"Dear Jerry, I've heard Internet Computer Protocol mentioned by some creators as all these conspiracy theories surrounding it. Is it evil? Is the technology immoral? Is this bad? Are we investing in our own destruction?" I'm going to speak to those now, because I have done lots of reading and movie watching into the world of conspiracies myself. Here's how I see it.
Two basic scenarios, plus the ultimate one
There are two basic scenarios, plus the ultimate scenario, that I am God and this is my whole universe. So you should focus on the outcomes you want. That is the first primary thing. Thinking about all these conspiracies and all these realities you don't want to experience — stop that. Start thinking about exactly what you would like, the best case scenario, and how Internet Computer Protocol's technology could drastically transform the world in a positive way: by giving us real ownership of the things we're doing on the internet, giving us hard, trackable currencies, and allowing us to easily interface with the world. Think about that instead of getting into, well, this is going to be worse manipulation and centralization and control.
If you're in the world of conspiracies, there's the idea that there's a hidden hand that controls everything that goes on at the highest levels, and it's all a hierarchy, and it's all compartmentalized. These are general things if you watch a lot of conspiracy material. There's a hidden hand that is not seen. And then there's these secret plots.
The video that attacked ICP
I've seen one video in particular where the main way that ICP was attacked was by suggesting that a certain organization was connected with ICP, and that they were making it out like ICP was going to be this dystopian future reality where we're all controlled on this one single interface. It was called something like "the internet is rebuilt." Which, actually, if you think about it, the video that was flooding ICP in a very well done way actually sold it pretty well, if you could see through the BS in it.
They were saying that this could be the ultimate dystopian technology where there is some kind of a backdoor — which certainly the team is claiming there's not, but they're saying there could be a backdoor — and everybody will all have their currency and all be on the ICP platform, and then that'll be the ultimate platform.
Why the worst case looks a lot like right now
So my thoughts when that's brought up: well, the way the internet's set up already, even if your worst case scenario was true about ICP, I don't really see that that'd be much different from what we've already got. We have these very small amount of social media companies that are obviously all controlled by the same basic people, and they're making the rules that are the same across all of the internet. They're banning creators across all the platforms, just the same. They're blocking and censoring the same words, putting out the same ideas.
I really don't see how, if it was on ICP versus the way it is now, it'd be much different — except maybe things would actually all interoperate better, and maybe it'd be harder to manipulate currency. Even in that scenario, the technology at least would offer us some potential for ownership of the market and our own applications. And it can't be any worse than the system we've already got in place, that is screwing people up globally with bad ideas that are blatantly false and then said so many times that people believe them.
So it seems ridiculous to me to suggest that somehow there are organizations connected to ICP and DFINITY, and somehow they're bad — but then who are the good guys? Are the good guys these people with some of these other cryptos that have technology that's not very impressive, and they're the good guys? That's ridiculous too. If you actually bring the conspiracy theories out that are shared and that people are afraid of, it gets to look ridiculous. Really, if this is your only reason that you're concerned about your ICP investment, I think you're in a really good position. This is the same place I landed when I worked through how I realized ICP wasn't a scam.
Could the future get more dystopian? Sure — but I'm not interested in that
Now, is it possible that we move towards a future that's more controlled and dystopian than now? If that's what everybody else wants to have, and thinks about, and manifests, and tolerates, then sure, that's possible. But I'm not interested in that. And I think most of us would like to see a future with more freedom.
The odds, to me — and this is my own opinion and belief, not investment advice — are that I'm extremely confident the technology behind Internet Computer Protocol from DFINITY, and the privatized version of it, is going to give us much more freedom to create and explore and to build wealth than we currently have today. As I understand it, the technology eliminates most of a $10 trillion cybercrime problem if the internet was rebuilt on ICP. At least in theory, from what we can see today, one of the largest economic problems in the world — cybercrime — could be addressed. To me that's a guaranteed win, even if everything else stayed the same. Just cutting back on these massive cybercrime losses is something very clear and real. I went deeper on that idea in my post on how ICP prevents the cybercrime that weak backends invite.
So it is important to get into hidden knowledge and to look at some of these ideas that are out there, that you don't usually hear, and that go against things. But at the same time, you need to have a balanced point of view, and not use conspiracies as an opportunity to create a reality that you don't want to experience. That's what I see, and it feels good to me. If you like turning over the rocks most people won't, I keep exploring that side of things in my post on forbidden tech and secret science on ICP.
The ultimate positive future
It feels like, if the future gets so utopian that we're all telepathically connected, and we're so free that we don't even need the internet and technology, well — then it doesn't matter at all what you invest in today, does it? To me, that's kind of the ultimate positive future we could go towards.
And if we're going to go towards a negative future, it looks like to me that the hidden hand is actually steering the future of the internet towards Internet Computer Protocol and DFINITY's technology for utopia. It looks like that's where everything's going.
Compartmentalized either way
Now, with conspiracies, things are very compartmentalized. So often a group towards the top will not know about what another group towards the top is doing. In certain areas, things will be very coordinated. But in other areas, you'll have one team — for example, a company that is being controlled by the hidden hand — and they will be fighting with, or having apparent problems and competition with, another company that is also controlled by the same hidden hand. And the people, the companies, will have no idea that it's all being orchestrated at some higher level.
So either way: if you're into the conspiracies and the future is dark, then ICP is the place to be. Because if it really is that dark, and we really can't do anything about it, well — be one of the top investors in it, and maybe you can get a seat at the table with the hidden hand people. And in that scenario, it's not going to matter anyway. If I'm not going to invest in it, what are you going to do — put it into another crypto? Are you going to save the world putting your money into some other crypto that somehow is not dystopian? To me, that's ridiculous.
All roads led me to ICP
So I've been over all these conspiracy theories that you all suggested months and months ago, in my head, before I decided to go all in and put everything I had into ICP. That was my own decision for my own situation — not a recommendation for yours. I went through all that stuff. I double checked myself. I went through all the lines of logic and reasoning. And from what I see, all roads lead to Internet Computer Protocol — except the ultra positive one, in which case you don't need to do anything today except be pure joy and bliss, telepathically connect with everybody, and vibe out.
If you enjoyed working through this with me, you can watch more of how I think about all of it in my ICP Crypto playlist. I also love keeping these conversations going directly with the community — you can join the Jerry Banfield Family and ask me your questions anytime.