Becoming Illegible

I have been working on a reading list for my loyal free thinking cultists. It isn’t ready yet, but I want to talk briefly about one item that will be on that list: Seeing Like a State, by James C. Scott. In this book, Scott talks about how the state works to render the terrain under its control: legible, uniform, and accessible. The goal is to maximize the state’s ability to make use of everything in the territory under control. And, to the reverse, territory is under the control of the state to the degree that it is legible, uniform, and accessible. So a local group attempting to retain autonomy, would do well to aim for local solutions that render the territory they occupy as illegible, bespoke, and inaccessible to those outside the territory. This is why local language and culture are such powerful tools of autonomy. They render a people illegible to the state. This is why staple crops other than grain, which mature in the ground- such as cassava or potatoes, are powerful tools of autonomy. They render the resources of the region inaccessible. This is why extreme elevation changes foster autonomy for the local culture, because they render the terrain itself inaccessible. This is why loose federations with decentralized power structures foster autonomy, they render the culture bespoke and resist uniformity. Likewise egalitarian structures support autonomy, while hierarchy undermine autonomy. These should be the guiding lights of any local culture seeking autonomy. Become illegible. Become culturally and politically bespoke and local. Make the terrain and the resources as inaccessible as possible.