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Philosophy & Economics of Bitcoin

How bitcoin works and the three main roles in its network: users, nodes, and miners
What bitcoin mining accomplishes, and at what cost
The metaphysics of bitcoin: competing views on what bitcoin is, and how they relate to the metaphysics of more traditional monies

100 words or less: is double-spending a problem for traditional digital monies? Why or why not? How do they typically address it?
100 words or less: what does a bitcoin node do, and why does it matter? How do bitcoin nodes protect against counterfeiting?
100 words or less: what is the difference between a bitcoin miner and an ‘ordinary’ (non-mining) bitcoin node? What powers do non-mining nodes enjoy in bitcoin’s network, and how are they exercised?
125 words: what is the significance of bitcoin’s difficulty adjustment? Hint: see if you can work out and explain the consequences of removing it from bitcoin’s design.
125 words or less: prepare exactly three critical discussion questions about any of the focal readings. For each question, be sure to include a specific quotation or citation to indicate how the readings prompt it, and one sentence about why it matters.

If you haven’t yet, learn how to use a blockchain explorer. Then explore a bit. Get a feel for how UTXOs work, how blocks are structured, and the various kinds of transactions. What do you notice? What are some ways in which the bitcoin ledger resembles or differs from other databases or ledgers with which you’re familiar?
Find the SHA256 hash for the following message: 'hello world'. Now make a small modification to the input message and find the SHA256 hash for it. What do you notice?
Using this tool, generate a time chain of at least four non-empty blocks. What stands out to you in how this process unfolds? What would you like to understand better? (be specific)
Construct a message and, using Bitcoin Core, sign it (hint: to do this in Bitcoin Core, you'll need to be using a 'Legacy' address beginning with 1; try 'getnewaddress address_type legacy'); paste the message, the associated address, and the signature into our Practicum document. We will verify one or more of these signatures together.

Tuesday 23 January
Readings	Read Chapter 2 carefully and in its entirety.
Reflections	Complete any one of Reflections 1, 2, or 3, and complete Reflections 4 and 5. Submit by midnight before class.
Friday 26 January
Readings	Read 'What is Bitcoin' carefully and in its entirety. Optional: watch the video in the secondary readings. The optional Antonopoulos and Song secondary readings can provide depth in cryptography and computer science for those who require it.
Practicum Assignment	Complete the first assignment before coming to class. We will do the remaining assignments together, in class; please ensure that at least one person in your practicum group brings a laptop to seminar with Bitcoin Core installed and running.