{"id":25962,"date":"2023-09-15T19:57:12","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T19:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=25962"},"modified":"2023-11-06T08:52:13","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T08:52:13","slug":"david-golumbia-1963-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2023\/09\/15\/david-golumbia-1963-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"David Golumbia, 1963\u20132023"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Alan Golumbia, author of The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism<\/i><\/a>, died on 14 September 2023 of cancer. He was 60.<\/p>\n

David\u2019s friend George Justice announced David\u2019s death on Twitter last night: [Twitter<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>archive<\/i><\/a>; <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>archive<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n

I am very sad to inform this place, which he pretty much hated, that @dgolumbia died this morning. Any of his friends can contact me for further information. The love he shared with his friends and his brilliant research and writing are his legacy.<\/p>\n

His book Cyberlibertarianism will be published by @UMinnPress under the brilliant editorship of @noctambulate. He cared about his research, his friends, his family (including Lucky). And he shaped the way I think of books, music, art, and ideas for over 35 years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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David was a professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University \u2014 he was that Marxist college professor you hear so much about.<\/p>\n

His first book was The Cultural Logic of Computation<\/i> (2009), setting out how the mere fact of applying computers to bureaucratic issues consistently turns into a gateway for control over people.<\/p>\n

David worked in financial software in the 1990s before getting the hell out of tech, never to return. He was broadly of the view that social media was a mistake, the Internet was a mistake and computers were a mistake. I could dispute the details on any of these, but his arguments were pretty convincing.<\/p>\n

I first found David and The Politics of Bitcoin<\/i> (2016) via a helpful comment on Financial Times FT Alphaville when I mentioned I was writing a book about bitcoin. I knew I had to have a chapter about bitcoin\u2019s roots in the conspiracy fringes of libertarianism,<\/a> and The Politics of Bitcoin<\/i> did the hard bits for me.<\/p>\n

I acknowledged my crib in a footnote at the start of the chapter and set to plundering David\u2019s reference list. When Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain<\/i><\/a> came out in July 2017, I emailed him a copy, and we struck up a friendship. I\u2019ve continued to loudly and repeatedly recommend The Politics of Bitcoin<\/i> to anyone in hearing range through the six years since.<\/p>\n

David was also the first person to use Attack<\/em> as a college text. [VCU<\/a>, archive<\/a><\/em>]<\/p>\n

You may enjoy David\u2019s opinions of crypto and its fans in 2018\u2019s \u201cZealots of the Blockchain.\u201d [The Baffler<\/i><\/a>, 2018<\/i>]<\/p>\n

I ranted about a terrible blockchain book on David’s Facebook in December 2018. By April 2022, I finally got it together to finish my review so he could publish it in Boundary 2 Online.<\/a> Anyone who knows David’s thoughts on the 1990s Wired<\/em> crowd will be able to spot precisely which sentences were suggested by the editor. [Boundary 2<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n

David\u2019s upcoming book Cyberlibertarianism<\/i> is his magnum opus, years in the planning and construction. I think The Politics Of Bitcoin<\/i> started as a section of it.<\/p>\n

David was worried about getting Cyberlibertarianism<\/i> properly finished and out after he was struck ill. I last chatted with him just last month \u2014 \u201csorry for delay I am sick as a dog & have been for ~two months,\u201d he wrote \u2014 and he lamented how \u201cI\u2019ve had to pull back from almost everything. Very possible I won\u2019t return, if you get my drift. My new book is almost finished and now it\u2019s not clear it ever will be.\u201d I suggested he trust his editor to take care of the details.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a talk from July last year about Cyberlibertarianism<\/i>. [YouTube<\/i><\/a>]<\/p>\n

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