Great post by waxwing
My additions to this excellent post.
The ironic success of Bitcoin is that it exogenized everything of human value and motives, including its governance, leadership and the identity of anyone using the system. That’s the secret of its long-term success, it squeezed out entirely human fallibility.
In contrast, secret societies, cabals and conspiracies are all fallible (or fictional at the outset) and ultimately fail or are reconstituted through forgery. But despite all this, these attempts are trying to serve a need for coordination in the face of an adverse environment. Whether a hunter or revolutionary, these coordination efforts required a shared mode of reality, usually in the form of secrets that ultimately lead to betrayal.
What is different about Bitcoin, or more generally cryptographic tradecraft is that it is now possible to do coordinate with commitment and without betrayal. A radical leap forward. With Bitcoin, it is possible to be a secret society of one, yet coordinate globally (i.e., pay) with commitment and without betrayal.
I believe we are entering a new age of coordination enabled by the likes of Bitcoin and Nostr. Who knows where this is going to go, but I plan to be along for the ride!