Thirty years ago, in 1990. George Gilder wrote Life After Television, predicting the effect of the Internet on the media, society and the economy. Gilder, formerly an economist and speechwriter for Republican politicians, became as interested in technology as in economics.
Ten books later, he wrote Life After Google, heralding what he sees as the next tech revolution, around Bitcoin and blockchain. Speaking at CoinGeek’s London conference, Gilder shared a platform with Bitcoin creator, as Satoshi Nakamoto, Craig Wright. Gilder explained how he expects Bitcoin to solve major problems created by the Internet and the international money markets.
In conversation for this podcast after the event, Gilder reaffirmed his excitement about the potential of Bitcoin and blockchain technologies.
“Bitcoin is indispensable to fixing the world’s economy and Internet security,” he said. “The great vision of Bitcoin SV that Craig Wright has launched ...is micropayments.” Today, with the data and advertising model of the tech giants, people are paying “through the nose ...with distraction, with time - in all sorts of ways”.
Gilder compared favourably the leaders of Bitcoin whom he'd met at the CoinGeek conference with those he wrote about ahead of the Internet revolution: "in general, the cryptocurrency movement is smarter and more sophisticated about computer science, more alert to the flaws in the international economy and more shrewd about new entrepreneurial and business models".