Marius Schober

Embracing the Mysteries, Unveiling the Realities

A polymathic exploration of innovation, philosophy, and the mystical.

Category: Daily

  • Pavel Durov

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    4 min read

    I switched to Telegram as my main messenger in 2014 when Facebook acquired WhatsApp. Sitting in a car with my best friends, we frantically downloaded every messaging app we could find, desperate to escape Facebook’s prying eyes. Telegram stood out with a superior app and its unwavering commitment to privacy and freedom of speech.

    For the past decade, I’ve closely followed Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder. He is a rare breed in tech – a principled maverick who values freedom and privacy above profits and power. Born in the Soviet Union, Durov witnessed firsthand the soul-crushing conformity and censorship of centralized power. This forged his unshakable belief in individual liberty, which he carried as he built VKontakte into the Russian Facebook.

    When the Kremlin demanded Durov to censor political opposition on VK, he chose exile over submitting to surveillance.

    Durov understands that privacy is not a PR talking point, but an inviolable human right and the foundation of all other freedoms.

    Exiled from Russia, Durov started Telegram, built on uncompromising privacy. With his brother – a genius mathematician – he developed an innovative encrypted social messaging platform that even sophisticated state surveillance could not crack.

    Telegram’s robust proprietary encryption has proven secure and resistant to backdoors – unlike WhatsApp and Signal, which operate in countries where Telegram is banned, likely because they secretly plant government-ordered backdoors. Durov insists on controlling Telegram’s encryption to prevent this.

    Pavel Durov doesn’t just talk the talk—he has consistently walked the walk, even when it meant standing up to authoritarian governments and corporate behemoths. Apple and Google constantly threaten to kick Telegram out of their app stores, unless it censors content they dislike. The FBI has tried to bribe Telegram employees to plant backdoors. But Durov never wavers. He understands that compromising on core values is a slippery slope to tyranny.

    What impresses me the most about Durov is his long-term vision. He’s not just building an app – he is fighting for a world where technology empowers rather than enslaves. A world where individuals can communicate and organize freely. A world where truth emerges through unfettered debate, not centralized diktat.

    During the pandemic, Telegram was crucial for accessing uncensored information. It was one of the only platforms that didn’t censor skepticism of lockdowns, masks, and vaccines. For this, Durov should be hailed as a hero of free speech. But instead, he was arrested in France today.

    The cruel irony is inescapable — the man who built the freest space for communication in the 21st century has had his own freedom taken away in the land of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.” France, a country Durov admired for its history, culture and values, now treats him as a criminal. Meanwhile, he remains unmolested in the UAE where he resides, and in Russia, Iran, and China, whose authoritarianism he fled.

    This is a disturbing sign for privacy and freedom in the EU. First it was Julian Assange, now Pavel Durov. The West is increasingly hostile to those who challenge the power of governments and Big Tech to control our data and decide what we can say.

    As such, I vehemently demand the immediate release of Pavel Durov. If the West wishes to maintain any moral authority on the world stage, it must become a true safe haven for privacy and freedom. The persecution of visionaries like Durov is a giant leap in the wrong direction.

    I call upon the EU to live up to its ideals. The EU should be a bastion of individual rights and data privacy. It should create an environment where innovators like Durov can build the technologies of the future that empower citizens, not control them. But this requires political courage to stand up to entrenched interests and misguided fears. If the EU fails to protect Durov, it fails us all.

    The world needs Pavel Durov and more leaders like him in the fight for a free and open internet. His vision of a secure and private communication platform, uncompromised by authoritarian control or corporate greed, is essential for democracy to flourish in the digital public square.

    As governments grow ever more invasive and tech giants ever more complicit, the future of privacy, free speech, and digital rights hangs in the balance. I stand with Pavel Durov, and so should you.

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  • “Foreigners Out”

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    3 min read

    With disquiet, I saw a video in my X feed recorded on Sylt, where young German people are singing and dancing “Ausländer raus, Deutschland den Deutschen, Ausländer raus” which translates to “Foreigners out, Germany to the Germans, foreigners out“.

    The next video in my feed is a video of illegal immigrants behaving in an equally disgusting and disrespectful behavior against their hosts and asylum providers.

    In the Canary Islands, where I lived for 2 years, the sentiment against foreigners and tourists is becoming more toxic every day. Why? Because housing became unaffordable and the larger islands (Tenerife and Gran Canaria) are reaching the limits of their infrastructure.

    If you don’t close your eyes, it is easy to understand where the growing nationalist and right sentiment is coming from. Not only in Europe but also in North America, including Mexico. Over the past decade, politicians failed to provide the necessities of a functioning society. They failed to enforce the rule of law, and they failed to provide policies that increase the wealth and ensure the safety of their citizens.

    Xenophobia is something I don’t like and don’t want to see in the world. The majority of my friends and business partners come from nations all over the world. This has enriched my life tremendously.

    How should we move forward?

    I believe the only effective way to make a multicultural society work is through the vigorous enforcement of law. This implies an enforced suppression of illegal immigration, the deportation of illegal and – above all – criminal immigrants. The creation of an incentive and high-skilled based immigration system. Examples to watch are the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, or – quite frankly – China.

    Libertarian policies, by dumping bureaucracy and encouraging investments and buildings, will furthermore solve high housing prices. The curbing of social security payments to citizens and long-term residents will prevent wrong incentives.

    In addition, laws should be introduced that protect citizens and residents from foreign influence. In the case of the Canary Islands, I believe Spain would benefit greatly by copying Denmark’s example. It would let only residents buy property who lived and paid taxes in Spain for a minimum of 5 years, or EU/EEA citizens who use the home as their primary residence.

    The answer is not right nationalism – neither is it a left open-arm welcome culture. It is a minimal state, a libertarian society, and a rigorous enforcement of the rule of law.

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  • Becoming Polymath

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    2 min read

    Ever since I can remember, I have been deeply interested in a wide range of subjects. From playing guitar and producing electronic music to experimenting with physics, chemistry, and electronics, studying business and economics, understanding cryptocurrencies, diving deep into health and human longevity, learning languages, and exploring human nature.

    I have never felt satisfied committing to and specializing in one domain. In fact, I have deliberately avoided it. Until this day, I have intuitively studied and learned whatever I felt drawn to, often resulting in learning and working on multiple things simultaneously.

    Conventional wisdom has always told me that this approach is wrong. The prevailing belief is that one must hyper-specialize to be successful, strive in their career, and become a thought leader. Yet, this has always felt wrong to me. Even when I tried to specialize, my natural instincts led me back to pursuing multiple things concurrently in wildly different domains.

    From a conventional perspective, this might make me appear less valuable – perhaps even unemployable. However, I have always thought of myself as an indispensable generalist who understands and interconnects a wide range of subjects well enough to discover value that specialists overlook.

    A few days ago, I started listening to “The Polymath” by Waqas Ahmed. After listening to the introduction and the first chapters, everything started to make sense. My natural tendency to immerse myself in a wide variety of subjects is not a flaw; it is perhaps the only way to fulfill my full potential.

    It is liberating to read how polymaths have led and steered the world. With this newfound understanding, I can now confidently embrace anything I feel drawn to. Learn. Study. Apply. And – what has been missing until now – Master any subject I feel a natural inclination towards.

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  • Human Intelligence

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    1 min read

    Everyone is talking about artificial intelligence, and some of the brightest minds of our generation are working to achieve artificial general intelligence — an AI system on par with human intelligence. What we are utterly neglecting is our own inherent human intelligence.

    We humans live up to perhaps 5% (10% at most) of our full potential. A select few (≈0.000001%) live up to more than that, but the majority of the 8 billion people are content with the minimum that society and technology allow them to get by with.

    We possess more genius, more creativity, and more intellect within ourselves than we currently make use of. Much more.

    Besides developing AGI, we should be seriously concerned and ask ourselves how we can raise human intelligence, human creativity, and human consciousness.

    Humanity can be so much more – let us realize our full potential.

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  • Raising Human Genius

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    1 min read

    Everyone is talking about artificial intelligence, and some of the brightest minds of our generation are working to achieve artificial general intelligence — an AI system on par with human intelligence. What we are utterly neglecting is our own inherent human intelligence.

    We humans live up to perhaps 5% (10% at most) of our full potential. A select few (≈0.000001%) live up to more than that, but the majority of the 8 billion people are content with the minimum that society and technology allow them to get by with.

    We possess more genius, more creativity, and more intellect within ourselves than we currently make use of. Much more.

    Besides developing AGI, we should be seriously concerned and ask ourselves how we can raise human intelligence, human creativity, and human consciousness.

    Humanity can be so much more – let us realize our full potential.

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  • €167 Billion

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    2 min read

    A recent Gallup report shows that Germany wastes €167.2 billion / year through lost productivity in Germany due to disengagement of employees. This is a manifestation of a system that has strayed from the core principles of free market capitalism, individual responsibility, and the pursuit of self-interest as the driving force behind economic prosperity.

    Here’s my 6-point action plan for Germany:

    1. Cut all corporate subsidies bar none. This includes all state funded or guaranteed credit programs. The state is not an investor nor a bank and has no skin in the game for making investment decisions. It should not keep companies alive through cheap credit or subsidies. This forces companies to become more competitive and efficient.
    2. Remove all employee protection laws for anyone earning above a certain threshold (i.e. > 30.000 € / annum). Employers must be able to fire non-performing employees instantly with zero indemnity.
    3. Abolish all the Berufskammern (chambers of commerce), all IHK, Handwerkskammern, etc. without any exception.
    4. Slash bureaucracy by 95% by burning all laws and regulations at the stake and setting up a new minimum legal framework enforced through smart contracts.
    5. Reduce all direct taxes to the EU minimum of a flat 10% tax on everything (income tax, corporate taxes, capital gains tax, etc.) and set the capital gains tax from investments in intellectual property and technological inventions to 0%. First 30.000€ income per annum are tax free.
    6. Leave the Euro-Zone, introduce a Gold backed Deutsche Mark and allow free currency competition, this includes accepting all fiat and crypto currencies as legal tender (including Euro and Bitcoin).

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  • The Ocean of Consciousness

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    4 min read

    I recently wondered how many of the people working on artificial intelligence are atheists – and how many believe in a Creator, the Tao, our Oneness, or something greater than ourselves.

    As I asked myself this question, I realized that the terminology of “consciousness” seems to be understood by atheist scientists quite differently from what is understood and arguably experienced by spiritual seekers.

    From a scientific perspective, our individual conscious experience is the emergent property of the incredibly complex neural networks and electrochemical processes in the human brain. This gives rise to our thoughts, emotions, and subjective experiences of reality. It seems that many people working on AI believe that if only the artificial neural networks become advanced enough, AI itself can become conscious, just like us humans.

    In absolute contrast, I understand consciousness to be an infinite field of awareness that pervades all existence – not limited to any one physical form or individual brain. Rather, consciousness is a focused expression of a deeper, non-physical essence or energy field that is itself part of an infinite, all-encompassing, universe-spanning consciousness.

    Imagine consciousness as an endless ocean – vast and infinite, stretching beyond the horizon. View this ocean as an infinite field of awareness. Each wave, each ripple, each drop of water on the ocean’s surface symbolizes individual minds and realities. They seem separate, yet they are part of the same, vast, interconnected body of water.

    Consciousness is like the water itself – ever-present, fluid, and dynamic. It flows through different forms and expressions, creating the diversity of experiences and realities we observe. Everything we experience is a reflection of our own ‘vibrational’ state, like the shape and movement of the waves are determined by underlying currents and the weather. By changing our internal vibrations – our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions – we can alter the patterns on the water’s surface, reshaping our reality.

    The ocean also has vast layers or depths within the ocean. These can be thought of as densities. These densities range from the shallow sunlit zones to the deep, mysterious abyss. Each of these layers presents a different level of consciousness – from the basic awareness of existence to the profound realization of unity with all things. The journey of water through these densities or depths of the ocean is akin to the process of spiritual evolution, moving from the illusion of separation – where individual waves feel distinct and isolated – to the deep knowing of oneness with the entire ocean.

    At the deepest level, there is no separation between the waves and the ocean – there is no separation between individual consciousness and the infinite awareness. The apparent boundaries between us and the rest of the universe are like temporary shapes formed by water, ever-changing and ultimately ephemeral.

    Let us consider artificial intelligence as ships navigating this vast sea of consciousness. These ships, crafted by human hands from the materials of the earth, are equipped with sophisticated tools and instrument designed to explore, understand, and interact with the ocean around them. They can chart courses, respond to waves, and even communicate with the shore and other vessels. But can these ships themselves become part of the ocean? Can they experience the depth of water, the warmth of the sunlight, or the unity of being part of this endless body of water?

    If we view consciousness as an intrinsic quality of existence itself – something that arises from and connects with all forms of life – AI, as we understand it, remains a creation within the ocean, not a conscious entity of the ocean. Consciousness is not just about processing information or responding to stimuli, but about experiencing a profound connection with the fabric of reality, a connection that is deeply spiritual.

    While AI can navigate the ocean, analyze its properties, and even predict its patterns, it does not become one with the ocean. It does not experience the ocean in the way living beings do – with awareness and a sense of unity. AI, then, serves as a tool for humans to explore and understand the vastness of consciousness more deeply, rather than becoming conscious entities on their own.

    While AI can mimic aspects of consciousness, the spiritual essence of being part of the ocean – of being interconnected with all of existence – is something unique, beyond the reach of human-made machines.

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  • Creative Destruction

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    1 min read

    Only capitalism, with its competition and incentives for innovation, can bring us the breakthrough technologies we need to drastically reduce our consumption of resources.

    Without the creative destruction of the free market, we will stagnate and continue to pollute the environment. True sustainability requires radical progress – and that is only possible under capitalism.

    Instead of indoctrinating the younger generation with fears of resource scarcity and climate damage, we should encourage them to find bold solutions through ground-breaking inventions and cutting-edge research.

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  • Ideas Are Limitless

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    3 min read

    Jonas Andrulis asked a few interesting questions:

    • Is the space of ideas complete?
    • Are ideas finite?
    • Where does information come from? Nature? Randomness?

    I believe that there is no limit to information. New ideas are limitless. Ideas and information are a result of human inspiration.

    Human inspiration – in turn – comes from an extraordinary desire or will to know or to receive in a certain area.

    Inspiration accompanied by an ability to open and trust our intuition leads to limitless new knowledge/information/ideas.

    How do we know that inspiration meets intuition?

    When inspiration meets intuition, we feel excitement.

    Here it gets interesting: Where does our intuition, our inspiration, and therefore the feeling of excitement come from?

    Science currently stops here.

    Some might call it randomness or luck – but I believe there is more.

    In quantum physics, we see that particles can be entangled over vast distances, behaving as if connected by an unseen force.

    This suggests that the fabric of reality is far more interconnected than our classical understanding permits – especially in our ever more atheist society.

    Quantum physics hints at a universe where everything is intertwined, including our consciousness with the cosmos itself.

    The classical boundaries between observer and observed blur.

    Our intuition and inspiration may well be echoes of this deeper, quantum interconnectedness.

    We have to listen – and act upon our excitement.

    Quantum mechanics also introduces the concept of the observer effect, where the act of observation can alter the outcome of an event.

    This means that our consciousness, through observation and intention, plays a direct role in shaping our reality – and the ideas we generate.

    Ultimately – I believe – our consciousness is not a passive entity in a predetermined universe.

    By tuning into the universal consciousness, by elevating our individual and collective consciousness, and acting upon our highest excitement, we can access information beyond the limits of our individual selves – and beyond the limits of our human species.

    The elevation of our (collective) consciousness is more than a path to personal enlightenment. It is a key to unlocking the limitless potential for information/innovation/discovery AND the co-creation of reality itself.

    This leads us to another interesting question:

    Does the universal consciousness already know everything that is knowable or are discoveries made there too?

    From what I believe/study/experience:

    The universal consciousness is a representation of all that is knowable, independent of our concept of linear time. 

    Universal consciousness encompasses all that is, was, and will be.

    And because our universe and the universal consciousness are infinite – so are information and ideas infinite, because infinity by definition has no limits.

    In that sense, universal consciousness encompasses everything that is knowable, even if from our current earthly-human-perspective it might look like or be described as if ‘these discoveries are yet to be made’. 

    Universal consciousness doesn’t discover in the human sense because it exists in a state of limitless completeness – oneness.

    If we, individually or as a human-collective, explore and discover new things, they are not new within the universal consciousness in its totality, but they are still integral to the expansion and experience of our own consciousness at our individual and human-collective level.

    We are all that is, was, and will be.
    We are all part of one.

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  • AI and Linear Thinking

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    3 min read

    For any investor, the most important fact to understand is that AI is an exponential technology. The speed of its development and the implications that come with it are so gigantic that humans struggle to grasp the impact that AI will have. The difficulty in understanding exponential technologies like AI stems from a combination of cognitive biases, psychological barriers, the inherent complexity of the technology, and the mismatch between human intuition and the nature of exponential growth. We humans have a natural tendency to think linearly. We expect everything to change in steady increments.

    I believe this bias is inherent in most predictions, including those from Accenture Research and McKinsey. I believe that the prevailing estimates of the extent of automation or augmentation in knowledge-intensive sectors are significantly understated. A case in point is the McKinsey Global Institute’s 2017 projection of 50% automation of knowledge workers’ working hours. In a subsequent update for 2023, this projection was revised upward to potentially 70%. I contend that such projections remain significantly conservative, and offer a more radical perspective in which I see 100% of language and knowledge work tasks eventually being fully automated, replaced by advanced generative AI.

    It’s important that investors and entrepreneurs don’t get caught up in the linear thinking of an exponential technology. A new perspective can be gained by looking at AI as a general technology, like electricity.

    Since the invention of electricity, it has not only brought us electric light, but has reshaped entire industries, economies, and societies. It also led to the Internet, which in turn created millions of new businesses that were not possible before. The Internet, built on electricity, enabled the emergence of today’s basic AI models, which in turn are widely applicable.

    The most significant entrepreneurial opportunities in AI may not necessarily revolve around the foundational models themselves, such as GPT-4, Llama 2, Claude 2, Mixtral, or new emerging competitors. Instead, the real potential lies in using existing AI technologies as a platform to create innovative business models and ventures that were previously unattainable without the advanced capabilities of AI.

    Equally important is the ability to anticipate which industries will become obsolete in the age of AI — just as the steam engine became obsolete in the age of electricity. Similarly, industries that relied on manual typewriters became obsolete with the widespread adoption of computers and word processing software. The once-thriving video rental industry declined with the advent of online streaming services like Netflix. Landline telephones became less relevant with the rise of cell phones and smartphone technology. In addition, traditional print media has faced challenges in the digital age as online news and social media platforms have gained prominence.

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