After having revisited some ideas promoted at the time of the #Occupy movement, I find myself confronted with where the power of idea comes from. Does it emanate from some ethereal realm and permeate into the physical, or does it exist everywhere simultaneously? Plato said that all such ideas come from the realm of Nous (νοῦς) which roughly translates as “divine mind”.
The parallels between the #Occupy movement and Bitcoin are quite startling. Did some computer scientist start a rumor that somehow went viral into a crowd with no technical sophistication, or does the power of idea if strong enough permeate into the being of every soul? To step into my shoes and see what I’m looking at, here’s an interesting video on the subject of #Occupy’s "proof of voice" consensus algorithm…
The call that was used, (“mic check”) is analogous to a bitcoin miner opening port 8333, finding a nonce for the block, and then the statements that issue forth from the block producer (or #Occupy speaker) represent the propagation of data across the network to all of the other nodes (or people). The fact that each sentence is broken up into a few words at a time reflects the scaling issues that Bitcoin is having with producing blocks. It is a weakness typical of flat, non-hierarchical systems.
The signs that were used at that protest such as the “twinkle” indicate agreement. Each of the people in the gathering reproduce the “truth” of the network and work on verification in much the same way bitcoin nodes do by relaying blocks of information issued by the block producer. Bitcoin started doing this in Jan 3, 2009, and #Occupy started this Sept 17, 2011. The parallels are astonishing…
- lack of hierarchy (leaderlessness)
- a decentralized means for achieving consensus
- process for protester voices to be heard called the “stack” (analogous to the stack and heap in computer science)
- a simple non Turing complete hand signal protocol that serves as a language for protest coordination
- propagation of information in small packets at a time (incomplete sentences for us mere humans)
- the block symbol (not to be confused with the block reward) at #Occupy resembles a Bitcoin fork
Where #Occupy went wrong and what this implies for Bitcoin
I’ve read through several articles on this subject and all of them seem to reproduce the opinion of authority, which is a false narrative of the actual social phenomenon. Many stated that it failed due to “lack of good leadership” and another common complaint was the "failure to state clear demands or objectives".
The "we don't know what they want" complaint should have been met with "you're no longer relevant to what is wanted" response. This is because true anarchy has no need to state a clear demand or objective. Such calls are really attempts to keep one working within the system authority chooses to make sure that authority has control.
Authority has currently taken a soft position on maintenance of control, preferring the use of stealth surveillance and subterfuge to confuse the sheep as to what is really going on. The last protest that addressed an issue that was a threat to the power of authority was this one. All other protests since then have failed to address what is really wrong and why. In fact, since then all further protests actually worked in favor of centralization of authority.
How #Occupy was Defeated: the Sybil Attack
Authority was motivated to not allow this to continue because it attacked the heart of centralized control (the banks). They used agent provocateur’s (think treacherous nodes) and other disintermediation techniques to disrupt these protests because they were getting dangerously close to the real issues. Ultimately #Occupy failed because it became centralized. Once authority provoked some into using coercion techniques which motivated some to take charge, the mayors shut them down by taking them out.
#Occupy was actually one of the first instances of a leaderless movement and interestingly paralleled the decentralized ideals of bitcoin that was at the time mostly off the radar. It was in essence an early social manifestation of an attempted solution to the Byzantine generals problem of network consensus. Unfortunately it failed to reach consensus due to the treachery of agent provocateur’s who were successful in centralizing the movement.
While some of the spirit of the 1960’s returned, the situation this time is much different. The level of power that authority has achieved is completely unparalleled in all of human history. It has become so powerful that most of you are confused about what really controls you. Hint: it isn’t Trump. If you got all upset and thought that a vote for either Hillary or Trump was a life and death decision, you’ve been duped once again by the masters of centralized control.
Sometimes the impulse for change is interpreted in the terms of what we know from the past. What #Occupy misinterpreted was that protest needs a physical act. This time, a successful protest should not be as much a physical act as a virtual act. The physical nature of crowds leans toward centralization, but cyberspace has no central location. This field offers the greatest chance for success without spilling blood. This time authority actually hopes you'll line up in crowds. Unlike the 60's, this time they're ready for summary execution against all who oppose banking interests. The stakes are too high.
A Cryptocurrency Blood Transfusion is what’s needed to rid the World of Political Parasites
The world is coming to a crossroad within the next 2 - 5 years. Most of the population will be forced to choose which road to follow by then, or the choice will be made for you. The default choice is tyranny and slavery in developed nations, and financial exclusion or extermination in undeveloped nations. But there will come a time when having a foot in both worlds will be impossible because their positions will be too divergent to maintain harmoniously.
You will have to choose your God: whether you serve the USD or other centralized digital currency or choose to take the exit in the form of various decentralized cryptocurrencies. All of you will have to make a decision about where you stand by the early 2020’s. That choice at the most fundamental level, will be of how you accept payment, for no other power trumps this one power that all people have.
Donations (public bitcoin address):
3FwxQsa7gmQ7c1GXJyvDTqmT6CM3mMEgcv
