Episode 1: What Is a Cypherpunk?
Duration: ~12 minutes | Format: Awakener (Philosophy)
Episode Summary
In 1993, a mathematician named Eric Hughes wrote nine words that would define a movement:
“Cypherpunks write code. Privacy is necessary for an open society.”
Three decades later, those words matter more than ever. But what exactly is a cypherpunk? And why should you care?
This episode covers:
- The surveillance state we live in today
- The cypherpunk movement’s origins in the 1980s-90s
- Eric Hughes and the Cypherpunk Manifesto
- The core philosophy: code, not laws
- What the cypherpunks actually built (PGP, Tor, Bitcoin)
- What it means to be a cypherpunk in 2025
Key Quotes
“Privacy isn’t about hiding. Privacy is about power. When you have no privacy, you have no autonomy.”
“The cypherpunks looked at the trajectory of technology and said: ‘This ends in a surveillance state unless we do something about it.’ So they did something about it.”
“Cypherpunks don’t ask permission. They don’t petition governments. They write code that makes surveillance impossible—or at least expensive.”
Learn More
This episode introduces the philosophy behind the entire course. Ready to put it into practice?
Start here: Privacy 101 Week 1: Why Privacy Matters
Read the original: A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto (1993)
Transcript
Coming soon