Notes: Paul Rosenberg — OPTING-OUT, TO PRECISELY WHAT? #hcpp19
My notes from Paul Rosenberg's talk at Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis 2019.
“Yes, we all want to escape the pressures and abuse of the reigning systems, but things don’t become magically wonderful just because we’ve opted-out. New structures and new ways of living have to be built outside, and even though we’ve made a nice start, it has been just a small start. We have a long, long way to go.”
I. Intro
- We are opting out from [the system], but we need to figure out, what we're opting out to.
- Most people just want to have a simple life and take care of their family. (So there should be schemes for those people, so they don't have to become shady cypherpunks to opt out?)
- Not every tradition is bad. We can also cherrypick parts of traditions to build current ones.
- Let's be careful about going too far from the current system.
II. Ancestors
- OG Christians had a good-expecting mindset, they cared about each other and had some functional systems that built modern Europe world.
- Christians wiped out slavery by replacing it with a new economic system.
- They did it out of beliefs, although it was hard change to push, because slaves were cheap and effective economic tool.
- Christians didn't fight Rome, they lived their own thing.
III. Parallel Model
This part of talk takes Jews to introduce system of spreading a community model and not to depend on state.
- If ten adult males lived within commuting distance, they were expected to meet regularly.
- As soon as 120 lived within commuting distance, they established a community and a court for disputes between themselves.
- Every community was to create a school, and provide free education to the poor and to orphans.
- Jews were expected to support themselves, so no one would go to a government for support.
IV. What shall we build?
- Systems geared for our abilities, not for our fears (regulations etc.).
- Placing the human consciousness above rules.
- Dropping status (and today's concept of hierarchy), and all that springs from it. Status = my standing vs your standing. That produces only conflict and division.
- Accepting that the great and good can grow in us. To renew the faith in good in people.
- If you want people to obey, the have to be a little afraid and not trust their own minds (and you bring the assurence).
V. We need transcended goals
If we want to function well, we need magnificent goals. Such as:
- Eliminating scarcity. To feed the poor. There already IS enough for all people.
- Expanding into the universe
- Becoming great souls. There is no image or template to this anymore.
How to do it: Take your peak experiences and examine them. What was behind those experiences?
VI. Closure
We have what's needed to build better society, since cryptography spread in all over the world, so we can build a wall and build the new world from within. But let's have a clear vision of what we are opting out to.
Let's connect on Nostr:
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