Agorism means simply to consider, in any decision you make,

the risks and rewards of breaking the law or even of

securing yourself against the state in legal ways or moving

to a less tyrannic one.

People act on stories, not just on financial incentives, and

a widespread one is becoming wealthy, securing one’s family,

enjoying one’s life, maybe even finding self-fulfillment but

all the while abiding by the law, being a good citizen. The

agorist story corrects the latter two ideas to abiding by

the non-aggression principle, being a good libertarian.

It’s a more appealing story, because

The former ideas are better achievable in it. For wouldn’t

it be much easier to become wealthy, if you dodge some

taxes, ignore some regulations and maybe even deal and

work on the black market? And wouldn’t your children be

safer if you unschool them, your home if you had a gun and

knew how to use it, your money if you invested it in

Bitcoin?

it be much easier to become wealthy, if you dodge some taxes, ignore some regulations and maybe even deal and work on the black market? And wouldn’t your children be safer if you unschool them, your home if you had a gun and knew how to use it, your money if you invested it in Bitcoin? And what makes the latter ideas of the first story

appealing – a sense of justice and responsibility – can

only be truly realized with the second.

A great agorist story is the Silk Road Saga. Inspired by

Libertarian and Agorist ideas Ross Ulbricht founded an

anonymous online marketplace, hidden by the tor network,

where you could buy everything from drugs to fake passports,

but not stolen goods. He, or his successor, spread

libertarian ideas on the site and their deeds speak for

themselves: They had posession of more than two millions of

their customers bitcoins, could have stolen a tenth of the

future world economy, but didn’t.

(Tragically, the Silk Road was taken down and Ross Ulbricht jailed, but

the trial turned out to be great marketing for future dark

markets.)

Let’s try to tell such stories (write and link yours, true

or fictional, in the comments), and above all, to live them.

You’ll find more information about Agorism in An Agorist

Primer, more about Bitcoin at the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute

and you can give me more time to write about both by

donating to 1EDfGLTgy6nr1bfDfLNgniKUmFqyjX4pGk.