Most people know me for math, Bitcoin and finance work. Few know I also have a degree in sociology. I studied power structures, social networks and institutions, spending a lot of time with Max Weber. His work on authority, legitimacy, rationalization and bureaucracy sharpened how I think about power and society. Weber understood one of the great paradoxes of modern capitalism. Rationalization, specialization and bureaucracy make societies extraordinarily productive, but also increasingly dependent on systems beyond individual control. Authority shifts from people to institutions, rules replace judgment and efficiency becomes an end in itself. We build systems to serve humanity, only to find ourselves serving the systems we built. Weber called it the iron cage. Nearly 20 years later, Weber still shapes how I see the world and apparently how I drink my morning coffee.