If Block continues to integrate Bitcoin in everything they do and make a killer good payments integration for it in their Square suite that works with CashApp as well as other cheap Bitcoin wallet solutions, and the government doesn't harass the absolute shit out of them, the ease of service and the realization that a growing number of people are using Bitcoin to pay will incentivize small businesses to start getting on the bandwagon. Square is already the best and most frictionless payments solution for small businesses out there. Killer products right under people's noses are hard to ignore.
Updated my lightning address finally. Went the lazy approach and put my bitrefill lol!
I really need to self-host. I went to go set up a new lnurl on Mutiny and couldn't find the Mutiny+ options for lnurls and stuff, and while looking for documentation I found this post. :(
Yeah for real. The JustUs department is engaging in an all out assault on free speech.
That's what we have to be really careful of. The enemy within our own minds. Stay ethical, stay rational, practice uncoerced and noncoercive action.
Democracy, without the right to secede or opt out, is just slavery with extra steps. Mises advocated for democratic republics that offered an unlimited route to secession.
Trump is probably going to win. But that will barely do anything for liberty. Your freedom is your responsibility. Democracy, or rulers of any kind, will not save us. Just sayin'
Alright, what happened to the Simply Bitcoin YouTube channel??
I feel like there are 2 very very different breeds of rationalism out there. Or maybe it's a sliding scale. There are those who are confident in their assertions because they went from pure doubt or basic axioms that are guaranteed to be true within a framework to where they are now in a valid manner, and there are those who made a mistake and still think they're certainly correct, and are unopen to reconsidering it. I'm reading a book by Thomas Sowell, Knowledge and Decisions, and he points out a very good point that applies to the latter about "Rationalists." He describes them as having all their confidence put into all the things which their intellect can articulate. That's very different from my kind of Rationalism. Makes me question whag I can call myself so people understand my stance on epistemology and process metaphysics. Daoist yes. Rationalist seems to not be specific enough, and Daoist doesn't emphasize my particular flavor of it enough. Hmm...
Please yes!! Been getting into DnD with friends. I love the chill nerd vibes.
Thank you for your thoughts! Just wrote this article about centralization vs decentralization: https://medium.com/@penglunds/centralisation-vs-decentralisation-forming-a-coherent-understanding-976d269ae491
Would love your thoughts. I don’t necessarily see the government/nation-state as in conflict with decentralization per definition as long as they’re not in control of money supply. In democracies, government is just a naturally arising central entity - just as a company in my opinion.
I like it! I would not have used the word "anarchy" as synonymous with "no rules", as I see anarchy as rules without rulers: exactly the kind of decentralization you are describing. Other than that I agree!
And I like the emphasis on how stable decentralized base layers or natural laws provide a foundation for centralized entities to flourish, without destroying the whole structure. I would also have added emphasis on how decentralized base layers are generally composed of many centralized entities operating in a way that keeps the overall foundation stable, due to incentives or those natural laws themselves, upholding the overall structure of this layer.
Governments are a naturally forming class of corporation indeed! but their design of disrespecting the volition of their customers and voting stakeholders, as well as huge swathd of the operations they engage in, even on sound money, are an inefficiency and destructive activity resulting from a lack of proper information flow and rational thinking, at least from my perspective. I imagine under Bitcoin, as you think, governments will still be around, but most will be more efficient, smaller, and more antifederalist, and, eventually in some regions, many will be transformed into voluntary associations, a la anarcho-capitalism.
That is, I think, the natural tendency in a society of mostly rational people with sound money as a foundation. Many many awesome centralized entities will form on these base layers of rules without rulers: libertarian law from legal services corporations and property and money safeguarded peacefully on Bitcoin.
Yeah, I have a website at https://thedemocracyupgrade.org that explains the most important from a libertarian perspective.
I think it’s the most voluntaryist system in the world. And like you said it’s the freest country in the world.
My argument is that it’s the referendum system.
I'll definitely check it out later. I love your name by the way, Citizen Locke haha! I came to anarchism by way of the classical liberal tradition (and just being raised with enlightenment values and innately loving freedom) and I consider myself still one very particular and exotic example of a classical liberal.