quoting
naddr1qq…tgc8(original manifesto of Cypherpunk Meetup 2024)
“I cleared the space for the younger generation. But no one came…” - Anonymous cypherpunk, 2024
The founding fathers of the cypherpunk movement had quite wild predictions for the Y2K+: Anonymous communication and ubiquitous encryption should have led to decentralization of power, freed markets and individual liberty. Looking realistically at today’s world - a world in which surveillance is totally normalized and we’re stuck between being dominated by megacorps and governments - we fucked up big time, even though we created islands of liberty for the few of us that understood what these technologies are for.
Bitcoin is an exemption and an exceptional success of their story, but looking at its current development, we come to argue that we’re now vulnerable to failing even there. The crowds are coming again and they don’t even know why they need anonymous money. But wait, do we know?
Once “rebels with a cause” turned into “grandmas with ETFs” and “garage economists with a Twitter account”.
Where do we go from here? What can we do? Is this what cypherpunk is now? Are we bitcoiners just because we can, or can we still look for and successfully find a purpose not lost from the founders’ vision?
Emptiness of purpose can be easily hijacked. Looking at the past of the movement, experiencing its presence and foreseeing its future we ask ourselves the question:
Is the movement still relevant?
Gigi ⚡🧡 on Nostr: Is it? ...
Is it?