by Travis Mateer
I’ve been watching a rift develop on Twitter over bitcoin and blockchain technology among people who should be allies. This is a very important conversation, but I don’t see it happening in a constructive way right now, so before the rift becomes a point of divide and conquer for our sociopath handlers, let’s take a look at what is being argued.
One of the best critics of where technology is taking us, Alison McDowell, has been very vocal against using blockchain technology for any reason, but even a critic like McDowell doesn’t always understand her own use of technology. Before getting to that, here’s McDowell from a post describing her position:
While more people are starting to talk about geo-fencing and medical passports, not enough grasp how blockchain identity and digital currency will interface with social impact investing to create an augmented reality prison-planet structure to profit the global elite. Their transhumanist “game” intends to harvest natural life forces as data in a misguided quest to trigger the singularity and turn us into cyborgs. The inability of people active in the blockchain space to engage on the topic of the spatial web and the environmental and psychic costs associated with the roll out of Internet of Bodies and the 5/6G infrastructure that will fuel it continues to be a source of frustration for me. I know I need to be more patient as everyone gets up to speed; but please, I’m asking folks to put in some serious time so you, too, can understand their game.
The other side of this Twitter rift is Derrick Broze from the Conscious Resistance. While Broze has embraced blockchain as a useful tool, he is not a bitcoin evangelist describing it as the second coming of Christ the way some advocates have. Despite this nuanced position, McDowell has taken issue with his use of blockchain and, instead of having an open debate, is now apparently blocking him on Twitter. Here a screenshot from last week:
Since McDowell is taking a critical shot at Broze from a purist position on blockchain, a reaction from Broze pointing out her own inconsistencies by using Odysee to back up her videos was inevitable, and it unfortunately proved his point that McDowell didn’t understand how Odysee uses blockchain technology. Here is an article from Tech Crunch describing this platform:
The site was created by the team behind the Lbry (pronounced “library”) blockchain protocol. Kauffman emphasized that neither Odysee creators nor their viewers need to know anything about the technology (“blockchain is a how, it’s not a why”), but he said this approach gives those creators more direct control of their content and their audience. As Kauffman put it, “Your channel exists, effectively, in a cryptocurrency wallet that you can download.”
The Lbry website offers a few more details: “For the same reasons that nobody can prevent a Bitcoin transaction from taking place, nobody can prevent a transaction (like a publication or a tip) from appearing on the LBRY blockchain.”
Since this was pointed out to her, Alison McDowell has taken down her Odysee account to better insulate her anti-blockchain stance from criticism. That means she will have one less avenue for protecting her content for the people who value her perspective.
Rokfin is another video platform using blockchain technology to allow content creators who have been censored and deplatformed elsewhere to get their content out. Should creators like Monica Perez and Brad Binkley, of the Propaganda Report, NOT use this tool for their audience? Like their fantastic interview with Alison McDowell?
I appreciate BOTH Alison McDowell AND Derrick Broze because they are bringing a more conscious awareness to their audiences of what is being prepared for us, but that work is being undermined by the high-school-like antics of this recent spat.
When it comes to technology, especially a new type of technology like blockchain, we need MORE conversation, not less because of purist posturing and ego clashes. I hope those who have dedicated themselves to consciously resisting the totalitarian goals of the predator class can get beyond this blockchain rift because we are ALREADY divided against each other on enough other fronts.