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authoritarian governments work the same way except they strongly link the one real digital identity with the physical one. like a voodoo doll they can then affect the physical realm by applying pressure to the doll.

the one real digital identity is key because that enforces the 1:1 mapping that makes the force application infrastructure feasible.

much of the US “freedom” imo lie in the loose identities scattered across passports, driver licenses, and flimsy social security cards. it’s not that voodoo power is held as morally wrong (e.g. snowden) but that it’s untenable when make explicit.

this also explains why egos tend to form insular closed communities. by “obliterating” the real world by making it non-existent in the day to day, ego BECOMES real. abstraction leak becomes an existential threat

it’s the equivalent of living credit card to credit card. it’s literally the opposite of wealth since it is negative wealth yet the result is the same as actual wealth. feeling rich and abundant. the difference lies in the future...

these sorts of mistakes cannot be prevented through punishment mentality because all the negative signal is backloaded in the future. instead of bumping on walls as you make mistakes and course correct you just fall off a cliff one day. (bankruptcy, suicide, etc...)

in this sense ego is very much like a smart virus. it is accepted as friend while it commandeers (cult leader) the machinery to replicate its ideals. it “bursts” only when it can take over and spread at a rate the outside world cannot respond fast enough to

even if it kills the original host (cell or body) the goal of having spread to other cells and bodies has already been achieved.