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(Note: I originally wrote this article for the July 2014 edition of Contributoria , and it is republished here under the following  Creative Commons licence. If you wish to use the article, please attribute the original) "Like everyone else you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch, a prison for your mind." This is a line from The Matrix . Morpheus is explaining to Neo that he’s actually stuck in a nightmare prison-world enslaved to computers. The world is not as you think Neo, but I can set you free, provided you take the red pill . In some ways Morpheus resembles one of those single-agenda zealots who goes around telling people that they have a certain secret truth that will liberate them, like the guy who corners you in a pub and says, “Don’t you realise we’re trapped in a corporate prison. The Bilderberg Group owns the world’s governments!” Morpheus, however, is also different to the average conspiracy theorist. The key dynam...

(Please note that I originally wrote this essay for E-International Relations , and I have republished it here on a Creative Commons licence. If you wish to republish this piece, please respect E-IR's republishing guidelines ) In Kim Stanley Robinson’s epic 1993 sci-fi novel Red Mars , a pioneering group of scientists establish a colony on Mars. Some imagine it as a chance for a new life, run on entirely different principles from the chaotic Earth. Over time, though, the illusion is shattered as multinational corporations operating under the banner of governments move in, viewing Mars as nothing but an extension to business-as-usual. It is a story that undoubtedly resonates with some members of the Bitcoin community. The vision of a free-floating digital cryptocurrency economy, divorced from the politics of colossal banks and aggressive governments, is under threat. Take, for example, the purists at Dark Wallet , accusing the Bitcoin Foundation of selling out to the regulators and ...

(Note: I originally wrote this article for Contributoria as Crowdfunding Critical Thought , and it is republished here under a Creative Commons license. To republish please attribute original) Greg Palast’s approach to investigative journalism can be summed up in one phrase: Stand up for the underdogs, and take on the fatcats . His hard-hitting reports on corporations like ExxonMobil, politicians like Bush, and shadowy institutions like vulture funds stem from an impulse to challenge those players with the power to bend the rules to their private advantage. That’s why functioning democracies need people like Palast. Such a role faces two unique challenges though. Firstly, powerful institutions and individuals tend to hide behind walls of secrecy that extend over vast geographical space. Investigating a corporation, or a government spy programme, requires a lot of time, a lot of travel, and a lot of prying into hard-to-access information sources. HMM, WHERE TO START? Secondly, it enta...