Thread

"Privacy is such a powerful tool towards freedom... We can perfectly hide ourselves such that no middlemen can actually find us and pinpoint where we are." - @Max w/ @walker View quoted note →

NEW EPISODE OF @THE Bitcoin Podcast WITH @Max JUST DROPPED. I ENJOYED THE FUCK OUT OF OUR CONVERSATION. HERE IS HOW CHATGPT SUMMARIZED THE VARIOUS TOPICS DISCUSSED. IF YOU LIKE ANY OF THEM PLEASE GIVE THE EPISODE A LISTEN. In this episode we discuss… • Privacy as a prerequisite for freedom • Why “freedom maximalist” → “privacy maximalist” • How privacy raises the cost of coercion and violence • The trap of “I have nothing to hide” and why that mindset is dangerous • Free speech, surveillance, and the need for private spaces • Chatham House–style events vs “Big Brother everywhere” • Why both public and truly private speech are necessary for real free speech • Bitcoin, Nostr, and building a parallel system • The idea that the Bitcoin-based parallel system doesn’t merge with fiat—it replaces it • How freedom tech allows a parallel economy to form before the fiat empire collapses • Seasteading and “free territories” • Oceans and high seas as the freest jurisdiction on Earth • Seasteading: flags, insurance, vessel classification • Self-sufficiency at sea: solar, desalination, food, coral-reef hulls • Cyberspace as a new ocean for freedom • 256-bit key space as “infinitely larger than the seas” • Using strong cryptography to hide from attackers while still authenticating and coordinating • Marmot, Nostr & private communication • Public Nostr is great for broadcast—but we also need private Nostr • Marmot protocol: combining Nostr (text), Blossom (data), and MLS (encryption) • Goal: world-class, interoperable private messaging across Nostr clients • Centralization risks: Signal, AWS & single points of failure • Signal outages as a reminder of central infra vulnerability • Why decentralized relay-based systems are more resilient • Asymmetric technology & Bitcoin’s early distribution • Uneven tech = one guy in plate armor vs thousands with sticks • Early Bitcoiners getting half the supply in the first four years • The responsibility and potential danger of huge hidden Bitcoin fortunes • Organic redistribution & the “boring” 100k Bitcoin • OG whales selling (e.g. the 80k BTC wallet) and spreading ownership • Why broader distribution of sats is good for the network and culture • Patronage, grants, and funding Freedom Tech • Reviving Medici-style patronage for coders, artists, inventors • OpenSats, HRF and others as modern decentralized patrons • Value-for-value: zapping devs on Nostr, routing zaps to builders • Business models & roles for non-devs • Why devs should stay “in the cave” building • Non-devs handling ops, comms, marketing, fundraising, biz models • Finding your niche: being world-class in a small combo of skills • Education, indoctrination, and the fiat school system • Modern public schooling as a neo-Prussian obedience/indoctrination machine • Homeschooling and alternative education as parallel systems for minds • Defaults, protocol ethics & “the purpose of a system is what it does” • “Only the defaults matter” for user privacy and behavior • Why protocol and library designers must bake in freedom and privacy by default • Practical freedom tech: SeedHammer & steel backups • Open-source steel engraver for keys, QR codes, descriptors, Shamir shares • Multi-generational, robot-engraved steel backups as serious sovereignty tools • Final call to action • Stop just consuming content about freedom—start building Freedom Tech • If you’re listening to this, you have permission: pick a project and help. View quoted note →

"I started out as a freedom maximalist... and slowly that morphed into becoming a privacy maximalist." - @Max w @walker View quoted note →