Max

Max

Praxeologist ~ Cryptoanarchist ~ Cypherpunk

max@towardsliberty.com

E2EE or GTFO
42m ago
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I spent years testing mobile podcast setups on GrapheneOS and every option failed: Bluetooth earbuds have terrible mic quality, wired splitter setups are tethered and clunky, and USB-C wireless mics like the DJI Mic don't work for calls because Android won't route audio back to them.
The solution is the Yealink BH71 Bluetooth headset with its 4-mic beamforming array. Simplicity beats complexity for mobile content creation.
If you know of something better, please share!
The Mobile Podcast Setup That Actually Worksby Max
4h ago
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Live now, join us
Note
7h ago
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Join our call in 15 minutes!
We'll demo a bunch of stuff.
Note
7h ago
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Economic progress springs from four sources: division of labor multiplies productivity through specialization, capital accumulation transforms present resources into future productivity, technological progress generates non-rivalrous ideas that overcome physical limits, and entrepreneurial function coordinates everything through creative destruction. State intervention systematically corrupts each source by destroying the property rights and price signals they require. Cryptographic technology now enables these sources to operate beyond political interference.
The Engine of Prosperity: How Four Sources Drive All Economic Progressby Max
1w ago
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Small businesses face 41-57% rejection rates for basic trade finance while the same banks hold $192 trillion in derivatives positions. Basel III treats a letter of credit backing real goods as riskier than abstract financial instruments that produce nothing. The system works exactly as designed: extracting value from those who create it, denying credit to those who need it most.
The Credit Famine: How Modern Banking Starves Real Commerceby Max
1w ago
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For fifteen years, Bitcoin has faced a fundamental limitation: most attempts to extend its functionality required trusting custodians without unilateral exit. Exchanges hold your keys. Wrapped bitcoin protocols control the underlying assets. Early sidechains trapped funds behind federation signatures. Each custodial solution creates honeypots that attract both hackers and regulators, with users having no recourse when trust fails. Lightning improved this with unilateral exit mechanisms, yet remained limited to payment channels between specific parties. The search for trustless bridges with arbitrary computation became Bitcoin's holy grail, pursued by brilliant minds yet always remaining just out of reach.
The Mathematics That Bridges Bitcoin: From BitVM to Argoby Max
1w ago
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I wasn't happy with @Npub.pro loading speed and limited customization, so I vibed my own Nostr website.

All my notes and articles sync to a local cache and build as static pages. Loads instantly and has client-side search.

Check it out: towardsliberty.com
1w ago
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John Vervaeke's cognitive science reveals that true agency cannot be computed, only lived through caring organisms that realize relevance. This explains why Bitcoin's thermodynamic proof-of-work and Nostr's self-sovereign identity preserve human agency while algorithmic platforms capture and destroy it. The technologies that matter are those that protect the non-computational processes from which freedom emerges, transcending raw computational speed.
The Non-Computational Nature of Agencyby Max
1w ago
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Can I just say how cool it is that on my shit posting app I get notified which parts of my book people really like.
Nostr is just awesome.

Note
1w ago
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Software vendors have locked users into a consumption model for decades, distributing pre-compiled binaries that cannot be modified, forcing acceptance of unwanted features, privacy invasions, and inefficiencies. This artificial scarcity ends when artificial intelligence makes source-based installation accessible to everyone. The convergence of AI coding assistants with source-based package managers like Gentoo's Portage and BSD ports creates a new model where users shape software to their exact needs through natural language, while AI agents handle the complexity of compilation, optimization, and patch maintenance.
The Code Liberation: How AI Makes Software Infinitely Customizableby Max
1w ago
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Murray Rothbard demonstrated that every government intervention reduces to exactly three forms: commanding your isolated action, compelling exchange with the state, or overriding your voluntary exchanges with others. His framework strips away the complexity of interventionist policy to reveal the hegemonic aggression beneath. Understanding this typology is essential for anyone who wishes to see through the state's infinite variety of justifications to its limited repertoire of coercion.
The Anatomy of Aggressionby Max
2w ago
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The productive class has always lived in two worlds. There is the official economy of permissions and taxes, where value flows upward to those who produce nothing, and there is the real economy of voluntary exchange, where those who create value find each other despite every obstacle. When the official system spits you out, it does you the inadvertent favor of revealing which economy actually sustains human flourishing.
The Merchant's Return: When Systems Fail, Producers Prosperby Max
2w ago
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My recent article on how holding Bitcoin is not a sign of low time preference ruffled some feathers. @Engineer wrote a fantastic article voicing the common critique.

HODLing is low time preferenceby Engineer


I still think that this critique falls short. So here is a response that hopefully helps clarify some misconceptions. I'm curious about the next round of feedback, so let me know what you think!

Another round of patienceby Max
2w ago
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My recent article on how holding Bitcoin is not a sign of low time preference ruffled some feathers. @Engineer wrote a fantastic article voicing the common critique.

HODLing is low time preferenceby Engineer


I still think that this critique falls short. So here is a response that hopefully helps clarify some misconceptions. I'm curious about the next round of feedback, so let me know what you think!

Note
2w ago
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The promise of exit has always haunted those who would rule over others. From the German forest tribes who frustrated Roman legions to the digital nomads who slip between jurisdictions, humans have sought spaces where voluntary cooperation replaces coercive hierarchy.
These temporary autonomous zones arise from a simple economic calculation: when the costs of control exceed the benefits of extraction, freedom becomes possible. The state retreats because of the cold logic of diminishing returns, and in that retreat, human creativity flourishes.
Temporary Autonomous Zones: The Economics of Exitby Max
2w ago
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We live in a curious age. Never before have so many people enjoyed such material abundance while simultaneously proclaiming their contempt for the very mechanism that makes this abundance possible. They drive automobiles purchased with money to universities funded by money where they learn from professors paid with money that money is the source of all human suffering. The contradiction is so glaring that it blinds them to its implications.
The Root of Moneyby Max
2w ago
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The cypherpunks wrote code, but code alone cannot adjudicate disputes between parties with different values. The missing infrastructure is legal, and the principles that compose it are older than any nation-state.
A Constitution for the Ungovernedby Max
2w ago
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Google Project Zero just dropped a full 0-click exploit chain for Pixel 9 targeting CVE-2025-54957 in Dolby's audio decoder. Android's AI transcription features auto-decode incoming audio, so attackers just need to send you a malicious RCS message.

#GrapheneOS users aren't immune to the initial bug since it's in Dolby's proprietary blob with its own internal allocator, but hardened_malloc and improved mediacodec sandboxing make privilege escalation significantly harder. Patch to January 2026 security level now!

https://projectzero.google/2026/01/pixel-0-click-part-1.html

@Final any thoughts on this?
2w ago
The historical record proves that competent intelligence services will infiltrate any movement they consider threatening. But decades of documented cases reveal that detection-focused security culture consistently fails while breeding the very paranoia the state wants to create.
The cypherpunk solution applies here too: design systems where the adversary's presence cannot achieve its goals.
Build for the Moleby Max
2w ago
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Living outside the state means living outside its protection racket. How do communities of individualists defend themselves without recreating the very structures they escaped?
The answer lies in deterrence over firepower, distributed capability over centralized protection, and vigilance toward those who claim to guard you as much as toward external threats.
Securing the Second Realmby Max
2w ago
GrapheneOS now supports hardware-virtualized Linux environments on Pixel devices. Combined with OpenCode, you can run a complete vibe coding setup from your phone, with no vendor lock-in on either the operating system or the AI tooling. Here is how to set it up.
A Vibe Coding Setup in Your Pocketby Max
2w ago
The libertarian movement has spent decades oscillating between political reform and territorial escape, both of which have failed to deliver meaningful sovereignty.
A third path exists: build parallel institutions that coexist with the state through systematic separation. Bitcoin, Nostr, and physical meetups have begun realizing this vision, offering practical sovereignty without waiting for seasteads or electoral victories.
The Third Optionby Max
2w ago
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