Tag: Agora! Anarchy! Action!

Laugh as Daily Kos Recognizes How Powerless Its Precious State Really Is

A milling machine specifically designed to complete 80% AR lowers was released and sold out? Quick, call in the gun control loons! Daily Kos, one of the more prevalent publications serving the market of hysterical pants shitters has caught news of Cody Wilson’s Ghost Gunner and its phenomenal sales, which means it had to release an article explaining why the sky is falling and we’re all going to die:

I suggest you read the articles linked. It is both interesting and frightening. It really illuminates the sophomoric pseudo-intellectual flaws of the libertarian movement. It also shows that the practicality of their anti-government rhetoric is non-existent. On the one hand, they are democratizing gun ownership, and on the other, they are creating a world that is willfully deaf to all of the damage guns have done and continue to do.

Actually the linked articles, which describe the release of the Ghost Gunner and the fact that it sold out within 36 hours, illuminates the effectiveness of the ideas proposed by market anarchists within the libertarian movement. It certainly illuminates the practicality of our anti-government rhetoric.

Case in point, the release of this invention, which was developed by a handful of individuals, rendered gun control meaningless. Anybody can buy an 80% lower and anybody can buy a Ghost Gunner. That renders every gun control law on the books irrelevant. And if the laws are changed and the sale of 80% lowers is prohibited then an improved Ghost Gunner can be released that turns out completed lowers from solid blocks of aluminum. If laws are passed that prohibit the sale of milling machines then we will build them ourselves from commonly available parts.

Market anarchism often focuses on technical solutions for solving the problem of statism. The Ghost Gunner has solved the problem of the state deciding who can and cannot own an effective means of self-defense. Tor hidden services have solved the problem of the state deciding what can be posted on the Internet. Bitcoin has solved the problem of the state deciding what kinds of products can be traded amongst individuals. Cryptography continues the solve the problem of the state snooping through communications in an attempt to silence the disobedient. It has been becoming apparent for some time that market anarchism works. As a corollary to that market anarchism also demonstrates that statism can’t last.

Sorry (OK, I’m not actually sorry) statists but your precious state is powerless. Liberty is winning now that many of its proponents are no longer playing your stupid political games.

Dividing the Country Into Equally Populated States

Slate, surprising as it is, actually has an interesting article about various shapes the individual states within the United States would look if they were divided up in such a way that each one was equally populated. The article is mostly a bunch of neat looking graphics showing how the states would look if the population of this country was divided out in different ways.

But what I really liked is the idea of dividing states in a way that ensues each one has the same population. In fact it’s an idea I’m entirely behind. I believe this country should be divided up in such a way that there are approximately 316.1 million different states. As the population increases so will the number of states. This will ensure that each individual is their own state so we can do away with all of this stupid concepts of subservience to rulers.

Behold the Ghost Gunner

Many gun rights advocates complain that anarchist don’t do anything to advance gun rights. While they’re pander to politicians, attend meetings, and advocating for or against legislation they see us not doing so and assume we’re just sitting around with our thumbs up our asses. But we work smarter, not harder. With the realization that any political gain can be reversed down the road we look for ways to bypass the political machinery altogether.

One of the anarchists on the forefront of the gun rights battle is Cody Wilson. He brought us the first notable 3D printed handgun. Now he’s bringing us a milling machine designed specifically to produce AR lowers:

When Cody Wilson revealed the world’s first fully 3-D printed gun last year, he showed that the “maker” movement has enabled anyone to create a working, lethal firearm with a click in the privacy of his or her garage. Now he’s moved on to a new form of digital DIY gunsmithing. And this time the results aren’t made of plastic.

Wilson’s latest radically libertarian project is a PC-connected milling machine he calls the Ghost Gunner. Like any computer-numerically-controlled (or CNC) mill, the one-foot-cubed black box uses a drill bit mounted on a head that moves in three dimensions to automatically carve digitally-modeled shapes into polymer, wood or aluminum. But this CNC mill, sold by Wilson’s organization known as Defense Distributed for $1,200, is designed to create one object in particular: the component of an AR-15 rifle known as its lower receiver.

Gun control is irrelevant in a world where anybody can manufacture a firearm. And that’s the goal, make politics irrelevant by utilizing technology:

Wilson’s goal of enabling anyone to privately fabricate an untraceable gun is part of a larger anarchist mission: To show how technology can render the entire notion of government obsolete. He’s spent the last two years developing firearms designed to be printed as easily as ink on a page, neutering attempts at gun control. “This is a way to jab at the bleeding hearts of these total statists,” Wilson says. “It’s about humiliating the power that wants to humiliate you,” he says.

Why beg masters for scraps from the liberty table when you can build your own liberty table and eat as much as you want? A popular agorist saying is “Agora! Anarchy! Action!” In it’s even on a poster

agora-anarchy-action

The keyword is action. Anarchists, I would argue, have a tendency to directly take action over the statists’s tendency to ask others, specifically politicians, to take action. We prefer to get our hands dirty, which is necessary when you’re working for radical change. I do wish politically active gun rights activists well but if the political atmosphere starts looking bad again us anarchists will ensure that any guns banned by the state are readily available to as many people as possible.

Internet Defensive Services

The dust is beginning to settle after the Fappening. For those who haven’t been following along the Fappening involved individuals gaining unauthorized access to nude photos of celebrities stored on Apple’s iCloud service. Earlier this week the Fappeneing was looking to strike again as a website appeared with a countdown. The site claimed that when the countdown reached zero nude photos of Emma Watson would be released. As it turns out the site was a hoax and now there is a debate about whether it was a hoax created by 4chan itself or a marketing company aimed at taking down 4chan. But the mere existence of the site created a shitstorm that has fueled a lot of angry ranting. Most of the ranting can be summarized by the idea that women aren’t safe on the Internet.

First of all let me say that it’s good that people are in an uproar. Data breaches suck but all too often they raise little ire. When they do manage to piss a lot of people off resources get diverted to tighten security. But so long as people aren’t outraged companies are all too happy to let known security issues linger until somebody gets bit in the ass. While Apple has finally taken measure to fix the iCloud vulnerability the damage has been done. The images are out there and there’s no way to remove them since the Internet is forever.

But this situation got me thinking. Stunts like the Fappening are all too easy to pull off because the minor risks involved are seldom dissuasive. To prevent thing like the Fappening from occurring again the risks need to be increased. Most people seem to be aware of this and they have been demanding stronger laws against unauthorized computer access and other state interventions. Let me say that demanding state intervention is pointless. The state doesn’t give a fuck about anybody but itself and its cronies. It will only exploit these situations to gain more power for itself over the Internet without actually address the issue.

What we really need are hackers. As an anarchist I’m a proponent of a compensatory justice system, social ostracization, and outlawry. Suffice to say when it is possible to compensate somebody for a wrong then they should be compensated. If an individual or individuals have a habit of shitty behavior then the community should ostracize them. And if somebody refuses to abide by the laws of society (the natural laws created through spontaneous order, not the decrees issued by the state) they should not receive the protection of the law. For any of this to be possible the identity of the bad actors must be uncovered.

My proposal is complex and revolutionary since it works outside of the state (in fact by the state’s very laws it is illegal as hell). But I put forth that hackers should form organizations with the purpose of identifying bad actors and seeking justice against them. This obviously requires a lot of investigative work and either cooperation from organizations that have suffered data breaches or gaining unauthorized access to their systems to collect forensic information. Once the bad actors have been uncovered justice can be sought. Depending on the severity of the offense justice may entail something as simple as compensation paid to the victim or as complex as attacking any system in that person’s possession with the express purpose of preventing them from gaining access to the Internet. In especially egregious circumstance destruction of their data, credit ratings, and identity may be called for.

In other words I propose we create our own justice system just as stateless societies have in the past. I subscribe to the ideas expressed in the Crypto Anarchist Manifesto. The Internet is the realm of those who use it, not the state. To borrow a page from agorism we need to create our own goods and services and utilize the market to determine where resources should be prioritized. Seeking justice against those who gain unauthorized access to other people’s personal data sounds like a good place to put some resources. And it’s something that people can do. Most of the electrons spilled over the Fappening have been in the form of impotent bitching. Take the article I linked to that claimed women aren’t safe on the Internet. A group of feminist hackers coming together to seek justice against those who wrong women online could create a safer Internet for women. It certainly would accomplish more than complaining has.

The True Beauty of Agorism

I’m an anarchist and I oppose initiating force. That closes to commonly use strategies for enacting political change to me: violent revolution and politics. In my quest to destroy the state I have opted instead to utilize counter-economics, which is a strategy that attempts to starve the state of resources and replace it by creating alternatives to the services is currently claims dominion over. But there is something I like about agorism even more than its rejection of initiating force. Agorism allows me to do what I want without having to give any fucks about what statists say.

This realization dawned on me during a discussion I had with a statist on Facebook. He, as is common amongst statists, was busy misrepresenting anarchy by claiming it is synonymous with chaos. During his continuous stream of ignorance he kept claiming that collective political action was the only way to achieve change (because it has worked so well over the last century) and that anarchists have undermined the liberty movement by stealing people from effective political activities and having them waste their time with strategies that will never work. It was then that I realized something: I don’t actually have to care what he says, thinks, or does.

Politics, which is a form of collective action, requires you to obtain the approval of your peers. If you are unable to gain favor with your peers your chances of achieving victory are nil. Imagine being a politician who wanted to really change things. Your strategy relies on taking away every ounce of power possible from the state and its cronies. You can’t promise anybody free shit because your strategy relies on taking away everybody’s free shit. What would you accomplish? The answer, as Ron Paul knows all too well, is nothing. Politics necessary requires you to give people free shit in exchange for their support. Therefore it requires you to use the power of the state to benefit your cronies in order to obtain the power necessary to accomplish your political goals. If you want to end the Federal Reserve, for example, you must promise to bomb a few foreign countries in return.

This is why politics is ineffective at creating real change. Politics has to be a circlejerk, which means you have to care what others think of you. Agorism, on the other hand, requires individual action but not permission. I don’t have to fill out permits, seek political favor, or compromise any of my principles. The only thing agorism requires me to do is provide a good or service outside of the state’s control and hope others find it appealing enough to pay me for it instead of relying on the “legitimate” market. If my product or service is desirable I will be able to deprive the state of some resources. If my product or service isn’t desirable then I return to the drawing board.

I’ve never been one to seek permission. When I want to do something I do it. If the violent gang we call the state provides an easy way to pay it off so I don’t have to spend time in a cage I will sometimes do it but not always (and I’m becoming less and less inclined to do so). Agorism appeals to independently minded people like me who aren’t fans of begging masters for privileges. More and more I notice that politics primarily caters to thee kinds of people: those interested in maintaining the status quo (perhaps with some minor changes), those with little or no creativity, and those whose political circle and social circle are one in the same. I’m much more apt to tell somebody to fuck off than I am to beg them for permission or do whatever I can to appease them in the hopes they will reward me with some scraps from the table of liberty. The fact that I’m usually sickened by extremely politically active individuals probably colors my point of view as well (seriously, if you try to get me to do call banking for a political cause or politicians you’re automatically on my shit list).

Hoarded Cash May Be Circulating In the More Awesome Economy

The Federal Reserve bank has expressed displeasure at the fact that all of the funny money it printed hasn’t been circulating in the economy. As always the Fed is blaming people who save, err, hoard (I really need to get a newer version of the Newspeak dictionary) money for all of our country’s economic woes. But one economist has put forth an interesting theory. Edward Feige hypothesizes that a lot of the “hoarded” money is making it’s way around the more awesome economy, which is usually referred to derogatorily as the black or underground market:

Maybe. But another explanation was put forward by the economist Edward Feige, who argued recently that a lot more cash than traditionally assumed is circulating domestically. Where others estimated that half or more of all U.S. currency flows overseas, he said 75 percent or so is actually at home.

Again, is it just sitting there because of low interest rates
and economic doldrums?

Nope. Feige estimates that, in 2009, “18-23% of total reportable income may not properly be reported to the IRS.” That missing $2 trillion or so makes for a rather lower income tax compliance rate than the official 83.1 percent estimated by the IRS.

Which is to say, according to Feige, the money isn’t being hoarded (although some is certainly stashed for a rainy day), but
it’s being channeled into the shadow economy of otherwise legal goods and services to escape taxes and regulations. Much of it probably flows to outright illegal black market activities, too. But the huge increase in cash in private hands suggests less in the way of massively increased demand for hookers and blow than it does a growing parallel economy.

If so this is good news as it indicates that people are still producing and consuming but they’re also not paying the violent gang known as the state its demanded protection money. As we know every dollar of tax revenue obtained by the state allows it to build more bombs, hire more armed thugs, and improve its surveillance apparatus. Every dollar kept from the state is therefore helping protect innocent lives and thus the larger the more awesome economy becomes the safer most of us will be.

How to be a Hypocrite Staring Stefan Molyneux

If you’ve been involved in libertarian circles for a while you’ve probably heard the name Stefan Molyneux. He is a self-proclaimed philosopher who considers himself an anarcho-capitalist. In addition to that he’s also a narcissistic ass who mirrors a cult leader more than an individual who supposedly opposed rulers. As with most narcissists Molyneux doesn’t handle criticism well. Any form of criticism, in his opinion, must be ruthlessly crushed even if it requires him to be a hypocrite to do it. A group calling themselves Tru Shibes have been putting together videos on YouTube that point out instances where Molyneux has been inconsistent. Since Molyneux does hour and a half monologues Tru Shibes have had a lot of material to work with. But Molyneux decided he had to prove that his inconsistencies know no bounds. The man claims that he opposes intellectual property but decided to use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to silence Tru Shibes:

Either way, Molyneux, who writes and speaks frequently about being against “state” violence and has spoken out about how he doesn’t support intellectual property law, apparently chose to make use of the DMCA to take down a bunch of videos from “TruShibes” an account that apparently has mocked Molyneux and apparently hypocritical actions/statements he’s made.

I think Tru Shibes should consider this their single greatest victory. This story also brings up a point that I feel needs emphasizing from time to time. Us anarchists subscribe to a philosophy that opposes the state. For me that means avoiding interaction with the state as much as possible. I don’t want to use the state to solve my problems, which means I have little interest in calling the cops on somebody, taking somebody to court, or filing a DMCA take down notice to silence my critics (don’t worry, all of my shit is public domain so I don’t even have claimed copyrights I could use for a DMCA take down). But from time to time I see self-proclaimed anarchists use the state they supposedly oppose to silence their critics either by filing a lawsuit or utilizing some stupid law like the DMCA.

If anarchism is to thrive it must be able to provide alternatives to the state. One of the state’s longest claimed monopolies is dispute resolution. When two individuals have a disagreement they take it to the state’s courts. Dispute resolution is one of the markets where anarchists could provide some truly creative alternatives. It’s also a market that acts as a litmus test for statists. As far as they’re concerned the only way to resolve disputes is to have a third party with a lot of guns command people who disagree to behave. If anarchists can come up with a functional alternative for dispute resolution it would do a lot to demonstrate its effectiveness.

So if you consider yourself an anarchist take Molyneux’s recent act of cowering behind the state and its DMCA as an example of what not to do. Instead when you find yourself involved in a disagreement work to find a solution that doesn’t involve the state and its coercive violence.

AgoraFest 2014 Summary

This weekend I was at the second annual AgoraFest. As the event’s namesake is taken from agorism it’s no surprise to know that it was total anarchy. That is to say the event was absent of coercive force, devoid of hierarchy, and much mutually beneficial trade occurred. Unlike political events, AgoraFest’s speakers didn’t spout of violent hate speech. There were no psychopaths urging the bombing of a foreign country, arrest of nonviolent people, or further militarization of the police. We were fortunate to be joined by Jack Shimek, a agorist who was good friends with agorism’s founder, Samuel Edward Konkin III. He’s working on some interesting things that I’ll discuss more when they’re announced to the public.

In addition to giving an introductory course on firearms (which was requested by an individual who didn’t even show up) and lock picking I also spent my time being the event’s network ninja. We setup a mesh network using Ubiquity NanoStation and PicoStation access points running Commotion Wireless firmware. The event was hosted at the Villa Maria in Frontenac, Minnesota so cell coverage was sparse. Likewise the Villa Maria only has Internet access in the main building. Using our access points we were able to span the distance between the main Villa Maria building and the cabins where the event took place. Overall we covered a distance of roughly 1,200 feet, which was made difficult by sparse availability of power outlets (we had one 500 foot span because there were no power outlets that allowed us to shorten the distance). While the Villa Maria’s Internet connection isn’t stellar the setup allowed us decent coverage of slow Internet access instead of no coverage at all. It was a fun experiment and I look forward to improving the network next year.

I had a great time but it was also a lot of work so I’m taking today off of blogging (at least anything other than the Monday Metal entry and this post) to recuperate. Between Defcon and AgoraFest I’m pretty burned out this month but it was well worth the hassle.

Great Organic Fair Trade Conflict-Free Product For Sale

I must say that I love the Internet. If there is a want out there somebody on the Internet will eventually serve it. For example:

At the more extreme end of socially progressive marketing strategies used by online dealers are those that involve the promotion of drugs on the basis of supposedly “ethical”, “fair trade”, “organic” or “conflict-free” sources of supply.

The story is talking about cocaine and opium, not coffee. This shouldn’t surprise anybody since hipsters need their fix as well. I’m greatly amused by the fact that the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) managed to shutdown the original Silk Road and were rewarded by a notable increase in website selling unpatentable drugs. Now the online drug dealers are marketing to hipsters, which probably means they are making a nice premium (if Whole Foods is any indicator hipsters are willing to pay quite a bit more for the same product with the words “fair trade”, “organic”, or “conflict-free” on the label).

Hidden services have no only reduced violence in the drug trade but now they’re ensuring more drug users’ needs are met.