“The concept that I’ve realized over time is the most important thing for me to do is to see a picture of where I want to go, see a picture of what I want to do in the world and then figure out how to work backwards from that and to make sure every single detail of working backwards from that I’m proud of, something that I love to do, I love the work, not just the end product, not just the end picture, but every step along the way. And in that sense also be able to explore the world. And I found this great quote by William Gibson. Anyone know who William Gibson is, just by a show of hands. Unfortunately too few. So William Gibson is a science fiction author and he coined the term cyberspace, he coined the term cyberpunk in a novel called Neuromancer and he has this great quote which I think really captures everything that we’re trying to do in this world as entrepreneurs, as founders, as builders of companies and products and ideas in that “The future has already arrived, it’s just not evenly distributed yet.” Which is an amazing thing to think about. And this is exactly how we run our companies as well. We get before the company and say an idea can change the course of the company, can happen anywhere in the company. The future is already in all of your heads and your work, everything that you have to do in your life is to distribute it, it’s to make sure that other people can see it, it’s sharing it with other people so that it resonates in a way that speaks to them and then they want to build it as well…”
– Jack Dorsey, May 13, 2013 at Stanford Graduate School of Business
Jack referencing Neuromancer and/or William Gibson
9/21/12 – Disrupt SF Keynote
3/4/13 – Ideas for Tomorrow
3/11/13 – Berkeley Engineering
9/16/13 – Columbia University
etc.
October 30, 1999 – “i missed meeting William Gibson tonight at Cody’s in Berkeley (not to mention Steve Pinker and Clifford Stoll the nights before; grrrr). does anyone happen to know of a tour schedule for the signing? i’ll travel most any distance. i bought a signed copy of the new book, but that doesn’t do much for me. i really just want to tell him “thanks.” email to me would be best. i’ll post whatever i find if it hasn’t been already.”
– Jack Dorsey
Neuromancer in Bitcoin
Tessier-Ashpool Family in Neuromancer – Dates are modeled after the family
| Event | Date | Character | Role |
| Genesis Block | 3 Jan | 3Jane | Holds the key |
| Satoshi’s First Mined Block | 8 Jan | 8Jean | In the background |
| First Bitcoin transaction | 11 Jan | The Mother | Jack’s mother’s birthday |
| Satoshi’s Last Mined Block | 3 May | The Father | Jack’s father’s birthday |
Protagaonist in Neuromancer (Henry Dorsett Case) – Case has to “Jack in” to do his work
| Event | Date | Character | Role |
| Registers on Bitcointalk | 19 Nov | Jack Dorsey | Jack’s birthday |
Why there was an 8-day gap between the genesis block and first bitcoin transaction:
Case’s mission in the book can’t start for 8 days: “Sorry, hotshot. Eight day wait. Your nervous system would fall out on the floor if you jacked in now.”
Why the genesis block award was 50 bitcoins
Case starts off with only 50 New Yen to his name.
Why the genesis block time stamp ends with 15 minutes and 5 seconds (1231006505) instead of a nice round number
It’s a reference to the opening line of chapter 15. “You tryin’ to break my record, son?’ the Flatline asked. ‘You were dead again, five seconds.”
Why Satoshi would’ve been inspired by Hal Finney for his Neuromancer references
Finn helps Case through the book: “Finn’s an old connection of mine. Fence mostly. Software. This privacy biz is a sideline. But I got Armitage to let him be our tech here, so when he shows up later, you never saw him, got it?”