Crypto Anarchy and the Gospel of Thomas
How the Gospel of Thomas can guide us towards the discovery of crypto anarchy in the XXI century.
Recently, I had the pleasure of reading the Gospel of Thomas, a collection of 114 aphorisms attributed to Jesus, which offer teachings and reflect, according to some, typical Gnostic ideas such as the inner search for the kingdom of God and the importance of self-knowledge for spiritual salvation.
Due to its Gnostic nature, the Gospel of Thomas was considered heretical by the founding fathers of the Church, as it contained teachings that differed from Christian theological orthodoxy. For this reason, it is still considered an apocryphal text (apókryphos, meaning "hidden" or "secret") that is not included by the Christian Church in the official canon of the New Testament. It was (re)discovered in 1945 in Egypt, in a place called Nag Hammadi, along with a collection of Gnostic texts later known as the Nag Hammadi Codices.
As I was reading it, I noticed that some of the teachings contained therein could also be interpreted in light of the modern world and the digital age in which we find ourselves. I think it would be interesting to discuss these insights together, also to stimulate a different perception on already addressed topics, such as crypto-anarchy.
Crypto-Anarchy
First of all: what is crypto-anarchy?
The term derives from the “Crypto-Anarchy Manifesto” written in 1988 by Timothy May, one of the founders of the “Cypherpunk” club, from which I quote an excerpt:
"Computer technology is on the verge of providing the ability for individuals and groups to communicate and interact with each other in a totally anonymous manner. Two persons may exchange messages, conduct business, and negotiate electronic contracts without ever knowing the True Name, or legal identity, of the other.
Interactions over networks will be untraceable, via extensive re-routing of encrypted packets and tamper-proof boxes which implement cryptographic protocols with nearly perfect assurance against any tampering.
Reputations will be of central importance, far more important in dealings than even the credit ratings of today. These developments will alter completely the nature of government regulation, the ability to tax and control economic interactions, the ability to keep information secret, and will even alter the nature of trust and reputation."
Tim May thus envisioned that cyberspace would transform into a sort of anarchy founded on cryptographic protocols, which at that time were of great interest (both to individuals and governments — it was in the 1990s that the first Crypto War began).
In another writing from 1994, Tim May further explores his social idea of crypto-anarchy in a brief essay titled “Crypto Anarchy and Virtual Communities”:
“The combination of strong, unbreakable public key cryptography and virtual network communities in cyberspace will produce interesting and profound changes in the nature of economic and social systems. Crypto anarchy is the cyberspatial realization of anarcho-capitalism, transcending national boundaries and freeing individuals to make the economic arrangements they wish to make consensually.”
No central power, no government, no leader.
Crypto-anarchy, according to Tim May, will therefore be the cybernetic realization of anarcho-capitalism, which is extremely vulnerable as it is based in the physical world and no longer aligned with the zeitgeist of the 21st century.
To realize, on a small or large scale, a context of crypto-anarchy, it is necessary to master at least the basics of the technological innovations that make it possible and to intellectually and spiritually prepare to face the risks of the Digital Age.
In Search of the Kingdom
If what Tim May claimed is true, that the only hope of liberation from increasingly oppressive governmental and corporate schemes lies in crypto-anarchy — then there are some passages in the Gospel of Thomas that could guide us.
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