EP09 | Beyond The Brink | The Number Zero & Bitcoin | 05022023

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This broadcast was inspired by the article "The Number Zero and Bitcoin" by Robert Breedlove explores the history of the concept of zero and how it relates to the emergence of Bitcoin as a revolutionary technology. The origin of the concept of zero was independently developed by several ancient civilizations, and its significance in mathematics, science and the development of Bitcoin. Link to article : https://breedlove22.medium.com/the-number-zero-and-bitcoin-4c193336db5b

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TitleEP09 | Beyond The Brink | The Number Zero & Bitcoin | 05022023

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Duration59:59

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Uploaded2 May 2023

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The podcast episode discusses the significance of the number zero in relation to Bitcoin. The hosts explore the history of zero as a mathematical concept and its impact on various fields, including engineering and technology. They highlight how zero has enabled the development of critical systems and technologies, such as aeronautical software and internet engineering. The episode also emphasizes Bitcoin's revolutionary nature and its ability to represent value without the need for physical intermediaries. The hosts use ChatGPT to further analyze the topic and ask thought-provoking questions. Overall, the episode showcases the importance of zero in shaping our modern world. The shows on the VEDA Broadcast Network are those of the host, guest and callers only and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff, management or advertisers of VEDA Media or the VEDA Broadcast Network. What's pushing you to your limits? Hi, welcome to Beyond the Brink. This show focuses on global events that are pushing people to their limits and driving them to the brink of change. My name is Melissa and I'm here with Christy. If you missed our previous episodes, you can find them on our website at vedabroadcastnetwork.com or you can follow us on our socials. We're on Rumble, Twitter, Spotify, audio.com, Facebook. We're also on Streama and you can follow us at at Veda Broadcast throughout those platforms. Well, today we're going to do something a little different. We're going to talk about nothing. Well, not exactly nothing, but we are going to talk about the number zero but we are going to talk about the number zero and how that is affecting our daily lives every day and particularly in relation to Bitcoin. Now, Satoshi, he gave the world Bitcoin which is a true something for nothing. His discovery of absolute scarcity of money has been an unstoppable idea that is changing the world tremendously. Just like its digital ancestor, the number zero. We're going to dive in to the fascinating world of Bitcoin and explore the significance of the number zero in its technology. But before we dig in, let's hear a word from one of our affiliate partners. Beyond the Brink is partnered with Swan Bitcoin. We chose Swan Bitcoin because it's easy and inexpensive and it's the best form of financial protection if you're hit with a disaster. It's perfect for both new and experienced Bitcoiners. Set up a Bitcoin savings plan and never miss out on those gifts. Get a free book, Inventing Bitcoin, the technology behind the first truly scarce and decentralized money and receive a free $10 of Bitcoin when you use our affiliate link betabroadcastnetwork.com forward slash beyond. That's betabroadcastnetwork.com forward slash beyond. Well, so yes, we're going to talk about nothing today. And I will say today's broadcast is inspired by the article The Number Zero in Bitcoin by Robert Breedlove. Robert Breedlove. Oh, yeah. He explores the history of the concept of zero and how it relates to the emergence of Bitcoin as a revolutionary technology. So first, we're going to give you a summary of Mr. Breedlove's article. And then, and it's some deep stuff, believe me. And then we decided to utilize chat GPT to round out the discussion. We chose to ask that some questions, searched the Internet to analyze some of the article's content and provide answers to the questions that we came up with from us reading the article. Because, I mean, let's face it, Christy. This is something that I've kind of at first was like way over my head. So, yeah, let's dig in. I'm going to have you take it away with what you've discovered with this. You bet. We just need to let you know that Melissa's traveling right now. And as we were preparing for today's show, we had, especially with her significant other, we had a tremendous nerd out conversation as she was driving about this topic. And we just so thank Ryan for putting in his two cents into this, because it was a great conversation and it was about nothing. Yeah, nothing at all. Big fat zero. Nothing to see here. So let's begin today's show with a clip to kind of set up some context for today's content. So I'm going to share my screen here. And if all goes well, we're not going to have any technology hiccups. So here we go. You know, when we were driving, we called one of Ryan's students. And he was just a wealth of information when it came to the number zero. And I started asking him all these questions. And I felt a little bit more not as educated as I thought I was when he started explaining the number zero to me. But he knew exactly what he was talking about. Okay. Zero is one of the most important moments in the history of mathematics. This is a moment where suddenly a very abstract idea, a symbol for the concept of nothing. I mean, why do you need to count nothing? But this really kickstarted some extraordinary mathematics things like the calculus. Even our digital age is dependent on things like ones and zeros. One of the most important things that zero gave rise to was the ability for the common person to be able to do mathematics. Before we had an idea of zero, calculations were done on an abacus. It was hard to record what was happening. And it meant that mathematics was in the power of the authorities, those who could do that. Suddenly with zero, we were able to record what was happening. And it sort of democratized mathematics. Well, that is quite interesting, isn't it? It really is. Yes, that really resonated with me when I saw that clip. Yes, it does. Let me get back here. Let me get back here. I can't quite see you. So, are we back? So, sorry about the technical issues. All right. So, this article begins with the argument that Bitcoin represents a new form of abstraction and has the potential to revolutionize the world, both in the area of finance and economics. And we know that to be true. We've been studying this. I'm going to say I'm at least a class of 2020. And I think that you're right around that same time as well, right? Probably earlier than that. And we've seen this revolution, if you will. So, the article goes on to shed some light on the philosophical underpinnings of Bitcoin's design and the unique opportunities it presents for creating value and organizing economic activity. We know that to be true when you look at, like, the country of Africa, for instance. That's in South America. The origin of the concept of zero was independently developed by several ancient civilizations and its significance in mathematics and science. It was first discovered in the Bakshani manuscript. And here's a clip that further explains. So, I'm going to see if I can flub this up again and get a good clip here. It's written over, it appears now, quite a few centuries. And it seems to be a document helping merchants to do mathematical calculations. So, there are lots of examples and lots of numbers. And this is where we see the zero, because in some of these numbers we see a dot. This is a dot saying there is nothing here. And so, this dot is the one that will eventually open up to be the zero that we use today. The idea of zero as a placeholder is actually very ancient. The ancient Babylonians and Mayans had an idea of a zero as a placeholder. So, something like 101 means there are no tens. So, we see zero in the Bakshani manuscript being used as a placeholder. Why is this so important as a moment in the history of mathematics? Because this symbol eventually gives rise to zero in its own right. A number, a counting, absolutely nothing. That was kind of interesting when you look at their manuscript or the material they're using for their manuscript. Can you imagine writing on pieces of wood and rock and trying to do mathematics? Yes, and the way that I understood it was it was so complicated to get to those larger numbers. The common man couldn't do it. As he said in the earlier clip, it democratized mathematics and allowed the common man to actually be able to use it. And so, I'm sure we'll get to this farther down, but the pushback against the number zero. Because you don't want the common man to know how to do their own math and make it easy for them. Just like we have the technology today for communication, computing, all these things. Sometimes I think the power of the bee might not like us to have these tools. Do you know what I mean? Do you really think so? It kind of feels that way. It kind of does, doesn't it? Well, Breedlove goes on to make the case that zero represents the ultimate form of abstraction, which we discussed a little bit earlier. It's allowing for the representation of nothingness as a quantifiable quantity. The concept of abstraction is also fundamental to the design of Bitcoin that represents a new form of monetary abstraction. Allowing it for the representation of value without the need for physical or centralized intermediaries. That is the central thesis. Yes. Decentralized. It's not physical. You can take it with you anywhere. In other words, zero and Bitcoin represent a way of representing something without a physical or tangible presence. That's really cool. Yeah, it is. Bitcoin represents a shift away from traditional forms of money, such as gold and fiat money. This is an everyday discussion nowadays about the devaluing of fiat money, how impractical it is to carry a bunch of metal around with you. Gold is very heavy. So is silver. This makes much more sense to carry around a little Bitcoin wallet. Exactly, or up here in your brain. Exactly. Not your keys, not your coin. Well, traditional currencies rely on physical intermediaries such as banks or governments to validate and transfer value. Bitcoin is decentralized and open source and does not rely on those levels of security and transparency because it's built into the code. This decentralization also means that there's no central authority controlling the Bitcoin network and no single point of failure that can bring down the entire system. Now, if you've listened to some of our other shows, particularly about Operation Chokepoint, this rings true to that. You have a central authority who is attacking businesses it does not like and even banks and taking them down. And also a federal reserve system that just adds a zero to the balance sheet and prints money ad nauseum. Yeah. Well, you know, I wanted to bring one thing up before we move on. As we're researching this whole zero thing, it did provide the avenue, I guess, for accounting and, you know, negative numbers. Right. And loaning and those sort of things. And so then I was like, oh, well, it kind of contributes to the whole fiasco because without the number zero, they would not be able to print this, pretend money. So on one hand, it was liberating. On the other hand, it wasn't. But it looks like we are working towards getting it to be a liberating way, which it should have been from the beginning. Yes, because as we know, we go back in history, we found out that these currencies, these fiat currencies fail after about a hundred year period of time, which is why this conversation is so important now. Yeah. Unlike fiat money, which can be printed at will, like we just talked about from central banks, the supply of Bitcoin is strictly limited to 21 million coins. They're digital coins and there will never be more created than that. That is how it is. Now, will they create a fork of Bitcoin and create another form of a Bitcoin, like a Bitcoin cash or something like that? It's very possible, but it will never, ever be Bitcoin. Right. The scarcity creates a powerful incentive for holders to act in ways that benefit the overall network, as any action that damages the network's value would also damage the value of their own holdings. That's the beauty of having distributed nodes all throughout the world. So if you have part of the network that goes down, let's say in my part of the country and on the East Coast or even across the ocean, those nodes are working. You can still transact on the Bitcoin blockchain. You can't take it down. Yeah. Yeah, that's the beauty of Bitcoin. The triple threat, triple ledger accounting, immutable ledger. That's the amazing thing about Bitcoin. And that's an interesting concept, triple bookkeeping accounting. Yep. That's it. So who was that? That was Daryl... Feinstein. Daryl Feinstein that coined that statement. Yep. Yeah. So to continue, this creates a new form of economic abstraction, as you can imagine, where values created through collective action rather than an individual centralized effort. We asked Chad several questions that led to more questions. So let's talk about a few we thought was thought-provoking. Is Xero a discovery or an invention? Well, it's both. So Xero is generally considered a discovery rather than an invention. And the reason is, is that it was discovered during meditation many, many, many, many years ago. We'll get into that in a little bit. The concept of Xero as a placeholder and a number in its own right were discovered independently in various cultures throughout history, including the ancient Babylonians, the Mayans, and the Indians. The invention of the numeral system, including the use of Xero as a symbol, was a human invention. So the thought, the discovery was created through being in an area of nothingness in their mind and allowing this to come about, which is just really cool in and of itself. And then creating the symbol that is recognized by everybody. However, the concept of Xero as a mathematical and philosophical concept representing the absence of quantity is seen as a fundamental discovery of human knowledge. Yes. And so once we started looking into that, we asked the question in the chat, GPT, how Xero has impacted engineering? For example, the aeronautical software and our Internet engineering. You know, how does that, how did it make that work? Why was that such a significant impact? Well, it changed everything. If you didn't have Xero, you probably wouldn't have those industries as well developed as they are now. Can you imagine the Wright brothers? What would have happened? They benefited from this discovery and this invention. The concept of Xero has had a significant impact on various fields of engineering, as Melissa just alluded to, like aeronautical software and Internet engineering. It's used as a reference point, default value, and in the binary number system has enabled the development of critical systems and technologies used in modern engineering. And those are just three that we named. They're used in all areas of engineering. So in aeronautical engineering, the concept of Xero is essential in the design of aircraft and spacecraft. The use of Xero as a reference point helps engineers to determine the position and velocity and acceleration of a moving object and its relativity to a fixed point and such as the Earth's surface. I think that would be really important. You think about Elon Musk and what is it? SpaceX, I think, is his program and how he has to have that technology to be able to reuse rockets and be able to come and land them at a pinpoint location. Right. That's incredible stuff. I must say, you're not going to look into this and just automatically like, oh, yeah, I have a Eureka moment. Yeah, that totally makes sense to me. But by looking into this and realizing how something is seemingly irrelevant to us on a day-to-day basis, we don't even think about the number zero. And then to realize what an impact it's had on our lives, so much so that it is irrelevant to us. We just take it for granted, really. So it's pretty cool. Here we are so excited about going to the moon in the 70s. And now we're revisiting the notion of going to the moon for different reasons so that it could be a launch pad to Mars. Right. Incredible. And it wouldn't be possible without having this discovery, this discovery of nothing. You know, if I may dive into the second area, the software engineering. So you and I would not be talking right now. That's right. And none of our audience would see us at all if it wasn't for the number zero. And I believe it's the binary code, you know, that's kind of encoded into everything that we do when it comes to technology. And so the use of the number zero in computer programming and software engineering is ubiquitous. And so, for instance, the programming languages like C++ and Java and Python, the zero is used as a default value for the uninitialized variables. And so it is also used in data structures like lists and arrays. Zero is often used as the index for the first element. The binary number system, which is fundamental to computer systems, it relies heavily on the concept of zero. And so if zero didn't exist, we would not have computers. We would not have telephones. We would not have televisions, none of this stuff. Oh, absolutely. And it just blows my mind. It's still hard for me to kind of wrap my mind around the fact that, you know, how a number is so important, but it totally is. So, super cool. Well, as you were talking about the binary number system, you fast-forward that into Internet engineering. So if you didn't have software engineering, you wouldn't have Internet engineering. And specifically, the Internet protocol, so your IP address is a unique combination of zeros and ones. And each zero and one is plotted along a segment of bits and bytes. Okay. And if I remember my network engineering that I dabbled in, you have 64 of them. And so each segment, so if you go from one to two all the way up to 64, you get so many different combinations of numbers and a unique address. So where you're broadcasting from right now is completely unique to you as to where I'm broadcasting from now. It also makes VPNs very helpful because those are unique IP addresses as well. Yeah, super cool. Super cool. Super cool in a nerdy way. Yeah, well, we love this nerdy stuff. So would it be accurate to say that Bitcoin was not possible without mathematical evolution and the discovery of zero? Oh, most definitely, because Bitcoin is code. I mean, that's almost like a no-brainer. There's been nothing else that was developed that can come close to developing Bitcoin without the number of zero. No, no. With Bitcoin, the development came from other technologies that were built on top of each other, like the SHA-256 hashing algorithm and the development of the binary number system and GPS, all of these things that came together to create Bitcoin. And these were all technologies that we were using early on in, well, at least when it was released to the public, internet technology, but it had been used much earlier by universities and so forth and professors running labs, and they were able to communicate with each other on these. I think it was called Milnet at the time. Oh, yeah, I think you're right. So pretty cool. Yeah. They always kind of start using this technology in the education space before the general public gets to it. Yeah. Well, the military and then the educational institutions. Then you have to wonder about what technologies, you know, that they're working on now that is not near being released to the public. We got the internet because they didn't need it anymore. I mean, they use it, but it's evolved from there, and it's into something we're not even familiar with yet. We can only speculate. You know, one other thing I wanted to mention when we're talking about the internet and the technology innovation, there's so many open source projects now that are tapping into this, and, you know, it's like it's spreading like wildfire, and more and more people are learning how to code, and now it's becoming so easy just to build on something because the foundation's already been created, making it even more simple for a commoner to dabble in the use of the wonderful number zero. Oh, absolutely. I mean, technology such as artificial intelligence and this tool called ChatGPT, I mean, you have to be careful with chat. You cannot rely on every bit of information you get from it, but it is a wonderful resource, research tool, I should say, especially like in this case where we had taken an article that was written in 2020, and it's completely evergreen because everything that Robert Breedlove had brought out and theorized in 2020 is still alive and well today. So you can take that IP address, that URL, and put it in the AI search engine, and it automatically analyzes it and allows you to ask the questions that we asked of it. And at the same time, instantaneously, it is researching and comparing to other documents that are on the Internet for up to a time to where within the training of the chat model. So it wouldn't have been possible without Xero. And so this is a very deep and complicated subject that was simplified for us normal folks to be able to talk about, and just hopefully we're articulating the point clearly enough today. So anyway, there are other interesting things to note about the role of Xero in mathematics technology. Would you like to know? I would. Okay. Xero has practical applications beyond mathematics, obviously, such as in the fields of physics. Well, physics, you need some math, but physics also has its own applications. Chemistry, engineering, like we've already talked about, and economics. Yeah. When you talk about accounting, that's the language of business, right? It is. Yeah. So in each of these fields, Xero is used to represent a neutral state or a reference point, enabling the measurement and comparison of different values. And it has a significant impact on the development of modern economy. If you think about Xero as a placeholder and the development of the decimal system, it enabled the creation of modern accounting and finance systems and the Federal Reserve. It sure did. And the central bank. And that's why I say, even though it's a great, you know, sometimes it's not so good, because they kind of took it and ran with it in a direction that might not have been best for the people. Yeah. But, yeah, it's very, it's incredible. And without that Xero, you're right, we wouldn't have had the accounting system, for sure, the way that we account for things. Yeah. It would just be, well, one and whatever the calculations were without Xero, it would just mean nothing. Yeah. It doesn't exist. And that's how it was translated way back when, before Xero was incorporated. You wouldn't be going into the red. Yeah. So as we talked about earlier, Mr. Breedlove explained that the Hindi discovery of Xero was responsible for the evolution of math. And as we talked about earlier, it was manifested in a meditation. And one of the many important discoveries that's contributed to the evolution of that discipline is place value notation. So it allowed for the development of place value notation. So, for instance, if you're writing the number 1,004, or let's say 1,104, that Xero represents a placeholder for the 10 spot. It is also something that allows us to do the carry. So if you have, let's say, 11 plus 9, you take the 1 and the 9 and you carry 1. Yeah. That's what that allows that to do. So place value notation. Algebraic equations. Xero is essential in that as well when it's a placeholder or reference point. Let's say, for example, X plus 0 equals X. Well, 0 is used to represent a value that has no effect on the equation's outcome. Negative numbers. Negative numbers can be thought of as being less than 0. And without a 0, negative numbers would not be possible. So let's look at modern day today. You can have a negative interest bank account. So what would that relate to? It's really you're paying the bank to hold your deposit to basically become custodial holders of something that they're going to loan out and make further profit on because it's still fractionated. You see where the mind is going? Oh, I see where the mind is going. Geometry. I mean, oh, if 0 wasn't there, you would not be able to create geometric figures. And in science, this is really cool. Without 0, you wouldn't be able to come up with the lowest possible temperature that can be achieved. Yeah, that was something that Ryan got his wheels turning. He's like, I don't know. I might want to push back on that one. Because of the lowest possible temperature. But you have to have that in order to have your negative below 0. Yes, because it's a starting point or a reference point. So 32 degrees below 0. So we know 32 degrees begins to be freezing. So if you're 32 degrees below 0, you're really 64 degrees beyond 32, right? Would that be right? That's pretty darn cold. That'd be really super cold. So it's a reference point, and we're so used to it. So do you want to hit the next question? So with 0 being a function of money, we asked, why is 0 the store of value in which higher order of magnitude numerals can scale? Now, mind you, I mean, this is taken from Breedlove. So many questions coming out. But I mean, yeah, why is 0 the store of value in which a higher order of magnitude numerals can scale? You know, if he didn't, well, I don't know Breedlove personally. But he is not one who strikes me as ever being somebody who indulges in drugs or anything like that to think so philosophically as he does. Yeah. He's quite a, he's one of the greatest, I think, thought leaders in this space. So just kind of a big fan of his. So in the absence of 0, it'd be challenging to develop a universally recognized and agreed upon system of value representation. As different people and cultures might use different symbols to represent nothingness or absence. But by having a standardized system of representation, we can create a consistent and reliable way to store and exchange value. I think it's universal around the world and all cultures that 0 is 0. Yeah. I think initially they were kind of battling over that. Yes. Of changing it. But once they had that, look at the possibilities and opportunities that it opened up when they did have that standard number 0 and the representation of nothing. You know, or the starting point, the holding point. Well, if I can maybe explain a visual. Let's take a 0 is kind of like an oblong oval. Okay. Standing the tallest or longest points from top to bottom. If you turn it on its side and you put two of them together, what's in the middle is what 0 really represents. Hmm. And when you get to be the highest points, it would be maybe equated to 9. So when you're looking at the number system at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and then it starts again at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, with 0 being the next placeholder, like at 10 or at 100 or at 1,000. It's the same way on the left-hand side with that center point where the two 0s come together. Yeah. That makes sense. So it's kind of cool. Yeah. I should have put up a visual, but I didn't. I'm just with my screen sharing skills. We're learning, guys. Give us a break. So 0 enables the concept of debt and credit. So very important. And it also enables the creation of a reliable and consistent store of value over time. Hmm. So it can also be used to measure the value of goods and service and transfer it across time and space, creating a stable and reliable store of wealth. Hmm. You know, one of the next questions that we asked, we wanted to elaborate on one of the quotes that was in the paper. It is, by going below 0 and conceptualizing negative numbers, many new and unusual yet extremely useful mathematical constructs come into being, including imaginary numbers and complex numbers, fractals, and advanced astrophysical equations. In the same way, the economic medium of exchange, money leads to the acceleration of trade and innovation. So, too, does the mathematical medium of exchange. 0 led to enhanced informational exchange and its associated development of civilizational advances. Well, I'm going to pat myself on the back because I just talked about this before we got to that. But, I mean, it is the fact of having the number 0 and having that be a standard did open that up to informational exchange. Just like we're talking about now where we have the ISO 2022 standards, right, of going. This is kind of a similar concept in that you have a way of communicating and everyone is agreeing upon the way that they're going to account for something and just how that opened it up. Yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, we're going to be getting to the next one here where it involves the church. And this is by no means to be offensive to anybody, any believer, but this is history. And we're not here to defraud history. This is history and it just is the way it is. So, without any disrespect, we're just going to report what we've learned. Yeah. So, it talks about here, what does the power of the church falls to zero mean? Hmm. So, what does the power of the church falls to zero mean? It took me a few minutes to read that a few times to really get it. Yeah. So, the power of the church falls to zero expresses the transformation power or transformative power, I should say, of zero as a symbol and concept and its role in challenging traditional sources of authority, knowledge. It also suggests that zero as a symbol of intellectual and cultural change played a key role in the rise of modern science and the decline of the church's power. Hmm. It was very threatening to the church. And over time, there was, because of the Hindu religion and the Christians religion, you know. Christians, Roman Catholic. There you go. Yes. So, they were just locking horns, if you will, about not willing to accept that until there were countries that actually did start accepting it and using it. There would be countries that were Christian countries that did use it and it eventually, it got accepted in the church. In medieval Europe, the church held tremendous power and influence over all the people's lives, including their beliefs and values and knowledge. And they controlled the access to the education and learning. Yeah, they did. Their scholars and theologians, they were considered to be the ultimate authorities on all matters of science, philosophy, theology. However, with the emergence of zero as a mathematical concept, that new form of knowledge and inquiry was introduced and it challenged their monopoly on the knowledge of the people and they did not like it one single bit. Which is good to show. I mean, the monopoly concept, it's just, I think, indoctrinated in the human DNA, if you will, because we're still dealing with that today in other forms of monopolies. So, it's power and the fear of losing it. Yeah. Yeah. Very interesting. Yeah. Well, Christianity initially refused to accept zero. Yeah. Because they had this primal fear of what they called the void. Yeah. And it was connected to the nothingness, what they called the nothingness. And chaos made it a fearful concept in the eyes of most Christians at the time. And really, the church pushed that. I mean, they wanted the folks to be fearful of the nothingness. Yeah. So, I think you found a clip that explained why the church didn't like zero, didn't you? I was just going to go ahead and share my screen and press play. So, why don't we go ahead and do that? Isn't that incredible? 1,500 years. Yes. Wow. Yeah. I mean, that is – you don't want to lose hold of your people, right? And so, we're just going to squash that. Imagine what could have been done in 1,500 years. Yeah. Look at where we're at now. Imagine where we would be if they hadn't – that I can only imagine. Yeah. Yeah. And every turning has their own I can imagine. I just can't imagine, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I noticed that it's only through the work of the medieval Islamic mathematicians that developed the concept of zero and introduced it to Europe that the church eventually came to accept it. Right. So, yeah, and that acceptance marked a significant shift towards this attitude, towards this knowledge and the discovery. And that's what I was saying earlier where you had other countries, if you will, who – of Islamic mathematicians, and they still worked with it, and then eventually it just caught on and it became normal. Despite a superior utility for business, governments despised zero. In 1299, Florence banned the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, as with many profound innovations. Zero faced vehement resistance from entrenched power structures that were threatened by its existence. So, we asked why, and I had a clip on this, but I'm not going to be able to run it for you, but I am going to tell you the answer right here in just a moment. So, in the case of Florence – perhaps, no, I don't have it. So, in the case of Florence 1299, the ban on the Hindu-Arabic numeral system was driven by a desire to maintain the existing power structure. And the ruling elite feared that the widespread adoption of the numeral system would empower merchants and traders at the expense of the ruling class. You can't let the merchants and traders empower themselves. That's the same thing. It doesn't matter what century we're in. And as with many profound innovations, zero faced vehement resistance from the entrenched power structures. So, do you really want to know when zero was actually discovered? And I had a clip on it, and I'm not going to be able to play it, but it was actually at the third century. Wow. It went back that far. So, initially it was discovered, or there was, in the Bakshani manuscript is where that was talked about, initially at the ninth century, and then the last reference is what they know now. I don't know if there's any more Bakshani manuscripts there or more material to review. What has been found has been analyzed, but as it stands right now, it's the third century. Wow, that's incredible. So, in modernity, like in modern times, zero has become a celebrated tool in our mathematical arsenal. As the binary numeral system now forms the foundation of modern computer programming, zero was essential to the development of digital tools, like the personal computer, the Internet, and Bitcoin. So, why? Yeah. Well, it's widely accepted in the fields of mathematics and computer science that zero is a fundamental and essential tool for the modern technology. And the binary numeral system, which uses only zeros and ones, which that's something I didn't know, to represent numbers, they form the basis of the modern computer programming. And without zero, it wouldn't be possible to represent and manipulate the binary numbers that underlie all of our digital computing. So, like we said, we wouldn't even be on this live right now. So, zero is critical for digital tools like the personal computer, the Internet, and Bitcoin. Yes. And, you know, so these technologies rely on the complex mathematical algorithms and equations, and many of them use zero as the key component. Yeah. What does Bitcoin do as far as the zeros? They use that as a verifying – they verify and secure the transactions, don't they? Well, you have a unique address, a wallet address that has zeros in it. It's also part of the code that was used to develop Bitcoin. Yeah. Oh, and yeah, they use it to verify and secure the transactions for the cryptographic hashing. Yes, for the hashing. That's what I was thinking. That's the SHA-256 hashing protocol. Yeah. So, there's a couple other questions that we can – Yeah, we have about 10 minutes that we can cover a little bit more. So, we can get into – let's see. Oh, okay. We talked about that where we talked about how was zero discovered. And even in that video that – I didn't get to play that clip. The notes that we had here said it was developed by Indian mathematicians around the 5th century. But the video that – the clip that we had based on the Bakshani manuscripts says the 3rd century. So, there you go. It's just incredible. I just wanted to – I wanted to have some candid chat unless you had something specific that you wanted to address or share. But I just – There's this last one here that we didn't include, but perhaps we could at this point. Okay. And it says, both zero and Bitcoin are emblematic of the void, a realm of pure potentiality from which all things spring forth into being. The nothingness from which everything effervesces and into which all possibility finally collapses. Zero and Bitcoin are unstoppable ideas gifted to mankind, gestures made in the spirit of something for nothing. In a world run by central banks with zero accountability, a cabal that uses the specious profits of infinite cash to promise everything – promise us everything, thereby raising the specter of hyperinflation. Nothingness may prove to be the greatest gift we could ever receive. And so, there was a question asked to elaborate on that statement because that was a mouthful. And it came back and says, the idea behind this statement is that both zero and Bitcoin represent a fundamental shift away from the traditional centralized control structures of society, the power structure. Zero as a mathematical concept represents the absence of quantity and void, which allowed for the development of new mathematical systems and concepts. So, Bitcoin represents a new paradigm in the world of finance, allowing for decentralized peer-to-peer transactions without the need for intermediaries. And that scares the hell out of the central banks, just like it scared the hell out of the church. Absolutely. Absolutely, it scares the hell out of them. They don't want you to be sovereign or educated unless you're educated with what they want you to know. Exactly. Bottom line, that's what it is. It goes on to say, both zero and Bitcoin offer the potential for pure potentiality and possibility, which is in stark contrast to the world run by central banks with zero accountability. These institutions use the promise of infinite cash to create the illusion of prosperity, leading to the potential for hyperinflation and economic instability. That is a huge statement because look at all the homelessness that's in the world today. It is not because people can't find homes. It has everything to do with the fiat dollar being hyperinflated. It's out of the reach for many, many people and they have no other choice but to flee their homes so that, as we've talked about before, large investment funds like BlackRock can come in and scoop them up, which is just another extension of the power structure that we're all encountering today. You know, what's kind of what I'm thinking, and I'm just throwing some thoughts out there. I'm no expert on any of this, I'll say, but this is an observation that I've made and, you know, someone, if anybody has any differing views, let us know. Let me know. But I was thinking about this number zero and how the church and the powers that be wanted to stop it because it democratized mathematics and made it so the average man and woman could use it for themselves and better themselves. And it facilitated commerce, probably a peer-to-peer commerce where they weren't able to do that before. And so I think about what's happening now. Now, they were able to stop zero for 1,500 years, 1,500 years. Now, we have Bitcoin and the emergence of the decentralized network when it comes to commerce and peer-to-peer spending and be your own bank, no intermediary. And they are fighting it tooth and nail. They are trying to stop it so that they can control it. And when I think about the number zero and how I said they used that to their advantage, to our disadvantage when, yes, because of the number zero, it enabled them to manipulate numbers where they couldn't before and go into the negative territory with numbers. And it did a lot of good things, but it also did a lot of bad things. But they used it to do bad things. So here we are talking about the digital asset space and Bitcoin and them trying to stop them. And so it's kind of like a race. They're trying to stifle innovation on the decentralized side so that they can get in time with controlling it like they did the number zero. And I think we're so far ahead that they're not going to be able to do that. So, I mean, am I way out of line here? No, not at all. All I would say is that with the discovery of zero, we no longer have to wait 1,500 years because everything has been accelerated. So, yeah, this horrible thing is going on and the people are waking up to it. And they're moving to this new discovery called Bitcoin. Not so new discovery, but it's taken, what, 14 years before finally even the central banks are investing in Bitcoin. Let's put it this way. Warren Buffett invests in Bitcoin through the banks that he buys. Yes, they all have Bitcoin. So, it's here to stay and the big boys are buying it and they want to get ahead on it before us little ones get the scraps. But it's here and it's not going to be 1,500 years. People are wising up and they've done so in 14 years. That's incredible. That's an incredible rapid pace. It really is. And so, if I can implore anyone that's listening to this show, look into these things for yourself. I mean, it seems like it'd be kind of boring to look into the topic of, you know, let's talk about nothing. Let's talk about zero. But it's really fascinating to understand the impact that it has on our civilization as we know it. And looking into Bitcoin and these decentralized networks, the opportunity to educate yourself now so that you won't get bamboozled by whatever they're trying to stir up for you and push you in as a sheep kind of going into whatever they want you to do. So, by reading articles by people like Robert Breedlove, who we will put this in the description box so that you have access to that, and all the links to these videos. And he has two videos, too. So, not only the article, he has the one video where he reads it. So, if you don't want to read it, you can listen to him reading it. It's about an hour and 45 minutes. And then the second video, he goes into his explanation of the points that was made in the article. It's pretty good. It's about three hours worth of content. Yeah. And, you know, you can listen to it on a faster speed if it hours too long. That's what I did. You know, yeah. I mean, I find myself, I'm starting to listen to things on faster speed now. But, yeah, there's just so much information in this space. And Robert Breedlove definitely is one that can, he's got a whole series, in fact, if you're interested in learning about Bitcoin. He's got a great series on Bitcoin. It's called What Is Money? Thank you. Thank you. What Is Money? If you wanted to learn about it, it just goes one after another, and it's very easy to understand. So, we could post a link to that as well. And, you know, Robert Breedlove, from my understanding, and I should have done this before we came on today, is just double-check his bio. But, as I recall, his, before venturing in full-time into the Bitcoin space, he came from the financial sector. So, he has a deep understanding of how all of this works. Just as many people who have come to the Bitcoin space, like, what is it, Mark Foss, I believe. Yeah. Mark Moss. Well, Mark Moss and Foss is their last name. Oh. So many people who've come from the Goldman Sachs. I mean, look at Raoul Pal. Yeah. I mean, he's a complete total Bitcoiner now. There is a lot of them. Well, unfortunately, wow, that was a lot. We're coming to the end of the show. We want to thank you for tuning in to Beyond the Brink. You can find this and our previous shows at VidaBroadcastNetwork.com. And you can also follow us again on our YouTube at Vida Broadcast, and we're on Rumble and Twitter at Vida Broadcast. We hope that you all have a fantastic week, and we look forward to seeing you again. And enjoy doing nothing. Have a great day. Take care. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.