The technology was never going to save you / Nissa Szabo

Transcript

all right hello um thank you so much for coming to my talk um that's about the technology was never going to save you I'm Nissa zabbo and I'm with the Vega protocol Vega protocol is a derivative Stacks that is really pushing the limits by being uncompromisingly decentralized so this topic today I really feel like has been formulating for years and I've been able to solidify some of these ideas and thoughts over the past year and so I'm really excited to speak with you about them because they've been on my mind and on my heart for a long time so let's get started all right so it's no question or there's

no denying that technology has improved our lives in many ways over the course of all of humanity right from back in the day before any sort of the technology we know today existed there were tools and things like that that brought more ease to life so some of these examples are a bit obvious but I think it's good to set the tone um so today we have access to multiple sources at our fingertips so back in the day you had to trust a single source of um a single source of that information so think back to when churches and popes were the only ones who had access to

manuscripts or you know they were often handwritten so they weren't even accessible to other people and so you really had to put a lot of trust in this single source and you also had to hope that they weren't going to manipulate you or exploit you or give you false information another example is the with technological advancement in the medical Fields people are living healthier and they're living longer this is great for us because we we get to have more time to fulfill our purpose we get more time with our loved ones and to do what we're meant to do here on this Earth the last example is you have access to learn almost anything so from anywhere

in the world you can pick up a new skill set pick up a new knowledge base this is great if you're looking to transition your career or or if you want to learn a new hobby to impress your crush you can do that too and you can pretty much do it for free let's see here all right blockchain fixes this I hope everybody remembers the meme blockchain promised to fix anything in your life whether it was your overweight blockchain fixes this or you're having trouble in your relationship blockchain fixes this well you know I think it's fun to consider that but something I do

worry or something I've noticed is that um or technology or blockchain has become the new the government will save us so the government can't save us the government won't save us and neither will technology and so I think it's really important to be looking at these different aspects or ways that we can manage what is in our control so like I said technology isn't going to save us and neither is the government or neither is any external source and so to be truly self-sovereign we must look inside ourselves and start to recognize the areas that we are freely giving away our power at any time

so I think most of us know what self-sovereignty is but I have to say for me it was nice to give myself a bit of a refresher so self-sovereignty is the concept of property in one's own person expressed as the moral or natural right of a person to have bodily integrity and be the exclusive controller of One's Own body and life so I do really want to focus sort of on that last part where it says to have bodily integrity and be the exclusive controller of One's Own body and life so consider that I think there are spaces where it's overt where if you are taken as a prisoner it's overt that you

don't have control over your body and life right but I think what we really need to notice is the nuanced ways where maybe we're giving away our power or we're allowing ourselves to be taken over by by algorithms by addictions whatever it may be and so I think some questions that we can really ask ourselves are you know am I have I become a prisoner to my own biology am I a prisoner to my ego have I have I given my power away to others where their opinions matter more than my own so how can we put this into practice I think that is a huge Topic in itself and could probably be a really long talk or

a really long Workshop but I wanted to start with a few Basics that can really get us in the right direction so the first one is know thyself so take the time to get to know yourself understand your core values really dig into what is important to you I think it's so easy to get caught up in what we've been told we enjoy or what we told what we're told we're value but I think you know this is again another conversation for another day but I truly believe that authenticity plays a massive role in being self-sovereign because if you're consistently at the whim of everything outside of you you

will you'll you're slaves to somebody else and so I think knowing yourself is how you can really ensure that you're embodying authenticity and being that and who you are every day so take care of your well-being this one is so basic but mental physical spiritual it's really really important that you're taking care of yourself that way when these big questions come up so whether in business and the work and what you're building of design or strategic decisions if you're in an imbalanced place you're going to be more likely to be making decisions out of desperation or from a not a non-balanced place so I think it's really important

that we take care of the basics and then last you really need to look around you look at the people you're working with the people that you're spending time with are they people who know their values are they people who can actually live these values day to day you know and I think obviously there's an aspect that we're human beings and you know there's room for slip up but are people really putting in the work to embody these values and in the work they do I think one of the reasons that I've been able to kind of solidify these thoughts over the past year is working with Vega protocol I truly work with people who who day in and day out

live their values and and they are like full-on Cypher Punk principles principled people and I think that I think that's so important when you're building because if you're not willing to take the long road or you're not willing to do things that are a bit harder and you're gonna compromise on what you're building I think it's just going to get us further away from what we're actually trying to achieve so I do know as we're all building we have lofty goals we have lofty Visions for the future and so it's easy to get caught up and just so focused on that right and it's really difficult to take

a step back so I really want us to take this opportunity to really think about what are our values and are we actually living them are we using them to make decisions in what we're building how we're living Our Lives how we're interacting every single day so again how can we be our most of um our most effective Builders and I think one of the questions we can really ask is anytime we're making especially a major decision but even the small ones matter too is ask ourselves does this decision promote myself sovereignty the self-sovereignty of those around me and also the sovereignty

of those that we're building because you cannot have self-sovereignty as a value if you only value it for yourself it has to be self-sovereignty for all so thank you guys so much as I said this topic is really important to me um if you have any questions or if these are thoughts that have been noodling around your mind I invite you to reach out to me my email and my Twitter are on there and um yeah I'm happy to take any questions foreign thank you

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