laurentwaismanTechnology and Sociology go hand in hand. Sometimes tech changes our way of life, and sometimes it is the other way around.
Bitcoin is one of the biggest discoveries mankind has ever made. However, it is so young that it has not yet had the time to fully permeate the global culture and enrich our social habits yet. Educating people on what Bitcoin is and how transformative it can be, becomes a necessity. Below are some areas where I humbly try to help.
📚 I Translate Bitcoin Content
With the Konsensus Network
In 2021 I began contributing to the Konsensus Network. This organization is fairly atypical for most people as it operates in “starfish” setup. In a nutshell, the Konsensus network is a private company serving as a bridge between writers, translators, typesetters, distributors, etc… . The goal is to translate quality original content into other languages so that useful knowledge is made available across the globe regardless of your native language. The network is focused on Bitcoin, Austrian Economics, and Sovereignty related content. This aligns perfectly with my interests. Contributors to the network choose what they wish to work on and their contributions are purely opt-in. There can be compensation for the work, purely on a contribution basis, but that is not the primary goal for most of us.
Below are a few books that I have helped translate from English to French. The different links will either take you to the Konsensus Network (KN) website where all these books are available in various languages or to either Amazon France (FR – French version) or Amazon.com (US – English version). The Konsensus Network has a program in place to reward contributors that have translated the original work, while the Amazon reference links are just standard ref links.
- The Fiat Standard / L’Etalon Fiat – by Saifedean Ammous – (Konsensus, FR, US)
- The Bullish Case for Bitcoin / Un Scénarion Optimiste pour Bitcoin – by Vijay Boyapati (Konsensus, FR, US)
- Everything Divided by 21 Million / Bitcoin: L’infini divisé par 21 millions – by Knut Svanholm – (Konsensus, FR, US)
- The Blocksize Wars / by Jonathan Bier (Konsensus, US)
If you click on one of the (Eng) links above, you will be redirected to Amazon. That is a typical referral link that earns me a commission for “listing” a product that I did not contribute to. I’m not quite sure what I think of these, but hey ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it costs you nothing.
As A Typical Open Source Contributor
Before my contributions to the Konsensus Network, I had already performed translations in a more standard open source approach. Some of the first readings and videos I was fortunate to be exposed to were produced by Andreas Antonopoulos. I volunteered some of my time to help translate two of his books into French once again:
- Mastering Bitcoin
- The Internet of Money
The above referral links in (Eng) are for Amazon.com / links in (FR) are for Amazon.fr
🍻 I Organize Social Gatherings
The most important decision I ever took once I started being interested in Bitcoin was to attend local Bitcoin meetups. I found some extremely welcoming, open, and knowledgable people, some of them I now call friends. I believe it’s the best place to start if you are new to the topic. Then you move on to reading some of the Bitcoin-related literature.
My sole focus is on Bitcoin and related topics. This is already vast enough to keep me busy for the rest of my life. I also don’t buy into a lot of the “crypto”, web3, NFT fallacies. Sadly there aren’t that many Bitcoin-centric meetups, even in a city like Paris, so I chose to organize some myself.
Once a month, on a Tuesday, we organize a social meetup. The events are listed on a simple webpage: btcpeakeasy.com. Entrance is free, you come and leave whenever you want. We have drinks and talk about anything related to freedom sovereignty and bitcoin. Crowd is small, but always pleasant, as are the discussions. If you’re interested, just swing by. You never know who shows up.
🎓 I Coordinate Technical Events
Once again, this started out because I felt technical discussions locally were lacking. I’ve seen bitdevs being organized in so many different smaller cities across the US that it really started bothering me that a city like Paris could not run a regular technical meetup. This frustration was shared by a few of my bitcoiner friends and we decided we’d take the bull by the horns and run it ourselves. I mainly do the coordinating part as they are the true technicians, but at least I’m doing something.
If you are interested in attending a Bitcoin Socratic Seminar in France, our events are organized for the French community. Most events will be held in French unless otherwise advertised (around conference dates or if we have foreign guests) and take place in Paris. However, we do intend to bring the show on the road at least a couple times a year as we are keen on bringing together the francophone bitcoiners (that includes our close neighbours or anyone travelling from further afar).
You can follow BitdevsFR on various platforms:
- The bitdevsFR website
- Our Telegram channel for event listings and access codes to the seminars
- And of course our Twitter feed:
💻 I Offer Private Consultations & Training
I conduct one on one or group training sessions and consultations depending on your needs. Please let me know if there is any specific needs you might want to receive help with and we can work something out.