I've only been a developer for less than a year, and one could argue I am not a developer at all, because I only know JavaScript for the front end with no knowledge for the backend, and I'm not even a good frontend developer - although I do what I can, man.

Anyway, I do think that I have at least some knowledge to be able to chip in on the topic of **open source projects**.

First of all we all wouldn't be here if it wasn't for bitcoin. Bitcoin built the pathway  for all the other cryptocurrencies, and without an open source code available for anyone to implement and deploy and start mining BTC, you wouldn't be reading this post on the Hive blockchain and I would most definitely not be engraving this post right now.

![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmPy4cwQwFZsboBZvVCpgYKcDEKnb9HdNutUSascqb3d3D/image.png)

You see, the only way you can only come up with a system as complex as the Bitcoin blockchain, is having several people build on top of each other's work, like Satoshi did on top of Adam Back - or like some people like to state, Back being Satoshi, something I don't think is true.

On the other hand, having closed source projects is important when you don't have the resources or the means to advance fast enough and you fear that once you publish your project's code, someone else will pick it up and develop from there faster than you would ever be able to do it, effectively using your code to kill your project while being first to market but second to updating. Some developers believe that this is not an issue because the important part is to keep updating a projects towards the initial vision and purpose and, no matter who uses your code to develop a similar project, they will never be able to emulate your own vision, creativity and passion.

But going back to open source projects, once the code is public, anyone can improve it or propose changes to the main system. It is not one person or centralized team working towards success, but a ton of people from all over the world with different backgrounds, worldviews and experience, effectively giving way to more innovation and creative roads as well as offering multiple solutions to any problem.

The fact is that we don't really have a scalable system that facilitates further development on open source projects except the passion and willingness to get involved with a project, but in reality you get nothing out of modding a game or tweaking an open source UI except of the satisfaction of knowing you contributed to the betterment of X project and maybe improving a project that you are heavily involved with or use on a daily basis.

Take Linux for example: The only reason it kick ass is because virtually anyone who uses this operating system can improve it, and these users actually have the knowledge and expertise to do so. They also know that any improvement or update they contribute with to the project, will be something they will be able to use in the future. That's why Linux usually gets the upper hand when playing against Microsoft.

Technology can either be used to shackle us or free us. Blockchain and crypto are the best examples of using technology to fight for the freedom of the common denominator. The blockchain is owned by the people and it stops big enterprises from controlling from a centralized POV any type of software that society needs to achieve freedom.

#### Can you imagine how much of a hard on would Apple executives get if they could copyright BTC's code?

Open source gives power back to the people whereas closed source projects maintain the power centralized. This of a cyberpunk dystopia where the technology has advanced so much that we are living in a futuristic scenario but people are poor as fuck because this technology is centralized.

![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmY7Wh8dNxGkSt26LgtLMTS2S3pnwAHSBoGnNP6QcSA2ad/image.png)
### A society living in freedom?

I have a libertarian mindset, but a big chunk of my family are socialists, mainly because they come from the a family with a Spanish civil war background where they were persecuted by the fascist Francoists and thus, have always supported socialism.

Yesterday I went down the rabbit hole and began explaining them how the CCP in China demands data exposure from any USA company that wants to expand to Chinese markets. This means that when airbnb wanted to start doing business in Chinese territory, they signed a contract to disclose any and every piece of data gathered by the app - including private messages between users, outside of the Chinese territory - on any and every user.

What does the CCP want with this Data? Who knows, maybe they'll decide when the time to weaponize US and EU citizen data comes handy but, in the meantime, what the fuck airbnb?

And it's not only Airbnb, it is pretty much every company that wants to expand into Chinese territory - yep, Amazon, Disney and Netflix are included. Xi Jin Ping knows that you masturbate to Frozen, bro.

Anyway, when I explained this situation to them, their response was something along the lines of:

> well, perfect! That way rapists, robbers and such are even more under the lens, and the governments can have even more control over people! I don't care that they have control over me and they know everything about me, I have nothing to hide whereas all the criminals will be under constant scrutiny and more crimes will be avoided and the perpetrators will get their punishment more often!

My reply, knowing that the battle was lost and I wasn't going to change her mind due to previous discussions about this very same topic, was simple: But that's authoritarian as fuck, do you really feel comfortable giving the government so much power?

> Yes, people are not ready to rule over themselves, we are too chaotic and animalistic, I'd rather have a controlling governments than complete anarchy.

And that's where we are heading. The intellectuals and the elites are socialists without a single clue of what would that even mean for their own lifestyle, and they would rather see the power centralized as fuck instead of it going to the *ignorant people* thinking they will not get squished by the big govvy when the revolution *starts*.

The US Government is getting bigger and bigger and the more the progressive worldviews keep winning influence through private companies, the more the libertarian dream will be relegated.

But the truth is that politicians are not ready for these changing times. The more we approach 2050, the faster the tech will grow and advance, rendering every single politician useless. The establishment - in both sides of the bipartisan charade - was against crypto in the beginning, then they secretly started buying it and growing an influence in those markets, and now they are openly shilling it by pushing their own CBDCs.

### Crypto is a weapon against the system

The anti-system movement fueled by Crypto and blockchain is stronger than ever, and there are three principal defensive tactics from the 1990¨s original movement that began with Back, was continue by Nakamoto, and is currently fueled by millions of people around the world:

1- Cryptography into everyday life, the less we depend on centralized entities and more on decentralized cryptography, the better - defensive ways
2- 2000´s julian assange and edward snowden are examples of ways that cryptography can be used in an offensive way
3. Super coders and anyone that controls information to be spread around the corners of the world

The fact that open source allows anyone to continue on a project that anyone left unattended after being disappeared by a government, is revolutionary by itself without even being weaponized. But now imagine if anyone, anywhere, could continue what you left half-finished? 

But I'll drop a nudge here, I don't want to be categorized or being put on a list, lol.

Thanks to the power of the internet and open source, you don't need to be an engineer in silicone valley to work in important projects, and you can do it from anywhere around the world.

The key to make the most out of the existence of open source projects is to find the project that really  with you, a project that you you use daily in your life and then trying to improve it in a massive or important way. Find people who you can look up to and learn from, even if you are not an engineer we all have super powers, all you need to do is identify what you are really good at and contribute on that side of the chain.

It's simpler, a bitcoiner is different than a shitcoiner because of the amount of contributions he makes to make cryptography work, BTC trump Fiat, and blockchain take over the system. Bringing people on is one way to contribute, on your own way fight the fud and negative comments, which is the way most people contribute, by *turning normies into bitcoiners*, but there is definitely a lot more that we can do.

#### The movement has started, and it was all thanks and because of open source, are you in for the fundamentals or to get rich and enjoy your status in the current state of society?

![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmaFj4V4ji6UUADUKV1G4Fw2SkhUxNefxVQ6UavbzSAT1H/image.png)

If you are in for the long run here's a piece of advice: Get a few new identities, they are beginning to hunt down bitcoiners.

<sub>Pics generated on dreamstudio.ai</sub>

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