As a voluntaryist I believe that government is, by its fundamental nature, corrupt and evil. This excellent post seems to just assume we need a government as does so much involving politics. I do not share that underlying premise.
Back in 2018-2020, I wrote a lot about how the upcoming issue of fiscal dominance would contribute heavily to populist politics.
For example, 2020:
"Populist politics then become more commonplace, and while some strands of it can be quite rational based on countering prevailing policies that are rightly viewed as needing reform, there are also more dangerous or extreme strands that begin to emerge as well, particularly if those initial and more rational strands go unaddressed. Policymakers historically face the choice of doing something to alleviate the financial burdens of the broad population, or risking outright revolution."
https://www.lynalden.com/fiscal-and-monetary-policy/
During eras of fiscal dominance, the state tends to take more control of the economy, tends to restrict capital movement, and tends to limit personal freedom, whether it's a right or left government. And they drum up as much public support as possible with a narrative.
But witnessing it playing out first hand has still been a sight to behold. I could jot it all down on paper but then admittedly have still been surprised at times as it keeps playing out. And we see both left and right varieties occurring.
For folks who want to keep government pretty limited where possible, these past six years have been absolutely wild to watch in practice. So many people forget the basic principle that any power you give your current government, a future government that you don't agree with can use that power against you.
The poles of right and left keep drifting outward, and the horseshoe theory of politics is on full display as the two populist extremes are closer together than the moderates of each side are (but then ironically, some of those moderates also unite to oppose those extremes as well). So many people lose their minds and go full communist or full fascist. And then some normal things get labeled as extreme, so people who just believe in a handful of principles that were normal a few decades ago are like out in the wilderness now.
And the centralized algos certainly contribute to it. As someone who has been active on social media for a long time, 2025 really stuck out to me, at least as much as 2020 did. I see people reorienting their positions so rapidly around new things in a sort of mass groupthink, I see people retweeting so many things that support their view despite being obvious AI slop or clearly false or out of context with just a 2-minute factcheck. Some real populist momentum waves build, and then centralized algos give them rocket fuel. Both the main wave, and the reactionary wave on the other side, are fueled by the algos for maximum engagement.
When I interviewed nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyehwumn8ghj7mnhvvh8qunfd4skctnwv46z7ctewe4xcetfd3khsvrpdsmk5vnsw96rydr3v4jrz73hvyu8xqpqsg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q8dzj6n at the Oslo Freedom Forum back in 2024, he focused on algos affecting not just what people can say, but what people think. And in the year and a half since then, I think that has very much played out.
There is an enormous premium these days for being able to recognize the algo's influence on you, and to continually factcheck and emotion-check yourself, take a breath and step back, touch grass, get sun, and assess what your foundational principles are.
Discussion
It would be cool if roads and bridges just appeared and you could trust people to not be evil. Best you can do is try not to let the system get corrupted. There will always be a system. The alternative is Mad Max. Now the system is corrupt. It will have to turn into a new system. Have no fear, it's dead.
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They don't just appear. People can and do voluntary raise the money and resources to produce them. Not government even if it first steals the money to pay people to do it. Government is not the only and certainly not the best system. People build very complex systems voluntarily despite government all the time. Government is a "system" build on self-legalized initiation of force - build on forcing people to do what it says rather than what they think best individually and as a group.
You'd have to sacrifice progress. A centralized planning authority really helps.
I don't think that we have found a good long-term system that doesn't tread on the individual. That's probably mostly due to the minority of people with a criminal mindset that eventually (and inevitably) end up in leadership.
China is full of wonders and well-educated people but we all know what comes with that territory. Worth it? To some, certainly.
Now, we are beginning to see what late-stage capitalism brings. Worth it? To some, certainly.
Star Trek always seemed like they had it figured out. Maybe we just need energy to matter conversion and all the greedy, lying leaders will melt away. I doubt it, though.
I can speak with certainty that #medicine and #science are broken due to #centralized control. They simply redact things they don't want you to know.
A great analogy from my personal life would be the transitions my condition comes with. For years, my body operates one way until it hits a hard limit. Then everything goes to hell for a while until a new way of operating emerges and stabilizes.
Those transitions are tough, painful physically and mentally, because there must be a system, some order, but finding the new equilibrium is painful.
Basically, some transition grows near. We all feel it. We are hitting a limit.
I think those on Nostr are less susceptible to the fog and disinformation. #Decentralization will be a part of the future systems.
Keep growing #Nostr. I know it's something we need.
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