Beware Centralized Control of Currency
Lincoln Cannon is an American philosopher and technologist who co-founded the Mormon Transhumanist Association in 2006, serving as its president from 2006 to 2016. He is a leading advocate of technological evolution and postsecular religion, combining software engineering expertise with degrees in philosophy and business. ¶ Cannon is also a founder and board member of the Christian Transhumanist Association. He formulated the New God Argument, a logical argument for faith in God that has become popular among religious transhumanists. His academic work includes “Mormonism Mandates Transhumanism” published in Religion and Human Enhancement: Death, Values, and Morality (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and “Transfigurism: A Future of Religion as Exemplified by Religious Transhumanists” published in The Transhumanism Handbook (Springer Verlag, 2019). ¶ Mormon transhumanism, as articulated by Cannon, holds that humanity should learn how to be compassionate creators. This idea is central to the Mormon theological tradition, which provides a religious framework consistent with naturalism and supportive of human transformation. Cannon’s work bridges religious faith with scientific advancement, advocating for the ethical use of technology to extend human abilities in ways consistent with a religious worldview.
Imagine if the government were to make it illegal to possess wallets for holding paper and coin currency privately. That’s essentially what some US politicians want to do with cryptocurrency. It’s a massive invasion of privacy. And it merits loud universal opposition.
Giving up decentralized agency in the name of “security” ultimately leads to abuse of power and the reign of tyranny. In our technological age, it also increases risk of authoritarian control by a superintelligent singleton—a single point of failure for the future of humanity.
Authoritarian Wallet
Centralized power should terrify us. Nothing is more unpredictable over the long run at scale than unchecked supreme power. Nothing is less trustworthy. Nothing is more likely to annihilate human agency, if not human existence. It’s an enemy even greater than death.
In theological terms, the supposed god that would raise itself above all others, declaring itself “god,” is not a god worthy of worship. The only God worthy of worship is the God that would raise each other together. The former worship is groveling. The latter is emulation.
Of course emulation of God entails real risk. And where there’s real risk, there’s real suffering. But, for children of God, there’s no other way. So we must stand in the courage and strength of our birthright as such children, as humanity transcending itself.
Is currency really so important? As money has become increasingly abstract and universal, it has become increasingly representative of power in general. Monetary policy is in a feedback loop with our philosophy of power. So make no mistake. Currency is shaping our future.
Tell your representatives that you oppose centralized control of our wallets, whether physical or digital. Tell them to find other ways to combat crime—ways that don’t indiscriminately compromise agency, ways that don’t generally enslave us. Some will listen. It may be enough.
Syndicated from Lincoln Cannon.