Bitcoin is a humanistic alternative – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion piece by Nozomi Hayase Ph.D., who has a background in psychology and human development.
The economic meltdown of 2008, with subsequent bank bailouts and a cycle of austerity, led to the weakening of the public’s trust in authorities and institutions. Bitcoin emerged as a response to this global crisis of legitimacy.
Now, more than a decade later, the economic damage created by the pandemic has triggered a further breakdown of the system. As the Federal Reserve’s endless money printing creates high inflation, Bitcoin continues to grow in popularity as a safe haven.
At the same time as the old economy is being destroyed, the leading global institutions have moved to reboot the entire system. The key organization, the World Economic Forum (WEF), themed “The Great Reset”, is preparing the rollout of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
CBDC versus Bitcoin
Agustin Carstens, head of the Bank for International Settlements, explains CBDCs as programmable money that gives issuers the power to control every transaction. By using these powers, issuers can restrict what ordinary people are allowed to spend money on.
In response to central banks creating their own digital currencies, the original cypherpunk and cryptographer, Adam Back, tweeted:
Now Bitcoin and CBDC, two different types of digital currency with contrasting functions, are racing toward global adoption. The core of this competition involves different visions of the world. The outcome of this race will determine the future of humanity.
Change of authority
The crisis of legitimacy triggered by the financial panic of 2008 signaled the demise of Western liberal democracy. This has begun to create a shift in the place of authority in our society.
The idea of democracy that inspired the birth of the United States was based on a humanist worldview. In the past, authority was placed in the gods, and the sacred text. People sought answers from the outside. They turned to religion, the Bible and popes for their decisions.
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A move towards democracy led to a shift in values. It placed authority in human hands, and emphasized the individual. People who sought norms of behavior outside themselves began to rely on their personal experience.
Threat to democracy
Yuval Noah Harari, Israeli public intellectual and historian, talks about how, in this crisis of democracy, a threat to the humanist worldview is now emerging from the laboratories and research departments of places like Silicon Valley.
Harrai, who is a principal adviser to Klaus Schwab, head of the World Economic Forum (WEF), points to ways in which science is challenging the history of humanism.
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He explains that scientists say that there is no such thing as free will, and that freedom is just another myth, an empty concept that people have invented. He defines emotions as biochemical computational processes and argues that there is no reason to regard them as the highest authority in the world.
Techno religion
Harari, who has been praised by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, and celebrated by tech workers in Silicon Valley, explains how in this twilight of democracy, authority is once again moving away from people. This time he states that there are no gods above the clouds that control human destiny, but algorithms and data in the clouds of the Amazon and big tech giants.
He describes a new revolution that is happening around this change of government. It is led by a “techno-religion”, the ideology that technology brings salvation. He explains that this techno-religion is a computer religion where “data and information become a supreme source of authority and meaning in the world.” It makes us believe that technology knows more about us than we do. It tells us: “Don’t listen to your gut feeling or intuition. Just go to data.”
As the spokesperson for this new techno-religion, Harari predicts a future without humanity. He says that humans like you and I will disappear and that the earth will be dominated by very different types of beings or entities. Under the new authority of algorithms, Harari describes how humans are seen as no longer spiritual souls but become “hackable animals.”
Warning to mankind
Some saw what was coming and warned of potential machine takeover of the world and elimination of humans.
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Julian Assange, WikiLeaks publisher and one of the notable Cypherpunks, was aware of this trend early on. He urged those who are technologically capable to take up strong cryptography as a non-violent weapon to defend individual liberty.
Assange warned us: “The future of humanity is the struggle between humans controlling machines and machines controlling humans.”
As central planners try to deploy CBDCs to push their techno-religious movement, a breakthrough in computer science has brought us an alternative vision of humanity’s future.
The value of individual freedom
Bitcoin, in its 14 years of existence, has provided an answer to the crisis of Western liberal democracy, allowing us to truly embody humanistic values.
It was an inherent weakness in the system of representative democracy. The mysterious creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, recognized that this system was not sufficient in itself to ensure the value of freedom and the place of individuals as the supreme authority in the system.
Those who gained control of the production of money have created an economic system that works to their advantage. Concentration of economic power in a few hands turned democracy into a system of control. With sophisticated methods of persuasion, through the use of propaganda and public relations under the guise of democracy, the population was exposed to the manipulation of their emotions.
By challenging the monetary monopoly, Bitcoin – the holy grail of cypherpunk – has enabled financial freedom. With the principle of “don’t trust, verify”, this technology places the source of legitimacy with individuals, for the first time in history.
Instead of residing in the clouds of tech giants, authority now descends into the human heart.
Revival of humanism
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The birth of Bitcoin has helped creativity and freedom of expression flourish, creating the resurgence of art. It is now inspiring a new renaissance of humanism.
Before the Renaissance, history was seen as shaped by divine forces. With the arrival of the Renaissance, which began in the 14th century in Italy, this view changed.
The Renaissance put man at the center of life. A man was seen as a partner in the creation of gods, to actively engage in shaping the course of his own life.
Just as the Renaissance emphasized the individual, Bitcoin Renaissance 2.0 now creates supreme individuals, enabling people to truly come alive.
A way to salvation via proof-of-work
People from all nations, from different backgrounds, began to align themselves with the humanistic ideals that exist at the core of Bitcoin. Through meetings and conferences, they now find each other. They begin to speak the same language and share values.
Transcending their cultural differences, they have become Bitcoiners. They are bearers of humanity, and begin to claim the source of authority in human imagination.
This now creates a humanist movement, which generates a force strong enough to counteract the techno-revolution.
Between Bitcoin and CBDC, we are now presented with a choice.
Worshipers of machine intelligence offer a promise of salvation, through which we once again become dependent on authority outside of us, this time, on external algorithms.
Bitcoin presents an alternative model for salvation via proof-of-work, where we no longer need to rely on authorities outside of ourselves. Through each volunteer participating in a network of consensus, each of us can participate in confirming our own truth.
While a path of technological salvation moves a society towards the post-human era, Bitcoin, pro-human technology inspires each individual to create a new world of humanism.
El Salvador (“The Savior”)
El Salvador, the country that first declared bitcoin as legal tender, has become a center of this renaissance 2.0. They lead the way.
Using Bitcoin as a tool, President Nayib Bukele began to stand up against the central banks and their financial imperialism.
While the leaders of the G7 members are trying to launch centralized digital slave coins, Bukele is engaging in efforts to increase Bitcoin adoption to open a path for self-determination.
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This attracts creative minds and talents from all over the world.
Paolo ArdoinoCTO for Bitfinex, the world’s leading digital asset exchange works to provide a platform for financial freedom. Along with his efforts to expand Bitcoin adoption, he aims to maximize decentralization by developing Keet. io, peer-to-peer Chat apps that are built without any central server.
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Can El Salvador, under Bukele’s leadership and his policy of economic freedom, engage people in proof-of-work – to organize a network towards the salvation of humanity?
Positive changes are already happening. Bitcoin Renaissance 2.0 inspires new ideas, bringing in investors and capital to help people build alternatives to big data and centralized cloud products, to enable freedom.
Securing the future of humanity
We humans share our destiny. The lives of all species are intertwined. Our choices and actions affect each other.
With the accelerated speed of technological advancement, as we are silently transported into a virtual reality, are we leaving our own body and soul behind? Without humans who can feel, what would happen to the earth, the ecosphere, the trees, the rivers and all the animals?
We Bitcoiners are guardians of this planet. Of practice self-defense and running full nodes that maintain the ecosystem, we preserve individuals’ autonomy. We can work to secure the future of humanity.
A network of messiahs created through technologically empowered men and women coming together is beginning to form a formidable defense against the agendas of transhumanism.
Bitcoin presents a humanistic alternative to technological salvation.
Hyperbit conization has just begun. The dawn of the new humanity is near. With hearts beating every 10 minutes, we humans can claim our freedom and responsibility to steward mother earth and all her creation.
This is a guest post by Nozomi Hayase. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc., or Bitcoin Magazine.
