{"podcast":{"title":"Magic Internet Math","slug":"magic-internet-math-7652323","podcast_index_feed_id":7652323,"rss_url":"https://serve.podhome.fm/rss/7005772a-c12d-4a3f-b3cc-4c05833946e0","website_url":"https://fountain.fm/show/2gdYQCIV0eZEuYOW3nGJ","image_url":"https://assets.podhome.fm/68bd541f-7118-40ad-47f7-08dd33f04393/639136107548391507d7b8be.jpg","author":"Brian Hirschfield","episode_count":16,"summary":"This podcast exists to liberate Bitcoin holders from second-class citizenship by teaching the mathematics that underlies their convictions. We operate on a simple premise: if you don't understand the math of Bitcoin, you cannot truly know what you know—you're dependent on others' authority, forever vulnerable to doubt and manipulation. Mathematics is the primary pathway to conviction in your own reasoning. Through accessible, conversational exploration of Bitcoin's mathematical foundations—treating math as the liberal art it was always meant to be—we equip listeners with genuine understanding rather than borrowed beliefs. We reject the deliberate demoralization campaign that convinced generations they'r…","last_synced_at":"2026-09-28T20:21:51.807293+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/magic-internet-math-7652323"},"episode":{"title":"Quantum Computers Don't Exist w/ Brandon Black","slug":"quantum-computers-don-t-exist-w-brandon-black","published_at":"2026-07-19T17:53:15+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/magic-internet-math-7652323/quantum-computers-don-t-exist-w-brandon-black","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/magic-internet-math-7652323","url":"https://serve.podhome.fm/episode/68bd541f-7118-40ad-47f7-08dd33f04393/6392007915833466765acf77e7-3e32-46bf-b5a7-dc17cbe91a4f.mp3","audio_url":"https://serve.podhome.fm/episode/68bd541f-7118-40ad-47f7-08dd33f04393/6392007915833466765acf77e7-3e32-46bf-b5a7-dc17cbe91a4f.mp3","summary":"In this episode, Rob and I sit down with Brandon Black (aka Rearden Code) for a deep dive into the quantum-computing debate around Bitcoin. We unpack why Brandon thinks the more useful framing is not “post-quantum” but “post-secp256k1,” and why Bitcoiners should care less about sci-fi narratives and more about understanding the actual cryptographic assumptions that protect coins today. Along the way, we revisit the now-legendary conference panel on quantum risk, talk through exposed pubkeys, xpub leakage, multisig, Taproot, Lightning force closes, and the difference between a theoretical break and an economically viable attack. We also spend a lot of time sizing risk correctly. Brandon helps us separate slow, visible cryptographic degradation from the far less likely “everything breaks tomorrow” scenario, and we explore how incentives change depending on whether the attacker wants profit, strategic advantage, or chaos. The conversation eventually zooms all the way out to math, physics, and engineering: Shor’s algorithm may exist on paper, but building a machine that can actually matter for Bitcoin is still a very different question. If you want a rigorous, grounded conversation about quantum threats, elliptic curves, MuSig2, FROST, and how to think clearly instead of panicking, this is a great one. The legendary panel:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbJkODcrz7Q Magic Internet Math: https://magicinternetmath.com/ Brandon Black speaker profile: https://sv23.adoptingbitcoin.org/speakers/brandonblack/ James O'Beirne: https://jameso.be/ BIP 360: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0360.mediawiki BIP 327 (MuSig2): https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0327.mediawiki BIP 340 (Schnorr Signatures for secp256k1): https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/…","meta_description":"In this episode, Rob and I sit down with Brandon Black (aka Rearden Code) for a deep dive into the quantum-computing debate around Bitcoin. We unpack why…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5011,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/magic-internet-math-7652323/episodes/quantum-computers-don-t-exist-w-brandon-black/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/magic-internet-math-7652323/quantum-computers-don-t-exist-w-brandon-black.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}