26: The Anthology of Balaji: Technology, Truth, Regulation, and More with Eric Jorgenson
Release Date: 11/10/2023
29: El Salvador, Bitcoin Circular Economy, and Entrepreneurship with Michael Ruiz
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with entrepreneur and writer Michael Ruiz. Michael has been a long-time Bitcoin proponent who raised concerns years ago about the lack of a Bitcoin circular economy and capture by large financial interests. When El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender, Michael decided to visit and is now moving to the country while building multiple businesses. He shared this journey in detail during the episode. If you enjoy this episode, make sure you subscribe, leave a reivew, and send a boost on Fountain! Timestamps: (1:31) Michael's experience with El Salvador and what's...
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28: Crypto Confidential with Nat Eliason
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with my good friend (and podcast co-host at Made You Think!) Nat Eliason. His book Crypto Confidential is about his journey into the world of crypto and is one of the best narrative non-fiction books I've ever read. We discussed Nat's crypto experience, his journey as a writer, fiction vs non-fiction, health, and of course went on many tangents. If you enjoy this episode, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, and send a boost on Fountain! Timestamps (2:18) What motivated Nat to tell his crypto journey story in a raw way? (7:30) What Harry Potter...
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27: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons with Kris Newby
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with Kris Newby, the author of Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons. You may be skeptical about the premise of this book but I promise there is a lot more here than a baseless conspiracy theory. Kris has top tier technical credentials and spent a large chunk of her career at Stanford. Much of her book is based on primary research, which involved Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and interviews with individuals directly involved in the biological weapons program. Most importantly, her work shows that the tragedy of Lyme disease in...
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26: The Anthology of Balaji: Technology, Truth, Regulation, and More with Eric Jorgenson
Outside The System
In this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with Eric Jorgenson, an author and investor, whose latest book is The Anthology of Balaji, a collection of wisdom, ideas, and quotes from technologist Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji is an electrical and chemical engineer, investor (Andreesen Horowitz), and successful entrepreneur, notably in both biotech (Counsyl) and cryptocurrency (Earn.com), which led to him becoming Coinbase's first CTO (post-Earn.com acquisition). The Anthology of Balaji packs a huge punch on a wisdom per word basis and is well worth your time. If you enjoy this...
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25: Pee & See (Plus TV Shows, DJing, and More) with John Ganotis
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with my friend John Ganotis. John is the creator of a popular iPhone app called Pee & See (the number one number one app!) which helps users measure their hydration and health. John’s progression and journey as an independent creator is super inspiring to me. When he was in middle school, he created a YouTube esque show before YouTube was a thing, that somehow made it to TV. John is also a DJ and you can find links to his mixes in the show notes. If you enjoy this episode, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, and send a boost on Fountain! Timestamps (2:12) -...
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24: What Your Food Ate with David Montgomery and Anne Biklé
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with David Montgomery and Anne Biklé, the authors of What Your Food Ate: How to Heal the Land and Reclaim our Health. I don't mean this lightly - What Your Food Ate is the most impactful book I've read in a long time. The central premise is that the quality of your food is determined by what your food is eating. Plants get their nutrients from the sun, water, and soil. Animals get their nutrients primarily from the plants they're eating. Simple enough. But understanding this simple concept has completely changed how I think about things like organic produce, high...
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23: Value for Value Music with Joe Martin
Outside The System
In this episode, I spoke with Joe Martin, a musician from the UK who is pioneeering how artists can leverage value-for-value and Bitcoin to connect directly with fans and take power back from record labels and platforms like Spotify. Joe gets into the details of how value-for-value has worked for him, where the pain points are, what the response has been from fans, and a lot more. At one point, Joe compares being a value-for-value artist to being a street performer, which stuck in my head since this podcast is also supported by value-for-value on podcasting 2.0 apps like Fountain. If you...
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22: Layered Money with Nik Bhatia
Outside The System
Welcome back to Outside The System. Today’s episode is with Nik Bhatia, the founder of The Bitcoin Layer and the Author of Layered Money. We spent a good amount of time in this episode talking about the foundations of money, monetary hierarchies, historical money like gold, and where Bitcoin fits in. We also spoke about Nik’s opinions on self-custody, Bitcoin vs Ethereum and how Bitcoin’s fee structure compares to other forms of base layer money. Nik is also doing a lot of work around Bitcoin education including teaching at the university level so his insights there are fascinating. Make...
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21: Skin Health Myths and Truths with Athina Christacos of Feminrgy
Outside The System
In this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with Athina Christacos, founder of Feminrgy, a holistic skin health business. Athina and I worked together at The Estee Lauder Companies, one of the largest cosmetics companies in the world, where she was a cosmetic chemist. Using her background in biology and chemistry, Athina spent years trying to solve her own rosacea. This journey led her to dig deeper into the true cause of her skin problems and ultimately helped her create her inside-out approach to health and skincare. During our conversation, we got into: The major factors that...
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20: The Unconventional Real Estate Entrepreneur with Shiloe Bear of Creek Development
Outside The System
In this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with Shiloe Bear, Founder of Creek Development. Her firm specializes in developing science-related properties and she took a really unconventional path into real estate. She's done build outs for companies like Y Combinator, Lyft, Blue Bottle, and many others. Lots of inspiration here for anyone looking to learn about real estate and alternative paths. Her philosophy for her company and the broader community is also fascinating and worth learning from. This was Shiloe's first podcast and as you'll hear, she's a great communicator so I'm sure it...
info_outlineIn this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with Eric Jorgenson, an author and investor, whose latest book is The Anthology of Balaji, a collection of wisdom, ideas, and quotes from technologist Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji is an electrical and chemical engineer, investor (Andreesen Horowitz), and successful entrepreneur, notably in both biotech (Counsyl) and cryptocurrency (Earn.com), which led to him becoming Coinbase's first CTO (post-Earn.com acquisition). The Anthology of Balaji packs a huge punch on a wisdom per word basis and is well worth your time.
If you enjoy this episode, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, and send a boost on Fountain!
Timestamps
(3:00) Our shared love for Where Is My Flying Car and how it has influenced Balaji's philosophy
(4:55) The differences and similarites between The Anthology of Balaji and The Almanck of Naval Ravikant. How the books feel like being at a long dinner with Balaji (or Naval) and you're both at your best and are able to get deep but succinct answers to all the questions you've had for them
(7:45) The moral importance of technology and the benefits that come from it
(12:03) When Balaji is wrong, it's because he over-extrapolated instead of under-extrapolated
(21:08) Tracing the path of technological innovations and how they get adopted
(26:07) Self-measurement devices leading to personalized supplements and nutrition
(30:05) Bro science vs medical science
(41:30) The moral case for innovation. One example: saving people time extends their lifespan
(43:00) The media is incentivized for doom and gloom, so they make technology sound more dystopian and risky instead of a way to literally extend your life and make you powerful
(49:20) Decentralized media (social media) leads to different problems than centralized media
(49:53) How the FDA has lost the plot, and instead of curing diseases, its goal now seems to be to perpetuate itself. If you were designing the FDA from scratch today, it would probably look very different
(53:20) The beauty of the American governmental system and how federalism allows experimentation
(56:30) Discussion on Balaji's book The Network State
(1:00:53) Eric's pitch for making the United States a frontier nation again
(1:02:30) How writing this book influenced Eric personally and professionally
(1:11:42) Getting Eric's podcast Smart Friends on podcasting 2.0 to enable value-for-value
Links & Resources:
The Anthology of Balaji by Eric Jorgenson
Where Is My Flying Car by J. Storrs Hall
TFTC Podcast - The Fiat Crisis with Balaji
Nik Bhatia's Outside The System episode about Layered Money
Aleks Svetski's Outside The System episode about the Three Generation Theory of Bitcoin
Elo Health - smart protein and supplements
The Network State: How To Start A New Country by Balaji Srinivasan