The Network State

2.3 Political Power and Technological Truth

1. Our reading

   New laws often get enacted the way untested code is pushed to production: unread, poorly monitored, slow to show results, and hard to opt out of.

   Their wordsnew laws are like code that is pushed live to production without even being read (let alone tested), often in the face of tremendous opposition, affecting millions of citizens, with minimal monitoring to ensure they’re producing the desired results, an extremely slow customer feedback cycle, and few ways to truly opt out.

2.4 God, State, Network

2. Our reading

   Strong encryption limits what governments can do in ways that legislation cannot.

   Their wordsEncryption thus limits governments in a way no legislation can.

3. Our reading

   The Network is becoming the next Leviathan after God and the State, because on key dimensions it is growing more powerful and more just than the State.

   Their wordsIn this sense, the Network is the next Leviathan, because on key dimensions it is becoming more powerful and more just than the State.

4. Our reading

   The blockchain is the most important development in history since the invention of writing, because it is a cryptographically verifiable, highly replicated, unfalsifiable, complete digital record.

   Their wordsAs incredible as it may sound, the blockchain is the most important development in history since the advent of writing itself, as it’s a cryptographically verifiable, highly replicated, unfalsifiable, and provably complete digital record of a system.

5. Our reading

   Private networks like Uber, Lyft, email and SpaceX already outperform their state counterparts — taxi medallions, the USPS and NASA.

   Their wordsAs mentioned before, Uber and Lyft are better regulators than the State’s paper-based taxi medallions, email is superior to the USPS, and SpaceX is out-executing NASA.

2.5 People of God, People of the State, People of the

6. Our reading

   The US establishment is not more ethical than the CCP on civil liberties, it is just less competent at exercising the same kind of power.

   Their wordsthe US establishment is not more ethical than the CCP when it comes to civil liberties. It’s just less competent!

7. Our reading

   It is hard to name a country that is better off after a recent US military intervention.

   Their wordseven the most committed American nationalist is hard pressed to name a country that’s better off after a recent US military intervention, something that wasn’t that hard to do from 1945-1991.

2.6 If the News is Fake, Imagine History

8. Our reading

   Before the internet, most Americans had no practical freedom of speech unless they owned or worked for a media corporation.

   Their wordsthe vast majority of Americans had no practical freedom of speech unless they owned a media corporation or were employed by one.

2.8 Left is the New Right is the New Left

9. Our reading

   Technology cannot let people escape politics, because politics arises from the existence of people who disagree with each other.

   Their wordsUnfortunately, no, because politics is about people who disagree with you. If you’re working with computers, or robots, or pure math, you don’t have politics.

10. Our reading

    Producing moral, not just technological, progress requires introducing new moral premises that invert what people previously believed.

    Their wordsIf you want to produce moral and not just technological progress, you’re going to have to introduce new moral premises that invert what people previously believed.

11. Our reading

    The primary global political axis has shifted from capitalism-versus-communism to ethnomasochism-versus-ethnonationalism.

    Their wordsThe primary axis is no longer the politico-economic axis of capitalism-vs-communism, but the ethno-cultural axis of ethnomasochism-vs-ethnonationalism.

3.1 NYT, CCP, BTC

12. Our reading

    The world today is dividing into three poles: the American establishment, the Chinese Communist Party, and the global Bitcoin/crypto network.

    Their wordsToday's world is becoming tripolar. It is NYT vs CCP vs BTC. That's the American Establishment vs the Communist Party of China vs the Global Internet.

3.4 Moral Power, Martial Power, Money Power

13. Our reading

    Establishment journalists claim to speak truth to power but never investigate themselves or each other.

    Their wordsThe establishment journalist claims to speak truth to power, but somehow never gets around to investigating themselves or each other.

4.3 Technoeconomic Axes

14. Our reading

    Bitcoin creates more upside and downside than traditional money because it makes users power users with no system administrator to fall back on.

    Their wordsAnother example is Bitcoin. It’s the Unix of money. You can send millions with a keystroke or rm your entire fortune. That’s more upside and more downside, by making people power users, and taking away the system administrator.

15. Our reading

    Satoshi Nakamoto and Vitalik Buterin are substantially more capable than the officials at institutions like the Federal Reserve, a fact the US establishment fails to recognize.

    Their wordsJust like Hollywood once compared Netflix to the Albanian Army, the US establishment doesn’t yet understand how much better Satoshi Nakamoto or Vitalik Buterin is than every apparatchik they have in the Federal Reserve system.

16. Our reading

    Most institutions that predate the internet will not survive it.

    Their wordsFew institutions that predated the internet will survive the internet.

4.5 American Anarchy, Chinese Control, International Intermediate

17. Our reading

    The US federal government has lost the capacity to build basic infrastructure, let alone advanced military hardware.

    Their wordsThis US government can’t build a bathroom in San Francisco, let alone a costeffective fighter jet, destroyer, combat ship, or aircraft carrier.

18. Our reading

    The Bitcoin Maximalist premise that Bitcoin is the only legitimate coin and all other digital assets are illegitimate is mistaken.

    Their wordsI disagree with the fundamental moral premise of Maximalism, which is that Bitcoin is the only coin and all other digital assets are sins.

4.6 Victory Conditions and Surprise Endings

19. Our reading

    Two-sided marketplaces show that not all economically relevant knowledge is local, contrary to Hayek's calculation argument.

    Their wordsIf you run a two-sided marketplace, you’ll find contra Hayek that not all knowledge is local.

5.2 On Nation States

20. Our reading

    Micronations like Sealand fail because they start from territory and government rather than building outward from a people and shared culture.

    Their wordsThis gives us a new perspective on why micronations like Sealand don’t work: they start backwards, from the territory and the government, rather than working forwards from a people and their culture.

5.3 On Network States

21. Our reading

    Movements built around a shared moral cause outcompete purely profit-driven ones, in practice as well as in theory.

    Their wordsmissionary societies outcompete mercenary ones, not just in theory but in practice.

22. Our reading

    A government is legitimate internally if the governed have consented to it, whatever form it takes.

    Their wordsGiven the consent of the governed, any form of government is internally legitimate.

23. Our reading

    Digital finance has become a weapon of war, as shown by the financial deplatforming of groups like Canadian truckers and Russians.

    Their wordsAfter the financial deplatforming of Western proles and foreign elites, of Canadian truckers and 145M Russians, it’s clear that digital finance is a weapon of war.

24. Our reading

    An organization that demands trust ends up with less of it than one that shows its work instead.

    Their wordsParadoxically, the organization that demands trust can get less of it, while the organization that shows their work - thereby not asking for trust - builds up more of it.

25. Our reading

    Law is tied to geographic location, so the ability to easily change one's location is the ability to change which laws one lives under.

    Their wordsLaw is a function of latitude and longitude, so if you can easily change your latitude and longitude, you can change the law under which you live.