*The uncomfortable truth: you cannot build a low time preference civilization on high time preference behaviour. You cannot achieve freedom through convenience. You cannot create parallel systems by taking the path of least resistance through KYC'd institutions. Every shortcut is a compromise. Every compromise is a step toward capture* View quoted note →

*The modern attention economy already rewards intimacy more than craftsmanship, virality more than virtue, spectacle more than service. This is not prudish moralizing but it is an economic signal. When eroticized content consistently outcompetes sustained skill and long-term contribution in income generation, the incentive structure has inverted. When money dies, virtues follow. OF's rise isn't liberation; it's a symptom of this rot, where bodies become currency in a system where actual currency falters.* View quoted note →

*Adam Fergusson’s When Money Dies … shows that when money loses its integrity, society loses its sense of proportion. Signals invert. Prudence is punished. Speculation is rewarded.* View quoted note →

*Failure is a few errors in judgement repeated everyday.* View quoted note →

*Superiority alone guarantees nothing in markets shaped by network effects, institutional capture, and human psychology.* View quoted note →

*“moving out” only works for the fraction of humans privileged enough to emigrate.* View quoted note →

*sometimes the archipelago moves faster than the empire* View quoted note →

Interesting but how would you resolve the apparent conflict of not trusting the state on the one hand but requiring the state to enforce compulsory military service on the other hand? *if you want to destroy a society, you have to also end compulsory military service, in order to empower criminals and terrorists, who are the enemy of the people.* View quoted note →

*The purpose of empire is to maintain privilege for oligarchs. When it becomes cost prohibitive to take from outside the borders of the country, then they take from inside, which means impoverishing the populace and state infringement of their rights. The true purpose of democracy is to create a narrative that disarms the people, allowing the empire to grow tall if wide isn't an option.* View quoted note →

*To try to be happy is to try to build a machine with no other specification than that it shall run noiselessly.* - Robert Oppenheimer That quote from Robert Oppenheimer is a striking metaphor about the futility of pursuing happiness as an end in itself. When he says, *“To try to be happy is to try to build a machine with no other specification than that it shall run noiselessly,”* he’s making a philosophical point: a machine (or a life) requires purpose, design, and direction — not just the absence of disturbance. Happiness, in this view, isn’t something you achieve by chasing it directly. It emerges as a byproduct of meaningful activity, purpose, or engagement — much like a well-built machine operates smoothly *because* it performs a defined function well, not because it was built merely to avoid noise. His comment echoes themes found in both Aristotle’s *eudaimonia* (flourishing through virtue and purpose) and modern psychology’s findings on *flow* — the idea that fulfillment arises not from seeking pleasure, but from immersion in tasks that challenge and engage your capacities. (Perplexity)

*Stephenson 2-18 isn’t just big; it’s cosmic hubris made plasma.Our Sun, the unquestioned ruler of our sky, is a mere speck next to it… …it’s there, right now: a swollen, crimson ember the size of a planetary system, quietly reminding us that in the universe’s ledger of extremes, our Sun doesn’t even register as http://average.It’s not just a star. It’s a warning label on the cosmos: “Objects in telescope may be more terrifying than they appear.”*

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Black Hole (@konstructivizm) on X

Imagine a star so obscenely large that the phrase “larger than life” feels insulting.Stephenson 2-18 isn’t just big; it’s cosmic hubris mad...

If Bitcoin is a battery for fiat money, will it inadvertently extend the lifespan of fiat money? 🤔

He who pays the piper calls the tune.

Stacker News

8 Principles for Private Sovereign Businesses \ stacker news ~AGORA

Thanks Lux for sharing this video, it really well summarize in 8 principles a years' long process that bring us all to operate in private as sovere...

*you aren't "informed." You are being optimized for engagement* View quoted note →

*It’s not theft by the cashier. It’s extraction by design.* View quoted note →

😑 *Barclays estimated that more than half of US GDP growth in 2025 came from AI related investment. People know that we are staking the economy on something that doesn’t really promise much other than hey :) this thing will take your job :) and it’s gonna do art now :) and maybeee make a lot of people real rich but your electricity bill (which is already flipping voters) is going to go up. And China might win. Also, it’s against the terms of service to kill yourself* Kyla Scanlon

*Confidence, optimism, and long-term thinking all require mental spaciousness. If the information environment becomes chaotic, the emotional environment will be too. And if attention is the infrastructure of democracy, that infrastructure is in disrepair.* Kyla Scanlon