A builder who reads history. I connect the two — because those who forget how states weaponize systems are condemned to build new cages without noticing.

Marx gave tyrants intellectual cover. Lenin's "vanguard" became a dictatorship. Stalin proved it. Bakunin warned them all — that any concentrated power, however revolutionary its intentions, will corrupt itself and devour the people it claimed to liberate.

He was right every time.

The same stack used to build a startup has been used to build police states. Surveillance, social scoring, location harvesting, algorithmic manipulation — these run on ordinary code written by ordinary developers.

Lenin would have loved cloud computing. Stalin would have made excellent use of facial recognition.

I build with that in mind:

• Privacy by design — if it doesn't need to be stored, it won't be
• Decentralization — centralized systems are pre-conditions for tyranny
• Strong encryption — one of the few tools citizens have that states genuinely fear
• Open source — black boxes serve power; transparency serves people

"Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right." — Ani DiFranco