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gil duran Profile picture
@gilduran76
Oct 1 • 15 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
🧵Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is a familiar face on Capitol Hill.

But the billionaire crypto bro has some shocking beliefs.

He says the USA is in decline ... and it's time for "backup options."

"Crypto's destiny," he says.

My latest, via the @newrepublic #NetworkState Image
Brian Armstrong openly embraces the #NetworkState, a cultish tech movement that calls for the end of countries as we know them.

Instead, we'll have crypto-fueled territories ruled by tech bros. It's bizarre to hear an American CEO talk this way.

newrepublic.com/article/185738…
Armstrong declined an interview. But he has gone out of his way to publicly align himself with the Network State.

The main evangelist of the Network State is Balaji Srinivasan, the former chief technology officer of Coinbase. I wrote about him in April:

newrepublic.com/article/180487…
Balaji is the guy who says tech people must work with police to form a "gray tribe" that purges Democrats from San Francisco.

And then they will hold something called the "Gray Pride Parade" and march through the street with "drones flying overhead." Yeah, that guy. AI generated graphic of Balaji's "Gray Pride Parade"
Balaji depicts the USA as a collapsing country headed for civil war. (And that's a good thing, since it will allow crypto bros to rule their own kingdoms)

Brian Armstrong calls Balaji a "genius" and one of the smartest people in the world.

"Let's keep listening to his ideas."
Despite his shockingly weird ideology, many Democrats and Republicans are bowing down to Armstrong.

Money talks, and Big Crypto is flooding the 2024 election with hundreds of millions of dollars.

Very disturbing, because Armstrong is into some extreme shit, like "Exit": Image
This is the latest in my series on the #NetworkState. My first piece examined California Forever, a billionaire-backed tech utopia planned for Solano County in Northern California.

"The People of Solano County Versus the Next Tech Billionaire Utopia."

newrepublic.com/article/177733…
The second piece exposed how Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, under the influence of Balaji, is attempting to create a #NetworkState of right-wing tech bro Democrats in San Francisco.

newrepublic.com/article/178675…
The third piece took a deep dive into Balaji Srinivasan's utterly bizarre beliefs, as well as his influence over prominent figures in San Francisco's tech scene.
newrepublic.com/article/180487…
The fourth piece looked at Curtis Yarvin, a San Francisco software programmer with pro-dictator beliefs. He's a favorite of Peter Thiel -- and he's had a significant and scary influence on J.D. Vance.

(Balaji takes a lot from Yarvin, too)

newrepublic.com/article/183971…
The latest piece, on Coinbase CEO Armstrong, shows how the #NetworkState ideology is now infiltrating Washington.

Trump even has a weird plan to create "Freedom Cities," which sound a lot like the corporate-run territories favored by the tech bros...
newrepublic.com/article/185738…
Having immersed myself in this story this year, here's what I find most shocking:

While these tech zealots openly plan for a post-democracy, post-America world...no one cares.

The big news outlets ignore it. Politicians won't say a word.

Too complicated? Too scary? A-ok?
More to come!

Follow along at The Nerd Reich, my free newsletter on tech authoritarianism, crypto fascism and the #networkstate thenerdreich.com
What's shocking about the crypto's rise in politics is that its "product" is mostly useful to scammers, criminals, drug traffickers, terrorists and rogue states like North Korea. It's also an environmental nightmare.

Yet these guys are trying to take over our political system
It's easy to see why Trump Republicans are embracing crypto.

But how can the Democratic Party be the party of crypto when crypto's ultimate goals are inherently in conflict with democracy itself?

Will a handful of Democrats like Chuck Schumer sell out the USA for campaign $$$?

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More from @gilduran76

gil duran Profile picture
Sep 15
Trump promises to free the creator of Silk Road, an online marketplace for illegal drugs and guns.

Ross Ulbricht's case is a popular cause among crypto bros and libertarians.

For the @sfchronicle, I wrote about his extreme anti-government views and why he belongs in prison. Image
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are built on extreme, right-wing, anti-government ideas.

Here's my full @sfchronicle piece:

Trump promises crypto bros he’ll set the creator of Silk Road free if elected. That’s a terrible idea

🎁Link:
sfchronicle.com/opinion/openfo…
Ulbricht's defenders often portray him as a college-educated idealist who made a mistake and deserves freedom. They leave out the part where he paid Bitcoin to have multiple people murdered by a "Hell's Angels" hit squad.
Read 6 tweets
gil duran Profile picture
Sep 10
The false and racist attack on Haitians has roots in "Unhumans," the fascist propaganda book by Jack Posobiec (foreword by J.D. Vance).

It depicts the Haitian Revolution as a result voodoo and animal sacrifice -- which are cast as precursors to the slaughter of white people.
From the book:
"Unhumans. This is what they do. Large and warrior-like, former slave Dutty Boukman, who had been born in West Africa, kicked off that bloody slave result with a ceremony of animal sacrifice that blended Islamic teaching and voodoo practices."
"Haiti would become synonymous with voodoo occult rituals, and Boukman was a top practitioner who led the rites. To the assembled crowd he passed around a cup of animal blood which everyone drank, and he called out:"
Read 9 tweets
gil duran Profile picture
Aug 29
Yesterday I visited a self-governing homeless tent encampment in my very Republican hometown. Homelessness is often depicted as a big Democratic city problem, and so you rarely hear about the situation in rural cities like Tulare. No Fox channel, no Gov. Newsom waving his broom.
I was surprised by the degree to which the encampment is sanctioned/formalized. One difference: There are many rural edges of Tulare where there are few homes nearby. Outrage from the housed as is major obstacle to solving this issue. Nobody wants to problem -- or the solution.
It's also located in a rough part of town -- the part where I spent formative childhood years. I visited because someone I grew up with now lives there in a tent. Just blocks from the rundown motels where we lived as kids. A sad full circle. It was nearly 100 degrees yesterday.
Read 9 tweets
gil duran Profile picture
Aug 21
In 2007, @GeorgeLakoff wrote an entire book urging Democrats to frame their agenda with the most important value of all: Freedom.

Let's hope it doesn't take another two decades for them to grasp the rest of what he's been saying for decades.

All politics is moral politics.
Image
"Ideas matter. Perhaps no idea has mattered more in American history than the idea of freedom."
New York Times, 2006.
nytimes.com/2006/07/23/boo…
Now that Democrats understand the Freedom Frame...Here's another key:
The Conservative Moral Hierarchy via @GeorgeLakoff

If you ever want to understand the "why" behind any Republican policy, consult this chart and you'll find the answer: Image
Read 4 tweets
gil duran Profile picture
Aug 19
The NYT ran a story depicting tech CEO Garry Tan as a paragon of mental health success (thanks to coaching).

One big problem: Tan recently made headlines for *tweeting “die slow” at San Francisco politicians while drunk*

But this crucial fact wasn’t mentioned. Why? … Image
In a story that pushed “coaching” as an alternative to real therapy, Y Combinator’s CEO was held up as a model of coaching’s benefits.

But Tan’s death threat outburst in January undermines the entire premise. So I wrote a request for correction…

thenerdreich.com/new-york-times…
Worse: The story highlights Torch, a company founded by Garry Tan’s personal coach.
And guess what? Tan is a seed in investor.
So this piece pumps up Tan’s coach and the coaching company he founded, with investment from Tan…
And Tan is held up as proof of coaching’s efficacy! Image
Read 8 tweets
gil duran Profile picture
Aug 17
Peter Thiel is dreadfully inarticulate. But his writing is clear:

“I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”

This sums up the anti-democracy extremism in today’s GOP.

Power and privilege for the few, servitude and suffering for the many.
Most of the deranged and extreme scariness in our politics today is directly connected to Thiel and his network. 👇🏼
Imagine making billions of dollars off of technologies rooted in science and then being unable to answer a simple question about climate science.
MAGA Brain Worms.🪱
Read 4 tweets

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