Timothy C. May
The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto
Cryptography will unravel the state.
Heterodox Crypto-AnarchistOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Crypto-Anarchist hall →- Role
- Cypherpunk founder
- Era
- 1951–2018
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Heterodox
- Placement
- +72 · −94 · +30
§ Where Timothy C. May stands
3 axesMay's economics were radically market-oriented: he imagined untraceable digital markets operating beyond taxation and regulation. The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto (1988) foresaw cryptography transforming commerce and the state's ability to control it, and his BlackNet proposal of 1993 sketched an anonymous marketplace for buying and selling information. He presented such markets as inevitable rather than merely desirable.
Few thinkers have been more hostile to state power. May argued that strong cryptography would dissolve governments' ability to surveil, tax and coerce, and he called the coming change crypto anarchy, deliberately echoing the Communist Manifesto in his 1988 text. The Cypherpunks list he co-founded in 1992 became the main forum for building the tools to bring it about.
Socially May was a radical individualist and anti-authoritarian rather than a progressive reformer. He defended privacy, free speech and anonymous association, placing him with civil libertarians in the encryption debates of the 1990s, but The Cyphernomicon (1994) shows little interest in egalitarian causes: his concern was the autonomous individual, not social reform.
How close are you to Timothy C. May?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
HistoricalTimothy C. May (1951–2018) was an American physicist and writer who founded the crypto-anarchist movement. At Intel in the late 1970s he identified alpha particles from chip packaging as the cause of mysterious soft errors in memory chips, a discovery that made his name in the industry; he retired from the company in 1986, still in his thirties. In 1988 he wrote The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, and in 1992 he co-founded the Cypherpunks mailing list with Eric Hughes and John Gilmore.
May's manifesto predicted that public-key cryptography, anonymous communication and digital cash would let people trade and associate beyond the reach of governments, eroding the state's power to tax, regulate and surveil. He elaborated the vision in the sprawling Cyphernomicon (1994) and in BlackNet, a 1993 thought experiment about an anonymous market for secrets. Later commentators saw in his writing a forecast of Bitcoin, darknet markets and WikiLeaks. Known for an abrasive, combative style, he died in 2018.
Notable for
- 01'The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto'
- 02Co-founded the cypherpunks
- 03'Cyphernomicon'
Key works & moments
- 1970sAt Intel, identifies alpha particles from chip packaging as a cause of memory soft errors.
- 1988Writes The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, opening with a parody of Marx and Engels.
- 1992Co-founds the Cypherpunks mailing list with Eric Hughes and John Gilmore.
- 1993Proposes BlackNet, a thought experiment about an anonymous market for information.
- 1994Compiles The Cyphernomicon, a sprawling guide to cypherpunk ideas.
In their own words
“A specter is haunting the modern world, the specter of crypto anarchy.”
“Arise, you have nothing to lose but your barbed wire fences!”
§ Minds closest to Timothy C. May
All minds →
§ Also in the Crypto-Anarchist hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat was Timothy C. May's political ideology?
Timothy C. May was the founder of crypto-anarchism, the belief that cryptography would let individuals escape the power of the state: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Heterodox Crypto-Anarchist. Economically he sat firmly on the market side (+72), envisaging untraceable digital markets beyond taxation. On governance he was almost wholly anti-state (−94), predicting that encryption would dissolve governments' power to surveil and coerce, and socially he leaned progressive (+30) as a radical individualist, though not an egalitarian one.
Was Timothy C. May left-wing or right-wing?
He was a libertarian of the anti-state right rather than a man of the left. May favoured unregulated markets and wanted cryptography to put wealth and communication beyond taxation and control, positions closest to anarcho-capitalism. His defence of privacy and free speech won allies on the civil-libertarian left during the encryption battles of the 1990s, but his underlying vision was of sovereign individuals trading freely, not of collective social reform.
What is The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto?
It is a short text Timothy C. May wrote in 1988, the founding statement of crypto-anarchism. Parodying the opening of the Communist Manifesto, it predicts that public-key encryption, anonymous networks and digital money will let people communicate and trade without revealing their identities, undermining governments' power to tax, regulate and surveil. May conceded that criminals and spies would also use the technology but argued that its spread could not be stopped. Its ideas shaped the cypherpunks and, later, the culture around Bitcoin.
Which minds are closest to Timothy C. May?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Timothy C. May are Nick Szabo (97% alike), The Cryptonomicon Coder (archetype) (97% alike) and Hal Finney (97% alike). The furthest is Pol Pot (0% alike).