Steven Boykey Sidley

Aug 4

Crypto and the public square

There is a classic scene in Monty Python’s Life of Brian in which the camera roams around a dusty public square in the Holy Land while multiple would-be seers and prophets dressed in white robes confidently but inarticulately proclaim the future to gormless bystanders. …

Bitcoin

4 min read

Jun 29

Bitcoin mining and energy usage — not as clearcut as one would think

Could Bitcoin mining actually be good for the environment? © Steven Boykey Sidley, Professor, JBS, University of Johannesburg I was careful put on my helmet and goggles while writing this because I expect a flurry of projectiles to come my way. …

Bitcoin Mining

5 min read

Jun 13

Believers and Pagans — The War for the Next Internet

© Steven Boykey Sidley Over the past year or three there has been a library’s worth of news and commentary about the ‘next Internet’, which may or may not be a thing one day, called Web 3. You know, not the Internet that we all use every day, the one…

6 min read

Jun 3

NFTs — Confused and SoulBound

When NFTs burst into the zeitgeist less than two years ago, there was a double dose of confusion. First there was, ‘WTF is an NFT??’ Then there was, ‘someone paid HOW MUCH for a little blocky jpg of a cartoon face???’ It would be comforting to know that this confusion…

Nft

5 min read

Jun 3

Of Crypto Mutants and Terra on the Blockchain

By Steven Boykey Sidley Follow 24 May 2022 0 Everyone, or at least everyone in media, loves bad news about crypto. Headlines drip with gleeful blood at even the slightest rumour or wobble. …

Terra

4 min read

Feb 26

Defi and The End of Banks

Defi and The End of Banks © Steven Boykey Sidley Early 2021, in the darkness of lockdown, and flailing around for a creative project to distract the anxious psyche, co-writer Simon Dingle and I decided to write a book. Bitcoin had been all over the news for years, but something…

4 min read

Dec 30, 2021

Book review — The Echo Chamber by John Boyne

Book review — The Echo Chamber by John Boyne © Steven Boykey Sidley One of the least reliable descriptions of a book is ‘screamingly funny’. I have launched into many a novel expecting to vocalise mirthfully as per the recommendation, only to find myself perhaps occasionally amused, or at best…

Book Review

2 min read

Oct 15, 2021

The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen — A Book Review

© Steven Boykey Sidley This, surprisingly, is a novel, not a work of non-fiction about the past-Israeli president, Benjamin Netanyahu. And it also has nothing to do with the current politics of Israel , but It has everything to do with a semi-fictional character named Ben-Zion Netanyahu, an Israeli historian…

Book Review

3 min read

Dec 27, 2020

Book Review — Inside Story — A Novel, by Martin Amis

Book Review — Inside Story — A Novel, by Martin Amis © Steven Boykey SIdley This book is a quandary. One the one hand (and I state this up front to make things clear) it is one of the most profound reading experiences I have ever had, up there with…

Fiction Review

3 min read

Sep 29, 2020

The Science of Creativity and 40 Year Old Obsession

The Science of Creativity and 40 Year Old Obsession © Steven Boykey Sidley A very long time ago, at the dawn of technological time (or so it seems from this remove), I was a naïve and enthusiastic young man and the first Apple was yet to be assembled. I was…

Creativity

4 min read