Today's Switzerland - and its cherished bank secrecy - still reflect the influence of church reformer Jean Calvin, an economic think tank director tells swissinfo.
This content was published onApril 26, 2009 - 10:21
6 minutes
Xavier Comtesse, who heads the western Swiss branch of Avenir Suisse, says Calvin stood for morality in the granting of credit, but also for protection of the personal sphere.
This year marks the 500th birthday of the religious reformer whose ideas shaped the Protestant Church. In his honour Protestant denominations have designated 2009 Calvin Year.
Calvin, who spent much of his time working in Geneva, not only influenced democracy in Switzerland but modern-day thinking on both moral and financial matters, Comtesse believes.
swissinfo: What is the basis of Calvin’s Protestantism?
Xavier Comtesse: It is based on the Bible written in the language of the people, on the separation of church and state, and on the understanding that the grassroots faithful – who fund the community – choose their own priests.
This Calvinist form of institutional organisation has also over time had an influence on non-religious areas of the Swiss mentality. All state institutions remain separate from religious ones, and bottom up participation in political decisions continues from communal to national level.
Both lead to an emancipation of the people, an ’empowerment’, as we say today.
swissinfo: What would Switzerland look like today without Calvin?
X.C.: I don’t think we’d have direct democracy without this popular emancipation that was spurred on by Calvin. We would probably be a republic [with an elected president], like our neighbours. Of course when talking about German-speaking Switzerland we should mention [Zurich reformer Huldrych] Zwingli just as much as Calvin.
This communication from community organisations up to the highest state level is typical for us Swiss.
swissinfo: To what extent was Geneva more significant than Zurich?
X.C.: In those days French-speaking Switzerland did not exist. Geneva was the place to be – across the whole country. Basel was worth considering, but Zurich wasn’t. Neither was Bern nor Lausanne.
That is also why Calvin is rated so much more important internationally than Zwingli. Even in the post-Napoleonic period Zurich was smaller than Geneva both in the number of inhabitants and economically.
swissinfo: How did Calvin stamp the mark of the Reformation and the image of Switzerland on the world?
X.C.: I know most about his influence on the United States. There Calvinism is very pronounced with around 15 million Calvinists – called Presbyterians in Anglo-Saxon countries.
There are also communities in Scotland and South Korea. Worldwide there are said to be around 50 million Presbyterians. But there are very few of them in Switzerland.
swissinfo: What was Calvin’s influence on the economy and banking?
X.C.: As a reaction to the papal selling of indulgences as a mean of raising money for Rome, Calvin was one of the first church leaders to permit the granting of loans with interest – albeit tied to high moral standards.
That forged a link with the present: extortionate interest didn’t come into question, therefore the loans had to be cheap. As in religion and politics, the thinking behind this banking was to protect the citizen through high moral standards.
Also considered worth protecting by Protestantism was the personal sphere. Add this to being able to bank and you get banking secrecy.
swissinfo: Historically banking secrecy was meant to protect citizens from state interference.
X.C.: Exactly. And that’s why there are many misunderstandings concerning the term. The description ‘banking secrecy’ is actually incorrect – ‘protection of the private sphere by the bank’ would be more appropriate.
Such legal protection is not unique to Switzerland. In France for example a wife has no right to any information about her husband’s bank account – French legal law considers that his private sphere.
We Swiss simply go one step further. We protect against any state despotism. This way of thinking has historical roots in Protestantism, which in Calvin’s time sought to protect the people against the despotism of the powerful Catholic Church.
swissinfo: What remains from these Calvinist ethics today – bearing in mind the drama playing out in the world of banking and finance?
X.C.: At the moment we’re in a moral crisis. As a result we’ll soon have to grapple more with social responsibility.
That will be a form of secular Calvinism with new, still moral, but no longer religious characteristics. Regarding quality for example – new ISO standards in the area of quality attempt to rectify deficits in the area of responsibility.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is based in Geneva – like many other international institutions. This is also part of Calvin’s legacy.
Another ‘Geneva’ institution is the World Wide Web – invented at Cern. This also works ‘Calvinistically’ insofar as it enables direct access to information to the population, or rather the user.
Until now, powerful intermediaries were needed for this access. The internet has reformed access to the markets – similar to Calvin’s reformation of direct access to God.
wo-parts lecture on Introduction to Cryptography and the Bitcoin Protocol will be given at CERN, in Geneva (Switzerland), on December 2 (Part 1) and December 3 (Part 2), from 11am to noon on both days. CERN, one of the most prestigious research laboratories in the world, is also the birthplace of the World Wide Web and the modern Internet, which gives this event a special symbolic significance.
The lectures are part of the CERN Academic Training Lectures program, open to all members of CERN personnel (in particular staff members and fellows, associates, students, users, project associates and apprentices) free of charge. The lectures are not officially open to the public, but many people in Geneva have friends or acquaintances at CERN, so getting an invitation to enter the CERN campus shouldn’t be too much of a problem for those who really want to attend the lectures.
Introduction to Cryptography and the Bitcoin Protocol
Cryptography is a key element of many Internet protocols – used for ensuring privacy, integrity, and security. Topics to be covered will include symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption (public/private keys), digital signing and cryptographic hashing. These topics will serve as background information for the lecture on an Introduction to Bitcoin. The Bitcoin protocol not only supports an electronic currency, but also has the possibility for being (mis)used in other ways. Topics will include the basic operation of how Bitcoin operates including motivations and also such things as block chaining, bitcoin mining, and how financial transactions operate. A knowledge of the topics covered in the Basic Cryptography lecture will be assumed.
The lecturer is Bob Cowles, a Cyber Security Expert at BrightLite Information Security. Cowles was Chief Information Security Officer at SLAC, another prestigious research laboratory, for fifteen years until 2012.
What do you think of this high-profile Bitcoin event at the birthplace of the Web? Comment below!
I love the adventure stories with twisted plots, mysteries, puzzles. That is why I love the stories created by Dan Brown and his major character Professor Robert Langdon who was very well played by Tom Hanks in the series of successful movies. Moreover, in my travel adventures I managed to visit most of the countries, places, museums, etc, and even CERN, which are described in the books and movies. And when I watch the movies I travel back in time together with Professor Langdon.
So, today I invite you to solve great mysteries of Leonardo, Illuminati, and Dante. It’s time to refresh your knowledge of history and arts. Welcome aboard!
Jacques Saunière, a Louvre curator, is pursued through the Grand Gallery by an albino Catholic monk named Silas, who demands the location of the Priory’s “keystone” to find and destroy the Holy Grail. Saunière gives him a false lead and is murdered. The police find his body posed like Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. Police captain Bezu Fache has his lieutenant, Jérôme Collet, summon American symbologist Robert Langdon, who is in Paris for a lecture on the interpretation of symbols, to examine Saunière’s body.
Langdon is shown the body and a secret message, readable only by blacklight. It contains an out-of-order Fibonacci sequence. Sophie Neveu, a police cryptographer and Saunière’s granddaughter, tells Langdon that Fache planted a tracker on him after finding the words, “P.S. Find Robert Langdon” at the end of Saunière’s secret message. Fache believes that Langdon murdered Saunière. Sophie throws away the tracker, distracting the police while they sneak around the Louvre, finding more clues in Leonardo da Vinci’s works. Langdon deduces that Saunière was the grand master of the Priory of Sion. And our adventure begins.
We meet Professor Robert Langdon for the first time during his lecture. He uses Sony laptop for his presentation.
In one of the next scenes of the movie we can clearly see the van with Bosch logo. Same is for the famous French water – Badoit. We can see it in a bucket full of ice.
When Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou) come to the bank to retrieve the cryptex, we can see how KUKA robot picks the right box that belonged to Jacques Saunière. When the bank employee helps the main characters to pass the police, we can get a glimpse of his Rolex watch.
At Sir Leigh Teabing’s (Ian McKellen) house our guests learn more about The Last Supper painting secrets. Their host is also a fan of Sony, so we may see various TV sets and displays in the house. While enjoying their evening tea, we can as well see Heinz there, of course.
When Robert Langdon and Sophie look for a tomb in London, they borrow a Sony Ericsson smartphone to search for more information.
In the final scene of the movie we see that Robert lives in Ritz hotel in Paris, and from there he starts his evening walk to follow the Arago medallions and come to the Louvre.
The Catholic Church mourns the sudden death of Pope Pius XVI, and prepares for the papal conclave to elect his successor in Vatican City. Father Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor), the camerlengo, takes temporary control of the Vatican during the sede vacante period.
Meanwhile, at CERN, scientists Father Silvano Bentivoglio and Dr. Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) create three canisters of antimatter. As Vetra goes to evaluate the experiment, she discovers that Silvano has been murdered, and one of the canisters was stolen. Shortly thereafter, four of the preferiti, the favored candidates to be elected pope, are kidnapped by a man claiming to represent the Illuminati. He sends the Vatican a warning, claiming he will murder each of the cardinals from 8 p.m. to midnight, when the stolen antimatter will explode and destroy the city, hidden somewhere within.
Unlike two other movies, there are only few product placements in Angels & Demons. And they can be divided in two categories – Sony and TV channels.
That is why we see Sony computers and displays in the first scene in CERN.
And when the events of the movie accelerate, we can see various TV channels broadcasting from Vatican City. These are Canal+, CNN, and Reuters.
And this is it for Angels & Demons. More product placements are waiting in Inferno.
Some time after helping the Vatican dealing with an antimatter threat, Harvard University professor Robert Langdon awakens in a hospital room in Florence, Italy, with no memory of what has transpired over the last few days, but being plagued with hellish visions. Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), the doctor tending to him, reveals that he is suffering from amnesia as a result of a bullet wound to the head. An orderly says the police are there to question Langdon but the officer turns out to be Vayentha, an assassin, who shoots the orderly while coming up the hallway. Brooks helps Langdon to escape, and they flee to her apartment.
Among Langdon’s personal belongings, Langdon and Brooks find a Faraday pointer, a miniature image projector with a modified version of Sandro Botticelli’s Map of Hell, which itself is based on Dante’s Inferno. They soon realize this is the first clue in a trail left by Bertrand Zobrist, a dangerously unstable villain who believed that rigorous measures were necessary to reduce the Earth’s growing population, and who committed suicide three days earlier after being chased by armed government agents.
When Robert Langdon wakes up in Sienna’s house, we can find various brands across her apartment. First of all we see Sony TV remote controls. And when Professor asks for coffee, Sienna goes to the kitchen where we spot tea brands like Greenfield and Twinings.
While Sienna is looking for some clothes for Robert, he decides to use her Apple MacBook to check his Google mail.
When Robert and Sienna decide to call to the consulate, we see that Sienna uses Sony smartphone. When they realize that they can trust no one, they start their investigation. First, they search for the information about Zobrist. Google, Wikipedia, and YouTube are very helpful even in the movies.
Later in the movie we see more Sony product placements – a TV set in Command Risk Consortium, a smartphone and a tablet used by Elizabeth Sinskey.
When Robert Langdon and Sienna Brooks try to escape from their enemies with the help of Christoph Bouchard, they make everyone believe they are going to fly to Switzerland via Swiss, but instead they take an Italo speed train to Venice.
When finally the truth is revealed and memory is restored, Robert and Elizabeth go to Istanbul to stop Sienna from unleashing the virus. Elizabeth shares Zobrist’s message with Robert. They watch it together on a Dell laptop.
In the final scene when Professor returns Dante’s mask to the museum, we can see the museum employee wearing the tag with the Florentine Civic Museums branding.
Unfortunately, there is no news about the future movies with Tom Hanks. And no news about any new books. Looking forward to new adventures of Professor Langdon.
I highly recommend you to visit Product Placement section of the website. You will find more amazing movie series analysed there.
Einstein's work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science.[12][13] In 1905, he published four groundbreaking papers, sometimes described as his annus mirabilis (miracle year).[14] These papers outlined a theory of the photoelectric effect, explained Brownian motion, introduced his special theory of relativity—a theory which addressed the inability of classical mechanics to account satisfactorily for the behavior of the electromagnetic field—and demonstrated that if the special theory is correct, mass and energy are equivalent to each other. In 1915, he proposed a general theory of relativity that extended his system of mechanics to incorporate gravitation. A cosmological paper that he published the following year laid out the implications of general relativity for the modeling of the structure and evolution of the universe as a whole.[15][16]
In the middle part of his career, Einstein made important contributions to statistical mechanics and quantum theory. Especially notable was his work on the quantum physics of radiation, in which light consists of particles, subsequently called photons. With the Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose, he laid the groundwork for Bose-Einstein statistics. For much of the last phase of his academic life, Einstein worked on two endeavors that proved ultimately unsuccessful. First, he advocated against quantum theory's introduction of fundamental randomness into science's picture of the world, objecting that "God does not play dice".[17] Second, he attempted to devise a unified field theory by generalizing his geometric theory of gravitation to include electromagnetism too. As a result, he became increasingly isolated from the mainstream modern physics. His intellectual achievements and originality made Einstein broadly synonymous with genius.[18] In 1999, he was named Time's Person of the Century.[19] In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal Physics World, Einstein was ranked the greatest physicist of all time.[20]
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm,[21] in the Kingdom of Württemberg in the German Empire, on 14 March 1879.[22][23] His parents, secular Ashkenazi Jews, were Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer, and Pauline Koch. In 1880, the family moved to Munich's borough of Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt, where Einstein's father and his uncle Jakob founded Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie, a company that manufactured electrical equipment based on direct current.[21] He often related a formative event from his youth, when he was sick in bed and his father brought him a compass. This sparked his lifelong fascination with electromagnetism. He realized that "Something deeply hidden had to be behind things."[24]
Albert attended St. Peter‘s Catholic elementary school in Munich from the age of five. When he was eight, he was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium, where he received advanced primary and then secondary school education.[25]
There are several Bern museums that you can visit in the Swiss capital.
However, if you’re in this lovely city, a World Heritage Site, and the place where Albert Einstein developed his theory of relativity, you really must put a visit to the house where he lived on your sightseeing list.
Read on for more information on visiting this Bern museum and for my thoughts on what I learnt here.
This post contains affiliate links
Bern Museums: where is the Einstein house?
The Albert Einstein house is situated in Bern old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It’s on Kramgasse (specifically No.49). This is the main street that runs the length of the old town andwhich means “Grocer’s Alley”. It’s a lovely medieval street and you’re bound to visit it on a trip to Bern.
Kramgasse street
There are long covered alleyways here, with small boutique shops under the arches. There’s also a smattering of cosy cafes and bars in basements, which would be perfect in the cold winter months.
The street is also is interspersed with a number of ornate, colourful, and quite unique fountains. At one end, you can also find the 13th century clock tower (Zytlogge). This is beautiful and lovely when lit up at night.
Bern clock tower in the old town
The Bern clock tower at night
This is another must-see sight in Bern. So much so that you can book tours to learn more about the clock and to go inside. Click here to learn more.
You can also book walking tours of the old town: click here.
Bern Museums: why visit the Einstein House?
Einstein is not the only famous or noteworthy person connected to this Swiss canton. Others include the Nobel Prize winner, Emil Kocher, and the Bond actress Ursula Andress.
However, he is the one that the city – understandably – is most proud of.
This is because it was in Bern that he first sowed the seeds for his famed work on the General Theory of Relativity. He himself said: “Those were good times, the years in Bern”, of his seven years in the Swiss capital.
So when deciding which Bern museum to visit, you really should include one about Einstein.
You can actually learn about Einstein’s time in the Swiss capital in two Bern museums. Aswell as Einstein’s house, there is the Bern Historical Museum.
According to the website, this has “some 550 original objects and replicas, 70 films and numerous animations outline the biography of the genius and his ground-breaking discoveries”.
Outside of the Bern Historical Museum, a Bern Museum you can visit on a trip here
As we had limited time in the capital, we chose to focus on Einstein’s house and the museum that is housed there. However, if I returned, I would definitely visit the Bern Historical Museum as well.
Bern Museums: The Einstein house
Outside Einstein’s House (picture courtesy of AEG Bern)
The Einstein House is the flat that Einstein occupied from 1903 to 1905 with his wife, Mileva Maric. Mileva was herself a promising physicist from Serbia.
The house is very small, so this is a Bern museum that can get easily crowded. I’d therefore recommend visiting early to ensure you get in.
The museum has a large selection of exhibits and photographs from the couple’s life together. On the first floor, these are displayed around the flat as it presumably was laid out at the time.
Inside Einstein’s House (picture courtesy of AEG Bern)
A small table is in the middle of the room where the family would have eaten. Chairs are where they would have relaxed, and there is a writing bureau, and cabinet housing a tea service and coffee pots.
All are overlooked by fascinating old photos of the family that hang on the walls and that depict different chapters of their life.
Upstairs, there is an informative short film. This draws on archive footage, that charts Einstein’s life from his early days through to later years. Make sure you watch this – it is essential viewing. It really brings alive the life of the man.
Bern Museums: What’s interesting about this particular museum?
Einstein’s work
The museum is interesting on several levels. Firstly, for what you learn about Einstein’s great work and the foundations for this.
His first job was with the Swiss Patent Office which he held down whilst simultaneously writing his scientific papers. These included the forerunner to his work on the Theory of Relativity and another which won him a Nobel Prize in 1921.
He then moved into academia at the University of Bern before moving to Zurich. There were other stints in Prague and Berlin, before his later life spent in the United States.
Einstein’s personal life
This Bern Museum is also interesting for the insight it gives you into the personal life of Einstein. I found this utterly engrossing.
We all grow up knowing that Einstein is significant for his scientific work and discoveries. What we know less about (or certainly I knew less about) are the life stories running alongside in the background.
Much of this revolves around Einstein’s personal relationships and the consequences of these. Some of these are very sad. For example, he had a child born out of wedlock and a second relationship while still married.
He married Mileva Malic in 1903, but had in fact had a daughter, Leiserl, with Mileva the previous year. Leiserl was born in Mileva’s home country of Serbia. She was left to grow up with her grandparents, presumably because she was illegitimate.
According to the museum exhibition, Einstein himself never met his daughter. Her sheer existence was kept secret during his lifetime. To this day what happened to Liserl is a mystery.
Mileva and Einstein went on to raise two sons, Hans Albert and Eduard. They remained married until 1919 when Einstein remarried – to his cousin, Elsa Lowenthal. It seems he had forged a relationship with her some time before his marriage to Mileva formally dissolved.
Einstein’s move to the USA
The museum also tells the story of Einstein’s move to the USA. This coincided with the rise of the Nazi party in Germany and the difficulties that this presented to him.
Most notably these included the impossibility of working there as a German Jew. Scores of Jewish academics were being forced out of work, Nazi book burnings were taking place, and Einstein was vocalising his views on the treatment of Jews within Germany.
He therefore took up a role at Princeton University in the USA, and it is there that he remained until his death in 1955.
Einstein’s wife
Although this Bern museum is only small, you can learn a great deal in a short time, some of it possibly unexpected. And whilst I went to learn more about Einstein, I came away with a long lasting impression of his wife.
I developed an equal admiration for his wife, partly because of all that she seemed to go through during her time with Einstein. This included a child that was given up, a broken marriage and the forfeiture of her own academic ambitions.
It also seems that Mileva may have been important not only for her support of Einstein’s ambitions, but more directly for her role in actually furthering these.
Some think that letters between the couple show her contribution. It is thought that she contributed in the early days to Einstein’s ground-breaking work and that her own expertise in physics is reflected in some of his work.
So, in addition to learning a lot about Einstein himself, I learnt a lot about the wife of one of the world’s greatest scientists. I came away with a real sense that the adage about there being a great woman behind every man was really true of Mileva.
Bern Museums: visiting the Einstein house
Opening times
You can visit the house between 1st February and 21st December. Exceptions include Easter, Pentecost and Switzerland’s National Day (1st August).
Opening times are 9am to 5pm. Entry costs CHF 6 for adults (reduced rates apply for students, pensioners and those between 8 and 15 years: CHF 4.50, 4.50 and 3, respectively).
Getting to Bern
Bern has an airport and you can catch flights here from various cities in Germany, as well as from London (City airport), Vienna and Palma.
However, it is smaller than both the Swiss airports in Geneva and Zurich that have more regular flights. Bern is just over an hour via train from Zurich airport and around two hours to Geneva airport. You might therefore find it more convenient to catch a flight to one of these airports.
You can also visit Bern from other Swiss cities. Lausanne and Lucerne are both around an hour away by train. Interlaken is around 45 mnutes and Nuechatel just under 50 minutes.
If public transport is not your thing, you can also book day trips to Bern. Click here for ideas.
Other Bern Museums to visit
Aside from the history museums, there are other Bern museums to visit.
These include a fine arts museum, a communications museum and a Swiss alpine museum – see http://www.museen-bern.ch/en/for further information.
If you enjoy short trips to Europe, you may also find some of my other posts of interest:
Milei alerta que "Occidente está en peligro" en foro Davos | VIDEO
Es la primera presentación del presidente argentino en un foro mundial.
Javier Milei se lanza contra justicia social y el feminismo; alerta que "Occidente está en peligro"
Presidente de Argentina, Javier Milei, en el foro Davos (EFE)
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Agencia AFP
Davos, Suiza / 17.01.2024 17:48:00
El presidente argentino, Javier Milei, advirtió ante la élite mundial reunida en el Foro de Davos que "Occidente está en peligro", en un discurso en el que cargó también contra la justicia social y el feminismo.
"Aquellos que supuestamente deben defender los valores de Occidente se encuentran cooptados por una visión del mundo que inexorablemente conduce al socialismo, y en consecuencia, a la pobreza", proclamó Milei en su esperada intervención en la estación alpina suiza.
El Foro Económico Mundial de Davos fue el debut internacional del mandatario argentino, que utilizó el estrado para presentar al mundo sus ideas libertarias bien conocidas en su país, pero nuevas para los líderes políticos y empresariales del mundo allí reunidos.
Ante esa selecta audiencia, Milei afirmó que la justicia social que "se ha puesto de moda en la última década" en realidad es "intrínsecamente injusta", porque "el Estado se financia a través de impuestos y los impuestos se cobran de manera coactiva".
Milei cargó además contra la llamada "casta política" que quiere "mantener sus privilegios", dijo que el "feminismo radical no aportó nada a la sociedad", puesto que devino en la "intervención del Estado para entorpecer el proceso económico y darle trabajo a burócratas", y criticó la "tragedia del aborto".
"No se dejen amedrentar por la casta política ni los parásitos que viven del Estado. Ustedes son benefactores sociales, héroes, creadores del período de prosperidad que jamás hemos vivido", finalizó.
Algunos en la audiencia se congregaron para estrecharle la mano y tomarse selfis con él, mientras su discurso era felicitado por personalidades como Elon Musk y otros representantes de la derecha en las redes sociales.
"Es verdad", respondió Musk en la red social X a un video del discurso de Milei.
Las criptomonedas a menudo son consideradas “revolucionarias” y es posible que lo sean. Y no solamente en un sentido metafórico, sino también histórico, político e incluso filosófico.
De hecho, la promesa de Satoshi Nakamoto de que es posible comerciar sin la intermediación de banqueros parece que podría desencadenar una revolución en la economía de la misma manera que Martin Lutero comenzó su revolución en la Iglesia en 1517, al afirmar que los creyentes podían tener una relación directa con Dios sin sacerdotes como intermediarios, o como Oliver Cromwell, George Washington o Maximilien de Robespierre provocaron una revolución en el Estado en los tiempos modernos al declarar que la gente podía gobernarse a sí misma sin príncipes como intermediarios.
Obviamente, el White Paper que en el 2009 dio origen a Bitcoin, la criptomoneda más famosa, no nos dice cómo obtener la vida eterna. Tampoco los pequeños cálculos de un pequeño inversor preocupado por sus ahorros parecen tener mucho en común con la lucha por la libertad. Sin embargo, la revolución que encarna es real. La economía es un aspecto fundamental de nuestras sociedades. Incluso comparte rasgos con las esferas religiosas y políticas.
Si las hostias tienen forma de moneda es porque originalmente se fundían en los mismos moldes1. El primer “banco central” de la historia, el Bank of England, fue fundado por los Puritanos ingleses en 1694. A menudo se cree, desde Max Weber, que el capitalismo fue conducido a las fuentes bautismales por la “ética del trabajo” protestante, pero el aporte más notable de la Reforma a la economía, más bien, fue la ingeniería financiera moderna2. Al volver a poner a la fe (fide) y a la culpabilidad en el centro de la vida religiosa, el protestantismo permitió que socios que se tienen “confianza” (con-fide) puedan darse “crédito” entre sí (crede, “creer”, “tener la fide”) para sus deudas (tanto morales como financieras). Por cierto, fue un protestante, John Law, quien a comienzos del siglo XVIII introdujo en Francia el primer papel moneda3. Y es también el concepto protestante de fe, en el sentido que supone confiar, ceder y, por lo tanto, ser libre, el que permitió que las democracias liberales se construyeran y emanciparan de la monarquía.
De hecho, el invento de Satoshi, en la medida en que también trata con la confianza y la fe, es un digno heredero de la historia teológica y política de Occidente4. Incluso puede que represente su cumplimiento. Mientras que la Reforma y la Revolución se basaron en un concepto subjetivo de fe, Bitcoin es un algoritmo de fe. Al permitir liberarse matemáticamente de los “terceros de confianza”, Bitcoin es una máquina de producir fe y libertad5.
Dicho esto, muchas ideas equivocadas rodean a las revoluciones y lo que ellas implican, y los “fanáticos” de las criptomonedas –palabra que podemos usar puesto que de hecho es una nueva religión y un nuevo partido– podrían decepcionarse respecto de las suyas.
Si las revoluciones del pasado nos enseñan algo, es que no son un camino en una sola dirección hacia la emancipación, la libertad [freedom] o la liberación [liberty]. La Reforma no puso fin al tráfico de personas en la religión, aunque hirió gravemente a la Iglesia; las revoluciones inglesa, estadounidense y francesa tampoco pusieron fin al Estado como tal, aunque detuvieron a la monarquía. De la misma manera, es dudoso que Bitcoin simplemente signifique el fin de los bancos centrales, del sistema financiero mundial y del Estado policial, solo para dar a luz a un mundo nuevo y valiente de individuos empoderados liberados de pagar impuestos y obedecer la ley, como lo expresaron muchos profetas libertarios, bitcoiners de alt-right y criptoculturistas.
Ciertamente, hubo campesinos que durante la Edad Media se reunieron en torno a los gurús de la Reforma como Thomas Müntzer, quienes dedujeron de las tesis de Lutero que ahora era posible vivir libres de toda autoridad moral y clerical. También hubo enragésrevolucionarios que creían que su libertad recién obtenida les daba el derecho de cortar tantas cabezas como quisieran, especialmente aquellas más altas que las suyas. Eventualmente, sin embargo, todos descubrirían más temprano que tarde que estaban equivocados sobre el significado más profundo de la Reforma y la Revolución. El protestantismo iba a introducir aún más rigor en la religión que el catolicismo, hasta el punto de que los protestantes terminarían siendo conocidos como “puritanos”. Se abolieron los sacerdotes, se destruyeron las catedrales, los altares, el incienso y el latín de la iglesia, solo para ser reemplazados por una práctica religiosa que, al eliminar todos los signos visibles, solo se hizo más ascética, y tuvo que ser observada en todo momento y en todos los aspectos de la vida secular. Del mismo modo, la democracia demostraría ser aún más compleja y enrevesada que el antiguo régimen. Los príncipes fueron abolidos solo para ver la burocracia desenfrenada, con enjambres de funcionarios y libros de leyes más gruesos que el diccionario y la guia telefónica combinados.
Ahora se podría argumentar que el regreso de la Iglesia y del Estado, después de la Reforma y las Revoluciones liberales que intentaron destruirlos, significa que fracasaron en lo que se suponía que debían hacer. La verdad es que este retorno fue una herramienta, no un error. Lutero no quería derrocar la ley de Dios, quería cumplirla. Rousseau no quería que la ley de la Naturaleza reemplazara la ley de los hombres, quería asegurarse de que se observara la ley de los hombres. De hecho, ambos habían entendido que la libertad era, paradójicamente, la mejor manera de hacer cumplir la ley de Dios y el gobierno de los hombres porque, en última instancia, la libertad no consiste en ser libre de toda ley, sino en imponerse libremente leyes a uno mismo, como la palabra “autonomía” lo dice claramente: una “ley” (nomos) impuesta sobre “uno mismo” (auto).
Lo mismo puede decirse sobre el proyecto de Satoshi. Quiere restaurar la confianza, no destruirla. Quiere restaurar las instituciones en las que podemos creer, no quemarlas. Y de una manera muy convincente, lo hace de la misma manera que la Reforma y las Revoluciones, al reemplazar las viejas instituciones por otras nuevas, que solo son más robustas porque son instituciones elegidas e impuestas libremente sobre nosotros. Bitcoin nos libera al encadenarnos, como la bien llamada blockchain lo establece claramente. La Cripto nos libera uniéndonos unos a otros. Es una institución de libertad, no la libertad de todas las instituciones.
Por lo tanto, no hay duda de que las criptomonedas traerán consigo un nuevo viento de cambio, extendiendo la libertad en todo el mundo, pero no de la forma en que los niñitos del Tea Party lo han soñado. Lo hará sometiendo nuestras vidas a una nueva ley, una nueva Iglesia y un nuevo Estado, aún más austeros que los de la Reforma de Lutero, más rigurosos que los de la República de Rousseau. Y esta es la razón por la cual este ensayo afirma que el régimen teológico-político que la Cripto finalmente establecerá no es el “criptoanarquismo”. Por el contrario, es un régimen conocido precisamente por hacer que las personas reconozcan que viven en comunidades y no como átomos separados, y por querer que compartan lo que tienen en común, en lugar de separarlo para su propio beneficio; un régimen que también se consideró revolucionario, incluso si no logró dar lugar a la revolución que sus creyentes esperaban, es decir, el comunismo, o más precisamente: el criptocomunismo.
الفقرة السابقة
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Kramgasse street
Bern clock tower in the old town
The Bern clock tower at night
Outside of the Bern Historical Museum, a Bern Museum you can visit on a trip here
Outside Einstein’s House (picture courtesy of AEG Bern)
Inside Einstein’s House (picture courtesy of AEG Bern)
