This is an opinion piece by Nozomi Hayase Ph.D., who has a background in psychology and human development.
The 2008 financial crisis, followed by bank bailouts and a cycle of austerity, led to weakening public trust in governments and institutions. Bitcoin emerged as a response to this global legitimacy crisis.
Now, more than a decade later, the economic damage wrought by the pandemic has triggered yet another system collapse. As the Federal Reserve’s endless money printing creates high inflation, Bitcoin is steadily increasing in popularity as a safe haven.
At the same time, as the old economy is being destroyed, major global institutions have stepped forward to restart the whole system. The key organization, the World Economic Forum (WEF), whose theme is “The Great Reset”, is preparing the rollout of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
CBDC versus Bitcoin
Agustin Carstens, director of the Bank for International Settlements, explains that CBDCs are programmable money that gives issuers the power to control every transaction. 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, original cypherpunk and cryptographer, Adam Back tweeted:
Link to the Tweet embedded here.
Today, Bitcoin and CBDCs, two different types of digital currency with contrasting characteristics, are racing towards global adoption. The core of this contest involves different worldviews. 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 marked the end of western liberal democracy. This began to create a shift in the locus of authority in our society.
The idea of democracy that inspired the birth of the United States was based on a humanistic worldview. In the past, authority was placed in the gods and the sacred text. People were looking for answers from outside. They looked to religion, the Bible and the popes for their decisions.
A move towards democracy has brought about a change in values. He placed authority in human hands, emphasizing the individual. People who looked for standards of behavior outside of themselves began to rely on personal experience.
Threat to democracy
Yuval Noah Harari, an Israeli intellectual and public historian, explains how, in this crisis of democracy, a threat to the humanist worldview is now emerging from laboratories and research departments in places like Silicon Valley.
Harrai, who is a senior adviser to Klaus Schwab, director of the World Economic Forum (WEF), highlights the ways science is challenging the history of humanism.
He explains that scientists say that free will does not exist and that freedom is just another myth, an empty term that humans have invented. He defines feelings as computational biochemical processes and argues that there is no reason to regard them as the highest authority in the world.
Techno-Religion
Harari, who has been hailed by 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 humans. This time he states that it is not 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 occurs around this change of authority. It is driven by a “techno-religion”, the ideology that technology brings salvation. He explains that this techno-religion is a data religion in which “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. He tells us, “Don’t listen to feelings or intuition. Just turn to the data.
Acting as a spokesperson for this new sect of techno religion, Harari predicts the coming of a future without humanity. It states that humans like you and me will disappear and the earth will be dominated by very different types of beings or entities. Under the new authority of algorithms, Harari describes how human beings are no longer considered spiritual souls, but become “hackable animals”.
Warning for humanity
Some saw what was coming and warned of the machines’ potential takeover of the world and the elimination of human beings.
Julian Assange, editor of WikiLeaks and one of the notable Cypherpunks, was aware of this trend early on. He called on those who are technologically capable to embrace strong cryptography as a nonviolent weapon to defend individual freedom.
Assange warned us: “The future of humanity is the struggle between humans controlling machines and machines controlling humans.”
As central planners attempt to deploy CBDCs to push their techno-religious movement, a breakthrough in computing has brought us an alternative view of humanity’s future.
Value of individual freedom
Bitcoin, in 14 years of existence, has provided an answer to the crisis of Western liberal democracy, allowing us to truly embody humanist values.
There was an inherent weakness in the system of representative democracy. The mysterious creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto recognized that this system alone was not enough to guarantee the value of freedom and the place of individuals as the supreme authority in the system.
Those who have taken control of money production have created an economic system that works to their advantage. The concentration of economic power in a few hands has made democracy a system of control. With sophisticated methods of persuasion, through the use of propaganda and public relations under the guise of democracy, the population has been subjected to the manipulation of their feelings.
By challenging the monopoly of money, Bitcoin – the holy grail of cypherpunks – enabled economic freedom. With the principle of “don’t trust, verify”, this technology places the source of legitimacy in individuals, for the first time in history.
Rather than residing in the clouds of tech giants, authority now descends into the human heart.
The revival of humanism
The birth of Bitcoin allowed creativity and freedom of expression to flourish, creating the resurgence of the arts. Today it inspires a new renaissance of humanism.
Before the Renaissance, history was seen as shaped by divine forces. With the advent of the Renaissance, starting in the 14th century in Italy, this view changed.
The Renaissance placed the human being at the center of life. A man was seen as a partner in the creation of the gods, to actively engage in shaping the course of his own life.
Just as the Renaissance emphasized the individual, now the Bitcoin 2.0 Renaissance creates sovereign individuals, allowing human beings to truly come alive.
A Path to Salvation via Proof of Work
People from all nations, from different walks of life, have begun to align themselves with the humanistic ideals that exist at the heart of Bitcoin. Thanks to meetings and conferences, they are now reunited. They are beginning to speak the same language and share values.
Transcending their cultural differences, they became Bitcoiners. They are bearers of humanity, beginning to claim the source of authority in the human imagination.
This is now creating a humanist movement, generating a force strong enough to counter the techno revolution.
Between Bitcoin and CBDC, we now have a choice.
The worshipers of artificial intelligence offer a promise of salvation, through which we are once again made to trust an authority outside of us, this time, external algorithms.
Bitcoin presents an alternative model of salvation via proof of work, where we no longer need to trust authorities outside of ourselves. Through each individual’s voluntary participation in a consensus network, each of us can commit to validating our own truth.
As a path of technological salvation moves a society into the post-human era, Bitcoin, the pro-human technology, inspires every individual to create a new world of humanism.
El Salvador (“The Savior”)
El Salvador, the first country to declare bitcoin legal tender, has become a center of this Renaissance 2.0. They lead the way.
Using Bitcoin as a tool, President Nayib Bukele started speaking out against central banks and their financial imperialism.
Link to the Tweet embedded here.
As leaders of G7 members attempt to launch centrally controlled digital slave coins, Bukele engages in efforts to increase Bitcoin adoption to open a path to self-determination.
This attracts creative minds and talents from all over the world.
Link to the Tweet embedded here.
Paolo Ardoinotechnical director of BitfinexComment, the world’s leading digital asset exchange strives 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 applications built without a central server.
Link to the Tweet embedded here.
Link to the Tweet embedded here.
Can El Salvador, under the leadership of Bukele and its 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, attracting investors and capital to help people create alternatives to big data and centralized cloud products, to enable freedom.
Securing the future of humanity
We human beings share our destiny. The life of all species is intertwined. Our choices and actions influence each other.
With the accelerating speed of technological advancement, as we are quietly transported into a virtual reality, are we leaving our own body and soul behind? Without human beings capable of feeling, what would become of the earth, the ecosphere, the trees, the rivers and all the animals?
We Bitcoiners are stewards of this planet. By practice self-care and by managing complete nodes that maintain the ecosystem, we preserve the autonomy of individuals. We can work to secure the future of humanity.
Link to the Tweet embedded here.
A network of messiahs created by the coming together of men and women with technological means begins to form a formidable defense against the agendas of transhumanism.
Bitcoin presents a humanistic alternative to technological salvation.
Hyperbitconization has just begun. The dawn of a new humanity is near. With hearts beating every 10 minutes, we human beings can claim our freedom and our responsibility to protect mother earth and all of her creation.
This is a guest post by Nozomi Hayase. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.