Bitcoin Forum

I'm currently preparing a small proposal for a seminar lecture about blockchains that might be given next year at a local conference (depending on how convincing my proposal is).
The seminar is usually held by 2 persons with different views/backgrounds on the topic and runs for an entire week.

Can you propose me some good lecturers?

The conference organization usually tries to get the leading people of the respective field, although europe-based lecturers might be more realistic.
I was thinking of a setting where one lecturer focuses more on the economical/social impact and the other one on the technical aspects, although audience will not be very techy.

andreas antonopoulos is always a good lecturer. he can simplify topics into average joe understanding, and talks more about the social/economical side..

as for someone uber-techy, that i think would do a good job of opposing andreas.. Greg maxwell who is very techy and in most ways has the opposite views of social economics

I would say that andreas would be the man to get his ability to make the most complex actions of bitcoin understandable is truly amazing.

Andreas Antonopoulos is too self indulgent to be taken seriously as a real lecturer. He has no technical background in cryptography or distributed systems, just a former computing student who doesn't work in computing. Except when he got a job as CTO at blockchain.info, lol. He mostly speaks on internet chat-shows.

Not someone to be taken seriously, however good his comparisons/metaphors for explaining Bitcoin are.

Stanford University has a course in Bitcoin engineering taught by Dan Boneh, and Balaji S. Srinivasan. They might make good speakers.

http://bitcoin.stanford.edu/



Princeton University also runs a Bitcoin course. It's taught by Arvind Narayanan, who might also make a good lecture, as he lectures for a living.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency

Gmaxwell  is too self indulgent to be taken seriously as a real lecturer. He has no good comparisons/metaphors for explaining Bitcoin, just a former computing student.  Except when he got a job as CTO at blockstream, lol. He mostly speaks in backdoor meetings.

however has technical background in cryptography / distributed systems


as i said.. as a fair "opposition" where the OP said he wanted one social economics. and one technical, to debate each other.. i think andreas vs greg would be a perfect match up

Carlton you not serious about this right? Why do you need a technical expert to speak about the economical/social impact of Bitcoin? Andreas is the best man for the job, because he has the ability to comprehend the difference between coding Bitcoin and applying it in the real world. He has travelled the world, and he has spoken to thousands of people in this scene. I have to differ from you on this one, because I know of no better speaker than Andreas that would hit this out of the ball park.

If this was a technical seminar for programmers and developers, I would have agreed with you. ^hmmmm^

If you want to balance out the panel with some private general blockchain folks also, you may also want to consider William Mougayar or Tim Swanson of R3.

So, you're saying that Andreas only ever gets involved in speaking about social and economic aspects of Bitcoin? That's not true.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Andreas is not a good speaker; he is. I am saying he has his limitations.

He provides good material for those that don't know Bitcoin at all, he's well suited to that. But to call him a "Blockchain lecturer" of any esteem would be wrong. You can rely on him to deliver the basic concepts, and that's it. He has no other useful role, as far as I'm aware.

The bad side of Andreas is that, as I say, he is highly self-indulgent with his personal self-promotion. I don't think people with over-inflated egos should be given much credence, in particular someone who has no direct experience in the field he's speaking about. I'd prefer to hear Gavin Andresen or Mike Hearn speaking than Andreas, at least those two have some direct experience in Bitcoin.

Any thoughts about Don Tapscott?
Too much praise probably but might work in combination with sb more down-to-earth.

Unserious approach should not be neglected. However the diligence of lecture preparation will deliver a concise and effective knowledge transfer by academics

im thinking carlton would prefer a core developer who only knows code to be the one talking about social economics..
and then have another core developer who only knows code to be the one talking about technicals.

then when the OP who wants 2 separate people to debate against each other.. the 2 that turn up who are a single mindset can pretend to debate each other but effectively be agreeing with each other in some circle-jerking competition.

i dont think carlton understands what debates really are. i dont think carlton understands that its actually healthy to have opposing opinions. i dont think carlton understands that circle jerking and blindly believing something because 2 people say the same is not a good thing.

but hell, let the OP do things carltons hidden desire way. get adam back and gmaxwell in a room and let them control the conversation..

What makes you guys think Andreas is highly self-indulgent and self-aggrandising? I agree he is an entertainer but he has always struck me as genuinely passionate about evangelising the topic

Andreas has a good style in giving lectures, he is a smart guy but obviously he is not as bright as the core developers. I have seen some lectures by Adam Back and I almost fall asleep but if you are smart and understand the content you'll enjoy it, I have seen some by Phoon or something like that the asian guy that works in lighting and it was good, Gmaxwell is also good.

The later course has always been postponed by the site. It will be a good platform of learning as recommended.

There are a lot of good lecturers that knows the blockchain, Bettina Warburg: She is a speaker in TED and is a blockchain entrepreneur and researcher. Neha Narula: She is helping transform the world and redefine it by researching cryptocurrencies to provide clarity for the world.

http://www.ted.com/speakers/bettina_warburg
http://www.ted.com/speakers/neha_narula

Hope this could help. :)

He is like the ultimate snake oil salesman of blockchains. Do not listen to him, he is just trying to ride the bandwagon making money out of conferences and selling his book. What has he really accomplished in Bitcoin?

I agree with you and also prefer professors whose profession are to teach. Professors are good speakers they are capable of explaining highly technical terms in the simplest way possible that their regular audience may understand and absorb. Cryptocurrency and bitçoin concepts and ideas may be transmitted to your audience well and clear if you choose professors.

Do any Bettina Warburg or Neha Narula  have a blog on cryptocurrency which is regularly updated? If they are Asians, I think I will prefer them just for the intelligence.

If you are looking for Europe-based Bitcoin lecturers you could try googling some of the past and upcoming Bitcoin conferences and looking at the listed speakers. Then if you have found your matching partner you could try contacting them on their personal e-mail or website etc.

Here in my area educated people are really dumb in bitcoin and latest technologies. They only  knows old outdated technologies and old outdated educational text materials. Here in my area all bitcoiner are teenage guy like me.

Andreas Antonopolous is the most common choice because he knows the stuff pretty good at a technical level and is well spoken and can make things viable to watch for longer periods of time, but if you want to learn from a real expert then I recognize that you watch lectures by Adam Back. The guy may not have the speech skills of Andreas but he is an actual developer of Bitcoin so he knows more at a technical level. Greg Maxwell is pretty good too but I can't find much stuff from him on video. The elements/sidechains video was good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pyVvq-vrrM

Fair comment IMO.


Although Andreas has chosen some highly questionable platforms to speak on in the past, it's not like he's beyond doing good lectures about Bitcoin, I always appreciate and enjoy what he does from a technical standpoint, not just because he's good at "framing" his talks well. I could easily imagine both Andreas and Adam Back doing actual university lectures, but with Andreas more suited to the freshman end of the course material, and Adam handling the final year/post-graduate end of the spectrum.

I support this comment.

Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and well-respected figures in bitcoin

And no charles? Sad panda :(