I've had this phrase in my head lately:
Freedom from predatory violence will allow the cybereconomy to grow at far higher compound rates of growth than conventional economies dominated by nation-states.
or at least, that's the literal quote; I was thinking about this in terms of mostly the first part of it. I had to search where I got it from, turns out it's from The Sovereign Individual, chapter 7.
In light of recent developments regarding the security of sats, we've clearly not realized this. People saying "I've done everything right, yet I lost my entire stack" is evidence that what consensus (per sentiment, consensus = the tweeter/podcast sphere) says is right, doesn't have to actually be right and the consequence is unmitigated vulnerability. After all, an unmitigated vulnerability in software that you run becomes your vulnerability: you inherit it.
The nation-state after all isn't the only predator; there are many more predators out there that may be worse for your your freedom than the state, if they target you.
Do you think you have attained any level of freedom from predatory violence?
And if yes, what are the tradeoffs you made?
It seems to me that IRL predatory violence from the state and predatory violence from others are opposites of sorts. If the state is strong, it seems that I have less likelihood of getting brutalized in my bed by a wrench attack. But if I don't pay my taxes, I'll go to a jail where they brutalize me in my bed.
Cyberspace (or the cybereconomy) is different: the state doesn't seem to be able to protect me very well in that realm. I've been scammed online before and I've had my data sold and leaked to everyone and I don't really know how secure my devices are (I have not yet discovered an attack, but given my abilities, this doesn't mean much).
I keep some money in a US bank account and it feels somewhat safe from predatory violence -- unless you consider the bank refusing to allow me to withdraw all my funds (or inflation or Bank Secrecy Act bullshit) predatory violence.
I keep some money in bitcoin. I have the keys and it hasn't been hacked yet. I'm reasonably confident that it won't be hacked tomorrow -- at least it's not something I stay up at night worrying about. But then again, neither do I stay up at night worry that the fiat bank is gonna screw me.
Maybe my biggest gain in freedom from predatory violence is knowing a little more about digital security...but if I'm honest, I've only learned how horribly hard it is (and that I don't do a good job of it).
So, if the question is "Have you attained any level of freedom from predatory violence since you started using bitcoin?" I think the answer is only a very little. If it is just since twenty years ago, I think the answer is no.
I think that this is a bit of a mirage, at least in my own experience with this is, as that is why I had to become a privacy and security "maxi"; I had such an experience in what is considered among one of the safest places on the planet in terms of violent crime rates. I don't think that this is universal and it does depend on your profile, though I've never been a public big spender or been rich enough to be one in the first place. It's just that sometimes less savory people can learn about things, draw conclusions (and get it wrong!) and then target you.
But, that's ingrained in me now based on personal experience, and it is why I went from not much, to no love for the state; you will never get justice when you're dead, no matter if they fry the fuckers after the fact. I do think that there is a lot of value in organized intelligence sharing, even popo tip lines (but not so much automated surveillance at scale - besides intrusion/abuse potential, that's too much noise, not enough signal). Awareness is key - it can help with prevention. Preventing violence beats criminalization ex post facto. I'm super biased on this though.
I think Bitcoin is just a tool. In itself it doesn't really help either way. You need process. You need to make sacrifices. I'd say that the underlying question is: what sacrifices can we automate to relieve negative impact, and which ones are pure meatspace ones that we need to suffer regardless of tooling?
That makes a lot of sense. I'm attributing the reality that no one has come knocking on my door with a wrench to the actions of the state when in reality it may be simply due to statistics.
In that case I think my answer may be no.
I attribute the same for me to keeping my mouth shut.
None of them can match the power or resources of the nation state if it targets you though.
Sure, I imagine just about everyone has achieved some level of freedom from predatory violence.
For my family, that's mostly come from jurisdiction shopping (voting with our feet). The costs are mostly living in a climate, culture, and geography that we don't particularly like, plus paying more to live in a safe neighborhood.
Do you (as a fam) feel that it has been worth the sacrifice thus far vs your prior situation?