PEER Summit 2020 Manifesto, Delivered January 10th, 2020

So here you are, building something in crypto

You think they’ve had the keys for way too long
you want to refi
with some defi,
and show ‘em where they’re wrong

You want to meet in Decentral Park
and set the new paradigm kindling
next to the flame
and see what takes the spark

We will admire the orchids
and decide between a handshake and a butterfly
We can architect a more respectful entire system,
not just what money people use when they buy

We can figure out how to pay for those yummy little digital morsels
that cost just cents
So we don’t sacrifice our cultural integrity
and honest elections

Maybe we read from your book of stability unless of course you prefer the ride
But either way, it’s a time to put our hands together instead of taking sides

We are in search of the light, right?
Streaming through those panes
Where they sing hallelujah,
let prosperity rain!

Not the FOMO
and the FUD,
the pumpers,
the test net run

I mean that placid sea of liberty when all that circus is done

When the central bank becomes a piece of code
On a node, on a node, on a node
(it’s just nodes all the way down)

Working, cracking backs,
laying rails through a desert dawn til night
That’s how we once got to make a living,
Put that down and drop a spike

Blasting through dense Sierra granite covered in 20 ft of snow
To let the goods from one man’s hand
to another man’s flow
Blasting at a pace sometimes measured in inches in a day
To let a person move with ease from Coast to California

For some, a whole life’s work to move a train from east to west
A whole life’s work to put unfettered commerce to the test

Sleep next to them that night, next to embers still aglow.
Were they idealistic?
were they excited?
or was it just a job yo?!

The seismic impact in a nation for a century, did they know?
Free his best,
let him work,
let her create,
let it all grow!

But the rails, the old ones, belong to just a few laughing gayly while their fortune mounts

And doesn’t it seem where power ends a new desire quickly pouts?

In fits and starts and then full fledge let me out!
this is mine,
that one too,
pay up
or find another route

That’s power in the hands of a few
it’s a story centuries old
It’s the cathedral offering redemption if you only fit the mold
The curtains always down, the safe is locked, the vault admits a few
Closed door meetings to decide
if the economy should grow by one point or two

This time we want to build a rail to last century and spread the keys out
That is of course, once we have had a drink or two from the early mine and founder stake spout

My friend who talks about startups says it’s all about f(x)+a=y
In short start ups are beastly demons
so you have to know the why
You can change out all the how and what variables
but you have to know the why
You gotta know the damn you are giving, because it's hard and it hurts
so you gotta know the why

Maybe it’s just that you think they’ve had the keys for way too long
So you want to refi
with some defi,
show ‘em where they’re wrong
Or they don’t get that money is just debt,
a ledger of who owes who,
No money is just made up man!
it’s an idea propping up his war with him and you

By now you’re thinking this guy is a libertarian
At a crypto event? Come on...

That I want robotic public servants who cannot be grafted or cajoled
Tar them and feather them
but they’ll just give the answer that is,
not the one they’re told

But that is not quite true,

I don’t care about political parties and neither should you

There was no donkey or elephant on the hubcap of the model T
No political party box to check in your body
before it works, a penicillin chemical remedy

rent seeking is not red or blue,
it’s just pocket filling middle men
Taking a sliver here and lick there, of that handful he’ll take ten

The planet is bleeding,
so much talent and
so many resources are wasted,
And these tools have poured gasoline on idealism that we have now all tasted

If one of our companies ever made a breakthrough,
I wouldn’t worry about someone stealing our secrets and our methods as much as

I worried about them just knowing
that we’d done it
before we wanted the world to know

Because knowing it’s possible is sometimes enough

Sometimes that’s all we need

Because we’re humans
and humans with hope,
desire and ingenuity
can pull a train out of ground
and send it sea to sea

because just knowing it can be done
is enough
Sometimes it’s enough

And it’s just our duty
as human beings,
with beating hearts
and able hands
To do our best for each other,
do our best with this land

There’s an aspect of biological evolution called punctuated equilibrium.

That change is strong and sudden between decades or millennia of monotony and tedium

I’ll block it down further for you and taleb would agree that change is inevitable
And the unexpected is guaranteed

So I do not know what’s coming but it is indeed
And I want, as you do,
the best possible future
for the great inclusive we

Do you know where transcontinental railways finally met?
There’s a golden spike straight down that canyon, where the last track was set

And now, right now, like no time before
we are in the antechamber
of the grand ball

There’s a chance to build
something real,
something strong
for us all

So I do not care if you are new or OG,
about your politics
or your why

Because cosmic possibility is afoot
so it’s up to us to try and try and try

So grab that hammer,
I will hold it here with you

Swing that hammer,
and we’ll drive that spike through

Swing that hammer,
and we will sing a song anew

That hallelujah!
Let prosperity rain
for the time for light is due!

Putting down that joining golden spike
is a journey I honorably take
with all of you

Jared Hutchings
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PEER Summit is dedicated to making the world a better place through community, collaboration, and crypto. Peersummit.co