Web3 and Lexit

(This deserves to be a longer post, but I don’t have the political knowledge to do it justice. So I’ll present it here as a throwaway thought and leave it to the theorists to tell me if I’m onto something.)

I can’t help seeing parallels between leftists embracing web3 and leftists who embraced Brexit (aka the ‘Lexit’ crowd). Sure, I can see the purist theoretical appeal, how there might be a better world ahead if certain steps unfold a certain way. But you’re also putting yourself on the same side as some dreadful people who hold antithetical visions for the future. If you can’t subsequently dispossess them of power – or at least compete for your vision to prevail instead – you’ve contributed to a dystopia.

In other words, ‘I’m into web3 because together we can topple the hegemony of Big Tech’ and ‘I’m into web3 because I can make shit-tons of untraceable, untaxable profit’ are going to come into direct conflict, and my money’s on the latter winning out, because money usually does.

I see this as a big problem for Universal Basic Income too. I’m deeply sympathetic to UBI, but I also recognise many libertarians also love it, but only because they see it as a way to scrap other welfare, means testing, etc.

It’s a high, high risk strategy to pursue the same means as people who want opposing ends.