Free-Man's Perspective

A New Day, a New Chance to Be Wonderful

Most people fail to appreciate the fresh opportunity that each day brings them. Their programming requires them to snort derisively at concepts like the one above. After all, the systems of this world are built upon the assumption that mankind is weak, stupid, and generally inadequate to a moral existence. As a result, most people have become addicted to bad news.

Nonetheless every day is a fresh start, a situation created by nature itself. So, please consider this:

What if, just once, you got out of bed and imagined that you were a fresh being in the universe? And more than that, a good, creative, potent being.

What if you imagined yourself free of obligations and intimidations, charting a fresh course? What if you looked at your life as if it were beginning anew?

Is it an intolerable thought that you should put aside your well-groomed fears, wake up to a blank slate, and hold that position for just one day? And if we can’t allow ourselves this one productive entertainment, what has happened to us?

You Don’t Actually Suck

Our opinions of ourselves are usually out of touch with reality. To prove that, you need only to slow down, clear your mind, and fill in a few blanks:

Can you remember a moment from your childhood when someone was notably kind or loving toward you? You have at least one, yes? So, in detail, what was it like and how did you feel?_______________________________________________
Can you remember a time you stood up for someone who was being unfairly insulted or abused? What exactly did you do, and how did it make you feel?_________________________________________________________
Can you remember a time when you did something because it was right, even though you knew you’d suffer for it? How did it feel to push through the fear and do it?_____________________________________________________
Have you ever done something out of nothing but simple, honest benevolence? How did that feel?_____________________________________________

Did you answer these questions? Did you relive the experiences a little?

You see, you don’t actually suck. You’ve merely been made to believe so… by people and systems who profited from your bad-news addiction.

What’s Life For?

You are alive, and this life you possess doesn’t have a preset direction; it’s you who choose where to direct it. Our lives have the meaning we give them, and we give them meaning through exercises of will.

You have immense capabilities, but only you can choose to use them. If you spend your entire life reacting to darkness and threat, you’ll never learn to be a potent being. Instead, you’ll stay in a tight little shell, talking about everything bad that happens in the world, seeking more and more bad news because it justifies your shell.

Does that sound like a good way to spend a life?

When? Ever?

So, when do we pull away from the carnival of bad news? When do we lift up our eyes and consider the radical possibility that we have good things in us too? When do we dare consider our virtues and abilities… and start using them as a first choice?

For most people the answer is “never.” Not once in a complete human lifetime. And that’s tragic. In fact, it’s premature death. Most people aren’t specifically choosing this of course – it’s a choice thrust upon them by authority – but it ends with them never living by their own light. Instead, they find a “doesn’t hurt too badly” groove and plod along until they tip into a grave.

But what if we picked a day and chose to live as if we were wonderful? If you’re so deeply terrified that that will lead to doom, make it your day off or a vacation day. Get up and spend that day as if you were a luminous being. Flatly pretend if you must, but do it for a day.

Is that really so evil a concept that you can’t consider it? Even a five-point Calvinist, committed to the “depravity of man,” has to admit that Jesus defended David for saying, “You are gods.” Is that not enough to justify a one-day experiment? And if not, doesn’t that void the gospel of John?

So, when is it that we choose to wake up and be wonderful, just for one day?

Pick One

Every tomorrow is a new day and a new chance to be wonderful. So pick a day and wake up to a blank slate.

Turn away from the knee-jerk objections that ram their way into your mind; they can have the other 364 days.

Try being wonderful. You might like it. Pull out your calendar, pick a month and day, circle it, and then do it.

* * * * *

A book that generates comments like these, from actual readers, might be worth your time:

I just finished reading The Breaking Dawn and found it to be one of the most thought-provoking, amazing books I have ever read… It will be hard to read another book now that I’ve read this book… I want everyone to read it.
Such a tour de force, so many ideas. And I am amazed at the courage to write such a book, that challenges so many people’s conceptions.
There were so many points where it was hard to read, I was so choked up.
Holy moly! I was familiar with most of the themes presented in A Lodging of Wayfaring Men, but I am still trying to wrap my head around the concepts you presented at the end of this one.

Get it at Amazon ($18.95) or on Kindle: ($5.99)

* * * * *

Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com

Bitcoin and the Beatles

I’ve been involved with cryptography since the mid-1990s. That’s when I had my “aha” moment and realized that cryptography creates a terra nova the lords of force can’t penetrate. Progress, however, was disturbingly slow. We had great ideas, brilliant people, and even some impressive projects. But nothing really stuck. Disheartened, most of us gave up on our world-changing dreams.

Then, to our great surprise, Bitcoin stuck. And now, finally, I’m facing the possibility of cryptocurrency making some of our dreams come true. And trust me, that’s not easy after years of disappointments.

Fun (and Maybe Useful) Parallels

As it happens, I’m starting on a series of stories just now, involving jumps back into the past. Part of the process has been to listen to old music to get a feel for the era I’m writing about. And that led me to my Bitcoin-and-Beatles parallels.

Bear in mind, please, that this isn’t only for fun. Both the rise of the Beatles and the rise of Bitcoin are social phenomena, tied to popular acceptance. There may be substance beneath some of this.

But either way, let’s have some fun with this idea.

Synthesis

In the cases of both the Beatles and Bitcoin, it wasn’t any single thing that made them a big deal, but a synthesis of several factors. Consider:

The Beatles: Yes, the lads were talented and hardworking, but in no way did they stand above the era’s best musicians. Paul was a competent bass player, John just an average guitarist, Ringo a professional-level drummer, and George a shyly inventive guitarist. Paul and John were pleasant singers and George was a competent harmonist, but none of them could come close to a singer like Andy Williams. Even when it came to songwriting (their strongest area in my opinion), it’s quite debatable that they were as good as, say, Goffen and King.

But taken all together… the synthesis was an earthquake. In 1963, the top 100 songs still included Henry Mancini, Nat King Cole, and Tony Bennett. Fine musicians all, but definitely rooted in the post-World War II era. In 1964, the Beatles blew the doors off everything that had come before, with nine songs hitting the top 100, including #1 and #2.

Bitcoin: No single component of Bitcoin was a revolution in itself. Diffie and Hellman had invented public key exchange back in the 1970s and Ralph Merkle, hash trees back in 1979. Bram Cohen defined P2P networking several years before Bitcoin, and proof of work was previously developed by Adam Back as a cure for spam.

But again, the synthesis was an earthquake.

The Acceptance Pattern

The Beatles (Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison) had been playing together for six years before the broader world noticed. Then they exploded. But after the explosion, as few people remember, they slowly faded. As we said, in 1964 they had nine songs in the top 100. In 1965 they had only four. They had four again in 1966 and lower on the list. In 1967 they had only two songs on the list. By the standard measurements, they were dropping.

1967, however, was the year the Beatles released the Sgt. Pepper album, changing the music business and making the list almost irrelevant.

Bitcoin likewise labored for years before it was noticed. It dropped onto the internet in January 2009, but few people heard of it until the exchange rate rose dramatically in 2016 and 2017. Then the world heard about Bitcoin, which promptly fell into a slump.

So, is Bitcoin’s “Sgt. Pepper moment” coming? Consider first that literally billions of people have no bank account and no serious hope of getting one; they are constrained to their local trading circles. They do, however, have smart phones, and that’s all they need to use cryptocurrency, opening the world economy to them. Crypto gives them more or less all the advantages banks can provide (and then some), with few of the hassles or fees. Consider also that the value of Bitcoin can’t be inflated away like government money. (The dollar has lost 90% of its value since I was a boy.)

So the answer is yes, Bitcoin’s (cryptocurrency’s) Sgt. Pepper moment is almost certainly coming. It may not be as sharp an arrival as the release of Sgt. Pepper, but it’s almost certain. People are not blind to what’s in their interest.

Further Parallels

Both the Beatles and Bitcoin had fleeting predecessors. For the Beatles, Elvis and Little Richard had shaken things up some years before, but they were mainly gone. For Bitcoin, the cypherpunks had shaken things up some years before, but they were pretty well gone too.

Both handled their fame admirably. The Beatles were suddenly influencing a hundred million young people while not far past boyhood themselves. But they behaved themselves and moved toward peace and love, admirable directions. Likewise Satoshi: He, she, or they got out of the way and stayed out of the way, which, in retrospect, was probably necessary.

It was just the right time. The world was ready for new music in 1964, but probably no more than it’s ready for new money now.

* * * * *

A book that generates comments like these, from actual readers, might be worth your time:

I just finished reading The Breaking Dawn and found it to be one of the most thought-provoking, amazing books I have ever read… It will be hard to read another book now that I’ve read this book… I want everyone to read it.
Such a tour de force, so many ideas. And I am amazed at the courage to write such a book, that challenges so many people’s conceptions.
There were so many points where it was hard to read, I was so choked up.
Holy moly! I was familiar with most of the themes presented in A Lodging of Wayfaring Men, but I am still trying to wrap my head around the concepts you presented at the end of this one.

Get it at Amazon ($18.95) or on Kindle: ($5.99)

* * * * *

Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com

Bitcoin and the Power Grid

“Bitcoin is evil” articles exist in profusion, and these days I pretty much ignore them. But one of the recent types – raising awareness of Bitcoin’s environmental unsustainability – has engaged me. As it turns out, I have an unusual background to bring to this topic, and I think I should contribute.

So, here we go:

Another Apocalypse?

Let’s be honest and admit that most of the “environmental movement” sells fear of an apocalypse. And as we should all realize by now, humans have an innate weakness for fear.

More or less every apocalyptic environmental prediction has failed. (I’m talking about those that could actually be measured, obviously.) That won’t stop the fear-sellers of course, and now Bitcoin has come into their sights.

The fear is that because crypto mining uses so much power, it will bring down the grid or cause various environmental disasters. The advocates of this fear throw around scary sounding numbers (measured in terawatts) and assorted scientific terminology. (“They understand it and you don’t… don’t expose yourself to ridicule.”)

But it’s mostly just fear. Sure, proof-of-work sucks up power, but that’s nothing new. How much power do you suppose all those millions of air conditioners suck up every summer? I haven’t dug up the figures, but I’m ready to take bets that it’s several times more than crypto mining. Shall we now fear the air conditioner?

Further Factors

I worked for decades in the electrical industry, and so I’d like to give you some facts from that perspective:

Power use has been going up since the beginning. These days most houses get 200 amperes of electrical service. But there are still thousands of houses that are wired with only 60 amperes. That was plenty 60 years ago. New loads (devices using power) come along all the time. In just my time, we’ve added air conditioning, microwaves, and lots of computers.
Mining is a nice, steady load. The kind power companies thrive on. What makes their lives crazy are seasonal loads like air conditioning, which occur only a few months per year.
Power failures happen every year, especially in summer due to the aforementioned air conditioning load. It’s a good bet that several fear-sellers have press releases ready to go for this summer.
The utilities are making money on this. More power use means more income.
If people use too much power, the providers will raise their prices. Econ 101.

And the Big One

Cryptocurrencies don’t finance war.

The public hasn’t actually paid for a war since WW2. Since then the whole game’s been run on credit. (The same goes, more or less, for everything Big Guv does to save us poor, helpless sheep.)

With Bitcoin you can’t do such things. If you want to throw a war in a Bitcoin-based economy, you’ll have to convince people to pay for it. Good luck.

Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com

More Revolutionaries Are Coming

The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
– Princess Leia, Star Wars

Assange, Ulbricht, Manning, Snowden… we’ve seen a slow stream of revolutionaries over the past decade or so, a few of whom became well-known. More will be coming.

The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.

– Princess Leia, Star Wars

Assange, Ulbricht, Manning, Snowden… we’ve seen a slow stream of revolutionaries over the past decade or so, a few of whom became well-known. More will be coming.

The reason I’m sure of this is that the two forces driving it are increasing:

On one hand, humanity is becoming better. You’ll never believe that if you watch “the news,” but out here in the real world humans are slowly improving. I’m tempted to say that I’d like the progress to be a bit more rapid, but the truth is that recent progress has sometimes been faster than I expected.
On the other hand, elite control, empowered by the internet’s parasitic “free stuff” model, has bypassed all known limits and is riding the numbness and compliance of the past few generations into new territory.

And so the best and brightest are increasingly caught between hammer and anvil. And when struck, they’re tending to see the entire system as retrograde and absurd. Which of course it is.

What happens when the young and healthy see themselves cast in the role of “the permanently abused,” then, is quite predictable, all the more so because they’re expected to thank their abusers: They rebel. As they should.

The Path Around Violence

You’ll notice that the four revolutionaries mentioned above have been fully non-violent. That of course is a very good thing and can be attributed to a mix of intelligence, information, and general goodness. What truly healthy person, after all, prefers violence as a tactic?

This, however, is bad news for elite power addicts. They need rebels to lash out violently. Their propaganda systems are designed to scare the rest of the sheep with images of violence and to use the whole drama to their advantage. That’s “their thing,” as John Lennon noted decades ago:

When it gets down to having to use violence, then you are playing the system’s game. The establishment will irritate you – pull your beard, flick your face – to make you fight. Because once they’ve got you violent, then they know how to handle you. The only thing they don’t know how to handle is non-violence and humor.

This is why, as you may also have noticed, all four of these revolutionaries have relied upon cryptography: because cryptography transcends violence.

You can bomb a car or a building, but you cannot bomb a math problem… and cryptogrphy is simply math.

The Crypto Platform

In the end, it is cryptographers who are preventing violent revolution, while the elites are provoking it.

And so, whether or not you think new tools like cryptocurrencies are flawed (and why would we expect perfection of anything?), it remains very much in your interest to support them in one way or another. We do not want violence, and the current system is pushing the young generation into it. Instead, we want abused young people to find peaceful, productive outlets, and crypto is pretty much it these days. (Though others would certainly be welcome.)

It really boils down to a type of equation:

Pressure A + Pressure B = Expulsion Energy C

Whatever values we plug in for these variables, we know that A and B are increasing. Humans really are improving and the elites have become degenerate control addicts; they can’t even see anything else.

Expulsion Energy C, therefore, will increase. We’ll be having more and more revolutionaries, whether or not they show up on authorized vid feeds.

It is very important that these young people find productive avenues. If they do, a benevolent future can form.

Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com

How Science Became an Idol

I don’t oppose science. In fact I advocate for it. But it’s also clear that science has been turned into a social weapon. More than that, it has been turned into an idol, and today I’m going to explain briefly how that happened.

But before I do, I want you to understand what idolatry really is. Whenever you hold something above critique – above reality – you place it as your god. Continue reading “How Science Became an Idol”

Google’s Mendacity: The Selfish Ledger Decyphered

Few things repulse me more than someone born with a genius brain who then uses it to befuddle others and turn them into tools.

A leaked video from Google showed up on my screen this morning. At first I was thrilled that we’d have evidence from the inside, showing what’s really happening at the home of “Don’t Be Evil.” But as I watched the video, my emotions changed dramatically.

This video, which was made for Google employees((I do not believe Google’s response that this was merely a tool for generating discussion. That ranks with “the dog ate my homework” for lame excuses after getting caught. I’m flatly ignoring it.)), was designed to confuse them into supporting their employer’s plans and to feel like they were smart for doing so. That pissed me off.

So, I’m going to decipher this video. Please read this brief explanation and then watch the video yourself. They’re admitting to precisely what Jonathan Logan and I wrote in The New Age of Intelligence, but the admission is wrapped in bullshit that makes people feel smart.

So, here’s what was said, all the quotes below are precisely from the video:

The video begins with a lesson on biology. Then (1:20) they jump from epigenetic theory (interesting stuff, though not precisely understood) to data produced by a girl on a smart phone… data that Google sucks from her, mainly without her realizing it.
They rightly say that the data taken from this girl (or anyone using such phones) “describes our actions, decisions, preferences, movement, and relationships,” then compares this data to a “ledger,” being “a constantly evolving representation of who we are.”
Next, the video goes into more biology, saying that “the driving force behind evolution was not the individual but the gene.” It goes on (2:52) to say that “the individual organism is a transient carrier, a survival machine for the gene.”
Now comes a big jump: While showing us the ledger book (and remember, that’s essentially you) they talk about making it “richer… by introducing more sources of information.” (3:12) Then they ask, “What if we thought of ourselves not as owners of our information… but as transient carriers?” So, you are a “transient carrier” of data, like a hard drive, and the ledger is, for lack of a better work, a precise copy of your soul (or psyche or whatever).
They further say that this digitized soul should be given “more inputs.” (3:15) That means that they want to add things to your life and mind. They’re not explaining what or how yet, but they’ve got their foot in the door.
Now (3:40) comes another leap: “Google would be responsible for offering suitable targets for a user’s ledger… topics would likely focus on health or environmental impact, to reflect Google’s values as an organization.” As the discourse continues, it says (4:01), “… if one of these options allows the ledger to move closer to the user’s goal, it is offered up to the user. Over time… the user’s behavior may be modified.”
Then (4:40) the video jumps to what might happen when “the notion of a goal-driven ledger becomes more palatable….” Here they’re admitting that people would be repulsed to know what’s being done to them. And so, it will take time before this becomes “palatable.” This is an echo of a comment from Eric Schmidt (a top-level Google boss), who said he wanted to get Google’s policy “as close as possible to the creepy line.” Here, however, they expect us to get used to creepy, after which they can get what they really want.
The video then describes what happens if you’re not sucking up the right information for Google’s goal. In that case (4:50), they’ll custom design a device for you, according to your “taste and aesthetic sensibility.” This results in “a custom object to trigger the user’s interest.”
At 8:39 the video moves forward into “behavior sequencing,” a reference to sequencing DNA. What they’re talking about is identifying every single thing, internal or external, that drives your behavior. This sequencing ends (7:50) with a system, “which not only tracks our behavior but offers direction toward the desired result.”
The video concludes with a Do it for the children narrative but with college-level vocabulary and sympathetic images.

So, let’s recap:

Google sees you as a “transient carrier.” (#3 above.) That is, the data you produce is the essential being, and you’re a mere “container.”

You, robot.

You shouldn’t really own your ledger (your most essential self), and they should insert information into your life. (#4, #6)

We’ll tell you what to think.

Google will choose what you should want and will modify your behavior accordingly (#5). How? By offering you new options or even designing custom devices that you won’t be able to resist (#8). They will make sure “your behavior” is “modified.”

Look at this shiny gadget you really need… and it’s free if you take a short quiz!

If this seems creepy to you, don’t worry; you’ll warm up to it over time. (#7)

It’s okay; you’ll come to love Big Brother.

Google will guide you to what’s best for you (#9). You can trust them; they love us and know what’s best for us all.

Look little girl; I have candy in the car.

This is how Google sees you, and whether you want to believe me or not, this has already begun. And please understand that Facebook does the same… and that the NSA sucks it all in.

But, hey, the accounts are free! Right?

* * * * *

A book that generates comments like these, from actual readers, might be worth your time:

I just finished reading The Breaking Dawn and found it to be one of the most thought-provoking, amazing books I have ever read… It will be hard to read another book now that I’ve read this book… I want everyone to read it.
Such a tour de force, so many ideas. And I am amazed at the courage to write such a book, that challenges so many people’s conceptions.
There were so many points where it was hard to read, I was so choked up.
Holy moly! I was familiar with most of the themes presented in A Lodging of Wayfaring Men, but I am still trying to wrap my head around the concepts you presented at the end of this one.

Get it at Amazon ($18.95) or on Kindle: ($5.99)

* * * * *

Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com

Justice Condemned: The Ross Ulbricht Case

I’ve been in and around the US justice system for most of my life. I’ve always had relatives and friends who were lawyers, and I worked as an expert witness for more than 30 years. And however much I may disregard the state as an institution, I hold great regard for the common law, upon which the US justice system was based.

So, when I tell you that Ross Ulbricht’s prosecution shocked me, please understand that this is not the judgment of an antagonist or a neophyte.

Just the Facts

I’m obviously passionate about this subject, and I think you’ll shortly see why. But I also want to present the facts clearly. And so I’m going to use blunt and honest wording, but I’ll also give you links, so you can assure yourselves that my statements rest on more than passion.

Here are the things you should know:

The FBI’s explanation of how it found the Silk Road server were lies. What they really did was almost certainly parallel construction, known in honest speech as “lying to the court.”
The case was clearly politically driven. (See here and here.)
A mere two months before Ulbricht’s arrest, the lead DHS investigator swore under oath that Mark Karpeles (of Mt. Gox infamy) was the “Dread Pirate Roberts” who ran the Silk Road darknet site.
Two federal agents investigating the case pled guilty to corruption related to it and are now in jail.
The government spied on Ulbricht’s internet traffic (along with others who used the same router) without showing probable cause and without a warrant.
The judge altered the trial transcript. The only link I have for this is from Lyn Ulbricht (Ross’s mom), but I was sitting in the same courtroom and heard the same thing. The judge said (and this is close to verbatim), “Last Thursday when agent Der-Yeghiayan was testifying under cross examination, I thought the prosecutors could have objected more. And so, over the weekend, I edited the trial transcript and removed all the testimony that could have been objected to.” The judge then went on for a long time, trying to explain why this was okay, even if it didn’t seem like it.
The prosecution’s forensic evidence was below amateur level. The tools used were bad choices, and when the metadata (the times and dates you see when you open File Manager) are exactly the same for every file, it’s inescapably clear that they’ve been altered. To then submit them as evidence is laughable… or would be if so much wasn’t at stake.
Ulbricht was neither indicted nor convicted for some highly publicized murder-for-hire charges, but he was sentenced based upon them.
Ulbricht’s sentence was beyond extreme: Two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years… for a nonviolent, first-time offender. And one who is seemingly loved by everyone who knows him.

There are more problems with this case, but I’ll stop my list here.

And Now?

A petition now stands before the Supreme Court, arguing two constitutional points:

Whether the warrantless seizure of an individual’s internet data without probable cause violates the Fourth Amendment.
Whether the Sixth Amendment permits judges to base an otherwise unreasonable sentence upon uncharged crimes.

Five amicus briefs, signed by 20 organizations, have been filed in support of the Supreme Court petition.

So, will the supremes pull off a stick-save? I certainly hope so. But even if they do, I’ll never look at justice in America the same way. What if Ulbricht’s parents hadn’t risen, heroically, to his defense? And what if the crypto community hadn’t donated substantially?

When I was a schoolboy, we were taught about Soviet show trials, where the verdict was decided beforehand by apparatchiks and a trial was staged to legitimize it. I never expected to see such a thing in America… but I did.

* * * * *

A book that generates comments like these, from actual readers, might be worth your time:

I just finished reading The Breaking Dawn and found it to be one of the most thought-provoking, amazing books I have ever read… It will be hard to read another book now that I’ve read this book… I want everyone to read it.
Such a tour de force, so many ideas. And I am amazed at the courage to write such a book, that challenges so many people’s conceptions.
There were so many points where it was hard to read, I was so choked up.
Holy moly! I was familiar with most of the themes presented in A Lodging of Wayfaring Men, but I am still trying to wrap my head around the concepts you presented at the end of this one.

Get it at Amazon ($18.95) or on Kindle: ($5.99)

* * * * *

Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com

The Blessings of Panarchy

Whatever complaints we may have about the US Constitution, it’s hard not to appreciate this phrase in its preamble:
[to] secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…
The problem of course is that the word “liberty” has been so abused that it no longer has a clear meaning. It’s used as a “hooray for us” term and not a great deal more.

Whatever complaints we may have about the US Constitution, it’s hard not to appreciate this phrase in its preamble:

[to] secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…

The problem of course is that the word “liberty” has been so abused that it no longer has a clear meaning. It’s used as a “hooray for us” term and not a great deal more((Properly, liberty is “a condition in which an individual’s will regarding their own person and property are unopposed by any other will.” Or in simple speech, it’s “where we can do whatever we want, so long as we don’t hurt anyone else.”)). Still, I like the phrase in the Constitution, and so I’d like to substitute a fresh term: panarchy. The improved phrase runs like this:

to secure the blessings of panarchy to ourselves and our posterity

That is meaningful, even within the storm of distraction and distortion that is our modern world.

Political Freedom

For those of you who are unfamiliar with panarchy, it refers to a condition of “live and let live,” explicitly including political choices. In other words, panarchy means freedom of choice, including political choice.

A condition of panarchy is one where you can choose what kind of government you will be ruled by, or choose to be ruled by none at all. That’s actual free choice… as opposed to the political version of free choice, which means, “Choose between the options we give you.”

The truth is that none of us in the modern West enjoys political freedom. We are permitted to fight about political details, but we’re not free to choose ways of life other than the ones provided to us. It’s because of this that political powers blather on and on about “liberty.” It deflects attention from the true state of affairs.

Bear in mind, please, that panarchy and political freedom hearken directly back to John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government and his definition of mankind’s natural state:

To understand political power aright, and derive from it its original, we must consider what estate all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of Nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man.

Also bear in mind that this was the foundation of the American Revolution. Among other things, Jefferson held Locke to be one of the three greatest men who ever lived, and Samuel Adams wrote this about him in 1771:

Mr. Locke has often been quoted in the present dispute between Britain and her colonies, and very much to our purpose. His reasoning is so forceful that no one has even attempted to disprove it.

Panarchy in Practice

Panarchy delivers political freedom, in addition to physical and economic freedom. Here are the kinds of choices that are available to us all under panarchy:

Do you think a constitutional republic is the best model of human organization? Great, go ahead and set one up.
Do you think a monarchy is best? No problem. Set one up. No one will oppose you.
Would you prefer a voluntaryist arrangement? Go for it.
Want to build an anarco-syndicalist system? Whether or not most of us think that’s a great idea, you remain free to try.

There’s only one limitation for any set of arrangements: You can’t force anyone into your plan. We all remain free to choose, with no one forcing or forbidding.

“But It Can’t Work!”

What this really means is, “I must kill that concept.” It’s seldom more than a knee-jerk opposition to something outside the status quo.

The wild thing about this is that the people who object have no way of knowing what they’re saying is true: Nothing but the system they idolize is permitted, and this has been the case for a long, long time.

The last time we had a chance to experiment with political freedom in the West was in parts of North America during the 18^th and 19^th centuries, before alternatives to the system were violently suppressed. And that went pretty well for those who stayed westward of power… even in wild country.

As for working out the practical details, that’s simple enough. The problem is that political types instantly demand a full, foolproof plan, covering every detail. That’s not only silly, but the plan would become obsolete on the second day.

The solution is simply to get out of the way and let people act on their own. That’s what free markets do, isn’t it? And they usually work quite well.

The demand for a perfect plan in advance is, first of all, impossible. Second of all, it would be almost useless if it were possible. Thirdly and most directly, it’s a delaying tactic; its true purpose is to freeze people in place.

Panarchy is moral. It’s a better model. It delivers actual liberty.

Panarchy would secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, and if not perfectly (nothing is going to be perfect at this stage of human development), it would certainly be better than the political systems that killed 262 million people in the 20^th century.

The bar for panarchy to surpass is frightfully low. All that truly stands in its way is superstition.

* * * * *

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I just finished reading The Breaking Dawn and found it to be one of the most thought-provoking, amazing books I have ever read… It will be hard to read another book now that I’ve read this book… I want everyone to read it.
Such a tour de force, so many ideas. And I am amazed at the courage to write such a book, that challenges so many people’s conceptions.
There were so many points where it was hard to read, I was so choked up.
Holy moly! I was familiar with most of the themes presented in A Lodging of Wayfaring Men, but I am still trying to wrap my head around the concepts you presented at the end of this one.

Get it at Amazon ($18.95) or on Kindle: ($5.99)

* * * * *

Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com

ROSC 21: Roll It Up and Move Along

Once you know a storm is coming, the only sensible actions are to either protect yourself or to get out of the way. And so it has become time to roll up the Jay’s Bar show and move along. If we simply vanish from view now, there won’t be much in the way of targets to destroy.

None of us, however, are about to deny ourselves: what we are, what we love. We’re still going to live our lives our way. But neither do any of us want to be locked into cages; that helps no one, save self-righteous enforcers. (About whom I can’t help remembering a line from Jesus: Whoever kills you will think he’s doing God a service.) And so we’ll simply change tactics and survive into another day.

The Crypto House looks like it wasn’t connected to this storm, so as long as none of us from the bar make things worse, they should be fine. But Esther will have to avoid the sanitarium for some time. (She and young Johnny have moved in together.)

The kids running the seminars face a harder issue. I’ve talked to them about this and they’re divided. Some want to just sell videos on the darknet and be done with it, while others want to keep going, albeit more carefully… doing it the underground way. I suspect that various of them will take each of those paths.

And what of Mike, our exchange operator in Poland, who is in the enforcers’ sights? Well, I’m as sure as I can be that his friends will warn him to move along. The Polish government is far too close to the US government; they’d pick him up in a minute if asked.

Personally, I hope he gets far away from the Western enforcement sphere (maybe to Southeast Asia). And that he winds down or sells his business, waits for the statute of limitations to expire, then comes back home for a visit. His record will be marked, but so long as he colors mostly inside the lines, they’ll probably leave him alone.

As for myself, I will cease reporting this story. This is my last dispatch.

But this is the closing of a chapter, not the closing of a movement. These kids have broken out of the status quo and have been exposed to the life of adventure. They won’t just give it up.

I’ve warned them, of course, about dealing with such storms: that you must not only be smart about it, but you must have a “why” for what you do. You need a larger reason than “to make money” or “because it’s cool.” If you don’t, the first wave of tribulation is likely to wash you away.

Nonetheless, some small number of us will suffer for moving the world into a better day. It has happened innumerable times in the past, and it’s already happened this time… and it more than likely will happen again. We’re moving out of an archaic and barbaric era and into a humane and open era… and that won’t happen without resistance; people addicted to status, power, and control will fight it.

But I do think I’ve shown these young people how to turn the odds in their favor, which was my mission from the beginning.

Further, I’m convinced that this will spread. As I was working on this article a quote from the psychologist Carl Jung came to mind:

[M]an doesn’t permit, forever, his nullification.

Man does allow himself to be nullified for a time. And this has been seen in the status quo world over several generations: in the docile compliance of the factory model, in the forced grouping and conditioning of government schooling, in the modern West’s automated obedience to authority… no matter how badly authority screws up.

But that’s changing now. My young friends are no longer happy being nullified. They could live on government handouts if they wanted – everyone in their generation knows how, after all – but they don’t want to be null beings, housed and fed by a monster state until they die. They want to be alive and self-determinant. They’ll take the blame for their errors and the credit for their successes.

This mindset, which is spreading, will eventually break up the old, archaic regime and bring something better into the world.

To wrap everything up, I went by Jay’s yesterday, to give Michele the news. He understood very well – half a dozen of his customers have been run over by the feds in recent years – but I think he’ll miss us. He very much respected that we were helping disabled people.

As I bade him goodbye for a while (I’ll still stop in occasionally), he smiled. He obviously had something on his mind, and so I waited for him to let it out. And it didn’t take long.

“You’ll be back with a new group in another 20 years, Professor?”

We both laughed.

“God willing, Michele,” I replied as I turned to leave… “God willing.”

* * * * *

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I just finished reading The Breaking Dawn and found it to be one of the most thought-provoking, amazing books I have ever read… It will be hard to read another book now that I’ve read this book… I want everyone to read it.
Such a tour de force, so many ideas. And I am amazed at the courage to write such a book, that challenges so many people’s conceptions.
There were so many points where it was hard to read, I was so choked up.
Holy moly! I was familiar with most of the themes presented in A Lodging of Wayfaring Men, but I am still trying to wrap my head around the concepts you presented at the end of this one.

Get it at Amazon ($18.95) or on Kindle: ($5.99)

* * * * *

Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com

ROSC 20: A Storm Warning

I walked into Jay’s expecting to find Johnny to be his usual gregarious self. And he was, so long as he was greeting people at the bar. Once we sat by ourselves in the restaurant, however, he changed.

I had never seen Johnny scared before. I’d seen him angry, disgusted, and irritated, but not scared. We were barely through the usual “How’s your family?” stuff before he jumped into crypto.

“I did some looking, Paul, and it seems like you’ve got a handle on this stuff. Do you really?”

“I suppose so, John, but there’s so much action these days that no one can keep up with it all. So I can help you with the basics but not on the newest things. There’s just too much.”

The idea that this crypto thing was expanding beyond the ability of its friends to monitor frightened him further, but neither of us pursued that avenue.

“Listen,” he said. “I know you’re a reasonable guy, even if you are a little crazy…”

We both laughed; I was always the crazed radical in our group of friends.

“But a lot of us are concerned about this. It’s like a genie let out of its bottle, and it may not be controllable pretty soon.”

It was the usual fear of control addicts, but Johnny is my friend and I wanted to help him.

“I think you’re right, Johnny, this thing is growing wildly, but I want to set your mind at ease in at least one way: With the exception of a few scam artists and a small fraction of just plain assholes, the crypto crowd are decent people. They may disagree with the political class on how the world should operate, but they’re not remotely interested in forcing their ideas on people.”

John was partly comforted but only partly.

“Yeah, I get that,” he said, slowly nodding his head. “The question is how far can this thing go? How big can it get?”

This put me into a bit of a dilemma. John is my friend, but I don’t want to give him information that he could pass along to bigger operators than himself. So I addressed only the currency aspect of it.

“The real issue is that this is currency. And it’s better currency. Right now all the cryptos combined account for less than 1% of world currency value. So the question is how much of world currency should be in cryptos rather than government currencies? Are the cryptos good enough for 1% of world value? 10%? 50%?”

Johnny shook his head and waited for me to answer my own question.

“I don’t know where it will end up, but I do know that this stuff is better in a bunch of ways, and people will eventually figure that out.”

“So you think they could really win?”

“I’m not sure ‘win’ is the right word, John, but yeah, there’s a good chance they’ll keep spreading for a long time and become a very significant thing.”

Then without skipping a beat, Johnny pulled out his iPhone and typed something on it.

“It’s from your cousin,” he said. “Cousin” is his slang for our mutual friend. I looked at the screen. It clearly was not an incoming message; it displayed only what Johnny had just typed. It said,

Laugh like it’s funny.

I did. The second line said,

Turn off your cell phone and sit on it.

I typed back,

I turned it off and pulled the battery before walking in.

He read it, we both laughed together, and he turned off his phone then slid it under his leg, while making it look like he was putting it into his pocket. And I quickly remembered that as we were seated, Johnny asked for a different table than the one we were first shown. Johnny’s better at cloak-and-dagger than I thought.

We each took a sip of wine and waited a few seconds. Then Johnny leaned in.

“Like I say, I checked on this, and a couple of the agencies are watching the group meeting at the bar.” I groaned a little. “The first thing that got their attention was the kid who flew off to Poland and opened an exchange.”

“I knew the kid, but I didn’t know he went to Poland.”

“Well, he did, and he stepped right into their sights. They’re paying a lot of attention to those exchanges.”

I nodded my head and said, “Yeah, I know… they have to. It’s the last control point and they need to collect taxes from this.”

“Yeah,” Johnny said, “they do.”

“And the second thing was the seminars?”

“Yes,” he said. “They probably wouldn’t have cared about them, but they think these kids are taking that same kind of rebellion on the road…” He trailed off.

“And so they need to kill it,” I said, concluding the statement.

Johnny nodded his head in agreement.

“Okay, Johnny, please tell the agencies two things. First, that I’ll do what I can to get the kids to pull back. Second, that they’re fools if they try to take these kids down in their usual hyper-aggressive way. Look at what they did to Ross Ulbricht: They wanted his head on a pike, but all the exercise did was make the agencies look like maniacs, turn Ulbricht into a martyr, and spawn a dozen new dark markets.”

“I didn’t know that,” he said.

“Well, it’s true,” I went on. “These guys have no idea how barbaric they look to the kids on the darknet.”

“I believe you, Paul, but I don’t think I can say that to the agencies; they really believe that they’re working for God.”

I quickly realized that he was right.

“You’re right, John. Don’t tell them anything. Say something about me not realizing how extreme those kids were getting and leave it at that. They’re never going to see what they don’t want to see. Let ’em screw themselves again.”

John and I ordered more drinks and went back to talking about old friends. He pulled out his phone and turned in back on. I picked up the check, we hugged, I thanked him, and I headed back home.

At least we have a storm warning, I muttered to myself as I went.

* * * * *

A book that generates comments like these, from actual readers, might be worth your time:

I just finished reading The Breaking Dawn and found it to be one of the most thought-provoking, amazing books I have ever read… It will be hard to read another book now that I’ve read this book… I want everyone to read it.
Such a tour de force, so many ideas. And I am amazed at the courage to write such a book, that challenges so many people’s conceptions.
There were so many points where it was hard to read, I was so choked up.
Holy moly! I was familiar with most of the themes presented in A Lodging of Wayfaring Men, but I am still trying to wrap my head around the concepts you presented at the end of this one.

Get it at Amazon ($18.95) or on Kindle: ($5.99)

* * * * *

Paul Rosenberg
www.freemansperspective.com