Truth & Code: The Future is Black and White

Freedom has a Home

Block 7,906,932

Fabian and Jim were sitting in what seemed like a perfect location to watch the New Horizon’s Torogoz XX rocket lift into space.

They were sitting in a nice restaurant on the western slope of Volcán de Conchagua in Estados libres de América, in the state of El Salvador.

They were looking into the western horizon’s darkening blue sky, waiting for the countdown. The sun had set about twenty minutes ago. But, unfortunately, there had been several delays in the launch, so for them to be here at this time to watch was the icing on the cake for them.

Launches were so frequent here on the Americas’ space coast and at other space facilities in the Americas that it was hard to keep up with each launch’s mission at any given time. But since they were here, they tapped into their AI consoles and learned this was an adventure mission taking twenty explorers to Mars. Even in this day and age, they would still be called explorers.

They were pioneers, a long line of explorers heading off into space every year to explore.

As Jim and Fabian were listening to the details of the launch, they decided to recall the history of the Americas’ space program. Of course, all children learn about it in school, but it was time for a refresher as they finished their desserts and drank coffee waiting for the launch.

Space exploration had three distinct phases by this time: the first age (oldest), the second phase, and the current third phase.

The first phase was characterized by the then-old-world superpowers spending enormous sums of money to project power and “win” the space race. It was hard for either Jim or Fabian to fathom the amount of money wasted in this endeavor for the benefit of the state, but that was the beginning. Space became a battlefield and was heavily weaponized during the first phase of space exploration.

The second phase was characterized by crewed missions back to the moon and to mars in the hopes that a better place than earth existed. The second phase continued through the Event, but the pace of missions slowed. Even after the event, the rate of tasks never recuperated to the level before the Event.

Both the first and second phases of space also focused on extraterrestrial life. A concept now so e and absurd that both Jim and Fabian rolled their eyes as they read that section.

A pause in space exploration persisted for about twenty-five years. Essential space missions for satellite launches continued, but man’s attention towards space exploration was dampened by the Renaissance of man’s reason in the mid to late twenty-first century.

A new breed of pioneers and space explorers emerged at the beginning of the twenty-second century. Men and women with a vision to risk and to dare, to go and explore vast new regions of space. Missions to the moon and mars continued, and small colonies started, but the earth people once tried to escape what they wanted.

Space became a place of desire, not a place to escape.

Tragically, like any new pioneer or explorer, some never came back. Others came back as heroes, not because they went to explore, but because they suffered a severe loss of crew members or survived harrowing ordeals like the explorers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to the poles and peaks of earth.

As they sat on the restaurant’s outdoor patio looking west, they could see lines of AVs lined up on old highway 2 in both directions. There was a noticeable black void between the two columns. During the launch, that section of the road too was closed to any AV traffic.

Every child in this part of the Estados libres de América sees at least one launch as part of their schooling. Both Jim and Fabian were reconnecting after returning from working in Guatemala and Costa Rica, respectively, after finishing their education. This would be the first one they had seen since being children. Jim’s early life was spent in Texas. Both his parents were born there and grew up there. Jim’s dad worked in the energy fields in west texas, and he carried a thick texas accent with a draw. He was an intelligent thinker but a slow talker, making everyone around him pay attention to his words. Jim spent his early years in Texas with his parents before moving to El Salvador. He could speak fluent Spanish, but it was with a heavy Texas accent, and he drew just like his dad. Fabian’s parents were Swiss, but he was born and raised in El Salvador.

However, the historical significance of what was going on from this location was not lost on them. They knew that every mission had small indestructible titanium capsules with the most up-to-date Bitcoin blockchain with every transaction since the genesis block (January 3, 2009) embedded on a solid state drive. A capsule was part of the essential elements for any mission, and every crew member had their own. These capsules would have Torogoz XX, ELA etched into the sides of the capsules. They were simply freedom capsules or hope capsules.

The purpose of these capsules and their contents was for any explorer to recreate the monetary system, time system, and historical events from the Event forward of the Free Lands. It was a message of hope they carried for themselves and no one else.

Jim, Fabian, and every citizen in the Free Lands know that millions of similar but smaller capsules were airdropped over what would become SO-Lands. During the Event, it was a last-ditch effort to warn people and provide hope. Stories of refugees finding a way to Free Lands because these freedom capsules dried up before the turn of the century. These were the so-called freedom capsules.

As they were busy studying the history of America’s space program, their consoles switched to a live feed with a countdown.

“T-10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Lift off! New Horizon’s Torogoz mission XX begins its mission to Mars, taking with it the hope and freedom of Estados libres de América! God speed!

In the distant darkness, they saw the rocket flare, lighting up the surrounding sky. It was as if a small sun was rising from the west! There was a faint rumble of the ground and a barely perceptible sound of the engine roar.

Every head in the restaurant turned to watch the spectacle, and a spontaneous eruption of hooping, hollering, and clapping began.

Jim and Fabian looked at each other, smiled, and raised their hands to do a high five. Although had it been a little later, they might have had a bottle of beer to cheer with, instead, they picked up their coffee cups and clanked them together.

Estados libres de América became the place to live by the middle of the twenty-first century. President Nayib Bukele was president of El Salvador. El Salvador was the first country in the world to legalize Bitcoin as a legal tender. Despite fits and spurts, his vision to create a new economic and technological powerhouse based in El Salvador gained momentum, eventually spreading from El Salvador to the rest of what was then central America and finally to South and North America. The economic dynamism that started in El Salvador eclipsed the last great industrial revolution of the late nineteenth and twentieth century. This would become a great technological revolution. Eventually, the surrounding countries formed an economic union bound by a common immutable currency: bitcoin.

The spot Jim and Fabian were having dinner and watching the New Horizon’s rocket is where the newly conceived Bitcoin city (locally Ciuadad de Bitcoin) was started over a hundred and fifty years ago.

The planned city grew exponentially and became the center of research and development for Bitcoin, finance, decentralized technologies, artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, and genomics. Because of El Salvador’s early adoption, Bitcoin city’s preeminence for Bitcoin financial services eclipsed any other jurisdiction in the Free Lands. It was also the tip of the spear during the Event against the countries that would later become SO-Lands.

As innovators and entrepreneurs from around the world converged in this part of the Americas, Bitcoin City expanded to include the islands in the gulf of Fonseca. Initially, bridges connected the islands of Zacatillo, Martin Perez, Conchaguita, Meanguera del Golfo, Tiger Island, Exposicion, and Garrobo. Honduras allocated the lands of Isla Zacata Grande. Nicaragua allocated the peninsula bordering the Pacific on the west and the gulf on the northwest. This included the regions of Apascali and Ciguina. As AAPD dominated travel over long distances or boundaries, the bridges were converted into elevated gardens, fields, forests, and communities.

Together this region was renamed the Freedom zone of the Americas after the decentralization of governance. This became a central tenant consummated during the Renaissance of man’s reason.

Jim and Fabian finished their coffee and desserts and felt nostalgic about growing up in this part of the world.

“Jim, how much do I owe you?”

“What? I got this, man.”

“Hey Satoshi!” Fabian says, “Pay cafe’ de Conchagua 5.714 sats.”

Fabian wasn’t the only Freelander with their AI named Satoshi in the cafe, but he didn’t worry; his AI would recognize his voice.

“Confirm 5.714 sats to cafe de Conchagua.” Satoshi AI announced in his earpiece.

Fabian looked down at the glowing biometric scanner on his right wrist and viewed the amount and payee on the screen. He then placed his thumb on the screen surface to verify the transaction.

“You grab beers next time,” Fabian said to Jim.

“All right, fair enough. Let’s get down the mountain before everyone else in the cafe does.” Jim replied.

They decided to walk down the steps. They thought it might take a little longer than the elevator, but they would still beat the rush. The night air was a bit cool but muggy.

“I should have brought my jacket,” Fabian said.

“Yeah, me too, but at least I have an undershirt,” Jim replied.

They got down to the parking level and hailed an AV.

“Hey Jim, check out that AV over there! Is that a Pantera?”

“I don’t know, but that is one sick AV! Love it! The candle apple red and black pinstripe are badass!” Fabian declared.

The number of custom, personal AVs was small, but they had a reasonably persistent user base. They were generally affordable, and many were built by their owners. This particular model looked like the owner spared no expense to trick it out. This owner probably had a twenty-first-century non-autonomous internal combustion engine car and/or an internal combustion engine motorcycle.

“My ol’ man was really into custom builds and old-century cars, but I never enjoyed that type of work. But I enjoyed watching him build and spend time with him in the garage.” Jim commented.

“Yeah, I remember.”

As they gawked at the custom AV, theirs approached.

They got in and headed towards the hotel.

Jim said, “I’m pretty close to finding a place to stay. How about you?”

“Not so much, I’ve been swamped at the new job, so I’ve been procrastinating a bit. But I have until block 7,919,892 or something like that before my housing stipend ends, and I need to be in a new place. Do you plan to rent or buy?”

“I’m leaning on buying. I found this awesome place with a view of the volcano for 28,000 sats! It’s a two-bedroom, two-bath condominium with about 23,000 square feet. It’s within walking distance of everything I need. And when I plan to get my dog, there’s a dog park nearby. So for me, it’s perfect!”

“Man, that’s awesome! Congratulations! You always get things done.” Fabian replied.

The AV approached the hotel entrance and came to a silent stop. Then, they both exited to enter the hotel together.

“Hey, I’m going to hit the bar before going up; I’ll see you in the morning,” Jim said.

“OK, man. I’ve got to get up early and get working by in about 54 blocks, so I need to hit the hay.”

“Early bird... eh?”

“More like a lot of work. I might be a drowned bird if I can’t keep up!”

They parted ways, and Fabian headed to the elevator. He’s been burning the candles at both ends, but he enjoyed his work. He’s a leading network engineer for the Bitcoin global node network. Even though 80% of the nodes are decentralized, the company he works for, NodlSat, owns about 5% of the node network infrastructure and manages a large portion of routing data on the seventh layer technology. 7LT, as it was known in the industry, was a novel implementation of energy monitoring on the blockchain. After the Event, there was a real need to monitor and account for all energy within the Free Lands. 7LT could visualize and, thereby, monetize or at least forecast the potential energy monetization in any sector. Fabian’s job was to monitor this network. It was effectively like looking at “money” before it became money. It was fascinating work, and he never grew tired of seeing energy like this.

The elevator takes him to his room on the eighth floor. Turning left out of the elevator, he walks down the hall and can’t wait to open the door and fall into bed.

He finally arrives at the end of the hall, unlocks his door, kicks his shoes off, and heads to the bathroom. He quickly brushes his teeth, flosses, and gets undressed. He’s dog-tired.

He sets his block clock for p7,907,064. “p” was projected. Since the Bitcoin blockchain’s time reference was internal to itself, it was different from precision timekeeping. In the age after the Renaissance of man’s reason, more extended time preferences infused the culture of the Free Lands. There was no longer a need to parse time into incremental segments. Precision timing was still used as a means to control an event or process, but not people. Over the hundred-plus years since the beginning of the Renaissance, time and value became synonymous.

Click, and the alarm was set. Fabian plops his head on the pillow, barely covers himself, and falls asleep.