Save Your Future: A Realist’s Guide to Cyberpunk Survival

Posted by Looper 29 June 2025 7:22 AM

We were promised flying cars.

Instead, we got targeted ads, infinite scroll, and a browser that knows your mood before you do.

But don’t worry — the real future isn’t fully built yet.

And if you’re reading this, you’re one of the few who might still help shape it.

Here’s how.

Privacy That Sells: Hide Identity, Not Value

Let’s be honest: total anonymity isn’t commercially viable. But unlinkability is.

In the future, the systems that win will be those that can target relevance without revealing real identity. You can track preferences without knowing who. You can personalize without compromising.

That’s the lesson from cypherpunk thinking: the best privacy tech doesn't stop communication — it severs the link between activity and true identity.

Use pseudonymous identity layers.
Tokenize behavior, not the person.
Sell ad placement, not user dossiers.

This isn’t anti-commercial — it’s the design of sustainable, trust-based commerce. Systems that honor the line between context and coercion.

Old-School Tech Is Your Real Superpower

New stacks are shiny. Old stacks are rebuildable.

Every hacker who still knows how to configure Postfix, write raw SQL, or run make holds the power to recreate the internet if needed.

In a world increasingly abstracted, the ability to drop a level — to see the metal, to recompile from source — is the new literacy.

Learn how to self-host DNS, mail, web.
Practice building minimal systems from first principles.
Don’t rely on the cloud. Be your own fog.

This is not nostalgia. This is contingency planning.

FOSS Is the Real Constitution of the Future

When everything becomes software — government, money, education, healthcare — the license terms become your rights.

Free and open source software is not just about freedom to tinker. It’s the only legal guarantee that you can understand, audit, modify, and protect the systems running your life.