John McAfee on Bitcoin, Monero and Boxes

John McAfee is always good value and never pulls his punches.

The clickbaity video title is pathetic, but this interview covers a number of topics, including his views on how he used crypto in his daily life - it wasn't Bitcoin.

This short section caught my attention, as it applies very much to the here and now.

Interviewer: You were arrested for drug manufacturing and released without charges. You've written books about yoga. And I understand that some of these books take concepts like telepathy and time travel seriously. This strikes me as a full and unusual life. Does it feel unusual to you?

John McAfee: No, it feels hectic and out of control, isn't it? No, I'm telling you, seriously. It has been since I was 23. That's when all this sh*t started. Listen, if you'd step out of the box, you're in an alternate universe, people. You don't really understand.

People habituate their lives to following what authorities says. What authorities, the government, teachers, policemen, the FBI and Congress, these are authorities. And we have been habituated to both believe that these authorities are here for us, for our benefit. Well, you need to wake up. They're here for their benefit.

Congressman. What congressman truly is going to sacrifice their well-being for you, knowing, listen, I'm going to lose money during this, but it's good to let people know it's for them and they will rationalize why. [...] They do not have your interests at heart. They have the lining of their pockets in heart. It's just the fact we have to accept.

So we accept authority. And we accept it for two reasons, laziness. It's easier to let somebody else think for you. Especially authority. And fear. And what's the fear? The fear of thinking incorrectly. That's the greatest fear that people have. Making a wrong decision or wrong choice. And we make that decision ourselves.

Who is it who has to bear the burden of responsibility. Ourselves. But if we let somebody else do it for us, the government, the mayor, your boss, anybody but you. Then if it's a bad decision, you're perfectly protected. It's that person that bears responsibility. So these two things combined keep people in a box and that box has extraordinarily narrow limits to it.

Q: It seems like so much of your life is about getting out of the box, John.

JM: Well, of course it is. If I don't want to be a habituated individual that thinks other people's thoughts and beliefs, other people's beliefs, I want to see life for myself. And you can't do that inside the box because life is outside the box, people. So when I was in my 20s, I realized, you know, my entire life has been what my parents taught me to do, what my teachers taught me to do, what the police said I should do, what the government said I should do, what college said I should do. Well, enough of this crap. I go on to think for myself. When I did so... Woah, the world opened up.

But let me tell you, you better be prepared for what comes. Because it's not always comfortable and it is always completely unknown and completely unpredictable and sometimes frightening and sometimes painful. [...] But if you don't want to go to jail, if you don't want people to want to kill you, if you don't want to have to run from governments, then stay in your box, people, because that may not happen to you. But something equally as bizarre and frightening. Well. This is what it is, this is what you're risking. Get out of the box. You're going know new world. It's been there your whole life, people, your entire life. That world is running in parallel with you. And it's been beckoning you - come out and play, come out and play. I promise you will survive it. I'm 74 and I have survived. 52 years. And I would not change a single second of this. I would not change my jail time. I would not change hiding in the jungles of the least while bullets were flying over my head. I would not change a single thing.

It's then worth hearing the next McAfee story of messing with a Wired journo.

Some of the comments are fun too.

Humanity needs more crazy wisdom masters - even if only 0.1% are inspired.