Off the Cuff 7: Nostr is the alternative

A large part of what we see play out on the global stage today, is the endless double down on 20th century institutions. Be that our financial and monetary sector, international organizations such as the UN, NATO, supranational ones like the EU, and all of its values and ideology that come with it. Currently, my country is terrorized by a NATO meeting where many things are put on hold or have to make way because supposedly important people and their entourages apparently wanted to hire Dutch escorts for a change.

Now however shitty this entire construct is, praying for its downfall is not enough. The few functions they actually perform will require replacement. The lie is that these institutions are vital to perform those functions. All these things are pre-internet era, and what they fundamentally provide is coordination; write some treaty and put down a signature.

It was understandable at the time. The century kicked off with two world wars, and by the third quarter the world and its economies had re-globalized. Notions of a ‘world-order’ came into view, simply as a result of exploring all corners of the earth and putting them into contact and relation. Obviously previous generations figured some avenues for global coordination were in order.

Whether it is a lack of imagination, or many livelihoods that rely on the income and status derived from these main acts of the clown-world we currently inhabit; they are not going to change. Worse even, they are getting more frantic as their institutions are eroding and their ideologies are threatened by disillusionment. So fuck ‘m. If my point is that we don’t actually need them, what rests is only to suffer them standing in the way.

State and media are very much intertwined; printing press, radio, TV, all can be studied and seen in light of how they impact our formal institutions and means of organizing. As such, Nostr does not constitute mere censorship-resistant-cat-picture-posting, it represents a complete overhaul of the world-order.

As to what that will end up being, I have no idea; but given that on more and more levels things are feudalizing, I at least know Nostr will counter-act that trend. For the rest we will see what interoperability and freedom of association in communication and therefor organization at global scale will entail. Lets get to work, because the Boomer is anxious, and maybe, just maybe, we can calm their nerves a bit showing that there is indeed an alternative.