And We Are All Running Out of Alternatives
The first successful use of bitcoin was the Silk Road. Silk Road was the Amazon for all things illegal. You could buy drugs, porn, guns buts also books and magazines. The silk road allowed for drug users to buy goods in a safe, anonymous and secure environment. It allowed people to sit on their couch rather than venture into dark alley. It allowed for peer reviews so you could feel secure about the goods you were buying rather then trusting a hooded man driving a beat up 1982 Pontiac.
The Silk Road was not all sunshine and roses but neither is War on Drugs, a war that has cost billions of dollars and countless lives. While the war raged, Doctors dispensed 191 million legal, addictive, and deadly opioid prescriptions in a single year.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1269163651958595584
In 2010, Wiki leaks published Collateral Murder, a horrible video that depicts the slaying of a dozen people in Iraq including two journalist. The government was outraged. Joe Biden called Julian Assange a “hi-tech terrorist.” Within months, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and others refused to process funds for the site. Against the will of Bitcoin’s creator, Assange turned to bitcoin as the only form of currency he could accept. Bitcoin allowed Wikileaks to survive as long as it did.
Truth is an act of terror.
During the Corona epidemic, I was frightened by how quickly Israel turned into a police state. Over night, Netanyahu flicked on mobile surveillance as casually as someone taking a stroll on the beach. Suddenly, we were all being tracked. Children received orders by text message requiring them to quarantine for 2 weeks. Violators of the order could face 7 years in prison. There was no political process.
The horrific killing of George Floyd and brutal treatment of peaceful protesters continues to show how militarized the police have become. The divide between government and its citizens is growing.
First they come for the drug deals, then the entrepreneurs, then the truth tellers, then the immigrants, then the protesters. Who is next?