The Tower of Babel
Tower of Babel Wiki
According to the story, a united human race in the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating eastward, comes to the land of Shinar. There they agree to build a city and a tower tall enough to reach heaven. God, observing their city and tower, confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other, and scatters them around the world.
As an Atheist, I don't put much stock in Biblical stories, but this one was clanking around my noggin the other day. It's a simple story that answers a simple question. Why did humans sprawl all across the globe, and why are their so many languages? Why didn't they just stay in one place and use their combined powers to continue growing and developing from there?
After all, if we all spoke the same language that would be really efficient. If we all lived in the same place that would be really efficient. If we all worked together that would be really efficient.
The problem with efficiency, is that it leads to centralization. Centralization leads to corruption. Corruption leads distrust. Distrust leads to revolution. Revolution leads to systemic failure. Let's burn it all to the ground and hope we get it right the next time. New boss, same as the old boss. Oops, but maybe if we do it right the next time... or the time after that... or the time after that...
Failure to scale
So the more I think about it, the more I realize that this story is all about how centralization and imperialism are ultimately failing strategies in the long run. We need to build on solid ground; flat architecture. Many languages, less points of failure, more trust, more redundancy. Inefficient but lasting; Wasteful yet robust.
Bitcoin Book of Genesis
Everything needs an origin story, and crypto is no different. Andreas Antonopoulos taught me that currency is the language of conveying value. I thoroughly rejected that idea when I first heard it, but now it makes perfect sense. It seems that 'God' is once again coming to 'confuse' the issue and break up this monopoly of 'language'.
Explosive environmental change and evolution
In the last decade, Bitcoin has gone from a fringe concept to a possible replacement of value across all corporations and governments. This concept of decentralized ledger tech has already fractured into over 5000 networks and counting. The centralized corruption gripping this world is about to be scattered to the wind once again.
America didn't make it very far.
When we look at the history of it all, the Roman Empire lasted for over a thousand years. American Imperialism hasn't even made it 200 years, and fractional reserve central banking has only been around half that time. Timelines are moving forward at an exponential pace, and will likely continue to do so.
It becomes clear that now is the best time to be learning many "languages". Education is the most valuable resource. Figuring out today how the new world should operate tomorrow puts us in a very important position with a lot of responsibility. Again, it's not about the money. This is an issue of survival and thriving on a macro scale. Our petty individual fates are of little consequence on the grand scheme.
My mom became a Jehovah's Witness when I was in the forth grade. It's quite an interesting cult, maybe I'll create one of my own these days. I may identify as an atheist, but I believe a lot of crazy shit. Just because I think all modern religions have it wrong and they are far too outdated... I still have some faith in things that could likely never be proven one way or another.
Imagine trying to explain smart phones to people 2000 years ago. Even a lightbulb or a plastic water bottle would blow their minds. Bring a fully automatic sub-machine gun 2000 years into the past and all of a sudden you've become the God of War.
The ironic thing about modern religion is that the "new gods" are centralized into a single God while the "old gods" were decentralized into many. Religion is such a sign of the times, and the times they are a changin'.
There's a reason why "God hates shrimp".
http://www.godhatesshrimp.com/
Shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, mussels, all these are an abomination before the Lord, just as gays are an abomination. Why stop at protesting gay marriage? Bring all of God's law unto the heathens and the sodomites. We call upon all Christians to join the crusade against Long John Silver's and Red Lobster. Yea, even Popeye's shall be cleansed. The name of Bubba shall be anathema. We must stop the unbelievers from destroying the sanctity of our restaurants.
Leviticus 11:9-12 says:
9 These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.
10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
11 They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.
12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.
Why does God hate shrimp?
Because if thousands of people get sick and die from paralytic Red Tide Poisoning during that time period are we really surprised when that story makes it into the religious texts? And so it is with much of the advice that the Bible gives; not all of it is timeless and much of it is simply a reflection of the history around the time it was written.
Regardless, it's pretty crazy that pretty much exactly 2000 years after the life/death of the Jesus and some of the most famous history surrounding the Roman Empire that we find ourselves in this situation. When I first got here in December 2017 I even teased the idea that Satoshi Nakamoto was Jesus himself.
Jehovah's Witnesses
The interesting thing about this particular cult is that they don't vote. The politics and governments of man are corrupt so they will not partake in these systems. Now there's a message I can get behind, and have done many times. They await the time that God's Kingdom comes to Earth and we are governed by a superior system.
The funny thing here is that they seem to believe that this superior government is just going to fall into place without them having to do anything. Why are you here if not to do God's work? How could you possibly think God is just going to live your life for you? That's the whole point of this free-will simulation.
So I float these ideas to them like yep, that what Bitcoin and crypto is all about. Automating governance and putting our ideals in charge programmatically rather than putting a person in charge. Let me tell you, they are not on board, but they will be soon enough, along with the rest of the world.
If 2020 has shown us anything, this is all happening so fast it makes one's head spin. Trust me, this ride isn't going to slow down any time soon. Condolences to those who have a weak stomach.
It's a metaphor!
Again, imagine trying to explain to someone 2000 years in the past the concept of infinite dimensions, aliens, black holes, relationships between gravity and time, etc. It would be easier to explain such things to a 4-year-old today than a fully grown adult in the past. People get set in their ways and will not accept a reality so far removed from their own.
So in order to reach those people you must create metaphors that can penetrate those pretentiously thick human skulls. Such is religion. It's not about truth, it's about walking The Golden Path. Believing in things that aren't real can be focused into a great tool for living on the proper time-space fork. Perception is reality.
Conclusion
This whole "recent" fascination with "decentralization", "disruption", and "innovation" has existed since the dawn of time. It's a story from the very first book of the Bible for God's sake. Humans have known that centralization is bad for thousands of years. The ends justifying necessary evils can only last so long.
People think they are so smart because they can identify the problem. Well I have news: it's the solutions that are tricky, and they are never ideal, the same as all solutions born of necessity and evolution. Bitcoin is our "good enough" solution.
The Byzantine Generals would be proud.
Consensus is in:
This city will fall.
English and USD imperialism will be shattered.
Peace be with you.
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It’s funny to me when atheists know more about the word of god than the religious types.
Also, the USA is failing after 300 years only because they built on top of something that was still alive and well and moving - Native land and Native People.
I Liked learning that Jehovas Witnesses don’t vote and I loved learning the tidbit about shrimp.
Great article.
That's usually how it goes.
More educated people tend to question the hypocrisy of it all.
The Church uses religion to create unquestioning obedient servants.
I used to have a roommate who’d grown up in a very religious household but who’d come to reject it all. Evangelists who came to our door trying to spread the Word often fled in terror after speaking with him for five minutes. He’d quote contradictions by chapter and verse. He had so much fun taunting them that he added the Book of Mormon to his repertoire for when the earnest young LDS men came to the door.
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Perhaps it's time for me to go bed because I misread that as "the earnest young LSD men". :D
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Oh, he’d taken enough drugs that he'd have been able to hold his own there too. 😁
I'm not an atheist and I believe in God but then let's not get it twisted I don't prove to know more than I don't. Believing in God is often about more of a spiritual things and often bears no logic to man's concepts nevertheless that doesn't mean we don't know what's good by us.
Inasmuch as the towel of Babel story seems to like stan decentralization I believe no one would say they prefer centralisation to decentralisation even God supports individual dominionship.
At the end of the day, BTC is BTC and maybe Jehova witness is well one of those laughable human belief held by some people.
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"For God's Sake"
Hah
I must say, your analysis is pretty good here.
I do think that American imperialism, driven by the U.S. dollar is close to collapse. The reset is certainly going to be interesting. The Russians and Chinese are already trading in their own currency setup, and other Asian nations have joined them. The petrodollar has already lost a lot of market strength, so who knows what will actually happen in the next couple of years...
There's plenty of speculation...
You are absolutely right that the Tower of Babel episode is a warning against centralisation, mono-culture and humanity thinking it is God.
All these things are happening again today.
I am a religious Jew and thus this is more than just a story to me.
I know many other religious people who also feel the same way about the pertinence of the Tower Of Babel to the situation we find ourselves in today.
Very interesting article. The interpretation and application of the terms centralization and decentralization to our government and perhaps our salvation is an interesting metaphor and concept, worthy of careful contemplation. The comments here are also interesting.
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Very well detailed analysis in this article 👍
Striking paragraph - "The problem with efficiency, is that it leads to centralization. Centralization leads to corruption. Corruption leads distrust. Distrust leads to revolution. Revolution leads to systemic failure."👌
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"Why are you here if not to do God's work? How could you possibly think God is just going to live your life for you" that area is where to lack understanding of
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Good article
I always wondered when someone would synthesize God, crypto, and decentralization Into one beautifully written post, and here we are. If this doesn't vie for post of the week, then something's wrong. It also touches on the sharp edges of so many subjects, that it's triggered the bees to swarm around in my own head. But religion and politics, two things I usually avoid talking about here (but not on Twitter!) and dammit if they aren't tied together here with a very uncomfortable bow indeed.
So let's tackle one of them. That old boogeyman called religion.
I grew up in a very "religious" family, while also being born with a very logical mind. Always wanted to know why things were the way they were. Instead of a rich dad and a poor dad, I had a rich grandmother and a poor grandmother. The rich one grew up in Texas and married a man who ended up running several churches and businesses (it became hard to tell the difference between the two) she was an avid social climber who bragged about how much money they had. The poor one grew up in South Carolina, worked with her hands and did right by everyone. Guess which one I loved the most?
Peeking behind the curtain and seeing my rich grandfather (or Oz as I should call him) at work, was a thing to behold. In public, they were the picture of perfection at the dinner table however, their true haughty disdain for working people were on full display. I saw the rot up close. The tricks used to get poor people to donate more money, the collection plate passed around a second or even a third time, with angry denunciations from grandpop the pastor for the poor not giving enough. Not that he needed it mind you, he didn't, but he wanted it and boy he got it.
The pastor sleeping with the church secretary, prolific spending, churches resembling businesses "didn't Jesus kick the money changers out of the Temple for a reason? Something about not turning the house of God into a place of commerce?" I wondered. I've seen it all, with the tip of the spear being when they laughed at the dinner table about a guy who'd committed suicide at the local park. Seeing so much of that caused me to leave that church but not to discard my beliefs.
So I get it, I really do.
But then there's that whole "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" thing.
If you're an agnostic, from someone like me with a questioning mind searching for answers, I can understand that, but atheism seems far too restrictive for such an expansive mindset. Someone once asked me to prove God exists, I said "you're walking around on it." the planets, the stars all of it supposedly cast from absolutely nothing in a glorious Big Bang. Makes perfect sense to me that somebody had to make something from nothing. But to each his own. Since this "comment" is becoming the length of a post, I'd better wrap up.
Think of it this way. If God is Satoshi Nakamoto, the The Word is his cryptocurrency with each believer being a decentralized node in the network mining more "crypto" to be spread around the world.
I don't try to change anyone's mind. You're wise enough to make your own decisions. There's tons of information out there for inquisitive people willing to do the digging. For those of you whose minds are still open and would like to know more about Genesis, I highly recommend this book if you'd like to read a deep dive on some things The Bible mentions, that they won't cover in church. Warning: It's a wild ride and a long deeply-researched book. If your mind is already closed, skip it. But if like me, you believe in the free-flow of information and always wonder "why" about so many things in the Bible GET THIS BOOK.
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Enjoyed reading this. Was at first surprised at your view of God, but then found it more similiar to my own, you are frustrated with God of religion.
i found God is inside us all.
the Ego talks loudly, God speaks softly, with a still small voice.
I listen by meditating and being quiet in mind.
I follow my attention, and intentionally side with peace, love, and joy as my guiding principles.
I fully believe your attitude affects your work. I invest all my attention into all I do, I love my work, whatever it might be, I do what is before me to the best of my abilities, always willing to learn and adapt as the world is ever changing.
as a computer programmer, I've noticed language has many of the same effects as an actual computer programming language.
for instance, if someone say 'don't forget xyz' .. there is a good chance they will forget it..
but if you say 'remember xyz' .. and invest your attention on it for a second to make an impression on yourself..
perhaps it doesn't matter the words, it is the attention and how you use it. if you use the correct language and are considering such things, then you will take the appropriate time. those not conscious of such things, will thoughtlessly do all they do, and hence repeat the poorly phrased first quote that tells the mind to forget.. because without conscious interpretation NEGATION FAILS TO WORK as expected.
so NEGATION works sometimes, when you are conscious, but your subconscious mind doesn't deal in negations, only absolutes. so if we are to teach ourselves properly to respond from that deeper part of us, doing actions repeatedly that reinforce our true desires.. in the language of the subconscious.. has appear to me a better way to get what you want (get what you INTENTED).
peace brother/sister.
we are all at first cause, and the world is for each of us.
none can do a thing to the other without that other's permission.
people don't realize they have this power and so allow thoughts they would never desire to live within their own minds.
push them out by replacing those thoughts with ideas.. feeling the reality and world as you would have it.
I have found, that BECAUSE GOD is the best 'lever' i have to change ideas or thoughts about a thing.
BECAUSE GOD the world will be ok.
As to the part about Jehovahs Witnesses and them seeming to wait for the Kindom of God: I don't know much about them specifically, but it might have something to do with both Lutheran and Calvinist religious concepts that contradict the idea of 'good works' as an essential part of Christian life.
Predestination is a common theme; God is all-knowing, and He already knows whether you will fail or succeed in this life, and whether it will be heaven or hell for you in the end. So why overtly labour for a temporal kingdom here, when having an honest faith will grant you an eternal stay in heaven, which is a perfect setting? Add to this Luther's concept of Sola Fides and you'll end up with a focus on the next life.
If humanity had a single leader right now we would be F--KED because of how ignorant we are. The majority of people are not aware of the enemy's plan. They would've only had to DRONE that one individual to rule over the entire human population. And no one would've been the wiser ...
The bible is really about INDIVIDUALISM but the wolves in sheep's clothing have turned it into a business and population control.
You're right about JW being a cult. But, you won't win them over with that attitude. Love is the key.
I call all religions cults. From my perspective, I said nothing but nice things about Jehovah's Witnesses in this one but undermined it all with a single word. Negative connotation: "cults are bad".
Everyone has their own interpretations.
I don't think cults are automatically bad.
I'm more of an actions-speak-louder-than-words kinda guy...
To the point of being extremely off-putting with my words on purpose sometimes.