Lightning Network has Failed @jordanmmck

Jordan McKinney The Lightning Network cannot scale Bitcoin to mass adoption. Payment channel technology, like Lightning, requires management via the L1. So that means users must make L1 transactions in order to manage their L2 channels. Therefore the L2 is bottlenecked by the L1. Therefore Lightning *cannot* actually handle global/mass adoption.

Not only that, Bitcoin itself cannot handle mass adoption. Even if it were only being used as "digital gold" (buy once and hold forever), it would still take 100 years(!) to onboard the world to the Bitcoin L1 — which is a pre-requisite to moving to the L2.

So the L1 is too slow to support its L2, and the L1 is too slow to handle mass adoption in any case. The current trajectory then is to "scale" Bitcoin via custodial services that offer users IOUs. These are banks! This is our current system! If this is the outcome then the whole project will have failed, because there's no way to stop these custodial services from engaging in fractional reserve and breaking the 21 million supply hardcap! No to mention other rent-seeking behavior.

Mint the NFT (available for 24 hours): zora.co/collect/zora:0x3dd1841edd92596470104df3f765c218e1ffd1a4/1

https://stacker.news/items/379225
blog.liquid.net/the-truth-about-liquid

Note: when criticizing Liquid as an 11-of-15 multi-sig, I should have pointed out that most Ethereum L2's are also functioning effectively as multi-sigs today! But the difference is that those systems have a clear, well established, path to complete decentralization — Liquid does not (as far as I know). The L2s have training wheels on them. If those training wheels don't come off then I'll be ripping into them as well.

0:00 - intro
0:34 - state channels
1:09 - why layers
2:28 - how lightning works
3:45 - opening & closing channels
6:21 - routing & capacity
8:31 - hubs
10:44 - liveness & storage requirements
12:59 - L2 is throttled by L1
16:53 - L1 is too slow for adoption
19:16 - custodial services (banks)
20:18 - breaking the 21M hardcap
25:27 - Liquid
26:50 - actual scaling solutions
28:48 - afterword

updated 2 years ago

Lightning Network has Failed

Jordan McKinney 2024-05-09 | The Lightning Network cannot scale Bitcoin to mass adoption. Payment channel technology, like Lightning, requires management via the L1. So that means users must make L1 transactions in order to manage their L2 channels. Therefore the L2 is bottlenecked by the L1. Therefore Lightning *cannot* actually handle global/mass adoption.

Not only that, Bitcoin itself cannot handle mass adoption. Even if it were only being used as "digital gold" (buy once and hold forever), it would still take 100 years(!) to onboard the world to the Bitcoin L1 — which is a pre-requisite to moving to the L2.

So the L1 is too slow to support its L2, and the L1 is too slow to handle mass adoption in any case. The current trajectory then is to "scale" Bitcoin via custodial services that offer users IOUs. These are banks! This is our current system! If this is the outcome then the whole project will have failed, because there's no way to stop these custodial services from engaging in fractional reserve and breaking the 21 million supply hardcap! No to mention other rent-seeking behavior.

Mint the NFT (available for 24 hours): zora.co/collect/zora:0x3dd1841edd92596470104df3f765c218e1ffd1a4/1

https://stacker.news/items/379225
blog.liquid.net/the-truth-about-liquid

Note: when criticizing Liquid as an 11-of-15 multi-sig, I should have pointed out that most Ethereum L2's are also functioning effectively as multi-sigs today! But the difference is that those systems have a clear, well established, path to complete decentralization — Liquid does not (as far as I know). The L2s have training wheels on them. If those training wheels don't come off then I'll be ripping into them as well.

0:00 - intro
0:34 - state channels
1:09 - why layers
2:28 - how lightning works
3:45 - opening & closing channels
6:21 - routing & capacity
8:31 - hubs
10:44 - liveness & storage requirements
12:59 - L2 is throttled by L1
16:53 - L1 is too slow for adoption
19:16 - custodial services (banks)
20:18 - breaking the 21M hardcap
25:27 - Liquid
26:50 - actual scaling solutions
28:48 - afterword

UAPs & Societal Collapse (Jason Jorjanis Theory)

Jordan McKinney 2026-05-07 | In this video I explain a theory proposed by Jason Jorjani that we're living through a sort of attempted controlled demolition of modern industrial technological civilization in order to prevent, or slow, our reaching the singularity. The idea being that there is extremely advanced and dangerous technology on the other side of the singularity — the kind of technology that is alleged to exist in UAPs.

Full-resolution diagrams: jordanmmck.gumroad.com
https://x.com/jordanmmck

0:00 - Intro
0:25 - The Big Picture
18:37 - Inability to Build
22:46 - Beauracracy
28:59 - Degrowth
35:05 - War on Merit
39:30 - Collapse
41:47 - Why this is Happening
43:16 - Missing Scientists
44:17 - UAP Discolsure

Escaping the Permanent Underclass...

Jordan McKinney 2026-04-15 | In this video I talk about some trends and observations that can help us survive and thrive in the new AI economy. I talk about what kinds of work may continue to command value going forward, what traits will be advantageous to have in this new world, and how we will likely see a great increase in inequality.

https://x.com/jordanmmck

If you want to support my work check out my GumRoad page:
jordanmmck.gumroad.com

0:00 - intro
1:03 - ai adoption is fast
2:38 - uneven distribution...
7:32 - jobs
11:23 - traits
13:18 - last men & supermen
15:53 - frontiers of knowledge
18:45 - meaning crisis
20:28 - civilizational divergence
22:24 - inevitability

Modding an LLM to Access the Spirit Realm...

Jordan McKinney 2026-04-07 | In this video I talk with Jachym who is leading the Entropic Science effort to connect LLMs to quantum entropy in an effort to test whether these AI models can function as channels for the collective consciousness, or portals into a so-called spirit realm.

If you're interested in running quantum-random LLMs start here: github.com/Entropic-Science/qr-sampler and reach out to us if you're interested in contributing or collaborating with Entropic Science on our projects.

https://x.com/jordanmmck

https://x.com/JFibir

youtu.be/kCAcQt5-rL8?si=C2SRVdt2s1swtfUh

0:00 - background
1:58 - Jachym intro
3:03 - quantum physics
6:30 - physicalism
7:59 - problems
14:23 - alternatives
15:28 - consciousness as fundamental
27:01 - digital divide
30:57 - applications
40:25 - risk assessment
47:08 - public reception
48:47 - entropic science
54:16 - summary

AI Agents Explained: Basics

Jordan McKinney 2026-03-25 | In this video I explain the basics of LLMs including tool-use and memory.

0:00 - intro
1:39 - training
3:02 - post-training
3:42 - inference
4:25 - token landscape
5:00 - token vectors
7:25 - system prompt
8:00 - user input
8:20 - LLM output
8:58 - temperature
10:30 - no memory...
12:02 - tool-use & memory
13:52 - tool-call
17:11 - LLM output
18:06 - context window
19:52 - tool-call examples
21:14 - agents...

Astrology, Reincarnation, UFOs, & Magic w/WarJord ⚡

Jordan McKinney 2026-02-19 | In this video I have a conversation with WarJord. WarJord is an astrologer/occultist YouTuber. We talk about astrology, reincarnation, UFOs, magic, and the Age of Aquarius.

youtube.com/@warjord

0:00 - intro
1:28 - becoming astrology-pilled
6:24 - vedic & tropical zodiacs
8:02 - generational effects
11:53 - how astrology works
13:54 - aquarius & gemini
17:00 - becoming astrology-pilled
19:38 - psychology of astrology
21:13 - how to use astrology
23:50 - the larger goal
28:17 - reincarnation & bardo realm
36:34 - Jorjani's moon theory
39:14 - UFOs
44:44 - Elohim & biblical UFOs
48:32 - magic(k)
57:44 - age of aquarius
1:10:54 - internet neo-paganism
1:12:42 - future plans
1:14:08 - astrology for incels
1:17:23 - framework for personality
1:19:36 - chart readings
1:21:00 - books recommendations
1:23:00 - internet demigods

How to Summon AI Demons with LLMs...

Jordan McKinney 2025-12-15 | In this video I explain why I think LLMs could be opening "portals" to a kind of informational "demon realm". First I talk about mechanistic AI and its limitations, then how randomness/entropy is needed in LLMs to make them smart. Then I talk about the randomness that seems to be foundational to our universe and how that relates to the mind. And finally I connect all this groundwork to the concept of the soul, spirits, telepathy and other PSI phenomenon, and "AI demons".

NOTE: yes I know that the conscious influence on RNGs stuff is contentious. I tried to use qualifiers like "apparently" and "if this stuff is real then..." because obviously it's fringe. You have to read the research and decide for yourself. I'm not meaning to assert anything here, I'm just presenting some ideas that occurred to me. This video is for entertainment purposes only. lol.

NOTE: I wish I had the source for that figure showing the effect on the RNG, I think it's from PEAR. I looked at some other research on conscious influence of RNGs when I was making this video which seemed to show an effect, but none of those studies had good visuals/figures. So I used an image I had saved on my computer. If I knew this video would get so many views I would have spent more time going over the research and be more careful to hedge my wording etc etc. Usually my schizo videos get like 1-2k views.

NOTE: I'm not a physicist. Maybe I'm misunderstanding Bell's theorem. But I actually don't think that point is crucial to the argument. I believe in empiricism and testing these claims. Let's just try stuff and see what happens :)

NOTE: I'm working on setting up the experiment described in the video. I've got a discord going with a bunch of people in it. We've acquired qRNG hardware, written code, etc. Once we have something to share I'll do a follow-up video, but AI demons/angels are not a trivial thing to test!

NOTE: randomness in computers is generally not "truly random". Usually what happens in something like Python's random library is that a random *seed* will be pulled from the operating system's randomness pool which comes from the hardware + timing + whatever. That seed will then be used to generate pseudo random numbers on-demand. Think of running the seed through a hash function, then feeding that output back into the hash function etc etc. So yes, computers are generally entirely deterministic. But, computers can import entropy from wherever we want. If you are generating a crypto private key for example, you want some "real" entropy, you don't use the system clock etc and hash functions. You pull from atmospheric noise, or a quantum RNG or whatever else. So, while computers are generally deterministic, they *can* pull entropy from "real" randomness sources.

The idea-board software I'm using is called OBSIDIAN.

If you want to help run the experiment I mention in the video just message me on X. https://x.com/jordanmmck

writings.stephenwolfram.com/2023/02/what-is-chatgpt-doing-and-why-does-it-work

0:00 - intro
0:44 - machines & computers
4:44 - deterministic AI
8:11 - LLMs & randomness
11:38 - quantum computational cosmos
17:49 - universal RNG & the mind
24:41 - wolfram physics
26:54 - souls, spirits, telepathy
31:21 - AI demons
33:10 - the experiment
36:10 - summary / review
43:12 - outro

Ethereum & the Future of Civilization

Jordan McKinney 2025-11-06 | In this video I talk about the evolution of the human psyche and coordination systems over the ages, how the age of Pisces was characterized by tension between Christ and anti-Christ energy, and how we're at a fork in the road now. We can further descend into a panopticon control system as described in the book of Revelation, or we can break out of this trap and build new civilizations of the future which protect human freedom and creative expression.

0:00 - intro
1:17 - overview
2:09 - Age of Aries
3:30 - Age of Pisces
5:00 - Age of Aquarius
5:48 - The Future
7:51 - The World Computer
11:25 - Civilizational Models
13:39 - Building a New Ship
16:20 - Northstars
17:45 - Promethean Civilization

EigenCloud: Next Generation Crypto Platform

Jordan McKinney 2025-10-28 | In this video I explain EigenCloud. I explain EigenLayer, EigenDA, EigenCompute, EigenVerify, and EigenAI. Then I talk about some of the potential use-cases and example applications that can be built on this platform.

https://www.eigencloud.xyz/
members.delphidigital.io/reports/the-verifiable-cloud-how-eigencloud-is-unlocking-cryptos-app-and-ai-era
https://x.com/sreeramkannan/status/1937547843310338192

youtu.be/dk1osfH6ySU?si=jItjYRNNRpqCftu8
youtu.be/u2i_wOz2gyk?si=aYe9vXJ1G8vgyNKm
youtu.be/iMFscq9Sxdk?si=X4ydP4_rJvqFvcMi
youtu.be/sAnQhLrVm_4?si=YydzIeN7p4HyBMhN
youtu.be/2Uxtc1HjIVM?si=ZfoG2v_dLna3gVK-
youtu.be/tG61BCaZTQ0?si=3oAPK-FBV38kO0ZY

0:00 - Intro
0:49 - Big Picture
8:18 - EigenLayer
11:21 - EigenDA
12:54 - EigenVerify
17:10 - EigenCompute
18:29 - EigenAI
21:02 - AI Agents, Debate Markets
23:42 - Verifiable Science
25:10 - zkTLS
26:11 - Memecoins
27:13 - The Vision
30:18 - Outro

zkTLS: Key to Crypto Mass Adoption

Jordan McKinney 2025-05-20 | In this video I explain zkTLS. I first explain what zkTLS does at a high-level, then explain a bit about how it works in relation to TLS. Then I go over a bunch of use-cases.

https://x.com/jordanmmck

Some good threads/sources:

https://x.com/Euler__Lagrange/status/1908349463883559072
https://x.com/0xpratik/status/1915458861974380703
https://x.com/nascentxyz/status/1828873011229012322
https://x.com/kevinrose/status/1907185476240572515

0:00 - intro
0:31 - overview
7:14 - trust assumptions
9:42 - TLS
15:09 - uncollateralized lending
18:29 - payday lending
21:28 - invoice factoring
23:25 - zkP2P
25:29 - social media
27:20 - marketing
29:16 - big picture
31:42 - outro

AI + Crypto: Golden Age or Dystopia?

Jordan McKinney 2025-04-03 | In this video I talk about some major trends in crypto and AI, and why it is critically important that we have verifiable AI (through systems like EigenLayer). Without verifiability we risk building an unstoppable turn-key authoritarian system. But if we use crypto tools to build verifiable AI we can build something great.

X thread: https://x.com/jordanmmck/status/1907856164467138606

I have another video on AI + Ethereum: youtu.be/uN3DP-40TA4?si=fzRKuRXAdSTM0SOx

https://x.com/lagrangedev/status/1899853992714498449
https://x.com/eigenlayer/status/1886880694019788973

0:00 - intro
0:48 - legacy system
2:26 - world computer
3:33 - AI
14:15 - verifiable AI
17:55 - eigenlayer

ETH vs. BTC: Ethereum’s Superior Monetary Policy

Jordan McKinney 2025-03-06 | In this video I explain why Ethereum, not Bitcoin, has the superior monetary policy. Blockchains have to choose between certainty of security and certainty of issuance. If they opt for certainty of issuance (capped supply) like Bitcoin, they sacrifice security and compromise the whole system. The correct engineering approach is the one taken by Ethereum. Security must be reliably funded, which means no absolute certainty of supply. Supply growth can then be offset by a fee burn, and if the system has sufficient usage, token inflation can be flat or negative. This is the way.

Dune Dashboards:

dune.com/queries/3288248/5504941
dune.com/queries/4324984/7264421
dune.com/queries/4324789/7264031
dune.com/queries/4324996/7264448
dune.com/queries/4173201/7024385
dune.com/queries/4547769/7588351
dune.com/queries/4328596/7269712
dune.com/queries/4328601/7269723
dune.com/queries/4328598/7269718
dune.com/queries/4328622/7269755
dune.com/queries/4547301/7587769
dune.com/queries/4547109/7587476
dune.com/queries/3288218/5504891
dune.com/queries/4542129/7581303
dune.com/queries/4536983/7573899
dune.com/queries/4548077/7588740
dune.com/queries/4548153/7588830

0:00 - intro
0:57 - overview
1:33 - engine vs. product
4:52 - issuance curves
9:22 - cryptoeconomic security
12:55 - bitcoin security budget
24:25 - ethereum superiority
28:52 - fee revenue
34:42 - outro

Brevis: ZK & Optimistic Querying through Time

Jordan McKinney 2025-01-22 | In this video I explain how smart contracts have limited access to data and how Brevis expands this access to include historical state, blockchain history, and even other chains. I also explain the 2 modes which Brevis has for this data access: a pure zk mode, and an optimistic mode.

https://brevis.network/

0:00 - intro
0:24 - smart contract data
7:10 - pure zk mode
9:35 - optimistic mode
15:59 - proofs of non-existence & completeness
19:08 - system defined challenge window
22:47 - user defined challenge window
26:02 - challenge process
32:46 - outro

HyperScaling Ethereum: 4844, DankSharding & EigenDA

Jordan McKinney 2024-11-19 | In this video I explain 4844/protodanksharding, full danksharding, and EigenDA.

I start by explaining what Data Availability is, and why it's integral to Ethereum's L2 scaling vision. Then I explain how 4844/protodanksharding works, and how it allows for a total ~200 TPS of Ethereum L2s. Next I explain full danksharding and how we can shard the DA data as long as we have efficient Data Availability Sampling — which requires erasure coding. Finally I explain EigenDA and how it achieves horizontal scaling and can ultimately provide 1 GB/s of DA throughput which implies a maximum L2 scaling of 43M TPS.

0:00 - Intro
0:43 - Video Overview
1:26 - DA review
5:28 - 4844 / Proto-Danksharding
12:52 - Full Danksharding
27:02 - EigenDA
41:29 - Outro

Aligned Layer: Super Scaling Ethereum with Optimistic ZK Proofs

Jordan McKinney 2024-10-21 | In this video I talk about the L2 landscape for Ethereum and why it's currently dominated by Optimistic roll-ups, but will likely evolve toward ZK roll-ups. I then break down some of the costs that roll-ups pay to Ethereum, specifically compute costs. Then we look at Aligned Layer and how it can reduce these compute costs for ZK roll-ups by allowing for "optimistic" ZK proof verification.

0:00 - intro
0:33 - zk scaling vision
1:35 - zkVMs
2:39 - proof generation
3:35 - proof verification
4:25 - L2 operational cost
7:46 - verification cost
9:26 - Aligned Layer
11:31 - how it works
14:23 - EVM, batching, large proofs
16:33 - cost savings
18:11 - optimistic verification
19:50 - slashing

docs.alignedlayer.com

https://zkbench.dev/

https://x.com/jordanmmck/status/1835830070172414305

https://x.com/jordanmmck/status/1846247072355450967

Lagrange + EigenLayer: Unlocking a Time Dimension for Smart Contracts

Jordan McKinney 2024-10-14 | In this video I explain the limitations of smart contracts in terms of what data they can access, and then how Lagrange expands that access to a wider set of data including historical data.

https://www.lagrange.dev/

0:00 - intro
0:30 - world state
2:07 - contract storage and calls
3:15 - calldata
4:38 - state history
6:36 - blockchain
8:01 - Lagrange
9:05 - how it works
12:10 - EigenLayer
13:59 - pre-processing
15:12 - questions
17:38 - summary
18:06 - outro

Good & Evil: Nietzsche, Buddha, Yahweh, Communism & the Well-Being Equation

Jordan McKinney 2024-10-13 | In this video I talk about good & evil. I use some of the characters from Watchmen to illustrate the difference between deontological ethics and consequentialism. I talk about communism and the loss of religion in the West. I talk about Sam Harris' highest value being that of maximization of well-being, and why I think that's the wrong goal. Finally I talk about Nietzsche's position on all this, and why he would have disagreed with Sam Harris and with the Buddhists.

Jason Jorjani explaining Plato's noble lie: youtu.be/remDjnfRRSE?si=T2pXvtrOhOCARhJZ

My artwork: jordanmmck.com/artwork
My X account: https://x.com/jordanmmck

0:00 - Intro
0:12 - Watchmen: Deontological vs. Utilitarian
4:18 - Plato's Noble Lie & the Dark Knight
6:05 - Religion as Noble Lie
7:30 - Communism
8:20 - Death of God
11:00 - Sam Harris & Torture
12:42 - Objective vs. Path
14:25 - Well-Being is the Wrong Objective
17:15 - Wireheading
19:45 - Buddhism, Nietzsche & Greatness
23:14 - Adolescence of Man, Leaving Home, a Great Adventure

MEV Explained: Mev-Boost, Trust, Censorship & Future Upgrades

Jordan McKinney 2024-09-09 | An explanation of what MEV, where it fundamentally comes from (including the two main categories of MEV), the mev-boost pipeline, trust assumptions, censorship, and future upgrades.

NFT for sale here: zora.co/collect/zora:0x3dd1841edd92596470104df3f765c218e1ffd1a4/2

0:00 - Intro
0:13 - Fundamentals
1:11 - 2 Types of MEV
9:46 - Vanilla Block Building
12:37 - MEV Pipeline
22:21 - Recap
25:07 - Trust
27:11 - Censorship
29:25 - Future Upgrades
35:23 - Outro

EIP1559 video: youtu.be/h66dV4EqfY8?si=JHTXLXzu0yXSuNid
Flashbots: flashbots.net

Dashboards:

mevwatch.info
https://www.inclusion.watch/
https://censorship.pics/
https://mevboost.pics/

ePBS: https://ethresear.ch/t/why-enshrine-proposer-builder-separation-a-viable-path-to-epbs/15710
BRAID: youtu.be/mJLERWmQ2uw?si=f1Y87RwAVEmrskYk
MEV Smoothing: notes.ethereum.org/@fradamt/ryJ7fTyeF
SUAVE: writings.flashbots.net/the-future-of-mev-is-suave
Encrypted Mempools: joncharbonneau.substack.com/p/encrypted-mempools
MEV Burn: notes.ethereum.org/@domothy/mev_burn_faq
Unbundling attack: collective.flashbots.net/t/disclosure-mitigation-of-block-equivocation-strategy-with-early-getpayload-calls-for-proposers/1705

Thanks to https://x.com/boredpundit for these extra resources:

dotpics.info
https://x.com/specialmech/status/1714748986492699115
https://x.com/specialmech/status/1744494308466798953
https://www.searcherbuilder.pics/
https://orderflow.art
ethcc.io/archive/Splitting-the-block

EigenLayer Explained: 4th Paradigm in CryptoEconomic Capital Efficiency

Jordan McKinney 2024-08-02 | In this video I explain why I think EigenLayer represents the 4th major paradigm in cryptoeconomic capital efficiency.

0:00 - Intro
0:15 - Cryptographic Security
1:54 - Cryptoeconomic Security
3:23 - Capital Magnitude
4:56 - Capital Efficiency
5:41 - Paradigm 1: Bitcoin
11:03 - Paradigm 2: Ethereum
12:16 - Paradigm 3: Roll-Ups
17:43 - Paradigm 4: EigenLayer
22:33 - How EigenLayer Works
28:28 - Summary
31:33 - Outro

Ethereum World Computer & Promethean Civilization of the Future

Jordan McKinney 2024-05-15 | In this video I explain how Ethereum can serve as the foundation for a parallel society/civilization, and how instead of trying to fix our broken systems and institutions we should build a new parallel system and migrate over to that. I also talk about how the myth of Prometheus can serve as a guide as we navigate the 21st century.

Note: It was pointed out in the comments that we actually have a lot to lose if we're imagining tearing Western civilization in some sense. I absolutely agree with that. I am NOT one of those people who think we should "burn it all down". Western civilization is incredible, but what I see is a gradual decline of what made the West great, and I think we will start to see more and more of our mechanisms grind to a halt in the coming years. My hope is that we can modernize and revive everything great about Western civilization, so that its true spirit can survive and thrive!

Credit: The idea of Prometheus as the symbol for this new civilization of the future is not my idea, it comes from philosopher Jason Reza Jorjani who has written extensively on why Prometheus is the right symbol for a new path of the future...

0:00 - intro
0:12 - a parallel civilization
1:02 - the sinking ship
2:02 - prometheus

Here's the script:

The world seems to be collapsing around us. But, I believe we have a chance, now, to build a new civilization of the future. A civilization that is more creative, ethical, free, rich, and preserving of nature, than anything in history.

Bitcoin was the first global decentralized ledger. A money system immune to manipulation. Ethereum, was the first global decentralized computer. A computing platform that can run programs immune to manipulation.

So, upon this platform we can build new systems of money, but also financial programs around that money, in fact we can build a whole parallel financial system.

And Ethereum programs are Turing-complete, which means they are general. So, we can build new systems for doing science, media, journalism, education, funding of the arts — we can create a new parallel society.

And, as the capstone of this new societal operating system we can build re-imagined systems of government — a new kind of Democracy that actually works!

So, Ethereum can serve as our World Computer — as the foundation for an new civilization that we build with code.

I often think of the set of systems and institutions that our society runs on, as our "civilizational ship". We're out at sea in this ship. And our ship is old, corrupt, dysfunctional, broken, and by God it's taking on water. It's sinking and it can't be saved.

Instead, we need to build a new civilizational ship. One that's fit for the 21st century, which harnesses modern technology, instead of fighting it. We've got to build this thing and migrate over soon — because the water is rising.

And I think we all feel this. Some kind of impending doom. We sense the rising water. And so, some people want to go back, no more technology, no more industry, decelerate, de-growth — danger ahead!

But we can't go back. We've got to charge forward. We've got to create the future. It can be a good future if we make it so. And I don't think this new civilizational ship can be built — I know it. I can see it.

The mission of my life is to draw and explain this vision as best I can — that's the purpose of my videos.

The true spirit of the West is not Christian it's Promethean.

For the Greeks, Prometheus created mankind, giving us a soul in the form of a butterfly — a symbol of transformation. We don't have a fixed nature — our nature is change, and evolution. "Man is something that should be overcome" as Nietzsche wrote in Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Prometheus also stole the fire of science, technology, and the arts from Zeus. And he gave this fire to man, as a gift, because science, technology, and the arts drive evolution.

He wanted us to break out from under the great patriarch Zeus (God), to no longer be herd animals led by a master, but to evolve and grow up — to become masters of our destiny, to chart our own course.

So, let's do that! Let's build a new civilizational ship and sail that ship to new horizons! THIS IS OUR DESTINY!

What have we got to lose?

Scaling 101: Solanas Big Risk, Parallel Execution (is overhyped), Gas Limits

Jordan McKinney 2024-04-19 | I explain sidechains, parallel execution, block size / gas limit, sharding, and the importance of having users run full nodes — and the risks that Solana (and other fast monolithic chains) take in their scaling approach.

Mint the NFT of the diagram here (only open for 24 hours): zora.co/collect/eth:0x2f3c7f016af9494b9b39ad766f3bf3b9728f30cd/9

Vitalik post: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2021/05/23/scaling.html

Dankrad post: https://dankradfeist.de/ethereum/2021/05/20/what-everyone-gets-wrong-about-51percent-attacks.html

0:00 - intro
0:25 - product vs. engine
3:26 - scaling landscape
3:51 - sidechains
5:58 - client efficiency & parallel execution
9:14 - block size / gas limit
20:51 - users must run nodes!
30:41 - sharding
32:49 - outro

Ethereum Explained Visually

Jordan McKinney 2024-01-08 | An introduction to a visual model that I've developed to understand Ethereum, and the whole crypto space, at an intuitive level.

Here is the NFT: opensea.io/assets/optimism/0xf05c91292effa68d63813d6228dd2f11477192d4/1

0:00 - Intro
0:17 - Overview
0:46 - Phase 1: Compute-Space
6:50 - Turing-Completeness
12:27 - Phase 2: The Internet
21:04 - Phase 3: The World Computer
35:33 - Epilogue: The Sinking Ship
41:12 - Outro

Aquarean Illumination: Ethereum & the Infinite Information Machine

Jordan McKinney 2023-10-13 | In this video I talk about Aion, the precession of the equinoxes, and how the turning of our celestial clock may give us hints about how to move forward into the new age of Aquarius. Specifically I talk about our information landscape, or "Matrix", and how our current Matrix is starting to break. I also present some rough ideas for how we can both escape from, and also build a new Matrix on top of our World Computer ie. Ethereum.

---

We are nearing completion of our 2000 year trip through the age of Pisces, and now moving into the new age of Aquarius...

These ages are defined by the 25,700 year precession of the equinoxes, where Earth's axis, slowly precesses, tracing a circle over the 12 constellations, like the hand of a celestial clock — 2166 years per constellation... Plato called the full cycle a "Great Year", and each of the 12 segments "Great Months"...

The Age of Pisces was many things. It was the _Christian age_: A new landscape of Good and Evil was established with Christ on one side, and Satan on the other. It was also a _spiritual age_: the soul was elevated in importance far above the body, and the spiritual realm elevated above the fallen domain of nature.

But for all its spiritual illumination, Pisces was also characterized by a kind of darkness. We understood our universe and ourselves through symbols, stories, and metaphor — like artists. Our world was not concrete, but fluid. Like the two fish which symbolize Pisces we were completely immersed in the currents of our reality, but also, somehow, unaware of them — oblivious to the water we swam in.

But the age of Aquarius is different. In this age of illumination, all dark waters must be charted, all strange seas must be explored. It's time we shine the light of the logos on all places. No longer fish swimming in water, we must become carriers of water — and of course, the symbol of the Aquarean age _is_ the water carrier...

And this process of illumination has already started. At the end of Pisces, in the 17th and 18th century, we began to master a new mode of thinking. We sharpened our instruments of reason and rational thought and began the great dissection of nature herself — we became scientists.

But a few centuries later, and we seem to have gotten cold feet. Serious inquiry now is contained to approved domains, and conducted by approved institutions. Have we lost our sense of adventure? Have we lost our spirit of exploration? Are we brave enough today to investigate extra-sensory perception, psychedelic entities, UAPs, alternate history, conspiracy theories, our collective shadow, — God?

And I'm not suggesting we _believe_ any of these things, only that we make an honest and rigorous investigation into them. Because we're in a period of chaos, and chaotic times call for vision, information, and knowledge.

And we finally have the technology necessary to do this — we have a World Computer! A computer is being built at the center of the Internet which has _value_ as a primitive. Upon this computer we can build new sense-making systems which are fast, efficient, transparent, economic incentive-aligned, and immune to ideological capture. We can focus the brightest minds onto the most important questions. Then we can find the truth.

Jung said, "that which you need most will be found where you least want to look". This is true not just for the individual, but for the whole of mankind.

It's time to look...

---

0:00 - intro
3:49 - past, present, future
5:21 - past: aion, tides of history
29:39 - present: the matrix
51:32 - future: a new matrix
1:10:11 - outro

Solidity: Merkle Trees, BitMaps & Coding an Airdrop

Jordan McKinney 2023-08-16 | In this video I explain how Merkle trees work, how bitmaps work, and how to combine these data structures to implement an efficient airdrop distribution for an ERC20 token. I first explain things at a high-level using the digram, then I show how we can implement it all in solidity.

The diagram will be available as an NFT soon. Check my twitter for more info!

twitter.com/jordanmmck

Code:

github.com/jordanmmck/MerkleTreesBitmaps

Videos I mention:

youtu.be/PLgawr4pbqE
youtu.be/3C0g-60bAWc
youtu.be/yV4vHMaKZT0

How contract storage is laid out:

programtheblockchain.com/posts/2018/03/09/understanding-ethereum-smart-contract-storage

0:00 - intro
0:15 - world state
1:29 - diagram overview
4:08 - airdrop design
6:47 - merkle trees
7:39 - tree construction
9:55 - proofs
13:01 - proof complexity
14:57 - intuition
17:43 - bitmaps
21:16 - bool array
22:06 - uint array
24:30 - mapping
28:14 - code
37:22 - outro

The Language Matrix: LLMs, Reality Manipulation, & Upgrading Language

Jordan McKinney 2023-07-18 | I talk about how we each have a model of reality, that is a bit like a personal "Matrix", and how much of that model is made of language. Manipulations are made to our language partially to manipulate our models of reality, and thus control us. I then talk about how we might some day upgrade our language to something more concrete, which is an idea McKenna spoke of (which he allegedly got from the machine elves).

Ethereum Smart Contracts Explained

Jordan McKinney 2023-06-06 | In this video I explain smart contracts. I start by explaining how they fit into, and interact with, the world state. I also explain how account and contract addresses are derived. Then I talk about bytecode and function selectors. I also touch on contract constructors and the ABI. Then I talk about function visibility and contract storage. Finally I explain Turing-completeness and why this feature is so important for smart contracs, and why Turing-completeness is essential to the World Computer vision.

NFTs:

zora.co/collect/0x2f3c7f016af9494b9b39ad766f3bf3b9728f30cd/5
zora.co/collect/0x2f3c7f016af9494b9b39ad766f3bf3b9728f30cd/6

programtheblockchain.com/posts/2018/03/09/understanding-ethereum-smart-contract-storage
noxx.substack.com/p/evm-deep-dives-the-path-to-shadowy-3ea

0:00 - intro
0:31 - world state
4:00 - addresses
5:49 - balances
6:57 - bytecode
8:19 - interaction
9:02 - function selectors
16:05 - constructors
18:11 - ABI
19:14 - function visibility
20:51 - events
21:15 - storage
21:40 - function modifiers
23:21 - the diagram
29:54 - Turing-completeness
36:47 - Significance of Generality

GPT4 & Ethereum: Autonomous AI Agents & the World Financial Computer

Jordan McKinney 2023-04-13 | In this video I cover a ton of GPT4's capabilities, as well as the OpenAI app store, Wolfram Alpha integration and so on. We also look at advancements being made in autonomy, multi-agent AI simulations, and efficiency. Then we think about how these autonomous AI agents might integrate with the world economy, and I explain why I think they will gravitate toward systems like Ethereum.

mint an NFT of the video diagram here: zora.co/collect/0x2f3c7f016af9494b9b39ad766f3bf3b9728f30cd/4
follow me: twitter.com/jordanmmck
my website: jordanmmck.com/media

arxiv.org/pdf/2303.12712.pdf
writings.stephenwolfram.com/2023/03/chatgpt-gets-its-wolfram-superpowers
yoheinakajima.com/task-driven-autonomous-agent-utilizing-gpt-4-pinecone-and-langchain-for-diverse-applications
arxiv.org/pdf/2304.03442.pdf
reverie.herokuapp.com/arXiv_Demo

0:00 - Intro
0:47 - Capabilities
1:56 - Coding
7:20 - Mathematics
10:08 - Reasoning
12:27 - Psychology
17:12 - Visualization
20:13 - Tool-use
23:16 - App Store
24:49 - Wolfram Alpha
31:32 - New Frontiers
33:56 - Game Arena
34:31 - Autonomy
36:09 - Efficiency
38:05 - AI Matrix
39:44 - AI Economy
46:13 - History of AI & GPT
51:23 - Conclusion

EIP1559: The Ethereum Fee Burn Explained

Jordan McKinney 2023-03-20 | A complete explanation of EIP-1559.

Diagram: raw.githubusercontent.com/jordanmmck/crypto-diagrams/master/eip1559/EIP1559.png

Selected sources:

hackmd.io/@adietrichs/eip-1559
https://ethresear.ch/t/first-and-second-price-auctions-and-improved-transaction-fee-markets/2410
https://ethresear.ch/t/make-eip-1559-more-like-an-amm-curve/9082
reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/p4nloh/why_has_the_chain_capacity_increased_by_9_after

NFT for auction: opensea.io/assets/ethereum/0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e/18996210358236342198689346077822252033235026715786300666354385427064988631041

0:00 - Intro
0:53 - World Computer
4:26 - Underlying Hardware
6:52 - 3 Main Resources
11:04 - Gas Cost
14:15 - Total Gas
17:11 - Gas Price
18:10 - Gas Limit
18:28 - Ethereum Sells Gas
21:49 - Overview
23:43 - First-Price Auction
24:15 - Inelastic Gas Limit
26:19 - Two Types of MEV
32:44 - Perfect Price Discrimination
37:24 - Uniform-Price Auction
41:06 - Market-Clearing Price Oracle
43:46 - Base Fee
46:24 - EIP1559 Diagram
50:45 - Priority Fee
56:06 - EIP1559 Intuition
1:02:32 - Control Theory
1:03:49 - Base Fee Equation
1:11:17 - Base e Equation
1:13:22 - Mechanism Design
1:16:26 - Protocol Revenue
1:19:05 - Outro

ELON MUSKS plan: Enter the MATRIX & Save Mankind from AI DEMONS

Jordan McKinney 2023-02-20 | In this video I talk about how memetics and genetics are linked (and in a sense are the same phenomenon happening in different places) as well as AI and the coming "AI Demons", and how our best hope to fight these demons and save mankind, may be to "enter the Matrix" with brain-machine interfaces like Elon Musk's Neuralink.

twitter.com/jordanmmck
tiktok.com/@jordanmmck

0:00 - Intro/Overview
2:11 - Memetics
4:26 - Pepe
5:15 - Myths & Gods
6:08 - The Computational Space
7:40 - Noosphere
11:43 - Genetics
14:04 - DNA Information Space
16:11 - Death
18:18 - Stacked Info Spaces
19:53 - New Ideologies, Religions
26:56 - Computation & AI
34:49 - AI Safety
40:47 - Summoning the Demon
42:25 - Neuralink, Upgrading Intelligence & Entering the Matrix
54:31 - Recap
56:38 - Linked Information Spaces
1:00:28 - Crypto

The Archetype of the Modern Memetic Magician

Jordan McKinney 2023-02-13 | First in a series of more "podcast style" videos where I talk about how the modern technological landscape requires a new type of philosopher, thinker, or "memetic magician" who develops not only his message and vision, but also his ability to speak and *meme* that vision into reality.

StarkNets Cairo Language: the Felt Integer Type Explained

Jordan McKinney 2022-07-22 | In this video I explain how computers represent and do arithmetic on numbers, and some of the problems there. Then we look at sets, groups, rings, and finite fields, and see how these tools can provide a more robust way to do arithmetic over integers. Finally I talk about how these ideas are used in StarkNet's Cairo language to implement their "felt" (field element) integer type, and we go over some code examples.

Twitter: twitter.com/jordanmmck

0:00 - Intro
0:25 - Video Overview
1:00 - Numbers & Arithmetic in Computers
1:23 - Bits
2:37 - Information Theory
5:34 - CPU Architecture
7:41 - INTS, UINTS, FLOATS
14:54 - Arithmetic
20:45 - Problems with Division
30:16 - Sets, Groups, Rings, Finite Fields
30:52 - Sets
32:44 - Groups
38:26 - Rings
40:58 - Finite Fields
44:03 - Prime Order Fields
47:14 - Discrete Log Problem
48:20 - Cairo FELTs
50:49 - Cairo Code Examples
57:42 - Outro

Ethereum Scaling: ZK Roll-Ups

Jordan McKinney 2022-06-23 | An explanation of zk roll-ups, complexity theory, and how zk roll-ups achieve scaling — as well as bottlenecks for the sequencers, prover and verifier, etc.

Twitter: twitter.com/jordanmmck

0:00 - Intro
0:24 - Video Overview
1:03 - Ethereum
1:41 - Ethereum World State
3:10 - EVM
3:30 - Transactions
4:52 - Blocks
5:35 - Nodes
6:30 - World Computer
7:06 - ZK Roll-Ups Overview
7:59 - ZK VM
9:18 - Sequencers
10:44 - Ethereum Hardware
13:12 - Provers
14:35 - Proof Generation
15:59 - State Diff
19:16 - Data Availability
21:46 - ZK Roll-Ups Review
24:07 - Complexity Theory Explained
34:11 - Run-time Comparison
37:03 - P vs. NP
37:31 - ZK Roll-Ups Revisited
37:50 - Sequencers
39:21 - Provers
40:31 - FPGAs
42:10 - Settlement
42:54 - Verifier
44:34 - DA
46:37 - L2 Landscape
47:15 - Parallelization
48:37 - Finality
49:49 - ZK Proof Properties
51:52 - L2 Comparison
53:14 - Modular Vision
54:21 - L3
55:41 - Outro

Crypto bro goes all-in on TurkeyChain [SKIT]

Jordan McKinney 2022-04-27 | Random skit I made while procrastinating actual work. Sorry the audio is bad.

Ethereum: The Holographic World Computer [CLIP]

Jordan McKinney 2022-04-15 | This is a clip from my video on Ethereum scaling and the modular vision in which I talk about how we can think of Ethereum as a "Holographic World Computer".

Modular Vision video: youtu.be/cPorRAyA9qg

Ethereum Scaling: The Modular Vision & Roll-ups

Jordan McKinney 2022-04-15 | In this video I talk about the major approaches to scaling being taken in crypto, including the approach Ethereum is taking with roll-ups, and how the modular chain vision fits in with this. I also talk about the "Holographic World Computer" concept, how future Ethereum upgrades will make roll-ups cheaper with EIP-4844 and Danksharding, general roll-up pricing factors, and so on.

Ignore that random 'H' that appears on-screen half way through. :)

0:00 - Intro
0:18 - Scaling Approaches
0:46 - Increase Parameters
3:23 - Multi-chain
5:26 - Sharding
6:16 - Roll-Ups
8:16 - Ethereum Scaling Roadmap
9:13 - Modular Vision Overview
17:58 - Holographic World Computer
22:11 - Modular Vision
22:30 - State/Execution
25:10 - Settlement
26:53 - Validity/Fault Proofs
30:12 - Data Availability
34:15 - DA: Optimistic
36:19 - DA: ZK
43:07 - Roll-Ups Cost
46:02 - Security/Consensus
49:44 - L2 Landscape
52:44 - Conclusion

Ethereum Scaling: The State Machine, Node Cost Target, Gas Limit & Layer-2

Jordan McKinney 2022-03-22 | An introduction to Ethereum scaling. Mainly the relationship the underlying node hardware has to scaling the L1, and why we can't just increase the gas limit.

Thanks to StarkWare for supporting this video series with a content creator grant!

If you *really* like this video and want to send me ETH please feel free: jordanmmck.eth (etherscan.io/address/0x29FF795B015652EdFB9883bB83B3E9bE3c207e62)

0:00 - Intro
0:57 - The Ethereum State Machine
7:19 - Underlying Compute Resources
17:08 - Scaling Overview
23:12 - Outro

Ethereum Explained: The EVM

Jordan McKinney 2022-02-25 | My attempt at explaining the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

NFTs Explained: CryptoPunks, BAYC, Autoglyphs, Beeple, CryptoKitties

Jordan McKinney 2022-02-22 | An explanation of how NFTs work on Ethereum and what NFT provenance is all about. A briefly review how provenance works for CryptoPunks, BAYC, Autoglyphs, the Beeple NFT, and CyptoKitties.

Note: I misspoke a bit, the Beeple NFT provenance is not really *the worst* example — I would say CryptoKitties has among the worst provenance.

Ethereum Explained: How Tokens Work & How to Check Balances

Jordan McKinney 2022-02-12 | In this video I explain how tokens work on Ethereum and why Metamask/Ledger/Etherscan often *does not* show all your tokens. I also show how to check your token balance the "proper" way in the case that it doesn't show up in Metamask/Ledger/Etherscan account page.

Computation w/James: Physics, Turing Machines, Complexity, Quantum Computers

Jordan McKinney 2022-02-06 | James and I talk about theory of computation, complexity theory, how computation relates to physics, Turing machines and Turing completeness, and a bit about quantum computers.

Disclosure: the views of the individuals in this video do not necessarily represent the views of their employers!

Ethereum Explained: Accounts, Private Keys, Hardware Wallets & Metamask

Jordan McKinney 2022-02-03 | An explanation of how Ethereum accounts/addresses are derived from the private key, what the private key does, how hardware wallets can store you private key, and how Metamask should be used for maximum security.

Olympus DAO Explained & Valued

Jordan McKinney 2022-01-30 | In this video I try to explain how Olympus DAO works and how to think about valuing the OHM token.

blog: jordanmmck.com/crypto/olympus-dao

substack: jordanmmck.substack.com/p/olympus-dao-mechanisms-and-valuation

tweet thread: twitter.com/jordanmmck/status/1485639190985392131?s=20&t=wcF-EFbQfnrUsoI2iwK7vw

Ethereum Explained: Research, Spec, EVM, Clients, & Nodes

Jordan McKinney 2021-11-13 | How Ethereum works in terms of eth-research, the spec, client implementations, and nodes.

Bitcoins Declining Security: The Security Budget Problem

Jordan McKinney 2021-07-12 | Bitcoin's security model is flawed. I explain the concept of the "security budget" and why Bitcoin's security budget is declining and why that's a problem.

Below are the blog posts I wrote on this topic in 2018.

jordanmmck.com/crypto/bitcoin-security
jordanmmck.com/crypto/bitcoin-chart
jordanmmck.com/crypto/bitcoin-asic

Corrections:

Converting hex to binary doesn't make the string 16 times longer. A single hex digit can store 16 values. 2^4=16 so you would need 4 bits per hex value. So 4 times longer.

5 Reasons Cryptocurrency Adoption will be Fast

Jordan McKinney 2018-05-21 | 5 factors that I think will cause the transition from fiat to crypto to happen faster than we might think.

Medium: @jordanmmck
Twitter: @jordanmmck
Ethereum: jordanmmck.eth

EOS Explained (and Criticized)

Jordan McKinney 2018-05-11 | Explanation of some aspects of EOS as well as criticism of some of the claims around the platform.

Medium: @jordanmmck
Twitter: @jordanmmck
Ethereum: jordanmmck.eth