Good Morning Everyone,
Upon watching the original Matrix film from 1999 last night this quote from the end of the movie caught my attention.
"I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end - I came here to tell you how it's going to begin.
I'm going to hang up this phone, and then i'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world; without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world; where anything is possible.
Where we go from there, is a choice i leave to you."
— Neo
It caught my attention for a number of reasons.
It’s as if it were written about bitcoin and bitcoiners. “I know you’re afraid. You’re afraid of us. You’re afraid of change“. This is reality for a significant number of humans, perhaps a majority, and this fear against both change and a cohort of individuals championing this change is leveraged. A classic example is in the ongoing attacks on Bitcoin Maximalism, by those trying to defend thieving scammers and who wish to profit from Ponzi schemes like Terra Luna at the expense of others. But this is where the battle is won and lost. It is a battle for hearts and minds. It is a battle of information. It is a meme war. Those that remain in closed states, who fear change and perhaps fear the brazen so-called “toxicity“ of bitcoiners, which is more often than not just raw honesty, often fail to recognise that one cohort of individuals intent is to deceive, distract and control, while the other (bitcoiners) is to free and empower you.
It highlights the ongoing nature of this fight and serves as a reminder that this wrestle for power is not a new one. However it is somewhat novel and more pronounced in the digital age, as we have lost many fundamental rights that were previously non-contentious. The privacy of the individual is at the heart of this, along with freedom of speech. Which is simply freedom of informational transmission. This is not fundamentally possible, however it is possible in a legal sense. It’s possible to create a legal framework opposing free speech if the minds of the many within a society become disturbed enough and distanced enough from the deep truths as to why this freedom of informational transmission is so critical.
It is a poignant reminder of how powerful the technology of bitcoin is, and how so many that have come before us have strived for such an innovation. And it has never been as important as it is now in the digital age. Rules without rulers. The borderless, censorship resistant transmission of information by anyone to anyone.
It is impossible to know how this ends, but how it begins is simple. By opting-in. Bitcoin has shown many that a world without rulers over the technology of money is possible. It has shown us a brand new kind of money, that is entirely novel to humans in the digital age. A money that is open, public and decentralized, instead of the closed, permissioned and centralized systems of fiat.
Hope this finds you well. Wishing you well as always.
Have a great week and i’ll chat to you tomorrow.
AK
#123 There Is No Spoon