‘Technology is neither good nor bad,” according to Kranzberg’s first law of technology, “nor is it neutral.” Technology usually reflects and then spreads the beliefs of whoever invented it, whether it’s iPhones or Bloomberg. This week, an Australian computer scientist called Craig Wright announced that he was the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, the man who invented the crypto-currency Bitcoin. (In keeping with currency’s shadowy nature, many Bitcoin users do not believe him. I remain unsure.)

Bitcoin, which first appeared in 2008, is nothing more than a unique string of numbers. Anyone can download a Bitcoin wallet on to their computer, buy Bitcoins with traditional currency, and use them to buy or sell a growing number of products or services as easily as sending an email. Transactions