Yes, [we will not
find a solution to political problems in cryptography,] but we can win a
major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for
several years. Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a
centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like
Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own. – Satoshi Nakamoto
Bitcoin
at its very heart is political. Though Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of
Bitcoin, does seem to be something of a libertarian, how the politics
of Bitcoin play out over the next few years is not clear at all. That
being said, Bitcoin is a disruptive force that will bring great
discomfort to the uber-wealthy and their bankers and politicians which
will have only one consequence for the rest of us: greater freedom.
When
I found this article earlier today, I felt it spoke very plainly about
the ills of our political and financial systems, but for the need to
bring some peaceful, persistent disruption. It’s often said that if you
don’t give people and outlet, their outlet will be revolution. With
Bitcoin, we just might get that revolution without the blood.
Enjoy the read.
Written by Justin King | The Anti-Media
George
Orwell ranks among the most profound social critics of the modern era.
Some of his quotations, more than a half a century old, show the depth
of understanding an enlightened mind can have about the future.
1) “In
our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues
are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions,
folly, hatred and schizophrenia.”
Though
many in the modern age have the will to bury their head in the sand
when it comes to political matters, nobody can only concern themselves
with the proverbial pebble in their shoe. If one is successful in
avoiding politics, at some point the effects of the political decisions
they abstained from participating in will reach their front door. More
often than not, by that time the person has already lost whatever whisper of a voice the government has allowed them.
2) “All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.”
Examining
the nightly news in the run up to almost any military intervention will
find scores of talking heads crying for blood to flow in the streets of
some city the name of which they just learned to pronounce. Once the
bullets start flying, those that clamored for war will still be safely
on set bringing you up-to-the-minute coverage of the carnage while
their stock in Raytheon climbs.
3) “War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.”
It’s pretty self-explanatory and while it may be hard to swallow, it’s certainly true. All it takes is a quick look at who benefited from the recent wars waged by the United States to see Orwell’s quip take life.
4) “The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history.”
My
most prized books are a collection of history books from around the
world. I have an Iraqi book that recounts the glory of Saddam Hussein’s
victory over the United States in 1991. I have books from three
different nations claiming that one of their citizens was the first to
fly. As some of the most powerful nations in the world agree to let
certain facts be “forgotten,” the trend will only get worse. History is written by the victor, and the victor will never be asked if he told the truth.
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