About the Cover Picture

About the Cover Picture

CREDIT FOR THE IMAGE on the front cover goes to Lisa Weichel (user id lisa_aw on flickr.com). The photo was taken at Cueva de las Manos (Cave of Hands) in the province of Santa Cruz in Argentina. Cueva de las Manos is a series of caves famous for the various paintings of human hands covering its walls. The paintings, the earliest of which date from around 13,000 years and the latest from about 9,000 years ago, were left there by multiple generations.

I selected it as this book’s cover image because it seems to me to embody many of the concepts underlying Bitcoin—many individuals participating and cooperating to attain, over time, a common goal and yet maintaining their own individuality and uniqueness. Bitcoin differs from the cave paintings of Cueva de las Manos in scale, however.

Although these paintings were produced by multiple generations of individuals over several thousands of years, the number of these artists can’t compare in size to the millions who now and will in the future use Bitcoin. Moreover, Bitcoin’s users are geographically dispersed, collaborating over a decentralized system. Finally, whereas Cueva de las Manos was the work of one or more distinct tribes of humans, Bitcoin, open to anyone to use and adapt, transcends nationality and has the potential to become a true world currency.