Episode #184 – On the Same Page
Two independent research teams just arrived at the same conclusion from opposite directions. That kind of convergence doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when something real is being uncovered.
One team spent two years building a mathematical framework called K=IC² on The Path to Bitcoin podcast. The other, researchers Nick and Jack, wrote a paper called “The Architecture of Time” and discussed it on Preston Pysh’s show. They describe Bitcoin blocks as a form of quantized time.
Neither knew the other existed. When they finally compared notes, the overlap was striking.
Here’s what they found, what K=IC² adds, and why it matters.
Three Things Nick and Jack Got Right
1. Time is discrete. Bitcoin blocks are quantized time.
In classical physics, time flows smoothly. But at the quantum scale, state changes happen in discrete jumps. Nick and Jack argue Bitcoin does the same thing to recorded time. Each block isn’t just a ledger entry. It’s a discrete unit of measured reality. Nothing exists “between” blocks. Time, as Bitcoin knows it, is quantized.
This reframes the bitcoin thesis entirely. Bitcoin isn’t just sound money. It’s a mechanism for discretizing and anchoring events in time with cryptographic finality.
2. Measurement and observation are different things.
This distinction comes from quantum mechanics. Observing something doesn’t change it. Measuring it, registering it irreversibly, does. A confirmed Bitcoin transaction isn’t merely observed by the network. It’s measured into existence. The block becomes an irreversible registration of state.
This maps directly onto how every physical clock works: coupling a reversible oscillation (a pendulum, an atomic vibration) to an irreversible registration (a tick, a mark). Bitcoin does exactly the same thing.
3. The 21 million cap is not just a money thing.
The hard cap is usually framed as monetary policy. Nick and Jack go further: it’s a structural constraint on the information space itself. Scarcity isn’t incidental to Bitcoin’s design. It’s the mechanism through which constraint quality is enforced.
What K=IC² Adds to the Picture
The formula states: Knowledge = Information × Constraint Quality²
Knowledge isn’t simply a function of how much information you have. It’s a function of how well that information is constrained.
The squaring of constraint quality is critical. Constraint operates along two independent axes simultaneously. Improve both, and knowledge scales quadratically, not linearly.
This explains something intuitive but previously hard to quantify: not all memory is equal. A fact written in pencil on a napkin carries different epistemic weight than a transaction confirmed 100 blocks deep on the Bitcoin blockchain. The difference isn’t just security. It’s the cost of falsification relative to the cost of preservation.
The Key Ratio: Cf/Cp
The ratio of cost of falsification to cost of preservation is the operational heart of constraint quality.
Sound money is money where this ratio is maximally high. Where rewriting history costs far more than maintaining it.
Bitcoin’s proof-of-work is precisely an engine for maximizing Cf/Cp. Every additional block mined makes past blocks more expensive to falsify while preservation costs remain constant.
- Fiat: Cf/Cp ≈ 1.2x (central bank rewrites history by decree)
- Gold: Cf/Cp ≈ 15x (must physically counterfeit, but centrally confiscatable)
- Bitcoin at 100 blocks: Cf/Cp ≈ 95x (rewriting requires re-mining the entire chain)
The Pizza Dough Analogy
Constraining information in one dimension doesn’t shrink the possibility space. It expands it.
Think of stretching pizza dough: press it down in one area, and it rises and spreads in others. Tightly constraining Bitcoin’s supply and block structure doesn’t limit what can be built on top. It creates the stable foundation that allows possibility to expand freely above it.
A Window Into Cosmology?
Perhaps the most speculative extension: the accelerating expansion of the universe (attributed to dark energy) might be reframed as accelerating knowledge creation.
As constraint quality improves across the universe’s history, the effective volume of possible states expands. The universe doesn’t learn over time. The universe learns as time.
Bitcoin, in this view, isn’t just a laboratory for sound money. It’s a laboratory where K=IC² can be empirically tested across 900,000+ blocks of real, immutable data. A dataset no physics experiment can match for accessibility and transparency.
Three Takeaways
① Bitcoin blocks are quantized time. Each confirmed block is an irreversible measurement, not merely a record, but an act of discretizing reality.
② Constraint quality is the variable that matters most. Knowledge scales with the square of how well information is constrained. Bitcoin’s fixed supply and proof-of-work are far more than monetary policy.
③ The Cf/Cp ratio is a universal measure of sound money. Any monetary system can be evaluated by how much it costs to falsify its history versus preserve it. Bitcoin maximizes this ratio by design.
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