TWEETSTORM: The UK's new Prime Minister speaks out on CBDCs and it's as much about delivery as content!

TWEETSTORM is an occasional feature on decentralize.today where we share threads , mostly from Twitter, that we think deserve a wider audience, some are informative, some educational, some amusing and others yet are controversial...we dig these out for you so you don't have to!

Lyn Alden@LynAldenContact

As establishment political leaders around the world increasingly sound like highly-polish robots, they'll be rightfully perceived as less genuine among the public, thus fueling further populism

Lyn Alden@LynAldenContact

It's not a UK-specific thing. It's a US/UK/Europe thing. They sound like robots. Glassy-eyed. Meanwhile, the Eurasian thing with Putin and Xi is one of authoritarianism. Suppressing dissension. Personality cults. No personal recourse. No freedom of speech or movement. Worse.

Lyn Alden@LynAldenContact

Populist leaders, meanwhile, often more genuine-sounding but unfortunately often prone to extremism, tend to lead to further polarization in society. They have solutions, but those solutions often involve some hate. At this pivotal point, society goes down one of a few paths.

Lyn Alden@LynAldenContact

Path #1, an ideal path and a narrow path, is that society coalesces partially around strong leaders with new ideas and high integrity, building the next set of institutions, but with critical thinking and a lack of tribalism. Emphasis on decentralization and personal empowerment.

Path #2, a dark path but a broad path, is that society coalesces around strong leaders with extremist ideas and zero sum views of the world, blaming the "other", as they are increasingly unable to find the root causes of their own society's problems.

Path #3, another broad path and one of chaos. Society becomes too divided to coalesce around anything, and devolves into culture war or civil war. Things aren't good, nobody can agree on what is causing it, so it must be the other side.

Lyn Alden@LynAldenContact

Establishment media becomes sanitized and politicized talking points in this context. It's propaganda for lack of a better word. Alternative media, on the other hand, often plays to the crowd. Their emphasis is rarely on truth either, but on emotion and tribalism. Polarization.

Lyn Alden@LynAldenContact

It's not a bad time to re-read "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and "Fourth Turning". And a good time to re-emphasize critical thinking skills. The polished robots and the charismatic pumpers that oppose them tend to *both* be highly flawed. Be objective, be skeptical, search for truth.

Lyn Alden@LynAldenContact

Nobody has the answers for you. I certainly don't either. We're all figuring this out. Amid energy crises, wars, leadership voids, and economic problems, key things to always ask are: "What is the other side of the argument?" "What would a wise person disagree with me on?"

Lyn Alden@LynAldenContact

"What are the first and second-order trade-offs of a given thing?" "Who is hurt by this thing? Who is helped by it? Who pretends to be hurt but is actually helped?" "What is the strongest possible case against the ideals that I hold?"

Lyn Alden@LynAldenContact

I think the more people that ask these types of questions, the more likely a society is to go down the narrow path of critical thinking and truth, with new leaders with fresh ideas and high integrity, empowering individuals, and solving society's biggest problems.

Lyn Alden@LynAldenContact

The phrases

"Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you"

and

"Forgive them, for they know not what they do"

are some of the most powerful phrases in common lexicon.

The words transcend the specific metaphysics, for these statements.

Words to live by, imo. Wisdom.

Lyn Alden (@LynAldenContact)

As establishment political leaders around the world increasingly sound like highly-polish robots, they’ll be rightfully perceived as less genuine among the public, thus fueling further populism.

Nitter

Thank you, Lyn