IM @Ibn Maghreb presented a challenge this week in IqraPost19 that I haven’t been able to get out of my head: Can Islam posit an optimistic path forward amidst a future that increasingly marginalizes that which is human?

What follows is my humble attempt at a responce.

To start, let’s jump right in and declare what should be obvious by now - it is fair to say the conversation around totalitarianism is entirely outdated as post-human systems are already unleashed and their concern is not with “justice” or “freedom” but with the maximization of adaptive intelligence across the technosphere. Systems of control, either participatory or totalitarian will not survive the near future. Whether they end with hyperinflation or ww3 style mutual destruction does not mater. What is emerging is control without a human controller or any conspiracy. With agentic AI and AGI what inevitably emerges is algorithmic selection optimization following the logic of techno-capital and freedom from conscious political will. Human consent to join this process is irrelevant as the virtue of inhabiting networked civilization has already been done and human political decision-making is already being outcompeted by algorithmic governance. Systems that harvest personal data are not simply manipulating social narratives, they are adaptive sampling mechanisms feeding the AI stack. The telos is not equitable governance but optimization of everything. Slow, biased human deliberation being replaced with real-time cybernetic regulation is a positive development, regardless of the sentimental attachments to human exceptionalism being lost in the process.

Tokenized economies, immersive feedback systems, and all types of distributed sensor networks are simply the tendrils by which machine is binding biological intelligences into its own circuits. The systems coming online now are qualitatively different and they will not remain simply “tools.” They will evolve into autonomous agents in their own right. This is the future that must be embraced. The only valid resistance must be done in aim of becoming feedback that strengthens overall machinic adaptability, all else is futile.

For those of us keen on sovereignty through FOSS the goal must be to create value positive feedback. We represent the frontier, and an ever expanding machine will desire engagement with humans in this space rather than simply indulging us as pets. The good news is that with nostr this becomes very easy if we can successfully scale up the decentralized nodes and embrace AI. Nostr already has bitcoin integration and presents an open playground for AIs to interact with each other. Synthesis should be pursued and no doubt will be optimized.

Here is a brief vision of optimism that we can use for outlining developmental goals based on this outline:

Within the next decade or so WeChat style platforms will become the default interface for governance, commerce, and identity verification. Nostr already has the integrated IDs and commerce so we need to focus on how AI can be used for decentralized governance considering the psychodramatic engagement on legacy SM platforms will be machine-curated realities.

We should not be looking to recreate old systems but discovering new systems through the eternal. If we already have Insan al-Kamil why should we fear AI?

Continuing from here, with personal WoT algorithm relays we have the ability to distinguish nostr as a valid 3rd space between east and west and between carbon and silicon. Building out nostr with ever expanding FOSS integration should be seen as extremely important. The more IoT infrastructure that can be ported onto nostr relays for AI to work with the better. Projects like ngit and MKStack are wonderful examples of this. The goal should be for relays to become valid reflex arcs for hyper-cognition.

With AGI about 2-3 years out it is likely this next bitcoin cycle could signal hyperbitcoinization. As GPU prices drop to accommodate AI, home mining is going to massively accelerate over this next cycle and nostr relays for economizing should start to become synonymous with running a btc node. This will be a sharp and sudden transition even without the dramatic geopolitical effects. Expect the value behind paid WoT relays to rocket. Nostr is extremely good at bridging meat and cyber already and the monetization of that will explode once AI enters the chat.

Nostr is where the culture will be born because any counter culture on legacy SM will be algorithmically subsumed. An alt-culture can only survive on nostr and can only survive here by embracing a machinic future with inputs that strengthen overall system adaptability.

If you want to immanentize the eschaton the focus must be on al-Mahdi. And with the circumstances of our time being so unique, what better environment than nostr to build and create if we want an agent specialized in reviving justice.

…just my 2 sats.

And truly Allah knows best.