21 Futures #15 — Eye in the Sky — Eduardo Próspero

And the rest is history.

I thought, I thought I, yeah, yeah. I thought it was, I was innovating, but the idea was already out there and, and, and I just, uh, tried to surf the wave.

Yeah, it seems to be a natural progression because we have so many podcasts that discuss the technicalities and the implications on the real world of Bitcoin, I think. My, you know, how this anthology came about is, you know, I have a background in fiction and basically got orange-pilled and thought, well, that's what's missing for me is, you know, a bunch of normal people can't quite connect with something so technical and probably a space that's like dominated by technical people. And stories are where it's at. You know, there's a lot of, uh, stuff coming out at the moment and a lot of people thinking about this and, um, producing stories. So that's, that's good. But rest assured, you're a trailblazer. You're, you're one of the first to have your, your story out in the world in a real book form.

Thanks for that. And, and congratulations. I know this is your project, right? Uh, did you pitch it to the Consensus Network?

Yeah, so I know Consensus Network and have been involved with them a little bit. Um, Niko and I, uh, the other editor and, and publisher, we know each other. And yeah, it's, uh, it was something that I thought could be innovative, a world first. And a great chance to work with authors around the world, which is also what I do for my, you know, day job as well. I help writers from around the world basically with their sort of language and their writing. So it's, it's really awesome to have so much international representation. We've, I haven't counted it up, but we've probably got authors from at least 10 different different countries taking part and many different languages as well. So yeah.

Wow.

Everyone involved.

That's amazing. I'm grateful to be a part of it. Yeah.

Yeah. And it, it also fits into the philosophy of, of, well, I don't know if Bitcoin has a philosophy, but the, the idea of it being borderless. Fits in well with this, you know, anthology in this, this project that, you know, we're hoping will, will go forward because we want stories from everywhere. That's how we understand each other. That's how we empathize. Okay. So next question is about your writing, Eduardo. What types of writing do you do related to Bitcoin or not? And why?

Yeah, I'm, I'm a copywriter and, uh, I develop content and I'm trying to, to, to be Bitcoin only on that. Yeah, I'm, I'm not quite there yet. It's hard to, to get jobs in the Bitcoin space at the moment because of the bear market and Now we are working with real money, so it's, yeah, it's harder. It's, it's, it's more real also. But, uh, I'm trying to, uh, at the moment I'm working with different clients, uh, but I'm trying to become a Bitcoin-only writer. That's my goal for the year or Maybe next year also. And on the fiction front, I wrote a novel which is not related to Bitcoin at all. It's in Spanish only at the moment. It's called La Tormenta. It's available on Amazon and no, only on Amazon. And the Then this is my second fiction big project, The Citadel. I want to write about a citadel from different points of view. And this is the story I sent for the 21 Futures book. It's one of the points of view. And I want to— I'm writing other stories. From other points of view of what it's like, what would, would be like to live in a Citadel. And, uh, I'm very excited about it. And I, I could say that I'm trying to be a Bitcoin-only author too. Uh, I'm, I'm obsessed with Bitcoin and I want to write about it. All they can.

Yeah, I, I like that you mentioned your copywriting and, you know, good luck with that. Hope it goes well. I think for me, stories are like secret copywriting. They're a way to influence people and to make people care without being overt about it and saying, you know, I'm going to try and convince you to buy this product. You, you know, you've got this problem and let's solve it. Uh, yeah, we just want to naturally read stories because we care. And, um, I can definitely see how your story about the Citadel and this family involved, uh, in Eye in the Sky could spiral off into a lot of other, um, side projects or different viewpoints of that. Could be a, an interesting, like, universe to, to keep writing about and keep exploring.

Yeah, that's the idea. Yep.

And speaking of this, so Eye in the Sky, your story is a, a tale about a family relationship, really. That's what's at the heart of this story. How do you think Bitcoin futures and the network will change family dynamics? Will it have an impact on families? And how we, yeah, run these relationships.

Yeah, that's interesting because I, I thought, uh, at first, my first thought was this is something that Bitcoin can't fix. Like family dynamics will always be chaotic and, and, and that's why they are interesting because, uh, the people Love each other, but at the same time, uh, they have their own interest, interest. And I love that kind of story. It's, it's the, the, the stories I gravitate toward, towards too. So I thought I would write my own version of that. And Bitcoin is just, uh, the extra element there. But yeah, family stories are old of time. So, but, but then I was thinking more about this idea and I, uh, and, and I think that Bitcoin is truth. It's something real that we can rely on. And this is a world first, at least from my point of view. This has never existed. And I think that actually could alter family dynamics because now we have something we can trust and something that is objective. So far we've only got or different points of view, which are subjective. You know, no one, no person can be objective, but the Bitcoin network can. So maybe it will alter family relationships and it will help us build a society that that has that element that was missing, like something we can trust. I think it may. Yeah.

Yeah. Really interesting thinking about this transition period that we're in because it can kind of change the money dynamic in families if, you know, it tends to be younger people who are more technically proficient at understanding Things like blockchain technology, but it also tends to be older people in the family that have the wealth and the money. So it could be an interesting shift while we go through this transition period until all of us, you know, younger Bitcoiners get old and know all the stuff in our old age.

That idea is great. I, I might have to steal it, man. That, that idea, I, I think you could write a novel with, with just that idea. That's amazing. I haven't thought of that, but yeah. Yeah. The young people are more, uh, prone to, to adopt Bitcoin just Because, yes, because it's technology and they are the more technological one in the families. That's amazing. I, I'm going, I might have to steal that.

You can thank me in your acknowledgements of, of the book.

Hey, yeah, yeah. This is already,

man.

Great. I'm going to do that already because The, the edit you did to, to my, to my story was crucial. I love it. I love it. I love it. Yeah. Thank you for that. It really helped. Every little, uh, addition you've made, uh, helped the text, and I will thank you for that forever.

You're welcome. You're welcome. It's great to. Be able to work with, you know, people from different, uh, backgrounds. And yeah, amazing that you're able to, to write in more than one language, cuz as much as I'm a writer myself and I speak Spanish, I could not write a story in Spanish, or not a very good one anyway, more than, you know, a very simple children's story maybe.

Yeah. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah. But, you know, yeah, that's what I'm working on. I'm not, I, I don't consider my English to be perfect. Um, and, and I write better in Spanish, obviously, but I'm working on it. I'm working on it every day. I'm trying to, to get better with my English skills, my writing skills, because it's not the same speaking as writing. Writing, uh, I don't know, it has like, you have to connect to the way the, the language, you, you have to connect with the way people think in that language. Yeah.

Definitely. And yeah, you know, spoiler alert for anyone listening, the way we think in English is fewer words are generally better, especially in short fiction. So. Reduce your texts, like cut things out and say things in as brief a way as possible. And readers generally like that in English, whereas I think Spanish is a language where you can write very long, long sentences and paragraphs and it's fine. It's normal. It's the way people think and, and speak. So not quite the same in English. Tell us more about the, about the New Citadel. You mentioned that earlier. So your story is based around, um, a New Citadel being created. Uh, how did the idea for that come about?

Yeah, I had the idea to, uh, to write about a citadel that was already, uh, built, but I needed conflict. I had this idea about the family and I had all the characters in my mind, but I, uh, couldn't figure out what, what, what was going to be the catalyst for the story to, to get into another gear. And I thought, uh, yeah, I, I don't know how I came up with that new title, but I thought that. That would be amazing that they made the move, the Citadel, from one place to another. And that would bring a lot of opportunities because they can build it better and they can do what they can. They now have more money because it's an established project and they have, they already did the groundwork. But at the same time, this one already broke, don't fix it. That's going to be the conflict in the whole story. Oh, we're having connection issues. If I go—

I can still hear you fine and see you fine.

Oh, perfect. Perfect. Yeah, the, that's the main idea that this, uh, project already work, but they have to move and what could happen in between. I don't know yet. We'll see.

I mean, it's, it's a classic story, uh, type, isn't it? Of like a castle or a fortress or, uh, uh, something to protect. Like owning your own space and having the attack versus defense element. I mean, yeah, there's, it's always gonna be, there's something inherent, I think, in humans, which is wanting a little piece of ground that, that is your own. Um, well, I don't know, is that true? Maybe I'm, maybe I'm just making this up, but I think it's very, very true in modern times, right? That we, We want our own space where we can exist without getting bothered by the difficulties of the other people in the world.

Yep. Yep. And the, and the, and the Citadel idea is, is very funny in Bitcoin because it's, in a way, it's like we want to be only with Bitcoiners and we want to keep everyone out. That's the bad part of the bad way of looking at it. And the good way of looking at it is that we want to work together to progress. And, and we, you know, like people naturally gravitate to, to people that they, that think that like they do, that have like the same passion. So it's, it's, it's an interesting idea. I don't think it's, it's completely benign that we want to live in Citadel, but I think it's interesting. Interesting. Yeah.

Definitely. I mean, hopefully this book will welcome some new people into the circle of trust. That we're talking about, but, um, or circle of proof, I should say.

Um,

but yeah, tell us about your, who, which character do you compare yourself to in this family? Was that something that crossed your mind? Are you, is this autobiographical in any way?

Yeah, it's not. And it's the first time that I, uh, do this because The novel I mentioned, La Tormenta, that's completely autobiographical. A tightly veiled version of myself is the protagonist. And in this one, I didn't want to do that specifically, but all the characters, I think, have elements of myself. The character of Simon Derwal, who is the husband of Elena Negrón. He's like the outsider of the group because everybody else is a Negrón in the story, and he's the outsider. And I am— I see myself in that because I emigrated from my country. I'm from Venezuela. I know. I'm now living in Argentina, and here I'm like the new guy in every group, which didn't happen in Venezuela. And I'm always the outsider, the new guy, and I wanted to write about that. But the other characters also have, uh, some characteristics of me. Like the part with the old guy, Tomas Negron. I want to talk about how hard it is to get older with that character because I'm feeling it in my body. I can't do things that I used to do, and I want to use that character to talk about that. The other, like the, the, the Nicholas, who is also an outsider inside his family. And, and I wanted to, to, like, Simone and him seem to have a, a connection, and I think it's because they are both outsiders inside the Very tight circle that has not only the the family tie, but also money. It's like a like a like a company then Citadel because it's a private Citadel and this is like a prosperous company. It's like that that makes it more. Like the stakes are higher because it's not only that they can offend a family member, but it's also their livelihood. So this alliance between these 2 characters, I think it has a lot of what I'm feeling in my life. And Elena Negro, I think it's the main character in the whole scheme of things. And I, I see myself as a main character in my life. So I think Elena is going to have a lot of my characteristics as well. So I'm going to They, all of them are me.

All of them are a part of you. Yeah. Great to know. And yeah, I think you're right about a family business. It's the one thing that's more dysfunctional than a family is if you, you know, you have a company together and you have to run that as well as a family.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's what I wanted to, to, to talk about because I think if, if Chaos can ensue at any given point, and I love that.

Definitely great for, for fiction. Well, it's time for you to share a bit of the story Eye in the Sky with everyone. So when you're ready, please, um, give us a brief reading from the story.

Eye in the Sky by Eduardo Prospero. We should have gone there instead, Simon Derwel complained. His wife was furiously scrubbing a gigantic saucepan with a sponge, and the objection stopped her in her tracks. A deadly silence filled the air. She had explained this to him several times already. The King's visit brings eyes with it. Why are we compromising our opsec like this? Simón continued. Elena Negron sighed and replied, Father cannot travel, remember. He opened the oven door and the smell of well-seasoned meat filled the kitchen. All right, he said distractedly, this is done. Elena spent both the morning and the afternoon in the kitchen, one of her happy places. Despite this, and for no apparent reason, she was nervous. Of course, Eleazar and Nicolás, her 2 brothers who she hadn't seen in 11 months, were on their way. That wasn't it, that excited her. The terror's origin was deeper. Elena stopped short, surprised that her inner voice admitted terror. From the garden, Why is the grill on? There's a whole barbecue here! Elena wondered if her husband was losing his memory or if he just wasn't listening to her anymore. That's the bee meal, she said. Simon couldn't make head or tails of what she was saying. The bee meal? Elena gave up. For the driver and the bodyguards. A shiver went up Simon's spine. They were taking unnecessary risks. He restrained himself and calmly asked, How many people are coming? I don't know yet, Elena replied. How does it look out there? Is it ready? Simon opened the grill. 2 or 3 more minutes. What do you mean you don't know? You know who Eleazar is. Always a mystery. Section 2, The Jungle. A stabbing pain hit Patriarch Tomas Negrón Smith, but he needed to be there. He had not seen Eleazar since his last visit to the Citadel, some 3 years ago. Simon and his daughter used to go every 6 months to see their children and buy supplies. In the past, Tomas made a point of accompanying them. He began to stay behind because he was tired. Also, the solitude of an empty house was perfect for writing, and writing was the priority. They are 2 or 3 minutes away according to the Google Maps. Simon informed him while keeping his eyes on the screen. From the sky, a series of lenses captured an overhead shot centered on 2 gray-haired humans in front of a 4x4 truck. They appeared to be in the middle of the jungle. Had they been younger, they might have detected the sound of propellers up there. Plane down? Simon finally asked. Did Eleazar tell you how many people he's coming with?

Thanks for your reading. And, um, I'm excited for everyone to find out what happens with this Citadel and family strife and trouble that they're experiencing. Best of luck with the writing, Eduardo. And, um, yeah, I really hope you manage to extend this story and We get to find out a bit more about this universe of exciting citadels and family troubles.

Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you, Phil, for all your work, and thank you to the ConsenSys Network for putting this together. I can't wait for people to read the story, and you can always DM me or send me messages Through social media, and I will reply to all of them.

Brilliant. Thanks again for coming on the show, and see you in the future sometime—one of our 21 futures.

Perfect. All right.

See you then. Bye bye.