chungkingexpress

tech

I'm wrapping up my two week visit to Shanghai and thought I'd share some reflections that might be of interest to the SN community.  It's my first time visiting in over 6 years, and while things haven't changed much on the outside, a lot *has* changed as I'll discuss below.  There isn't much here that's specifically about Bitcoin, because I mostly spent time with family and none of them are particularly into Bitcoin; but some of the thoughts are tangentially related to Bitcoin.

1. **We are already cyborgs**

    I struggled with how to summarize my thoughts succinctly, and I settled on this: we're already cyborgs. A cyborg is part human, part machine. I think that's almost a fair way to describe living in Shanghai. It feels impossible to live here without your phone and the associated (Chinese) apps. Everything here is done by app. Shopping, rides, food, payments, everything. If you tell a waiter you're ready to order they'll tell you to scan the QR code. And good luck trying to get a cab without ordering from an app. Cash is supposed to be accepted, but they'll tell you to use your phone. If you insist on cash, they might not have enough change.

    The phone is very much an extension of your body, like an appendage. It probably has more utility than your left hand. It's likely more central to your identity than your embodied self. Someone in possession of your phone and passwords can function as *you* more easily than you can in possession of your body.

2. **In a cybernetic world, interoperability between cultures may become harder**

    All of the above might seem convenient if you're already plugged into the system. But for someone who doesn't have all the apps and doesn't read Chinese well, the adjustment is quite difficult.  

    I'll give you an example from the airport. China needs you to fill out a health information form to enter. I'm used to doing paper entry forms. They usually hand them out on the plane. But lo and behold, in China you're supposed to fill it out on an app (which of course I wasn't told about until I landed). When I didn't have the app, the guard instructed me to download WeChat, which I used to scan a QR code that took me to the entry form. And of course, with it being all in Chinese, I needed the guard's assistance to fill it out. By the time I was done, all the other passengers had already gone through. (They must have all been Chinese and knew about the app already--I was flying in from Macau).

    Thankfully, my paper passport and paper visa still worked.

    This isn't the only example. Pretty much everything took longer to do, especially at first. Because everything required a new app, getting used to the interface, learning the Chinese terms for navigating the app, etc.

    When I noted my experiences to Chinese friends and family, they said that the Chinese now feel a similar discombobulation when traveling outside. None of the apps they rely on for daily living work outside China. They have to adjust to a new technology stack *and* a new language.  I'm pretty sure traveling was easier before this, and we got along fine with our grunts, gestures, and a few words of each others' languages.

3. **Authoritarianism makes itself attractive to outsiders**

    On the surface, Shanghai is a damn impressive city. More impressive than any American city I've been to recently. It's clean. The architecture is mostly nice. Technology level is off the charts. You feel safe (partly because there are cameras everywhere, and I mean literally **everywhere**. You can't drive 10 ft without some street camera flash going off.) My friends here are all well paid. They drive nice cars, are raising nice families, and seem to enjoy life.

    I went to a Museum of Urban Planning (yes they have that in Shanghai) and the designs and philosophies seem thoughtful. But there was a dystopic undercurrent. One presentation at the museum was about the "Future Vision" of Shanghai. They want to make it a city with "Global Influence," and as part of that they want to create a "Laureate Community" of world renowned scientists and scholars. Hmm, wasn't this the plot of Bioshock or something? And of course, this vision was complete with AI assistants everywhere and self driving cars and all that. It sent shudders down my spine.

    Then I thought about Shanghai and its role in broader Chinese society. Clearly, Shanghai is the trophy city of the Chinese regime. I reflected on the amount of input resources the city must receive and whether the city generates a corresponding level of output. My wife gave me an apt description: Shanghai is kind of like Dubai. The regime pours resources into making their trophy city attractive to foreigners, but it isn't an accurate reflection of the rest of the country. Unfortunately, I've never gotten to see other parts of China and I wonder how they compare to Shanghai.

    All in all, I felt *attracted* to Shanghai. It helps to have friends and family here already. And to know that they are doing well. I entertained thoughts of moving to Shanghai. But then I remembered how life here can be turned off with the flick of a switch, and I thought twice about the idea.

4. **This trip reinforces my hope for a global technology stack built on decentralized hard money**

    Okay, I have a lot more to say but should wrap things up. How does any of this relate to Bitcoin?  Well, it reinforces my hope for a global technology stack built on decentralized hard money.  The cat's out of the bag in terms of technological integration of daily life.  Like I said, we're all cyborgs, not just in China but in the West too. China is just ahead by a few years.  Ideally, our technologies should be interoperable between cultures.  But the problem with tech-integrated lives is the centralizing power it gives to the technology owners (or those with power over the technology owners). We've already seen how that plays out on social media in the West; in China the ramifications are even more severe. 

    What is the solution? I think people on SN already know.  We need more decentralized, open source, protocol-driven modes of interacting.  Bitcoin is the foundation because it allows for decentralized P2P exchange of value.  That is what makes everything else possible, because everything else is exchanging some service for value. Nostr is already trying to do this for social media, but we need it for other markets as well.  

    So my encouragement, if you are one of those building out this vision, is to continue your efforts and know that your work is appreciated and valuable to humanity!

Reflections from my time in Shanghai

SimpleStacker

bitcoin

Hill tribes are cultures that frequent the periphery of empires and large nation states. They are named hill tribes because hills and mountains have for centuries provided a natural refuge from the reach of armies, but hill tribes can be found in other geographies as well. Peoples living on boats, such as the Tanka people of south-east Asia, or nomadic people, such as Sinti and Roma or the Tuareg.

As empires have encroached the lifestyles of these peoples in an attempt to count, name and tax them, cultures have formed around evading this control, including their own languages, customs, diets, measuring units, and even religious practices.

### Barbarians
These customs, often branded as “barbarian,” protected these groups from assimilation, control and taxation. Examples include not recording a child’s parents or birth date, not keeping a permanent home, lack of schooling or writing systems or requiring absurd religious practices to protect the local industries.

With the advancement of technologies, states have been able to successfully assimilate many of the world’s hill tribes and capture their production. Tunnel digging machines, rail roads, helicopters, schooling, television, measurements, road names and signs, building codes, birth certificates or maps are just a few of the many ways technology sped up this process.

Today, geography no longer protects those at the fringes of civilization from being harmonized into it. With an increased ability to govern through technology however also comes dependency. The modern state has difficulties dealing with individuals and tribes that go the extra mile to evade it.

### The modern barbarian
Today, evading the state no longer means packing your things and moving into the mountains. The modern state will find you there, demolish your hut, confiscate the roots you carefully collected and  fine you for making a fire.

Instead, being ungovernable means carefully choosing and rejecting technologies based on their potential to control and surveil you. The modern barbarians often do not own a home, in fact do not have a permanent address at all, and if they do, then to farm their own produce. There are no bank accounts or “fintech” apps registered in their names, no phone number and frequently changing email addresses.

The modern barbarians still appear backwards to those enjoying the convenience of the surveillance state. They walk or bike instead of getting a ride share or electric scooter, and when they order take out, they call ahead and pick it up themselves. The most popular example of modern barbarians, the Amish, are easily recognizable, but other such tribes may opt to blend in optically.

Technology, when carefully chosen, can be a tool of liberation, rather than solely an exchange between convenience and control. While street markets have almost entirely disappeared, informal markets continue to flourish online, even inside gated social media communities.

The biggest challenge of the modern barbarians is the development and cultivation of a unique culture that helps protect and enhance their way of life, become welcoming to newcomers while suspicious of outsiders.

How can we form our own customs that protect us from assimilation, while also allowing for a meaningful identity, liquid enough to pass for stubbornness or ignorance where active resistance is the goal?

Further reading: [Paul Kingsworth - We must become barbarians](https://unherd.com/2023/03/we-must-become-barbarians/) and [James C Scott - The art of not being governed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Not_Being_Governed)