Agorism Hackers Study Guide

During the 90s, the crypto-anarchists sought to apply the emerging technology of cryptography to create online zones which contain the seed of resistance in their code. Cryptocurrency descends from that lineage, and lies at the intersection of economics, politics and technology.

The agorists were a community who believed in leveraging economic power to create free and democratic parallel societies. We define revolution as a transformation in the moral and political fabric of society. By leveraging crypto technology, we can create free online zones.

Money takes money forms, whether cash, credit, loans or debt, and changes properties depending on location. Measures like interest rates and inflation obscure local differences. In fact the source of power lies in economic networks, and money is a unit of account between these networks. By understanding economics, we can use technological techniques to greatly influence the material and political worlds, encoding them with our values and philosophy.

Methodology

We critique the student-teacher relation, where a teacher dictates a course schedule to a student who has to learn the material.

Students are not self led, and instead become reliant on an instructor, instead of developing independently.
Creativity is supressed since students do not explore and engage with knowledge in a dialectic way.

In our system, we have a system of mentorship. Everybody engages in study and research inside the organization. Subjects are not separated from one another and we encourage people to read multiple subjects, but in a directed way. Our aim is to train leaders, and bring people up. Therefore they must possess:

Strategic knowledge to be able to make strong macro analysis and direct activity.
Strong skills to directly affect change themselves.

We emphasize a combination of both. As Marx said: ideas should not gather dust in books. We must put our ideas into action through practice. However blind undirected action is wasted effort. Therefore we seek to foster both aspects in participants.

With the mentorship system, whenever members are studying, they are self directed but under the influence of more senior mentors. If they get stuck, they can ask mentors for assistance to get past difficult concepts or discuss ideas to gain a better understanding. Learning through dialogue is encouraged since it creates stronger bonds and relations between people in the community.

Progression

Mandatory Initial Stage

Everybody in the organization must study philosophy and programming as essential skills. To start there are two objects of study:

"Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization" by Ocalan, is 3 separate books. You should complete at least 1 book for the initial stage, and then study the other two as you continue further into later stages.
"Project Based Python Programming" this will teach you Python programming which will be an essential skill for any branch you decide to continue onto.

Programming takes time and dedicated to become proficient at. Many people give up during the initial phase which can take more than a year. You have to push through it. Once you master programming, it becomes enjoyable and fun. Code is the medium of our organization, and we are hacker-artists.

Branches

All branches take roughly the same time to become highly proficient in, around 1-2 years, but even after 6 months, adherents can begin using their acquired knowledge in a practical way with small limited tasks. We actively encourage the combination of theory and practice to strengthen one another.

Token Scientist

Token engineering is a new emerging science. Tokens are a breakthrough in building online networks, since we have a means to engineer incentive mechanisms and encourage certain user behaviours.

DeFi protocols in crypto make extensive use of token engineering to design how liquidity flows in and out of networks, and is an important key part of leveraging crypto economic power.

To become proficient in this area requires study of economics, mathematics, and finance. It also makes heavy use of Python programming to build simulations and economic models.

"New Paradigm for Macroeconomics" by Werner. This book will take several months to study but is a strong basis for understanding economics.
1. Notes from the introduction to Werner's book.
2. Notes on 'Shifting from Central Planning to a Decentralized Economy
"Understanding Pure Mathematics". We have a full high school mathematics course. This can also be skipped if you already know maths well.
1. Continuing on with mathematics, you can learn more about stochastics, statistics, probability and analysis.
The DeFi and Token Engineering book.

Software Developer

Software developers create the end result software that others use. They take research and create a product from that research by applying the ideas. Developers can further be focused more on creating prototypes from research, or developing prototypes into polished final products.

To become a senior developer means learning about how the computer works on a deep level, and learning advanced programming skills. It takes time to fully master with a lot of early frustration but is eventually highly rewarding and creative. Developers are highly sought after and rare.

Learn from various materials about computer architecture, operating systems, and software architecture.
1. Books such as the history of UNIX or the mythical man month.
2. Articles by hintjens.com
Rust programming book
Install Arch Linux, learn to use the terminal

Cryptography Researcher

Cryptography researchers create the mathematics or repurpose existing algorithms to craft the weapons or implements of change that the developers use. They make use of advanced algebra to exploit the boundaries or hard limits set by the universe on reality to create cryptographic schemes that obey certain properties. They are in a sense reality hackers. They hack reality to create systems that obey objective properties due to the underlying mathematics. Needless to say, the advanced cryptographer is a good mathematician.

For cryptography, you will study "Abstract Algebra" by Pinter, and starting with simple cryptographic schemes gradually move towards learning more complex ones. You will prototype these schemes using a computer algebra system called SAGE.

Protocol Engineer

Good knowledge of computer science fundamentals as well as the ability to write code. There is also study of algebra but not to the same degree as for cryptography.

The protocol engineer is responsible for blockchain consensus algorithms, developing p2p networks, and other forms of distributed synchronization such as CRDTs. They establish the fundamentals for creating distributed applications and hardening the anti-censorship properties of crypto. They also harden networks against de-anonymization attempts through the use of encrypted mixnetworking and other techniques.

Protocol engineers have to possess a good knowledge about the theory behind distributed networks, as well as experience in how they work in practice. This topic is part theory, and part practical. They have a good grasp of algorithms and computer science theory.

Other

Alongside this study, continuing to study Ocalan is required. After finishing the Ocalan texts, you can then read Werner's book on economics, as well as Mumford or other philosophers.

Also engagement and familiarization with crypto is a must. Begin following this list and participating in crypto communities.

Starting

Download and install a simple Linux operating system to get started. Options can be Ubuntu or Manjaro Linux.
Watch Finematics videos.
Begin the initial stage listed above.
Follow the instructions on the Darkfi Book and run [ircd](Book https://darkrenaissance.github.io/darkfi/misc/ircd/ircd.html) to connect with the team.

The DarkFi Book