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Sean
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Youโ€™re already doubling down?

Replying to Avatar Max

I finished the second version of my book!

## The Praxeology of Privacy

### Economic Logic in Cypherpunk Implementation

Austrian economists theorize but cannot build. Cypherpunks build but lack theory. This book synthesizes both traditions into a unified strategy for making the state irrelevant.

Three axioms. Twenty-one chapters. One conclusion: cheap defense defeats expensive attack. When theft becomes unprofitable, the state withers.

Public Domain. v0.2.0. Published on Nostr.

Thanks a lot to Stephan Kinsella and Eric Voskuil for their tough feedback on the first version, please join them in demolishing the logic of this second edition and help me make the arguments better!

---

Table of Contents

Preface

Austrian economists theorize but cannot build. Cypherpunks build but lack theory. This book synthesizes both to make the state irrelevant.

nostr:naddr1qqgrvvpjx33kgvtrxgen2vfcvcurjqgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctczyzm7669svt0xkjsju50a22zurc0qa589z2xd4yatzx6p2z64a5e0cqcyqqq823cwhph63

Part I: Introduction

Chapter 1: The Nature of Privacy

Privacy is selective disclosure, not hiding. Breaking adversary observation through the OODA loop is strategic defense. Cheap privacy defeats expensive surveillance.

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Chapter 2: Two Traditions, One Conclusion

Austrian economics and cypherpunk practice converge independently on privacy's importance. Theory explains why; code demonstrates how. This book synthesizes both traditions.

nostr:naddr1qqgxzctpxvenverrx93rwv35v3snzqgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctczyzm7669svt0xkjsju50a22zurc0qa589z2xd4yatzx6p2z64a5e0cqcyqqq823c4p7jlc

Part II: Philosophical Foundations

Chapter 3: The Action Axiom

The Action Axiom proves privacy is structural to human action. Deliberation is internal; preferences are subjective; information asymmetry is inherent.

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Chapter 4: The Argumentation Axiom

Argumentation ethics demonstrates self-ownership through performative contradiction. Denying it while arguing presupposes it. Privacy rights follow directly from self-ownership.

nostr:naddr1qqgxvcfhx5unjdpk8quxxdp3xvcrsqgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctczyzm7669svt0xkjsju50a22zurc0qa589z2xd4yatzx6p2z64a5e0cqcyqqq823c3n4fxz

Chapter 5: The Axiom of Resistance

The Axiom of Resistance assumes systems can resist control. Mathematics, empirical evidence, and similar systems support this well-grounded but non-self-evident assumption.

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Part III: Economic Foundations

Chapter 6: Information, Scarcity, and Property

Information is non-scarce and cannot be property. Privacy is protected through self-ownership, physical property rights, and voluntary contracts, not intellectual property.

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Chapter 7: Exchange Theory and Privacy

Privacy enhances exchange by protecting deliberation and enabling negotiation. Surveillance distorts prices and chills transactions. Better privacy means better functioning markets.

nostr:naddr1qqgrsdfcv5mx2vmxxe3nzvf4xqmxzqgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctczyzm7669svt0xkjsju50a22zurc0qa589z2xd4yatzx6p2z64a5e0cqcyqqq823c4hcvgf

Chapter 8: Capital Theory and Entrepreneurship

Privacy infrastructure is capital requiring present sacrifice for future capability. Entrepreneurial discovery drives innovation. Markets coordinate heterogeneous privacy tools most effectively.

nostr:naddr1qqgxgdeev5ckzer9xy6rvwpnxyukvqgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctczyzm7669svt0xkjsju50a22zurc0qa589z2xd4yatzx6p2z64a5e0cqcyqqq823cxcc5c2

Chapter 9: Monetary Theory and Sound Money

Sound money emerges spontaneously from markets, not decrees. Bitcoin implements digital soundness with fixed supply and censorship resistance; privacy requires additional tools.

nostr:naddr1qqgxgwf3xqensef5vvcrvcfs8yuxxqgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctczyzm7669svt0xkjsju50a22zurc0qa589z2xd4yatzx6p2z64a5e0cqcyqqq823ceca8xr

Part IV: The Adversary

Chapter 10: Financial Surveillance and State Control

Financial surveillance enables state control through observation. CBDCs complete the architecture. Privacy breaks the OODA loop at observation, making theft unprofitable.

nostr:naddr1qqgrsdmpvv6n2wfhv5ervdmpxa3kxqghwaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8qunfd4skctnwv46z7q3qklkk3vrzme455yh9rl2jshq7rc8dpegj3ndf82c3ks2sk40dxt7qxpqqqp65wcwwf6m

Chapter 11: Corporate Surveillance and Data Extraction

Corporate surveillance extracts behavioral data for prediction products. State and corporate surveillance are deeply entangled. Markets are responding to growing privacy demand.

nostr:naddr1qqgrydekxumxvvm9xp3n2vtr89jrxqgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctczyzm7669svt0xkjsju50a22zurc0qa589z2xd4yatzx6p2z64a5e0cqcyqqq823cduqmxa

Chapter 12: The Crypto Wars

The Crypto Wars pit states against privacy technology. Mathematics ignores legislation. Developers face prosecution. The fundamental conflict is permanent and intensifying.

nostr:naddr1qqgxycfjvyck2vrpxvunycfcxsuk2qgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctczyzm7669svt0xkjsju50a22zurc0qa589z2xd4yatzx6p2z64a5e0cqcyqqq823cwnenzp

Part V: Technical Implementation

Chapter 13: Cryptographic Foundations

Cryptography provides mathematical privacy foundations: encryption, hashing, and digital signatures enable trustless verification. Implementation bugs and human error remain the weakest links.

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Chapter 14: Anonymous Communication Networks

The internet leaks metadata. VPNs help locally. Tor distributes trust through relays. Mixnets defeat global adversaries. Choose tools matching your threat model.

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Chapter 15: Bitcoin: Resistance Money

Bitcoin solves double-spending without trusted third parties. Sound money enforced by code. Base layer privacy requires additional tools like Lightning and coinjoin.

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Chapter 16: Zero-Knowledge Proofs

Zero-knowledge proofs enable verification without disclosure. SNARKs, STARKs, and Bulletproofs make different tradeoffs. Deployed in Zcash and rollups; broader adoption developing.

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Chapter 17: Decentralized Social Infrastructure

Nostr solves identity capture through cryptographic keys users control. Relays compete, moderation is market-driven, and the protocol extends beyond social posts.

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Part VI: Praxis

Chapter 18: Lessons from History

DigiCash, e-gold, and Silk Road failed through centralization and poor OPSEC. Bitcoin succeeded through decentralization, open source, and properly aligned economic incentives.

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Chapter 19: Operational Security

Operational security prevents adversaries from gathering compromising information. Threat modeling guides defense. Human factors are the weakest link. Perfect OPSEC is impossible.

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Chapter 20: Implementation Strategy

Start with honest assessment. Build progressively from basics to advanced. Find community. Privacy is not a destination but ongoing practice. Progress matters.

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Chapter 21: Building the Parallel Economy

The parallel economy grows through counter-economics. Cheap defense defeats expensive attack. When theft becomes unprofitable, the state withers. Build. Trade. Resist.

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Is this the first book exclusively written on Nostr?

I'm doubling down on Nostr this year.

nostr:nprofile1qqs9gcysfq5y62s4rjxlvf05psuf6s376ptlemuj0kugj4kj3c3t5qcpzemhxue69uhkzarvv9ejumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqgkwaehxw309a3xjarrda5kuetj9eek7cmfv9kqmawmlp

In part 3, I explore data breaches with sensitive school information in them. Notably with gambling companies and the Home Office.

nostr:naddr1qq39g6r9948xzarfdahxzmpd2p6hq6tv94zxzarpvfshxefdd3nxx6rcxvpzqt6auqqrmwzwe42yjy5r2rrxclak86ws9vjsmp90sn6x8chehnh3qvzqqqr4guc56cmk

Big Pharma steps up it's game as the English fight back against vaccinations.

Can't make it to your doctor? Not to worry. They'll just turn up at your door.

From Friday, children will receive a new MMRV vaccine, designed to protect against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox. It replaces MMR and offers protection against chickenpox for the first time.

In England, 91.9 per cent of five-year-olds received one dose of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, against the 95 per cent figure said to achieve herd immunity.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/31/children-vaccination-visits-homes/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_fb_photo

Consumer culture at its finest. It's Jan 1st. The shop isn't open. The service they offer is already the best for this year.

But you can take a pager? ๐Ÿ“Ÿ ๐Ÿ˜

Lamb is in preparation. I've gone off steak recently

Happy New Year to you too ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿป

Replying to Avatar Gigi

GM

GM โ˜•๏ธ

GMโ˜•๏ธ

"The exchange rate on tweets, is zero. I can't go get dinner or more sats with tweets" - nostr:nprofile1qqsvf646uxlreajhhsv9tms9u6w7nuzeedaqty38z69cpwyhv89ufcqpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqpr4mhxue69uhkummnw3ez6ur4vgh8wetvd3hhyer9wghxuet5tm8sjr

I'll zap every response, towards your dinner, on this post.

Have Nostr New Year ๐Ÿซก

https://www.youtube.com/live/UYvPdo8VHCA?si=sxNlzpbyekcFDXtv

200 days of maths (with a little bit of Spanish)

Over the course of my time on earth, I've lived across two county borders with different accents. So my English is a bit confused

Every evening is the same

GM โ˜•

Children learn what's normal from their daily experiences. When surveillance is omnipresent from age two onwards, it becomes invisible - not something to question or resist, but simply the way the world works.

Nostr needs more content like this ๐Ÿ”ฅ What a great line of questioning nostr:nprofile1qqs2gndun24r2utk5l20tscsdprw5zttvm0qk58w8xhl2ja2kmzt7jcpvemhxue69uhkv6tvw3jhytnwdaehgu3wwa5kuef0dec82c33x5ehsmt90q6ry7p5vd5xge3hx5mksupnwym857rpvaukk6m9dvmhqer8wa6hwepsxu6rjd35v34hj6rp89ensvnj096ns0mzwfhkzerrv9ehg0t5wf6k2qg7waehxw309ahx7um5wgkkgetk9emk2mrvdaexgetj9ehx2ap05npa2h

nostr:nevent1qqs00svexvcc6jm27ke7svya0c5u36m9lq3qt9hdgmce34va9xphraqpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuurjd9kkzmpwdejhgq3qpdm6f4kvr7sezj2yljz7xp2u0yxhnzxe3htzv64s3n0p9jc3lkmsxpqqqqqqz8ev5k5

nostr:nprofile1qqsywt6ypu57lxtwj2scdwxnyrl3sry9typcstje65x7rw9a2e5nq8spramhxue69uhky6t5vdhkjmndv9uxjmtpd35hxarn9ehkumrfdejsz9thwden5te0v4jx2m3wdehhxarj9ekxzmnytjq0jg doing i buy the hardcover or paperback?

nostr:nprofile1qqs879mhq6kkuzh2wk57xdzanl76uem8d7hlyjd7v4a4jcm4u88d8ygprpmhxue69uhhqun9d45h2mfwwpexjmtpdshxuet5qydhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnzd96xxmmfdecxzunt9e3k7mgxzfkn5

nostr:nprofile1qqs9gcysfq5y62s4rjxlvf05psuf6s376ptlemuj0kugj4kj3c3t5qcpzemhxue69uhkzarvv9ejumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqgkwaehxw309a3xjarrda5kuetj9eek7cmfv9kqmawmlp I decided to write it as a series. Let me know your thoughts on the first part ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿป

399 BC: an old man sits in the baking heat of the town square in Athens drinking a cup of thick, dark brew. His feet are bare and calloused, his beard white and unkempt.

Socrates knows that he will die. We will all die, but he will die soon; the cup in his hand gives him a matter of minutes. He swirls the substance around and drains it, swallowing decisively.

He does not know if he will be remembered. There are no writings that he will leave for posterity, curled up in a parchment or carved in stone.

He does not approve of the modern technology of writing because he believes it rots the mind, robbing man of his capacity for memory and mental reflection.

He came to the city to sting it awake, attaching himself to the cradle of democracy to provoke it.

His job is done: 501 of his fellow citizens were so enraged by his ideas and their effect on the precious young minds of Athens that he has been sentenced to death by drinking the hemlock he holds in his hands.

Merry Christmas Freedom Thinkers. I'm super grateful for the perspective you share with me, on Nostr everyday.

Am I smooth brained to think the idea of Santa, is to make the younger generation blindly please authority.

And Christmas is an opportunity to artificially stimulate the economy?

Replying to Avatar Gigi

GM

Gm โ˜•๏ธ

Central Park during the great depression (1933) makes me think of Mandibles

From a surveillance perspective, children from age 2 onwards are lab rats for the DfE. Their data is collected and has been given away for free to commerce, and the reason is โ€œfreedom of informationโ€. The data is still being collected today and abused. Once itโ€™s out there, itโ€™s permanent. The kids have no say and the parents (unlike with marketing material) canโ€™t opt out because itโ€™s โ€œmandatoryโ€

I've been taking notes ๐Ÿ“. I'll put a report a report together ๐Ÿซก

GM โ˜•๏ธ

I'm down the 'schools have become surveillance institutions' rabbit hole. ๐Ÿ˜ฎโ€๐Ÿ’จ

The story is still the same - centralised systems with a single point of failure are honey pots for bad actors.

But the details are unnerving.