There is a subtle but powerful conditioning many of us absorb without noticing: the belief that before we act, we must be allowed to. We seek approval from bosses, peers, family, or even the invisible court of public opinion. When no feedback comes, we hesitate. Without clear parameters, we hold back, unsure of the boundaries. In a world that is already divided and opinionated, that hesitation grows into self-censorship.
I have never been comfortable in that space. The older I get, the more I realise no one is coming to make my decisions for me. If I let the culture of waiting take root, I will lose the one thing that makes life worth living: agency.
The Philosophy Behind Acting Without Permission
My view is simple: I should be able to do what I want, as long as I am not harming anyone else. That is the heart of classical liberalism. It is the right to live freely within the limits of respecting others’ rights. Stoicism adds the reminder that I must own the consequences of my actions, because the choice to act is mine alone.
But here is the reality: it is rare that anyone hands you a blank page. More often, they already have their own manifesto, sometimes unspoken and sometimes loudly declared, and they are pulling you into it. The tools are subtle and familiar: manipulation dressed as teamwork, office politics disguised as consensus, propaganda framed as common sense, micromanagement repackaged as “support.” In these environments, you are not just waiting for permission; you are being nudged to follow someone else’s script, even when it conflicts with your own.
Acting without permission is not about rebelling for the sake of it. At its core, it is a commitment to responsibility. You draw a line in the sand and declare, “Here is what I stand for,” while recognising that others may stand elsewhere. True autonomy means understanding that no authority, corporate or governmental, will write your story for your benefit. The task of shaping that story belongs to you alone.
Lessons from History
History belongs to those who moved before they were told they could. The Wright brothers did not wait for a committee to certify flight as possible. Rosa Parks did not ask for permission to sit at the front of the bus. Tim Berners-Lee built the foundations of the web as an open system, resisting the pull toward corporate enclosure. These moments were not without risk, but they share a common truth: waiting would have meant nothing changed.
Every major leap forward has been an act of informed defiance. An individual or small group recognised that the permission they sought would never come, so they acted within their own moral framework instead.
The Tech World: Building Outside the Gate
In technology, the permission mindset can be just as suffocating. Governments tell us end-to-end encryption is dangerous, while pushing for backdoors that would hand them the keys to every private conversation. Large platforms wrap their services in friendly language while quietly eroding user control.
My work on Aethrix comes from rejecting that model entirely. Privacy is a human right, not a privilege to be granted at the whim of a regulator or corporation. Building tools that protect individuals, especially the vulnerable, is not something I need a licence for. If you would not leave your front door unlocked for strangers to wander in, why would you leave your personal information exposed to bad actors?
I do not wait for market validation or government blessing to move forward. I design and build because the alternative is to hand the future over to those who think control is a public good.
Risks, Rewards, and Ownership
When you work for yourself and hold the majority stake, the formal risks are fewer. I am not constrained by middle management or quarterly optics. But the principle remains: autonomy means I own the outcome, good or bad. The reward is clarity. It is the knowledge that the product, the code, the philosophy behind it all, is not compromised by the need to appease someone else’s agenda.
The Cost of Waiting
We are being moulded into a passive society, taught to outsource decision-making and to blame others when things go wrong. It is easier to follow a script than to write one. The longer we wait for someone to hand us permission, the more atrophy sets in. We lose the habit of deciding for ourselves.
In my experience, hesitation rarely protects you. It only ensures you are still standing in the same place when the moment to act has passed.
A Challenge to the Reader
If you are stuck in a waiting pattern, here is the truth: no one is coming to tell you it is time. That is your call to make. Decide what you believe in, write your own manifesto, and set deadlines that are yours to keep. Speak up for what is right, even when it is unpopular.
We do not need to be reckless. We just need to stop surrendering our agency to the myth of permission. The day you stop waiting is the day you start building, and the future, whether in code or in culture, belongs to those who build.
