Hoss "Sneed (Formerly Chuck)” Delgado on Nostr: >be citizen of the Most Advanced Civilization In Human History™ >possess ...

>be citizen of the Most Advanced Civilization In Human History™
>possess constitutional rights
>possess property rights
>possess due process
>possess freedom of movement
>possess the theoretically sacred right to engage in lawful commerce
>go buy a sandwich
>cashier rotates tablet toward me
>INSERT, TAP, OR SWIPE
>look at terminal
>VISA
>MASTERCARD
>there they are again
>start noticing them everywhere
>grocery store
>gas station
>pharmacy
>hotel
>airline
>hospital
>restaurant
>Uber
>Amazon
>Steam
>parking garage
>dentist
>hardware store
>the fucking ice cream truck
>two ancient sigils stamped upon the commercial infrastructure of mankind
>VISA
>MASTERCARD
>the DUAL PAYMENT GODS
>your power company is regulated like it's guarding a nuclear reactor
>can't just wake up one morning and decide
>"eh fuck this specific guy"
>there are rules
>notices
>consumer protections
>appeals
>entire government agencies making sure the utility doesn't arbitrarily turn your house into a meat freezer
>payment ecosystem meanwhile
>"your relationship has been terminated pursuant to Section 47 subsection Go Fuck Yourself"
>excuse me
>"please contact your financial institution"
>contact financial institution
>"please contact the merchant"
>contact merchant
>"please contact payment processor"
>contact processor
>"please contact acquiring bank"
>contact acquiring bank
>"please consult network rules"
>consult network rules
>PDF is 900 pages long
>written in Corporate Enochian
>page 317 contains ritual instructions for summoning a Compliance Specialist
>ritual fails
>people respond
>"Visa and Mastercard don't actually control your bank account, anon"
>YES I KNOW
>that's the funniest part
>there isn't even one guy operating the Financial Exile Machine
>it's a Byzantine cathedral of issuers, acquiring banks, processors, fraud systems, compliance departments, risk models and network rules
>you cannot appeal to the Emperor because THERE IS NO EMPEROR
>there is only The Stack
>every participant looks upward and says
>"sorry, policy"
>policy written by whom
>"the network"
>what network
>"the network"
>WHERE DOES THE NETWORK LIVE
>no answer
>cash enjoyers enter thread
>"haha anon just use cash"
>excellent advice
>will hand Delta Airlines $684 in twenties through my laptop screen
>will mail Valve Corporation a money order
>will arrive at Hertz with a burlap sack containing silver dollars
>"technically alternatives exist"
>technically you can cross the Atlantic in a sailboat
>doesn't mean getting banned from airplanes is a minor inconvenience
>realize modern civilization has built an economic circulatory system so essential that losing normal access turns ordinary life into a sidequest
>need hotel
>CARD REQUIRED
>need rental car
>CARD REQUIRED
>need online subscription
>CARD REQUIRED
>need to explain to 23-year-old cashier that ACH is technically a separate payment rail
>security called
>the Dual Payment Gods demand tribute
>not money
>COMPLIANCE
>Visa sits upon the Azure Throne
>Mastercard upon the Twin Circles
>beneath them stand ten thousand risk analysts chanting merchant category codes
>"MCC 5812"
>"MCC 5411"
>"MCC 5999"
>somewhere an algorithm detects anomalous behavior
>THE ORACLE HAS SPOKEN
>DECLINE
>Roman citizen gets exiled
>everyone understands he has been banished
>modern citizen:
>"my transactions keep getting rejected for unspecified risk reasons"
>same mechanic
>better graphic design
>medieval outlaw:
>cannot trade in market
>modern outlaw:
>Apple Pay animation makes sad little vibration
>progress
>imagine explaining this to Thomas Jefferson
>"so private companies operate much of the infrastructure used for routine commercial payments"
>Jefferson begins loading musket
>"no no you don't understand, there are four-party transaction models"
>loads faster
>"and tokenized credentials"
>ramrod snaps in half
>government:
>"we carefully regulate the electric company because uninterrupted access to basic infrastructure is enormously important"
>also society:
>"anyway here's the privately governed global system through which everyday commerce flows, hope everyone involved remains chill"
>the real genius is nobody thinks about it
>fish don't think about water
>Americans don't think about payment rails
>tap card
>BEEP
>approved
>civilization continues
>one day:
>BEEP
>DECLINED
>feel primordial terror
>not because I lack money
>money is literally sitting in account
>the machine has simply said NO
>ask cashier to try again
>BEEP
>DECLINED
>Dual Payment Gods have turned their faces from me
>begin bargaining
>"perhaps debit?"
>BEEP
>"different card?"
>BEEP
>"Apple Pay?"
>BEEP
>"please"
>BEEP
>cashier staring at me like I've been cursed by a witch
>finally remember emergency cash buried in wallet
>purchase groceries
>walk outside shaken
>stare at Visa logo through window
>it stares back
>no expression
>no hatred
>no love
>merely acceptance infrastructure
>realize we didn't abolish the old gods
>we replaced them with ones possessing 99.999% uptime