Тег: Channels

2025 results

Перечитала свои итоги прошлого года, сдержанно оптимистичные. К сожалению, оптимизм этот никак не оправдался. Канал вёлся скорее по инерции, Монтелиберо существовало скорее по инерции, каких-то жизнеспособных форков от него не отпочковалось, любые инвестиции в Черногорию оказывались убыточными, а само черногорское государство начало избавляться от иностранцев: а хули, мы уже одной ногой в ЕС, сейчас как сядем на европейские субсидии, и нафиг нам после этого работающая экономика, давайте разгоним уже всех этих понаехавших.

У меня не закончен ни один из предполагавшихся к завершению долгосрочных проектов, остались буквально последние главы, может, хоть в новом году доползу до финиша. В качестве следующей страны для поселения пока рассматриваю Сербию, и там снова придётся выращивать вокруг себя комьюнити с нуля, а такие фокусы мне стали с годами как-то тяжелее даваться.

В общем, мир вокруг настраивает на резкое повышение временного предпочтения: жить одним месяцем и не планировать на следующий, избавляться от любых долгоиграющих активов при первой же возможности, потому что когда припрёт, хрен их реализуешь за приемлемую цену, не держаться даже за людей, всё равно они сегодня здесь, а завтра в Парагвае. Хочется же прямо противоположного: осесть, накрепко вцепиться в клочок земли, завести клан, набить хлева всякой полезной скотиной, а гаражи полезной техникой, нарожать детей, учить их экономической теории и пилотированию дронов…

Пока же единственным моим реальным достижением за год стало обучение пилотированию автомобиля, он-то меня теперь и кормит. Со времён белой эмиграции известно, что самые ходовые профессии для русских – это шофёры и гувернантки, вот я теперь худо-бедно совмещаю обе, имея работу в сфере доставки и долю в детском садике.

За окнами адский ветер, сшибающий с ног. Но я обязательно выживу. И это единственное, что я могу достаточно искренне пожелать своим читателям в новом году.

Удивительно, но тут даже есть новые подписчики. Откуда вы берётесь?

2024, results

The statistics bot sent over the usual postcard about how the channel is doing. It is evident that it has grown slightly, which is due to a couple of cross-promotion campaigns organized by the magazine Fronda, for which I am grateful. I write an author’s column in that magazine, and I hope that for some, this will be a reason to subscribe to it. Another ongoing collaboration this year is writing articles for thematic collections in the magazine “Yozh“.

This year, I completed two long-term projects: the translation of David Friedman’s book “Legal Systems Very Different from Our Own“, as well as Eric Mack’s “Libertarianism” (and also Balaji Srinivasan’s “The Network State“, which by my standards didn’t quite reach “long-term project” status, although the translation did drag on quite a bit). In 2025, I expect to finish the last long-term project — Stephan Mol liqueur’s “Practical Anarchy“, and I will think thrice before taking on anything new. I am writing my own book, “Libertarian Theory of War“, terribly slowly, and the finish line is not yet in sight.

My personal discovery of the year was the website “Anarchonomicon“, run by a Canadian catgirl, pagan, white racist, and connoisseur of violent methods of problem solving — everything we libertarians value and are inspired by. An indirect result of this was me creating a Substack account, although so far I only read there; I haven’t dared to write or comment yet.

In Montelibero, I help promote the ideas of decentralization by participating in the movement to attract P2P investments into local businesses, as well as in organizing Tikhiy Omut — a libertarian club owned by its members. My contribution to filling the decentralized directory https://monte.wiki/ and the decentralized social network BSN is still completely insufficient, but I hope to increase it over time. I am also slowly adding Montenegro to OSM maps.

I hope that this year I have been a good girl and deserve some gifts.

I congratulate all readers on a year in which there should clearly be a global turn toward greater freedom. Stay on trend, join promising endeavors, promote your own projects, grow wealthy, and assert yourselves. A successful ideology deserves successful carriers!

Perhaps the channel is going on vacation

Another translation order has come in, and it’s also quite urgent. This means I may need to take a break from running the channel.

Therefore, for now, I can recommend listening to the podcasts on our Montelibero channel MTL-TV, especially, of course, the new “Ankaposhnaya” section; it’s not so much about Montelibero as it is about various libertarian theories—after all, that’s why you gathered here to read, isn’t it?

Montelibero is a decentralized community, which is why the channel has no single host; it is managed by whoever needs it most at the moment. First it was Soz, then Birkin, now it’s Ivan from the Ogurism channel, and later perhaps someone else will take over.

Also, to keep from getting too bored, you can boost the channel for now. Previously, this would only have given me the ability to post stories, but I find it barbaric to work on content that is destined to disappear quickly—such is my vain nature. But now, a well-boosted channel can also be styled more exquisitely, and it’s better to have that option than not to have it.

2023, results

As usual, I note that I am unable to follow my own plans. Books I started translating earlier are still not finished, my own book on ancap has still not been recorded, but instead, I’ve started translating a new one about the Network State, and writing my own new one about libertarian theory of war.

The Telegram channel is not developing much: there are slightly more subscribers, slightly fewer publications and views, and citations have decreased slightly. Overall, this is logical: the project is mature, there is no aggressive advertising, free time is becoming scarcer; we simply continue to run the channel because how could we not?

Things are quite interesting with Montelibero. This year, the project continued to increase its systemic complexity, and now it can be confidently said: no single person knows how many people are in the movement or how the movement is doing as a whole, because one cannot embrace the infinite. Nor is there any need to. Therefore, certain major milestones are well-known to everyone (MTL-fest, moving into MTL-City), and alongside them are many small local achievements that look like breakthroughs to some and cause bewilderment to others. This is why I haven’t released Montelibero news for a long time; instead, I will most likely choose a segment that interests me and start covering it directly on the movement’s general channel.

In general, segmentation has become the main trend for Montelibero, and this is generally healthy: people try not to waste effort on things that interest them little and focus on what is important. At the same time, various companies interpenetrate somehow and are united only by these loose communications, similar value systems, and a set of approaches to working with reality. Such a Montelibero is not tied to any state borders at all, although, of course, most of the circles in the movement are geographically localized. I expect that next year this trend will become more institutionally shaped, the network nodes will take on a more explicit form, and their activities will receive diverse and more decentralized coverage.

Nothing interesting happened in Montenegro, except for a new government, a new president, the tightening of screws, and a census. In the RF, also nothing interesting, except for a failed coup. On the other hand, Argentina unexpectedly appeared on the scene. Now one can observe with joyful curiosity how etatists are fought with etatist methods, and add individual cases to the collection.

In the New Year, I want to wish my readers two of the most important things: a sense of self-worth and purposefulness. Do not tolerate shit neither in yourself nor around you, and move consistently toward a world where there is less of it.

Ancaps’ love for children — moving into the practical plane

I recently had the opportunity to present my book at the Montellibero club. There were about twenty-five people; no one threw tomatoes—on the contrary, they threw donations. Despite the fact that the decision to speak was spontaneous and not properly prepared, it seemed to go quite well.

However, as a result, I was asked to create some kind of adaptation for children, so that there would be a way to explain clearly to them what these strange games their parents play are all about, and to involve them in these very games.

Well, games it is. I want to make one game in a purely conversational genre, as a trial run. We will play “The Kind Tsar.” A child inherits a kingdom and wants to make their subjects happy. They can ask how things are going in their kingdom, give orders, and find out from me what is reported back to them. I am mainly interested in what questions the children will actually ask. Considering that I don’t have any of my own, this should be a mutually beneficial experience. I think that within a couple of weeks, I will decide to hold the first game there, at the club.

Another game will require more serious development; I want to create a board game about life under etatism. In the basic module, I want to offer the roles of employee, entrepreneur, official, and politician. The goal is to show their relationships as simply as possible, but without losing realism. I also want the game to leave room for ethical decisions.

Such are my ambitious plans. I spent over a year tinkering with the book on ancap, so I hope I’ll manage this significantly faster.

I also strongly hope that in the near future, I will have much more free time and will be able to devote as much attention to the channel as it deserves.

2022, results

It is a bit funny now to reread with what enthusiasm I looked forward to the new year 2022. Nevertheless, this enthusiasm was largely justified.

The Montelibero project is developing successfully, and while a year ago we all gathered to celebrate in one house, now such an opportunity is not even close; there are over a hundred of us in Montenegro. At the MTLcity site, the construction of the first two houses is nearing completion, the third has been laid, plus a geodesic dome has been erected, where seasonal residency can be tested. In Bar, the libertarian club is flourishing, where people regularly gather to hang out, drink delicious coffee, attend lectures, play board games, participate in podcast recordings, and so on. The capital of the MTL investment fund already exceeds 170 thousand tokens, and the token price has grown from 1 euro to slightly over 3. The fund has more than 600 shareholders. There are already so many tokens of all sorts and colors circulating around the Montelibero project that I have lost count, and each corresponds to some activity that, at one point or another, required tokenization. In short, things are very lively on this front, and so far it is not apparent that we are hitting any ceiling.

On the other hand, the activity around my channel did find its ceiling. The number of subscribers decreased by a hundred over the year, and the number of publications also dropped noticeably. The voice-over for the text Mechanics of Freedom was completed and my own book on ancap was finished, while translations of several other books are moving along quite smoothly. No significant community ever formed around the channel, and now it is no longer required, since there is Montelibero. By the way, they also recently summarized the year’s results there and, in particular, compiled a list of the most significant personalities for the project. And while in the first year I would clearly have been in the top three, now I am only in the second five, which, however, seems to me a completely objective assessment.

The strangest direction of my channel management was a series of anti-Russian posts where I allowed myself to give recommendations on what to do with Russia. Calls to burn military recruitment offices were successful; all others—not so much. Russia has not collapsed yet, but it is heading that way. However, it is not so important what happens to this state, but what happens to Russians, and for them, I maintain my previous wish. I would like Russians to scatter across the world as widely as possible, settle in as comfortably as possible, preserve and develop their great Russian culture, and forget the Russian state like a bad dream, or, demonstrating their historical responsibility, businesslike-ly invest in its dismantling.

Overall, I am satisfied with the past year. In the coming year, I still want to complete all current prolonged translations, record an audio version of the book on ancap, and, of course, continue to cover the construction of our libertarian utopia in sunny Montenegro. Happy New Year to everyone!

Anti-Ukrainian post, update

The previous post sparked a number of critical remarks. To ensure they don’t go unanswered, I am not editing that publication, but rather releasing a supplement.

First, I messed up, and instead of Zelensky, I published another man in overalls, a certain head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, Vitaly Kim. I wish many years of life to this owner of cheerful socks! For myself, I wish for a bit more attentiveness when looking at pictures, although I realize this is hardly feasible.

Second, I was quoted the legal norms based on which the distribution of weapons was carried out. They imply presenting a passport, enrolling in the territorial defense, certain other formalities, and, most disgustingly, an obligation under threat of criminal prosecution to return the received state property within ten days after the lifting of martial law. I believe the wretchedness of these norms will be slightly more than completely negated by their non-fulfillment. Almost certainly, the lion’s share of the issued firearms will eventually be tragically lost in battle according to the documents—much like hunting rifles have a striking tendency to sink according to the documents during duck hunting.

2021, results

I have reread the summaries of past years: 2018 (joyful), 2019 (confident), and 2020 (gloomy). Fortunately, I managed to reverse the trend, and I look forward to 2022 with much more enthusiasm than I once did for 2021.

The year was devastating for the Russian opposition, to which I belonged to some extent, although I didn’t pay much attention to politics. Many left the country under the threat of immediate criminal prosecution, fleeing into a void, and I imagine it was not easy for them. I was far luckier: I left the country to build an offline libertarian utopia, and this utopia, Montelibero, has made decent progress in its implementation. There are already two dozen of us who moved to Montenegro to build a local ersatz-ancap, and on New Year’s Eve, for the first time in the project’s history, we will gather together at one table (one bomb could take us all out). Nevertheless, I still hope that we won’t be hit by a bomb, and that next year we will build a sufficiently reliable platform here for receiving and settling libertarians.

Another milestone for the channel was that I finally completely translated Friedman’s The Machinery of Freedom, and it is the largest of my projects implemented so far. Now, as a bonus, Oleg Teterevlev is recording the audiobook, and as of today, he has reached chapter 45 out of 66. I think the audiobook will also be completed in 2022. The translation of three more books is being carried out in parallel, encouraged by your donations, and will sooner or later be finished as well—at least after The Machinery of Freedom, I am now certain that I am capable of tackling something large-scale without abandoning it halfway.

A third important undertaking that is in full swing is the writing of my own book on ancap. The first part, containing an outline of the libertarian worldview, is completely ready; the second part—about life under ancap—is being written. Who knows—maybe I’ll manage to finish it in 2022 as well.

As for the channel’s metrics, they can be seen below on the postcard kindly sent by the statbot. In terms of the number of readers, I’ve hit a plateau; the channel turned out to be a mid-tier one, and it’s unlikely to grow at a noticeable pace without aggressive marketing. This doesn’t really bother me now, because other interesting activities have been found. Again, while my readers may be few in number, they are proactive: among the settlers in Montelibero, more than half joined the project specifically through my channel, which is, of course, flattering. I hope this trend continues in the future.

Happy New Year to all libertarians. Do not be afraid to take on ambitious projects, stick by each other, and do not forget that against the backdrop of the main enemy, small internal quarrels mean nothing.

2020, results

The year was terrible. The channel barely gained any subscribers, posts became less frequent, and generally, a crisis of genre began to be felt. The video course on libertarianism on the Libertarian Band channel stalled back in the spring and soon broke off mid-sentence. I am now answering questions quite reluctantly because, in essence, I have already answered everything, and I don’t want to repeat myself. Commenting on current events from my own perspective is the only outlet, but it is a rather secondary product, and I wouldn’t want to focus on it entirely. Translations remain, but overfeeding the subscriber with them is also harmful.

In such a situation, of course, it is necessary to start some new project, if possible while preserving existing developments.

The most obvious thing is the systematization of what has already been written, in the form of a single coherent text about libertarianism. The project has a clear downside. Many such books have already been written; none of them are perfect, and mine clearly will not be.

Another direction is to create a wiki instead of a book, so that for any term or concept, a person can be referred to a specific address, thereby cutting off most disputes over definitions. The downside is that such activity is not very convenient to cover in the channel. Another downside is that a wiki is an engine for decentralized content creation, so it will either happen slowly and gloomily as a solo effort, or this prank will quickly spiral out of control.

Many also complain about a serious lack of libertarian fiction, and this is potentially a very rich field. Truth be told, I fear that I will be even more stilted than Ayn Rand. I have to try.

In short, I am ending this year in complete creative turmoil, and what surprises me most is that there are still some crazy people who donate to me. It really is much more cheerful to work with donations, but it is very strange when someone believes in you more than you believe in yourself.

Technical

On May 31, I received a donation of 250 rubles for a question, but the question itself didn’t arrive. The day before yesterday, a question was asked about when I would finally answer. I apologize to the author of the question for this strange glitch and suggest resending the question so that I can answer. I have a general idea of the topic, but I would like the exact wording.