Liberty, Anarchy, and AEBL = freedom

This may be one of the most dangerous posts I have ever made, in my life.  In some ways, I have nothing to loose.  In other ways, I could loose more than I could have imagined I'd be willing to risk.

Do I care that I might be set with a label, perhaps even shunned?  Sure.  Yet to live in today's world, to function, do business, and otherwise interact with others, every step we take is wrought with societal land mines.

So to set out right from the top, the label of apologist, the reality, at least for most people, is that the path to their future does appear to require complying to social norms.  So like most others, I walk that fine line of what I believe and what I think is expected of me, to survive.  And sometimes (well, to really succeed), stepping off that line, really is OK.

I can spend hours and hours explaining and discussing what the AEBL system is...  what it does.  And the more specific I formulate that explanation, the more it alienates those who aren't interested in that function.  And the more general I formulate that explanation, the abstractness also creates confusion and therefore risk access to potential adopters.

I can help anyone understand how the AEBL system could be valuable for them, in any part of their life, or business.  Yet in a nutshell, it was created with the capacity for freedom as the true, core function.  Even though that term can't really be succinctly described as an idea or end result or product.

AEBL is a mobile media appliance.  But not because AEBL is meant to serve that purpose, only.  It performed that function as it's first presentation to the public only because that was the first function that was integrated into the appliance.  Since it was publicly introduced, many more functions have been added, and mobile media is really just a tool, in the set of functions that AEBL now performs.

NB:  In reading this post, from this point forward, please feel free to skip past the parts that cause your eyes to glaze over.  Although throughout, there will be key concepts that may be relevant to you, so please look for those.

So here's the apologist part of this post.  There are a lot of things I believe in, regarding personal freedom, that could label me with the words anarchist or libertarian.  And I'm OK with that at a personal level.  But when it comes to "doing business" or just as important, being employable in todays world, those labels can be an immediate red flag to an employer or business partner.  As though they have some meanings which are misconstrued or misunderstood.

Personally, I'm from the "information wants to be free" school.  Stating that could set me up for any number of labels, yet the reality is, unless someone volunteers their intellectual property for public consumption without encumbrance, then I respect their position and their desire to protect their thoughts and ideas.  But I certainly would make an argument for how unencumbered, truly free information benefits the IP owner, far beyond trying to control that IP by way of law and secrecy.  In the end, all I'm doing is defending my position and belief, which has nothing to do with freedom.

What does all this have to do with AEBL?  Well, the AEBL system is designed to allow anyone to do what ever they want, with the system.  In fact, it is designed to allow anyone to even change what the core system does, how it works, and even its purpose and direction.  In my world, how I designed the system, is to allow anyone to add any functionality to the system, regardless of the intention of that function.  It could be anything from hosting a personal blog, to setting up an ecommerce site, to playing and sharing video and audio files as a kiosk, or as a media server.  Those are just some of the more...  should I say "traditional" ways that many people and businesses in given societies, might use the product.

But then there's the more...  "dark" ways of extending the ability of AEBL.  The ability to use AEBL to store, and share, information.  What ever that information might be.  This is through the use of things like personal and private clouds, to p2p technologies such as bittorrent.  And also, allowing for the ability to integrate privacy in as many ways as they currently exist now, and also into the future.  This includes things like Tor and other darknet technologies.  It can also integrate with bitcoin and other crypto currencies.  All this is intended to provide for those who hold privacy as their primary concern, for what ever reason, and communicate and conduct commerce in as free and private a manner as possible.

How can this even be claimed or done?  How does this cater to anarchism, libertarianism, and freedom?  The simple answer is, pretty much all the technology tools that people might hold dear, to allow and assert their freedoms, are often just computer programs.  As the AEBL system is just a framework for computer software to function and inter-operate with other software and systems, such as via a communication network, it simply CAN be done, and is being done, with the AEBL framework.

It all breaks down to a very old way of setting up systems, and in this way, computers.  For all intents and purposes, systems are just an aggregate of things smaller than the system, itself.  A computer or electronic device you may use, is a combination of hardware and software, making up a technology device or more often a system which we call a computer or some other trademark name.  So as technology advanced, the idea of a computer blade, which is an independent computer that can be installed into a chassis of a larger computer, was developed.  While these devices worked autonomously, they also worked in conjunction with a larger system.  A system of systems.  This became a very scalable way of providing technology solutions, and from hardware blades, technology moved to software blades, which operate in a very similar way, yet are no different in many ways, than a simple computer, with a number of programs all working together to allow the device to function effectively.

So by setting up the AEBL framework and system in this way, AEBL is capable of doing traditional computer functions, while it is also capable of having a tor blade installed, allowing for more secure functions of financial transactions and commerce and communications.  As designed, it can work as a stand alone device, on any multitude of credit card size IC computers, such as Raspberry Pi or Intel devices, and others.  It can also work as a virtual device / machine, using virtualization software, just as well.  And, it can add an alternative network server / client architecture, allowing the AEBL appliance to communicate through disparate networks, in the event that our more traditional network systems break down in any way.  This includes automatic and autonomous capabilities to seek out and join private networks, even if those networks are ad-hoc or across non-traditional data communication networks, such as short wave radio and even ways we may not have even thought of and created, at this time.  Truly "dark" (as in unknown and free) networks of networks.  And again, yes, these technologies have been prototyped and do work in the AEBL framework, and this is due in large part to the freedom of Open Source software and projects, that  have come before, and are being developed, right now and into the future.  They all use computer and network infrastructures that software and hardware do and will continue to use.  And AEBL is a computer.

Again...  how does this provide freedom from the framework of anarchy and liberty?  And aren't these things already being developed, including the traditional and freedom based technologies?

Well, as mentioned earlier, one of the blades that can be integrated into the AEBL system is Tor.  For those that don't know, Tor is an existing and useful tool for allowing private or anonymous use of the public network to communicate and view the content on the internet.  AEBL does not need to provide this function, as it already exists.  All AEBL needs to do, is integrate Tor as a blade, and it does.  Other already existing tools include cjdns and Hyperboria mesh or the newer MaidSafe and SuperNET can all work on AEBL.  And they can work together, or autonomously and privately, without sharing anything between any of the blade systems or anyone else, for that matter, on an AEBL device.  It all depends on how a person wants to set them up.

And, of course, those tools do not have to be used, or someone can develop their own privacy tool, especially if they distrust other systems or feel their system is valuable, or software and system function that may not be related to privacy, to work on the AEBL system, with complete freedom.  The AEBL system and framework, and myself and hopefully other developers, don't really care how a person or company uses the AEBL framework.

So whether a person or group is looking for a tool to communicate or automate their home or share files or start a revolution or safely share information and ideas or redesign the monetary system and government or what ever the mind might imagine, that...  is why AEBL was created and what it is meant to do, and...  what it CAN do.

To me...  it is THAT which makes AEBL a tool for anarchy and liberty and maybe, in the minds of some, a very dangerous tool, indeed.  But it is a tool for freedom and as benign as the idea of freedom, itself.

I hope this has made some things more clear for people, even if for others it simply turns them off the system, or just confuses them more.  The apologist in me says, AEBL is a mobile media device.  And it is.  But...  it does not HAVE to be.  Not only can you choose what an AEBL does, you can decide NOT to use features or functions you do not want.  If one takes a look under the hood, peels back some layers, and use their imagination...  perhaps...  those people will understand the freedom of the AEBL appliance and framework.