Meetup with Amir Taaki: call for a revolutionary hacker movement

How polytechnics will make cryptography an active force that influences society and politics

In this talk we are going to talk not just about our projects to build cryptographic and p2p infrastructure, but how we want to link these projects to real social developments in the world from Catalonia, to Russia, to Syria and India. We will talk about our project to develop a training academy, and how we will formulate an organization to be a driving force for this change within the free technology movement, to reinvigorate it with the power to again become an active force shaping global politics.

https://amirtaaki.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Taaki
@AmirPolyteknik

Background:

The old idea of politics was that politicians, led by an idea, tried to use their power to shape society for the better. But as society changed, starting in the cold war, a new simplified version of the human being began to take over. Originally created as a way to model human behaviour in computers, this idea started to take over our view of reality. Developed during the nuclear arms race between the US and Russia, it was a deeply paranoid view of humanity that saw us as simple economic maximizers all working in our immediate pure self interest with no higher goals of purpose.

What we are constructing today are rational mechanical systems underpinned by algorithms that manage human beings. The idea of autonomous organizations seems to hold great promise for a new form of organization that exists outside the confines of power and political struggle. But the ideas underlying many of these systems now being built are actually old ideas, that globally may be on the way out. And if our movement is to stay relevant, on the right side of history, that is using technology to support humanity and freedom, then we must start to look at technology not only as a perfect object, but as a social system shaped by struggles for power between groups of people. And that means examining the ideas that shape technological development, and where these ideas come from. From this analysis, we can start to develop real tools that will actually liberate humanity rather than becoming another commodity in a marketplace without any real ability to change our social reality. This movement must not just develop a good technical understanding, but also work together to form a coherent social vision that gives direction to the movement with a goal everybody can work towards.

Thursday, February 8, 2018 – 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM
Language of this meetup (talk and Q&A): English
FabLab (http://fablabbcn.org) Carrer de Pujades, 102, Barcelona
As always, entrance is free provided you have RSVPed.

https://www.meetup.com/bitcoin-barcelona/events/247183330/