Amir Taaki, one of Forbes 30 under 30, is a British-Iranian anarchist and software developer. I had the chance to meet him and listen to some of his ideas at the 2014 Bitcoin Expo in Toronto (this post isn’t about bitcoin though) during the weekend of April 11th. I instantly fell in love with his way of thinking as it is exactly how I feel.
Here is a great piece he wrote on what it means to be human.
As humans, we share little in common. But that little we do share is the deep core of our being. We search for purpose. We are curious. And we thrive on new information. Our self-awareness, rationality and sapience are the high level features that make up a person. They are our capacity for
good or evil.
As people, we need to ask ourselves whether we act with purpose, intent and ambition, ask how are we defining ourselves, and what are the values that our lives are promoting.
Are you taking concrete steps now to achieve your objective?
It’s important we ask ourselves these questions, and decide which end of the spectrum between liberty and security we fixate on. A safe life of luxury, and comfort closed in by 4 walls. Or a life of freedom. Freedom to make love, play loud music, create art, wrestle naked, and raise confident kids that think.
In criticizing the world we’re born into, it’s easy to point the finger at this or that politician or resign problems to circumstance. And with the perceived lack of power to concede the situation is unfixable and utterly broken. But if we want to know who to blame, we need only to look into a
mirror. We support the situation. It is people, not rulers, who create the world of today.
Some of us conclude that the situation is just a normal state of affairs, and simply human nature. As if there were one human nature! And disregarding that we all evolve and grow as people in different directions during our lives.
Think of the values we are taught as children. How we are taught to behave as civic citizens. The phrases we are told by our parents, teachers and friends. The system is not just the state and corporations, it is a machine encompassing all spheres of life.
You might hear for example:
Respect for authority figures is a sign of maturity.
Men with good jobs dress smart and respectably.
Work hard for a good job and a good life. Retire young.
Don’t talk to strangers.
Life is about money. Money makes the world go round.
I was told all of these sentences in my life. That learning to accept authority is an inevitable part of growing up. That my character is defined by how I look, not how I act. That my single purpose is to be a work-slave. To avoid interaction with random unknowns outside my circle. And that
responsibility starts and stops with myself.
All of them are bad values.
We are not born with these values. They are hard-wired into us from a young age. Luckily knowledge feeds the unlearning process and the internet is an unlearning tool.
Have you ever questioned the 15 years of our precious childhood from kindergarten to highschool. We attend a prison with fixed schedules and dinner at an allocated time. We’re forced to wear uniforms. If you want to speak, you need to raise your hand. If you need the toilet, you must ask permission. And the lessons amount to little more than drilling information with the given promise of honours and qualifications.
The reward for faithfully jumping through all these hoops for 15 years is a worthless piece of paper that isn’t even required for a job at McDonalds. And the workers still need training. Our children aren’t taught how to cook a healthy meal, grow a garden or even a rudimentary concept of how to organize or lead groups of people without even a glimmer of understanding on how to resolve conflicts without violence. Or the principles of logic, and how to question an ideology. Kids are taught to sit at a desk and listen obediently as the world is packaged into neat boxes.
School is little more than a training camp for salaried drones designed to format young minds for a life of subservience, too stupid to question the system itself or the authority of those running it. We are not born with bad values. They are wired into us from a young age.
Lets talk about good values.
Responsibility is about fulfilling your needs to have a dignified existence, and then expanding that circle to the people around you. To help bring up and out the potential of other free people so that together we thrive. Community and collective action is absolutely essential if we want to rise up.
The system thrives by separating people into isolated pockets who get their information from TV and their culture from corporations. United together, we are stronger.
“Vires in numeris”
Independence and autonomy is the ability to act. If we always need third parties and central organisations to resolve disputes, solve our problems and coordinate us then we are doomed as a species. Central authorities are always a magnet for corruption and that will never change. Learn to
be self reliant and make things happen.
Understanding is not an easy skill to develop, but it is very powerful. Being able to get into people’s minds, to listen and be able to meet their needs is leadership. A leader serves and inspires people into action, whereas a ruler uses coercion. For all their grandeur and force, rulers cannot harness the
real potential of people. Nobody thinks under duress.
We need assertive individuals who stand unyielding for what they believe in. If you know something is right, then fight for your vision. It will happen. The system feeds off passivity, and giving consent to its exclusive hold of force feeds the machine.
Lastly lets approach the world as artists, and bring creativity to our work. The world is diverse, colourful and vibrant. Humans are not meant to live in little boxes and grey concrete jungles. Live art and be creative. Your work is art. Good art makes people think and feel.
The role of good people is the vanguard of tomorrow.
“The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
~ Plato
It’s an old story. David vs Goliath. Starfleet rebels vs galactic deathstar. Anarchist revolutionaries vs the fascist empire. Both sides have existed for centuries and the struggle continues. However in recent decades with the unique political situation, the internet and a dawning awareness among
people, the balance of power is shifting in our favour this time around.
Humans can look to a future less dominated by the command hierarchies of the past, and more by thriving marketplaces of knowledge and merit.
The rest of this post relates to Bitcoin as this excerpt was pulled from the Libbitcoin’s manifesto and is not a neccesary read, but it is still recommended if you want to understand how Bitcoin is an ideology, not just a technology.
I remember an amateur blue webpage in the summer of 2010 describing a peer-to-peer currency that “cannot be controlled by governments or central banks”. Extremely skeptical, I dived into the code and discovered an idea which burnt itself in my memory. My mind latched onto Bitcoin. I realised this unknown project is the future of money.
Bitcoin is a tool of resistance gifted to us by Satoshi. The idea has escaped and the idea of cryptocurrency will not be stopped. Bitcoin or some other cryptocurrency will succeed.
Bitcoin is about direct trade from peer to peer. The purest value transfer possible between 2 or more people. A direct and personal interaction over digital infrastructure. Welcome to the future of the black market. Real values, real people and uncorrupted markets.
The internet is a tool of freedom and self-determination. Meddling in its mechanics is destructive. Whenever a website is blocked, a protocol is corrupted at some low level or undesirable traffic shaping occurs then seismic ripples of censorship and destruction lead to degradation of the
network. The internet is fundamental to humanity, and must be protected at all costs.
Bitcoin is no different, and must be kept pure.
The rest of the manifesto (this was only half!) dives into Bitcoin even more and is definitely worth reading. If you want to dive deeper into it head on over to the Libbitcoin Manifesto and start at page 5!
If this post reflects some of your thoughts and way of thinking then check our my page on facebook or twitter. Who knows, you might find some of the stuff I share interesting.
