Coming Anarchy:
Philosophy of Decentralization and Cryptography

Instructor: Harry Halpin Date & Time: January 11, 18, 25, February 1 14:00-16:30 ET

DESCRIPTION: The rise of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies over the last few years has largely unfolded without a properly philosophical and historical critique, giving shape to new forms of political and economic organization, from libertarian network states to emerging models of digital governance and surveillance. Existing analysis from the Left has often taken the form of wholesale rejection, while the Right has supported these technologies in pursuit of various models of decentralization and private control.

It is clear that a new orientation to technology is needed for human emancipation, one that can build upon the legacy of left accelerationism as well as other philosophical approaches to technology. A kernel of this orientation can be found in the words of Hal Finney, who received the first Bitcoin transaction from the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, when he stated that “The computer can be used as a tool to liberate and protect people, rather than to control them.” It is in this spirit that we will revisit key texts of the relatively unknown crypto-anarchist canon to understand the liberatory and reactionary possibilities in the latent philosophy of cryptocurrency.

We should recognize that cryptocurrency, and a broad Hayek-inspired crypto-libertarianism, are currently manifesting themselves in the formation of network states like Prospera, free from government regulation, as well as new debates about technology and political power. Despite these developments, we will begin by trying to understand cryptocurrency as an outgrowth of anarchist critiques of the state, the fusion of cryptography and anarchism by the crypto-anarchists, and the move by cypherpunks to translate legal questions into technical ones in order to defend people from corporate and state overreach, and to establish new forms of individual sovereignty. It is this historical tradition that has led to the formation of Wikileaks, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, and the broader ecosystem of network states.

Session 1, Anarchist Pre-Technological Concepts of Decentralization and Currency: We locate the origins of many concepts of decentralization in the anarchist thought of Proudhon, including notions that later influenced cryptocurrency such as federalism, credit, and decentralization. We also examine the history of secrecy and privacy up to the advent of digital computing, as well as the birth of the Austrian school of economics and the socialist calculation debate.

Readings: Selections from Proudhon, Stirner, Marx, Lange, and Hayek; “The Philosophy of Secrecy”

Session 2, From Cryptography and Crypto-anarchism: This Session reviews the basic technical concepts of cryptography and their deployment into politics at the birth of the crypto-anarchist movement in the 1990s. We discuss the rise of cypherpunk philosophy, its roots in techno-feminist hacking, censorship-resistant digital cash, anonymous credentials, and mixnets for anonymous communication.

Readings: Short papers from Diffie and Chaum, manifestos from May, Hughes, and Milhon, excerpts from The Sovereign Individual by Rees-Mogg and Davidson; “The Philosophy of Cryptography”

Session 3, Cryptocurrencies: Techno-financial Liberation or Control?: We analyze how Bitcoin catalyzed development around decentralization via blockchain technology. While Bitcoin aimed to replace debased capitalist currency with an inflation-proof alternative, blockchain innovation has also led to smart contracts and distributed autonomous organizations (DAOs) as possible replacements for traditional structures in crisis.

Readings: “The Straussian Moment” by Peter Thiel, “The Bitcoin Whitepaper” by Satoshi Nakamoto, excerpts from Tiqqun’s Cybernetic Hypothesis, Nick Szabo, Primavera De Filippi, Amir Taaki, and David Golumbia.

Session 4, Network States and the Anarchist Alternative: We examine how supporters of cryptocurrency are shaping new forms of governance, including network states, and assess both the potential challenges and the revolutionary possibilities for new forms of anarchist practice in this technological context.

Readings: Excerpts from Network State by Balaji Srinivasan, “Farewell to Westphalia” by Hope and Ludlow, “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto” by Marc Andreesen, “My Techno-Optimism” by Vitalik Buterin, and selections from Stiegler and Malabou.

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