A Commitment To Freedom

I want to be free. I want to just live. Freedom is talked about very loosely, but I think very few people have tasted liberty. It’s worth dying for.

Sadly, the world has more hard-core slaves than it ever has in history. Now, I’m using this word “hard-core” to delineate between “soft-core” slavery that is more pervasive and akin to wage-slavery. I’m an American, and I’m proud of the progress that we have made towards liberating people. This process, however, is not done. Our past is a battle record of actual progress towards liberty through innovation, and Americans have exceptional capacity to achieve freedom in their lifetime.

However, dark forces conspire. We think the good guys won the civil war, but did the slavers go away? No, they morphed because there is a playbook that exists. The “slavers” playbook has a deeper understanding of the human condition, and rather than instruct on how to avoid the pitfalls. They lead us into catastrophe.

I’m reminded of a scene from Django Unchained:

Why don’t they kill us? Now, right out there on the porch, three times a week for fifty years Ole’ Ben here would shave my daddy with a straight razer. Now, if I was Ole Ben, I would have cut my daddy’s god damn throat and it wouldn’t take me fifty years to do it either. But he never did.

We can ask the same question today: why don’t the masses rise up and kill the rich? Well, there are multitude of reasons. First, there are rich people that have done good things that have made life better; they have innovated and shared their wealth with humanity. However, these good rich people are useful idiots for the slavers that extract and horde value rather than create and share value. Worst of all, the playbook of the slavers is an infestation.

For all the banter about socialism, it is doomed in America because there are enough free people. The great revolution will require a great person to lead; the irony is that those that demand socialism can’t recognize greatness and are awaiting a street-wise hero. And to the left’s credit, the slavers have made greatness confusing and murky. The doom of socialism is that anyone capable of leading the revolution is at risk for capture and release. As in, the skills required to lead the great revolution are exceptionally useful to the corporations that drive us.

Now, let’s talk about the modern slavers playbook. It depends on two things: fear and passivity. Humans are prone to fear and cowardice as we don’t fully grasp the world, so we listen to “leaders”. This is then reinforced by passivity because the cost of being brave is high, so why not just chill out at home watching TV. Life has provided many distractions. Hell, rats will try to free other captive rats unless they are captivated by heroin.

The modern world, in many ways, is a prison of complexity; the paradox is that the same technology that liberates us also enslaves us. I worked at Facebook, and I saw this dilemma up close. Social media is a new power, and algorithms can either trap us by our vices or free us letting us follow virtue.

America has problems right now. The country is sick, lost, and angry. We are vulnerable to just waiting for a street-wise hero. The truth is that we must be heroic. It is on us to live with courage in our heart, help our neighbors, and lift ourselves up and live free.

Pull up a chair, and let me tell you the truth.

First lesson on truth

I discovered the first truth at the age of 13. When I was 13, I wanted Super Mario Cart for the Super Nintendo; alas, it wasn’t my birthday nor Christmas. Instead, I grabbed by father’s rake and went door to door to rake leaves. In a week, I only had to ask my parents for a ride to the store; they were proud.

The first lesson is that you don’t need a job. You need to produce value for the people around you. Beyond money, you are rewarded with praise and the satisfaction of completed work.

Second lesson on truth

When I started my graduate degree, I decided that I didn’t want to pay rent once my room-mates left. So, I lived in my car. I slept in my car, at campsites, in the open field, in the computer science building, in the math building, and wherever I could. I had a camp grill where I would cook spaghetti in parks.

The second lesson is that you don’t need much to survive. You need food, gear, and a place to rest. You can wander; it is allowed. You can taste liberty without the prison of the house’s comfort.

I saved resources, enjoyed good meals, tipped generously, and studied hard.

Third lesson on truth

As I watched professors do their business during my graduate studies, I saw despair and bitterness up close. Sayre’s law is true and brutal.

The politics of the university are so intense because the stakes are so low

Professors will never taste freedom until they enter the market. Too many are captured minds that could have liberated more with their knowledge, but instead they are trapped by their ideas and myopic ambitions.

Fourth lesson on truth

Once you enter the market and climb the corporate tower, freedom isn’t to be found. A gilded cage with golden handcuffs awaits those capable of the ascent. If you are foolish enough to affix the golden ball and chain, then you’re trapped forever.

I have deep and expansive knowledge of large scale distributed systems. My tragedy is that applying this knowledge at scale is only really applicable to a handful of companies.

My sin is that I helped people climb the tower, but I didn’t teach the discipline to avoid the ball and chain. Forgo that big and expensive house and car; the trappings of a bad trade.

Freedom requires sacrifice as it isn’t free.

Here I am

So, here I am, trying to run a business.

I really don’t know what I’m doing, but I do know that I don’t want to build yet another miserable cage. There are exceptionally good reasons to avoid moving fast in today’s climate.

I’m a free man that does free people shit, and the prison of the executive are investors on one side and human resources on the other. It’s a rarely won battle without scars.

Instead, I aim to only work with other free people or apprentices. The mission is to treat people fairly and honestly without chains. The spiritual mission is to help people to yearn for and achieve freedom.

Freedom is the path towards a better world.

A better free world.

The fundamental enemy is big. Whether or not it is big government, big corporations, or big religion; they have to go. The reason we must avoid big is that big is vulnerable to slaver capture.

It’s much harder to corrale a million free companies filled with people that tasted freedom than a handful companies filled with slaves driven by slavers.

We will need to take a good long look at the world we have and ask ourselves the path towards liberty for everyone. Will it require sacrifice? yes. Will it require courage? oh yes.

My part of the equation is not to hire slaves. The only people I will hire are apprentices that want to learn the trade I love. For non-apprentices, I will leverage finite contracts that limit the bondage of collaboration. It will not be a permanent deal and the illusion of forever is a prison in and of itself.

Freedom requires discipline.