From Turing’s transfinite iteration, to Prigogine’s dissipative structures, to Bitcoin’s irreversible logic of time.

Introduction: The Overlooked Core

Bitcoin’s core innovation is neither “money” nor “blockchain.” Its true breakthrough lies in: introducing irreversible time into a formal logic system for the first time. It constructs a decentralized trust structure that requires no trust in people or code — only in time.

This design traces its philosophical roots to:

• Turing’s logic of transfinite iteration
• Prigogine’s theory of dissipative structures
• Satoshi Nakamoto’s engineering application of thermodynamic time

I. Three Types of Trust Structures

In networks and systems, trust can be broadly categorized into three types:

• Trust in people: Relying on platforms, authorities, or collective decisions, such as banks or courts.
• Trust in code: Smart contracts / DAOs that enforce logic through formal rules.
• Trust in time: Bitcoin establishes consensus through an irreversible time chain.
  

Among them, only trust in time is truly unforgeable, unbuyable, and inescapable.

II. The Temporal Dilemma of Formal Systems

All formal systems (logic systems, code systems) are inherently closed:

• The computability of a Turing machine is reversible.
• The “finality” of traditional consensus mechanisms like BFT is only a path-selection convention.
• Even majority voting can be manipulated or simulated.
  

Systems lacking real time cannot logically generate irreversibility. Thus, they are imprecise and insecure.

III. Turing’s Answer: Transfinite Iteration

In his doctoral thesis, Turing proposed: “All formal systems are incomplete, but we can construct stronger systems through transfinite iteration.”

What does this mean?

✅ Every external judgment constitutes a system upgrade.

✅ The entire system evolves through time toward greater precision.

✅ This logical structure is inherently irreversible.

This is “time within formal systems.”

IV. Prigogine’s Time: Dissipative Structures

Prigogine pointed out: stable structures in the real world must rely on energy exchange far from equilibrium, i.e. — Dissipative Structures.

Characteristics include:

• Energy consumption
• Entropy increase
• Irreversibility
• Temporality
  

All persistently existing complex systems are open systems, maintaining order through temporal evolution.

V. Bitcoin: A Dissipative Structure in the Digital World

Bitcoin is the first system to embed thermodynamic time into code. Each block generation is an irreversible time event — a form of time-based trust structure only found in the real world.

VI. Security Comes From Time, Not Algorithms

We can now reframe our understanding:

• Security = A systemic approach toward precision
• Precision = Emergent from irreversible structures formed via real-time evolution
  

BFT’s “security” is a matter of formal consensus. Bitcoin’s security comes from this: No one can go back and rewrite time.

Conclusion: Trust in Time = Trust in the Future

From Turing’s logic, to Prigogine’s physics, to Satoshi’s engineering, Bitcoin offers a revolutionary answer to the ultimate challenge of formal systems:

How can we introduce irreversible time into computation?

The answer: Engrave time with energy, and build trust with time.

Final Words

Every Bitcoin block is an irreversible judgment in time. Every confirmed transaction is a thermodynamic event.

We no longer rely on authority, consensus, algorithms, or contracts. We trust only time.