21 Futures #16 — Digital Gold — Luciano Rocha

That's it, everyone out there listening who's thinking of submitting, writing, entering a competition, or just putting something out in another language, go for it.

You know, of course we want

to

give it our best shot and make things great.

But yeah, actually, I've never submitted a story for a competition even in Portuguese. In English, it seemed impossible, but Fortunately, I was able to translate the story and be selected to this awesome and astonishing anthology.

Yeah, great. It's always interesting for me to work with— well, and for all of us at Consensus, I think, to work with authors around the world. That's really part of this project. And there's a big team of translators. And yeah, we hope that this anthology will be translated back into Portuguese and other languages at some point, which will allow everyone to read it regardless of if they're a top user of English or not.

Oh, that would be nice.

Yeah, then you could have another book. you could buy the Portuguese version or have the Portuguese version and—

Exactly, exactly. Here in Brazil, we have a big, great, huge Bitcoin community. It's one of the most, one of the biggest Bitcoin communities in the world. So maybe ConsenSys translating 21 Futures into Portuguese, I'm pretty sure that many, many, many Brazilians would love to read the book. We have some great books, Bitcoin books translated, like The Fiat Standard, The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous. The Brazilian Bitcoiners are really, they really enjoy the, the cultural aspects of Bitcoin, like memes, like texts, like stories. So I think that 21 Futures in Portuguese will be a really huge success.

Yeah, and what's great about the community as well is people are so passionate about it, they're willing to devote their time or expertise into doing things like working on animations or typesetting or translation or whatever, whatever. skills they bring to the table. So it's a very different way of publishing and being involved in the world of books to what I'm used to in the traditional publishing world of things taking about 4 years to, to actually come out, and you have a 1 in a billion chance of being selected. So yeah, it's very rewarding working with a lot of people from around the world who are Just willing to muck in and, and to help out. So yeah, here's to hoping 2024 sees Portuguese version of the book. I think we do have plans to, to translate into the most common European languages for sure.

Oh, that would be nice.

And what other kinds of writing do you do? Um, do you write fiction usually, or, um, are you more of a non-fiction writer?

Well, uh, my main writing style was, uh, opinion texts, editorials, and, uh, news, because I work with that, uh, translating and writing news about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but especially Bitcoin. I work on a news media site here in Brazil called Criptofácil, and we are a news site. But talking about writing, I really like fiction. I really like fictions, dystopias, horror stories. So I have 2 besides Digital Gold. I have 2 more stories, and these stories are terror and fiction as well. So that was my 2 favorite genres. So beside of that, I want— I have a book. My first book was a nonfiction book. Called Do Zero ao Cem Mil com Bitcoin, or From Zero to One Hundred with Bitcoin. That essentially is an autobiography. The book tells my story with Bitcoin since I have known Bitcoin until I got my first R$100 more or less $20 with Bitcoin. And beyond this, between this path, I talk about my bankruptcy, how can I— how I first buy Bitcoin, my first Bitcoin, how I lose my Bitcoins, and as well. So my 3 favorite genres are nonfiction, dystopias, like digital gold, and horror stories that I can pick some Bitcoin elements and introduce to my public in my stories. My last story was a horror story that I got a legend, a folk legend here in my region. I'm from northwest of Brazil. And we have a legend about an owl, an owl that we call in Portuguese rasga-mortalha, which is an owl that the legend says that every time that the owl flies above the house of the— above something— sorry. Every time the owl flies above someone's house, someone in that house dies every time that the owl screams when she passes flying through the ceiling of this house. So that was my stories and that was my 3 favorite genres: nonfiction, dystopias, and terror or horror stories.

Horror, yeah, great. I mean, the story of Bitcoin itself is like a movie. Sometimes it's a horror story and sometimes it's a folk tale.

Yeah.

But I think that's really, from my perspective, what is missing in helping to make people care about it. And I mean people outside the community. A lot of people don't care about zeros and ones and very technical computerized networks. But people care about other people and stories. So it's great when we can share that. And there's probably crossover as well with sort of mythology. And I think there's a couple of— there's at least one story in the anthology that touches on a more fantasy or mythological perspective as well, which is cool. So Uh, yeah, another question about your story. We have this world in complete crisis mode in Digital Gold. How close do you think we are to this kind of violent dystopia?

Well, I think Digital Gold has, has 3 main elements, uh, violence, riots, and confiscation. I don't want to spoil anything of the story, but the 3 elements, I think the first 2, the 2 first are more close to our reality, especially here in the countries of Global South, we have many, many thousands, millions of people that have to live with violence, with riots, with oppressive governments, with confiscation even. Here in Brazil, in Brazil, in the 1990s, We have a thing called Color Plan, or in Portuguese, Plano Color, which this plan is implemented by, was implemented by the president Fernando Collor de Mello, and that plan simply confiscated the savings of Brazilian, every Brazilian that that had savings in its accounts should be confiscated. That plan confiscated, in values of the time, nearly 30% of the GDP, the Brazil GDP. That was an absurd. So that was inclusive. That was my inspiration to— create this tale. And I think, are you English, right?

That's right, yeah, I'm from the UK.

Yeah, okay, so maybe in countries like UK, Germany, United States, that reality was maybe really far away or far away from the people, but in Here in Brazil, in Argentina, in other countries, we have to thrive with the reality, with this reality. Practically, uh, 4 years ago— I have 33, I have 34 years ago— the, the confiscation here in Brazil happened, uh, when I was 1. So that wasn't, uh, something like I don't know, the German hyperinflation that happened 100 years ago. It happened 30 years ago.

It's very, very true that you bring that up because I think a lot of the conversations here in Europe are like, oh, well, it couldn't happen to us. Oh, well, you know, Weimar Germany was 100 years ago. And we need to share more stories from the Global South and from countries which are not, you know, whose economies are broken or struggling. That, that's one of the prime benefits and reasons for this going ahead, to give people agency and actual value. Because the— in, in the society, the kind of societies I live in, you know, those countries were responsible for taking it away. And here we are, 100 years or more later, and we're still ignoring the reality that a lot of people have to live. So yeah, I definitely empathize with that, and I think it's great— a great way to bring these stories to the fore is, is to have, you know, more authors from, from different places around the world taking part.

And I think with the, the CBDCs, this reality of confiscations, maybe, uh, it will be closer. On developed countries because the CBDCs is a more efficient method of confiscation than we had in Brazil, than we had in Argentina in 2001 with the Corralito. That was their confiscation, their version of the color plan. So the CBDCs bring this fear that that for many people seems like a global south issue, but the CBDCs bring this problem to the developing world.

Very true. Watch out, developed world. Uh, yeah, so tell us a bit more about Max, who's the main character in Digital Gold. Who is he and what is he looking for? What does he want?

Oh, Max. I can say that Max is an individualist and a survivalist. He doesn't want to be a hero. He doesn't want to be a revolutionary, a prophet. or any stuff like that. He was just a regular guy, not a regular guy as a whole because she was a cop, he was a cop, sorry. But he was a cop that just wanted to do his job and suddenly his world crashed. Suddenly he has to chase bandits, he has to buy groceries to survive and deal with all the troubles that we're describing in Digital Gold. So I think that Max is looking for peace, peace in a troubled world. I think that he just wants to Get his ram, get his semi, get his groceries, and go home to protect his life and to maybe wait until everything is solved. He doesn't know that the government will solve it, that the society will solve it, that mercenaries will solve it, that only that the cops will solve it, the, the, the, the whole mess that, uh, was brought into his world. But I think that he was, that he is, uh, an individualist, a survivalist, and he just wants what every Bitcoiner wants. Max, uh, Max is essentially, uh, a Bitcoiner, but he still doesn't know that he's a Bitcoiner. He, he, he He, uh, he has Bitcoin. He has Bitcoin, uh, and the story tells us how he got his Bitcoins, but he's not a Bitcoiner. He not, uh, he not call himself, himself a Bitcoiner, but he's a bit— his ethos is a Bitcoiner ethos, uh, because he just want Peace, protection from his things, and a calmer and peaceful world. So his main goal is to leave this mess and protect their house and do his job.

Yeah, great introduction to the story and who the character is and what he might have to go through to get what he wants. Could you share a bit of the story with everyone? Let's hear an excerpt from Digital Gold. I think you're going to read from the start of the story, aren't you?

Sure, absolutely. Can I start now?

Take it away. Yep.

Okay, so I'm going to read the introduction of the book— the book's intro— the story's introduction, sorry. Uh, it's called A Dog Day. A Dog Day Afternoon, not the movie obviously, but the day that Max was living. The siren rang in his car and his— the car rocked and juddered along at more than 80 kilometers per hour. Damn idiots, Max thought. They interrupted my shopping in the middle of this chaos. He kept his eyes on the bike and his mind on finding his groceries in the place when he got back to the store. His partner leaned his whole torso outside the window. His hands clutching a shotgun. Taking aim at the 2 guys ahead of him was easy, as Kevin was a police— a police skid champion. The problem was shooting, since the whole city decided to occupy the road precisely at the time of the chase. Kevin himself had to dodge another motorcycle that was coming in the opposite direction and nearly clipped This gun, his gun, and half of his arm. Come on, Max, speed that ship up, that shit up! They're almost losing us. This is a car, not a 1200. I can't go around cutting all these idiots. Max's head exploded with pain and his eyes were dry from focusing so hard on the bike. Right ahead, the bandits returned fire, shooting with a pistol. One of the shots hit the blue light of the car, and the other whistled past the windshield. The shot nearly knocked the Ram driver out of control of the car. Max clung to the wheel as the bullet punched into one of the crates in the bay. Those guys, they must have looted as far as Mom's house because of this mess, Max said. Giving the Ram driver a middle finger. Suddenly, the motorcycle turned into an alley and almost disappeared from view. Max jammed on the brakes and brought the car to a stop. The curve was too sharp for the car and the lane too narrow. They would never pass by, and the bike kept— the bike kept accelerating. Kevin cursed the names of all the gods he's owed Then Max floored the car and accelerated forward, turning into the next corner. He took the street parallel to the rubbish-filled alley. Max, are you crazy? They'll get away! Kevin, you want to drive this crap car? No! So shut up and keep your gun ready. Despite Kevin's resistance, Max had, had nothing to worry about. After all, he knew these streets like the back of his hand. He had never lived here, but he grew up playing in this sector, playing basketball with his school friends on the old court. But that was before assholes like those on the motorbike spoiled the neighborhood with drugs, guns, and robberies. Driving with concentration, Max knew they only had one road to take, and he would be waiting on the other side.

Great, lovely reading. Thanks for that. I'm on the edge of my seat here. I'm gripping the table like this, waiting to hear what happens next. If you like action stories, then you're going to want to read this one.

Yeah, actually, my inspiration for this scene was the first movie of RoboCop.

Really?

I love the chase scenes of the book.

Yeah, it does have a kind of old-school action movie vibe, I think, which is great. Well, thanks for the reading and thanks for coming on the show. Before we go, do you have a prediction for the future? What is going to happen in our crazy world of Bitcoin?

Well, I think that Bitcoin was that Bitcoin will be the official currency of the countries. That live a social life like that we describe in Digital Gold, with chasing, with oppression, with financial mess, with debased currencies. And I think that this adoption will become naturally, not imposed by governments, by entities, by anything, but naturally, naturally by the people. I love that phrase that G.R.R. Tolkien writes on Hobbit, that Gandalf says that Saruman thinks that just a big, a huge power can beat the evil, but Gandalf thinks the opposite. Gandalf thinks the little actions, the little acts of kindness That keep the evil controlled. And here in Brazil, we have one example of that. We have a city in the south of Brazil, Brazilian south, called Rolante. And this city now, actually, right now, is the most Bitcoinized city in the world. Most Bitcoinized than London, than São Paulo, than But I was on it in Salvador, uh, and the adoption in the city, uh, not came from the government, not came from the city mayor, not came from, uh, the city councilors. No, became with a couple of, a couple of people that started all this job, uh, and now we have here in Brazil the most Bitcoinized city in the world. So I think that Bitcoin, that Bitcoin will take this path, that voluntary adoption in little spots, in little cities around the world, and that experiments will show us and to the rest of the people that Bitcoin brings peace, that Bitcoin brings development, Bitcoins bring the Bitcoin brings wealthy, and Bitcoin brings inequality because we we don't have we will not have a currency that any government, any any lobbyists can defeat for your for for for do for attend your pleasures and attend your Uh, visit the dishes. So I think that Bitcoin will be adopted, uh, in the— in, in this, in this tiniest place. And I think that is the way for the Bitcoin growing voluntarily in every time of the— in every part of the world.

There you go. Thanks for that prediction. You heard it here first. We are Gandalf, not Saruman. Yeah, thanks again for coming on the show, Luciana. It's been great, uh, hosting you and listening to your story. Good luck with your future writing and everything going on in Brazil where you are. And that's it for this episode. Catch everybody in the next one.

Thank you, Niko. I want to thank you again for the opportunity, uh, to To publish my, my story and to be here with you talking about that.

You're welcome. See you everybody in the next one.