@ Freedom Tech Architect
2025-01-20 20:22:45
Our modern civilization comes with a lot of amenities and luxuries for all. When Christopher Columbus brought the potato from America to the Spanish royal court, it was a luxury vegetable reserved only for the nobility. Today, potatoes are thrown at anyone who has 1-2 Dollars or Euros. The same applies to chocolate. Once a luxury good, it now costs only a few Cents. We live in luxury, just like kings did a few centuries ago.
But all this has a price.
Allah ﷻ says in the Quran that he sent "manna and quails from above" to the people of Musā (Moses) عَلَیهِالسَّلام (Surah 2, Ayah 57 and Surah 7, Ayah 160), after they escaped from Pharaoh and fled from Egypt into the desert.
Manna is a food described in the Quran and the Bible as a gift from God to the people of Israel. It is described as a white, sweet, and nutritious powder that lay on the ground every morning.
The exact nature of manna is unknown, but there are various theories about what it could be. Some scientists believe that manna could be a product of the tamarisk plant (Tamarix gallica), which occurs in the Sinai Desert. The tamarisk plant produces a sweet, white resin that could be used as food by the Israelites.
Other theories suggest that manna could be a product of insects like ants or butterflies that produce a sweet secretion.
Quails are small birds that occur in the Sinai Desert. They are an important part of the food chain in the desert and were used as food by the Israelites.
Some studies have shown that the resin of the tamarisk plant, which is considered a possible source of manna, is rich in various nutrients, including:
- Carbohydrates: Manna probably contains a mixture of simple and complex carbohydrates, such as sugar, starch, and cellulose.
- Proteins: Manna may also contain proteins from insects or other organisms that produce the resin.
- Vitamins: Manna may contain vitamins like vitamin C, vitamin B1, and vitamin B2.
- Minerals: Manna may contain minerals like calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and iron.
Quails are small birds rich in various nutrients. Here are some of the most important nutrients found in quails:
- Proteins: Quails are rich in proteins that are essential for building and maintaining muscles and other body tissues. A 100g piece of quail contains about 20-25g of protein.
- Fat: Quails also contain fat, which is essential for energy supply and maintaining body functions. A 100g piece of quail contains about 10-15g of fat.
- Vitamins: Quails are rich in various vitamins, including:
- Vitamin B12: essential for blood formation and nerve function
- Vitamin B6: essential for energy supply and immune function
- Vitamin E: essential for cell protection and tissue function
- Vitamin A: essential for vision and immune function
- Minerals: Quails also contain various minerals, including:
- Iron: essential for blood formation and oxygen supply
- Calcium: essential for bone formation and muscle contraction
- Phosphorus: essential for bone formation and energy supply
- Magnesium: essential for muscle contraction and nerve function
- Amino acids: Quails contain various amino acids that are essential for building and maintaining proteins.
To put it in one sentence: Allah gave the people of Musā عَلَیهِالسَّلام in the wilderness everything they needed to survive.
In the Quran and the Bible, it is reported that some members of the community of Musā عَلَیهِالسَّلام complained about the monotonous diet of manna and quails. They longed for the variety of foods they had eaten in Egypt.
In the Quran, this is described in Surah 2, Ayah 61:
"And when you said to us, 'O Moses, we will not be satisfied with one dish. Ask your Lord to bring us from the earth, from vegetables, onions, garlic, lentils, and chickpeas.' He said, 'Do you want to exchange something better for something worse? Go down to a city, and you will find what you want.'"
These complaints show that the people in the community of Musā عَلَیهِالسَّلام had difficulty adapting to the new situation and being content with the simple diet.
For they were accustomed to the variety and luxury of Egypt. Even though they lived there as slaves and an oppressed minority. They could be physically rescued from slavery by Musā عَلَیهِالسَّلام , but the mental slavery was still anchored in them. They could not bear the total freedom, even if it came with sufficient food, and became ungrateful. (from Nouman Ali Khan, Tafseer Lessons)
These stories in the Quran are timeless and not told without reason. Even today, we find ourselves in a kind of spiritual bondage and cannot mentally free ourselves from the captivity and slavery in which we voluntarily reside. If we could, we would have to live with much less, but it would be enough. And we would have to work harder for it than the people of Musā عَلَیهِالسَّلام did back then.
We would have to engage in agriculture and farming with the means available to us. We would have to plow and dig and get our hands dirty. But we wouldn't have to go to the supermarket and apply for a credit card to pay for goods. We would have to trade with our surplus to buy meat from the equally self-sovereign livestock farmer. We would have to build a trading community with all sovereign individuals and use money that the banks cannot exclude us from.
The common pattern here is: freedom and self-sovereignty require effort, work, and being content with what one needs.
- If we want freedom and self-sovereignty in our money, we have to deal with Bitcoin and seed storage technologies.
- If we want free, full, and fair hearing in social media, we have to acquire the basic technical understanding to handle Nostr correctly.
People give up their self-sovereignty because they want more than they need and are not willing to do the necessary work.
The Matrix trilogy also deals with this topic, describing a future where humans serve as energy sources for the machines that, in turn, simulate a world (the Matrix) that people desire. We already see the first approaches to this today. We give our data to Big Tech, which generates profits for various industries. We have AI in the starting blocks, which is supposed to largely automate the analysis and preparation of this data. With neural interfaces, we are supposed to approach human thoughts and, above all, desires. If you know what people long for, you can sell them the perfect product. Or just simulate it. Humans then become mere milkable data cows, whose "real work" (for the Matrix) becomes superfluous.
With socialist ideas, such as unconditional basic income or its capitalist counterpart "ad revenue sharing" by large platforms, it is ensured that the individual also has something to spend. Regardless of their qualifications or professional experience, because these no longer count.
A large part of humanity becomes an energy source for the machines. Unless we become self-sovereign again and get our hands dirty for what we actually need.