Liberation Aided by Technology

Luddites

1831, Paris: 200 tailors break into a factory owned by Barthélemy Thimonnier and destroy dozens of sewing machines.

Me: Caleb

• Software Engineer, 10 years exp
• Founded a software engineering co-op, ~100 engineers
• Run dozens of local models on my PC
• Luddite

Big Changes in the 1800s

Automated textile manufacturing led to:

• Huge demand for wool
• Replacement of tenant farmers with sheep
• Increased cotton demand escalating global slave trade
• Massively increased access to clothing for the working class

The factories were more efficient - the textile workers saw none of these benefits.

We Hate Technology

What has technology gotten for us?

• Global Warming
• Factory Suicides
• Instagram Doomscrolling
• Tik Tok Misinformation
• LLM "Art"
• Tech Surveillance
• Theft of your money and labor (through your posts)

You Don't Hate Technology, You Hate Capitalism

• Global Warming - Unchecked corporate short term greed
• Factory Suicides - Labor exploitation, growth obsession
• Instagram Doomscrolling - Population exploitation, profits over people
• Tik Tok Misinformation - Governmental takeover mechanism in liberal democracy
• LLM "Art" - yuck
• Tech Surveillance - Pet project of pedophile blood-drinking techno-fascists

How Can We Limit the Bad

Liberals: "just regulate the companies bro trust me bro a system where power correlates with capital while at the same time corporations are supposed to be regulated by said power is totally sane and definitely will work."

Microsoft Windows:

Hacker Culture is Leftist

GNU/Linux, MIT hackers, freeware, FOSS (Free and Open Source)

We Have the Tools, and can Build More

The liberal solution fails. Living in liberal/fascist society, we need to set up parallel systems that let us opt out - yes, this is anarchist theory.

Technology is a force multiplier that we can wield ourselves.

The Tools

I need your help: I can give you the tools, but I don't know how to convince people to use them. Help me, commies, you're my only hope.

• Firefox / Brave - Internet browsers
  • Chrome is blocking ad blockers, and has tracking
  • Firefox + uBlock Origin = ad free Youtube!
• OpenStreetMap, OsmAnd, Mapillary - Google Maps / Google Street View alternatives
  • Huge ecosystem, all community supported
  • Protection from Google pushing you to its favorite restaurants
  • Frequently used in disaster relief - see: Rebecca Solnit
  • Very fun and addicting
  
• Pixelfed - Instagram alternative
  • You aren't a human, you're a meat robot AI agent that generates photo content to train Instagram AI
  • Join now! pixelfed.tw
  
• Signal - Messaging app
  • Moxie Marlinspike - Anarchist
  • E2E Encrypted
  • Most downloaded app in HK after national security law
  • Important to hide your communication by default - you don't know if you're breaking the law, and governments can change.
  
• Grayjay - Youtube client
  • Youtube on your phone with no ads, background play, downloads etc
  
• Briar - Encrypted device to device communication
  • Usable if internet goes down
  • Or if cell towers are closed around protests
  
• Meshtastic - Mesh network communication
  • Similar to Briar, but each device can help messages get across the city
  • See also: Reticulum. Meshtastic but for any kind of internet traffic
  <
• Linux - Constellation of operating systems
  • Frees you from Apple and Windows surveillance
  • Lets you install whatever software you want - including software Apple doesn't want you to install
  • Re-use old computers!
• Libreoffice - Document editor
  • Trump removed Microsoft Office access to people abroad that annoyed him
• Mobilizon - Luma / Meetup / Facebook Events replacement
• Nextcloud - Google Drive alternative
• Mastodon + Bluesky - Twitter alternatives
  • Lets you choose your own algorithm
  • Protects you from psychological attack via ads, targeted content, selective censorship
• Peertube - Youtube alternative
  • Avoid Youtube censorship
  • Youtube algorithm is cursed: see Elsagate
• Matrix / Element - Slack / Discord alternative
• Hackfoldr - Notion alternative (markdown editing)
  • Extensively used during Sunflower movement
• Tor - Encrypted Internet Access
  • Hides traffic from ISPs and governments
  • Used during Tunisian revolution
• Global Village Construction Kit - All the hardware you'd need to start and run a village
• Internet Archive - Archive of the Internet
  • Crucial in journalism and for history
• Archive Genocide - Archive of the Israeli Genocide against Palestine, warning: horrific

Pre-Asked Question 1

Would you elaborate more on the co-op you created, 508.dev, about its current status, and your vision of its role? In the context of geographic arbitrage, digital nomadism, and exploitation of locals by passport bros

• Don't hate the player, hate the capitalist with the same passport as you
• Taiwanese bosses are GREEDY as FUCK
• Taiwan holds the world economy in its hands with the AI bubble - has your infrastucture improved? Your salaries? Your quality of life?
• 508.dev reallocates wealth and tries to raise Taiwanese salaries
• Current status: 1MM ARR, ~10 Taiwanese engineers had salaries doubled or tripled, ~3 have USA full time software jobs
• Vision: Everyone has to compete with my rates.
• Double Vision: Nobody ever works for a "traditional company" ever again
• Triple Vision: Collapse of capitalism

Pre-Asked Question 2

Do you acknowledge this separation between technology and the politically/culturally Left, and that it is a problem for the Left today? Context: Luke Smith and the "libertarian" yet right wing tendencies of western technologists; tech companies infecting populations with ideas that serve their interests and politics; the tendency of leftists to not be participating in the frontier of technology; the divide between leftists care for certain subjects and the general public;

• First: Luke Smith is an eco-fascist, and the Suckless people are also fascists
• Yes, leftists have the only platform that is actually concerned with the needs of the working class, but in my experience, a fundamental inability to communicate with "normies." This may be more of a western problem. See "Why Framework will Never be Forgiven"
• Especially in the era of AI, leftists are taking primitivism too far. You don't hate technology, you hate capitalism.
• Recommended reading: "Walkaway" by Cory Doctorow, "A Half Built Guarden" by Ruthanna Emrys.

Pre-Asked Question 3

A few alternative to big platforms I've heard of are Brave browser, Odysee for videos, Matrix or Signal for chatting, etc. But even a somewhat-tech-literate like me (without a strong sense of faith TBH) would compromise on using big platforms for convenience and for so-called "productivity". So it seems these privacy-minded, decentralized alternatives are bound to be used by niche geek communities? I don't think you'd share this pessimism? Context: mark Fischer, leftist futility/ motivation in the face of big tech power; adoption of FOSS and non-surveillance alternatives; PRC citizens trading privacy for security

• I'm also addicted to social media. One thing I tell myself every time I reach for Reddit or Twitter: Do I want to give my money away to Elon Musk? Because that's what posting on Twitter does.
• Usage of these platforms is normal, we don't have the psychological tools to fight against PhD psychologists at Facebook working day and night to keep us addicted. See "We are Under Psychic Attack"
• Cory Doctorow told me: Focus less on the methodology and more on the community. Organize, organize, organize.
• Geeks aren't niche outside of leftist spaces: Anarchist hacker scene, gnu/linux commies, Moxie Marlinkspike, SF anarchists. Also, perhaps controversial, but, PRC dismantling of American hegemonic copyright law, making a mockery of frontier AI models with far cheaper open-weight ones, and pushing FOSS forward more than any country outside of maybe Germany.
• However it is true that e.g. Linux FOSS software can be hard to use with bad UX. Matrix/Element is my favorite example of this, incredibly difficult to use. We as tech people NEED YOUR HELP to improve this software, and tech people need to, like vanguardist communists, give up the nose-raising elitism at the needs and desires of "normies."
• Capitalists are kinda winning this fight: Valve exploded Linux usage through the Steam Deck. Ubuntu is driven by Canonical for profit motive. Most FOSS software survives on donations and engineering effort from big tech companies like Google.
• Practically: GET OFF INSTAGRAM!!! Start using Linux, show your friends how cool these FOSS tools are, be very stubborn about only adding people on Signal and not Line, don't host events on Facebook, be a PROPER annoying leftist about it! Live your values, you will feel better. I blogged about how I did it.
• I gain energy for learning Mandarin by telling myself: I'm learning Mandarin for the revolution. I keep consistency at the gym by telling myself I need this strength to bodyslam fascists. You: give up Instagram for the revolution! You use encrypted communication to keep yourself out of jail so you can forward the revolution!