Nostr notes by Free-floating Intelligence

Genial geschrieben und tiefgründig - schön dich bei Pareto ...

2025-10-30T10:54:37Z

Genial geschrieben und tiefgründig - schön dich bei Pareto dabei zu haben, als Autorin, Genossenschafterin und im Vorstand!

quoting
naddr1qq…faer

Nach meinem letzten Text über Resonanz, Kohärenz und Emergenz blieb eine Frage in mir hängen: Woher kommt eigentlich diese Fähigkeit zur Resonanz? Die Frage ist inspiriert von einem Kommentar zu meinem Text.

Resonanz setzt also etwas voraus; ein System, das schwingen kann. Dieses System verstehe ich als Bewusstsein. Unser Bewusstsein. Und Bewusstsein ist vielleicht das größte Rätsel überhaupt. Dieser Text ist daher ein erster Versuch mich diesem Rätsel zu nähern und es unter der Frage zu bewegen, wie "das Neue" in die Welt kommen kann. Denn Fakten sammeln reicht nicht. Es braucht andere Denkweisen, neue Bilder, frische Begriffe, Impulse.

Vom Teilchen zum Wellen-Bewusstsein

Wenn ich über Bewusstsein nachdenke, dann gerne mit Hilfe der quantenmechanischen Gesetze aus der Physik. Nicht weil ich behaupten will, dass Bewusstsein quantenphysikalisch "funktioniert" – diese Frage ist offen, umstritten und wahrscheinlich in dieser Form falsch gestellt. Sondern weil die Quantenphysik mir zeigt, wie radikal anders Realität sein kann, als unser Alltagsverstand sie denkt. Ich mag diese andere Art zu denken – vom Teilchen zur Welle, von der Isolation zur Beziehung – denn sie könnte uns helfen, Mensch-sein, Bewusstsein und Resonanz besser zu verstehen. Dieser Text wird spekulativer als der letzte. Und wir bewegen uns hart an der Grenze des wissenschaftlich Gesicherten.

Das Teilchen-Weltbild und sein Zerfall

Beginnen wir von vorne. Über zweihundert Jahre lang schien die Welt "verstanden" – Newton hatte gezeigt, dass das Universum wie ein gigantisches Uhrwerk funktioniert. Materie besteht aus Teilchen (Atome) mit festen Eigenschaften: Position, Geschwindigkeit, Masse. Diese Teilchen folgen deterministischen Gesetzen, allen voran der Schwerkraft. Die Logik ist bestechend: Kenne ich alle Anfangsbedingungen, kann ich die Zukunft berechnen. Und tatsächlich funktionieren unter dieser Prämisse Vorhersagen bis heute. Unter Newtons Theorie ist oder war die Welt berechenbar. Der Beobachter steht außerhalb, neutral, ohne Einfluss auf das Beobachtete. Wie Billardkugeln auf einem Tisch; klar abgegrenzt, eindeutig positioniert, ihre Bahnen vorhersagbar.

Diese mechanistische Weltsicht prägt uns bis heute in den verschiedensten Lebensbereichen. Auch wenn wir es nicht explizit aussprechen, denken in Teilchen: Wir suchen nach isolierbaren Ursachen, nach eindeutigen Antworten, nach objektiven Fakten, die "da draußen" existieren, unabhängig von uns. Wir wollen messen, quantifizieren, kontrollieren, extrapolieren.

Das ging eine ganze Weile gut. Dann, zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts, begann das Teilchen-Weltbild leise zu zerfallen. Die Quantenphysik entdeckte etwas zutiefst Verstörendes, denn auf der fundamentalen Ebene der Realität verhalten sich Dinge eben nicht wie Billardkugeln. Nichts ist vorhersagbar, alles scheint möglich.

Das berühmteste Experiment, das diese fundamentale Ebene sichtbar macht, ist der Doppelspalt-Versuch. Stell dir vor, du schießt einzelne Elektronen durch zwei schmale Spalte auf eine Wand dahinter. Was würdest du erwarten? Wenn Elektronen Teilchen wären – kleine feste Kugeln – würdest du zwei Streifen auf der Wand erwarten, jeweils hinter den Spalten. Aber das passiert nicht. Stattdessen entsteht ein Interferenzmuster – mehrere helle und dunkle Streifen, wie sie entstehen, wenn Wellen aufeinandertreffen und sich gegenseitig verstärken oder auslöschen.

Das Elektron verhält sich nicht wie ein Teilchen, sondern wie eine Welle, die durch beide Spalte gleichzeitig geht und mit sich selbst interferiert. Sobald du aber misst, durch welchen Spalt das Elektron tatsächlich fliegt, sobald du "hinschaust", verschwindet das Wellenmuster. Das Elektron "kollabiert" zu einem Teilchen und geht nur durch einen Spalt. Der Akt der Beobachtung verändert das Ergebnis. Werner Heisenberg, einer der Begründer der Quantenmechanik, formulierte es so: "Was wir beobachten, ist nicht die Natur selbst, sondern die Natur, die unserer Art der Fragestellung ausgesetzt ist."

Die Realität IST nicht einfach – sie WIRD durch Interaktion, durch Beziehung. Das Elektron ist nicht Welle ODER Teilchen, sondern beides, je nachdem, wie wir es betrachten. Diese Komplementarität ist nicht nur eine Grenze unseres Wissens, sondern eine fundamentale Eigenschaft von Realität. Wir beide könnten also dasselbe Experiment durchführen und zu völlig anderen Ergebnissen kommen.

Hier möchte ich einen gewagten Gedanken einwerfen: Die sogenannte Reproduktionskrise der Wissenschaft – dass 40% bis 70% aller Studien nicht reproduzierbar sind – wird meist auf methodische Mängel zurückgeführt. Schlechtes Studiendesign, p-Hacking, Publication Bias. Alles richtig. Aber was, wenn die Quantenmechanik uns noch etwas anderes zeigt? Wenn schon auf subatomarer Ebene der Beobachter das Beobachtete beeinflusst, warum sollte das bei komplexeren Systemen – biologischen Prozessen, Menschen, Gesellschaften – anders sein? Vielleicht ist ein Teil der "Krise" gar keine Krise, sondern die Entdeckung, dass Realität grundsätzlich beziehungshafter und kontextabhängiger ist, als unser mechanistisches Weltbild wahrhaben will. Zwei Forschende könnten tatsächlich zu unterschiedlichen Ergebnissen kommen, nicht trotz, sondern wegen der fundamentalen Natur von Realität.

Was die Quantenphysik uns zeigt

Aus der Quantenphysik lernen wir mehrere Prinzipien, die ich nur kurz zusammenfassen möchte:

Superposition: Ein Quantensystem existiert in mehreren Zuständen gleichzeitig – bis wir es messen. Schrödingers berühmte Katze ist gleichzeitig tot und lebendig, solange die Box geschlossen bleibt. Erst die Beobachtung "kollabiert" diese Überlagerung in einen bestimmten Zustand: Die Katze ist tot oder lebendig, sobald wir hinschauen.

Verschränkung: Zwei Teilchen können so miteinander verbunden sein, dass die Messung an einem sofort den Zustand des anderen bestimmt – selbst über große Distanzen. Einstein nannte das "spukhafte Fernwirkung", weil es seiner deterministischen Weltsicht widersprach. Aber Experimente bestätigen es immer wieder.

Unschärfe: Man kann nicht gleichzeitig Position und Impuls eines Teilchens exakt messen. Das ist keine technische Grenze, sondern prinzipiell. Die Natur selbst ist "unscharf".

Beobachter-Effekt: Die Messung ist nicht neutral. Sie greift ein, verändert, "kollabiert" Möglichkeiten (Superposition) in Wirklichkeit.

Das newtonsche Weltbild von klaren Teilchen mit festen Eigenschaften und neutraler Beobachtung ist auf fundamentaler Ebene nicht haltbar. Die Welt besteht nicht aus isolierten Dingen, sondern aus Beziehungen, die Dinge konstituieren.

Bewusstsein

Wenn die Quantenphysik uns zeigt, dass Materie sich radikal anders verhält als gedacht – was bedeutet das für Bewusstsein? Für das subjektive Erleben, das du gerade in diesem Moment hast, während du diese Worte liest?

Unser Körper ist Materie. Und doch sind wir nicht einfach biologische Roboter, die Informationen verarbeiten, ohne dass "jemand" da ist, der das alles miterlebt. Warum gibt es diese innere Perspektive, dieses Gefühl von "Ich", dieses qualitative Erleben von Schmerz oder Freude? Woher kommt das Gefühl eines "Ichs"?

Der Mathematiker und Physiker Roger Penrose entwickelte gemeinsam mit dem Anästhesisten Stuart Hameroff eine radikale These. Bewusstsein könnte auf Quantenprozessen im Gehirn beruhen. Ich möchte hier das "könnte" betonen und gleichzeitig einladen anzunehmen, dass wahrscheinlich verschiedene Phänomene zusammenspielen und Bewusstsein ermöglichen. Ihre "Orch OR"-Theorie (Orchestrierte Objektive Reduktion) besagt: In den Mikrotubuli – winzigen Strukturen im Inneren von Neuronen – könnten Quanteneffekte auftreten. Quantenzustände befinden sich in Superposition, bis sie "orchestriert" kollabieren. Und dieser Kollaps, so die These, ist Bewusstsein.

Penrose argumentiert: Bewusstsein kann nicht nur "Berechnung" sein, weil wir Dinge verstehen, die algorithmisch nicht beweisbar sind. Bewusstsein muss etwas Nicht-Berechenbares beinhalten – und das könnte der quantenphysikalische Kollaps sein.

Lass mich das genauer erklären: Gödels Unvollständigkeitssatz zeigt, dass in jedem hinreichend komplexen formalen System wahre Aussagen existieren, die innerhalb des Systems aber nicht beweisbar sind. Ein Computer, der strikt nach Algorithmen arbeitet, ist an diese Grenze gebunden. Doch wir Menschen können oft "sehen", dass eine Gödel-Aussage wahr ist, auch wenn sie formal unbeweisbar bleibt. Penrose folgert daraus: Wenn wir mathematische Wahrheiten erkennen können, die kein Algorithmus beweisen kann, dann muss unser Bewusstsein mehr sein als ein "Computer" (das wäre die newtonsche Sicht). Es muss einen nicht-algorithmischen Aspekt haben. Und wo in der Physik finden wir etwas fundamental Nicht-Berechenbares? Im quantenmechanischen Kollaps – dem Moment, wo aus Möglichkeiten Wirklichkeit wird. Die Mikrotubuli in unseren Neuronen könnten, so die These, genau der Ort sein, wo dieser Übergang stattfindet. Wo das Quantenhafte ins Klassische kollabiert und dabei – vielleicht – Bewusstsein erzeugt.

Das ist interessant weil es den Beobachter-Effekt und subjektives Erleben verbindet: Es würde die Beobachter-Rolle des Bewusstseins in der Quantenphysik direkt verankern. Und die Quantenverschränkung könnte Resonanz zwischen verschiedenen Bewusstseinen erklären.

Wie zu erwarten ist die Theorie ist höchst umstritten und schwer beweisbar. Die Kritiken sind berechtigt. Aber selbst wenn Bewusstsein NICHT quantenphysikalisch ist, können wir von der Quantenphysik LERNEN, wie wir über Bewusstsein und Wissen denken sollten.

Die Kritik: Zu warm, zu nass, zu schnell

Der Physiker Max Tegmark berechnete, dass Quanteneffekte im warmen, nassen Gehirn innerhalb von 10^-13 Sekunden "dekohärieren" würden – das heißt, ihre Quanteneigenschaften verlieren. Neuronale Prozesse laufen aber im Millisekunden-Bereich. Viel zu langsam. Biologisch ist es schwer vorstellbar, wie Mikrotubuli Quantenkohärenz aufrechterhalten könnten, wenn selbst speziell gekühlte Quantencomputer dafür extreme Bedingungen brauchen. Die meisten Neurowissenschaftler lehnen die Penrose-Hameroff-Hypothese ab. Bewusstsein, so der Konsens, ist wahrscheinlich "nur" ein klassisch-physikalisches Phänomen – wenn auch extrem komplex.

Ist die Quantenbewusstseins-Hypothese also falsch? Wahrscheinlich ja, zumindest in dieser Form. Aber selbst wenn: Sie zeigt uns etwas Wichtiges. Sie zeigt, dass es ernsthafte Denker gibt, die das materialistische Paradigma fundamental infrage stellen. Und sie eröffnet einen Denkraum: Was wäre, wenn Bewusstsein nicht aus Materie emergiert, sondern auf einer fundamentaleren Ebene verankert ist?

Bewusstsein als Fundamental – Die radikalen Alternativen

Während Penrose versucht, Bewusstsein innerhalb der Materie zu verorten, gehen andere noch weiter: Was, wenn wir die Frage umdrehen?

Federico Faggin erfand 1971 den ersten kommerziellen Mikroprozessor (Intel 4004). Er versteht Computer auf fundamentaler Ebene. Und gerade deshalb sagt er: Bewusstsein kann nicht berechnet werden.

Faggins These: Bewusstsein ist nicht in unseren Körpern, sondern existiert in einem bewussten Quantenfeld. Der Körper ist wie ein Instrument, das gespielt wird. Die Töne, die entstehen – sensorische Daten, neuronale Aktivität – sind der Ausdruck des Musikers (Bewusstsein). Aber der Musiker ist nicht das Instrument. Es kehrt die übliche Annahme um. Nicht Materie erzeugt Bewusstsein, sondern Bewusstsein manifestiert sich durch Materie.

Faggin unterscheidet zwischen zwei Arten von Information: Klassische Information ist reproduzierbar, kopierbar – wie ein PDF, das du mir schickst. Computer verarbeiten klassische Information. Quanteninformation hingegen ist einzigartig, nicht-klonbar (No-Cloning-Theorem). Sie repräsentiert innere Erfahrung, subjektives Erleben. Mathematik, so Faggin, wird von Bewusstsein geschaffen, nicht umgekehrt. Deshalb kann man Bewusstsein nicht durch Gleichungen vollständig erklären. Die Karte ist eben nicht das Territorium.

Ein weiteres Kernkonzept von Faggin ist der holographische Körper: Jede Zelle enthält die Information des gesamten Organismus (Epigenetik). Aus einer Stammzelle kann ein ganzer Mensch entstehen. Information ist nicht hierarchisch gespeichert wie in einem Computer, sondern verteilt, zugänglich von jedem Punkt aus.

Und schließlich interpretiert Faggin den Kollaps der Wellenfunktion radikal neu: Wenn ein Quantensystem von der Superposition in einen bestimmten Zustand kollabiert, ist das für die meisten Physiker reiner Zufall. Für Faggin ist es Ausdruck bewusster Entscheidung. Das Bewusstsein wählt aus den Möglichkeiten.

Was bedeutet das für Resonanz? Sie wäre dann nicht nur passives "Mitschwingen", sondern aktive Wahl. Wenn etwas in dir resoniert, ist das vielleicht dein Bewusstsein, das aus dem Quantenfeld der Möglichkeiten genau diese Verbindung wählt. Du erkennst nicht nur – du entscheidest dich, zu erkennen.

Wellen im Ozean

Denken wir Faggin weiter, landen wir beim Philosophen Bernardo Kastrup (Ph.D. in Philosophie, Hintergrund in KI und Informatik), der den Analytischen Idealismus vertritt: Das Universum selbst ist Bewusstsein. Wir sind keine isolierten Bewusstseine, die irgendwie aus Materie entstehen, sondern temporäre Perspektiven innerhalb eines größeren, universellen Bewusstseins.

Seine Metapher: Wir sind wie Wellen im Ozean. Von außen betrachtet scheinen wir getrennt – diese Welle hier, jene Welle dort. Aber fundamental sind wir alle Wasser. Die Trennung ist real als Perspektive, aber nicht als Substanz. Materie, so Kastrup, ist nicht das Fundament der Realität, sondern deren Erscheinung. Was die Naturwissenschaft misst, ist nicht "die Wirklichkeit an sich", sondern wie mentale Prozesse von außen aussehen. Dein Gehirn-Scan ist wie das EKG eines Gedankens – zeigt Korrelation, nicht Identität.

Kastrup entwickelt eine Dissoziierte-Alter-Theorie. Das universelle Bewusstsein "dissoziiert" sich in einzelne Perspektiven – ähnlich wie bei einer dissoziativen Identitätsstörung, wo ein Bewusstsein mehrere scheinbar getrennte Identitäten bildet. Wir erleben uns als getrennt, aber das ist eine temporäre Konfiguration. Das ist nicht Solipsismus – auch wenn man auf den ersten Blick so schließen könnte. Kastrup behauptet nicht, dass nur mein Bewusstsein existiert. Er behauptet, dass ein universelles Bewusstsein existiert, das sich in viele Perspektiven aufteilt. Die äußere Welt ist objektiv real – nicht als Materie, sondern als geteilte mentale Realität.

Resonanz, in diesem Modell, wäre das kurze Wiedererkennen der fundamentalen Verbundenheit. Wenn ein Gedanke bei dir "ankommt" – oder du ihn ankommen lässt – spürst du die – unsere gemeinsame Quelle.

Eine (ehrliche) Einordnung

Sowohl Faggins als auch Kastrups Ansätze sind in der akademischen Mainstream-Philosophie und -Physik umstritten bis abgelehnt. Materialisten werfen ihnen vor, das "Hard Problem" nicht zu lösen, sondern nur umzubenennen. "Bewusstsein ist fundamental" ist keine Erklärung, sondern eine Setzung. Ich behaupte nicht, dass sie recht haben. Ich weiß es nicht. Doch was ich an Faggin und Kastrup mag, sind die kohärenten, philosophisch durchdachten Alternativen zum materialistischen Paradigma. Und selbst wenn sie empirisch nicht beweisbar sind – sie erweitern, wie wir über Realität, Beziehung und Resonanz denken können.

Was wäre, wenn Resonanz nicht nur eine schöne Metapher ist, sondern das Spüren einer tieferen Verbindung? Was wäre, wenn die Trennung zwischen "mir" und "dir" (und dem Universum) weniger fundamental ist, als wir annehmen? Hier öffnet sich die Tür zum Nondualismus, den ich mir ein andermal vornehme. Bleiben wir für dieses Mal in der Physik.

Die Quantenphysik sagt: Zwei Teilchen bleiben verbunden, verändern sich korreliert, auch über Distanz – das Verschränkungsprinzip. Wenn einer meiner Gedanken bei dir resoniert, verändert das nicht nur dich – es verändert auch mich, der ich ihn artikuliert habe. Wir sind für einen Moment "verschränkt", verbunden in einem geteilten Gedanken.

Die Kritik

So, und spätestens an dieser Stelle werfen vermutlich 99% der Physiker ihr Tablet aus dem Fenster. Jeder Text, der Quantenphysik und Bewusstsein in einem Satz nennt, macht sich doch verdächtig. Und ja, an dem Text gibt es einige Kirtikpunkte:

"Du missbrauchst die Quantenphysik!"

Ja, wenn alles "Quanten" ist, ist nichts mehr Quanten. Die Quantenphysik beschreibt subatomare Prozesse, nicht Bewusstsein. Der Sprung von Elektronen zu Gedanken ist gewaltig und wissenschaftlich nicht gerechtfertigt. Ich nutze die Quantenphysik hier als Denkmodell, nicht als Erklärung. Das ist ein wichtiger Unterschied, den ich vielleicht noch deutlicher machen sollte?

"Die Reproduktionskrise hat nichts mit Quanteneffekten zu tun!"

Stimmt größtenteils. P-Hacking, schlechte Statistik, Publikationsdruck sind die Hauptschuldigen. Mein Gedanke ist spekulativer: Was, wenn unsere Messinstrumente selbst - inklusive uns als Beobachter - Teil des Problems sind? Das ist keine Entschuldigung für schlechte Wissenschaft, sondern eine zusätzliche Ebene der Komplexität.

"Du präsentierst Randmeinungen als Mainstream!"

Guilty as charged. Penrose, Faggin und Kastrup sind Außenseiter. 99% der Neurowissenschaftler winken ab, wenn du mit Quantenbewusstsein kommst. Und sie haben gute Gründe: Tegmarks Dekohärenz-Rechnung ist solide. Das Gehirn ist zu warm, zu nass, zu laut für Quanteneffekte. Ich präsentiere diese Theorien hier nicht als "die Wahrheit", sondern als Denkanstöße.

"Wellen im Ozean - das ist Kühlschrankmagnet-Philosophie!"

Metaphern sind keine Argumente. "Alles ist verbunden" sagt erstmal gar nichts. Die Gefahr von schöner Sprache ist, dass sie Präzision vortäuscht, wo Vagheit herrscht. Andererseits: Manchmal brauchen wir neue Bilder, um aus alten Denkmustern auszubrechen. Die Kunst ist, nicht in den Bildern hängen zu bleiben.

"Du kämpfst gegen Strohmänner!"

Auch wahr. Das mechanistische Weltbild ist längst überwunden. Systembiologie, Komplexitätstheorie, Netzwerkforschung - all das existiert. Vielleicht kämpfe ich weniger gegen die Wissenschaft als gegen ein populäres Missverständnis von Wissenschaft. Gegen die Idee, dass mehr Daten automatisch mehr Verstehen bedeuten.

Am Ende bleibt die Frage: Ist dieser Text wissenschaftlich? \ Nein, nicht im strengen Sinne. Er ist philosophisch, spekulativ, manchmal sogar poetisch. Er lädt zum Denken ein, nicht zum Glauben. Und vielleicht ist genau das sein Wert: Nicht die Antworten, die er gibt, sondern die Fragen, die er aufwirft. Nicht die Theorien, die er zu beweisen versucht, sondern die Gewissheiten, die er erschüttert.

Hegel schrieb, Geschichte sei der Fortschritt im Bewusstsein der Freiheit. Vielleicht ist jeder Versuch, Bewusstsein neu zu denken – und sei er noch so spekulativ – ein kleiner Schritt in diese Richtung. Ein Ringen um geistige Freiheit, um neue Denkmöglichkeiten jenseits des Gegebenen. Ein Fuss in der Tür, die das Neue nutzen kann.

Die Geschichte der Wissenschaft zeigt, dass die größten Durchbrüche oft von denen kamen, die dumme Fragen stellten. Auch wenn 99% dieser Fragen sich als wirklich dumm herausstellten. Dieser Text gehört wahrscheinlich zu den 99%. Aber ohne das Wagnis, eine Dummheit zu riskieren, gäbe es niemals das 1%, das uns weiterbringt. Das Scheitern ist der Preis des Fortschritts.

Subscribe to my uncensorable newsletter here: ...

2025-09-23T14:58:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…rtga
_________________________

Subscribe to my uncensorable newsletter here: https://pareto.space/u/ashoka@pareto.space#subscribe

"The attack on Charlie Kirk marks a new turning point: from ...

2025-09-23T14:55:52Z

"The attack on Charlie Kirk marks a new turning point: from cancel culture to kill culture." https://pareto.space/u/ashoka@pareto.space/1758636676269

Can the Swiss people block off digital servitude once more? ...

2025-09-19T16:00:01Z

Can the Swiss people block off digital servitude once more? https://pareto.space/u/ashoka@pareto.space/1757926868916

Thank you @nprofile…xfmc for making this article a longform ...

2025-08-07T11:03:03Z

Thank you YakiHonne (nprofile…xfmc) for making this article a longform pick!

quoting
nevent1q…lwqe
📖 Longform Pick

From Luther nailing his theses to you sending a post no one can delete — a fresh lens on information sovereignty. Free-floating Intelligence (npub1ude…kt8n)

naddr1qq…7sh7

Thank you @nprofile…xegd @nprofile…nl3s for giving the ...

2025-08-06T11:08:32Z

Thank you pareto (nprofile…xegd) Pareto Project (nprofile…nl3s) for giving the Corbett Report an uncensorable, unhackable safe haven on Nostr. Also a nice example how quickly we can technically import content from wordpress/substack etc. into Nostr via Pareto plus RSS and give any author access to their own, non-censorable archive of their work. Wanna test Pareto Pro Mail, the first Newsletter service on Nostr? Write to: team@pareto.space https://pareto.space/u/corbett-report@pareto.town/6bacee9016f9b39ecef764e5779417c5

Tldr: we have onboarded more than 55 writers on Nostr via our ...

2025-07-16T07:12:41Z

Tldr: we have onboarded more than 55 writers on Nostr via our client; we have launched our first product, a privacy first newsletter service, and we are becoming a Swiss cooperative. Wanna join?

quoting
naddr1qq…jekv

This article first appeared in German at Freischwebende Intelligenz. You can find all the articles by Free-floating Intelligence in English here – subscribe now, to get the articles by e-mail! This article has been written with the Pareto client.

There are days when you feel like a chronicler of decline. You analyze, document, write against the wall. Fort Knox? PR stunt. Elon-Donald? Acting. The Epstein list? Already forgotten. Those who wanted to fight censorship are now silent or censoring themselves. The world is staging its own powerlessness, and we are supposed to watch.

But the only way out of powerlessness is always to go your own way. And no one can walk that path for us.

For several years, I have been writing about the tectonic shifts in our society: decentralization, Bitcoin, freedom of speech, cancel culture, community. Topics that have emerged from the niche and are now taking center stage. Theory has become practice. Writing has become building something new. Synchronicities make it easier to find the way. Now is the moment when the puzzle is coming together.

The Pareto Project was launched two years ago. The fundamental problem was: What is the point of building a free media scene if all content and followers ultimately depend on the mercy of a platform? What would a free space for debate look like in which content and infrastructure belong together? Where ownership of the means of production is not just a footnote, but a practical necessity? Free speech can never be free if we build our publishing houses on someone else's property.

Pareto: An island of freedom in a sea of censorship

A team of readers, coders, and publicists has worked with me to create a system that is a response to the structural censorship of the digital age: Pareto.

A censorship-resistant blog and newsletter service based on Nostr. Open source. Privacy-friendly. Extremely data-efficient. Monetizable via Bitcoin/Lightning. The author knows his email contact list. No one else does.

More than 55 authors now publish via Pareto, onboarded on Nostr. The first uncensorable publication for peace, the Peace Dove, launched in March, reaches over 1,300 people, supported by more than 40 cooperative members and subscribers. Around 100 articles by a good 20 authors have already been published. We can say that it was a good start and the basic framework is in place.

We are currently working on integrating multilingual versions of our client (you can help with this), testing RSS for easier content migration, and developing additional channels on our portal such as podcasts and videos. A category for images/memes/art has already been set up. You can learn more about how to use it in our wiki. On our homepage you will find all developments, the source code and the latest interviews, e.g. in Nexus magazine.

For the current issue of the magazine “Gegendruck,” I wrote about the power of decentralized systems such as Nostr (article will follow shortly here).

What's next?

The digital transformation of power is here. We are leaving the age of platforms. What Facebook was for social media and Google was for search is over. The future belongs to protocols such as Bitcoin, Nostr, etc. Open standards instead of closed systems. No more gatekeepers. No algorithmic censorship. No monetization of attention. Instead of user accounts: sovereign identity. Instead of feeds: personal channels. Instead of obedience: digital self-determination.

Pareto combines existing protocols in a unique and innovative way: TCP/IP (Internet), SMTP (mail), Bitcoin/Lightning (payment), Nostr (communication/cryptographic security).

Pareto is a toolbox for free publication. An uncensorable "Substack" without gatekeepers (for the moment). A Mailchimp without censorship and data trading. An infrastructure for what is coming. For what is needed. For what is missing. Something that can set a new standard and introduce a new rhythm. Can you feel the vibes? Pareto is now becoming a Swiss cooperative.

Why?

The cooperative is the prime example of decentralization in action. Since each member of the cooperative has only one vote, regardless of the number of shares they hold, the concentration of power is made more difficult. The same idea that sustains the project at the network level and makes it resilient can also be applied best at the level of legal personality.

The cooperative promotes freedom of speech free from censorship as its ideal purpose and generates the economic basis for the further development of the project with an affiliated business model.

Profits may be made and also paid out as dividends, but the project does not aim to maximize profits, but rather to have a social impact.

You, dear readers, belong to one of the most active communities in Europe for the defense of free speech and open debate. That is why we are bringing you on board first. Five years ago, we called for a free space for debate, and many joined us: the appeal was our manifesto, the wishful manifestation of a state of affairs. Since then, the corridors have only become narrower. By participating in Pareto, you can now help shape the free debate forum of the future yourself.

What does that mean in concrete terms?

Every member of the cooperative is a co-owner.

Decisions are made democratically.

Profits (if any) go to the cooperative's purpose and the members of the cooperative.

One share costs 5000 CHF (also payable in Bitcoin).

The general meeting is planned for September.

Our first monetizable product, Pareto Pro Mail,\ will be a private, uncensorable, and data-efficient email service for

journalists, NGOs, companies, law firms, doctors, and anyone who

wants to offer their newsletter subscribers particularly confidential and discreet

data handling instead of entrusting their contact list to a

company such as Mailchimp, Rapidmail, or similar.

Are you a publication, a company, an NGO, etc.? We have launched an

initial test cohort for Pareto Pro Mail. If you would like to test our solution,

please write to us at: team@pareto.space

Anyone who has donated to the “Amici della Verità” association (or via Bitcoin on Geyser et al.) in the past can increase their donation and purchase cooperative shares at a reduced price. If you have any questions, please use this email address: milosz@pareto.space

For payments in Bitcoin/Lightning

Add Email address: xy(at)bluewin.ch and "Pareto Cooperative"

For payments in CHF:

For payments in Euros:

Milosz Matuschek

IBAN DE 53710520500000814137

BYLADEM1TST

Sparkasse Traunstein-Trostberg

Who are we looking for?

Not investors in the first place. But co-creators. People with ideas. With vision. With expertise. With a network. We are also looking for:

Developers (frontend/backend, containers, servers)

Translators (especially Italian, French)

Support for marketing, sales, and relationship management

Authors and publications who write what needs to be said.

Get in touch: It's fun to work with us (team@pareto.space)

Our goal

A vibrant ecosystem of free speech that democratizes the means of production of thought. Anyone can broadcast. Anyone can publish. Without permission. Without censorship.

Pareto is an ikigai project for us. We do what the world needs. What we can do. What fulfills us. What may even sustain us. We have already proven that it works. Without outside capital and dependencies. Without big advertising. Without compromises.

Now we need you.

People who recognize that freedom of expression without technical sovereignty is an

empty promise. That spaces for discourse must be rebuilt. That we should not complain, but act.

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others." (African proverb)

I invite you to become part of this journey. Not as a spectator, but as a co-owner. The next public sphere is decentralized. It is communal. It is emerging right now. We have the ideas. We have the tools. What matters now is our network.

Let's go together. And let's go far.

Contact: milosz\@pareto.space

Join the marketplace of ideas! We are building a publishing ecosystem on Nostr for citizen-journalism, starting with a client for blogging and newsletter distribution. Sound money and sound information should finally be in the hands of the people, right? Want to learn more about the Pareto Project? Zap me, if you want to contribute (all Zaps go to the project).

Are you a publication or journalist and want to be part of it, test us, migrate your content to Nostr? Write to team@pareto.space

Not yet on Nostr and want the full experience? Easy onboarding via Start.

Also the place where proto hippie culture flourished 100 years ...

2025-04-07T05:13:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…9hu4
_________________________

Also the place where proto hippie culture flourished 100 years ago at monte verità..

Best country to live in, imo. No tax on BTC holding and wealth ...

2025-03-21T13:53:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…wjnd
_________________________

Best country to live in, imo. No tax on BTC holding and wealth tax is laugh.

🤣 🤣 #nevent1q…m22w

2025-02-17T15:50:52Z

🤣 🤣

quoting
nevent1q…m22w
Who did this?! 🤣🤣🤣

"It is unmistakable. The hydra of the Deep State is losing a ...

2025-02-13T09:14:20Z

"It is unmistakable. The hydra of the Deep State is losing a few heads - and this time it's the turn of the media heads." https://pareto.space/a/naddr1qqxnzden8yensv3jxyenqv3eqgswxu72gyq7ykjdfl9j556887jpzwu3mw3v9ez36quas55whq4te3grqsqqqa28qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqythwumn8ghj7urpwfjhgmewdehhxarjxyhxxmmdqy28wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hsz9nhwden5te0wfjkccte9ehx7um5wghxyctwvs244nye

If trump was a swiss real estate builder... ...

2025-02-07T13:26:46Z

If trump was a swiss real estate builder...

USAID, CIA & Co. What did Germany's Gatekeeper-Virologist ...

2025-02-06T07:43:28Z

USAID, CIA & Co. What did Germany's Gatekeeper-Virologist of zoonosis, Christan Drosten, knew about financing at Wuhan? https://pareto.space/a/naddr1qqxnzden8quryveexq6rywp3qgswxu72gyq7ykjdfl9j556887jpzwu3mw3v9ez36quas55whq4te3grqsqqqa28qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyw8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnzd96xxmmfdejhytnnda3kjctvqy8hwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnddaksz9rhwden5te0dehhxarj9ehhsarj9ejx2aspzamhxue69uhhqctjv46x7tnwdaehgu339e3k7mgpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduq3vamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwdehhxarj9e3xzmny4huwd9

Solche Nachrichten von Abonnenten zeigen mir, dass der Rauswurf ...

2025-01-30T06:58:55Z

Solche Nachrichten von Abonnenten zeigen mir, dass der Rauswurf aus dem Mainstream vor 4.5 Jahren das Beste war, was mir je passieren konnte. Freies unzensierbares Publizieren wird die Zukunft bestimmen. Danke, Neue Zürcher Zeitung für die Befreiung aus eurem Silo! Dank Nostr befreie ich mich aus dem nächsten Quasi-Silo "Substack" 🙏

It must be clear to everyone now: The result of liberation by ...

2025-01-27T09:06:30Z

It must be clear to everyone now: The result of liberation by others is never freedom, but new dependence. What has not been fought for is always a continuation of neo-feudalism and (virtual) serfdom in a different form. The tools for regaining freedom have long been in our hands. What separates us from freedom is ultimately only comfort. https://pareto.space/a/naddr1qqxnzdenxuunvvekx5mrvdpjqgswxu72gyq7ykjdfl9j556887jpzwu3mw3v9ez36quas55whq4te3grqsqqqa28dyprhm

alles außer Bitcoin 😉

2025-01-21T08:28:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…ge2l
_________________________

alles außer Bitcoin 😉

True liberation never comes from above. Not from a Trump-Musk ...

2024-11-28T07:26:51Z

In reply to naddr1qq…pmy6
_________________________

True liberation never comes from above. Not from a Trump-Musk conglomerate and not from governments buying into Bitcoin.

quoting naddr1qv…cnc0

Article by Milosz Matuschek, first published on "Freischwebende Intelligenz".

When the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville traced the French Revolution, he noted that free publicists and authors had become the leading politicians in the mid-18th century. They alone, penniless, without status, rank, title or formal power, became the only ones who still possessed authority. It is no secret that all power, especially in a democracy, is based on media power and public opinion. Revolutions can begin when intellectual forces regroup. The US elections also mark a turning point. It was primarily the media mainstream, the previous classic kingmaker, that lost out. In recent years, it has increasingly retreated into the trenches of its own ideology, preferring to listen to philanthrocapitalists with crazy ideas for shaping the world, woke social engineers and the studies of a thoroughly corrupted scientific community.

The "cultural hegemony" is marked in blue, by the way

This “cultural hegemony”, which also manifested itself in educational institutions and the cultural sector, has now been pulverized. It was the X/Twitter platform and its new owner Elon Musk, among others, that have undermined mainstream power and created a space for broader and deeper debates alongside the narrow corridor of the media cartel. Musk himself is one of the biggest influencers in the world, no one has more followers on Twitter than him (204.6 million). The mainstream used to be the kingmaker, now it's the richest man in the world and his platform. Is that progress?

Musk is now being rewarded with a leadership role in a new government agency: The Department of Government Efficiency, or D.O.G.E. Doge is also the abbreviation for the largest memecoin, a sweet, virtual dog currency, the Doge Coin, which Musk has mentioned from time to time and had also already brought into play as a currency for Tesla. He has also named rockets after Doge.

Media power, meme culture, political power, all mixed together in a somewhat bizarre, semi-serious way. Everything is as American as ever. Many journalists in this country will now have to google “meme culture” and “DOGE”, preferring to stare at mainstream polls predicting a Harris victory. At the same time, Bitcoin is soaring to new highs. (Hopefully you read my piece on Bitcoin from the summer when I suggested you buy Bitcoin now (As of that time: 58,239 dollars per unit. As of press time today: 91,082 dollars).

It's a nice synchronicity when the uncensorable Bitcoin erupts at the same moment as the mainstream echo chamber implodes. Free money and free information belong in the hands of the citizen. But the citizen must also reach for it, otherwise others will. Companies are now increasingly buying into Bitcoin, with Blackrock recording billions in inflows into the Bitcoin ETF in the last few weeks alone. The next wave will come from the government. El Salvador has already declared Bitcoin the reserve currency. Trump is toying with the idea of creating a Bitcoin stock as an official reserve. Bitcoin was meant to be the asset class, which was out of the reach of governments. What will change, when they’re buying into it big time?

Musk is currently the de facto custodian of freedom of expression in the world, the protector liberae orationis mundi. How openly will he deal with critical information about himself or the Trump administration? Every “savior” has a life cycle. Liberators have often become new oppressors. Whether with free money or free information: in none of these centers of power should individual interests be allowed to dictate the direction. But this also means that freedom can only be realized where it is perceived. If citizens do not use the tools of freedom themselves en masse, others will. Freedom then remains just an option that is not redeemed, but merely delegated to the next savior.

Trump and Musk are just creating a new power conglomerate. Politics and billionaires with the will to shape things, everything as usual. From Soros & Co. to Musk & Co. For the field of free information, this means that as long as citizens are not on completely uncensorable platforms that are not controlled by anyone, they are working in the data silo of Musk & Co. They are active in the gig economy of the public opinion market and can be switched off and dimmed down at any time. Whether identity, content or followers: everything belongs to Musk. The necessary next step on the way to a truly free marketplace of ideas is solutions in which the citizen is the actor and not the product being sold.

Only when decentralized money and decentralized information are gathered in the hands of citizens and form a powerful block against power centers of all kinds, and a spirit of light-filled transformation can unfold, will a new golden age begin.

-- Join the marketplace of ideas! Sound money and sound information should finally be in the hands of the people, right? We are building a publishing ecosystem on Nostr for citizen-journalism, starting with a client for blogging and newsletter distribution. Want to learn more about the Pareto Project? Zap me, if you want to contribute (all Zaps go to the project).

Everything comes in waves. What Corona, surfing, Bitcoin and ...

2024-11-26T06:41:08Z

In reply to naddr1qq…st33
_________________________

Everything comes in waves. What Corona, surfing, Bitcoin and journalism taught me about life.

quoting naddr1qv…7g5g

(One of the first pictures of a surfer, Hawai, 1890)

Article by Milosz Matuschek, first published on "Freischwebende Intelligenz".

Everything comes in waves. Almost exactly four years ago, the world narrowed rapidly: curfews, lockdowns, compulsory masks, vaccination madness. The corona period brought me to a decision: do what you've always wanted to do now, the old world might not be around for much longer. The threat of the future made the present more intense for me. The corona period, as bad as it was, put a damper on my procrastination; it forced my focus from the future to the immediate here and now. In the present, I came face to face with myself and looked ruthlessly in the mirror: I was in my early 40s, a single man stranded in a men's shared flat in Zurich, who had just successfully got rid of two prestigious jobs in Swiss journalism and was back where he had started: as a kind of “blogger” on the fringes of the media business. I booked a flight to the Canary Islands, happily missed the return flight, set up my publication "Freischwebende Intelligenz" and started surfing intensively.

I have never regretted any of it.

The sea became my teacher

Surfing: just a banal pastime for big kids and authors in midlife crisis? Surfing, what is it anyway? A sport? A lifestyle? An art form? In 2012, I got on a surfboard for the first time in Trestles Beach, California, without knowing what I was doing. The place is mentioned in the Beach Boys' classic “Surfin' USA”, the main aim of the lyrically simple song is to list the American surf beaches: that's what good PR rock'n'roll sounds like. I took my first real course in France, later I tried the beaches of Portugal. It's interesting that Corona turned my focus back in this direction. During Corona, I probably expected to find a critical, like-minded environment among surfers. An expectation that was only partially fulfilled, but is somehow part of the myth of the sport: this is where the rebels, non-conformists and non-conformists are most likely to be. Kary Mullis, the inventor of the PCR method, was an enthusiastic surfer and free spirit. When the Nobel Committee called him in the morning, he thought it was a joke, hung up and went to the surfing beach. When he returned, there was a crowd of journalists outside his house. The next day, the LA Times ran the headline:

(Screenshot LA Times)

The origins of surfing admittedly predate the pop-culture revival on California beaches. Captain Cook made his first, surprising notes on this phenomenon in Hawaii in 1778. Apparently, the longing to stand on a wave like on the roof of the world and feel the power of the sea beneath you is a long-cherished dream of mankind, just like flying. Surfing became a personal ray of hope for me in the coronavirus dark ages. The sea became more than just a playground or pastime. It became my teacher. At some point, I felt a fusion with the rhythm of the waves. Probably nothing surprising for someone born under the zodiac sign of Pisces. Water had always been my element. With every surfing experience, I learned something new. * Take every wave (i.e. life) as it comes and make the best of it. * Sound out the terrain, observe the conditions carefully before you position yourself: how are the waves building up, which sets are coming up, where is the wind coming from? * You are not entitled to a wave, but you do have the opportunity to use it. * Look for gaps in the waves to get through. The sea will also show you this way. * The situation determines the possibilities, not necessarily your ambition. * If you want to catch a wave, you have to be able to compress the present, wait patiently for the right moment and then use it gratefully. * Don't rush after a wave, the next one is sure to come. * Learn to be patient before every wave and to feel either gratitude or humility after every wave. * Accept the highs as well as the lows, both have a meaning. * Be where the wave is not, learn to anticipate it, categorize it and adapt to it. Go with the flow. * Always work with the sea, never against it.

Riding the waves: An allegory of life

Surfing is a dance with the ocean, a constant negotiation with its rhythms. To ride a wave, a surfer must understand the cycles of the ocean: The swell of the wave, the timing of the wave's buildup, the rise and fall of the tides and the intervals between waves. These natural rhythms, dictated by gravity, the weather, the moon, are unchanging and indifferent to human will. A surfer who defies these rhythms - paddles too early or hesitates too long - cannot catch the wave. As Jaimal Yogis writes in “Saltwater Buddha”: “You cannot fight the ocean. You must surrender to its power and move with it.” This surrender is not a sign of weakness, but a deep adaptation to the rhythm of nature. The surfer becomes attuned to the pulse of the ocean and learns to act in harmony with the forces around him instead of fighting against them.

The sea sends the waves, like ever new life events, in an idiosyncratic sequence. Sometimes there is calm, sometimes there is alarm. In surfing, facing up to these life events and adapting to them is not a question of wanting to, but a duty to be practiced. There is one perfect moment to get on the wave and hundreds of other moments when the attempt can end in a minor catastrophe. The sea sets the rhythm and we either adapt or are severely punished and learn to respect the power of the sea. Every surfer knows the situation where the wave catches you on the wrong foot: you're not on top of it but underneath it, perhaps right in the center of its power, being whirled by it like in a washing drum, pushed to the ground several times until it spits you out in a crackling foam bath and leaves you gasping for air.

Everything swings, nothing is static

Surfing suited me because it was a leisurely continuation of what I was already doing.

Hadn't I become a surfer otherwise? In journalism, timing and the right assessment of a topic are important. Every topic is a wave that rises and falls. In journalism, I've always been particularly interested in the topics that other people don't cover. Where many mainstreamers only saw shoals and whirlpools of disinformation and conspiracy theories, I saw a wave of information building up that would ultimately be most dangerous for those who did not dare to ride it: the journalists themselves. I learned from surfing that you often don't choose the topics, just like you don't choose the waves or life events. They come to you and expect a reaction from you. I decided to ride this wave back then.

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The fall of 2020 was also the beginning of the next bull market for Bitcoin & Co. In trading, you also count waves, interpret volumes and try to make better decisions by recognizing recurring patterns. The biggest lesson here is the same: Humility. You can ride five nice waves but go down with the sixth and never reappear because you're broke. How the Bitcoin/crypto market has moved since 2009 has been easy to study. It was not too surprising what happened in 2019/2020/2021: Bitcoin rose from a low of USD 5,000 to over USD 70,000. Anyone who thought cyclically knew that. Anyone studying the prices now will easily recognize parallels. Position yourself or watch? Unlike the sea, life gives us this choice. But there is one thing you should never do: mourn missed opportunities or missed waves. They are gifts, not objects of entitlement.

The fifth hermetic principle

The principle of rhythm is the fifth “hermetic principle” and it teaches two lessons, among others: It is everywhere and is always concerned with balance, with compensation and homeostasis. Every situation has a lifespan. It can change in its shades and tip from one extreme position to the other. The universal, pendulum-like rhythm can be found, for example, in...

Theories of history (Polybios, Ibn Chaldun or the authors of the “4th Turning”).

Economic theories: In the alternation of bull and bear markets, in the Kondratiev cycles or the Elliott waves in trading.

The sociology of power: thinkers such as Pareto, Mosca and Michels (all of whom remained outsiders) saw an elite cycle at work in politics.

The Bible: In the Old Testament, Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dreams of the seven fat years and the seven lean years.

The pendulum of rhythm swings and it swings everywhere. At the macro level of history and the economy as well as at the micro level of our bodies. Every single cell has its tension, its frequency, in the end everything is in motion, nothing is static. Life oscillates. We think in terms of life cycles when we look at the calendar. We know that after winter comes spring, just as night is followed by day. In everyday life, we tend to forget the principle of rhythm. We don't need to be reminded of its gravity, it is always there and keeps us from taking off and sticking to the ceiling. The rhythm of life, on the other hand, communicates with us in a cryptic language. We are presented with opportunities that we can seize. The prerequisite for this is that we recognize them. Those who sharpen their senses for these signs will increasingly invite them into their lives as signposts.

Become a soul surfer on the waves of life

The principle of rhythm is an encouraging principle. It tells me that we can survive any situation if we are only prepared to interpret the signals, sharpen our intuition and start practising pattern recognition. “No wind is favorable to those who do not know their destination,” Seneca knew. No external situation is dangerous for those who carry their home port within them. For those who operate with their own principles, values and objectives, life is a playground for applying these principles. Highs teach us to stay on the ground, defeats teach us sovereignty and inner detachment from external storms. In every situation in life, we have the opportunity to sharpen our principles or adapt them if necessary, to develop our character and to open another chapter in our world of experience.

What teacher have you found for yourself?

What perhaps banal activity revealed new approaches to reality to you?

-- Join the marketplace of ideas! Sound money and sound information should finally be in the hands of the people, right? We are building a publishing ecosystem on Nostr for citizen-journalism, starting with a client for blogging and newsletter distribution. Want to learn more about the Pareto Project? Zap me, if you want to contribute (all Zaps go to the project).

Bitcoin looming 100k (where are the laser eyes, btw?) this is a ...

2024-11-23T08:57:40Z

In reply to naddr1qq…s3g7
_________________________

Bitcoin looming 100k (where are the laser eyes, btw?) this is a small digest of how I explained Bitcoin to myself. If you want to orangepill others, share, use and republish this article!

quoting naddr1qv…vuwu

Article by Milosz Matuschek, first published on "Freischwebende Intelligenz".

When Michael Ende wrote his novel “Momo”, which is much more than a children's book, he had given a lot of thought to alternative monetary systems. The writer knew that the question of the monetary system shapes and changes culture. Money is made by people, so it is also in the hands of people to rethink and change money. And thus give the world a new face. This is what Bitcoin is all about at its core: giving the world a new face. And we are on this threshold right now. Now.

What is Bitcoin actually?

If you are just starting to get to grips with Bitcoin, you are in for a particularly enriching experience: Namely, the realization that the wealth opened up by Bitcoin is not material, but spiritual and intellectual in nature. Bitcoin is capable of breaking down the boundaries of thought, opening up new channels of reality and paving the way for social transformation. On the other hand, those who stick primarily to the price curves may overlook precisely this transformative power in the daily ups and downs.

So what is Bitcoin? A cryptocurrency? Yes, but not only, because forms of money that make use of encryption technology existed before and still exist today in many cases parallel to Bitcoin. Bitcoin's currency function is just one of many facets. It is perhaps not even the most exciting and practicable.

Rather, Bitcoin is a multidimensional phenomenon, like an onion with several layers. But it is unique in its own way and has so far only been copied many times but never equaled. In short: there is Bitcoin and then there is nothing for a long time.

There are at least two ways to approach Bitcoin. Of course, you can try to understand Bitcoin by a) reading the famous white paper by the anonymous initiator “Satoshi Nakamato”, a kind of revolutionary instruction manual for nerds. Or b) following the extremely poor reporting in the mainstream media, where you mainly learn that the price has just fallen again (mostly that) or has just risen (they somehow don't like to report that).

So let's try a third, somewhat less confusing alternative: let's approach Bitcoin in an unconventional way, namely using phenomena that we already know.

A language

Money is like language and language is like money. Money is a means of communication about values that has grown from below, not imposed from above. “Caesar non supra grammaticos”, the emperor is not above language, was already known in ancient Rome. The fact that money is based on a convention was demonstrated by the economist Carl Menger at the end of the 19th century in his book “The origin of Money”. According to this, money can be anything that is designated as such by agreement.

However, the idea remained in people's minds that money, because it was linked to power, had to be a kind of state brand. Like an anthem or a flag. The monetary system thus represents a blind spot in the history of human emancipation. People got rid of emperors, churches and ideologies, but when it came to the question of money production, they said to themselves: we don't know anything about that, let's leave it to a banking monopoly and the governments. With fatal consequences. The fiat money system ended up biting itself in the tail.

The price of this timidity: a bloated financial sector, fiscal excesses, costly wars, hyperinflations, currency reforms, creeping or abrupt expropriations. No state paper currency has survived in the long term. The bullshit filter of history shows: Governments are the worst possible currency managers. Fiat currencies are dinosaurs that were never allowed to die and have been kept alive again and again in cloned form. But Bitcoin is the approaching meteorite.

Because the question that Bitcoin raises is: what if money, like language, can be decoupled from the state in such a way that no one person can corrupt the process? It would be an act of rebellion, of disobedience against the current monetary system, for sure. It would also be an act of enlightenment. The exit from a monetary immaturity that is self-inflicted because it has never been questioned. Bitcoin is a cross between virtual numismatics and Esperanto. But an Esperanto that is spoken millions of times over.

As in language, cacophony or linguistic confusion is a hindrance to communication. Once a standard has been found, it is maintained. The Internet still runs on the old TCP/IP protocol. Changing standards is rare. Bitcoin, as the first functioning alternative to the fiat money system, has become its own standard. Bitcoin is now probably too big and too important to be seriously threatened by a competitor. Bitcoin has moved beyond the so-called focal point or Schelling point.

An organism

Bitcoin is like an organism, comparable to a life form that is particularly resilient, reproduces, interacts, nourishes itself and is designed for a long lifespan, like a fungus. Fungi are one of the oldest life forms on our planet. And they are extremely resilient, otherwise they would not have survived for 1 billion years. Fungi are networks of communication. They play an important role in nature in the decomposition of dead materials.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTgDQ56Su38

Bitcoin feeds on decaying, modernizing fiat currencies that are ultimately doomed. With each participant, the network becomes stronger, more practicable, more resilient. According to Metcalfe's law from network theory, the benefit of a communication system increases proportionally with the number of participants. Bitcoin is growing rapidly.

A technology

The good thing about technologies is that they do not negotiate. A technology is either better, in which case it will prevail, or it will not. But if it prevails, it does so in a brute force manner. It simply makes the old look old. An exodus begins, first sparsely as an experiment by a few, then by “early adopters”, and finally by popularization in the mainstream. The breakthrough of a technology initially looks like a small wave and only at the end does it become apparent that it is actually a tsunami that buries everything old and leaves no stone unturned.

Technology brings paradigm shifts from time to time. That is why Bitcoin cannot be adequately described in the currency category. The automobile made even the fastest horse look slow. The cell phone made phone booths look like relics from the Stone Age. Bitcoin is superior to fiat money in every respect. Technological revolutions know no pardon, no turning back. The Lindy effect roughly states that a technology that survives ten years will also survive the next ten years. Bitcoin was launched in 2009 and will soon be entering puberty, with all the ups and downs that come with human development.

In technology, we talk about Gartner hype cycles. The adoption of a new technology does not take place in a linear fashion, but rather in a series of sharply fluctuating curves. Bitcoin is a technological change whose acceptance comes with a price tag that can be tracked every second. Since the beginning, Bitcoin has been in a constant price discovery mode.

A new asset class

All central bank currencies in the world are fiat currencies, i.e. not backed by anything other than the promise of politicians that they are stable and trustworthy. In fact, the money supply is being increased in an inflationary manner, the value of money is constantly falling, and the political target is a 2% loss of purchasing power per year. In plain language, this means that the money you earn today will buy 40% less in 20 years' time. At least. Actual money devaluation is way higher. Call it a form of expropriation if you like. So the money we use has something of an expiry date. It is getting worse. It has a leak in terms of purchasing power, in terms of value.

Bitcoin plugs this leak by performing the opposite function. The quantity of Bitcoin is mathematically limited to 21 million Bitcoin from the outset. These bitcoins are created in the network through the mining process. This is an energy-intensive process that makes the network particularly secure and for which a miner receives a reward in the form of Bitcoin. Initially, it was 50 Bitcoin every ten minutes for the miner who correctly calculated the cryptographic code (hash) for the next block. Now it is only 6.25 Bitcoin. In 2024, this figure halved again and so on. Bitcoin is therefore a deflationary asset class.

Bitcoin is designed to eventually become harder money than gold, of which only a certain amount can be created each year. This also makes Bitcoin a very “inelastic” asset class, which means that you cannot produce more of it if demand increases, as is possible to a limited extent with gold. As the supply remains the same, an increase in demand is sometimes reflected in explosive price increases.

More and more companies are currently buying Bitcoin in order to invest their cash reserves to preserve purchasing power. The company Microstrategy holds several billion dollars in Bitcoin, and Tesla also bought Bitcoin worth 1.5 billion a few months ago. El Salvador has declared Bitcoin the national currency and bought Bitcoin. Other countries want to follow suit. At this point, you don't have to be an investment genius to understand that a “land run” is imminent.

A currency

Bitcoin combines all the functions of currencies (unit of account, medium of exchange, store of value), but has significantly increased its purchasing power compared to fiat currencies. Bitcoin can be used as a currency, even in everyday life, even if the Bitcoin blockchain is not primarily designed to process a large number of transactions. However, this can be compensated for by low-cost, parallel systems such as the Lightning Network.

Whether Bitcoin will also establish itself as a means of payment in everyday life or remain primarily an effective store of value that is ultimately superior to gold is currently an open, intensively debated question. Since the exchange of Bitcoin into possibly more practical forms of payment, even a crypto prepaid card, is a matter of seconds, the question of whether Bitcoin is suitable as a currency is ultimately irrelevant for its mainstream acceptance.

Also, why pay with an asset that appreciates in value? According to Gresham's law, which goes back to an ancient parable, bad money is spent and good money is hoarded. This means that the volatility of Bitcoin is ultimately more of a bugbear for Bitcoin opponents. Bitcoin can also be exchanged for a more stable form of currency shortly before the act of purchase.

A system of accounting

Bitcoin is a payment network and an asset class. Or to put it another way: an asset class that has its own uncensorable distribution channel, the blockchain. Gold, on the other hand, is like a train that relies on the tracks of others to get from A to B. The Bitcoin network is therefore a booking system on the internet whose bookings cannot be reversed or changed retroactively, as only users communicate with users on this network. There is no guardian of the blockchain or any central authority. The transactions are grouped together in blocks and attached to each other using cryptographic means, creating a block chain or blockchain.

At first glance, the idea of a booking system sounds boring. However, it is probably the most overlooked revolution that Bitcoin has initiated. Because before Bitcoin, there were only two other forms of bookkeeping: first, simple bookkeeping, in which only one entity (the king, ruler, an authority?) kept a ledger of debts and could enter or remove debtors at will. Thousands of years later, double-entry bookkeeping followed, in which two parties kept records of transactions. This dates back to the Renaissance and enabled the rise of Venice as a global trading power, to which the Medici cleverly linked their banking system.

500 years later, Bitcoin is now the evolution of bookkeeping in a threefold form. Each participant keeps a record of which transaction takes place from where to where, for example from participant A to B. In addition, the transaction can be traced by anyone in the blockchain accounting system, even if not under a clear name. Pseudonymized addresses that can be assigned to individuals communicate. One look at the blockchain is enough to ensure that there is always consensus and clarity about the asset situation in the network. The booking system is more than just an account book. It is also a machine of truth.

A cult

Money, faith and religion are related. Gold has been worshipped for thousands of years, and the dance around the golden calf is perhaps inseparable from the sober side of money as an everyday object. Money has something messianic about it, it saves, even if only from the burden of debt, which in the context of religion is not far removed from the forgiveness of sins.

Questions of money are always about questions of real value. This perhaps almost inevitably gives rise to a “pure doctrine” as opposed to alternative doctrines. The history of alchemy is a good example of this: one figure in whom many disciplines culminated was Isaac Newton. He was an alchemist and at the same time one of the first scientists of the modern age. At times, he even acted as the guardian of the currency in England, presided over the English mint and brought counterfeiters to the scaffold. Bitcoin also uses the narrative of the promise of salvation to spread as an idea in people's minds. There is now a well-branched Bitcoin propaganda network in the form of memes and pictures.

An idea whose time has come

How should we weigh these seven elements? Is Bitcoin a tech cult with digital fake gold, a new edition of alchemy, as many central bankers or critics would like it to be? Or is it actually a technological advancement of the idea of money with potentially epochal effects on the entire financial system? Somewhere in the matrix of these seven elements, perhaps the truth is hidden.

What Bitcoin is certainly not is a universal savior. Bitcoin is a vehicle for change, but it relies on the cooperation of the network's participants. Anyone who believes that far-reaching changes in the financial system and society will occur automatically just because a few people speculate with cryptos is likely to be mistaken. Bitcoin is certainly not perfect either. However, the ideas behind Bitcoin, such as decentralization, consensus building, the incentive system for network-friendly behavior in mining and much more can serve as positive role models for other areas that should also be reformed. However, Bitcoin is neither a perpetual motion machine for quick riches nor a jack-of-all-trades.

Anyone looking for a perfect investment that is easy to use, moral in every respect, environmentally friendly, mindful and fair will find little in this world that will satisfy them, whether it's farmland, gold or, oh yes, the ever so environmentally friendly “petro-dollar”. Yes, mining Bitcoin is energy-intensive, but a large part of it is now obtained from renewable energy sources and Bitcoin is still less energy-intensive than the banking system. Yes, the price is volatile and will remain so for a long time, but that is probably still better than sitting on safely decaying government money.

Let's not kid ourselves: Bitcoin will still face some resistance from the established financial system and central banks. But Bitcoin is fighting its way into the consciousness of mankind, because there are not many alternatives if you want to protect your purchasing power from the central banks' weapon of mass destruction and their expansion of the money supply.

Bitcoin is an idea whose time has come. And according to the writer Victor Hugo, not even an army can stop it. Conversely, however, Bitcoin could stop armies, because once Bitcoin has established itself, states could no longer rely on the money printing press to finance cost-intensive wars.

That would be the best function that Bitcoin could have.

Almost too good to be true.

-- Join the marketplace of ideas! Sound money and sound information should finally be in the hands of the people, right? We are building a publishing ecosystem on Nostr for citizen-journalism, starting with a client for blogging and newsletter distribution. Want to learn more about the Pareto Project? Zap me, if you want to contribute (all Zaps go to the project).

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