Category: General Interests

It's become commonplace to hear politicians and commentators bemoaning the energy expenditure of bitcoin mining, but an emerging group of scholars has begun arguing that bitcoin mining has certain properties that make it ideal for subsidizing renewable energies. Troy Cross is one of these scholars, and he walks us through his reasoning.

Like many others, Jack Ronaldi was originally dismissive of bitcoin because of his background in economics, finance, and banking. But gradually he became a true believer, and today he writes and thinks about bitcoin's transformative potential, as well as the ways in which its vulnerabilities can be fixed.

Robin Hanson is associate professor of economics at George Mason University, and research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He has pioneered concepts like futures markets, the great filter, and grabby aliens which have shaped thinking on problems ranging from the Fermi Paradox to governance.

Steven Kotler is one of the world’s foremost experts on human peak performance and the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books. He joins us to discuss his latest novel, "The Devil's Dictionary."

There has been a tremendous amount of chatter over the past year about NFTs--how they're a scam, how they'll usher in a new era of democratized web3 for the entire planet, and everything in between. Tonight we're joined by Michael Maizels, a former professor of art history, who is unusually well-placed to help us get to the bottom of this.

From Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to Vitalik Buterin and the unknown Satoshi Nakamoto, some of the most influential and impactful people in the world are the founders of startups. Gena Gorlin is a psychologist who has studied how these high-achievers work, and she has lessons for the rest of us.

Patri is an American libertarian, anarcho-capitalist, and theorist of political economy. He founded The Seasteading Institute, a non-profit that explores the creation of sovereign ocean colonies.

Samo Burja is a sociologist and the founder of Bismarck Analysis, a firm that analyzes institutions, from governments to companies. His research work focuses on the causes of societal decay and flourishing and he writes on history, epistemology and strategy.

Matt Pines is a Managing Consultant at the Krebs Stamos Group, a cybersecurity and geopolitical risk advisory firm. He has over ten years of experience helping the government and private sector firms address pressing security and resilience challenges.