Oddbean

Let's start with the question. What is a “real" identity? First impression: You seem to live in a country where you never encountered the power of the state yourself. Heretic views will always be edgy until they slowly enter the sphere of collective consciousness and only then get accepted as obvious. For ideas it really doesn't matter where they originate and eminate as long as they can freely propagate and resonate. I guess there is room for both. Even at the same time. No one is hindering you in entertaining multiple identities that serve different purposes.

There are deep philosophical questions around the concept of identity, but in this case everyone knows what we’re talking about. I was attacked pretty hard in my industry and job for my views during covid. But I also had a lot of people tell me what I posted was helpful to them. Not just the ideas which were out there, but someone credible they knew standing behind them and taking heat for them. So I agree ideas are the most important things, but ideas with someone willing to stand up for them are more likely to propagate. And if you really care about growing NOSTR, I think more people will need to ID themselves as being there.

I guess both approaches can be powerful in their own ways. If I would encourage one thing it is awareness of the upsides and downsides to each approach. Combine the upsides of both in a healthy way without linking those identities. Don't hide your real life identity out of fear, but also recognise the benefits of a focussed discussion and exploration of a topic that becomes possible when we detach ourselves from any identity. Also I am really glad that most Monero devs are anonymous. It reduces the attack vector as code is the only thing that remains to discuss.

Yeah, as I wrote in the article, there are people for whom and situations for which anonymity is necessary. But it should not be the default for sharing your views in the public square. It’s like everyone went to the public square in masks because no one could deal with disagreements.