Beautiful. Amir, would you like to repost that as an article on Bitcoin
Magazine?
On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 7:33 AM, Nicolás Mendoza <nicolasmendo@???>wrote:
> Amir, you have made me understand the huge importance of keeping Satoshi's
> protocol minimalistic. So, what is the roadmap to secure that? What is the
> plan? What do you have in mind, and how can people help? Have you talked
> about this with people like Gavin or Matonis? What are the lines or
> factions among bitcoiners, if there are such things forming?
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 4:26 AM, Amir Taaki <genjix@???> wrote:
>
>> >> As humans, we share little in common. But that little we do share is
>> the deep core of our being. We search for purpose. We are curious. And
>> we thrive on new information. Our self-awareness, rationality and
>> sapience are the high level features that make up a person. They are
>> our capacity for good or evil.
>>
>> As people, we need to ask ourselves whether we act with purpose,
>> intent and ambition; ask how are we defining ourselves, and what are
>> the values that our lives are promoting.
>>
>> Are you taking concrete steps now to achieve your objective?
>>
>> It?s important we ask ourselves these questions, and decide which end
>> of the spectrum between liberty and security we fixate on. A safe life
>> of luxury, and comfort closed in by 4 walls- or a life of freedom.
>> Freedom to make love, play loud music, create art, wrestle naked, and
>> raise confident kids that think.
>>
>> In criticizing the world we?re born into, it?s easy to point the
>> finger at this or that politician or resign problems to circumstance.
>> And with the perceived lack of power to concede the situation is
>> unfixable and utterly broken. But if we want to know who to blame, we
>> need only to look into a mirror. We support the situation. It is
>> people, not rulers, who create the world of today.
>>
>> Some of us conclude that the situation is just a normal state of
>> affairs, and simply human nature- as if there were one human nature!
>> And, disregarding that, we all evolve and grow as people in different
>> directions during our lives.
>>
>> Think of the values we are taught as children. How we are taught to
>> behave as civic citizens. The phrases we are told by our parents,
>> teachers and friends. The system is not just the state and
>> corporations, it is a machine encompassing all spheres of life.
>>
>> You might hear for example:
>>
>> ?Respect for authority figures is a sign of maturity.?
>>
>> ?Men with good jobs dress smart and respectably.?
>>
>> ?Work hard for a good job and a good life. Retire young.?
>>
>> ?Don?t talk to strangers.?
>>
>> ?Life is about money. Money makes the world go round.?
>>
>> I was told all of these sentences in my life. That learning to accept
>> authority is an inevitable part of growing up. That my character is
>> defined by how I look, not how I act. That my single purpose is to be
>> a work-slave. To avoid interaction with random unknowns outside my
>> circle. And that responsibility starts and stops with myself.
>>
>> All of them are bad values.
>>
>> We are not born with these values. They are hard-wired into us from a
>> young age. Luckily, knowledge feeds the unlearning process and the
>> internet is an unlearning tool.
>>
>> Have you ever questioned the 15 years of our precious childhood from
>> kindergarten to high school? We attend a prison with fixed schedules
>> and dinner at an allocated time. We?re forced to wear uniforms. If you
>> want to speak, you need to raise your hand. If you need the toilet,
>> you must ask permission. And the lessons amount to little more than
>> drilling information with the given promise of honours and qualifications.
>>
>> The reward for faithfully jumping through all these hoops for 15 years
>> is a worthless piece of paper that isn?t even required for a job at
>> McDonalds. And the workers still need training. Our children aren?t
>> taught how to cook a healthy meal, grow a garden or even a rudimentary
>> concept of how to organise or lead groups of people without even a
>> glimmer of understanding on how to resolve conflicts without violence.
>> Or the principles of logic, and how to question an ideology. Kids are
>> taught to sit at a desk and listen obediently as the world is packaged
>> into neat boxes.
>>
>> School is little more than a training camp for salaried drones
>> designed to format young minds for a life of subservience, too stupid
>> to question the system itself or the authority of those running it. We
>> are not born with bad values. They are wired into us from a young age.
>>
>> Lets talk about good values.
>>
>> Responsibility is about fulfilling your needs to have a dignified
>> existence, and then expanding that circle to the people around you. To
>> help bring up and out the potential of other free people so that
>> together we thrive. Community and collective action is absolutely
>> essential if we want to rise up. The system thrives by separating
>> people into isolated pockets who get their information from TV and
>> their culture from corporations. United together, we are stronger.
>>
>> ?Vires in numeris?
>>
>> Independence and autonomy is the ability to act. If we always need
>> third parties and central organisations to resolve disputes, solve our
>> problems and coordinate us then we are doomed as a species. Central
>> authorities are always a magnet for corruption and that will never
>> change. Learn to be self reliant and make things happen.
>>
>> Understanding is not an easy skill to develop, but it is very
>> powerful. Being able to get into people?s minds, to listen and be able
>> to meet their needs is leadership. A leader serves and inspires people
>> into action, whereas a ruler uses coercion. For all their grandeur and
>> force, rulers cannot harness the real potential of people. Nobody
>> thinks under duress.
>>
>> We need assertive individuals who stand unyielding for what they
>> believe in. If you know something is right, then fight for your
>> vision. It will happen. The system feeds off passivity, and giving
>> consent to its exclusive hold of force feeds the machine.
>>
>> Lastly lets approach the world as artists, and bring creativity to our
>> work. The world is diverse, colourful and vibrant. Humans are not
>> meant to live in little boxes and grey concrete jungles. Live art and
>> be creative. Your work is art. Good art makes people think and feel.
>>
>> The role of good people is the vanguard of tomorrow.
>>
>> ?The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to
>> be ruled by evil men.?
>> ~ Plato
>>
>> It?s an old story. David vs Goliath. Starfleet rebels vs galactic
>> deathstar. Anarchist revolutionaries vs the fascist empire. Both sides
>> have existed for centuries and the struggle continues. However in
>> recent decades with the unique political situation, the internet and a
>> dawning awareness among people, the balance of power is shifting in
>> our favour this time around.
>>
>> Humans can look to a future less dominated by the command hierarchies
>> of the past, and more by thriving marketplaces of knowledge and merit.
>>
>> I remember an amateur blue webpage in the summer of 2010 describing a
>> p2p currency that ?cannot be controlled by governments or central
>> banks?. Extremely skeptical, I dived into the code and discovered an
>> idea which burnt itself in my memory. My mind latched onto Bitcoin. I
>> realized this unknown project is the future of money.
>>
>> Bitcoin is a tool of resistance gifted to us by Satoshi. The idea has
>> escaped and the idea of cryptocurrency will not be stopped. Bitcoin or
>> some other cryptocurrency will succeed.
>>
>> Bitcoin is about direct trade from peer to peer. The purest value
>> transfer possible between 2 or more people. A direct and personal
>> interaction over digital infrastructure. Welcome to the future of the
>> black market. Real values, real people and uncorrupted markets.
>>
>> The internet is a tool of freedom and self-determination. Meddling in
>> its mechanics is destructive. Whenever a website is blocked, a
>> protocol is corrupted at some low level or undesirable traffic shaping
>> occurs then seismic ripples of censorship and destruction lead to
>> degradation of the network. The internet is fundamental to humanity,
>> and must be protected at all costs.
>>
>> Bitcoin is no different, and must be kept pure.
>>
>> There are real risks to Bitcoin.
>>
>> The protocol is not a fixed, axiomatic system established by Satoshi.
>> It?s been constantly changing, rapidly evolving and the pace is
>> accelerating. The risks are more subtle and probable than a government
>> demanding changes to the fundamentals of Bitcoin?s protocol. The
>> chilling effect of self censorship.
>>
>> We don?t even need to touch the protocol.
>>
>> As Bitcoin grows, the inevitable specialization is kicking in. The
>> blockchain is moving towards specialized services, and the future of
>> full Bitcoin nodes is on the server, not personal computers. We have
>> to wake up, adapt and work with the reality rather than persisting in
>> self denial.
>>
>> If development is too centralized, with a small core infrastructure,
>> then businesses will put real pressure to have features that destroy
>> the integrity of the Bitcoin network. The excuse will be to protect
>> themselves from liability. Self-censorship.
>>
>> And what they demand does not have to be protocol changes. They will
>> demand features in the software they use. Software which remains
>> compatible with the network, but works against the interests of
>> individuals, small businesses and the black market.
>>
>> The possible malicious scenarios are endless. Stuff like p2p
>> blacklists to create a ?legitimate? walled garden, or tracking
>> technologies like large databases of IP addresses to triangulate where
>> transactions came from. At the other end of the spectrum, is putting
>> development effort into diversifying the ecosystem to protect against
>> censorship and proxy relay nodes, anonymizing mixers, small privacy
>> tweaks and other technologies. That?s where developers who believe in
>> Bitcoin should devote time to. Corporations are powerful enough. To
>> developers: serve your community.
>>
>> A diversified Bitcoin of many wallets and implementations is a strong
>> and pure Bitcoin. To protect the integrity of the network, we need to
>> eliminate single points of failure. An inbred Bitcoin with the same
>> software code everywhere shares the same weaknesses, and is
>> susceptible to the same attacks. A single pathogen can wipe out a
>> genetically homogenous population, and centralised software is
>> vulnerable to the dictates of whoever controls development of that
>> software code, and any dictates pressured onto them.
>>
>> The implications of a diversified Bitcoin is a Bitcoin difficult to
>> control. It also sets the protocol in stone, as nobody has sole power
>> over the standard. Consensus from many parties is the way forwards.
>>
>> The proper way to develop a standard is by having many different
>> competing parties that require mutual interest and agreement to pass
>> through changes. History is rife with abuse like when Internet
>> Explorer dominated the browser market, and constantly broke the web
>> standard by introducing proprietary extensions. Their motive was to
>> swallow the market and lock users into Internet Explorer. The result
>> was a broken web. A monopoly likes to dominate the market, shut out
>> competitors and erect high barriers to entry.
>>
>> A diversified ecosystem protects against feature-creep or bloat of the
>> standard. Extra features go beyond the basic function of Bitcoin and
>> so can result in over-complication rather than simple design. Viewed
>> over a longer time period, extra or unnecessary features seem to creep
>> into the system beyond the initial goals and the small code of 15,000
>> lines set by Satoshi. The result will be a Bitcoin that becomes
>> increasingly difficult to understand or implement without a huge
>> initial investment of resources, time and people. No single person
>> will fully understand Bitcoin anymore, and development monopolies will
>> be further enforced.
>>
>> Linux is the most secure operating system because of its diversity.
>> There is no single exploit that is universal across all versions of
>> Linux. Bitcoin must evolve in the same way to become a resilient and
>> tough system able to serve a global audience.
>>
>> A massive standard is difficult to re-implement. Satoshi Nakamoto
>> gifted us a small, focused and pure Bitcoin.
>>
>> There is no need for compromise. Lets push for our complete vision.
>> Bitcoin is here. We have the initiative and we make our stand now. We
>> have the power and now is the time. Not later. Now.
>>
>> Within a century of the printing press being invented, wars, social
>> strife and revolutions erupted across Europe. Old kings, revered
>> religious leaders and tyrannical rulers were removed from power.
>> People could now read what was being written in their bibles. Mass
>> printing of the bible was subversive. And what was written in their
>> bibles, is not what they were being fed. In the face of hard evidence,
>> people dispelled old notions of what their religion was saying.
>>
>> Our economy will change. Bitcoin will rise as a fundamental
>> technology. Seeking approval from the halls of Washington, and consent
>> from the status quo is mere pandering as lapdogs at the feet of the
>> system. Why would you willingly give your power away? Are you stupid?
>>
>> Some people make the argument that throwing Bitcoin under the bus and
>> corrupting the core of this technology is needed to help businesses
>> which specialize in the exchange of failing government fiat
>> paper-money with Bitcoins. Are we willing to sacrifice the purity of
>> this tool for a few short term gains that primarily benefit US
>> corporations? Do they serve the need of Bitcoin?
>>
>> Others even go further, arguing we need the masses. That being a
>> majority protects people from assaults. Typical herd mentality.
>>
>> And that regulation (and the measures to implement them) are a typical
>> process of acceptance. I have news for you: majorities have been
>> slaughtered like pigs all throughout history. Being ?pragmatic? is
>> code speak for obedience and cowardice.
>>
>> Bitcoin is the future. Act like you believe it. Act to prevent
>> corruption of the system. Act to prevent Bitcoin becoming coopted in
>> any way. We must preserve the principles of Satoshi Nakamoto.
>>
>> We have the initiative and the power. You know the truth of the world.
>> Stop supporting your own enemies. We don?t need them. They need us.
>> You are the one empowering them. Withdraw your consent. Withdraw your
>> support. Don?t accept their terms or try to win a game where they set
>> the rules. Don?t try to win your ruler?s favour. Don?t bother to beg
>> for welfare or good treatment. Worst of all, don?t help them hunt down
>> your neighbour.
>>
>> Time we stick our flag in the ground, and make our stand.
>>
>> ?Our task force will offer balanced, effective solutions for policy
>> makers, law enforcement, regulators and the public.?
>> ?
>> ?The Task Force, which launched in August, is not solely focussed on
>> child exploitation.?
>> ?
>> ?The report detailed how criminal and terrorist organisations have
>> turned to digital currency to reap profits from drug trafficking,
>> prostitution and the dissemination of child abuse images.?
>> ~ Wired September article about Bitcoin Foundation joining a task
>> force to combat child pornography.
>>
>> One day master told slave: ?Do this small thing and everything is
>> fine. Keep up the good work.?. The slave was happy because not much
>> was asked so he started to create something cool. The master walked in
>> a week later, and said ?do this as well?. The slave was shocked. ?But
>> master, we had an agreement, you said I only needed to do this??.
>> Master responded ?I changed my mind. You need to do this as well.?.
>> The slave reluctantly agreed. At least it wasn?t that bad.
>>
>> Over time, the master more and more increased his demands on the
>> slave. By now the slave had created something totally wonderful and
>> was dependent on it, but the master controlled his work and owned him.
>>
>> ?The task of an activist is not to negotiate systems of power with
>> as much personal integrity as possible- it?s to dismantle those systems.?
>> ~ Lierra Keith
>>
>> The road is long, and real work is needed. Less talk, more action.
>> There are too few people in this world working on worthwhile things
>> for the people. But even though the work-load is immense and daunting,
>> there are concrete steps to achieve the global objective.
>>
>> Truth happens. We will succeed. Don?t wait around for others to take
>> action. We must dive head first without regard for consequences, and
>> break the inertia of passivity. When enough people do this, the real
>> change will occur.
>>
>> Fight for what you believe in. If you believe, and uphold a truth,
>> then all your energy should be devoted to your objectives. Anytime you
>> are accepting compromise, you are acting against your objective. None
>> of us are pure. We are flawed and imperfect. But as good people we
>> must strive for uncomplicated directness in our actions. Our actions
>> must be transparent in motive and pure in reasoning.
>>
>> The power is within us. It always has been.
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> unSYSTEM mailing list: http://unsystem.net
>> https://mailinglists.dyne.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/unsystem
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Nicolás Mendoza
>
>
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Re: [unSYSTEM] The libbitcoin Manif…
