Episode
Hash Functions, Linear Algebra, and Alice in Wonderland
- Podcast
- Magic Internet Math
- Published
- Sep 28, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3024
- Processing state
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Summary
Magic Internet Math: https://www.magicinternetmath.com/ Shout out to https://x.com/uncleJim21 for the Alice in Wonderland story and the following rebuke of Lewis Carroll: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/33FYXpEWgyA This week we kept it loose but still got our reps in. We talked about why the math side of Bitcoin is starting to matter more in public, from conference panels and keynotes to the kinds of questions people are now asking us directly. We shared updates on upcoming appearances in Lugano, Amsterdam, Prague, and beyond, then dug into the deeper point: when confidence in Bitcoin gets shaken by bugs, headlines, or future quantum fear, the antidote is not vibes or macro slogans — it’s understanding the cryptographic foundations well enough to reason for ourselves. From there, we mapped out where the show is heading next. We reflected on libsecp256k1, Bitcoin Core, Miniscript, and what it means to inspect the basement wiring instead of just admiring the house from the curb. We also previewed future arcs on hash functions, Merkle trees, and linear algebra, including why SHA-256 feels so different from elliptic-curve cryptography. And because this is still Magic Internet Math, we took a wild but fitting detour into Lewis Carroll, imaginary numbers, quaternions, and the stubborn human habit of confusing identity with ideas. Hell Money: https://hell.money/ libsecp256k1: https://github.com/bitcoin-core/secp256k1 Miniscript: https://miniscript.org/ Bitcoin Amsterdam: https://www.bitcoin.amsterdam/ Lugano Plan ₿ Forum: https://planb.lugano.ch/planb-forum/ Midwest Bitcoin Summit: https://midwestbtc.com/media Bitcoin Policy Institute: https://www.btcpolicy.org/ Bitcoin Policy Summit: https://www.btcpolicysummit.org/ Motivate the Math: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mot…