The Inevitable Consequences of Defending Emergent Leaders
Why the Best Offense is a Good Defense
Previous: Pt 1 - Pt 2 - Pt 3 - Pt 4
Thus far, we’ve provided some background reasoning of why an Anti-Social Credit System (i.e. Civil Support/Insurance Network- I admit I’ve been less than consistent in the nomenclature) is needed and sketched out a very broad overview of what one could look like. Today I’d like to explore the downstream effects of what would likely occur if one were to actually be successfully implemented. First, let’s back up for a sec: what has been the cumulative effect of the intellectual/cultural atmosphere over the past decade, institutionally speaking? They suck, yes; but more specifically, why do they suck? Because the majority of people who had any semblance of originality or talent are no longer there.
So who is there? Bureaucracies have long had a reputation for selecting for careerist yes-men over truly competent individuals, this has just put that innate tendency into hyperdrive. The personnel at every major institution is optimized for absolute conformity, compliance, and lack of individual agency. The need to get ahead by spouting the right platitudes is so explicit, it’s easily gamed; as a result, the ones that rise to the top are run-of-the-mill psychopaths. “Psychopath”- while accurate- is really too sexy a term for it, they’re just midwits minus empathy. They’re not Patrick Bateman, they’re people you wouldn’t even talk to at a party because they have nothing to say (“Impressive, very nice. . . let’s see Cynthia’s bumper sticker”).
And these psychopathic midwits are surrounded by even less valuable NPC’s who couldn’t even manage saying the right words well enough to advance. This is not only not a meritocracy, it’s outright hostile to merit since anyone who has real merit is a threat to a system populated by nonentities. Weeds aren’t known for appreciating the beauty of flowers that grow to heights they could never reach themselves, and what you’re witnessing is a formerly beautiful garden that now almost exclusively consists of weeds. That’s how you go from cafeteria debates between Richard Feynman and Enrico Fermi to histrionic displays of personality disorders between Robin Deangelo and [insert any of the hundreds of completely interchangeable fake intellectuals here].
They’ve voluntarily disposed of everything that made this country great, it’s true. So when you groan at the seventh headline of the day reflecting some blend of incompetence and insanity at an important US institution and think, “Dude we’re so fucked, China is gonna take over” as you pinch the bridge of your nose between your middle finger and thumb, you’re not wrong- the current incarnation of the United States is indeed ripe for displacement. Where you are wrong is assuming the nonsensical position that China should get the first crack at it. Our institutions did indeed discard everything that made the country great, but it still exists- conveniently located in the hands of the non-institutional American public at a higher concentration than ever before by virtue of its institutional absence.
The only reason these mediocrities have outcompeted their superiors thus far is because of the built-in coordination capacity from the institutions they’ve inherited/subverted, so we really just have to improve the coordination capacity of their superiors in order to win. At only a fraction of their ability, too. Imagine you’re playing an RPG and your character is at level 64 equipped with a wooden sword and armor set and you keep getting killed by a character that is at level 13 but is equipped with a diamond sword and armor set. Do you need to post on Twitter whining about how you’ll never be able to obtain diamond weapons and armor? Of course not- just figure out a way to work your way up to iron or bronze, then go to town.
That’s not to say it’s easy getting people who are too disagreeable to occupy institutional positions to coordinate- to corral a herd of cats, you need a strange attractor powerful enough to do so. Well, the one common denominator they have in common- by definition- is they have either been canceled or are at risk of getting canceled, so a network built on the basis of coordinating resources to them in a defensive capacity is as good a start as any. Once that network is in place, it contains the seeds for more ambitious possibilities. It is well known that when you strike at a king, you must kill him. But if a mad king strikes at his subjects and finds they are immune to his blows, how long does he remain the king?
Reality >> Simulation
Let’s further set the stage regarding the landscape we find ourselves in before I try to sell you on the possibilities here. First, I use the term “emergent” leaders to differentiate them from formal, designated leaders. This isn’t just confined to politics: Joe Rogan is an emergent leader and gained his audience not because he desired the power he currently possesses, but because they chose to follow him organically. Mainstream media anchors have audiences because they’ve inherited positions of influence with conferred institutional legitimacy. Here’s a useful exercise: if society collapsed (and it might), would any of our designated leaders retain their positions of influence? Of course not, because they’re simulated- hence their interest in suppressing non-simulated activities, i.e. “misinformation”.
Here’s why I despise that term: one way I think about the Great Reset and Build Back Better is that they refer to a reset to top-down, centralized control and rebuilding the metaphorical walls everyone was confined within up until around 25 years ago. The brief window of informational freedom allowing you to read this will be viewed as an aberration, a mistake. An exceptionally dangerous mistake. Those in charge of the historical narrative will ensure that anyone participating in discourse such as this will be remembered in the same vein as the German public circa 1933-45. Perhaps not as bad as Party members themselves, but your reputation will be permanently stained as a bystander who let misinformation nearly destroy the world. And I can guarantee they will make your children thank them for the measures they put in place to prevent such a menace from rising again.
How can we possibly turn the tables in time to prevent this? Well, like I said, “real” leaders are fake- their words, their expressions, their polls, their science, their statistics, their follower counts and engagement, all of it. They rule over a world so thoroughly corrupted by falsehoods, I could link an example to every letter in this sentence and it wouldn’t cover the past week. It is demoralizing to live under this many lies because a life of lies becomes a simulation of life itself. Some people don’t know it’s all fake, sure; but as the kids say, reality hits different. If you thought the color green was just a conspiracy theory peddled by blue-cels, it’s still going to knock your socks off when you actually see it.
The truth fucking slaps. I’m using a fake name to talk to people I’ve never met about an idea that doesn’t exist, but this is infinitely more real than my actual job with my real name (another simulation) and I know that because of the unmistakably distinct subjective experience of participating in each activity. So on one side, you have a population that is increasingly demoralized and prone to defection. On the other side, you have a population that is primed for remoralization and antifragile to Regime lies1- they don’t entice us to come back, they anger us. Once you taste filet mignon, there’s no going back to prison slop.
Recall the Clausewitz quote from part 3:
“War is a trial of moral and physical forces by means of the latter. . . In the last analysis it is at moral, not physical strength that all military action is directed … Moral factors, then, are the ultimate determinants in war.”
Crypto Power & Killer App
I say “primed for remoralization” because we haven’t kicked off the process yet; but once we do, add this dynamic to the mix: simulated leaders do not command the loyalty of non-simulated leaders, nor do they fare well vs non-simulated problems, and the non-simulated problem they will have to contend with is the loyal followings of non-simulated leaders. Still, we have a lot of ground to make up. Remember what I said in Part 2?
Since the function of such a network would be to generate the security necessary for further dissent to take place, the demand for dissent will also drive the supply of it. What happens when a population is given a taste of what they’ve been deprived of along with the ability to give themselves more of it?
That’s before factoring in the profit motive. I’ll ask again with slightly different phrasing: what happens when a tyrannized population is given the ability to liberate itself for a profit? Or let’s not make ourselves victims: what happens when a population can regain control of their country for its own good (and the good of everyone else) for a profit? The incentive landscape of the crypto space lends itself favorably to facilitating self-fulfilling prophecies. Imagine if there were a DAO specifically built to direct resources to emergent, natural leaders- since buying the native coin of a project is a bet on its expected success (technically expected perception of success) and enough bets drive up the value, people placing a bet on the Challenger Underdogs (emergent leaders) vs. the Defending Champions (designated leaders) improves the odds of an upset via increased financial security through the growth in the value, which drives more people to bet on them, and so on and so on. Is it that simple? No. Are there obvious downsides to that volatility? Yes. Nonetheless, this dynamic is worth noting for the speed and magnitude of its potential benefits alone.
Furthermore, tech endeavors need three things to succeed long-term: good tech, a convincing utility, and sufficient human capital to actually participate in and sustain the project. However, most of them- Web3 projects, in particular- usually only have the first one. Mostly it’s a combination of tech wizards making cutting edge tech for the inherent value of doing so and to impress each other (which I fully endorse) and cynical financial actors who hype up a utility that never pans out before cashing out (which I do not). As a result, there is no reason for human capital to bother participating for an extended period of time so there is no community to sustain it. This is the exact opposite- most crypto projects' weakness would be a Civil Insurance Network’s biggest strength. The human capital will be unparalleled due to the nature of the project inherently attracting those deemed too independent and unruly for the system to tolerate. And a network that attracts such figures can’t help but be, well… attractive. Which is why it is also a perfect opportunity to capitalize on that fact and begin the path toward the inevitable consequences the title refers to.
Evolution Into Self-Financing Circulation of the Elites
Despite initially being formed to serve a defensive function, a DAO whose purpose naturally serves as a strange attractor for the most talented, distinctive, courageous, high-agency people in society contains the latent capacity for exaptation into an entity capable of outcompeting the Blue Church and allied forces generating the dominant consensus to the degree it usurps their position at the top of the ecosystem2. As we’ve noted, the capacity of Establishment organs will deteriorate at an increasingly rapid rate as they continue to eject their best thinkers; therefore (if sufficiently coordinated and funded) a network of these thinkers can gradually build the ability to surpass the dominant institutions- an anti-fragile island of misfit toys outcompeting an increasingly fragile continent. If they push every interesting person away, we’ll collect them, let them cross-pollinate, then aim them back towards this dying, metastatic monoculture stronger than before. While this proposed circulation might seem like a dream, as soon as we reach sufficient defensive capacity for the momentum to shift, this will all happen faster than you’d think.
Think of it like the final Harry Potter-Voldemort duel, or this moment from 300- as long as the direction of the energy shifts and we have the infrastructure to sustain it, the virtue of where capability actually lies will take care of the rest. There are indeed too many people that view life as a Marvel movie; I am not one of them. I do not LARP. But we are an atomized, deracinated people and pop culture references are the only shared knowledge we have. The point is that the potential energy lying in superior individuals (superior by virtue of their merger of intellect and character, as opposed to inferior individuals in whom intellect dwells alone)- purposefully kept in that state by their inferiors through full-spectrum (physical, economic, psychological) suppression of their innate abilities- will be converted into kinetic energy, and nature (with an assist from the sea of decent, hardworking people tired of being abused by the latter) will complete the transition.
Decisions
My overall perspective is the inverse of the famous Khan quote: The greatest happiness is to gather your allies and align them before you. To see their communities thrive. To fill their coffers, see those dear to them safe and happy, and be content in the knowledge that none of them will come to harm.
Then- and only then- can you vanquish your enemies, destroy what they have weaponized against you, and fail to suppress a chuckle as they beg you to negotiate. Or if you find this distasteful, you can wait until they ruin your life via economic collapse/tech-powered totalitarianism or end it via bioweapon mishap/nuclear holocaust. Your choice.
I specify “Regime” lies because obviously non-Regime narratives are not inherently truthful and we’re all figuring this out as we go along
On board with the sentiment here. Would love to participate in furthering this venture if there is actionable roles.
I approve.