Chapter Preview: THE MÄNNERBUND
Chapter Preview: THE MÄNNERBUND
Important shipping information + October book update
Hey everyone,
Great progress is being made with The Bushido of Bitcoin. I have a few updates and an excerpt from one of the most important sections of the book: The Männerbund.
We’re looking to have the book finalized and ready for print by the end of the month. Once I have more confidence in the typesetters' progress, I will give you all a more firm date.
Reminder: We will continue to send all future updates on the book here, so stay tuned.
Book Update: October
Since my last update, I’ve finalized all of the copy and content of the book and started working with our typesetters. I want this book to look and feel like a work of art you can hold, and typesetting is how we do that. We’ve got dozens of custom graphics, calligraphy & kanji, and brilliant formatting coming together.
The timelines for delivery, are still on track for the following dates:
Mid-Late November 2024 for Digital, Paperback, & Standard Hardcover.
December 2024 for Audiobook and Signed Hardcovers.
Early 2025 for Leatherbound Limited Edition.
We’re going to get printing and distribution started as soon as we can, and to that note, I have a really important announcement for all Geyser Fund Supporters:
🚨 Geyser Supporters 🚨
For any supporters of the Bushido of Bitcoin via Geyser: There are a few extra steps we need to take because Geyser does not support variable shipping like Kickstarter did!
This includes two things:
Confirming your delivery address.
Completing payment for shipping
We are working on a super simple way to do this, with a form and link to BTCPay Server. We’re also making sure we get the cheapest possible shipping quotes, so expect something between $5-$10 in most cases (unless you’re in some distant land).
You will receive a direct email from me in the next 7-14 days to coordinate this.
Social 2.0
As some of you may know, I’ve been busy building Satlantis. Which is basically a Social Network for Sovereign Individuals.
I’m a big fan of “building in public” and I’d like to document our journey in building Satlantis. So I’m taking my old “Authentic Intelligence” Substack and repurposing it as Social 2.0. I’ll use it to share thoughts, insights, triumphs and challenges on this more entrepreneurial journey, and cover what it’s like to actually BUILD at the cutting edge of not only emerging technologies, but of an emerging new way of life.
If that interests you, I’d encourage you to subscribe to Social 2.0. You can also read the first post made there, here.
Free Chapter Preview
As promised, below is another unreleased chapter from the Bushido of Bitcoin. Enjoy!
The Männerbund
The männerbund, literally translated to “Alliance of Men”, is the kind of association, group or brotherhood that all men seek to build, foster and operate within. It’s a deep drive within us, and can manifest in both the most constructive and destructive ways.
Modern society has conspired to disband such associations with labels of toxicity and extremism. Having swung so far toward the individualist side of the spectrum (libertarianism is also to blame for this), any group of men working toward a common goal - whether of substance or not - is seen as suspicious. As a result, men either suppress this natural instinct and become isolated or, because they’re just deemed evil by default, they lean into it, forming street gangs and the like. Society quickly discovers that you cannot eliminate the männerbund: all you can do is create an environment in which there are less incentives to be a strong, honorable, virtuous or heroic band of brothers. Where there were once prides of lions, there only remain lapdogs and packs of hyenas.
Technology amplifies things here again, and also transforms them. It has distanced us from each other while, paradoxically, simultaneously connects us to others at opposite ends of the world with like values . Couple that with a politics that has surrounded you with sheeple and mindless NPCs all too willing to comply while screeching at you for the act of breathing oxygen, and it’s no wonder you feel isolated in your own physical domain, and go online to seek that connection.
Even the modern army is no refuge from this divide and conquer-like mind virus. You can see it both in the incredible drop in enlistment and in the kinds of people now enlisting. These organizations are merely the hired enforcers of a state apparatus which neither honors them, nor fights for honor anymore. The institutions of war have become devoid of all virtue and morality. Respect, honor, and duty come a distant second to blind compliance. If you are a part of one, I suggest you think deeply about what kind of world you want to see, and what you’re doing to either make that a reality, or not. We’re in a fight for the soul of man, and we need all the best men possible.
If you’re not in that environment, and you find yourself alone, frustrated or perpetually online, then it’s time to venture out and literally construct this in real life: get off Twitter and go to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu dojo; go hunting or camping with a group of men and build a bond; take it upon yourselves to build an all-male bar, or an all-male fight gym; go build a business, or a house together. Get physical. Do something dangerous. Use technology where applicable to feed your mind and connect with like-valued men. These online connections can turn into offline tribes, but you have to move beyond the keyboard.
Find each other again, literally and metaphorically. Build an alliance of men to protect your women, your families and your tribe. Use this alliance to strengthen each other and hold each other accountable. Develop rites of passage together. Learn from the ancients once more:
“When they were boys, Alexander and his friends were forced to bathe in frigid rivers, run barefoot till their soles grew as thick as leather, ride all day without food or water and endure whippings and ritual humiliations. On the rare occasions when they got to rest, their trainers would remind them, ‘While you lie here at ease, the sons of the Persians are training to defeat you in battle.’”
— Steven Pressfield, The Warrior Ethos
Your band of brothers should be selected carefully. They are not merely those whom you’ve known the longest, and also not only those who are nice to you; in fact, beware of the latter, for a true friend will call you out when you’re not living up to your potential. Your truest friends in that sense are those who might come off as assholes, because they’re unwilling to waver or to watch you violate your own standards. Just being in their presence is like a rite of passage. They are your reminder to wage war on vice, as you are theirs.
“Those who want the best for you are by definition those who demand the best from you. These are your true friends. These are your community. These are the Remnant. In order to be among them, you must be the best and most honest version of yourself. There is no greater aspiration in life.”
— Aleksandar Svetski, The Remnant Essays
Your truest friends are the ones who would shed blood for you, and you for them; they are the ones whom you can train with, whose family you would guard and in whose care you would feel safe leaving your family should something happen to you; they are those you practice and sharpen your wits with.
Find them, and deepen your bonds. To do this, you must filter. You must create layers and levels. To become one of the brotherhood, initiates must endure ordeals; they must prove themselves and work for it. Recall my earlier comments about Saint Benedict and Fight Club. A brotherhood is a meritocracy and an aretocracy. For men to feel alive, they must earn their stripes. There are no participation awards in real life, and if you want excellence, you must build it into your micro-culture.
This is how you raise each other up, and I’m not sure there is anything more fierce or powerful in the world than a group of virtuous men with a common vision and the highest of standards. Like Alexander and his Royal Guard: a handful of men together on foot and on horseback reshaped half the known world in the span of a decade.
If this book serves only to inspire the formation of a few such groups, then my work here is half done. The other half will consist in meeting you out there in person.
The Nostr Booth
Last but not least!
If you’re a Nostr supporter, and a Bitcoiner - I’d like to call your attention to an incredible initiative that I’ve supported both personally and via Satlantis.
I do think Nostr is the leading candidate for a social and identity protocol for the internet. If we can help spread the word, it has a strong chance of winning in the coming years and reaching critical mass.
There are three major conferences coming up in Latin America. There’s an initiative to get a Nostr presence at each of these, along with full satellite days after the event for teaching and onboarding people to Nostr.
It’s by far the most compelling initiative I have seen and she's raising some funds for it now (she’s just over half way). I've thrown $500 at it, but being Bitcoin/Geyser, you can throw anything from $1 in or whatever you want. Most people are chucking $9, $21, $49 or $100.
Would be great if y ou are reading this and can either help give it more visibility or donate a small amount. Every Sat goes a LONG way toward activating Nostr more.. Just 50 of you with $20 would cover $1k, which is the cost of the full day satellite events in one city. Thank you in advance for your support!
Aleksandar Svetski
Pre-order the book here: https://geyser.fund/project/bushidoofbitcoin
Get a free introductory chapter here: BushidoOfBitcoin.com
Follow my work here: Linktree.com/Svetski
Find me on Nostr here: Primal.net/Svetski
Find me on X here: http://x.com/svetskiwrites/