Dawn of the Neo-Pirate Era

I. The Great Reset

We live in deeply uncertain times. Around us, the agora of public opinion is riddled with the anecdotes that tell us that something has changed. Sharp rises in cost of living and unemployment, stagnating graduate job markets, proxy wars, energy crises and fundamentally enormous advancements that are shifting the balance of power on the Rock. And so, despite the abundant 'progress' of the past few decades — the modern zeitgeist finds itself in a state of total turbulence.

With the passing of that time and technology, we learn more and more of the consequences of our dark pact with the cyberdaemon of capitalism; the struggling artist with work wholesale plagiarized by Artificial Intelligence, belligerent shareholders calling for more souls to sacrifice at the altar of efficiency; all these seem like fleeting cries from amongst what is being colloquially referred to online as the 'permanent underclass'.

Commentators like @RayDalio will tell you this is the culmination of the 'Big Cycle' — a convergence of small minutiae, culminating in large sweeping changes and indeed a great reset — a systematic rewriting of the economic and social contracts that govern civilization.

I will tell you something similar, but amongst that rearchitecture, there are stories of defiance — against the odds and the system.

• The Former Professional, 42, laid off from a mid-tier Series-something SaaS that failed to survive the critical impact of AI. Fifteen years of institutional knowledge. Now building their own company, ungovernable, with tools his former employer was afraid to use.
• The Upstart, 19, who never applied to university and now operates large-scale UGC clipfarms for brands that cannot figure out how to distribute in an era of short-form content — making thousands every month.
• The Rogue, 27, running online gambling platforms across four jurisdictions simultaneously via cryptocurrency. Not because he is a criminal, but simply because he knows the regulatory map hasn't caught up and won't within years.

These candidates in isolation would have made perfect contributors to the system — but now remain uncategorized. They represent something new.

We are entering the Second Golden Age of Piracy.

The 'Neo-Pirate' Era.

II. The Historical Mirror

There is a triumvirate of actors we must examine to understand this analogy; the empires, the companies and the individuals.

The Empires. On the discovery of the New World, sovereign states were the first to extol their ownership. These colonial powers were swift to move beyond their limited borders, and were willing to subjugate and dominate to secure such expansion. The New World was seen ultimately as a zero-sum game, with some to win and others to lose. This is perhaps most evident when Pope Alexander VI issued the Treaty of Tordesillas; it was a declaration on ownership of the 'New World' between two competing hegemonies — Spain and Portugal. Without consultation, European powers were locked out of the future, their colonies designated for destruction. But how do you try to continue to extract value when wars are waged?

The Companies. You hide behind corporate frameworks and the smokescreen of commerce. The Dutch West India (VOC) and British East India Trading (EIC) Trading Companies were set up with this express purpose. Suddenly, your naval fleets are not engaging in acts of war, but rather consented protection of commercial assets in the pursuit of common mercantile value. These companies had the license to control such vast authority — they were a vehicle, and one that trained individuals incredibly well to optimize toward that value.

The Individuals. As war waged across the colonies, individuals that were deserted by either empire or company were driven into a fight for survival. Resultantly, they did not choose piracy for some philosophical reason, but rather it represented the only viable path toward the future. Suddenly, incentives aligned between all three actors — empires needed companies to secure trade and prosper, and companies needed individuals to protect those assets; whether they were internal or external was irrelevant. And so, in response, the European powers began to provide their assent to such actions — offering letters of marque; overnight these individuals went from rambunctious rebels to legitimate state actors; a tool for carving out the future for powers that were denied it.

However when powers — either empire or companies — outgrow the need for such tools, or conversely, collapse — what happens?

Pirates are born.

Edward Teach. Blackbeard. Served as a privateer for the Royal Navy in Queen Anne's War under letters of marque that permitted attacks on French and Spanish fleets. Trained within the system, he proved a capable and formidable student — one who understood the nuances of maritime warfare from the inside. When the Treaty of Utrecht was issued in 1713, everything changed and his license was withdrawn. He had suddenly become irrelevant.

Not because he had failed. Not because he was a criminal — but because the empire had made peace and decided to discard him. The conditions that produced Blackbeard were not inherently unique to 1713. They were a template.

And that template is running again — creating individuals that will, undoubtedly, carve out the 'Neo World', albeit differently.

III. On The Neo World

Turning our attention back to modern times, these three actors emerge under yet again similar conditions.

The Empires. Nation states struggle to maintain power and dominance in a highly interconnected world. Globalism is on the decline, and countries turn inward to preserve what little remaining power they have. Having now delegated most of their economic powers to the companies, they consider their options in a world increasingly controlled by the globotechnocrats. Force becomes the only store of value they have left.

The Companies. Advancements in technology have resulted in an unprecedented concentration of wealth by a handful of corporations. The byproduct of the internet has been that interconnectivity is now more important than ever — and just like the Trading Companies of the East and West Indies, those who control the sea lanes of data control the Neo World. Our modern VOC and EIC are Google, Meta, Amazon and X — and interestingly all buy from the same shipbuilder, the only one capable of producing the vessels: Nvidia. These companies are crewed, with many weapons, but recently one has proven devastating in the accumulation of value: Artificial Intelligence. All foundational model providers are tools which solidify the position and dominance of these companies and importantly, will be subject to the interests of the Empires. The consequence of this is real; there are and will continue to be more 'ships upon the sea of the future' (i.e. existing companies) that will have their lanes stripped and loot plundered. It is this point that underscores the emergence of our pirates.

The Pirates. In 1713, defection required a significant amount of both human and capital assets — captains needed ships, weapons and importantly a crew prepared to lay lives on the line for the promises of wealth, women or simply want. As such, the barrier for piracy was incredibly high, which is why so many went to work for legitimised company institutions. The competent sailor never considered striking out alone because the task and cost was so daunting.

However in the modern age there are two unique factors converging:

• Smaller companies without the ability to properly access or harness the weapons of AI will be subject to downsizing or closure as software consumes itself.
• The individual costs of defiance disappear in the age of open access to the same weapons (i.e. Claude, ChatGPT) of the largest corporations.

In pursuit of their own material and monopolistic gains, the empires and powers — arguably now foundational AI companies and their sovereign sponsors — have clumsily opened their arsenal for almost unfettered public access. While @DarioAmodei's recent paper The Adolescence of Technology reads like an apocryphal warning of the end times, to the right individual it reads like a set of precise instructions on the opportunity.

These tools unlock the ability for anyone to become the terribly empowered extreme individual.

They have opened the gates to the Neo World and it is ripe to plunder.

They have done so because their tools — or weapons — hasten the broad collapse of most capitalistic companies and enforce the concentration of economic power. It therefore follows that if you are not part of those companies, or you become obsolete there — not only do you have little choice, but there is also no psychological cost of defection for the individual.

IV. The Raft of Medusa

It is no coincidence that The Raft of Medusa by Géricault was selected for this article. It is a perfect encapsulation of the circumstances unfolding around us. It depicts the survivors of a sinking French naval frigate, abandoned by their institutional officers who took the lifeboats and left the crew to die at sea. In order to survive, the remaining sailors turned to cannibalism.

Many companies — and by extension the individuals within them — find themselves now stranded upon the 'Raft of Medusa'. It is an exact allegory of what is happening in modern markets; those companies (and individuals) without the capability or nous to deploy Artificial Intelligence are left to die — and undoubtedly amongst them, there are individuals without any other choice.

When the institution offered security, identity, and belonging, leaving it was traumatic. When the officers escaped aboard their lifeboats, their expectation was that the system would remain intact. For those left on the raft, it did not, and so the calculus inverted.

Thus, our Neo-Pirates will be those exploiting the obvious signs of company decay, preying on their inabilities to solve coordination problems — and rather than attack them frontally, they will simply operate with sovereignty to extract wealth as the empires and institutions around them progressively crumble under the weight of globotechnocracy.

The buccaneers didn't appear because men became criminal. They appeared because the enclosure became impossible to maintain and the men trained inside it had nowhere legitimate to go.

History isn't repeating. It's rhyming with extraordinary precision.

V. Conclusion

Every Great Pirate Era from inside the confines of the empires appeared as a rebellious reaction, a surge in criminality and depravity.

This is patently false — instead these were labour corrections.

Legitimate responses to rapidly changing circumstances that rendered capable men obsolete.

The men aboard the 'Raft of Medusa' did not choose the raft — it was chosen for them by the institutional officers when they decided to escape without their comrades on the lifeboats. What separated the survivors was not virtue or intelligence — it was the willingness to do what the situation actually required rather than what the institution trained them to expect.

The Treaty of Utrecht did not create Blackbeard — it merely revealed him.

Something is being revealed right now. The only question worth asking is whether you will do what is necessary to become a Neo-Pirate or simply one of the many casualties.

— C