Thread by @davetroy

1/The rise of cryptocurrencies and the attacks on democracy are a single phenomenon. They are both attempts to advance a libertarian, individualist worldview. Of the “Austrian school” economists, Hans-Hermann Hoppe may be the most relevant right now.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy…

2/He believes democracy is a failed experiment, and that monarchy is preferable.

Better still is “natural law” and “anarchocapitalism.” This philosophy unites oil barons (Kochs), oligarchs, and anti-vaxxers; it is the basis for Bannon and Thiel’s anti-democracy views.

3/This is the same “natural law” that underlies insane anti-vax cult groups like the “International Tribunal for Natural Justice.” A toxic mix of intelligence operations and cults aiming to end government entirely, and establish a “natural” order. 😬

4/This is a huge step backwards; no rule of law, no protection of rights. Just straight up neofeudalism rooted in “sound money” and “evolution.”

This is the future the ultra-rich want, because they think it will help the ultra-rich stay ultra-rich.

5/This same lunatic vision is spelled out in the film series “Thrive,” but combined with UFO woo and latent anti-Semitism. Left unsaid is the idea that to “evolve” many people will need to be “left behind.” Theosophy cults call them “the mud people.”

thriveon.com

6/But such was the apocalyptic vision of so-called “futurists” like Barbara Marx Hubbard. “We are giving birth to a new humanity,” the wealthy toy heiress proclaimed in 2013.

Yeah no, I’m good. Let’s step away from the eugenics, please.

moonmagazine.org/barbara-marx-h…

7/Cryptocurrencies (and the dimwitted ‘web3’ fantasy they spawned) are a product of this Hoppe-ian, anti-democratic, eugenicist agenda. That’s just a fact.

Eventually everyone will see that. Some are enthusiastic about these for exactly this reason. Others just don’t know.

8/Would you support cryptocurrencies and ‘web3’ if you knew they were part of an assault on democracy and a turn towards “natural law” and eugenics?

9/If you disagree with the premise that cryptocurrencies are part of an anti-democratic turn towards “natural law” and eugenics, you’re… sadly… just wrong.

It’s okay to be wrong.

I myself didn’t come to understand this fully until the last couple of years.

10/To understand where the philosophy comes from, you need to read, and I’ve read a LOT. You can read someone like Hoppe. But for a good overall primer I recommend Max Chafkin’s book, The Contrarian, about Thiel.

goodreads.com/en/book/show/5…

11/He covers the challenges cryptocurrencies pose to governments, as well as how Thiel was influenced by this book, The Sovereign Individual — an anti-government, anti-democracy manifesto rooted in cryptocurrencies.

goodreads.com/book/show/8225…

12/And look, if you really believe the future of the world is rooted in extremist free market ideology and anti-democracy views, then, well, we just disagree.

And we will find that we are in a protracted war over that disagreement. Because that future is not one I can support.

13/Do you legitimately think Hoppe’s anti-democratic “natural law” and eugenicist views represent a desirable or viable pathway forward for humanity and civilization?

14/Because most people have no idea.

As studying Thiel will reveal, there is no “why not both” answer here. It’s “Zero to One,” to use the title of Thiel’s own book.

It’s network effects.

You’re either advancing the Hoppe agenda, or you oppose it. Pick one.

15/Surveys show that under ten percent of people are radical right wing ideologues. Yet, people want to position crypto/web3 projects as somehow mainstream, or empowering the marginalized. No. These projects are as radical right as they come.

16/And I get it, it takes time to figure this out and arrive at the correct conclusion about all this. But at a time when we are engaged in a hybrid global war, it’s necessary to view these technologies as a weapon of hybrid war against democracy and US institutional strength.

17/This is the most sophisticated war we have ever fought, with a highly developed domestic fifth column filled with “true believers,” cultivated over decades to tear down our country from both the left and the right. And rebuild with Hoppe-Ian “natural law?” Not on my watch.

18/Ignorance is no justification for collaborationism. Educate yourself and decide whether you are in or out of the libertarian project. If you do decide you’re on the anti-democratic side, expect forceful opposition. Some of us still think our democracy is worth fighting for.

I mean seriously just read this nonsense from Hubbard. “Many of us are choosing to evolve,” pfft yeah. You’re dead, lady, and you went into the box with the same genes you were born with.