Chat_160 - A Quiet Global Resistance with Max Hillebrand
Fri Feb 06 2026
"It's a dangerous business to help people out of slavery. But so what? We have to do this. This is a moral obligation, an ethical obligation, as a technical possibility, and a lot of fun.
So the risks of it are real and substantial and have been forever, especially in the last 30, 40 years or so. Countless builders have gotten into serious trouble or even been kidnapped or killed. And that's a hard fact of reality that we have to deal with.
But I'm way more scared of the alternative of not working on this code and seeing us lose the grip on freedom that we have, rather than increasing it and making it flourish. So for me, it's really a no-brainer. They're so angry about this technology precisely because it works real damn good, and that's what we have to double down."
~ Max Hillebrand
I sat down with Max Hillebrand for a conversation that ended up being far more optimistic than I expected. In this Chat, we dive deep into the mechanics of digital privacy, breaking down exactly how CoinJoin achieves trustless coordination and why the "code liberation" movement is just getting started. What happens when everyone becomes a programmer through AI agents and vibe coding? We then explore this explosion of productivity and how it feeds into new protocols like Marmot and the White Noise application.
Finally, we discuss the philosophy of the "Second Realm" and why the tools to exit the system are already here, ready for us to build a quiet, global resistance against surveillance. It is time to stop hurting yourself with broken systems and start building the new ones.
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HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter)
OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/)
Guest Links
Max on Nostr (Link: https://tinyurl.com/2ujwmsf5)
Max's Website (Link: https://towardsliberty.com/)
Max's article The Code Liberation (Link: https://tinyurl.com/yc2ybnk7)
Anarplex.net (Link: https://anarplex.sirion.io/)
Marmot protocol's Repository (Link: https://github.com/marmot-protocol)
The Second Realm by Smuggler XYZ (Link: https://tinyurl.com/46z4cd93)
Sedition, Subversion, and Sabotage by Ben Stone (Link: https://tinyurl.com/yee65zuy)
True Names: And the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier by Vernor Vinge (Link: https://tinyurl.com/5atu4xcx)
Host Links
Guy on Nostr (Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ney)
Guy on X (Link: https://twitter.com/theguyswann)
More
"It's a dangerous business to help people out of slavery. But so what? We have to do this. This is a moral obligation, an ethical obligation, as a technical possibility, and a lot of fun. So the risks of it are real and substantial and have been forever, especially in the last 30, 40 years or so. Countless builders have gotten into serious trouble or even been kidnapped or killed. And that's a hard fact of reality that we have to deal with. But I'm way more scared of the alternative of not working on this code and seeing us lose the grip on freedom that we have, rather than increasing it and making it flourish. So for me, it's really a no-brainer. They're so angry about this technology precisely because it works real damn good, and that's what we have to double down." ~ Max Hillebrand I sat down with Max Hillebrand for a conversation that ended up being far more optimistic than I expected. In this Chat, we dive deep into the mechanics of digital privacy, breaking down exactly how CoinJoin achieves trustless coordination and why the "code liberation" movement is just getting started. What happens when everyone becomes a programmer through AI agents and vibe coding? We then explore this explosion of productivity and how it feeds into new protocols like Marmot and the White Noise application. Finally, we discuss the philosophy of the "Second Realm" and why the tools to exit the system are already here, ready for us to build a quiet, global resistance against surveillance. It is time to stop hurting yourself with broken systems and start building the new ones. Check out our awesome sponsors! HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter) OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/) Guest Links Max on Nostr (Link: https://tinyurl.com/2ujwmsf5) Max's Website (Link: https://towardsliberty.com/) Max's article The Code Liberation (Link: https://tinyurl.com/yc2ybnk7) Anarplex.net (Link: https://anarplex.sirion.io/) Marmot protocol's Repository (Link: https://github.com/marmot-protocol) The Second Realm by Smuggler XYZ (Link: https://tinyurl.com/46z4cd93) Sedition, Subversion, and Sabotage by Ben Stone (Link: https://tinyurl.com/yee65zuy) True Names: And the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier by Vernor Vinge (Link: https://tinyurl.com/5atu4xcx) Host Links Guy on Nostr (Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ney) Guy on X (Link: https://twitter.com/theguyswann)