Thread by @balajis

Important article by my friend @DavidSacks. He argues crypto isn't enough, politics is needed.

My counterargument is that BTC + web3 provides the crucial philosophical/technological *base* for pro-freedom advocacy.

Examples: Wyoming, Miami, El Salvador.
bariweiss.substack.com/p/a-social-cre…

That is, I agree it's not exit *only*. You can't run forever.

But exit can get you to a high ground. You can beat a tactical retreat, to a place where you can speak and act freely, demonstrate a better system, and thereby reform the old.

That's Bitcoin.
bariweiss.substack.com/p/a-social-cre…

The Harper's letter approach fails because each signatory exists wholly within the old system. They can be surrounded, forced to recant.

But technological & physical exit gets you into a new system. With financial freedom & censorship-resistance, they can't silence your voice.

That's why I advocate a technology-first approach — though not technology only. Technology is upstream. It determines what is feasible.

The Canadian state's oppression was enabled by centralizing technology. We can only get back a balance of power with decentralizing technology.

After all, why would this powerful state ever come back to the negotiating table?

Because it's too costly to oppress. Costly in soft power, but also in economics.

Right now they can just push a button to win. Decentralization takes that away, forces them to go house by house.

That means paper laws come second, and technology comes first.

Paper laws didn't stop NSA surveillance or Canadian deplatforming. That was enabled by centralizing technology.

Conversely, paper laws didn't create DAOs or BTC. They were enabled by decentralizing technology.

How did 1800s Europe reform? Exit to America, where democracy & capitalism were proven out.
How did the USSR reform? Again, US showed a better model.
How did the PRC reform? Singapore & HK showed a better model.

Reform through physical exit, political exit, technological exit.

See this 2017 talk, where I discuss setting up a pseudonym, reducing expenses 5X by moving abroad, and then grouping with others of like mind to advocate for change.

Financial independence, social independence, collective independence via pragmatic exit.

A few more references if you are interested.

Here's a 2013 talk, called Silicon Valley's Ultimate Exit, which I think correctly predicted the techlash, the decentralization from SV, the rise of Bitcoin, and the oppressive US government.

Here is a 2021 piece on @bariweiss' blog where I make the case for cryptocurrency as our best bet to preserve the values of the West in the internet era: free speech, free trade, equal treatment under the law, and a rules-based order.
bariweiss.substack.com/p/is-bitcoin-a…

And here is a 2021 piece by me & @paragkhanna where we discuss how this plays out internationally.

Decentralized protocols will limit centralized states abroad, even if they seek to oppress, because other states will demand them as neutral turf.
archive.is/0wlC2