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#read#enjoy#https#site#more#fiction#real#anarchists#don#reading

Discussion (97 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

phyzix57611 day ago
If anyone is curious, like me, what Cypherpunk means:

"A cypherpunk is one who advocates the widespread use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a means of effecting social and political change."[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypherpunk

slybot1 day ago
Funnily, this small library features works outside of it's domain, including a manifesto from PKK terrorist organization leader..
observationist1 day ago
https://www.cypherpunkbooks.com/book/definition-of-democrati...

The book in question. What was the intent or purpose of coming at this sideways?

slybot1 day ago
This is a work written by the terrorist organization leader after incarcerated on 1999. While this carefully selected piece doesn't, the larger work of five volumes named "Manifesto of the Democratic Civilization" goes into the manifestation of his terrorist movement.
kgwxd1 day ago
They call themselves "PKK Terrorist Organization"?
slybot1 day ago
They do call themselves, "Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê" (PKK) which literally means Kurdish Workers Party. It doesn't mean whether they call themselves terrorist or not; USA, UK, EU, NATO and many others call that way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan_Workers%27_Party

danubis1 day ago
Did you read it?
slybot1 day ago
Yes, did you? Anything Cypher, punk or cypherpunk inside that you can point out?
ricksunny1 day ago
The crypto-oriented 4Seas coworking in Chiang Mai set up a very nice exhibit to cypherpunks as laid against the history of cryptography. I took pictures as the exhibit is supposed to have been taken down by now:

https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/113373898014727437041/pl...

I have photos of the individual exhibit pieces too if anyone's interested.

drannex1 day ago
Certainly interested - are they shared anywhere?
ricksunnyabout 4 hours ago
then I will work on uploading them to Hoogle Drive. So watchbthis spsce (or register for the unofficial Hacker News replies-monitoring feature.)
raffael_de1 day ago
Privacy for the citizens and transparency for the government. Sadly, all democracies are right in the middle of establishing the polar opposite.
jesterson1 day ago
Middle? We are way past the point
tangerine67g1 day ago
nice work, interesting page

I don't think you need a pretty landing page and the content of https://www.cypherpunkbooks.com/collection

could directly live under

https://www.cypherpunkbooks.com/

it's a website with information and I really want to see the collection and information insteda of just a single headline with an animation

totetsu1 day ago
if it wasnt for needless landing pages where would we ever get a chance to use all the cool animation features browsers have accreted over the last 20 years.
ycombinete1 day ago
What is this very mild cyberpunk motif doing in my cyberpunk library website?
aa-jv1 day ago
Even worse than a redundant/useless landing page, is a page with an invalid certificate. Nothing nopes me out harder than having to tell my IT-governed browser to ignore the site operators faulty administration of their domain ..
drannex1 day ago
This is a very pretty layout and all, but the site itself needs more of a mission statement, to stand for something other than a dozen or two direct sources. Perhaps it can grow (and it should!)

But, if anyone here is serious about this, and our hacker histories, please see the Cyberpunk Project Library, which features much more articles on all of this and then some: http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/ ("Last updated somewhen on 1998")

There is another site that was built around the same time (92-2003?), that tracked privacy and other cypher/cyberpunk writings on a much larger scale (and other Extropian) writings, particularly by ~sasha (RIP), but I am unable to find it in my links right now.

Perhaps its time to rebuild and expand, and the Cypherpunk Library could be the place.

kriro1 day ago
I've been a bit out of the loop with Austrian Economics (last re-read of Human Action was ~15 years ago). I'm very well read in it and enjoy the aesthetics of the theories and the history of thought books but got very tired of the online flame-wars and the political side in general (both the pro- and anti-Austrians). So Praxeology of Privacy sounds like an interesting read, I'll give it a go this year.
ramon1561 day ago
the hover animation on the books in `/` slows down my Firefox

Cool project nonetheless! Enjoyed browsing through the options

esher1 day ago
Nitpicking on style: hover animation on the books could not be capped by the container size and just overflow the content. Great case for page transition. Move the 3d book into the space where it will be located with single view.

Firefox user here too.

sen1 day ago
If a site like this isn’t using your browser to mine bitcoin I’d be incredibly disappointed.
zeafoamrun1 day ago
Lots of "digital cash" books there. I have to say that Bitcoin and Ethereum have not lived up to their cypherpunk ethos.
akimbostrawmanabout 16 hours ago
Because they are by design aren't. Meanwhile monero has been exactly that and much more for more than a decade with by default fungibility, privacy and anonymity.
rhgraysonii1 day ago
It might be helpful to rotate the books on the frontpage so that that you can read them by binding without tilting your head.
firefax1 day ago
I thought we had this, and it's called anonbib?

https://www.freehaven.net/anonbib/

my_throwaway231 day ago
Side note: I love literature, but I can not for the life of me understand how anyone can consider non-fiction enjoyable to read. Informative, perhaps interesting, yes, but enjoyable? Heck no. Take me as far away from reality as possible.

Though, of course, to each their own.

chimpanzee21 day ago
Interesting– Conversely, that is exactly how I feel about reading fiction.

To me, how can you possibly enjoy reading something some other person simply ... made up? Like an elaborate lie?

Contrarily, non-fiction tells it how it happened within the very reality I myself live in, subject to the same laws of nature and real psychology, and therefore, and only therefore, able to teach me something about real life on this earth.

dfansteel1 day ago
Both are valuable and present in a well rounded life. The Diary of Anne Frank and Those Who Leave Omelas cause you to question life in different ways.
my_throwaway231 day ago
Perhaps unrelated, but that reminds me of the inevitable avalanche of identical replies to every submission on aphantasia, all proclaiming that, no, they do indeed find it odd that there are people who can visualise internally.

Do you enjoy watching movies or series, reading comics? Going to the theatre (as in - not movies, but actual theatre)?

Edit: Do note that I wrote enjoy - I've certainly read my fair share of non-fiction. A classic Agatha Christy murder-mystery, while set in the real world, is anything but realistic.

chimpanzee21 day ago
> Do you enjoy watching movies or series, reading comics? Going to the theatre (as in - not movies, but actual theatre)?

I really for the most part do not. I've not even seen any of the big oscar winning pieces everyone keeps talking about.

As I said to another commentator on here as well:

Without any disdain, I cannot bring myself to watch hours of another person's fantasy, when I could instead be shaping my own reality.

nilamo1 day ago
I have no understanding of your viewpoint. I wish I did, it sounds interesting. I do like a Crafting Interpreters or Mythical Man Month...

But I don't understand how those could not only be held to the same level as The Hobbit, but that you seem incapable of even reading Animal Farm.

Do you enjoy any fictional media? TV, movies, plays, interactive murder mystery dinners, tabletop games (d&d, etc)?

chimpanzee21 day ago
> Do you enjoy any fictional media? TV, movies, plays, interactive murder mystery dinners, tabletop games (d&d, etc)?

Nope, I truly live under a rock when it comes to those.

I've been wanting to watch the big ones (Hobbit, LotR, ...), but – and I say this with no disdain:

I simply cannot get myself to consume hours upon hours of somebody else's fantasy – when I could instead be shaping my own reality.

zorked1 day ago

  "non-fiction tells it how it happened"
oh sweet summer child :)
anthk1 day ago
>Contrarily, non-fiction tells it how it happened within the very reality I myself live in, subject to the same laws of nature and real psychology, and therefore, and only therefore, able to teach me something about real life on this earth.

This is me trying to pick up most bullshit written from humanities or arts; a 99% of it it's carefully crafted nonsense for ahem mainly emotionaly driven women and artsy people with very subjective opinions instead of accepting the reality as is.

Elaborated jokes OTOH can be trully clever and a good source of laughs and fun.

Also, Discworld from Pratchett, as they have obvious magical analogies to real life devices and scientific procedures.

glitchc1 day ago
You have to read better non-fiction then. Take history for example. Certain real events are more fascinating than any fictional story, and the right author can take you on an unforgettable journey, unfolding the world as it developed.
spidey11 day ago
do you have any recommendations?
bushwart1 day ago
In Stahlgewittern by Ernst Jünger, there should be an English translation.
lkm01 day ago
If you can read French, I recommend Saint-Simon as the quintessential counter-example. In English, I found "Why I Write" by Orwell very entertaining.
speed_spread1 day ago
You have to make your own stories as you go along. Plug that fresh knowledge into hypothetical scenarios from stuff you've learned before.
contingencies1 day ago
If you don't enjoy learning you may be in a minority here.
my_throwaway231 day ago
It sounds almost as if you're saying learning is only possible by reading, which, I would argue, most of the history of humanity proves false.
tommica1 day ago
Stupid take, one can learn from fiction too.
my_throwaway231 day ago
And not everything's about learning. You are allowed to do things strictly because you enjoy doing them, with no ulterior motive.
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alice-fishr1 day ago
Site wants to access other devices on local network, o rly?
jrochkind11 day ago
back when crypto meant crypto not crypto
Yokohiii1 day ago
> THE CYPHERNOMICON

I've peeked into that one. I've expected those people to be radical to some degree, but I didn't expect they write it down so clearly.

This writing wants to see the collapse of governments and democracy. I find it painful to read such radical statements. So I didn't get very deep.

But I am riddled how those people think a collapse of that scale will work out in their favor. They are deeply reliant on technology and the first thing to happen on collapse, is that many lights turn off.

Cthulhu_1 day ago
This is the thing I don't understand about (a superficial interpretation of) anarchists; while governments are often not ideal, a lack of one wouldn't be better. And trusting people to self-organize is idealistic, but in practice it'd mean we go back to tribalism and "might makes right".
Cassell1 day ago
The idea is it wouldn’t work on trust, each element would be bounded by forces other than a single structure; getting to the state in which self-regulation is possible is the difficult, or maybe impossible, part. When in the regulated state, power grabs wouldn’t work.
AnimalMuppet1 day ago
The way they would self-regulate (self-organize) is into tribes/gangs. And that works (for some value of "works") until one tribe/gang becomes too powerful.
skinfaxi1 day ago
We have a bunch of temporarily embarrassed tribal warlords among us.
jvanderbot1 day ago
There was this really good short story illustrating this: (edited to add: "Cloak of Anarchy", Larry Niven, thx to below).

A park where anything goes ... because sentry robots keep the peace. When the robots break, things get scary quickly.

I've become convinced that a well-governed society is the perfect foundation for a limited anarchist commune set up on property legally purchased. Libertarian, essentially. Or Amish.

BigTTYGothGF1 day ago
Cloak of Anarchy, Larry Niven.
some_furry1 day ago
> This is the thing I don't understand about (a superficial interpretation of) anarchists

I think most superficial interpretations of anarchists are based on edgy LARPers rather than real political ideology.

Fun fact: Anarchy means "without rulers", not "without laws" or "without social order". There's a wide diversity of political thought under this umbrella, but the key underlying common denominator is (on some level, at least) a rejection of hierarchy (and often a rejection of capital).

Though it's fun to imagine what the philosophical and political beliefs that underpin a colloquial understanding of the word might look like, the answer is usually simply: Teenagers.

nyc_data_geek11 day ago
Maybe don't be so dismissive of that which you lack a thorough understanding.

Recommend reading "Against the State" by James Stout, wherein he describes history of various Anarchist societies, including Barcelona during Spanish fascism, Myanmar where they are very successfully fighting the junta which wrested control from their civilian government, and Rojava where he personally visited and gives a firsthand account.

kibwen1 day ago
I get the impression that even the definition of "anarchy" itself is subject to anarchy, with lots of disagreements and infighting. The more even-keeled anarchists that I've seen stress that they're not against hierarchies, only involuntary hierarchies, with the idea being that individuals should be welcome to organize themselves into hierarchies into which they delegate power, as long as that power can be revoked at any time, which sounds like a reasonable proposition. And then there's crypto-anarchism, which is just right-libertarianism in a Scooby Doo monster mask.
jancsika1 day ago
> as long as that power can be revoked at any time

I understand the idea that "justice delayed is justice denied." But within reasonable governance time-frames for a municipality/region, why would revocation latency be a litmus test for the type of governance model?

This just sounds like an implementation detail masquerading as a philosophical ideal.

kakacik1 day ago
Its not a rational position, rather a kneejerk emotional one. Various other extreme positions share the same setup (nazism, communism etc).

Try talking to some anarchists and its pretty obvious their ideas don't go deep nor can stand well some questioning. Once you are in fairy land, anything may seem like a good idea to tackle ie some injustice.

SmirkingRevenge1 day ago
It's the anti-establishment impulse taken to extremes. Anarchism is one of the niche destinations of that mindset. Another, ironically, is full blown communism.

What's sort of funny, is how all these seemingly polar-opposite anti-establishment flavors are actually far closer to each other than they are to mainstream political left or right.

The anti-establishment part ends up overriding everything else

That's how you end up with Bernie/Trump crossover voters

t-31 day ago
How is it ironic? Anarchists were a big part of the First International and left-anarchists can usually be considered to be socialists. They are not polar opposites, rather communism and (left-)anarchism are the statist and republican/federalist (loosely authoritarian and libertarian) expressions of the same underlying ideology of human equality.
clarkmoody1 day ago
The collapse of the government does not imply the collapse of civil society.
pstuart1 day ago
People who want to get rid of "the government" are not thinking too deeply.

"Government" is the creator and enforcer of the rules of society; it's merely a matter of flavor of what that looks like: democratic, Church, warlord, corporate state, etc.

Nature abhors a vacuum and a power vacuum will always be filled -- I'd rather it be a democratic version, which is the least-worst option.

juleiie1 day ago
Everything on the Internet is public domain, up for grabs

In the past you could argue about legal stuff but now the LLM training companies have proven that beyond all doubt, it is not only possible but even legal to use any Internet material as you see fit.

sdellis1 day ago
I really hope this is sarcasm.
juleiie1 day ago
Why would that be sarcasm on a site that calls itself “hacker”news?

We aren’t exactly law abiding citizens, more anarchists really.

That comes with certain mindset about the copyright. I can’t remember the last day I didn’t violate some kind of law of a corporate state. It’s spiritual almost, highlight of the day.

You can be sure that whatever you posted online that had any value, have already been on my hard drive two times over. Sometimes even modified and passed along.

What are you going to do about it?

vitalyan12341 day ago
> a site that calls itself “hacker”news?

H in HN = D in DPRK

ur-whale1 day ago
> Why would that be sarcasm on a site that calls itself “hacker”news?

Let me beat that dead horse once more for you:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_culture

unprovable1 day ago
Nice - can't wait to see how it grows!
proxysna1 day ago
Looks really nice, but 10 fps in Firefox.
yreg1 day ago
Buttery smooth for me in Firefox (mac)
agentbraker1 day ago
Great work! Open access to knowledge is always a win.
ktallett1 day ago
Is anyone going to the neocypherpunk event in Berlin this weekend?
ur-whale1 day ago
Nice to see Tim May writings on HN