an imperfect system due to its centralization. Thus, fraud and errors were unfortunate realities.
Bitcoin's triple entry account standard enables anyone to safely transact with one another. By knowing double spending and counterfeit transactions are impossible via triple entry accounting and continuous counterfeit monitoring, bitcoin enables greater capital coordination than the eras before it.
Previously, society relied on Mr. Spreadsheet, and later centralized banks, to coordinate the movement and custody of capital. The invention of Bitcoin is as significant as the infrequency of accounting standard innovation.
Bitcoin is ushering in the third era of accounting standards by further evolving capital coordination through a perfect triple accounting model, leading to an even more preposterous era of human innovation and rising quality of life.
Time for Bitcoin deep dive!
During the neolithic era some 8,000 years ago, human civilization in the Middle East began to proliferate. Agricultural centres started to grow and grow, sustaining increasingly larger populations.
The ancient Sumerian city of Uruk grew to become one of the world's largest ever, with a population of several thousand. As the hunter gather way of life evaporated, a new form of governance emerged; a complicated Social hierarchy - an upper class and a working class evolved.
Previously, each city or town would have an individual who would count everything, such as taxes and barter trade. Essentially, each town selected a savvy math brain to be a 'walking spreadsheet'.
However, the city's own success resulted in the demise of the ability of walking spreadsheets to track everything. Mr. Spreadsheet needed some support to remember all the debts and their form (no standard currency, remember!).
The solution?
A physical reminder to denominate the amount owed.
Mr. Spreadsheet issued tokens to depict debts owed, for example, 10 goats or 10 sheep. These 3D tokens eventually became inscribed into tablets, closely resembling written language by today's standards.
Today, we'd call these tablets a ledger or a trade log. The Sumerians invented a new form of accounting - single-entry accounting. Now, a physical trace accompanied larger-scale trade and debt balances, enabling society to better scale and coordinate capital.
How do these clay tokens relate to Bitcoin?
The clay tokens were the innovation that transitioned a society from a mental form of accounting to a more standardized form of single-entry accounting.
Single-entry accounting would remain the only way to track resources until double-entry accounting was invented in Italy some 7,500 years later, ending the era of single-entry accounting and introducing the era of double-entry accounting.
Perhaps it is a coincidence, but the invention of double-entry accounting coincided with the start of the Renaissance and intellectual revolution of the West. 🤔
Bitcoin famously ushered in a new accounting standard - triple-entry accounting. Single- and double-entry accounting increased scalability and capital coordination but was an imperfect system due to its centralization. Thus, fraud and errors were unfortunate realities.
Bitcoin's triple entry account standard enables anyone to safely transact with one another. By knowing double spending and counterfeit transactions are impossible via triple entry accounting and continuous counterfeit monitoring, bitcoin enables greater capital coordination than the eras before it.
Previously, society relied on Mr. Spreadsheet, and later centralized banks, to coordinate the movement and custody of capital. The invention of Bitcoin is as significant as the infrequency of accounting standard innovation.
Bitcoin is ushering in the third era of accounting standards by further evolving capital coordination through a perfect triple accounting model, leading to an even more preposterous era of human innovation and rising quality of life.