Revolution

[Chaoskampf]

The revolution won't be televised, but is it going to be orchestrated through internet forums? What are we really doing? I believe in crypto's disruptive nature in regard to present monetary and social systems, but are we the revolution itself? Will it be through this passive non-engagement that we'll overturn the systems of power and exclusive control? In other words, if we just go off and play with our own currencies and pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist, will it go away? Are we working under the premise that crypto will ultimately overtake the market-share of world currencies, rendering the status-quo obsolete (and in effect overthrown)?

I'm an ardent supporter of the Linux operating system. I believe it to be superior to the status-quo (Windows) in almost every way imaginable. However, I don't really have any expectations that Windows is going anywhere anytime soon. It has a stranglehold of most corporate computing, and through many different means, more software and services are written for it than any other OS. I can't change that. I can tell everyone I know how great Linux is, but I can't buy Linux boxes for them, and I definitely can't influence what major corporations are doing about their choices in computers. The centers of power (the major market players) are caught in vicious cycles, driven partly by their own influence of the very markets they are buying into and also by the market itself. Deviating from the well worn path presents itself with difficulties, despite how much more rewarding/productive/fulfilling the journey might be. I have to accept that fact that Linux is up against a system that has already been bought and sold by software monopolies which cannot afford to allow others to the table. They depend on exclusion, control, and an ultra-proprietary model of operation.

What I mean to suggest by describing the state of the computer OS ecosystem, is that hierarchically organized power is good at one thing, and that is attaining more power. This is its ultimate goal. Its medium of operation comes second place to its pursuit of power it seems. Monopolies don't have to worry about their products because they have no competition to respond to. In the same way, we could consider that the present banking and monetary systems are monopolies. Through their use of legal, military, corporate, and social engineering, they've crafted a rather comfortable seat for themselves in the global sphere. Do they really feel threatened by crypto? I know some of you will point to recent legal action as signs towards a positive affirmation, but do they really? Will oil reserves be bought in Bitcoin? Will Blackwater (or whatever they call themselves nowadays) be payed in Bitcoin? Will Halliburton be accepting Bitcoin any time soon? How about the bond payments due to China? What about BP? How about the major banks themselves? Will JPMorgan be paying its multi-billion dollar expenditures in Bitcoin any time in the near future?

What is my ultimate point, you might be asking...

I want to ask you one thing. What are you doing to change any of this? Buying weed off Silk Road? Maybe some video games or graphics cards from here or there? Trolling on the forums, or even worse, on the BTC-e trollbox? Are you day trading alt-coins? Maybe you're telling all your friends about crypto? Are you working on a Bitcoin startup? Maybe you're doing odd-jobs and hoarding crypto in hopes of getting rich? Are you mining? Is this your revolution? Is this what we'll write in the history books?

Let me state my point as explicitly as I can. Bitcoin will not change the world. People will change the world. Bitcoin is a symptom of a sick society, not the cure. You've become too comfortable with being a consumer. You consume things. Your food, goods, services, love, humor, compassion, pitty, and ultimately other human beings. As a consumer, you are fundamentally a spectator to the world around you. You are tossed in the wind, going in whatever direction the gusts will take you. As a spectator, your attention is fixed on what's immediately in front of you, and right now it's Bitcoin. Take a step back. Look around you. I don't need to tell you that we're in a load of shit. You already know that. But do you know exactly how deep we're entrenched? If you do, then you surely know we'll need a shovel or two. What's more, you'll know that things will have to get quite messy if we're going to dig our way out.

[djtriggz]

This really is a great post i can feel your passion in your words and typing style.

[WinVery.com]

Monarchs and Religions.  Let's hope those fads fade.

[herzmeister]

Bitcoin already has a place in the history books I'd say.

About consumption mania, that is first and foremost fueled by a centrally controlled inflating monetary system.

In an ideal barter economy of free exchange, there is no consumption mania or endless growth paradigm. You work something when you have to. The industrial age was made possible by fractional reserve lending.

[Mageant]

Changing the world the begins with changing yourself.

[RapidCoinz]

Great post from a passionate Bitcoiner!!

So true, people will change the system, crypto is the pretense by which we can instigate change but it invariably has to come from individuals.  I have faith the the BTC community is strong, full of people like this poster.

We live in interesting times, change is in the wind, we have seen numerous geo-political events shape history over the past 24 months, some good, some bad, most with the underlying desires for change, to break free from the status quo, whether that be monetary based systems that strangle the worlds inhabitants or the economic models by which we have been customed to live within.  The political system is next, its so far removed from ordinary day citizens that it is serving the interests of a few not the majority any more.

A wise man once said, be the change you wish to seek in the world... 

Thanks for posting this thread.

[genjix]

I want to add that everytime you purchase tobacco or McDonalds from these evil monopolistic corporations, you are supporting them. Just be aware of who your money goes to and who you are helping support. Many people are working against their self interest by voting for bad businesses with their money.

[desired_username]

I want to add that everytime you purchase tobacco or McDonalds from these evil monopolistic corporations, you are supporting them. Just be aware of who your money goes to and who you are helping support. Many people are working against their self interest by voting for bad businesses with their money.

Well said. It requires efforts and some research but well worth it.

Anyone else thinking it would be a good idea to get open source projects on the bitcoin "bandwagon"?

I would definitely donate to many projects out there including some of the linux distros.

[Kuroth]

Changing the world the begins with changing yourself.

Bingo...

[EmperorBob]

This really belongs on the Politics & Society board. It's not really about Bitcoin at all.

[Elwar]

What I mean to assert by describing the state of the computer OS ecosystem, is that hierarchically organized power is good at one thing, and that is attaining more power. That's its ultimate goal. Its medium of operation comes second place to its pursuit of power it seems. Monopolies don't have to worry about their products because they have no competition to respond to. In the same way, we could consider that the present banking and monetary systems are monopolies. Through their use of legal, military, corporate, and social engineering, they have crafted a rather comfortable seat for themselves in the global sphere. Do they really feel threatened by crypto? I know some of you will point to recent legal action as signs towards a positive affirmation, but do they really? Will oil reserves be bought in Bitcoin? Will Blackwater (or whatever they call themselves nowadays) be payed in Bitcoin? Will Halliburton be accepting Bitcoin any time soon? How about the bond payments due to China? What about BP? How about the major banks themselves? Will JPMorgan be paying its multi-billion dollar expenditures in Bitcoin any time in the near future?

This is what I aim to change with BitPools.

Going from hierarchically organized power obtaining more power to simply organized power.

I bring this up here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=266502.0

Power is all that matters, nothing else. Unfortunately the thread turned into a typical right vs left game of semantics so I locked the thread.

Will Blackwater be paid in bitcoins? Perhaps, or perhaps a competitor will emerge. Who will they work for? Whatever group of people wants to pool their money to pay them. Oil reserves in bitcoin? Maybe if enough people pool their funds and want to get into the oil game.

Baby steps first. The old games are about to have a new challenger and Bitcoin will be a useful tool as a new way forward emerges.

[Spendulus]

The revolution won't be televised, but is it going to be orchestrated through internet forums? What are we really doing? I believe in crypto's disruptive nature in regard to present monetary and social systems, but are we the revolution itself? Will it be through this passive non-engagement that we'll overturn the systems of power and exclusive control? In other words, if we just go off and play with our own currencies and pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist, will it go away? Are we working under the premise that crypto will ultimately overtake the market-share of world currencies, rendering the status-quo obsolete (and in effect overthrown)?

I'm an ardent supporter of the Linux operating system. I believe it to be superior to the status-quo (Windows) in almost every way imaginable. However, I don't really have any expectations that Windows is going anywhere anytime soon. It has a stranglehold of most corporate computing, and through many different causal channels, more software and services are written for it than any other OS. I can't change that. I can tell everyone I know about how great Linux is, but I can't buy Linux boxes for them, and I definitely can't influence what major corporations are doing about their choices in computers. The centers of power (the major market players) are caught in vicious cycles, driven partly by their own influence of the very markets they are buying into and also by the market itself. Deviating from the well worn path presents itself with difficulties, despite how much more rewarding/productive/fulfilling the journey might be. I have to accept that fact that Linux is up against a system that has already been bought and sold by software monopolies which cannot afford to allow others to the table. They depend on exclusion, control, and an ultra-proprietary model of operation.

What I mean to assert by describing the state of the computer OS ecosystem, is that hierarchically organized power is good at one thing, and that is attaining more power. This is its ultimate goal. Its medium of operation comes second place to its pursuit of power it seems. Monopolies don't have to worry about their products because they have no competition to respond to. In the same way, we could consider that the present banking and monetary systems are monopolies. Through their use of legal, military, corporate, and social engineering, they have crafted a rather comfortable seat for themselves in the global sphere. Do they really feel threatened by crypto? I know some of you will point to recent legal action as signs towards a positive affirmation, but do they really? Will oil reserves be bought in Bitcoin? Will Blackwater (or whatever they call themselves nowadays) be payed in Bitcoin? Will Halliburton be accepting Bitcoin any time soon? How about the bond payments due to China? What about BP? How about the major banks themselves? Will JPMorgan be paying its multi-billion dollar expenditures in Bitcoin any time in the near future?

What is my ultimate point, you might be asking...

I want to ask you one thing. What are you doing to change any of this? Buying weed off Silk Road? Maybe some video games or graphics cards from here or there? Trolling on the forums, or even worse, on the BTC-e trollbox? Are you day trading alt-coins? Maybe you're telling all your friends about crypto? Are you working on a Bitcoin startup? Maybe you're doing odd-jobs and hoarding crypto in hopes of getting rich? Are you mining? Is this your revolution? Is this what we'll write in the history books?

Let me state my point as explicitly as I can. Bitcoin will not change the world. People will change the world. Bitcoin is a symptom of a sick society, not the cure. You've become too comfortable with being a consumer. You consume things. Your food, goods, services, your love, humor, compassion, pitty, and ultimately other human beings. As a consumer, you are fundamentally a spectator to the world around you. You are a feather in the wind, being tossed around in whatever direction the gusts will take you. As a spectator, your attention is fixed on what's immediately in front of you, and right now it's Bitcoin. Take a step back. Look around you. I don't need to tell you that we're in a load of shit. You already know that. But do you know exactly how deep we're entrenched? If you do, then you surely know we'll need a shovel or two. What's more, you'll know that things will have to get quite messy if we're going to dig our way out.

Let me tell you first that I am an ardent supporter of capitalism, but not of kepto or narcissic government sponsored capitalism.  And I love your archaic 1911 drawing!  But in several respects you have it backwards and here is briefly how that might be.

In the late 1970s/early 1980s the personal computer arose, there was a strong demand surge through the 1980s and firmly established market segments in the 1990s.  This was CAUSED BY CONSUMER BEHAVIOR STRICTLY.  So yes, bitcoin can change the world exactly as the result of consumer behavior.  I could give many more examples of exactly how consumer behavior changes with technology and how in turn that changes the world.

EG, fax machines and the downfall of the Soviet empire?  Transformation of the the Chinese economy?  Look, the very anti capitalism systems of the Soviets and Chinese collapsed under technological influences, as they could not keep their tight controls necessary to maintain power.   These political systems were of course dreamed of initially by idealists and brave men, who fought for them, but only to find later, that the collectivist government was the safest possible haven for thugs, criminals and all other misfits who wanted an easy life at the expense of the masses.

[justusranvier]

Let me tell you first that I am an ardent supporter of capitalism, but not of kepto or narcissic government sponsored capitalism.

What people are referring to when they talking about the evils of capitalism is more accurately called "fascism".

[Rassah]

So many questions about what we are doing... Are you a government plant trying to find out our secret revolutionary plans? 

[Lethn]

Let me tell you first that I am an ardent supporter of capitalism, but not of kepto or narcissic government sponsored capitalism.

What people are referring to when they talking about the evils of capitalism is more accurately called "fascism".

Corporatism actually I would say

[justusranvier]

Corporatism actually I would say

Benito Mussolini was being somewhat disingenuous when he said, "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power", because corporate power is state power.

Only state power is capable of enforcing a rule that some people are immune from liability while others are not.

[Spendulus]

Corporatism actually I would say

Benito Mussolini was being somewhat disingenuous when he said, "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power", because corporate power is state power.

Only state power is capable of enforcing a rule that some people are immune from liability while others are not.

Lot of varieties of evil out there embedded in government, capitalism, socialism, communism, fascism.  The bigger it gets, the nastier it gets.

The old paradigm of communism vs capitalism really did crumble with the fall of the Soviet Union and Red China, let's move forward.  Or at least stumble forward.

[EFS]

I've been thinking about that for days. Bitcoin is definitely be a part of the Revolution.
I'd like to write more about this next days.

[johnyj]

I think the top layer should be central bank instead of capitalism

[2dogs]

Let me tell you first that I am an ardent supporter of capitalism, but not of kepto or narcissic government sponsored capitalism.

What people are referring to when they talking about the evils of capitalism is more accurately called "fascism".

Corporatism actually I would say

In addition, we have:

kakistocracy:  government by the worst persons; a form of government in which the worst persons are in power.

Corporatocracy: in social theories that focus on conflicts and opposing interests within society, denotes a system of government that serves the interest of, and may be run by, corporations and involves ties between government and business. Where corporations, conglomerates, and/or government entities with private components, control the direction and governance of a country, including carrying out economic planning notwithstanding the 'free market' label.