Originally written for Twitter:

The recognition that algorithms, influence operations, censorship, and policing are major issues is now the mainstream consensus view. It’s no secret that “free will” can very easily be hijacked or that a host of operators are aggressively attempting to gather information about you at all times. . In fact the word NPC exists to describe those in society who are no longer in control.

So why can’t anyone figure out a solution? They keep using the same platforms. A 1000 alternatives are born and then they quietly die, while the major platforms continue to march towards more control. It’s because everyone’s looking at the application layer, when they should be looking at the governance layer first and then the protocol layer. Communication does not need to go through the application layer. It can travel on the protocol layer, while appearing on any platform of your choosing. *This is currently a reality on Nostr*.

It may not seem like it yet, but this will inevitably become a fight for power and governance on a larger scale than we imagine. This is why it’s critical to solve governance because the protocol solutions already exist, while not solving the governance question possibly means staying trapped in walled gardens of technocrats for the foreseeable future.

If you thought “number go up” only applied to Bitcoiners…

The stock market’s “number go up” blinds the vast majority of Americans with say >250K household income of either political affiliation. This would of course lean older unsurprisingly.

When you meet normies out in the world, many can accurately describe and recognize the problems within society, yet they just cannot fathom that it could all end. The “number go up” is a kind of casino like hook that keeps them playing. It keeps their faith in the system alive.

If Buttcoiners obsess over “number go up” the same way, rest assured they will end up like the current stock market cohort. It creates passive holders with no incentive to apply this powerful technology to the question of sovereignty. This path leads to bitcoin becoming an institutionalized controlled asset with “layer 2 fiat”.

What do you think happens when all this printed fiat goes into a paper bitcoin? The price of the paper bitcoin would start to deviate from spot or self-custodied coins. Their goal would be to push as many people onto paper bitcoin as possible, so over time the paper would be worth more and the self-custodied could be confiscated or sanctioned.

This is the whole game and I am yet to see anyone else talk about it in those terms.

Terrible idea over here 👇 lmfao! It’s a who’s who of corrupt large institutions 😂😂.

This “consortium” or better described as mafia is attempting to attack Bitcoin from its weakest possible point, which is the developers.

Yes, nodes can fork to another chain but if you attack aka bribe the well established developers, you can heavily influence the direction of the network. However, this wouldn’t be an immediate takeover, but a long term coercion and propaganda project.

The financial establishment recognize that they cannot stop Bitcoin so Michael Saylor has been on a mission since 2020 to leverage as much Bitcoin as possible thereby linking it to fiat for good.

The goal of these pricks has been clear from the very beginning. It is to trap as much Bitcoin in fiat custodial wallets as possible and confiscate the rest over time or render self-custodied bitcoin essentially useless or “sanctioned”. Move people to a “paper Bitcoin standard”.

“But Bitcoiners will fight back!” No because it will be gradual and by the time they recognize what’s happening, paper bitcoin will be prevalent.