Has there been any discussion about the effects of relativity on the bitcoin network? Specifically, what will happen in a few years when we are on Mars? How will the network respond to a lag of fifteen minutes or more? What about interstellar distances, assuming that we haven't found a way to violate the laws of physics? Or are bitcoins to be relegated to a local (solar system) phenomenon?

I have a few questions regarding the longevity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. My apologies if these seem basic or have been answered elsewhere, as I am still new to the subject.

My first question is what would happen in, say, 40 or 50 years, after the coins have all been mined? Will the network be vulnerable to a 51% attack after there is no more incentive to mine?

Next, what are the expected results of the advent of quantum computing on bitcoins? For instance, I believe that computing hashes should probably become trivial, which means that the distribution of rewarded bitcoins will likely shift to companies and institutions possessing such capabilities, but I'm more concerned and interested in any possible security concerns. For instance, will the hashes for transaction chain blocks be similarly compromised? In a similar note, what about wallets over that time? I expect that most people will be able to keep their clients updated in the circumstance that such a vulnerability becomes critical. But what about a bitcoin wallet that has sat around untouched for fifty years?

A related question is what happens in the case of a wallet that appears suddenly after fifty or a hundred years? And I'm not talking about any discernable effect on the economy. Let's presume that we're talking about a wallet with no more than a few bitcoins that re-enter circulation. Will it still be good, assuming for instance that it was written on, say, an m-disc? Is the network built to handle such ancient currency?

And finally, what if the decimal point is not sufficient in the long term? For example, say that in the far future, strong AI has become a reality, and it is possible to spin off a trillion sentient beings on a whim, each of whom demand payment in Satoshis? Can the system handle future divisions, if the current eight decimal points prove insufficient? And what would happen to that hypothetical wallet in that case, assuming its owner were incapable of keeping her wallet client updated through such a critical juncture?

And before you laugh off these questions as trivial or too far in the future to worry about, please understand that they are important to me. I have been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. I don't have much time left, as it is a terminal illness, and I am already at the point where my breathing is compromised. Respiratory failure could happen at any time. I am the latest recipient of the charity offered by the Society for Venturism, to have my body cryonically preserved after I've passed, with the hope that technology has eventually evolved to the point of making eventual reanimation a real possibility.

Thus, I am carefully weighing my options. Is Bitcoin stable enough to last the test of time? And lest you think that I'm just trying to find a way to "take it with me" after I'm gone, please understand that I will be leaving behind two precious young girls, currently nine and three, and that this damned disease has not only robbed me of a way to make a livelihood, that my government is doing its best to ensure that my family is left destitute.

I would like, as any good father would, to be able to leave something of substance to my children. As you can imagine, life insurance is completely out of reach to me now. And whatever assets remain after I'm gone, which are modest to begin with, will likely not last too long as my wife becomes a single parent, a young widow.

That's why I'm considering a gift of a couple of bitcoins to each of my daughters for their twenty-first birthdays. Assuming that the promise of the thousand year discs hold true for at least twenty years, I can imagine that it might be a bit more generous gift than the current few hundred dollars it would cost. And also assuming that bitcoins at least hold their value for that long.

Thank you for reading this essay, as it's turned into. And if you would like to help with this bequest, feel free to donate bitcoins to 15LMDcti9AfmPbBAFeoUQxR75w7RgWQzv1.

Thanks and stay strong,
Aaron Winborn

Hal, I just read your heartwarming post over at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=155054.msg1643833#msg1643833, and due to restrictions on this forum, find myself unable to post a response on that thread. Thus, I am posting here on the newbie forum.

I hope, but do not expect, that you will eventually read this thread, if for no other than the inhuman effort required to create it.

I am familiar with your story, as I read it in the LessWrong forum a year ago or so. I was not familiar with your work on bitcoins, although in retrospect I could have taken a clue from your work in cryptography.

Hats off to you, sir, for you have helped through your continuing work with Open Source to make a better world.

As yourself, I am a member of the Stupid Club, of people diagnosed with ALS. As you do, I am relegated to communicating with the world with my eyes, in the form of a Tobii eye gaze tracker and Dasher. Also like yourself, I have and continue to contribute to Open Source Software, although it is in the form of Drupal, a content management system used to publish websites.

The proud father of two young children, I was surprised to learn just two years ago that my life expectancy had taken a plunge. Unlike many well-intentioned hopes in the thread you started, I understand the harsh prospects that you and I face, which is why I won't point to Stephen Hawking as inspiration; unless you're Stephen Hawking, there's little chance you'll survive the decade, and kudos to you if you do. I also won't urge you to rush out and try an experimental treatment; for you and I are not welcome to try them, as they don't want patients more than two years beyond diagnosis, for they don't want us throwing off their numbers with our likely deaths.

I wonder, though, about your thoughts about cryonics. I posted about my intention to seek cryonic preservation on a private ALS support group on Facebook, and was shocked by the angry responses I received, everything from I should trust in the eternal life promised by my Lord and savior, to I am stealing resources from the future and present generations by seeking immortality.

I have received a more welcome response from the cryonics and Open Source communities, but I did not expect the vitriol that I received from my fellow patients with a terminal illness. In retrospect, I guess that the one is self-selected, where the other is thrust onto us against our wills. It is perhaps, of course, wishful thinking, but I would have hoped for if not something along the lines of me too, where do I sign up, at least something a bit more supportive.

In any case, I do not expect to learn of your plans or even thoughts about cryonics, because I don't suspect you'll chance across this thread. But if you do, and you are planning for it, then I hope we'll meet on the other side. And if you, like me, have instead found yourself blindsided by the life insurance companies' unwillingness to chance on a terminally ill patient, then here is the link to the Society for Venturism http://www.venturist.info/, the organization responsible for the cryonic preservation of Kim Suozzi, and the charity which has taken up my similar cause.

Stay strong,

Aaron Winborn

http://www.aaronwinborn.com/