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Mike Brock

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Last Notes

2026-09-13 19:03:26 UTC

It would seem contra what a lot of campist morons said — that Ukraine was fighting a proxy war for the US and would stop the second the US stopped supporting it, has not borne out — proving the kinds of people who like Glenn Greenwald and Tulsi Gabbard are pretty stupid.

2026-09-03 21:40:38 UTC

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If you are still with Trump at this point — or after the deaths of Alex Pretty and Rene Good, for instance — you are moral lost cause. Our job is to tar and feather you for the rest of your life.

2026-09-03 18:13:02 UTC

The people who spend all day manufacturing moral panics about pronouns and library books are disallowed from lecturing anyone about "moral panics" over data centers. You do not get to invent the genre and then police its application. You are also bad, stupid people.

2026-09-03 14:01:53 UTC

Say his name. https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/a-twenty-year-old-is-dead-because

2026-09-02 19:52:39 UTC

Kind of funny that a lot of the people who complain about American imperialism in South America historically, fell for Trump's anti-neocon thing hook, line and sinker — and then he took over Venezuela and is now pillaging it. Looking at the Glenn Greenwald fans out there.

2026-07-12 12:43:38 UTC

I have no eulogy for Lindsey Graham, who has departed us. But I do have some things to say. They are not kind things. https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/no-eulogy

2026-07-07 13:28:52 UTC

On Platner and the right's fake morality. https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-great-gaslighting-of-america

2026-07-05 16:02:25 UTC

https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/a-more-powerful-president-over-a

2026-06-11 02:05:22 UTC

This is my theory of history. https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-longest-relay

2026-06-11 01:55:21 UTC

https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/more-perfect

2026-05-30 14:29:14 UTC

https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/i-endorse-tom-steyer-for-governor

2026-05-02 16:06:14 UTC

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You seem like a very stupid person.
#nevent1q…82g8

2026-04-19 23:29:46 UTC

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What are your politics, if I might ask?

2026-04-08 17:38:39 UTC

✅ Supposed human rights activist celebrates IGRC collecting extortionate toll payments in an international waterway that will be used to fund its brutal repression.
#nevent1q…eh42

2026-04-08 17:17:51 UTC

Ah, yes, see... the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is now adopting Bitcoin! This is it guys! The world will now see the beauty and potential of Bitcoin! A murderous regime that massacred 35,000 protesters in the streets in January has been orange-pilled! (corrected)

2026-04-08 17:12:27 UTC

Seeing some former friends literally giddy with excitement that Iran will be using Bitcoin for paying tolls for the Straight of Hormuz as some kind of validation of the goodness of Bitcoin is very special. It confirms my worries about their fascist sympathies.

2026-03-24 15:53:20 UTC

https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-plaque

2026-02-28 14:06:22 UTC

The insane gaslighting from people who said Kamala Harris would start wars, and Trump would start none, who now defend this, and argue it's constituional is something that nobody's public reputation in politics should be able to recover from. I'm sorry. I don't make the rules.

2026-02-28 13:13:08 UTC

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Ah yes, you think you’re so fucking smart. You see the world with such clarity, whereas I am just so stuck in my left-wing narrative bubble. You are just floating above fray in your little bitcoin world. So morally superior and so better informed than me.

2026-02-28 13:08:19 UTC

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You seem like a very stupid person.

2026-02-28 12:44:25 UTC

To the motherfuckers here who thought Kamala Harris was the neocon, I have nothing but a “fuck you” to say to you.

2026-01-28 16:46:28 UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ4lM9K7__w

2026-01-28 04:28:02 UTC

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Look, I’m not trying to brag or anything. But your attempt to rattle my confidence doesn’t work. I mean, TIME Magazine literally quoted and linked to my little couch that nobody cares today: https://time.com/7358089/ice-minneapolis-tech-open-letter/
The fact you would sit there and suggest that nobody is listening to me. When the truth is that my Substack is actually quite successful.
In fact, if Google Analytics is to be believed, Notes from the Circus is read by more people than all of Nostr every month. So please, keep playing this embarrassingly stupid status dominance game with me.

2026-01-28 03:25:00 UTC

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I assure you I do not need to touch grass. I feel very grounded, my good sir. Standing firmly, in fact.

2026-01-28 00:43:10 UTC

I’m glad you’re finding your peace. And I’m sorry that requires that you keep so much space between you and everyone else. Some prefer the solitary life. But this is not how one builds a civilization. It is how one leaves it.
#note137a…pxl5

2026-01-26 23:23:06 UTC

Delusions of grandeur.
#note1xdg…glxj

2026-01-26 23:13:48 UTC

Rothbard and Hoppe’s rebranding of fascism under anarcho-capitalism, and managing to convince others that it’s a form of “libertarianism” and the propensity of so-called libertarians to go along with that, and hang out with these people and call them friends and colleagues is so insane the more I think about it.
#note1mst…a7yr

2026-01-26 22:18:23 UTC

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https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-crisis-no-3

2026-01-25 00:39:00 UTC

There's children screaming in terror at one of the ICE detention camps in Texas. https://bsky.app/profile/iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social/post/3md7645iqgs2z

2026-01-24 21:12:09 UTC

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Fuck you, you fascist fuck.

2026-01-24 20:03:34 UTC

I love how casually welcomed fascism is among people involved in Bitcoin and Nostr. It’s something to see.
#note1f82…l47r

2026-01-24 19:56:35 UTC

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Well, the fascism looks good on you.

2026-01-24 19:54:02 UTC

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WHY THE FUCK ARE THERE 3000 ICE AGENTS ROVING MINNEAPOLIS?

2026-01-24 17:52:27 UTC

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Oh, is truth with all pretense stripped away, too much for little Steve’s sensibilities?
Come on guy’s, why so serious? It’s just a little fascism and Christian nationalism. Why so mad? I don’t understand!

2026-01-24 17:48:05 UTC

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What the fuck are you talking about? What point are you trying to make? You’re a crazy person. You’re nuts. Absolutely insane. Your head is not screwed on straight. It’s paranoid and delusional. And taken to reactionary propaganda. You’re lost. You’re being steered by demonic forces. ICE just shot another man dead in the street this morning in Minneapolis, and men like you defend. You justify.
Don’t fucking talk to me about “leftists”, you murderous scumbag.

2026-01-21 21:35:42 UTC

Every American should watch this and feel so fucking ashamed of themselves. https://www.facebook.com/reel/2864546573741969

2026-01-13 20:17:02 UTC

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I too, wish for you to be saved.

2026-01-13 16:37:34 UTC

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Why would I respect a man who celebrated Donald Trump to his dying breath? His propaganda for Trump is an unforgivable sin.

2026-01-13 16:26:28 UTC

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What a riposte! Wow. 👏

2026-01-13 16:25:01 UTC

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Sad he won’t live to see all his political heroes go to jail.

2026-01-12 17:47:16 UTC

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I am explicitly calling for peaceful resistance against illegality. My positions are consistent with the best traditions of the the US Constitution, and the Founding. When a government becomes corrupt and tyrannical, responsible citizens of that republic must protect the popular sovereignty, from which the government derives it's legitimacy.
I reject your right-wing reactionary attempts to brand me a violent person. I am not violent. You are. You are dangerous.

2026-01-12 17:40:06 UTC

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I have been very careful in how I frame things. I have been very clear in my writings, in my live monologues, in my social posts that I seek justice through peaceful means. If you can identify anywhere I have done otherwise, please point me to it, so that I may correct the record.

2026-01-12 17:33:13 UTC

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What am I saying that is extreme?

2026-01-12 16:03:27 UTC

https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/forrest-gump-and-americas-return

2026-01-12 13:37:36 UTC

Remember Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple gave Trump a giant block of 24k gold and praised him? I thought I'd just put that out there.

2026-01-12 04:22:53 UTC

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You think seriousness is being an asshole. And that’s your problem. Not mine. And not the rest of civilized society’s.

2026-01-12 04:17:11 UTC

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Arguing economic theory isn't for shitpoting, I’m afraid. The adults have work to do.

2026-01-12 04:03:42 UTC

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The "opposite" of Austrian economics? What the fuck does that even mean? Explain it to me like I’m twelve.

2026-01-12 03:58:35 UTC

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Wait, are you suggesting that you have something to teach me about intellectual honesty and productive discourse. Because if so, I’d like to hear more.

2026-01-12 03:53:56 UTC

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Oh wow, we got “TallBrian” over here. What is this? I’ll tell you what this is: this is what some philosophers and behavioral psychologists would refer to as an attempt at “status dominance”. You see, you have a set of axioms that you cling to so tightly, that are what you’re gesturing towards here with you’re silly little questions in an attempt to get me to disagree with you about them, so you can sermonize me your bullshit Austrian economic theory or whatever the fuck you believe.
And I refuse this game, quite frankly.

2026-01-12 03:45:22 UTC

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You don't have the first fucking idea what you're talking about.

2026-01-12 03:41:26 UTC

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Fact check: False. You’re a fucking idiot, Marty.

2026-01-12 01:22:29 UTC

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HI Matt, will you sign my petition? https://www.change.org/p/restore-integrity-in-american-governance

2026-01-12 00:12:16 UTC

Fellow American citizens. I have a petition. I think it is reasonable. I hope you will consider giving it your signature. https://www.change.org/p/restore-integrity-in-american-governance

2026-01-11 18:05:09 UTC

https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/i-support-the-protests

2026-01-11 17:47:17 UTC

Boom.

2024-04-28 01:04:35 UTC

Some Thoughts on the TikTok Ban And Liberal Democracy. https://medium.com/@mike.brock/some-thoughts-on-the-tiktok-ban-and-liberal-democracy-ed6b4ce70fd6

2024-04-21 18:56:08 UTC

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So once again, you're just so certain this world of yours will be so much more just and market forces will deliver just outcomes. You're so sure, you just shrug and say these regressions I bring up are not worth thinking about. Neat!

2024-04-21 18:37:43 UTC

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In an anarcho-capitalist future, what exactly does the poor person appeal to when the billionaire doesn't honor their commitment? What if that billionaire owns the private court for dispute resolution? The obvious problems with this extreme property maximalist view are quite simply not that hard to think about. You're just asserting moral prefepts, and acting with indignance that anyone could disagree.

2024-04-21 18:11:53 UTC

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An economic dominance can never be a form of authoritarianism, because you believe property rights are the highest moral good. Yes, I know all your arguments. And I'll just say, you've just treated my entire critique as irrelevant, because you're so certain of the objective correctness of your views based on a priori reasoning.

2024-04-21 18:07:18 UTC

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I mean, right-libertarians just act as if their first principles ethical stances are self-evidently true. And concerns about things like the problem of collective action are irrelevant. Even more bizarre, is they assume that everyone is going to eventually agree with them and have a moral awakening where they realize "taxation is theft" and therefore we have to get rid of the welfare state.

2024-04-21 18:02:38 UTC

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Basically you're just saying the anarcho-capitalist argument is objectively objectively morally correct. All matters of distribution are just irrelevant because property rights must be absolute. Any claim on the public good is authoritarian. Naturally, I think this stance is both unconvincing and smug.

2024-04-21 17:47:39 UTC

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You haven't really addressed anything I've said here, so not such how to respond. You've merely just restated the case I'm criticizing and not attending to my arguments at all.

2024-04-21 17:36:48 UTC

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I actually got distracted and didn't proof read that. Here is an edited version of what I just said for clairty:
I never said that Davidson and Rees-Mogg advance the praxeological justification. I said the best attempts to justify that kind of thinking do. In fact, that the Sovereign Individual is silent on its normative foundations, and simply tracks a technological determinist argument — that to your point, the incentives leading intractably towards a certain outcome — is the entire basis for my charge of epistemic authoritarianism.
An example of what I’m saying would be the notion that say “the welfare state won’t be possible, even if people want it” in the future that is an intractible logical consequence of the incentive structures. That’s an implicit normative constraint that takes arguments about a common good that isn’t merely a feature of revealed market preferences off the table. Which, I say betrays a very extreme right-libertarian view at the bottom of the whole thesis.
So I apologize if I wasn’t clear enough in the following paragraph to separate the critique of the argument from the praxeological argument for the normative foundations of such a view. But I’d argue, if anything, I am trying to bring my critique against the strongest form of the argument. Which I don’t think Davidson and Rees-Mogg make, by the way.

2024-04-21 17:29:51 UTC

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I never said that Davidson and Rees-Moog advance the praxeological justification. I said the best attempts to justify that kind of thinking do. In fact, that the Sovereign Individual is silent on its normative foundations, and simply tracks a technological determinist argument — that to your point, the incentives leading intractably towards a certain outcome — is the entire basis for my charge of epistemic authoritarianism.
An example of what I’m saying would be the notion that say “the welfare state won’t be possible, even if people want it” in the future that is laid out. That’s an implicit normative constraint that takes arguments about a common good that isn’t merely a feature of revealed market preferences, betrays a very extreme right-libertarian view at the bottom of the whole thesis.
So I apologize if I wasn’t clear enough in the following paragraph to separate the critique of the argument from the praxeological argument for the normative foundations of such a view. But I’d argue, if anything, I am trying to bring my critique against the strongest form of the argument. Which I don’t think Davidson and Rees-Mogg make, by the way.

2024-04-21 16:43:07 UTC

Technological determinism is a real mind virus that afflicts way too many people in my field. It’s pervasive and has led an incredibly large group of people to make dramatic philosophical errors. The book, the Sovereign Individual, has played at outsized role among many people — especially in the “web3” space — at convincing people of the inevitability of future outcomes. Balaji’s “network states” are really just another revision on these philosophical errors, born of foundationalist a priori notions about moral truths.
The best attempts at defending these moral truths — such as things like praxeology — are completely unconvincing and are just tautologies that assume the things they set out to prove. In particular, property rights as intractable consequences of the moral necessity to enable human action by a fundamental — not social — right to the product of one’s own labor.
These arguments all also boil down to “this future is going to happen whether you like it or not”, which really betrays the epistemically authoritarian nature of this thinking, which denies the possibility for, and the normative possibility of collection action in defense of a common good.

2024-04-21 14:37:29 UTC

Elections are a legitimizing function for political power. That is the role they play. Approaching electoral choices like a purity test and one of cosmic significance to your character, is downstream of some very impoverished understandings of both democracy and society itself.
Ultimately, we have to confront the pragmatic reality that we are ultimately navigating a hierarchy of good. If you resist this notion, you’re actually participating in a fairly dangerous game of reducing the umbrella of interests the political economy will be responsive to, to the most craven — if for no other reason than smaller polities are easier to capture.
For me, character is just as important as policy in thinking about these things, because the question I ask myself about who I want having power, is not one merely about “what policies does this person support?” — but a more subtle one: “who would I feel more comfortable disagreeing with, knowing the conversation can continue, and that our current policy commitments remain, in perpetuity, provisional?”

2024-04-20 02:23:20 UTC

People wonder why I have chosen to infuse philosophy so deeply in my work style and even professionally. Daniel explains the power of this better than I can, in this 10 minute video. He is one of my personal heroes. I got to meet him once, and it was one of the few times I got genuinely star struck. He was gentle, patient and kind and seemed to enjoy answering all my dumb questions.
https://x.com/bigthink/status/1781367395107357144?s=46&t=8zspgFtU1sQttMY8dBvhOQ

2024-04-13 19:01:37 UTC

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You seem to be reaching a very violent conclusion.

2024-04-11 15:40:31 UTC

The thing about the stability of systems, is it has absolutely nothing to do with ossification and everything to do with adaptability. People misunderstand this to their peril. In all domains: politics, economics, and yes: bitcoin.

2024-04-09 23:11:40 UTC

Was happy to speak at the Bitcoin Policy Summit in DC this morning about why I think Bitcoin is valuable. https://youtu.be/1yzuEipN-D0?si=jdY1gmagoD4xi4Zj

2024-04-03 16:19:25 UTC

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Not an argument. Thanks for playing.

2024-04-03 16:15:54 UTC

Land taxes are the most defensible form of taxation. Fight me.

2024-03-30 19:56:42 UTC

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It doesn't really matter what the technology is. At the end of the day, all technology is serving a purpose. That derives from human values and preferences. Technology is always used in an instrumentalist frame relative to its use -- which is always to serve a human end. This is basically just another way of repeating David Hume's famous insight, "reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions".
The key to understanding this insight is understanding that any logical or rational system always serves a normative goal (a human passion). In other words, we don't do advanced industrial farming because the technology availed itself to us. We do it, because we want to eat more food, and the technology improved the fulfillment of that passion.
If you recognize this insight, you should be skeptical of ALL technological deterministic reasoning. The Sovereign Individual, Hyperbitcoinization, AI apocalypses, etc. Some of these things may have grains of truth in them, on a first principles basis about what social orders could be *possible* given these technologies. But possibility space is just that. The other part of the equation is the probability of outcomes within that probability space. So, when we ask ourselves, based on everything we know about human nature, culture, economics, do we think that these scenarios that the possibility space opened up by these technologies is a probable future?
I think the answer is no! No, it's not. Mainly because the entire conclusion rests on a technological deterministic argument! Which just doesn't epistemically make sense!