Bitcoin and stories are much alike. They can be described in powerful simplicity or astonishing complexity. Both are unique developments in human history and feed our well-being. Bitcoin and stories are forces for good, though they must be used wisely. And there comes a point in many of our lives when we pass from consumer to active participant in these phenomena.
I became a storyteller around the time of bitcoin’s invention, but it would be many years before I understood the latter. It is easy to dismiss a nascent technology that is complex to explain. People do what’s easiest.
By removing himself from the equation, Nakamoto left it to us to write the future of bitcoin. It’s not surprising that we have been tentative in proposing a narrative. Stories have never been decentralised before.
Think of the building of the pyramids, the invention of the printing press, or the release of the iPhone. Instead of the technology itself, we focus on the people who made it and how its invention affected us. The story of the pyramids survives in every tourist’s photograph; the joy of reading touches a higher percentage of the world’s population every year; the garage-to-keynote-speaker tales of Apple’s late CEO inspire entrepreneurs worldwide.
The 21 Futures project was born from one idea: to unite interest in bitcoin, we must be better at telling its stories. Only stories have the power to stop us, to wake us, to make us feel rather than think.
This book will be released around one year after that thought occurred to me. It has been wonderful working with authors from different countries, with different first languages, professions, and levels of publishing experience. What pleased me most was that the contributors wrote stories of change, of effect, and of possibility.
In the pages that follow, murder mystery borders intergalactic dystopias. Treasure hunts share space with oppressed cyborgs and ecological renewal. Peace and poetry coexist in these new worlds. The levels of deep imagination and artistic passion in this community are boundless.
Before I give way to the stories, I would like to thank Konsensus Network for their open, inclusive, and agile approach to publishing. Their hard work has brought this project into our reality. This book marks the beginning of the bitcoin fiction multiverse. 21 Futures is just getting started.
As we read, let us remember that for most people, great change doesn’t arrive from binary logic and a working knowledge of code. Understanding grows through narrative. It is stories that bring change. I hope you enjoy the stories in this book.
Philip Charter — Lead Editor