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A coup can prevent the formation of such a regime, as in Pinochet’s removal of Allende’s incipient Marxist government, but once the total state has slimed i…
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A coup can prevent the formation of such a regime, as in Pinochet’s removal of Allende’s incipient Marxist government, but once the total state has slimed its way into place it cannot be taken down via internal military opposition.
When single-party ideological states are brought down it is usually due to legitimacy decay amongst the civilian population, accompanied by cynicism and indecision within an elite that ceases to really believe in its own bullshit. There is a political crisis, in which the military must decide whether or not to follow orders to fire upon protesters or something. If the military holds fast to the regime ideology, as recently happened in Iran, then the soldiers shoot, the protesters die, and the regime remains. If the military refuses, as happened in Romania when Ceausescu came down, the regime falls, and its leaders are imprisoned or executed.
The barbarian's eyes were smoldering with fires that never lit the eyes of men bred to the ideas of civilization. In that instant he was all wild, and had forg…
The barbarian's eyes were smoldering with fires that never lit the eyes of men bred to the ideas of civilization. In that instant he was all wild, and had forgotten the man at his side. In his burning gaze Balthus glimpsed and vaguely recognized pristine images and half-embodied memories, shadows from Life's dawn, forgotten and repudiated by sophisticated races - ancient, primeval fantasms unnamed and nameless.
Then the deeper fires were masked and Conan was silently leading the way deeper into the forest.
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"Barbarism is the natural state of mankind," the borderer said, still staring somberly at the Cimmerian. "Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph."
- Robert E. Howard, (1935) 'Beyond the Black River', in "The Masterworks of Robert E. Howard. Volume II: American Violence" (2024), pg. 248, 280
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When you communicate because you engage in local trade and you all share economic bonds that will continue from generation to generation, you will become …
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When you communicate because you engage in local trade and you all share economic bonds that will continue from generation to generation, you will become cohesive. This bond is broken when the federal government allows companies to relocate their foreign workforce into your neighborhood, destabilizing local cultural bonds and disrupting the intergenerational structure; the entire community becomes atomized. People stop participating in civic life because if their children will not inherit their efforts, why should they continue to put in the effort?
The religious faith in Bitcoin is falling apart.
There has been a loss of belief amongst the faithful.
The once disciplined and morally-strong proponents of …
The religious faith in Bitcoin is falling apart.
There has been a loss of belief amongst the faithful.
The once disciplined and morally-strong proponents of Bitcoin have fallen away.
What remains are the Schillers and the false prophets.
The lesson:
Bitcoin was never a religion, it was tool. The original users tried to create a false religion based on decentralised transmission of value.
They tried to say they were morally superior. What will actually happen now is that those who are stronger, more disciplined, and in reality morally superior will replace them. They will harness Bitcoin not as a religion but as a tool.
Bitcoin is a tool and will be used as a means to an end.
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Right now, the average interested autism-American with a cumulative $10k invested has technical parity with all but the elite individual soldiers fielded by…
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Right now, the average interested autism-American with a cumulative $10k invested has technical parity with all but the elite individual soldiers fielded by the US military. Imagine a team of somewhat disciplined guys with full NVGs, M855A (or even M855A1) Ammunition, smoke grenades, and body armor getting in a fight with the local police force. It’s very likely the militia-types would win, at least initially.
But the 2020s do not reflect the conditions of the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921
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Direct violence is becoming secondary to the control of information, the control of high technology, and the exploitation of information asymmetry.
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technological development has rendered the gun an ineffective tool for demanding redress from a recalcitrant government.