Bitcoin & the Culture Wars with Eric Weinstein

 
 

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“There’s something about the way in which money, and China, and law, and the US government, and technology interact…every institutional player, at some level it seems of any size, capitulates; everybody’s recording a hostage video at the institutional level.”
— Eric Weinstein

SHOW DESCRIPTION

Location: Los Angeles
Date: Friday 4th February
Company: Thiel Capital
Role: MD

Culture wars, identity politics, the intellectual dark web, audience capture: this is the well-worn nomenclature used to define the battles of open discourse that have been raging over the past few years. Retaining an authentic and honest voice in today’s polarised and intolerant society has required fortitude and resilience.

But, trying to engage with those who refuse to have (or are incapable of having) an open mind takes its toll. In addition, it is equally waring to engage with those who have a firm opinion on all matters. People generally refrain from admitting they don’t know, or that they are open to changing their views, as though indecision or uncertainty are damning frailties.

Having a society that is blinkered and entrenched and toxic is obviously counterproductive. In a political context, pluralism is the bedrock of a functioning democracy. In science, openness to new ways of thinking and new ideas allows for the paradigm shifts that propel the advancement of our civilisation.

That some of our generations greatest thought leaders are having to waste their time defending their right to have views, instead of actually developing and sharing their views, is the behaviour of an inward-looking society starting to wither. The people within Bitcoin must help fix this.

In this interview, I talk to the managing director of Thiel Capital and podcaster Eric Weinstein. We discuss media fact-checking, colonising other worlds, physics beyond Einstein, intelligent design, narrative wars, modern fascism, and economic deception amidst the rise of Bitcoin.

TIMESTAMPS

00:03:55: Introductions
00:04:10: Review of the last show
00:07:39: A podcaster's responsibility, factchecking and misinformation
00:14:55: Technology censorship
00:18:54: Bitcoin fixes this
00:23:07: The downfall of the elite
00:30:34: Theoretical physics and the Doomsday Clock
00:34:41: Einsteinian Prison Break and quantum field theory
00:39:09: Fundamental physics
00:46:10: Intelligent design, origins of life and UFOs
01:00:13: Spirituality and climate
01:06:26: FU money for academics and defining luxury
01:19:33: Misinformation vs disinformation
01:26:30: Institutional and political decay
01:36:32: C CPI-U and the Bitcoin fight
01:46:13: Final comments

 

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SHOW NOTES

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Mentioned in the interview:

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