As someone who spent a while in startup circles I once believed in Bridging the Gap within what now clearly is a digital gulag...
Bridging the right gap
Bridging the gap was all about identifying new tech which was poised for large scale adoption early on, build a company and/or product during and then after the initial surge of early adopters, so that you could really scale once the way larger wave of real adoption got started.
After 2020 it is clear that if we do this within the system all you're doing is building your own jail, we have to buidl outside of existing, fiat based systems. Anything that does not have real freedom as its core function and promise should be shunned and attacked.
An abundance of tools
A bit into 2020 all privacy and freedom oriented projects experienced a surge, and is there any really sharp minds these days that do not at least put some effort into the fight in the their free time?
We have all the tools we possibly need to bridge the freedom gap, many individuals have decoupled completely, and are well positioned to keep earning a living that cannot easily be taken away from them, of course including buidling and providing all of these tools.
But what about any average, freedom minded individual who is able to adopt tools and at least buidl something like a freelance career in freedom?
The real challenge
Almost anyone can start posting content, or even build microservices within the only free markets that exist globally: within the Bitcoin sphere and the Monero markets as the prime examples. The cost can be close to zero, and there are thousands of niches that can work well for anyone putting a lot of energy and courage into it.
But what about ROI? Not the "get rich and scale" ROI, what about the first weeks or months? This is the challenge, this is what we all need to rebuild an online civilization in freedom...
Motivation and long term thinking
Earning sats is a great experience since anyone who are here and similar places know that its totally uncensorable, and that its real money that will hold real value in the future, and in this context clearly value that is more important than the fiat buy & sell price.
Of course there is a lot of real generosity and examples of the V4V model working, and I'm not implying that we need to replace the fiat printers and state to prop up anyone trying. What is needed is better takes on how to really get going, how to get a million Freedo Startups going!
Hunger & Freedom
In the early days of the building of the Digital Gulags there was a lot of idealism, many coders and some content creators took on jobs for peanuts, and kept pushing hard until their project took off, or until they got a good offer from those that did. They were hungry, curious and open minded, but few saw that all they were doing was building their own jail...
Bridging this coming Freedom Gap will be even harder, but this time we know what it is all about, and that the fight is necessary and totally real.
Can buidling microservices and content bridge this gap for individuals? What if you can live for next to nothing for an extended period of time, would you be 100% into it?
I do have that option, and for the past years I've been cutting costs until I live like a peasant here in Asia ;-)
So this is my main objective now, and for the coming years, come what may: I will try to bridge the gap, doing as many days living on what I earn the previous day in uncensorable, real money like especially Bitcoin, and while doing so producing content around the process...
The future we need
Things look bleak and full of doom as of now, and wishful thinking is one of the main killers in the years to come. Yet for this one thing I will afford myself a not so rational decision based on gut feeling and deep conviction: freedom will prevail, through rough storms of all sorts millions of people will emerge with thousands of viable projects of all sorts, from all parts of the planet!
We will Bridge the Freedom gap, and I will be in that fight every hour I'm awake, and also some dreaming. And since this time around the deep motivation and vision is right it will be far easier than when I tried bridge the fiat surveillance gap ;-)