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Today James talks to Derrick Broze of TheConsciousResistance.com about the philosophy of agorism, the practice of counter-economics, and how the combination of this theory and practice is the true path to dismantling the state.
SHOW NOTES:
The Conscious Resistance
John Bush interviews Derrick Broze on agorism
The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality (free ebook)
I still have 7 mins left to watch but wanted to make a comment about Uber. David Knight of Infowars made a point about Uber that I wanted your reaction on.
In the US, taxi drivers have to buy medallions in order to be allowed to drive. There is a limited # of these medallions and – certainly in NYC pre-Uber – the only way to buy a medallion was on the secondary market. They reached a price of over 7 figures at one point.
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LINK: http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/21/news/companies/nyc-yellow-taxi-uber/
Medallion prices have skyrocketed in recent years, up 50% between 2009 and 2014, to a high of more than $1 million each.
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Now we have Uber and it seems strange the government is allowing it (at least so far) rather than strongly regulating it like they do taxis. Knight’s theory is that this is a step toward the government controlling our movement by taking away an individual’s right to drive. He theorizes that Uber is going in the direction of self-driving cars (which will then put the government in charge of our movement).
Disclaimer: I tried to find Knight’s exact words but wasn’t able to so it’s possible I’m leaving something out.
My counterpoint to Knight is that I don’t necessarily see why taxis couldn’t go with self-driving cars. Regardless, however, the much bigger point is that I do agree w/ him that self-driving cars will give the government a lot of control over our movement. And I could totally see regulations making it a lot more difficult to afford a non-self driving car (e.g. much higher insurance). And I agree w/ Knight that this is an obivous point of control that a government would want over its citizens.
What are your thoughts on this James?
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LINK: http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/28/5758734/uber-will-eventually-replace-all-its-drivers-with-self-driving-cars
Uber will eventually replace the people who drive its cars with cars that drive themselves, CEO Travis Kalanick said today at the Code Conference. A day after Google unveiled the prototype for its own driverless vehicle, Kalanick was visibly excited at the prospect of developing a fleet of driverless vehicles, which he said would make car ownership rare.
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Also what are your thoughts on Bitcoin? Was it started w/ good intentions but really just a honey trap all along? I know Peter Schiff has come out against it saying that it isn’t “scarce”. Yes there is an artificial scarcity by limiting the # of coins that can come into existence but each coin can but subdivided into (I’m not sure how many) smaller coins so the finite number is less certain. Also, even if the # of bitcoins couldn’t be subdivided, how about the idea that other similar companies are in existence (and more can always enter).
Also, check out the article below. Looks like there is cooperation now between “prominent Bitcoin companies” and government. Also, doesn’t every transaction get tracked? (I think that’s the “blockchain”). If so, there’s no escaping scrutiny. Not sure how that would fit into agorism.
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https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/prominent-bitcoin-industry-players-form-blockchain-alliance-to-combat-criminal-activity-1445522501
A group of prominent Bitcoin companies and individuals under leadership of the Chamber of Digital Commerce and Coin Center have formed the Blockchain Alliance, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that will serve as a resource for law enforcement to help combat criminal activity involving bitcoin and the blockchain.
The Blockchain Alliance is so far engaged with the Department of Justice (including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service), the U.S. Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
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One problem is expansion of such a market will not make the authorities “leave us alone, because we’ve become so popular.” That is a fairytale (and not even a very well thought-out one, I might add). No, as with any illegal activity, once it begins to negatively impact the financial position of the powers that shouldn’t be. Then they use that power that they shouldn’t have.
In theory, the idea sounds good. But practically, and in reality, it’ll fly like a penguin.
An optimist is merely a pessimist that refuses to face reality. But here in the USSA, the alphabet soup groups will ensure that any optimist that tries to live in this sort of economic bubble will most certainly face the reality of who it is that has the authority. And sadly, that is always done with force and violence.
@satatlibery, Derrick is talking about “APPS” to participate in this grey economy? I was thinking, “Really?”. Another question that I have is what about the middleman that ALWAYS seems to weasel their way into the equation? This is done HISTORICALLY!
A lab technician, out of the kindness of his heart, made a front tooth for me (a partial) while I waited in about 20 minutes and the cost of the materials was minimal (about 20-$30.00). I happen to be innately good at this kind of thing and when I contacted him I told him that I could probably do it myself. In the process of showing me the technique, he wound up just doing the whole thing himself. The COST of this from a dentist would be about 2,000 dollars. (middlemen) The technician did tell me that he would do the same for other needy people.
Alone came 2 brothers with a truck and a chain saw pruning trees. One was missing two of his front teeth.
It did cross my mind that I could think of a way to get my trees done for free as long as he got his teeth which he was very self-conscious about. But I then thought about how immoral that would be and dismissed the idea.
As it turned out, they over charged me by double and they did not complete the job, but took my money and ran.
I realize that I should not have paid until they were completely done, but it was sort of a test. They fail it, and screwed themselves and me as well.
Hopefully somebody will enlighten us or we might learn more about this concept. I don’t think that I really understand it.
When I first got some bitcoin I felt the same as I did when I was a kid getting my social security card, ironically. It was a sense of freedom and empowerment. I recognized the feeling even though I hadn’t felt free or powerful in a long time. I also felt that feeling when I stopped(as much as I could) buying corporate food, fuel, or energy. Picture the concerned faces and damp suits around the boardroom puzzled why the people are not buying their stuff anymore. I get a lot of satisfaction thinking about these assholes in frantic futility trying to come up with ways to sell stuff to people who refuse to buy anything they’re selling. The looks on their faces!
The only revlution in city transportation had been around for quite some time now. It’s called a bicycle.