It occurred to me that many people new to Steem and Steemit may not know much about me. I think it is time I introduce myself along with everyone else.
The Silver Rule
As someone who attempts to follow the silver rule, "Don't do unto others what you don't want others doing to you.", I concluded that initiating violence against others is not an option. I know that I cannot remain rationally consistent while violating this rule.
The logical outcome of this belief is that using threats of violence to extort money from others for any purpose is something that is off of the table. This means taxes and everything taxes pays for is off the table. This means war and violent revolution is off the table, but that doesn't mean I want to sit back and do nothing!
Finding Free Market Solutions to Secure Life, Liberty, and Property
About 5 years ago I came to a realization that the solution to the organized crime syndicate commonly referred to as government must be born from the free market. Furthermore, any free market alternative to government that is unable to free us from the current government will not be strong enough to prevent a new government from taking over.
I also realized that the demand for life, liberty, and property is very high and anyone who could find a way to provide these things to the market could make a lot of money while making the world a much better place. It was at this point in time that I started looking for non-violent means of rendering violent forms of government powerless.
Start with Currency
I recognized that money is the root of government power and that use of money is entirely voluntary. No one forces you to be paid in dollars. The initial solution was to adopt gold and silver. I researched it and discovered that others had tried that approach and been shut down by governments. Governments have the power to seize property anywhere in the world. It became clear that the free market would require a form of money that is not backed by physical property.
I was attempting to engineer a digital currency when I discovered Bitcoin in early 2009. I instantly got involved with attempting to promote Bitcoin.
Divorce
Around this same time I was also going through a divorce. My divorce was precipitated as a result of my on-going enlightenment that my ex-wife found to be incompatible with her world view. I was changing and rejecting old beliefs such as my Christian upbringing. The hypocrisy of the church and its widespread support violations of the Silver Rule made associating with that crowd increasingly difficult.
This process distracted me from Bitcoin, but also taught me some hard lessons. Attempting to follow my belief in voluntary dispute resolution, I convinced my ex-wife to use christian arbitration to divide our property and settle issues of custody and child support. This was a big mistake.
The arbitration ruling was somewhat balanced. I would have to pay insane spousal and child support, but she would have to live within 30 minutes or I would get custody. This ruling was supposed to be legally binding, but this is when I learned that the government owns our kids and parents have no authority to make binding decisions about custody.
My ex-wife didn't like the outcome and challenged it in the government courts. This is where I learned how irrational and biased the court system can be. At the end of the day the courts claimed they were bound to enforce the spousal support as ordered by arbitrators, but were free to change the custody. This turned a balanced judgment by arbitrators into a complete loss and made me learn just how corrupt the entire process is.
I realized I was a slave. I was compelled by the court to earn the salary of a software engineer regardless of any desire to start a business or change careers. My ex-wife was getting over half of my after-tax paycheck and I was forced to live with my parents because there was not enough left over to support an independent life. I was broke and near bankruptcy due to legal expenses incurred fighting for my kids for 2 years.
There is nothing more painful than realizing that the mother of your children is willing to shoot and/or kill you unless you bend to her will. She may not do it directly, but, from my perspective, asking the government to do it on her behalf is just the same.
Meditation
It was at the depth of this despair that I learned how to let go. Holding on to anger and resentment was only holding me back. I started meditating and learning who I really was. I learned the joy of living in the moment and not dwelling on my story and the injustice of it all. I had to let go of things I could not change and focus on what I can do. This experience gave me the strength to be calm in any storm.
Renewed Commitment
Not wanting to give up, I became more determined than ever to find a way to get justice. I started getting back into Bitcoin and attempting to figure out ways to organize society that did not depend upon violence. More specifically, I started looking for ways that everyone could work together to defend ourselves against this organized, family destroying, crime syndicate.
At this time Bitcoin was having problems with governments shutting down exchanges and/or seizing their bank accounts. I realized that Bitcoin could die if we did not have a decentralized alternative to exchanges. This is when I started BitShares and invented BitUSD - the first trustless cryptocurrency pegged to the dollar.
For the next 2 and a half years I systematically worked on solving the technological challenges necessary to bring blockchain technology to a level of maturity that could support a decentralized exchange. The resulting technology is known as Graphene and is what powers BitShares and Steem.
Social Lessons
Years working on BitShares taught me a lot. I learned hard lessons in community building and economics. Over this same period of time the blockchain industry matured. Government regulations became clearer. Centralized exchanges have been accepted and are no longer in danger of being shut down. In other words, the problem I set out to solve became almost a non-issue.
I also learned that my capitalist mindset was too short-sighted. I began to see how building a community around the selfish motives of earning income by charging fees on transactions limited adoption. I learned that "inflation" isn't theft if it is done to compensate those who bring value. I learned that true theft is expecting people to work for free without getting a share in the product. This maturing perspective caused me to diverge from many of people who were originally attracted to BitShares.
Starting Steem
I decided to take the lessons learned and create a new attempt at building an online community around my new values. These new values are based on the premise that everyone who brings value deserves a share. They include the idea that the value of the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. They include the concept of not charging anyone who participates in our community, but rewarding everyone. They include the concept of long-term commitment rather than get-rich quick.
The Future
Going forward I hope to leverage the work here with Steem to build markets, insurance, mutural-aid societies, and justice systems that empower our community to disempower government. I believe that properly organized social pressures can be far more powerful than any standing army or government bureaucrat. Through blockchain technology we can organize ourselves and hopefully achieve our liberty.
Only by working together can we maximize the life, liberty, and property for all. Resorting to violence is a shortcut that can only destroy life, liberty and property. I am honored that so many of your are here and helping me realize this dream.
Thank you for sharing that story dan. The inspiration you've given me from all the way back to Invictus has never wavered. Nobody is perfect and you've had many challenges. But you stuck with your vision, refined it, grown more committed to it and improved it. I take my hat off to you and those who've supported your efforts. I honestly believe that the work you've done gives my daughter and the next generations the best chance of preserving their life, liberty and property.....therin giving them the best chance of happiness. I also think Steemit is the best chance for us to build a starship and start exploring space. You heard it here first ;))
I guess there was no reply button a year ago, otherwise how come no one acknowledged the much sense you added to a complete argument. I caught up late but I'm glad I did nonetheless. The opportunity to engage in this community, and the quality of that engagement, are one I value highly.
Oh. For real that worked. 😀
😉
Thank you so much. This platform has given me a lot of hope about the future, and I feel like I can, at least in part, retreat from the wicked status quo by participating.
Enjoy the journey. Your kids are always connected with you, despite time and space delusions. Stay sharp!
Thanks for sharing Dan. I talked with you at a Bitcoin conference back in 2013 where you shared your ideas and vision of what consensus systems could do for the world. I remember truly feeling inspired after that conversation. Since then, its been amazing seeing your creations brought to life and I know the best is yet to come :)
Excellent #introduceyourself post and great to learn more about the man who created this powerful and exciting platform!
So many quotable quotes in here! These are ones I like:
This just makes me more excited to tell my friends and family about what I chose to become a part of, here at Steemit!
I applaud your values and couldn't agree more with your viewpoints. You can be very proud of what you have achieved already.
Dan, you are the man. Nothing but respect for you. However, all I want to say is that life is so much more than success and wealth, enjoy the present moment, and give love to the ones you love.
I always liked the quote "Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you gonna get:) Forest Gump:"
Many "people who were originally attracted to BitShares" are here too. Hopefully their mindest will not spread again, else you'd have to diverge again from a community or simply change your mindset...again.
By the way...greetings to @Stan. I wonder if his mindset changed too?
I guess it happened again as you predicted...EOS community is next
Hi dan! Great story! In Russia we even have special website for those who are going through divorce and child custody. It is really big men's problem nowadays.
What do you think about idea of decentralized reputation system? I believe that reputation is currency of the future. It seems to me that BackFeed team is going in right direction. Tau Chain is also very interesting project by the way.
Reputation and trust are the ultimate currencies!
Also Confidence!
It sounds kind of silly when you hear things like, 'in the future, we'll aspire to be awesome rather than rich', but yeah, I think there's something to that, and I also think that reputation (as compared to popularity / beauty measurement) is central to that (Star Trek like) future.
Thank you very much for sharing your story. I am with you since the beginning of bitshares and during these years i always felt that i know you even if I haven't met you.Well I didn't know you at all and I always thought your life differently from what you have described. I thought you were happily maried with children and not divorced. That really sucks and I feel your pain man.
You know that you will always have my support no matter what because you have created bitshares and I have been hooked for the last years. However, having said that I am disappointed the way you have abandoned bitshares for steem. Bithsares can still help people secure life,property and liberty that you are preaching and perhaps Steem as well but comparing a decentralized exchange with a social platform..well...
I am also a bit disappointed with the way you treated your own Brownie.PTS tokens. Those were supposed to reward people that believe in you and help grow the bitshares ecosystem and now nobody wants to buy any brownies..It seems that you have abandoned your own personal appreciation token..
I feel that you are somewhere lost and overexcited with Steem and gave up on bitshares too early. I hope you reconsider in the future and we see you back in bitshares. You have created a very powerful tool that I still believe will change peoples lifes in the future. Bitshares is just way over it's time and people don't realize it yet..That's all.
I really hope that everything goes smooth in your life from now on and you overcome any difficulty. You are Dantheman after all..
Wow! This is an absolutely awesome read. From my relatively limited experience I've come to a lot of the same conclusions you have about violence, government and money. I've also even defected from my Christian upbringing. I do still consider myself a Christian, but my interpretation of what that means is completely opposed to the standard beliefs (I'm completely against the use of coercive, violent force and I believe God never intended for man to rely on governments for the safety and prosperity of each other).
I'm glad I now know this much more about you. It makes me feel even more excited to be a part of this movement.
Your reply really spoke to me Rob. I'm of a similar persuasion. What astonishes me about Dan is that he gained this understanding so early in life. It took over a decade of me studying Law informally & looking into matters from taxation to family court. The proverbial "Matrix", is indeed - real. Great to see a community growing and spearheaded by such a brilliant founder. And regarding the "Christian" thing ... I did what most Christians don't; I actually read the Bible (& learned Hebrew & Greek). Wow! Most so-called "Christians" should remove their bumper-stickers! "Just because a mouse lives in a cookie-jar, does not make him a cookie." - Tenboom
@gimmelyod - "Just because a mouse lives in a cookie jar doesn't make him a cookie." Love it! Did Corie Tenboom really say that? She's been my heroine for years. Your avatar name sounds like letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Would you please explain? Thank you. God bless you.
Great post - ego is indeed the enemy. Good luck on all your pursuits, especially Steem.
so @dantheman = @dan?
Btw, your story about divorce really enlightens me. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Yes it does. I had to ask that myself a while back.
Thanks for sharing your story.
All I need to say (which may read as a defense for the BitShares community) is, that I don't think it's fair to compare a decentralized exchange like BitShares with a social media platform like Steem when talking about community-building. Steem has way more options to establish a "community" and offers more ways to participate.
That said, I think it was genius of you to add POW to the consensus scheme and, in particular, to have the first couple days a POW only scheme to attract fresh and motivated blood!
It is my sincere hope that Dan did not abandon BitShares
I can certainly understand where you're coming from when it comes to skepticism of big government, but what I can't wrap my head around is why you think unregulated free markets are the solution. Correct me if you think I'm mistaken, but many of our laws/regulations are in fact written by special interest groups who represent the most powerful free market participants. If these participants are the ones making the rules, how can you say that the free market system is the solution to government corruption, when they are the ones who rigged it in the first place?
Basically what I'm getting it is people with money make the rules. Why would this be any different if the government had less control over them?
I guess @dan's idea of "free market solutions" is more about recognizing the fundamental mechanisms and building solutions on them. One basic assumption is that people act selfishly. By recognizing that, you can build a system which lets people act selfishly, but which directs the energy to a positive outcome by using suitable incentives. People can act freely within the boundaries of the system, but the rules aren't forced on anyone, because they can leave whenever they want. It's a free market solution - until people are "born into steem" and cannot leave :-). The rich making new rules within a society where everyone else is born and cannot leave, is not a free market solution, as you pointed out. However in Steem, the rules are created first, then everyone who agrees to the rules is welcome to join, which brings more value to the system. Thus "the rulers become rich", and not "the rich create rules". The difference is vast. Bringing value to the whole - and thus to the rulers too - is completely voluntary. What is amazing is that it looks like it's easy to bring value, but difficult to take/reduce value. Beat that!
The regulations are indeed written by special interest groups. That's because government is a central point of failure. The less central points of failure, the better the system.
Imagine you have a situation where McDonalds has a legal monopoly on restaurants in a state. Is their food going to be any good? They have very little incentive to produce good food, as there are no other restaurants which can compete with them. In fact, we could even see this situation for ourselves in Cuba. The government restaurants tend to have very bad service and very bad food.
Imagine if you have a situation where there is only one organisation which has the ultimate say in matters of law. They have a monopoly on law. Is their law going to be any good?
On the other hand, imagine if there are many organisations which you can go to which will provide arbitration. They're all competing, so they have the incentive to promote a reputation of fairness and impartiality. Now, you might say "But what's stopping someone rich and powerful from buying one of these courts?" There are several things, but first apply that to government courts. What is stopping someone rich and powerful from buying a government court? Well, very little. The judges have impunity, so if a judge is paid off and makes a ridiculous decision which punishes an innocent, the judge doesn't have liability. In a polycentric law system, the arbitration companies want to show that they are impartial, and if a judge makes a stupid decision, he may be investigated, fired, perhaps even sued because of his liability for punishing an innocent. Or, people may just decide to disobey the judge if they believe the decision is unfair, as the judge has no legal privilege.
Basically, if there is one organisation with a monopoly on law, you have very little recourse. If there are many organisations providing law, then you can have potentially unlimited sources of recourse.
government restaurants?
Yes, for a long time all or most of the restaurants in Cuba were owned and run by the government.
I've also heard there are state-run restaurants in Russia, a hangover from the USSR, in the tourist centres there.
In any case, I mentioned government restaurants as a thought experiment to get the reader to imagine a state-run sector with no competition.
Spoken like a true "domestic terrorist" (allegedly). Welcome to another watch list Dan! ;)
Dan you really are the man! I hope you keep your passion for developing bitshares and steem for many years to come!
I have no words to be honest, you've said it all and you live up to your username. I'm just so glad to be a part of this and to have you on my side!
One of the greatest intros I've read so far!
"Only by working together can we maximize the life, liberty, and property for all" I can't agree more, I will putting my two cents everyday writing about freedom in the most entretaining manner, and help contribute in other aspect too.
I know many others are doing the same, I think between many people we can help realize the dream.
Sorry to hear about the divorce, hopefully with a new energy and a new motivation, new experiences will go your way.
Best of luck and thanks for the honest intro.
That was a great read Dan, thanks for opening up to the community like that. I always thought that to if I want to be involved in something I need to believe in the people who run it, and after this post I am more than happy with being a part of Bitshares and Steem.
This is just amazing. I too changed my life through contemplative practices. Also, psychedelics which I write about and will be posting soon. I grew up a Christian, my father was a minister and was a founder of one of the biggest congregations here in NYC. He tried to kill me. Literally. You are very lucky you are becoming dis-identified with your conditioning. Thank you.
The crypto community has me confused. Is Dan one of the greatest visionaries in the space leading the industry? A over-ambitious guy with crazy moon-shot ideas? Or a scam artist?
Thanks for taking the time to share your story. Remember, money isn't power. More so it increases conditions for us to lose our power. Power is in our #Relationships & money simply facilitates this.
Dear Dan ( @dantheman ),
I dont know if you are reading the comments below, but I am posting here again to appeal to you because I actually dont know how else to reach you.
I have been enjoying your Steem platform recently in the past few months, as there is a cryptocurrency technical analyst (@haejin) I have very much enjoyed following. He is such an ASSET to Steem, by offering FREE daily analysis of several crytpos , along teachings on how to perform Elliott Waves, and his followers love him dearly. However, with his growing popularity has appeared something very negative in the comments section.
There appears to be a "wolf-pack" of sorts that has appeared in the comments section, attacking @haejin and accusing him of "raping the reward pool"(??) for the popularity he has acquired through his wonderful teachings. This pack has HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars of Steem Power and have infested the comments section with negative comments and downvotes, attacking @haejin AND his supporters. They are becoming so aggressive that the entire blog may actually close down!. This type of intimidation cannot occur if Steem is to continue with its success. They (bernisanders and gang, members of randowhale service) are somehow manipulating the platform for their own gains by upvoting each other, and downvoting others, while simultaneously suppoorting givaways and upvoting themselves up into the trending section. These same people (bots?) are jumping all over other popular blogs and accusing them of rape? of the reward pool? What is going on????!
Please Dan read this post. I will attempt to find other ways to get peoples attention on this.. (Right now anyone posting on STEEM itself to bring attention to this is DOWNVOTED by this wolf-pack, effectively silencing them with their power).
Thank you for your attention to this matter and please help!
I agree with you, Oliver- for the first few months I have been ecstatic over steemit--- Then this ugly abuse of power has reared its ugly head. My solution is to NOT purchase anymore steem, and gift @haejin with litecoin, ethereum or bitcoin. This will starve the "berniesanders" mafia from digitally pickpocketing others and directly reward @haejin. I believe the root cause of this is the boom in altcoins- and the wallstreet powers and others have used steem to try and silence @haejin, because he is doing for free, what these so called "experts" are charging upwards of $2500 to do, with a fraction of information they provide- which they probably took from @ haejin. I hope Dan is able to stop this abuse of power and I also wanted to mention, that I powered down 40 steem- and only recieved 3 after the 7 day waiting period---- something is definately going on! I wont be purchasing anymore steemuntil this issue is resolved. Voted, followed, Marco
excellent share, Dan.
while many of us might have grasped some of the foundational philosophy behind this venture, it adds another dimension of humanness to read your inside perspective as to how you've grown into this position. lots of points in here that people can definitely relate to on a human level - whether the distaste for government and the rebellious approach to the system, the striving to create something new in the world, or the family challenges.
the "founder" title can tend to obscure the facts that there's a real person with deeply-passionate drives, motives, and an interesting history behind them - that this post helps to shine alot of light back onto. :-)
Thank you for having the guts to talk about the personal stuff.
That was a great read. Thanks for sharing your journey with us Dan.
Awesome Dan, the more I hear about you, the greater faith I have in Steem, you are stirring some feelings I haven't had in 20 years, regarding society based more on anarcho-capitalism. Rather than this false democracy, run by an ever devaluing currency and higher house prices.
You're an inspiration, you've started something really good here and you have a lot of good people around you and on this system who have never met you, looking to support your dream. I can't wait to see how it all pans out in the coming few years.
CG
Thanks for sharing the dark parts as well! Lighting up the humanity of it all is a really valuable thing.
I appreciate the fact that you define government as a crime syndicate. Most people think that without government we would be lost....but the truth is that government doesn't really DO anything...unless you include creating social unrest, and profiting off of our creation of wealth. And of coarse government and mainstream media is the prime survival mechanism for the SECRET or shadow government of banking and corporate cabals....and black project syndicates....depends on how far you want to go down the proverbial rabbit hole..
But regardless....these factions cannot survive if we cut off their energy supply - our co-operation.
Thank you for the enlightening post!
What an open and heart filled introduction. I am new to the crypto space but I feel the altruistic goals that many in the crypto space have will be of great benefit to the world. Blockchain technology has the power to facilitate positive change to the globe. I am happy to be involved in this space. To infinity and beyond.
I'm soooooooooo glad you wrote this! HOOOOORRRRRAAAAAYYYY.
I have too many favorite parts of your story and I identified with a lot of it:
"I also learned that my capitalist mindset was too short-sighted. I began to see how building a community around the selfish motives of earning income by charging fees on transactions limited adoption."
I think it's great, and it's exactly what I've been thinking about since 2011, banging my head against the wall trying to figure out how I can solve some really huge issues, having the ideas, but not the capital to make my dreams of helping people understand how to get free from their prisons. This is so great. Your vision is pure, and it's a such rare gem. You'll soon be rewarded in ways you didn't dream were possible......
It is truly like this: even if for some odd reason the experiment fails, your vision for humanity via Steemit has already made a lot of us regain hope that had been either lying dormant or had been squished out of us. You having hope and sharing your intelligence has created a dreamworld for those who haven't let go of the dream. Holy shit. Your story is powerful.
Thanks for sharing your story with us, Dan. I'm deeply moved and inspired by your heroic efforts to defend life, liberty, and property for all, and I feel even more honored now to be part of a community with such highly principled people such as yourself. I'm also terribly sorry for the hell that your wife put you and your children through. The court system is totally unfair, and I'm sick and tired of watching it destroy the lives of so many men. Your perseverance sets an excellent example for others to follow, and I'm hopeful that you'll be justly rewarded for all your efforts.
A very powerful story. Government corruption and overreach has touched us all because, as you artfully pointed out, we are all unwitting slaves. Born into a system we did not consent to, yet we are coerced into participating every day through seemingly benign choices. Using currency, getting a job, paying taxes, having children, getting married, all of these are tools of intrusion that put us further under the thumb of nameless and faceless bureaucrats whose goals and motivations are completely divorced from our needs and wants as individuals. Kudos for having the ability to see through the anger and calmly assess a possible solution. Here's to hoping it works!
I had to come back to this article and share this:
http://www.divorcecorp.com/
Coding is only as good as the creator's principle and knowledge. I know nothing about coding, but I got hooked on bitcoin from having studied monetary theory and having followed Ron Paul. I heard you speak at the Las Vegas Bitcoin Conference 2 years ago or so, and by reading your introduction, I am truly happy to know that none of your passion has faded, but stronger than ever. Steemit technology is backed by a fantastic principle. Good luck. I bet your father who spoke highly of you at the LV event is truly happy as well.
I totally resonate with your story! Thanks for your hard work and sharing with us!
like your idea of the future but how the future takes shape is even more exciting. Technology continues to be a great enabler but I doubt if technology alone can achieve that.
the Future
Your story is not particularly clarifying, but your steeme for "property" makes you particularly mediocre
Nice article Dan! Nice to meet you. And i am the fan of bitshares, dex, etc and i am the ambassador of Openledger DEX in Russia. We have recently represented OL in Moscow in the mid of April and it has already started active development of business, such that we started several ICOs as well as coins of the ecosystem. I believe that Bitshares is an extremely undervalued blockchain and it has a huge growth potential such that 1bts must be equal 1usd
Goo luck realizing your dream with the Steem platform, it is looking good so far! :-)
Dan, I'm glad you made it through the divorce. I hope you didn't throw away the belief in Jesus during this ordeal.
@pairmike - My thoughts exactly. The distance between Biblical Christianity and the formal church structure known as "organized religion" is almost as great as the distance between Christ and the Pharisees.
I would have upvoted that twice if possible!
Yes, you are correct, Sarah. voted, followed!
It's been a wild ride. Thank you!
That was a great read. Thanks you!
"About 5 years ago I came to a realization that the solution to the organized crime syndicate commonly referred to as government must be born from the free market. Furthermore, any free market alternative to government that is unable to free us from the current government will not be strong enough to prevent a new government from taking over."
Thanks for sharing Dan! I'm glad I found steemit, and excited to see it grow!
Good post and thank you for sharing some of your personal experiences. I'm not up-voting it for reasons similar to those I have stated in other comments on posts from Steemit members that I have downvoted, but I also didn't downvote it out of respect for its fully-legitimate place in the introduceyourself category, one I have wholeheartedly supported.
I really like The Never Give Up attitude that you have. Inspiring story you've got there. Cheers to SteemIt.
Thanks for sharing. Knowing all of that about you gives me even more faith in the platform.
Thanks great articles , l think Bitcoin has bring the best out of your life. the future people seek is here. Despite the challenges you overcome the obstacle and leverage justice,freedom to empower the people.