This documentary is a good one in understanding why you want to be Nostr. It explains how the internet started as something pure and good, free from government and commercial interference — but eventually became regulated by governments, controlled by investors and advertisers, and dominated by algorithms and surveillance.
After watching, I understand better why nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m gave > $21 million for open source with no expectations or influence by him — enabling innovations purely driven by the builders' vision — without investor pressure, advertising influence, or government meddling.
It’s a long journey for Nostr, but I hope it remains pure and wonderful. And if you are reading this, know that every moment you are here, is a moment of freedom on Nostr ❤️
PS : These documentary captured significant eyeballs. If anyone know these guys or similar filmmakers, perhaps they can look into why Nostr is the renaissance of the internet.
The more governments try to aggressively suppress freedom of speech, the wider the awareness among people will grow. People will start looking for cyberspace where they can breathe easy. Keep building y’all❤️
you might like this piece by Noam Chomsky on BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) with regards to Palestine
https://chomsky.info/20140702/
And another piece which is an interview with him :
Picked up The Alchemist over the weekend - I haven’t read it in over 20 years. It’s a feel good kinda book and I love this quote :
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
yes, same goes for all major blocs
Saw this in a cookbook and I thought it was beautifully written
Latvia | Latvija
South of Estonia and north of Lithuania lies Latvia. Possessing a large coastline similar to Estonia’s (a fact reflected in the nation’s love of fresh and preserved fish), Latvia is also extremely wooded – no matter where you find yourself in the country you will always be within thirty minutes’ drive of a forest.
Latvia's cuisine possesses fewer of its northern neighbour's Nordic flourishes. The influences tend to be more Russian in origin, unsurprising given the country’s demographics (of the three Baltic countries, Latvia is where the most Russian families have remained post-independence; they make up a quarter of the population).
Like their neighbours, Latvians have both a very real respect for nature and hold close their time-honoured folk beliefs (for example, Latvians believe good fortune will come for the year ahead if they place the scales of an eaten fish in their wallet on New Year’s eve.)
Linguistically, along with Lithuanian, Latvian is one of the last spoken Indo-European languages. While not known to be the most gregarious of people, once Latvians get to know and trust you, they open up to be some of the warmest, most welcoming people you are likely to meet.
They are also known for their frankness, something that is reflected in the length of their constitution, the Satversme, which is one of the shortest in Europe.
Riga, the nation’s capital, is home to beautiful art nouveau architecture, a medieval old town and a stunning central market.
Like Tallinn, Riga has opened up to the outside world and its food while at the same time respecting its own traditions and culture. Yes, locals love to enjoy various dishes from around the world (sushi is particularly popular, for example) but they are just as likely to be found converging at the buffets of traditional Latvian restaurants to enjoy their own cuisine.
The wide range of food available can be seen at the capital’s central market, where five old zeppelin hangers now house a kaleidoscope of fresh and pickled vegetables, dried flowers as well as dairy producers, butchers and fishmongers. It’s a UNESCO heritage site and one of the largest markets in Europe.
Too blue for my red friends, too red for my blue friends - is perhaps the best kinda balance
Throughout history there were rise and fall of various civilizations - mesopotamia (modern day iraq - then babylon etc), ancient egypt, ancient greece, islamic golden age, roman empire, mongol empire, ottoman empire - followed by the british empire and the rise of western civilisation in recent times. Perhaps its a trend, perhaps its not
But perhaps it's because historically people allow a few men to dominate and exploit them.
With western civilisation, came colonisation and looting of assets that left many countries in destitute and independence for many was around 50s / 60s. In the 80s and 90s a diff form of debt trap induced by IMF through infrastructure loan, sustainable development program, millenial development program and the recent ESG caused 3rd world countries to plunge deeper into poverty.
But what’s often missed out of this, is that all these were the works of a few men behind the scene, the 'oligarchs'. In the 80s and 90s, you would have seen a lot of jobs being sent away and globalization was an effect of excessive capitalism - shareholders of companies wanted a fatter wallet at the expense of a lot of Americans losing their jobs.
The irony is - and i don't quite understand why - that those who paid the price of globalism in the US are supporting right wing policies that caused it and those who benefited from globalism (NY, CA) are supporting left wing policies. This is slightly diff in the UK, for example, during Thatcher’s time, those who suffered from globalization (Sunderland etc) are still pissed at capitalism and those who benefited (London etc) are indifferent.
In the US, the country is divided by one group screaming “we welcome everyone” and another group yelling “keep immigrants away”. The immigrants did not take away their jobs. 3rd world countries did not come stealing. The shareholder, the capitalist - the few men with fat wallets gave it away because it benefited them.
If you look at Jack’s company, I remember when they were sourcing for bitcoin related hardware vendors, they put in the effort to source locally within the US. I don’t know what challenges Jack would have faced in terms of rationalizing cost to the shareholders, but in principle, that’s how it should be. That’s how you build an ecosystem of local businesses. But how many do that ?
Yet it's so easy to distract people. Just drop in gender and race and everyone is triggered. And people forget to demand for market reform and social reform, as they are too busy getting pissed at each other.
If you go back in time during the Peloposonian war in 400BC, the fight between Athens and Sparta, marked the need for democratic reform, yet oligarchic control persists. It remains the same today, but oligarchs in the US have successfully removed themselves out of the ‘equation of visibility’. (You might like this book called 'Democracy in Europe, A history - by Luciano Canfora)
I had a conversation with you once on education system - the issues are often centered around debt forgiveness, race, AA - but neither side questions the rising cost or declining quality. The real issue is who benefits financially with education system? And who benefits with programming people to think a certain way? But people are too distracted with gender and race to see past it.
Yesterday I saw Elon’s tweet claiming the first slaves were the whites as the word is from Slav (6 AD). He is not wrong with where the word came from, but I am guessing the Arabs, - then persians (modern day iraq) who were among the first slaves some 3500 BC might be wondering if they are considered whites. But again, people are so overwhelmed by gender and race and slavery apologies and reparations and blacks and whites etc that they forget 2 things -
1. One, a few men who controlled the economy - who decided to drug the world with sugar - created the 19th century slave economy. (There's a really good book called 'Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds' by Charles McKay that you might like)
2. And secondly, from the Barbarian times, the world was divided by those who created laws, the kingpins, and all else were their slaves one way or another.
I believe if people push for market and social reform - and not get distracted by all these keyword triggers, then western civilisation will prevail. But until people stop getting distracted by gender and race issues, the few men in power will always be in control of everything.
In the 19th century, those who left for the US from Europe, wanted to break away from social, economic and caste dominance - to be able to achieve success - the American dream. These were whites who broke away from the whites who controlled the economy on a leash. During Beatnik era, the hippies, call them what you may, forced the upper class elites to let go of their control to expand middle class. (You might like this one too 'The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton).
I hope the US breaks away once again, metaphorically, from these bondages of the invisible oligarchs, and realize that it's not race nor gender that stops them from achieving the American dream. I sincerely believe that people are inherently good and kind, and its very sad to see the bitterness among many.
This is just my thoughts and hopes.
good initiative. Would be nice if there were real use cases and community stories on nostr's impact - and how entrepreneurs here are bridging nostr tech to the use cases out there in the world . More innovation stories. And since there are funders as well, would be nice to see how they are innovating the open-source ecosystem to help independent entrepreneurs and businesses as its different that traditional startups (Jack shared a lot of ideas on this on one of his barefoot talks)
there's so much clarity in knowing what you don't know
adding a note here in case this gets lost in translation. I think that working on open source projects, Bitcoin, and Nostr is admirable and important. I think juggling between the tech aspect + diff ecosystem + user needs + outreach can be difficult.
But one has to figure out what they don’t know before they can identify the help they need - and perhaps that journey is what needs to be expanded on right now. If one believes they are always right, then it becomes challenging. Same goes for everybody, same goes for you, same goes for me. Life is a continuous learning experience.
i've learnt that very few will do what it takes to make it work - 9/10 people i've met just come up with excuses. Same here
control mechanism on overdrive mode, but still steady. gotta get the referencing right. i love how the IT world and electronics world is so similar and different at the same time.
i never quite finished watching this - half way through, there was this sweet guy stripping her floors for her while she was cheating on him with someone who didn't want to marry her because she wasn't part of the checklist and it was a "nooo don't do it" moment, followed by ok i need to watch something else. The drama days are over and shall be continued when i am old and bored
❤️
Over a year ago I removed social media apps and email access from my phone. The phone became a much more peaceful and fun tool used to communicate with friends, reading stuff and just exploring new information when I’m taking a break from work. Turning smartphone to somewhat stupid has been a smarter move. Unfortunately I realise email is a necessity, but I haven’t come to terms with it yet. But that aside, if you are able to self direct own learning, autonomous learning often yields better results than having information pushed at you. I could never go back to the days of social media apps on mobile again. Even if reinstalled, I wouldn't bother with them—those days are long gone.