This article was published in Bitcoin Magazine “Preliminary issue.” Click here For your annual subscription to Bitcoin Magazine.
Click here to download a PDF of this article.
Freedom is not given; It is taken and defended. Our freedom is being eroded on almost every front, but few of us are turning away from it, blinded by greed and lust. Most of the influential people in our society lead us into darkness to get more power and more money. These incentives are designed by massive, corrupt corporations and multi-billion dollar corporations focused on extracting as much money as possible from billions of digital slaves.
tracking. Manipulating it. Controlled. Sold. This is our reality.
Can you see it? Can you see where this is leading? “Everything I do is tracked down. 'It's already a lost cause' is a common, disappointing and depressing narrative. Millions see the problems, but most have given up hope.”
How did we end up here? Humans have relied on trust since the dawn of time. We built families. We built communities. We built companies. We built new technologies. We built governments. Trust is how humans improve our standing in the world. Trust will always be necessary, but it remains widely weak. Systems that require trust are easily damaged. In the modern era, this problem of vulnerability is exacerbated by the size of these systems, which are controlled by a powerful few whose incentives conflict with the millions who blindly trust and depend on them.
I was once a heavy user of Twitter, the only social media I've used for the past decade. It wasn't bug-free, but it was an incredibly powerful tool. It was a promise to enable billions to communicate freely and build on each other's thoughts and ideas. Then censorship escalated. Then the identity checks began. Refusing to actively comply with a shadow ban on you. In the past, it was inevitable. Trust does not expand. The systems we rely on are easily damaged.
The huge central institutions that govern much of our lives have been broken. What worked in the past is not enough for the future. We can do better. We must do better. No one is coming to save us. We have to save ourselves.
We have the tools – tools that empower people and reduce trust. Protocols like Bitcoin and Nostr that are not controlled by any entity enable us to communicate and interact freely and without permission. Freedom technology is our hope, but real change will require millions standing up and taking responsibility for our future. Say no to TikTok, Google, WeChat, PayPal, Facebook, Twitter/X, and the countless digital slavery companies joining their ranks. Their incentive is to control you and they win. Build, support and use Freedom Technology tools instead.
If not us then who? If not now then when?
We will not live in a pod.
We will not eat insects.
We won't get the blue check.
We will not use central bank digital currencies.
Use the freedom technique.
live Free or Die.
– – Odell (https://primal.net/odell)
This article was published in Bitcoin Magazine “Preliminary issue.” Click here For your annual subscription to Bitcoin Magazine.
Click here to download a PDF of this article.
