Balaji @balajis 2022-12-29
Collapse doesn’t just lead magically to the new thing. In fact, the new thing needs to be built before the collapse.
Balaji @balajis 2022-12-29
Friedman talked about this. The ideas need to be out there, and some of the execution too, even if the environment is unfavorable.
That’s hard, but it’s everything.
Somehow we need to prove the new system with tiny amounts of political capital before we get large amounts of it.
Balaji @balajis 2022-12-29
Yes, exactly.
Eventually, the system may fail to the point that it can’t even fully stop its competitors.
Then one can build alternatives on the edge of empire.
Mass exit to those alternatives is what catalyzes the long-overdue collapse.
But those alternatives must exist. https://https://t.co/oBtjOw6b0K
Balaji @balajis 2022-12-29
What can you build if political capital is highly limited?
Yes, I know you could fix everything if you were president of Earth.
But that’s like starting with trillions in capital.
The point of a startup is to build with minimal initial capital.
So too for a startup society…
Balaji @balajis 2022-12-29
The political capital analogy is actually very powerful.
Everyone starts by imagining themselves to be a political trillionaire, in full control of the government, and only *then* making their desired reforms.
Need concrete thinking on capital-light, incremental paths…
Kirk Dameron @EmergenceKirk 2022-12-29
Who would be a good source organization to gift the ENS name miltonfriedman.eth to?
The good ppl at ENS and ensfairy.eth know how to get it under their control, so it could be gifted to a good organization that stands for the principles of Friedman.
Jeffrey Harmon @JeffreyHarmon 2022-12-29
This is why big government promises are usually the go to “solution” in emergencies. It is the idea that is always lying around.
Antoine @toinon75 2022-12-29
We can’t change direction if the path doesn’t already exist.
kwizzn @kwizzn 2022-12-29
Happy to help setting up infrastructure.
Arvind Iyer @longhandnotes 2022-12-29
A Tamiḻ aphorism comes to mind, which calls upon us to *cultivate the will* to do right, instead of saying just “Do right!“. The first can (and should) be done even in unfavourable circumstances where the second can’t be.
More here: https://x.com/longhandnotes/status/1058920687249682432….
2018-11-04
“Wanting to write a book that stays good” maybe a worthwhile exercise in its own right in the long run (perhaps even more than actually writing one) ! 😅
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y69MDWW6R1bOI8ziQCKWA6QXvnI0Ky6mZDVNzm1fIh4/edit….