Durov loses to Musk

Source: Cheng Lingfeng

Why do we say that he is a late bloomer?

Because he always attacks and defends, and will not take advantage of any opportunity.

Because he does not attack rashly before closing the encirclement.

1. Genius Durov

Durov was born in Russia in 1984, the son of a Roman historian and a genius.

At the age of 11, he created a derivative product of Tetris, and later worked with his brother, another genius, to create a strategy game with China as the background.

No matter how the teacher tried to lock Durov out of the computer system, he could always get in. Once he changed the screen saver of the school computer to a photo of the teacher with "Must die" written next to it.

Some classmates said that it seemed that they could never be sure whether Durov was serious about what he said or was mocking someone.

Durov studied the tactics of Sun Tzu and Napoleon, and gradually realized the importance of information control.

The iconic image is the "paper airplane".

Durov later succeeded in his business and gave a vice president a large bonus, but he said that the mission was more important than the money. Durov said, then throw all the money on the street, and the vice president said, okay.

But Durov wanted to be more exciting, so he folded a lot of 5,000 ruble banknotes, about 400 yuan, into paper airplanes and flew them to the street, attracting people to scramble for them.

He said this was "one of the most interesting moments in our history."

In 2006, 22-year-old Durov and several friends founded VK, the Russian version of Facebook, which became the largest local social network in one year.

Then, of course, there were all kinds of troubles.

Russia's national security agency FSB pressured VK to close seven opposition groups and provide information about these people. Durov refused.

The investor Mail.ru Group wanted to get more and more shares, but Durov refused.

Because of piracy, VK was criticized by the Recording Industry Association of America, making it difficult for it to be listed on Western stock exchanges.

So, both the government and capital were looking for trouble.

Later, the Russian police investigated Durov because he had driven a white Mercedes-Benz and ran over the foot of a traffic supervisor, suspected of hit-and-run.

This seemed to be a flaw and a sign of escalating conflicts. Durov chose to flee. On April 16, 2013, after he left Russia, investigators rushed into VK's office.

Durov may have realized long ago that he could not control VK all the time, so he created a new thing, Telegram, which was the rise of mobile Internet, that is, the Eastern European version of WhatsApp or WeChat.

Durov did not want to make money with Telegram, but to use his own money to pay for the cost. Telegram, which has no advertisements and does not spend money on advertising itself, quickly grew into the largest instant messaging service in Eastern Europe.

So in 2014, Durov was relieved and sold the remaining shares of VK. Eventually, Russia's Internet giant Mail.ru Group swallowed up the country's largest social network.

Durov wanted to make up for the pain of VK on Telegram. He held high the banner of "freedom" to guarantee user privacy and prevent officials and capital from peeking at these data.

However, there is a side effect. The black industry has found Telegram, a paradise. All kinds of deceptive and illegal activities, including jihadist organizations, have come here to work hard.

This has exacerbated the conflict with the authorities.

The Russian police once pressured mobile operators to intercept Telegram messages. Later, Telegram began to be blocked because it refused to allow national security departments to access users' encrypted information.

At the same time, Durov said that the FBI bribed his developers to introduce a backdoor.

Putin's buddy Medvedev once asked Durov why he didn't cooperate with the authorities to deal with those serious crimes? He said, this is my principle. But Medvedev said that you will get into serious trouble in any country.

Durov once told reporters, "I would rather be free than obey anyone's orders."

The more this happens, the more users are attracted, and Telegram costs hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Since Durov doesn't want to hand over user data, he can't satisfy advertisers, so he needs other ways to raise money.

In 2018, Telegram launched the "Telegram Open Network" (TON), a blockchain and virtual currency ecosystem, which raised $1.2 billion through the initial coin offering (ICO).

In 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission determined that TON token financing was illegal.

Durov had no choice but to give in. In the end, Telegram returned 72% of the money to TON investors. But he had spent almost 400 million on research and development.

When the authorities took action, capital was waiting on the sidelines.

Because Telegram claims to have nearly 1 billion users, venture capital companies want to buy 5-10% of the shares at a valuation of 30-40 billion US dollars.

But Durov refused, because it was capital that took VK away from him, and he would not let this happen again.

So he turned to debt. In March 2021, Telegram issued $1 billion in bonds with an annual interest rate of 7-8%.

It seems that Durov has solved the problem of money. He can continue to guard a "free" community and keep both the authorities and capital out.

But in August 2024, Durov was arrested by the police in France on charges of "multiple crimes, including terrorism, drugs, conspiracy, fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen goods, child crime content... and possibly more."

Because he is a French citizen, he will not be extradited to other countries, and he will most likely be tried in France.

A big shot said in his circle of friends that it turns out that the West can also be convicted for freedom of speech, and the West has always been double-standard. This is his opinion, and the charges listed are excuses.

But one thing is true, there are indeed too many black industries on Telegram, and too many people are hurt. All the charges accused by the French police are true and known to everyone.

And the last thing is true, Durov was arrested, a person who wanted to give people freedom, lost his freedom. Without the soul figure, how long can Telegram, a "free" place, last.

Some people ask, how much value will Bitcoin have in the future? BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said: "What is the value of human freedom?"

If the value of encryption technology is equal to the value of human freedom, then the sin of encryption technology is equal to the sin of human freedom.

Durov wanted to test his personal destiny to see which is more important, the value of human freedom or the sin, and which has the final say.

If Journey to the West is right, then all those who pursue boundless freedom and do whatever they want will hit the Five Fingers Mountain.

Second, Freedom Utopia

Assange is a freedom fighter. He founded Wikipedia and declassified many ugly things done by the United States, so the United States wanted to get him. He hid in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for many years, but the United States finally pulled him out.

Ecuador gave up its asylum for him, and the British police went in to arrest him. In the end, he pleaded guilty to the United States, violated the United States' "Espionage Act", and was freed and returned to his hometown of Australia.

This is a very humorous thing. Assange made merit and became famous for exposing the United States, but he eventually pleaded guilty to the United States.

In the first half, Assange became an anti-American fighter, but these things did not cause substantial harm to the United States. Everyone knows what kind of morality the United States has. In the second half, he was conquered by the United States.

Another person similar to Assange is Snowden. He also revealed many scandals of the United States, but he seems to be smarter or luckier.

He applied for asylum in dozens of countries, and only Russia gave him asylum in the end. Later, he became a Russian citizen and married a Russian girl. He is still safe today.

Whether an anti-American fighter pleads guilty and can live freely? This is very important. Snowden gives people more hope.

Ecuador is a small country. In this world, it is almost impossible for a small country to remain independent under a powerful country.

Not long ago, the Ecuadorian police stormed the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador and took away a former vice president. This is a direct violation of international law. At least, Mexico will make you pay the price.

Small countries are easy to be rotten. The betrayal of a small country is only a matter of time.

Assange is hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK, and the UK is an ally of the United States, the best ally.

At the end of 2017, Ecuador approved Assange to become a citizen, intending to give him diplomatic status, so that he could obtain diplomatic privileges and leave the UK legally, but was rejected by the UK.

The UK just wants to lock Assange in its own territory. Catch the turtle in the jar.

So, both the sovereignty of Ecuador and the territory of the UK are problematic.

And Russia is the country that is least afraid of directly turning against the Americans in this era, so it is also the only country that gives Snowden asylum.

Snowden's cleverness, or good luck, is that you must find a bunker, a bunker that is reliable enough.

No one on earth can be completely free, so if you want to achieve your goal and expose the biggest bully, you must seek the protection of a bunker, although this bunker itself has a lot of bad things.

But Durov doesn’t seem to understand this principle, or maybe he is so skilled and bold that he wants to provoke. Just like those mountaineering masters who fell to their death at the foot of Mount Everest.

Durov is going to war with the capital and officials in this world. He doesn’t care about the Russian government, the US government, Russian capital, or Western capital.

He wants to build a technology-supported, completely free utopia, so his end is to be arrested in France.

Durov is another Monkey King. The next episode of Havoc in Heaven will always be Five Finger Mountain.

Durov has a shadow in another worldview, Musk. Their goals are the same, but their worldviews are different, so their methodologies are different.

If you want to do what Durov did and create a completely free utopia, is there another way? Musk is it.

You see, Durov was arrested by France, but Musk can do the opposite.

Brazil banned X because there were too many rumors on X, but no one cared. But Musk can continue to attack the Brazilian government on X, condemn Biden for not putting pressure on Brazil, and even hint that Brazil's "leadership" needs to change.

Snowden found a shelter like Russia to attack the United States, but Musk found a shelter like the United States that is ten times stronger to attack other countries.

You see, Musk adopts different strategies. He actively gets involved in politics and becomes the strong side. He is extremely clever.

He publicly supported Trump a long time ago, bought Twitter, and invited Trump to return.

In the Russia-Ukraine war, Starlink helped Ukraine, and Twitter blocked many Russian spokespersons. Many people think that this is almost a declaration of war with Russia.

Musk went on a podcast in the United States, smoked marijuana openly, dated many women without scruples, and had many children. When he met with foreign officials, he wore a T-shirt and held a child, as if he was visiting relatives.

But once the environment changes, it is completely different.

After being attacked by Jews, Musk will publicly apologize, go to Israel to visit the Wailing Wall in person, and say, I am Jewish. He also said that Israel has no choice but to destroy Hamas.

Musk cooperates with the government and capital. He can cooperate with everything, and everything can become a shelter.

So Musk has done what Durov could not do, and built a framework of a free utopia supported by technology, at least it has taken shape.

Mars colonization, starships, starlink, virtual currency, all of these will become a suspended new social prototype that is separated from a specific geographical country and a specific sovereign state.

Assange was cheated by Ecuador and the United Kingdom, Durov was cheated by France, and Snowden was imprisoned in Russia and could not get out. If one day, the situation changes suddenly and Russia and the United States need to make a pledge, then Snowden will be in trouble.

Durov once thought that his biggest problem was being in Russia, so he left and wanted to become a "world citizen", but this "world" is still a problem, and Russia is only a part of the world.

So what Musk did is the premise. If your body lives in the existing physical world, and if your system lives in the existing economic structure, it is impossible to rebel completely.

Musk, the Monkey King, is smarter than the previous Monkey Kings in that he knows that all systems in this world have their logic and inevitability. You can't completely despise and overturn this system first, and then rebuild a brand new one.

You can only understand this system first, adapt to this system, and use all the energy of this system to grow yourself.

Only after fully absorbing the energy of the original system and fully adapting to its logic, can a new system that can actually be put into operation be generated.

Strategy is not a choice, it is not a fantasy, there is no freedom at all, strategy is a must, it has to, there is no second way.

3. Holy Land of Freedom

But the final question is, Musk is still Sun Wukong, the Sun Wukong who made trouble in the Heavenly Palace.

He is just a Sun Wukong who is smarter, more powerful, more capable of saving the country in a roundabout way, and more cunning. But his proposition has not changed, freedom has no boundaries.

After Durov was arrested by France, Musk has expressed his support on Twitter several times. He sent "freedom" three times in a row and even made a feint, saying, "This is Europe in 2030. People are executed for liking an emoji." But black industry is black industry, not emoji.

Therefore, Durov's experience should strengthen Musk's determination to go all the way and build a new virtual "holy land of freedom" that does not require land, wires, network cables, and paper money.

But if Journey to the West is right, then all those who pursue boundless freedom and do whatever they want will hit the Five Fingers Mountain.

What exactly is the Five Fingers Mountain?

In the West, Socrates in ancient Greece and Jesus in ancient Rome were both "convicted for their words" and were legally killed.

Socrates was voted to death by democratic vote. The Roman governor Pilate at the time wanted to save Jesus, but the Jews threatened him, saying that Jesus said he was the king of the Jews, but we only have one king, Caesar. If you let him go, you will offend Caesar. Pilate had to hand Jesus over to them and crucify him.

Spiritual power and secular power are not unified, but separated, and this is the result. So the Bible says, give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give to God what is God's.

But it is different in the East.

In ancient India, King Ajatasatru of his place wanted to kill him, but failed. Instead, he was influenced by Sakyamuni and eventually became a great protector, helping to compile Buddhist scriptures after Sakyamuni's death.

Confucius in ancient China not only survived, but also served as the Minister of Justice for a period of time. As soon as he came to power, he killed a man named Shao Zhengmao. This man was a teacher and a media person, but Confucius said that he was bewitching people and misleading his students, so he had to be killed.

Shao Zhengmao was actually "convicted for his words". What Confucius did was to delete posts, not only delete posts, but also arrest people.

Absolute freedom of speech does not exist. In the history of the East and the West, people have been convicted for their words. In the West, saints were killed, and in the East, saints killed people.

One is a bottom-up system. Saints were killed by the masses. This is a brief history of the West. Freedom.

One is a top-down system. Sages inside and kings outside, good people carry knives. This is a brief history of the East. Responsibility.