WKYK
LIVE FREE OR DIE
RESISTING THE TECHNOCRATS GENERAL
forum.agoraroad.com
forum.agoraroad.com
This is a thread in response to h00's "The Rise of the Technocrats and the Fall of Labor Power" thread linked above. It is also the spiritual successor to my thread "How to effectively spread ideas on a college campus" thread from a few months ago. Both threads contain helpful information on what I hope to cover and discuss in this thread, so please read through them if you haven't. I will be diving directly into the methods of resistance so again, if you aren't aware of what a technocrat is please read the above thread before this one.
I should put a disclaimer here, I am an American and have never left America, so I am very ignorant to the rest of the world's conditions beyond what I have read/heard about. I imagine most of what I say is applicable to most of the users on Agora, but if you live outside of the states keep this in mind.
One more thing, all the ideas I mention in this post are just jumping off points for discussion, they are by no means the end all be all of their own categories. I will give my own examples from my life, but please do your own research and find systems that work best for you.
SECURING YOURSELF
Just like when an airplane is crashing, you need to secure yourself before you can help others. This is a crucial step that cannot be skipped, and it will take a lot of time, so be patient! Also, a lot of this probably seems very rudimentary, but to really make a change you have to start from the bottom up and I just don't think I could start this thread without mentioning some of these topics.
Offline – No Internet Required
Health (Physical)
Your physical health is the baseline for your ability to conduct yourself. If you're not healthy you will not be able to work hard for long periods of time, not to mention people are more receptive to ideas from someone who is physically fit. If you are out of shape I suggest starting with running – it's completely free, you can do it anywhere, you already know how to do it, and it increases your cardiovascular endurance, which is in my opinion the most important physical trait to have. Strength is important, don't get me wrong, but if you have good endurance you can work towards your goals for longer periods of time without needing to sit down/rest. A good starting strategy is to pick both a minimum time limit and a distance goal, for example 3 miles and 30 minutes. That way during your run if you find you can't make it the full 3 miles, at least make yourself run until the 30-minute mark before walking.
Hand in hand with working out is diet. Stop eating processed foods! Meats, fruits, and vegetables can all be obtained affordably and taste far better than the garbage frozen foods that many Americans eat on the regular. I can't offer much depth here as I am still learning myself but something helpful I've found is that grocery stores often have an area with meat at a reduced price that is a bit too old for them to sell. There's nothing actually wrong with the meat, just that it's about to become too old for them to sell so they make it extremely cheap. Buy this meat and freeze it, that way you can use it whenever while also getting a discount at the store.
Health (Spiritual)
I define Spiritual Health as the health of your soul, which is determined by much more than religion. Having a close connection with friends, family, or a lover is extremely important in being motivated and feeling secure. These connections need to be IRL, online friends are great but when push comes to shove you need people who you can bond with in person. If you're someone who lacks these relationships, there's likely someone who you could put more effort into connecting with. An old friend, maybe a family member you haven't seen in a while. If you truly think you don't know anyone like that then try meeting your neighbors or go to a social event and try to meet people there.
Security (Financial)
Financial security is crucial to being an independent person. Being free of debt, spending your money with purpose, and making investments towards your future are all critical in being free. I've rewritten this section many times and I keep seeming to ramble about ways to save money, but that's not what this thread is about. This topic could be a thread in it of itself, but to keep it concise I'll give two words of advice:
1. Always avoid name brand products when possible. Food and clothes especially, the quality of the product is no different between Nike and Old Navy, as long as you look presentable and the clothes are comfortable that's all that matters. Fuck spending more than $60 on new shoes, seriously.
2. Don't treat yourself too often. It's ok to make indulgent purchases, but how often do you really need a new game? How often do you really need new clothes? Try using what you have to its fullest capacity before spending your money elsewhere.
Having financial security will decrease stress and relieve the pressure of needing to work wagie hours to scrape by. Again, it may seem like these topics aren't very related to resisting technocrats but if you are spending your energy dealing with financial struggles you should sort that out first before trying to make a change in the world.
Security (Physical)
This is less important than many of the other topics because it really is a SHTF precaution, but it is a freedom that I believe to be important so I'm going to touch on it. All Americans know of the second amendment, but I will post it in case of any non-Americans unfamiliar:
"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
You see, most Americans interpret this statement as a fact without a reason – "We should own guns because it is our right to own whatever we want". I disagree, it is our right to own guns because they are necessary to secure a free state. And if you couldn't already tell, we are certainly heading in the direction of a non-free state. I'm not saying you should get a gun in order to revolt against the powers that be, although there is a discussion to be had there, I'm just saying it's a good thing to have to equal out the playing field between you and any adversaries you may have.
If you have never fired a gun before take a class before even touching one, hunter safety classes are a good starting place for general practice. Take shooting lessons at a range before shooting alone, either with someone in your life who knows about guns or pay a professional if you must. I think everyone should at least have a 9mm pistol and know how it works, but I know this is a controversial topic so if you are extremely anti-gun there is also pepper spray which is Johnny Knoxville and Dog The Bounty Hunter approved to be very debilitating. I also recommend getting a knife for every day carry, not only are they good for self defense but they are also extremely useful in a variety of situations.
Freedom in Land Ownership
This is a topic I am passionate about but have no real-world experience, so I wont dwell on it too long. Essentially being able to own land frees you from the mental stress of a crowded city and allows you to connect more with the nature of the world, which is so important. It allows self-sufficiency and the development of life skills that would be necessary in the event of societal collapse. If there are any users who have more experience living on larger plots of land please share ways to go about finding and purchasing the land, as well as how your life is living with self-sufficiency.
Online
OKAY! We got past the basics and now can focus on le epic cyberpunk rebellion! What can you do to stick it to the man?
Educate Yourself
The most important first step of any movement is to know what you are fighting against to a T. Stay up to date on current events in the tech world, research statistics related to social media usage, laws and bills that may undermine your freedoms if passed, etc. "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer". You will need to know everything about what FAANG and the government is up to so that you can react accordingly. For example, the UK is attempting to ban encryption:
https://www.pandasecurity.com/en/mediacenter/security/uk-online-safety-bill/
As much as we all want to be fully offline, we need to stay aware of what TPTB are up to so that we can react accordingly.
Phone/Service Usage
This is the big one – being able to practice what you preach. It's one thing to talk about the evils of big tech and how they are infringing our rights, but if you still use an iPhone then no one will take you seriously. It's time to unplug, here's some advice from my journey:
- Start with talking to your friends about it. It might seem like a strange place to start, but if your friends understand that they can't contact you on Snapchat/Instagram/Facebook anymore then they won't, and that relieves a big reason why most people stay on social media.
- Once you have comfortably removed yourself from social media for a while, look into either getting a dumbphone or a landline. This way companies who would force you to use an app for something now have to cater to your needs. Check out the dumbphone thread if you're interested in that route.
forum.agoraroad.com
- Transition to free software. Going from Windows or Mac to Linux is not a very hard process for someone willing to spend a little time learning. They mostly function the same, however you will inevitably need to learn how to update and fix your OS at times using Linux, but it's nothing too hard to learn in my opinion.
- Avoid FAANG applications. Mostly referring to streaming services and amazon here, as social media has already been covered. I don't want to promote anything illegal on this thread, but streaming services should not be a problem seeing as there are many other ways to watch/listen to things. Amazon is trickier because it's so affordable, I struggle with this one because as much as I hate Bezos I also hate wasting money. Still, try to avoid amazon as much as possible, even if it costs you a couple dollars extra if you are buying something from it's source website the people who make it probably get more money that way anyway.
It's worth saying that no one's perfect. I myself still occasionally use Amazon, I still use Discord to talk with friends who have moved away, I still use my Windows laptop because I only have Linux on my Desktop right now. But I'm working towards fixing these problems and that's what counts, so try not to beat yourself up over where you are now, but imagine the destination and develop the tactics to get there.
SECURING OTHERS
So now you're the coolest hacker on the block, how are you gonna free the normie sheep from the matrix that is The Technocracy?
Talking with Others
This is where the education from earlier really shines. People love to listen to people who know what they're talking about, especially if you can make the topic understandable to people who have a very limited knowledge of technology. Some important things to remember:
- Don't talk to people who aren't interested. If people aren't receptive to an idea you can't change their mind, they'll have to figure it out on their own. In fact, talking to people who aren't interested could even push them against you, as they will conflate your opinion with feeling annoyed.
- Have alternatives ready. It's one thing to say "Stop doing X" and another thing to say "Stop doing X, instead do Y". If you don't give people an alternate option then they will never stop what they're doing because they feel like they have no choice. For example, "Stop using Netflix" isn't helpful, but "Stop using Netflix, somewebsite.com has all those same movies for free." This won't always be an option, since there is no healthy alternative to TikTok for example, but whenever there is a better alternative it's a good idea to promote it.
- Stay levelheaded. Some people you talk with will get defensive, which is completely understandable; after all, many people have invested lots of money and time into their tech gadgets, and telling someone that their Tesla isn't actually helping the environment probably won't sit well with them. So just be ready for very argumentative people and stay calm. They are not bad people, even if they try to insult you or your ideas, just stay chill and argue your ideas fairly and in good faith, if the conversation gets out of control then just agree to disagree.
Most people will not care, most people will not change, but some will. You will have an impact, and the people that you have an impact on will go on to impact others as well. Remember this and stay strong.
Spread the Word Physically
You don't have time to talk to everyone, so it's a good idea to make posters and pamphlets on the dangers of the tech future. Have the poster say something bold yet widely understood "Professors are stealing your money by making you buy textbooks" for a college campus like mine, then put a QR code or domain name that links to a website that you would make about the topic. If you keep the topic basic more people will look into it, and once they are on your site they could stumble upon the other, more important topics naturally. Stickers also work, however be careful not to vandalize anything because that will upset people and potentially turn them against you. Keep it to things like telephone poles or stop signs that already have a bunch of stickers and posters on them.
Direction of This Thread
This might be a bit too controlling of me, but the intended purpose of this thread is to really develop a good resource for people to turn to when it comes to defying the Technocrats and the future they are pedaling, so I wanted to ask if we could stick to informative replies only.
Some welcomed ideas include:
- Resources to help further educate yourself on technocrats and their sins, links, articles, and statistics that would be good to quote in a discussion with a normie on this topic. The lack of sources is the biggest downfall of this post currently because I don't know where to look, this is something that I am trying to get better at.
- Criticisms to my points in this thread. If anything I've said is incorrect or not important please let me know, I have no desire to mislead people or waste anyone's time.
- Ideas that have worked to convince people towards changing their technological habits, or experiences talking to normies that are worth sharing.
- Land ownership, where to get started and what to look out for.
- Any non-American posters shedding light on how to show resistance in their country.
- A more in depth look at working out, dieting, and financial responsibility.
Lastly, I think it would be important to develop a realistic goal in our resistance. I left this out of my post because I think it should be created as a community, feel free to offer some suggestions. While it's not very realistic to set a goal like "Make Amazon obsolete" I think we could certainly all make a difference in our own communities, so something more like "Make it on the local news" or "Change 50 people's minds about social media" would be both attainable and impactful.
Ultimately you can post about whatever you want, but I think it would be invaluable to have an established idea of what we're fighting against and how we should fight it here on Agora.
Also a big thanks to @no_chill, @h00, and @No56 for the informative replies on my other thread, a lot of your ideas bled into this and have been very helpful.
The Rise of the Technocrats and the Fall of Labor Power
The following is an xpost. It has been reposted on other forums (a, b) with the original here. I have compiled the original post and the authors replies below. I am curious to hear Agorians thoughts on it. First, a few invites: @WKYK @Taleisin @Jackal @dorgon @CycFL @Sketch Relics @insomniac...
forum.agoraroad.com
How do you effectively spread ideas on a college campus?
Hey y'all, For the last few months I have been learning more and more about the current state of my society, the freedoms I have and how they are at risk, and ways people (myself included) are being taken advantage of. Part of me feels glad to be aware of issues I didn't know/care about before...
forum.agoraroad.com
This is a thread in response to h00's "The Rise of the Technocrats and the Fall of Labor Power" thread linked above. It is also the spiritual successor to my thread "How to effectively spread ideas on a college campus" thread from a few months ago. Both threads contain helpful information on what I hope to cover and discuss in this thread, so please read through them if you haven't. I will be diving directly into the methods of resistance so again, if you aren't aware of what a technocrat is please read the above thread before this one.
I should put a disclaimer here, I am an American and have never left America, so I am very ignorant to the rest of the world's conditions beyond what I have read/heard about. I imagine most of what I say is applicable to most of the users on Agora, but if you live outside of the states keep this in mind.
One more thing, all the ideas I mention in this post are just jumping off points for discussion, they are by no means the end all be all of their own categories. I will give my own examples from my life, but please do your own research and find systems that work best for you.
SECURING YOURSELF
Just like when an airplane is crashing, you need to secure yourself before you can help others. This is a crucial step that cannot be skipped, and it will take a lot of time, so be patient! Also, a lot of this probably seems very rudimentary, but to really make a change you have to start from the bottom up and I just don't think I could start this thread without mentioning some of these topics.
Offline – No Internet Required
Health (Physical)
Your physical health is the baseline for your ability to conduct yourself. If you're not healthy you will not be able to work hard for long periods of time, not to mention people are more receptive to ideas from someone who is physically fit. If you are out of shape I suggest starting with running – it's completely free, you can do it anywhere, you already know how to do it, and it increases your cardiovascular endurance, which is in my opinion the most important physical trait to have. Strength is important, don't get me wrong, but if you have good endurance you can work towards your goals for longer periods of time without needing to sit down/rest. A good starting strategy is to pick both a minimum time limit and a distance goal, for example 3 miles and 30 minutes. That way during your run if you find you can't make it the full 3 miles, at least make yourself run until the 30-minute mark before walking.
Hand in hand with working out is diet. Stop eating processed foods! Meats, fruits, and vegetables can all be obtained affordably and taste far better than the garbage frozen foods that many Americans eat on the regular. I can't offer much depth here as I am still learning myself but something helpful I've found is that grocery stores often have an area with meat at a reduced price that is a bit too old for them to sell. There's nothing actually wrong with the meat, just that it's about to become too old for them to sell so they make it extremely cheap. Buy this meat and freeze it, that way you can use it whenever while also getting a discount at the store.
Health (Spiritual)
I define Spiritual Health as the health of your soul, which is determined by much more than religion. Having a close connection with friends, family, or a lover is extremely important in being motivated and feeling secure. These connections need to be IRL, online friends are great but when push comes to shove you need people who you can bond with in person. If you're someone who lacks these relationships, there's likely someone who you could put more effort into connecting with. An old friend, maybe a family member you haven't seen in a while. If you truly think you don't know anyone like that then try meeting your neighbors or go to a social event and try to meet people there.
Security (Financial)
Financial security is crucial to being an independent person. Being free of debt, spending your money with purpose, and making investments towards your future are all critical in being free. I've rewritten this section many times and I keep seeming to ramble about ways to save money, but that's not what this thread is about. This topic could be a thread in it of itself, but to keep it concise I'll give two words of advice:
1. Always avoid name brand products when possible. Food and clothes especially, the quality of the product is no different between Nike and Old Navy, as long as you look presentable and the clothes are comfortable that's all that matters. Fuck spending more than $60 on new shoes, seriously.
2. Don't treat yourself too often. It's ok to make indulgent purchases, but how often do you really need a new game? How often do you really need new clothes? Try using what you have to its fullest capacity before spending your money elsewhere.
Having financial security will decrease stress and relieve the pressure of needing to work wagie hours to scrape by. Again, it may seem like these topics aren't very related to resisting technocrats but if you are spending your energy dealing with financial struggles you should sort that out first before trying to make a change in the world.
Security (Physical)
This is less important than many of the other topics because it really is a SHTF precaution, but it is a freedom that I believe to be important so I'm going to touch on it. All Americans know of the second amendment, but I will post it in case of any non-Americans unfamiliar:
"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
You see, most Americans interpret this statement as a fact without a reason – "We should own guns because it is our right to own whatever we want". I disagree, it is our right to own guns because they are necessary to secure a free state. And if you couldn't already tell, we are certainly heading in the direction of a non-free state. I'm not saying you should get a gun in order to revolt against the powers that be, although there is a discussion to be had there, I'm just saying it's a good thing to have to equal out the playing field between you and any adversaries you may have.
If you have never fired a gun before take a class before even touching one, hunter safety classes are a good starting place for general practice. Take shooting lessons at a range before shooting alone, either with someone in your life who knows about guns or pay a professional if you must. I think everyone should at least have a 9mm pistol and know how it works, but I know this is a controversial topic so if you are extremely anti-gun there is also pepper spray which is Johnny Knoxville and Dog The Bounty Hunter approved to be very debilitating. I also recommend getting a knife for every day carry, not only are they good for self defense but they are also extremely useful in a variety of situations.
Freedom in Land Ownership
This is a topic I am passionate about but have no real-world experience, so I wont dwell on it too long. Essentially being able to own land frees you from the mental stress of a crowded city and allows you to connect more with the nature of the world, which is so important. It allows self-sufficiency and the development of life skills that would be necessary in the event of societal collapse. If there are any users who have more experience living on larger plots of land please share ways to go about finding and purchasing the land, as well as how your life is living with self-sufficiency.
Online
OKAY! We got past the basics and now can focus on le epic cyberpunk rebellion! What can you do to stick it to the man?
Educate Yourself
The most important first step of any movement is to know what you are fighting against to a T. Stay up to date on current events in the tech world, research statistics related to social media usage, laws and bills that may undermine your freedoms if passed, etc. "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer". You will need to know everything about what FAANG and the government is up to so that you can react accordingly. For example, the UK is attempting to ban encryption:
https://www.pandasecurity.com/en/mediacenter/security/uk-online-safety-bill/
As much as we all want to be fully offline, we need to stay aware of what TPTB are up to so that we can react accordingly.
Phone/Service Usage
This is the big one – being able to practice what you preach. It's one thing to talk about the evils of big tech and how they are infringing our rights, but if you still use an iPhone then no one will take you seriously. It's time to unplug, here's some advice from my journey:
- Start with talking to your friends about it. It might seem like a strange place to start, but if your friends understand that they can't contact you on Snapchat/Instagram/Facebook anymore then they won't, and that relieves a big reason why most people stay on social media.
- Once you have comfortably removed yourself from social media for a while, look into either getting a dumbphone or a landline. This way companies who would force you to use an app for something now have to cater to your needs. Check out the dumbphone thread if you're interested in that route.
Thoughts on Flip Phones?
Been considering getting one for a while now. After many failed attempts at overcoming my internet/phone/social media addiction, I think it might be the right option. I know that you can browse the web on modern flip phones, but I hope the experience is shitty and inconvenient enough that I...
forum.agoraroad.com
- Transition to free software. Going from Windows or Mac to Linux is not a very hard process for someone willing to spend a little time learning. They mostly function the same, however you will inevitably need to learn how to update and fix your OS at times using Linux, but it's nothing too hard to learn in my opinion.
- Avoid FAANG applications. Mostly referring to streaming services and amazon here, as social media has already been covered. I don't want to promote anything illegal on this thread, but streaming services should not be a problem seeing as there are many other ways to watch/listen to things. Amazon is trickier because it's so affordable, I struggle with this one because as much as I hate Bezos I also hate wasting money. Still, try to avoid amazon as much as possible, even if it costs you a couple dollars extra if you are buying something from it's source website the people who make it probably get more money that way anyway.
It's worth saying that no one's perfect. I myself still occasionally use Amazon, I still use Discord to talk with friends who have moved away, I still use my Windows laptop because I only have Linux on my Desktop right now. But I'm working towards fixing these problems and that's what counts, so try not to beat yourself up over where you are now, but imagine the destination and develop the tactics to get there.
SECURING OTHERS
So now you're the coolest hacker on the block, how are you gonna free the normie sheep from the matrix that is The Technocracy?
Talking with Others
This is where the education from earlier really shines. People love to listen to people who know what they're talking about, especially if you can make the topic understandable to people who have a very limited knowledge of technology. Some important things to remember:
- Don't talk to people who aren't interested. If people aren't receptive to an idea you can't change their mind, they'll have to figure it out on their own. In fact, talking to people who aren't interested could even push them against you, as they will conflate your opinion with feeling annoyed.
- Have alternatives ready. It's one thing to say "Stop doing X" and another thing to say "Stop doing X, instead do Y". If you don't give people an alternate option then they will never stop what they're doing because they feel like they have no choice. For example, "Stop using Netflix" isn't helpful, but "Stop using Netflix, somewebsite.com has all those same movies for free." This won't always be an option, since there is no healthy alternative to TikTok for example, but whenever there is a better alternative it's a good idea to promote it.
- Stay levelheaded. Some people you talk with will get defensive, which is completely understandable; after all, many people have invested lots of money and time into their tech gadgets, and telling someone that their Tesla isn't actually helping the environment probably won't sit well with them. So just be ready for very argumentative people and stay calm. They are not bad people, even if they try to insult you or your ideas, just stay chill and argue your ideas fairly and in good faith, if the conversation gets out of control then just agree to disagree.
Most people will not care, most people will not change, but some will. You will have an impact, and the people that you have an impact on will go on to impact others as well. Remember this and stay strong.
Spread the Word Physically
You don't have time to talk to everyone, so it's a good idea to make posters and pamphlets on the dangers of the tech future. Have the poster say something bold yet widely understood "Professors are stealing your money by making you buy textbooks" for a college campus like mine, then put a QR code or domain name that links to a website that you would make about the topic. If you keep the topic basic more people will look into it, and once they are on your site they could stumble upon the other, more important topics naturally. Stickers also work, however be careful not to vandalize anything because that will upset people and potentially turn them against you. Keep it to things like telephone poles or stop signs that already have a bunch of stickers and posters on them.
Direction of This Thread
This might be a bit too controlling of me, but the intended purpose of this thread is to really develop a good resource for people to turn to when it comes to defying the Technocrats and the future they are pedaling, so I wanted to ask if we could stick to informative replies only.
Some welcomed ideas include:
- Resources to help further educate yourself on technocrats and their sins, links, articles, and statistics that would be good to quote in a discussion with a normie on this topic. The lack of sources is the biggest downfall of this post currently because I don't know where to look, this is something that I am trying to get better at.
- Criticisms to my points in this thread. If anything I've said is incorrect or not important please let me know, I have no desire to mislead people or waste anyone's time.
- Ideas that have worked to convince people towards changing their technological habits, or experiences talking to normies that are worth sharing.
- Land ownership, where to get started and what to look out for.
- Any non-American posters shedding light on how to show resistance in their country.
- A more in depth look at working out, dieting, and financial responsibility.
Lastly, I think it would be important to develop a realistic goal in our resistance. I left this out of my post because I think it should be created as a community, feel free to offer some suggestions. While it's not very realistic to set a goal like "Make Amazon obsolete" I think we could certainly all make a difference in our own communities, so something more like "Make it on the local news" or "Change 50 people's minds about social media" would be both attainable and impactful.
Ultimately you can post about whatever you want, but I think it would be invaluable to have an established idea of what we're fighting against and how we should fight it here on Agora.
Also a big thanks to @no_chill, @h00, and @No56 for the informative replies on my other thread, a lot of your ideas bled into this and have been very helpful.
Virtual Cafe Awards
ykyk
