Category: Podcast

  • OTNS: Is Code still Law? (Interview with Lawrence Lessig)

    In this episode we had the pleasure of speaking to Lawrence Lessig, the legal scholar known for coining the term “code is law” which if you’ve been in crypto, you’ll know that this phrase has been very influential on the space. During the discussion we talk about the original design of the internet, how it…

  • Venture capitalists steal from the future with David Z Morris

    In this episode I spoke to David Z Morris, Chief Insights columnist at Coindesk who wrote a really nice book review of Block Radicals and creator of the Crypto Crooks podcast. David’s been following the crypto space since near the beginning when he reported on the gold bug community’s interest in bitcoin a decade ago. He is also the author…

  • Blockchain Radicals Book Launch Event in NYC Recording

    This episode is coming out on August 8th, 2023, aka publishing day for my book, “Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix It“! On July 23rdI had the privilege to present my new book  in New York City at the offices of Metalabel for the official book launch event! I was also interviewed by…

  • Crypto in Africa and the Communism of Ubuntu

    In this episode I spoke to Eric Annan, founder of Aya, a startup in Africa trying to bring more Africans into the crypto space I met while at Zuzalu. We had some very interesting conversations together while there and I thought he would be great to have on the show to discuss crypto from one African perspective.…

  • ReSource Finance: Building Bridges to New Monetary Systems

    In this episode I spoke with Ashley Buck, the founder of ReSource Finance and was also the first employee of Consensys. ReSource Finance is a decentralized mutual credit protocol and ecosystem building more regenerative economies by enabling growth without capital. ReSource is innovative in the mutual credit space because it adds a built in system for managing risk…

  • OTNS: Cosmo-Localism, Beyonders, and the Medieval Parallels to Digital Nomadism

    In this episode we continue Phase 2 of OTNS with Michel Bauwens, founder of the P2P Foundation. We discuss his concept of cosmo-localism which advocates for everything heavy to be local, and everything light to be global, how many medieval institutions were cosmo-local, and the implications of the rise of knowledge workers detached from physical…

  • Collaborative Finance: Credit clearing for collectively doing more with less capital

    For this episode I spoke to Ethen Buchman (@buchmanster) and Tomaž Fleischman (@T_Fleischman) in person while at the  Commons Hubin Austria from May 22nd to 28th for the Collaborative Financeevent with the Crypto Commons Association, one of the projects part of the Breadchain Cooperative. Ethan is one of the co-founders of Cosmos and works at Informal Systems,…

  • OTNS: The Rise of Coordi-Nations (Phase 2 has begun)

    Last month Primavera and I spent about two weeks at Zuzalu in Montenegro with a team of people from Blockchaingov and elsewhere to concretely define our network state alternative of Coordi-Nations. We had five days of all day intensive workshops and three days of public presentations where we shared our findings to the attendees of Zuzalu. Right…

  • OTNS: DAOs and Decentralized Mafias

    Primavera and I have been at Zuzalu and took the opportunity to speak with Ameen Soleimani (@ameensol) about his role in Ethereum history and the creation of Moloch DAO and Privacy Pools. We also discussed the geopolitical implications of crypto technology and how it relates to thinking about network states. Overthrowing the Network State (OTNS) is…

  • OTNS: Network States is what you get when you have VC-brain

    In this episode Primavera (@yaoeo), Tara Merk (@mpg_dd), and I speak to Jahed Monand (@againstutopia), co-founder and partner of Cerulean Ventures, co-host of The Ownership Economy podcast (@ownereconomy), and left wing anarchist. During the discussion we speak about Jahed’s interactions with Balaji, the violence inherent to borders, and the real problem with heavily regulated industries…

  • The First Communist Network State is Already Here: Working Class Sovereignty

    A few weeks ago, I visited Granada, Spain, to meet with my friend and comrade Giulio Quarta from the Crypto Commons Association before heading off to another city to meet more friends. On my last day there we decided to rent a car and take a day trip to Marinaleda, a village in the Andalusian…

  • Collective Intelligence, Mini Socialism, and Microsolidarity

    In this episode I spoke with Richard Bartlett (@RichDecibels), a co-founder of tech co-op Loomio, non-hierarchical management consultancy The Hum, and director of the social impact collective Enspiral. His most recent endeavour is a community building network called Microsolidarity, Although I’ve followed him for a while now, we met in person at the Solarpunk NOW event in Austria organized by the Crypto…

  • OTNS: Critiques and Alternatives from a Former Professional Libertarian

    For this episode of OTNS, Primavera and I spoke to Chris Berg, a cryptoeconomist, co-director at the RMIT Blockchain Hub, and a “former professional libertarian”. During the conversation we spoke about Chris’ revisionist history of blockchains, the shortcomings of TNS from a libertarian point of view, and Balaji’s state envy. Like we mentioned at the beginning of the series,…

  • BONUS: Join Monetary Activists at Collaborative Finance!

    BONUS EPISODE I spoke to Matthew Slater (@matslats) about an upcoming event happening at the  Commons Hub in Austria from May 22nd to 28th called Collaborative Finance that he is helping organize with the Crypto Commons Association, one of the projects part of the Breadchain Cooperative which I co-founded. We spoke about what Collaborative Finance means, how money actually gets created in the private…

  • OTNS: Institutional Design and Recognizing the Value of Politics

    For this episode of OTNS, Primavera and I spoke to Jason Potts (@profjasonpotts), a professor of economics and co-director of blockchain innovation hub of RMIT. This is the first episode in the series where we’re talking to someone who is still a fan of Balaji. During the interview we spoke about his disappointments in the…

  • Inside the Cybernetic Forest: Terra0’s Vision for Nature to Own Itself

    In this episode I spoke with Paul Seidler (@brachlandberlin), a member of the Terra0 artist collective. Terra0 has been around since 2016 when it released a whitepaper outlining how a technologically enhanced forest combine with blockchain could own itself and exert autonomy. Since then the collective has organized several exhibitions exploring this theme including Flowertokens, an experiment with…

  • OTNS: Maximum Freedom in Complex Social Organizations

    For this episode of OTNS, Primavera and I spoke to Eric Alston (@IncompleteRules), a researcher at Block Science  and Scholar-in-Residence at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder, focused on the study of institutions, namely property, constitutions and blockchains. During the interview we spoke about formal vs inform institutions, organizational complexity, and…

  • OTNS: How to Optimize for Reality

    Michael Zargham (@mZargham), the CEO of Block Science comes back on the show to help us continue to overthrow the ontological framework of network states from the perspective of complex systems engineering. During the discussion we talk about how network states don’t optimize for reality, not confusing the map with the territory, and how an alternative to…

  • Lens Protocol: Creating a Web3 Social Ecosystem with Stani Kulechov

    We all know that the current landscape of social media is not ideal for various reasons, but one of those reasons is because the revenue model is based on the client-server model giving companies access to massive amounts of user data. For this interview I spoke with Stani Kulechov, founder of Aave and Lens Protocol, a new…

  • Overthrowing The Network State: Dictatorship by Tech CEO with Nathan Schneider

    Nathan Schneider comes back on the show to speak to Primavera and I to continue Overthrowing The Network State. During the conversation we talk about his experience at ETH Denver, the issue with using tech venture capital as a model for governance, and being intentional when exploring new political possibilities.  Mentioned Writing from NathanWeb3 Is the Opportunity We…

  • Overthrowing The Network State: Colonize the Memes, the Narratives, and the Land

    Primavera and Morshed Mannan from Blockchaingov join me to speak to Raymond Craib, a  historian of modern Latin America who recently published the book Adventure Capitalism:  A History of Libertarian Exit, from the Era of Decolonization to the Digital Age. We spoke about the neocolonialism inherent to network states and previous attempts at utopian libertarian exits, the colonization of history,…

  • Overthrowing The Network State: Untangling Balaji’s Helical Theory of History

    For this episode, I’m joined by Kelsie Nabben from Blockchaingov to speak to Quinn DuPont (@quinndupont), a historian of technology who recently gave a talk about his criticisms of TNS at the Commons Stack Unconference. He also recently published an article titled A Progressive Web3: From Social Coproduction to Digital Polycentric Governance. During the episode we interrogate Balaji’s misunderstandings of history…

  • The Commons Engine: Collective intelligence, non-monetary currencies, and Holochain

    For this interview I spoke to Ferananda Ibarra (@fer_ananda), the Director of the Commons Engine, a Holochain Ecosystem service agency aiming to create a community of Regenerative Economy practitioners capable of designing ethical tokens and currencies to enable healthy flow, incentives, and feedback loops in order to evolve the economy and culture of their own communities and organizations.…

  • Overthrowing The Network State: Survival of the Richest with Douglas Rushkoff

    For this episode, Primavera and I speak with Douglas Rushkoff (@rushkoff). Named one of the “world’s ten most influential intellectuals” by MIT, Rushkoff is an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy in a digital age. His twenty books include the just-published Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires, which we found to be relevant…

  • Overthrowing The Network State: Forming New Publics and Pluralism with Glen Weyl

    In the second episode of OTNS,  Primavera (@yaoeo) and I are speaking to Glen Weyl (@glenweyl), the founder of RadicalxChange and a co-author of Vitalik Buterin and Puja Ohlhaver’s article on Decentralized Society. During the discussion we spoke about Balaji’s oversimplifications in the book, how TNS was not written for human beings, and Glen’s alternative for a Networked Society differs. Overthrowing…

  • Overthrowing The Network State: An Initial Critique and Alternatives

    NEW SERIES: Overthrowing the Network State in collaboration with Blockchaingov In the first episode of our series ‘Overthrowing The Network State’ (OTNS), we dive into the world of Balaji Srinivasan’s recent book The Network State. The purpose of this series is to critique The Network State while also pulling out the salvageable parts and concepts in discussion with a…

  • Socialist Tokens: There would be no taxes under socialism

    For this interview I spoke to Dr. Phillipp Dapprich, a post doc at the University of Potsdam in political theory who did his doctors thesis on socialist central planning studying under Paul Cockshott. He recently published a paper titled Tokens make the world go round: socialist tokens as an alternative to money.During the interview we spoke about…

  • An Anticapture framework for left organizing

    For this bonus episode, I dive into the Anticapture framework by Spencer Graham which professes a taxonomy and structure for creating “capture-resistant governance” for an organization. While the piece itself was meant for DAOs, I think there were some interesting things said in the piece that are very relevant for socialist organizations. The piece also…

  • The Question of Funding in Palestine

    I spoke to Yazan Khalili and Sami Khaldi, Palestinian activists who started a project called The Question of Funding which is an art collective that presented at Documenta 15 this past year.  They had a discussion on Outland with Monalisa Gharavi in November about their project as well. During the discussion we spoke about how Israel has forced a reliance on  financialization in…

  • Algorithms All the Way Down: People Die, Capital Does Not

    For this interview I spoke to Ian Wright (@ianpaulwright), the author of the Dark Marxism blog which explores Marxism and the occult. Ian is also a programmer who has worked in machine learning and artificial intelligence. During the discussion we spoke about what Marx means when he refers to capital as a “real God“, how capital is…

  • SBF proves we live in post post post-modernism (clown world)

    I’m sure most reading this probably have heard the news about the collapse of FTX and the ensuing crypto financial contagion it’s caused. A lot of strange and bad analyses are being spread around crypto Twitter and elsewhere so Ben Basche (@basche42) and I try to describe a more reasonable account of the situation that…

  • Techno-Utopianism vs Class Struggle Technologism

    For this interview I spoke to Izzy Meckler (@izmeckler), the Chief Science Officer of 0(1) Labs which is currently building the Mina Protocol. Mina is a blockchain that utilizes zero-knowledge proofs to be as light and scalable as possible. Izzy is also an active member of East Bay DSA and has a blog called Parametricity. During the…

  • Talking Politics with Vitalik Buterin (Part 2)

    I interviewed Vitalik Buterin about his thoughts on the political aspects of crypto. It was a candid discussion about his book “Proof of Stake“, the evolution of Ethereum, and the dangers of the far right. Although our discussion happened just before the current scandal with FTX, there were many relevant threads. History has shown that similar types…

  • Talking Politics with Vitalik Buterin (Part 1)

    I interviewed Vitalik Buterin about his thoughts on the political aspects of crypto. It was a candid discussion about his book “Proof of Stake“, the evolution of Ethereum, and the dangers of the far right. Although our discussion happened just before the current scandal with FTX, there were many relevant threads. History has shown that…

  • Participatory Budgeting, Real Public Goods, and why Bernie would’ve won with quadratic funding

    For this interview I spoke to Eli Zeger (@ezeger16), a  writer, editor, and musician. He is also a worker-owner at Ampled and a member of the Exit to Community Collective.  He recently published a piece for the Zora Zine titled Appetite for Redistribution: Budgeting for All  talking about how blockchains and quadratic funding could be used to…

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