Podcast appearances and mentions of Balaji S Srinivasan

"Bitcoin represents the explicit encoding of previously implicit values of the tech community. It's not just software — it is a Schelling point and a symbol. As such, it will become widely recognized as the flag of technology over the course of the 2020s." — ⁠Balaji S. Srinivasan Today we cover another read from Anil's Bitcoin Essentials list, this time from Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji has a way with words and always brings a unique, high level mental frame to how the world is unfolding. He seems to have a gift of talking about the current state of the world, as if he is seeing it through the lens of history. With that perspective, he examines the aggressive technological shifts and the Bitcoin system to parse out the values of each, and explain, in his words, why he believes Bitcoin will become the flag for the technological revolution. Check out the original article: Bitcoin becomes the Flag of Technology Links: Anils reading list: Essential Bitcoin Essays: A Reading List Link to rap battle: Bitcoin Rap Battle Debate: Hamilton vs. Satoshi (BITCOIN GIVEAWAY) [feat. EpicLloyd, TimDeLaGhetto] - YouTube Balaji's Twitter: @balajis A huge thanks to our sponsors, and don't forget to check out the offers for the listeners of this show! Code BITCOINAUDIBLE gets 9% off the ColdCard! ⁠⁠https://bitcoinaudible.com/coldcard⁠⁠ Debit card with Sats Back on EVERYTHING: ⁠⁠bitcoinaudible.com/fold⁠⁠ Buy Bitcoin at ⁠⁠https://swanbitcoin.com/guy⁠⁠ ------------------------- --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bitcoinaudible/message

"Bitcoin represents the explicit encoding of previously implicit values of the tech community. It's not just software — it is a Schelling point and a symbol. As such, it will become widely recognized as the flag of technology over the course of the 2020s." — ⁠Balaji S. Srinivasan Today we cover another read from Anil's Bitcoin Essentials list, this time from Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji has a way with words and always brings a unique, high level mental frame to how the world is unfolding. He seems to have a gift of talking about the current state of the world, as if he is seeing it through the lens of history. With that perspective, he examines the aggressive technological shifts and the Bitcoin system to parse out the values of each, and explain, in his words, why he believes Bitcoin will become the flag for the technological revolution. Check out the original article: Bitcoin becomes the Flag of Technology Links: Anils reading list: Essential Bitcoin Essays: A Reading List Link to rap battle: Bitcoin Rap Battle Debate: Hamilton vs. Satoshi (BITCOIN GIVEAWAY) [feat. EpicLloyd, TimDeLaGhetto] - YouTube Balaji's Twitter: @balajis A huge thanks to our sponsors, and don't forget to check out the offers for the listeners of this show! Code BITCOINAUDIBLE gets 9% off the ColdCard! ⁠⁠https://bitcoinaudible.com/coldcard⁠⁠ Debit card with Sats Back on EVERYTHING: ⁠⁠bitcoinaudible.com/fold⁠⁠ Buy Bitcoin at ⁠⁠https://swanbitcoin.com/guy⁠⁠ ------------------------- --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bitcoinaudible/message

Balaji S. Srinivasan, former CTO of the Coinbase crypto exchange bets his net worth that the Bitcoin price will breach $1 million per BTC in the next 90 days. "I will take that bet. You buy 1 BTC. I will send $1M USD. This is ~40:1 odds as 1 BTC is worth ~$26k. The term is 90 days. All we need is a mutually agreed custodian who will still be there to settle this in the event of digital dollar devaluation. If someone knows how to do this with a smart contract, we can do it on chain, so I can send USDC. If you won't do that, name a custodian." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Balaji S. Srinivasan is an American entrepreneur and investor. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford university and sports several high scale financial successes; he was the co-founder of Counsyl, the former Chief Technology Officer of Coinbase, and former general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. twitter.com/balajis www.amazon.com/Network-State-How-Start-Country-ebook/dp/B09VPKZR3G Connect with me:

Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job to deconstruct world-class performers to tease out the routines, habits, et cetera that you can apply to your own life. This is a special inbetweenisode, which serves as a recap of the episodes from last month. It features a short clip from each conversation in one place so you can easily jump around to get a feel for the episode and guest.Based on your feedback, this format has been tweaked and improved since the first recap episode. For instance, @hypersundays on Twitter suggested that the bios for each guest can slow the momentum, so we moved all the bios to the end. See it as a teaser. Something to whet your appetite. If you like what you hear, you can of course find the full episodes at tim.blog/podcast. Please enjoy! ***This episode is brought to you by 5-Bullet Friday, my very own email newsletter that every Friday features five bullet points highlighting cool things I've found that week, including apps, books, documentaries, gadgets, albums, articles, TV shows, new hacks or tricks, and—of course—all sorts of weird stuff I've dug up from around the world.It's free, it's always going to be free, and you can subscribe now at tim.blog/friday.***Full episode titles:Liv Boeree, Poker and Life — Core Strategies, Turning $500 into $1.7M, Cage Dancing, Game Theory, and Metaphysical Curiosities (#611)Luis von Ahn, Co-Founder and CEO of Duolingo — How to Be (Truly) Mission-Driven, Monetization Experiments, 10x Growth, Org Chart Iterations for Impacting Metrics, The Intricate Path to an IPO, Best Hiring Practices, Catching Exam Cheaters, The Allure of Toto Toilets, The Future of Duolingo, and How to Stand Out in Your Career (#607)Balaji S. Srinivasan — 5-10-Year Predictions, How to Start a New Country, Society-as-a-Service (SaaS), Bitcoin Maximalism, Memetic Warfare, How Prices Are Born, Moral Flippenings, The One Commandment, and The Power of Missionary over Mercenary (#606)Signal Over Noise with Noah Feldman — The War in Ukraine (Recap and Predictions), The Machiavelli of Maryland, Best Books to Understand Geopolitics, The Battles for Free Speech on Social Media, Metaverse Challenges, and More (#608)The Life-Extension Episode — Dr. Matt Kaeberlein on The Dog Aging Project, Rapamycin, Metformin, Spermidine, NAD+ Precursors, Urolithin A, Acarbose, and Much More (#610)Hamilton Morris and Dr. Mark Plotkin — Exploring the History of Psychoactive Substances, Synthetic vs. Natural Options, Microdosing, 5-MeO-DMT, The “Drunken Monkey” Hypothesis, Timothy Leary's Legacy, and More (#605)***For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors.Sign up for Tim's email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Balaji Srinivasan, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, Dr. Michio Kaku, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Balaji S. Srinivasan — The Network State and How to Start a New Country | Brought to you by Eight Sleep's Pod Pro Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating, Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, and Shopify global commerce platform providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business. More on all three below.Balaji S. Srinivasan (@balajis) is an angel investor and entrepreneur. Formerly the CTO of Coinbase and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, he was also the co-founder of Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), Counsyl (acquired by Myriad), Teleport (acquired by Topia), and Coin Center.He was named to the MIT Technology Review's “Innovators Under 35,” won a Wall Street Journal Innovation Award, and holds a BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Chemical Engineering, all from Stanford University. Balaji also teaches the occasional class at Stanford, including an online MOOC in 2013, which reached 250,000+ students worldwide.His new book is The Network State: How To Start a New Country. You can also read it for free at 1729.com.Please enjoy!This episode is brought to you by Shopify! Shopify is one of my favorite platforms and one of my favorite companies. Shopify is designed for anyone to sell anywhere, giving entrepreneurs the resources once reserved for big business. In no time flat, you can have a great looking online store that brings your ideas to life, and you can have the tools to manage your day-to-day and drive sales. No coding or design experience required.More than a store, Shopify grows with you, and they never stop innovating, providing more and more tools to make your business better and your life easier. Go to Shopify.com/Tim for a FREE 14-day trial and get full access to Shopify's entire suite of features.*This episode is also brought to you by Eight Sleep! Eight Sleep's Pod Pro Cover is the easiest and fastest way to sleep at the perfect temperature. It pairs dynamic cooling and heating with biometric tracking to offer the most advanced (and user-friendly) solution on the market. Simply add the Pod Pro Cover to your current mattress and start sleeping as cool as 55°F or as hot as 110°F. It also splits your bed in half, so your partner can choose a totally different temperature.And now, my dear listeners—that's you—can get $250 off the Pod Pro Cover. Simply go to EightSleep.com/Tim or use code TIM at checkout. *This episode is also brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system. Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free travel packs) with your first subscription purchase! That's up to a one-year supply of Vitamin D as added value when you try their delicious and comprehensive all-in-one daily greens product.*For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim's email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We do a close reading of a new article in Foreign Policy by futurist Parag Khanna and venture capitalist Balaji Srinivasan, which stands as a monument to how “web3” is like a brain worm that destroys people's ability to think. The articles' ten theses are a testament to the poverty of thought pervasive in the upper echelons of wealth, influence, and technology. Outro: https://soundcloud.com/braunestahl/future-history-of-luddism Some stuff we discuss: ••• Great Protocol Politics | Parag Khanna, Balaji S. Srinivasan https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/11/bitcoin-ethereum-cryptocurrency-web3-great-protocol-politics/ ••• The Naked and the Ted | Evgeny Morozov https://newrepublic.com/article/105703/the-naked-and-the-ted-khanna Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Balaji Srinivasan about several civilizational challenges and possible paths forward. They discuss the evidence of American decline, the rise of India and China, centralizing and decentralizing trends in politics, the relationship between politics and technology, the failures of the FDA and TSA, how regulation preserves monopolies, the significance of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, the problem of cybersecurity, the Chinese government’s attack on Bitcoin, the threat of US regulation of cryptocurrency, blockchain scalability, creator coins, life in Singapore, virtual government, the future of decentralized journalism, independent replication in science, wealth inequality, ubiquitous investing, social status, non-zero-sum capitalism, “start-up countries”, and other topics. Balaji S. Srinivasan is an angel investor and entrepreneur. Formerly the CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, he was also the cofounder of Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), Counsyl (acquired by Myriad), Teleport (acquired by Topia), and Coin Center. Website: Balajis.com Twitter: @balajis Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.

Scott's formal bio from Amazon: "Scott has spent his career as a storyteller connecting people with ideas. Along the way, Scott's work has generated millions of views through a feature-length documentary, multiple televisions series, short films, and a diverse range of commercial projects for Microsoft, NBC, Facebook, FOX, Taylor Guitars, Wired, and others. Now, Scott has created Playing with FIRE, which explores the growing community of frugal-minded folks choosing a path to financial independence and early retirement. He and his family reside in Bend, Oregon."Resources to Connect With Scott: Scott's Personal Website: http://www.scottrieckens.com/Scott's FIRE Planning Tools and Resources: https://www.playingwithfire.co/ Scott's Documentary: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Fire-Pete-Adeney/dp/B081J5B63Y/Scott's Documentary Excerpts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwi5OBtwixXB6pWl6ax7p1gScott's Book: https://www.playingwithfire.co/the-bookScott's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playwithfireco/We also mentioned 1729 and Network States by Balaji S. Srinivasan.Help The Louis and Kyle Show:If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or leave a review!If you want to reach out to us, please do so on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LouisKyleShowEmail us: LouisandKyleShow@gmail.com

“Very few institutions that predated the internet will survive the internet.”Balaji S. Srinivasan is an angel investor and entrepreneur, formerly the CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Balaji has turned his attention to the creation a Network State, in particular a polis with a transhumanist mission “which starts with a virtual university, bootstraps a digital economy, and can be forked to create new opt-in polities.” Such “cloud cities” allow their members to collectively negotiate with existing jurisdictions and crowdfund territory in the real world. With the internet as main governance mechanism, even those physical communities could be increasingly decentralized.This meeting is part of the Intelligent Cooperation Group and accompanying book draft.Session summary: Balaji S. Srinivasan: The Network State - Foresight Institute The Foresight Institute is a research organization and non-profit that supports the beneficial development of high-impact technologies. Since our founding in 1987 on a vision of guiding powerful technologies, we have continued to evolve into a many-armed organization that focuses on several fields of science and technology that are too ambitious for legacy institutions to support.Allison Duettmann is the president and CEO of Foresight Institute. She directs the Intelligent Cooperation, Molecular Machines, Biotech & Health Extension, Neurotech, and Space Programs, Fellowships, Prizes, and Tech Trees, and shares this work with the public. She founded Existentialhope.com, co-edited Superintelligence: Coordination & Strategy, co-authored Gaming the Future, and co-initiated The Longevity Prize. Apply to Foresight's virtual salons and in person workshops here!We are entirely funded by your donations. If you enjoy what we do please consider donating through our donation page.Visit our website for more content, or join us here:TwitterFacebookLinkedInEvery word ever spoken on this podcast is now AI-searchable using Fathom.fm, a search engine for podcasts.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Balaji S. Srinivasan is an angel investor and entrepreneur. Formerly the CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, he was also the cofounder of Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), Counsyl (acquired by Myriad), Teleport (acquired by Topia), and Coin Center. Balaji and James discuss the 3 most impactful moments in Balaji's crypto journey, moments that changed his perception of crypto, and what we should be paying attention to now that could pay the same dividends as paying attention to crypto in 2010 did. They close the show talking about Balaji's groundbreaking concept of "crypto countries." Subscribe to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/Go_BelowtheLine Balaji's latest project: https://1792.com. A newsletter, that pays you Cryptocurrency, for completing online tasks. Find Balaji: Twitter: https://twitter.com/balajisWebsite/ Blog: https://balajis.com/ Hit the show hotline and leave a question or comment for the show at 424-272-6640, email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline Support Our Sponsors Magic Mind https://magicmind.co Dover: https://Dover.com About your host, James: James Beshara is a founder, investor, advisor, author, podcaster, and encourager based in Los Angeles, California. James has created startups for the last 12 years, selling one (Tilt, acquired by Airbnb), and invested in a few multi-billion dollar startups to date. He has spoken at places such as Y-Combinator, Harvard Business School, Stanford University, TechCrunch Disrupt, and has been featured in outlets like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, and Time Magazine. He’s been featured in Forbes, Time, and Inc Magazine’s “30 Under 30” lists and advises startups all around the world. All of this is his “above the line” version of his background. Hear the other 90% of the story in the intro episode of Below The Line. “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Another Podcast Network.

Amazonas Ehrenkrieger, Ex-Programmdirektor von Greenpeace und Vielflieger Pascal Husting über seine wilden Jahre geprägt von Atomkraft, Raves, Kokain und Reisen.  Das erwähnte Video über das wir am Ende doch nicht mehr reden wollten: Balaji S. Srinivasan "The Network State": https://youtu.be/P5UAtAOV66cFolge der Z4UBERSHOWYouTube: https://neon.ly/z4ubershowInstagram: https://neon.ly/z4ubershowIGTikTok: https://neon.ly/z4ubershowTTFacebook: https://neon.ly/z4ubershowFBWebsite: www.z4ubershow.com

Balaji S. Srinivasan à dit "Product is merit, connections is distribution " dans l'épisode du Tim Ferriss show et je fais un retour là-dessus! Pour écouter l'épisode du Tim Ferriss Show avec Balaji S. Srinivasan: https://tim.blog/2021/03/24/balaji-srinivasan/ -- Pour les notes complètes de l'épisode, les transcriptions ou pour me joindre: Product is merit, connection is distribution ( https://santro.show/577 )

#362: I wanted to share an idea I recently heard from Balaji S. Srinivasan on the Tim Ferriss show. To learn more about the show, please visit https://mappedoutmoney.com 

The Agenda

Balaji S. Srinivasan is an angel investor and entrepreneur. Formerly the CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, he was also the cofounder of Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), Counsyl (acquired by Myriad), and Teleport (acquired by Topia).  In this episode he talks with Sasha about:• What lead him from biology into computer science and entrepreneurship• Real projects that are seeing 10X improvements over the past few years• How crypto is like a 10-100 million-person country building its own internal economy• Is crypto a good space for Google or FaceBook employees?• Making it possible to consistently make money in crypto• How the next evolution of open source is open-state and open-execution• Good entry points for people interested in the open web spaceEpisode links:Balaji Srinivasan: @balajis [Blog post] And What Has the Blockchain Ever Done for Us?Balaji's writing and website: https://balajis.com[Educational resource] Coinbase Earn: https://www.coinbase.com/rewards[Educational resource] Binance Academy: https://academy.binance.com/en [Educational resource]  Brilliant.com Course on Cryptocurrency: https://brilliant.org/courses/cryptocurrency/[Educational resource] Nakamoto: https://nakamoto.com [Book] Seeing Like a State by James C. ScottSasha Hudzilin: @AliaksandrHLearn more about the Open Web Collective accelerator batch and apply to be part of the next cohort in January 2021 - https://www.openwebcollective.com

This is a special episode of The Solana Podcast. Things take a different route - Balaji and Anatoly cover Covid-19, the current state of the world, smart contracts and the future of decentralization, computation diligence, blockchain-based elections, Yale Law being replaced by code, math vs. science, Snow Crash, and location-independent work. Balaji S. Srinivasan is an angel investor and entrepreneur. Formerly the CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, he was also the cofounder of Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), Counsyl (acquired by Myriad), Teleport (acquired by Topia), and Coin Center.He was named to the MIT TR35, won a Wall Street Journal Innovation Award and holds a BS/MS/PhD in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Chemical Engineering, all from Stanford University. Dr. Srinivasan also teaches the occasional class at Stanford, including an online MOOC in 2013 which reached 250,000+ students worldwide.twitter.com/balajis 

We talk with Arto Bendiken about the political reactions to the ongoing pandemic and their long term effects on: Economy, free speech, mass gatherings, biodefense, cash, infection control, and identity. The is also a higher quality version of the MP3. Subscribe Pocket Casts Spotify Stitcher Apple Podcasts Overcast Google Podcasts PlayerFM YouTube Show Notes Introduction 00:01:05 Two show participients verified they are either asymptomatic, or not infected. 00:02:55 Increase of pandemics in the future. SOURCE: Three seconds until midnight. Zoonotic transmissions. Avian flu pandemic (30% death rate). Increased air travel, population density. 00:06:14 MERS, SARS, swine flu, Ebola in the last 15-20 years. (It’s not the “once in a 100 years” frequency, or “three pandemics a century”) Wolfe, Nathan (2011): The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age Various books from Laurie Garrett 00:07:32 Death Rates will increase because of age of poulation. immune system gets faster with age, but overreaction is also more likely (cytokine storm) exporsure rates are higher (travel) Political Reactions 00:09:14 Don’t test, don’t tell “The disaster that befell the citizens of Wuhan and so many other cities throughout China is not primarily a virus. The disaster is having a political regime that cares more about short-term public and economic concerns than it cares about saving the lives of its citizens.” smuggler: matches most reactions in the West. Frank: in politics, it means that any candidate cannot win against the pandemic, and their opponents can always say afterwards “we could have done better”. So, the US solution for Trump might be to let it burn as quick as possible through the population, and be over and done with it before the elections. Maximizing Re-Election is key. smuggler: “Politicians don’t get elected by being really smart people when it comes to dealing with complex problems.” More important: Ability to backstab, put on good face, and select experts. “All of our systems, especially in the West, are not meant to deal with crisis, they are meant to deal with normalcy.” Arto: Some Asian countries have dealt with it pretty well. 00:14:55 Finance minister of Hesse, Germany committed suicide, probably because of COVID19-crisis: (Thomas Schäfer) NY Post: German state financial minister kills himself over coronavirus ‘despair’ Fear And Economics 00:15:25 Fear & Economic bailouts smuggler: “Every response is better than no response, even if it’s just about dealing with your fear […] what you can see is, that the first responses that are taken are the ones easiest to implement for a state.” Distributing free money! German states are handing out €9-15k for small businesses, with a total volume of €50 Billion. BMWI: Soforthilfe für Solo-Selbstständige und Kleinstbetriebe; IBB: Liquiditätsengpässe wegen Coronavirus- Unterstützung für Berliner Unternehmen This takes fear out of the system. A lot of people are still primarilary concerned about the economic effects. Frank: economic effects are already secondary effects. smuggler: pressing the red panic button, to buy time (lockdown). 00:18:21 Recap this week’s events (Mar 23-29) 00:19:55 Orthogonal narratives: “Masks don’t work” smuggler: You cannot tell people to wear masks, if your own hospital staff has not enough masks… Balaji S. Srinivasan’s Twitter Thread: Collection of weekly narratives 00:22:20 Similarities to history (1918 pandemic): - don’t panic, nothing to fear but fear itself, everything is under control, we are taking care of it, you don’t need to do anything, everything will be fine - erodes trust in authorities with progression of pandemic - lying breeds the fear - why repeating? Politicians cannot deal with crisis - polulation with crisis experience tend to respond better 00:26:28 “The Great Influenza”, Twitter Thread - “In 1918 fear moved ahead of the virus like the bow wave before a ship. Fear drove the people, and the government and the press could not control it. They could not control it because every true report had been diluted with lies. And the more the officials and newspapers reassured, the more they said, There is no cause for alarm if proper precautions are taken, or Influenza is nothing more or less than old-fashioned grippe, the more people believed themselves cast adrift, adrift with no one to trust, adrift on an ocean of death.” p.340 - smuggler: a lot of people mistrust the media in general. General assumption: “Whatever is said publicly, is false.” Search for alternative truths. - Slate Star Codex: Face Masks: Much More Than You Wanted To Know 00:29:23 False treatments. smuggler: “There’s this general inability to even think about remedies, and how things actually work, people buy stuff because it comes from alternative sources, not because it is actually well researched.” that’s why medical research is based on quantification 00:30:17 Conspiracy theories. Frank: “Turning the story they hear into either totally denying it, or making it worse, in this super highly coordinated conspiracy.” Frank: “It’s a bioweapon but it doesn’t kill anyone because the numbers are false” 00:31:28 Arto: “In the future, it will be clear that masks are a good idea.” “Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!” Feb 29, 2020, @Surgeon_General 00:33:16 Today’s numbers (Mar 29th): 10,000 Spain; 6,000+ Italy - NYPD: 600 infected, 3000 missing from work (10% work force) Inflation 00:34:25 Inflation (free money handed out) smuggler’s prediction: “For Germany, up to 30% of the domestic product (GDP) this year will be destroyed.” 00:35:24 Bill Gates’ TED Talk: US$ 3-4 trillon. Might be significantly underestimated. Bill Gates TED Talk 2015 Bill Gates TED Connects talk 2020 USA is talking about US$ 3 trillon bailout. “A trillion here, a trillion there, soon you’re talking real money." 00:37:30 Move into other asset classes. Specifically gold. Selling property. AirBnB: refinancing one apartment after the other, is not working anymore. overall a bad year for over-leveraging :( Chinese real estate: buy two apartments, get one free. (Well, almost.) Berlin: prices went down, apartments are cheap. Ukraine: luxuries houses are considered by population like the bank account. Renationalization Of Industries And Trade 00:41:44 Capitalization of companies. Most have been overleveraged. Ability to produce is going down. Bail-out money from state in exchange of stock. CEOs not being able to draw bonuses in the future. Re-nationalization of companies? State will become a big shareholder, and board member. 00:45:15 Supply chain fragility. Management ideas since the 80s (stock on the road, just in time). Increasing strategic stockpile: Government has taken over complete trade in medical goods & pharmaceuticals (Germany). Future: Stock is held more closely to production? Competition: who keeps the workers? Shutdown on parcels. 00:48:00 smuggler: “Global trade is re-spun into something that is tightly controlled by the states.” “The economic topology now becomes the political topology.” 00:48:32 Centralization of production. Restriction of worker’s movement: implication to food production. Harvest hands are missing. Frank: Impossible to replace them with domestic workers. smuggler: Unskilled seasonal workers need to have experience to be productive. And Fitness. Bloomberg report on food production Free Speech 00:51:36 Arto: “Free Speech was already on its last legs, anyway.” Hate Speech. Platform level enforcement (Facebook, etc). 00:53:00 smuggler: “Policing on the net has taken a boost with coronavirus.” “This idea that the state has to control the information flow is becoming much more dominant, even in countries that allegedly had some free speech tradition.” Combination of algorythmic and human filtering. Targeted to anything related to pandemic, and political speech (keyword analysis, topic analysis). Human side of filtering is currently off-work, so currently there’s a lot of automated, imprecise flagging and deleting. Also happening on cloud-servers (Google Documents, GMail). Trying to rebuilt the Great Firewall of China (防火长城 fanghuo changcheng). 00:56:27 Twitter was essential in understanding what was happening in China. Leaked Videos, Photos, etc. Many sources are removed already! New Twitter “safety guidelines”: - Now, we will require people to remove Tweets that include the following: - Content that increases the chance that someone contracts or transmits the virus, including: - Denial of expert guidance - Encouragement to use fake or ineffective treatments, preventions, and diagnostic techniques - Misleading content purporting to be from experts or authorities 00:57:53 Frank: “They’re putting out false information themselves (like … with the masks), and it’s also the case that we don’t know the truth. I mean, that’s the whole problem of a developing pandemic, that a lot of the truth about the virus, and the disease, is actually not known at this point, not even by experts, they’re all trying to figure it out.” - Twitter is becoming an Epistemic Arbitrage. - No possibility to openly discuss. - Undermining process to come up with the least wrong data in the future. - Situation is highly dynamic. 00:59:41 Twitter was used for collaboration between scientists, publishing pre-prints, distributed peer-review (quickly debunking, too). - Preprint: Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag - Debunked: Trevor Bedford’s Twitter Thread Political Symbolism 01:00:50 Traffic shaping as political symbolism. smuggler: “Information control becomes a political symbol.” EU calls to reduce video quality on Netflix, etc. Politican making demands based on not understanding how these services work. Companies can gain reputation by responding quickly to these political demands. Identity Verification For Platforms 01:02:45 Keyword and topic analysis to prevent “false information”. USA: EARN IT Act (freedom of liability). EFF: The EARN IT Bill Is the Government’s Plan to Scan Every Message Online Started against child pornography, now widened to prevent spread of false information concerning the virus. smuggler: “If you make it mandatory for everything to be dynamically scanned, what you of course have to give up, is End-to-End Encryption.” Proposed by US Senate, but hasn’t been passed (yet). 01:04:44 United States Dept. of Justice: Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act: network of jurisdictions. US + Eu + whoever else signs Push on clearname (legal name, “real” name) push on all platforms 01:05:30 NetzDG (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz = Network Enforcement Act, also known as the Facebook Act): against hatespeech, used for actual police raids. Action day every two months, where police arrests people who conducted hate speech on social media. Prevention Of Political Turmoil, Coups, Etc. 01:06:06 smuggler: “a crisis like that is a crisis of all systems.” “There are quite a a few people who are afraid that the situation will be exploited to force changes in the political system by non-legal means, we’re talking coup d'êtats, revolutions, etc.” Current examples: at least two states Revolutions don’t bring better people into power. Political stablization by surveillance. 01:08:15 China’s political situation Precarious for presidency (习近平 Xi Jinping, since 2013) Perceived mismanagement at beginning of crisis. Competence is prerequiste of staying in power. 01:09:15 Frank: “To me it seems like again, we have this conflict between free market and basically a centralized economy.” Cutting streaming: people need the bandwidth to do work. Identity verification and certificates. Arto: “Credentials serve as a proxy for you being an expert.” Every conspiracy theory comes with a doctor (or other degree). Disappointments In Libertarian Ideals And Voluntaryist Communities 01:11:00 smuggler: “The vast majority of people, seen individually, are unable to deal with the unknown and with actual crisis events. And it doesn’t make it better or less good to introduce the state, or control the markets, or whatever […] in a way, if the majority of your population is idiots, it almost seems that having somebody with a slightly higher IQ telling them what to do, being the right approach. I’m not saying it’s ethically correct…” Markets are not rational. “What we’re really seeing is that there’s a problem that in crisis, mass atomic individualism breaks down to the collective of idiots. […] It’s something people have always told me, but I’ve never believed that.” “When it comes to the vast majority, I’m seriously disappointed.” “A lot of people I would consider freedom-lovers […] are now demonstrating that all they were about was they want to be contrarians.” Atomic Individualism approach showed that it’s failing, like the nation-state. Most important right now to work on voluntary, resilient groups. 01:15:50 Arto quoting: “There’s a silver lining to this crisis: now you know which of your friends are idiots.” Spanish: ser (used to talk about permanent or lasting attributes) vs. estar (used to indicate temporary states and locations), both meaning “to be”. Meme: “Radical anarchists are urging people to obey the state” H.L. Mencken: “Democracy is the worship of jackals by jackasses.” 01:17:45 Frank: “I was hoping that every libertarian understands that, and stays the fuck at home […] voluntarily. I don’t understand why people didn’t do it, especially the libertarians, […] if the state mandates a lockdown, they throw a corona party at home to protest.” Personality differences. 01:19:50 Frank’s Addict Theory. Most people act like addicts. Their drug, comfort, is threatened through crisis. Reaction of addicts: total denial (“There is no problem”), or justifications to keep up repeating old behavior (nobody wants to change behavoir) Also addict like: Ego-centricity (Doesn’t matter if granny dies!) 01:21:33 Responsible individual action fails. Bigger complexity. smuggler: “Externalizing the whole crisis management, and crisis preperation to the state, has been a real disaster. But the alternative - which is, atomic libertarians - they’re failing as well.” Arto quoting: “I wonder how libertarians are dealing with the fact that the current crisis is annihilating their entire ideology” How to make peace between individual liberty and being forced to take collective action against certain external threat? The right response for problems like these: many people coordinating their activity towards the problem, and is has to happen fast, but doesn’t have to happen perfect. Problem: Large parts of the population not cooperating (if 20% do not cooperate, it doesn’t matter what the leftover 80% do, especially in pandemic scenario). The 80% is not the issue, the 20% is. Level of Enforcement? 01:26:45 Failed to build communities that are able to respond (only Twitter crowd, and a few conferences). - Arto: “The atomized individual is nothing but plankton for Leviathan”, paraphrase of Jack Donovan (“In a sea of billions, a man alone is plankton”, Chapter: Belonging is Becoming, in: Becoming a Barbarian, 2016) 01:28:00 Arto: Doesn’t consider himself libertarian anymore. - Arto’s Talk at HCPP 2018: Post-Libertarian Realpolitik, Slides 01:28:18 smuggler: Implementation is failing. - “When it comes to the group, we’re failing.” - “We’re all holed up individually.” Communities And Pandemics 01:30:04 Frank: Communities that live together in one place (TAZ, no one is living there as of now). 01:30:40 Arto: Villages in Carpathians. - Remote and defenseable. - “Often solutions are so old-fashioned and boring, that they even escape notice in our focus on the cypherpunk future.” 01:31:48 smuggler: Community in the rocky mountains. - Dailymail: ‘You’re not welcome!': Worried residents tell rich ‘virus refugees’ flocking to the Hamptons, Martha’s Vineyard and Aspen to stay away to stop the spread of coronavirus in their communities - How do resilient structures look like, and where they should be positioned? - Build resilient structure long before the crisis hits. 01:32:48 Arto: “Even though we started preparing early, there wasn’t enough time to do a good job of it.” 01:33:11 Frank: Cannot compare these communities. - Community would relatively early cut off outside contact. - Units that are interfacing with outside world, but that are mostly seperated. That’s what you need for pandemics. 01:34:15 Arto: Housing together with weaker and more risky people. - Arto is living currently with 11 people in the house. - Not everyone has the same level of risk awareness. - Frank: “The chain is only as strong as the weakest link.” 01:35:18 “The Great Influenza”: Historic examples of communities where communities isolated themselves early. - Australia is shining example, only succumbed in 3rd wave: “Australia had escaped. It had escaped because of a stringent quarantine of incoming ships. Some ships arrived there with attack rates as high as 43 percent and fatality rates among all passengers as high as 7 percent. But the quarantine kept the virus out, kept the continent safe, until late December 1918 when, with influenza having receded around the world, a troopship carrying ninety ill soldiers arrived.” (p.375) 01:37:39 Threats with spreading behavior. - Foxes and Henhouse. - Rippling effects. - Proctecting everybody requires cohersive regime, so some deaths must be taken as toll. - Isolation can only be short-term remedy, later: controlled exposure, requires discipline of community. - Atomic anarchist thought. 01:38:33 Cohersive state = single point of failure. - Arto: Epidemiologists make same mistake as central planners, they assume what they propose can be done. Projections based on these assumptions. - Failures: Political will (half-assed implementation), population is not complying, information asymmetry. - Some states seem to handle it well, but story is not over yet (Resurgence): Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China. - “People think of Wuhan as the worst case, actually, it’s be the best case.” - Hubei province, less than 1% of population was infected. Western numbers will be way higher. - Lockdown happened with about 500 cases, US is still not locked down. Positive Things 01:42:05 Positive things! - Open-Source Ventilators, bottom-up. - Arto: Most deaths will be in third-world countries, these things might make a big difference there. - Future: no idea what that will look like, just no cohersive state. - smuggler: Not re-create central command, lack of information isn’t removed by distribution. - Quick responses, quick recovers. - smuggler: “When it comes to the ventilators, for example, a year ago that was more or less illegal behavior […] and now, we’re basically relying on that. Same is true for mass production, same is true for people volunteering for illegal drug trials, and stuff like that.” - Future where positive actions can be amplified, and negative actions can be pertailed. - Frank: “How can we self-organize into communities where we bubble up truth quicker? […] Sometimes you have to kick the noise out. […] It’s also not true that there’s no problem with false information and noise, there is a problem with that. […] I just believe that censorship is not a solution to the problem.” - smuggler: knowing reputation, knowledge is also pretty localized to specific topic. “Social media is not a replacement for human relationship.” 01:48:10 smuggler: “You learn by having a relationship with the person. When I listen to you, Frank, or you, Arto, I kinda know how you think, where your weaknesses in thinking and where your strengths in thinking are, so when I listen to you I can make my own conclusions from what you say, […] so your information is really valueable.” - The vast majority of senders are people where you don’t have this background information. - Arto: There’s no shortcut to get that information. - Transitive trust. - In current situation, these things become more visible. Ventilators And Taking Action 01:49:30 smuggler: “We really have to embrace those problems […] in the past, there have been a lot of ‘Oh, it’s not really a problem’, you know we can put it away and the market will solve it. What is really important to learn from this whole sitution, I think, is that, we know that the problems exist and it’s up to us to create solutions, because if we don’t create solutions, the solutions that will come are shit. I’m not talking about the three of us, I’m talking about the community of people who actually want to have more liberty. We have to embrace the problems and we have to solve them, and we cannot just externalize them to another mythical entity, you know, not the state in this case, but the market in which apparently no one is participating from our communities.” 01:50:29 Arto: Lviv is particularly bad with medical supplies. - Lviv infectious diseases hospital (Львівська інфекційна лікарня) had a total of 4 ventilators. - Grassroots effort to tackle COVID19: (Lviv IT Cluster)[https://itcluster.lviv.ua/en/lvivskyj-klaster-zapuskaye-masove-testuvannya-naselennya-na-covid19/], about 100 members, they import test kits and will provide mobile testing stations, they purchase PPE and ventilators as donations for hospitals. 01:53:18 smuggler: “The market works great, if the value system and the direction of solution is clear. And then, it’s amazing, then people say: I can copy this, I can copy this…” - If values / solutions are unclear, people will rather create more problems, than solve problems. 01:54:15 Distributed mass production of open-source ventilator designs. - Intubation is complicated procedure, not easily learned, special requirements on equipment. - What is possible? - Limits: man-power Mass-Gatherings 01:55:08 Mass-Gatherings and COVID19. - Protests have been outruled, mass-gatherings, conferences have been cancelled. - smuggler: Crypto-Travelling-Circus is completely dead at the moment. Effects? - Frank: maybe there’s more code written now. ;) - smuggler: After lockdown, they might stil want to have lists with legal names for gatherings and events. Permits are likely. - Restart by checking Immunization of participients (Certificate of Immunity?). - smuggler: Protests and demonstrations are a building block of democracy. - This has been taken away: “If you don’t know there’s currently a pandemic going on, it could also be confused with being a coup d'êtat, where basically nobody is allowed on the streets anymore, you cannot have protests anymore, you can’t meet people, you can’t go to the government office and demand your rights to be honored…” - Democracy incompatible with pandemics? Electronic Voting, Remote Elections 02:00:15 Electronic Voting - US: push for electronic voting (easy manipulation possible). 02:00:52 Secrecy of Vote: voting by email - EU Parliament mistakenly sent mail to all members, instead of counting party. - Remote working doesn’t work so well for parliament work. - Impact on system. 02:02:05 Frank: “We’re not prepared for a pandemic in terms of processes.” - The Law is not in place to be done in a remote way. - There’s no way to not go to the notary in person (even for authorizing someone else). - Hire someone who is immune? Antibody Gophers And Plasma Farms 02:03:18 Arto: People who have anti-bodies and can prove it, will be in high demand. - For serum (blood), and as gophers. - Blood plasma trade from Wuhan survivors (plasma farms). - China influencing geopolitical alliances through plasma trade? - Dark Markets add blood category? Burning Through Population 02:06:02 More reckless people have more influence now. - Frank: “States who let it burn quickest through their population, are the ones who will be first in line when the economy restarts.” - Arto: Overwhelmed hospitals will give them reason to rethink. - Brazil uses the burning through. - smuggler: might fix the pension system. 02:07:58 Three models: - complete lockdown (Wuhan approach, Examples: Singapore, South Korea). - complete burn-through scenario (mass casualties, Examples maybe Sweden and Brazil?). - those who cannot decide between either (Western countries, Examples: Germany, USA). Lessons From SARS 02:09:30 Asian countries who are SARS veterans reacted differently. - Greenfeld, Karl Taro (2006): China Syndrome: The True Story of the 21st Century’s First Great Epidemic - Very valuable lessons in there. - Strategic stockpiles (Singapore vs. USA). 02:11:23 Vaccine Developments - Bill Gates TED Connects talk 2020 - at least one year Cash 02:13:00 smuggler: Cash= Regulartory reactive control; Everything Else= Future Bio Defense - Assumption: Spreading of cash= spreading of contaminants. - Immedeate move by some states: restrictions, move to electronic payment systems. - Restrictions on cash before social distancing, limitation of how many people can be in the shop at the same time, disinfection of cards, queues, no PPE… etc. - Contactless payments by card. Problem: PIN number, but: allowed amounts without PIN have been upped. - You do not control the money on your card, you just have a claim for this amount to your bank. 02:17:10 Assets with direct control, without third party. - Cash (might be difficult to spend, tho). - Gold (Coins!), or Silver Coins. - Executive Order 6102, 1933: USA might confiscate Gold again in 2020. - Cryptocurrencies. Problem: Not widely accepted (at your local supermarket?), and strong dependecy on working exchange, communication, and energy infrastructure. - smuggler: “Our Value Transfer Systems are not as resilient as we would like them to be, and not at all trustworthy.” - “Perfect opportunity” to push cashless. - Arto quoting: “All the Fiat currencies are sinking, just at different rates.” 02:20:05 Possible solutions - Move to crypto, scan QR codes? See problems above. - Frank& smuggler’s SCRIT: cheap, super fast, offline capable, untraceable ecash. Backable system with gold, Bitcoin, etc. - Buying physical gold is really hard at Berlin at the moment, gold-backed SCRIT might be a very good solution. Biodefense 02:23:00 Long-term implementations, strategic security response. - Temperature checks. Not so effective for COVID19. - Rapid testing. Might become mandatory at border crossing. - Arto: Some Chinese hacked this screening by taking drugs to lower temperature. False Positives. - Actively circumventing the measures: first case in France was Chinese woman fleeing China. - smuggler: “It’s fascinating how people are either not believing that they might be a risk, or really not giving a shit and then breaking sensible rules…” - Arto: SARS lesson, doctors showing symptoms rationalized it away (human denial). - “Coronavirus gives you the urge to travel” memes - Setting up border camps for mandatory quarantine plus rapid testing, three times negative and you can go in (Hongkong, Singapore, China, some Balkan countries). - India: internal ID plus health checkpoints. 02:29:15 Freedom of travel. - Germany: restricting travel to certain states. - Italy and Spain: restrict leaving house! - Spain: Dog-walking is a legit reason to leave house, renting dog business. Face Recognition And Masks. 02:31:28 Future of Face Recognition with masks. - Airport CCTV upgrades: Thermal imaging. - AI face recognition also works with masks: - Hikvision Fever Screening Thermal Camera - Thermal Body Temp Measurement Solution - Dahua - temperature pattern is biometric indicator - use overlay infrared and visual light to see partially through a lot of mask types. - Privacy Extremists Masks: should be impenetrable with infrared, and helmet-like - Biometrics take 150-250 points (most: eye, nose, mouth) 02:34:00 Abortion of face recognition rollout in the West? - EU considering ban., further reading: The EU’s agenda to regulate AI does little to rein in facial recognition Shifting Old And New Behaviors 02:34:48 smuggler: “If masks become standard attire […] it would undermine a lot of biometric data to social networks.” - Standard cell camera won’t pick up on your ID (random snapshots). - Arto: Hongkong forbid wearing of masks because of the protests, now masks are mandatory. Things change! - Why is it psychological hurdle for Westeners? - Influencer and celebrity campaigns. 02:37:12 Handshakes, a thing of the past. - It’s a dirty habit. 02:37:30 Guided by mainstream behavior. - Frank: At one point it will be weird, when you don’t wear a mask. - Arto: Tipping point should be low, 20-30%: Social tipping points - Frank: Might be temporary, masks are uncomfortable, habit might not stick. - Arto: Community responsibility in Asian countries is higher. - smuggler: Designs are old and for special purposes, maybe something new will emerge. - Positive side of the Pandemic. :) Infection control and identity, physical privacy 02:40:42 Testing, and contact tracing, enforced quarantine, isolation. - Larry Brilliant’s TED talk: “Early detection, rapid response.” - As soon as you have positive tested people: - First measure: Isolation. - Second measure: Test them in isolation until release. - Call people on person’s contact list and put into isolation as well. - Contact Chain: Contacts of infected person or also contacts of contacts? Depends on how fast testing is, and symptomatics and spread of disease. - SARS-CoV-2 contact tracing should be 2 hops (including contacts of contacts). - Introverts might have an advantage here. - Cellphone or wearable with contract tracing app: Device exchange 02:46:00 First Option: Broadcasting System on Phone or Wearable. - South Korea Contact Tracing App: Bluetrace. - Register with phone number, connected with key of health authority. Broadcast via Bluetooth. - Gives health authorities list of contacts and means to contact them. - South Korea is watching quarantined citizens with a smartphone app. Thousands in coronavirus lockdown will be monitored for symptoms—and tracked to make sure they stay at home and don’t become “super spreaders.” 02:48:00 German Contact Tracing App: Still in application rounds. 02:48:20 Second Option: Cellphone Location Tracking. Example: Israel. Data is always available to cellphone provider, this data is used. 2-10m radius for COVID19, and indoor/ outdoor problem - cellphone data is not precise enough. 02:49:46 Third option: GPS logging. either directly broadcast to health authority, or store it for a day. 02:50:35 Privacy risks: enormous networks of social interactions, with recording. Records of location data, either centralized or hard to control. A lot of countried where people are immedeately findable by state. Arto: Pre-requisite is connection between legal person and the device. In Ukraine, SIM cards are still anonymous. smuggler: “The reason it is done is because it simulates actionism.” Cellphone location weakness: doesn’t work for contact tracing. Goal might be to enforce social distancing and dissolve large groups. Contact tracing weakness: catching too many people. Frank: “It would be a total privacy nightmare, but […] it a good solution to a pandemic problem, which means every epidemilogist is asking for it, and […] it only really works if basically all people use it.” Likely to end with a global soliution? Enforcing Isolation 02:54:50 Quarantine, and enforcing isolation. Hongkong quarantine bracelet solution: wearing bracelet plus app, bluetooth signals, user has to send selfies wearing it. might be all into one app: Testing, and contact tracing, enforced quarantine. 02:57:00 Isolation method: Cordon sanitaire. Make sure person has less contacts. Enforcement by: binding device to body of person (bracelet, wearable), cannot be removed withour destroying it (tamper detection). Device is connected with phone, which knows location. Person with device cannot walk away from phone: Geofencing. (GPS location, cellphone network location, tracking bluetooth beacons and WiFi hotspots; all of these can be verified). Circumvent the system: demanding video of user (biometric recognition and background analysis with lightning). Using fitness trackers, some can already do biometric binding (heartbeat), example Apple iWatch. Rollout for future prison system. Don’t forget to drop your cellphone if you drop the wearable. Location history and social graph becomes available to authorities. Also incorporating sound environment. Using ultrasound beacons instead of bluetooth beacons. Future: Global Scale, Cybercrime 03:03:30 Global Standardization. smuggler: “There’s an enormous amount of work and competition right there, because […] the smart people in the field know, that if their technology works the best, they will become the recommended standard for […] the WHO.” South Korea makes it Open Source, and wants their app to become standard. Theirs is pretty bad on beacon tracing, but it’s not the worst system. 03:04:54 Cybercrime and cyber-warfare. smuggler: “Right now, there’s this rush to roll it out, and there’s almost o consideration spent on things like the privacy of the user, centralization of data, or the possible effects those systems have for a cyberattack. Just imagine you’re able to attack the contact tracing system of another country and create a shit-load of false alarms- or, if you’re able to surpress the working of such a contact tracing system, so that the authorities cannot quickly contain pandemics. So, there’s a huge cybercrime and cyber-warfare aspect, in addition to the privacy aspect.” Can it be prevented? Are there better solutions? Overall method is correct. Network effects are important, you want an integrated global system. Future: Population control, Personal Life, Law 03:08:10 Crowd suppression and population control. Can be used by police to find suspects or crime rings. If it becomes mandatory, these systems will be easily combineable with CCTV. People without beacon can be detected. Enforcement will be easy. Internal checkpoints in places where people gather. Combine with access to apartment buildings (as already done in China): keyless entry. Which is conveniant, and convenience is the ultimate drug. 03:11:02 Effects for personal life. Knowing secret meetings, churches. Dating possibilities: matching infection status. Blackmail for cheating and going to brothels will be easy. 03:11:42 Law and juristic scope. Most countries already have infectious control laws set in place. In theory you can already be arrested, sent to prison, etc., but it’s not enforced yet. Frank: “There’s a lot of laws in the books which seem benign, but when you can 100% enforce them with modern technology, then it becomes a total nightmare.” smuggler: “For me, really, the future as it looks right now is everybody will have contact tracing and isolation enforcing apps, and/or wearables, and if nothing dramatic happens, these systems will be bad for privacy and freedom, globally.” 100.000 people in Italy violating lockdown Italy is increasing fines up to €4.000, and if you break the curfew and are infected, then you can face up to multiple years in prison. Future: Escaping devices, Building Alternatives -03:14:30 Escaping your devices. - Dumb phones/ burner phones, won’t be acceptable anymore. - Arto: “If you plan to go to any civilized area, there will be- automated or not- checkpoints, to see that you are tracked. So, it won’t be that easy, except in the countryside, to actually escape your devices. And that’s a big change from today.” -03:15:20 Prevention and Alternatives. - Big question: can the technology rollout somehow be prevented? Can we build something without the privacy downsides? - smuggler: Even countryside might not be excluded. Voice recognition. - Companies already focussing on third-world country solutions. Tracking beacons are available around US$10, managed by signup stations, no cell needed. 03:20:22 New Tech Acceptance Campaigns. Similar to vaccination campaigns. Countries just need to invite organizations, and create legal enforcement rules. Regional variations possible. 03:21:12 Third world countries. Escape of enforcement might be possible temporarily in third world countryside. Third world countries will take heaviest death toll. Death toll Spanish flu- India: 2 Million; USA: 670.000 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation helped rolling out for COVID19 already, maybe more charities will follow. Bugs, IoT, LoRa, Specialized Wearables 03:23:26 Implementation problems in first world countries, and bluetooth bugs. More privacy friendly options are bluetooth-based. Secondary option in Hongkong, because of technical troubles: Let WhatsApp broadcast location. Arto: Android and Bluetooth is extremely buggy: Recently discovered bluetooth flaw, unpatchable in Android

Muneeb Ali is the co-founder and CEO of Blockstack, a decentralized computing network that gives users control of their data. Muneeb talks about the limits of Web 2.0 and how that led to an intrusive ad model, and how web 3.0 changes this model by giving individuals control of their digital sovereignty. Why you should listen: Muneeb explains that over a dinner with Balaji S. Srinivasan in February, Balaji convinced him that COVID-19 was about to crash the world and all precautions should be taken. Balaji was right. The simple but robust protocol design for the Internet Protocol (IP) took the internet to 15B connected devices through the period of the fastest technological change in history. Muneeb says Bitcoin's protocol has the same properties - it is simple and robust - that's why Bitcoin is the ideal narrow waist for Web 3. Key takeaway: Blockstack completed its capital raise six months ago and rebalanced its portfolio in February - leaving them in a strong position to keep building in these turbulent times. Blockstack aims to be simple and powerful - like Bitcoin. Blockstack can be thought of as the inverse of the world computer - or platform blockchains such as Ethereum and EOS. Muneeb says that in trying and uncertain times - it is important for individuals to have a sense of purpose to help them keep pushing forward. Snow Crash is Mnueeb's fav sci-fi novel and it informs his thinking about Web3 and Web4. The Crypto Conversation is proudly sponsored by DeFi leaders NEXO  Click here to borrow instantly in 45+ fiat currencies   Click here to earn daily interest on your idle assets   Supporting links: Blockstack Blocktack Blog Bitcoin as the narrow waist for Web3 Fireside chat with Balaji S. Srinivasan Snow Crash Simulation Theory Why Decentralization Matters Google creepily records you Muneeb on Twitter Andy on Twitter  Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.

Frank Braun talks with Arto Bendiken about the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). How did we get here and what convinced us to prep. Paranoia, case fatality rates, and vaccines. Secondary and tertiary effects. Normalcy, authority, and confirmation bias. Subscribe Pocket Casts Spotify Stitcher Apple Podcasts Overcast Google Podcasts PlayerFM YouTube Show Notes Introduction 00:01:40 What set this whole thing in motion? Both Frank and Arto are already in lockdown mode, and prepared. It’s ~6 weeks since both of them started “buying some insurance”. Arto prepared for 11 people. 00:05:25 What made you think it’s going to be a big deal? (Risk assessment) Observations from Wuhan. Lessons from Spanish Influenza 1918-1920. High infectiousness, showing no symptoms while being infectious. People suddenly dropping in the streets. 00:08:00 Book: “The Great Influenza” Few media coverage on strange cases, like the woman dropping on the vegetable market. 2020, A strange year 00:09:10 First week of February: cancelling all travel plans (Arto Bendiken). 00:10:00 “An earthquake happened in Wuhan, and the tsunami will follow. It is hard to see the tsunami until it comes close to the shore, but it will follow.” (Arto citing Steve) 00:11:05 Analytical preparation, emotional process (fear) comes later. 00:11:40 Reactions by others: accusations of panicking. 00:12:03 Convincing others to prepare? 00:12:28 People buy insurance for things that are less likely to happen. 00:14:43 NN Taleb’s Tweet on Paranoia: “When paranoid, you can be wrong 1000 times & you will survive. If non-paranoid; wrong once, and you, your genes, & the rest of your group are done.” - Not everyone takes action on something so far away. 00:15:40 Balaji S. Srinivasan’s Three categories of people: “1) Post-headline people: only believe things that are already in print 2) No filter people: forget it, they’ll believe anything :) 3) Pre-headline people: will listen to a rational argument and look at primary data”. 00:17:05 Authority bias: Credentials, degrees, other people’s opinion. 00:18:10 Talking to family and friends about situation when there was still time to prepare. 00:18:40 Cassandra Myth (Iliad) 00:19:15 Uniform set of responses: you’re panicking and making it worse, dismissal 00:19:53 Bill Gates warned about pandemics long ago, but was dismissed as a college dropout and IT guy. (Confirmation bias, ad hominem attack) 00:21:09 Bill Gates: “The most predictable disaster in the history of the human race”. 00:21:20 Albert Camus: These things have a way of reocurring out of the blue sky. 00:21:50 Increased risk factors: base risk plus big cities, international travel. 00:22:03 On average, three pandemics a century. 00:22:21 Ebola outbreak was a close call. Hongkong Flu (1 million dead), late 1960s. Economic cost 00:23:14 Many animal to human transmissions were contained early by slaughtering millions of animals at the slightest sign of sickness. (Economical cost!) 00:23:53 Vaccines and public health system. (Smallpox) 00:25:47 We are still in the beginning of the economic impact. Common thinking errors and biases 00:26:45 Bias to focus on things that are caused by humans. Helplessness when confronted with pandemics. 00:27:37 Man-made virus from Wuhan lab? 00:28:19 Illegaly sold lab test animal at wet market? (野味 yewei, bush meat; 街市 jieshi, wet market) 00:30:08 Cognitive bias: systematic error of thinking. Man is the rationalizing animal. (Example: seeing faces in clouds) 00:31:31 Examples of observed biases: authority bias, confirmation bias, combinations of these. 00:32:25 Normalcy bias (nobody wants to be bothered to change routines). The Virus: An Abstract Threat, vs. Zombies 00:33:05 Max Brooks (World War Z): Fear of pandemics is so deep, cannot be discussed rationally. Zombies = Pandemic. 00:34:50 Virus is an abstract threat, there will be 1 trillion copies of it by infection. 00:35:14 Plague: people did not even know what caused infection. (Germ theory) 00:36:45 Are Zombie enthusiasts better prepared for a virus pandemic? 00:37:55 Trying to find out what’s going on fundamentally vs. latching onto experts. 00:38:48 Engaging brain about status vs. primary data. 00:39:30 People starting with the premise that they are not smart enough to understand what’s actually going on, not making any effort of their own. 00:40:40 Trying to understand incoming data, for example the first papers coming out of Wuhan. 00:42:05 Impossible to keep up with current findings, research, and papers. 00:42:40 More data globally, in the beginning filtering was easier. Problems with “Confirmed cases” 00:42:42 Mon, March 16th: currently 170.000 confirmed cases, 5000-6000 dead. 00:42:49 Confirmed cases != infections 00:43:17 Impossible to keep up with new cases. 00:44:00 “Confirmed case count"= comes with limitations (manpower, test kits). 00:44:55 Again, not enough test kits (USA, Berlin). Wuhan could test only 3000/day in the beginning. 00:45:20 “Confirmed cases"= lag in data. 00:46:35 “When people focus on these official measures… that are limited by staffing, test kits, by political considerations, then that’s not a good way… of understanding what’s going on.” 00:46:55 “That’s why it was so good to get this leaked information, leaked videos, from Wuhan. That way we got a sense of what was actually going on.” 00:47:30 The plural of anecdote is data. 00:47:41 Investigative Reporting. 00:48:00 Actions speak louder than data: Measures against the virus were severe. 1 Mio people in lockdown, 10% of global population. Mathematical Modelling 00:48:42 Mathematical Modelling… common problems: people cannot understand exponential function. people compare to flu last year. countermeasure lag: it takes time to show effect, politics make new changes 2 days apart, makes no sense. 00:51:12 Case fatality rate. World Health Organization (WHO) 00:51:22 Role of WHO: gives recommendations for guidelines, funding by member countries (China among them), driven by political considerations. 00:52:15 Public health emergencies of international concern (PHEIC). 00:52:25 WHO got rid of the term “pandemic”. Case Fatality Rate (CFR) 00:53:25 “Naïve” Case Fatality Rate (CFR), released by WHO. First, 2.1% (mostly China); revised 3.5%, and going up. 00:55:20 SARS initial outbreak CRF ~2%, but by the end of the outbreak, it was ~6% (resolved CFR). 00:56:49 Makes no sense to compare past cases to current cases (open cases vs. resolved). 00:57:45 CFR for age groups: not taking into consideration system overload (needed care might not be provided). 00:59:22 CFR only says so much, 20% require hospitalization, many of those need ICU. 01:00:00 Hospitals in Italy are already overwhelmed, will worsen until end of the week. 01:00:40 Italy’s CFR is already higher than China’s. Secondary and Teritiary Effects 01:00:50 Cases overload the medical system, secondary effect: death rates go up. Patients with other diseases might not get medical help. Empty hospitals beds waiting for the next pandemic are unlikely. Economic impossibility, health care system already occupies significant percentage from GDP. Makeshift hospitals. 01:03:20 Investment options. Stock-market implosions. Crypto-market implosions. Flight to cash. 01:04:28 Supply chain problems. Goods coming from China. Food also comes from China. Just-in-time economy (supermarket have no more backrooms, but once or twice a day a truck delivery). Tesco is already limiting purchases like toilet paper. Respirators (EU: FFP2 & USA: N95, or FFP3 & N99): China restricted exports. Overreacting 01:08:15 “It’s always about efficieny, never about risk of failure.” 01:08:28 Pandemic response bears a similar problem like IT security. Overreaction with swine-flu might had been the reason it never got that bad, that’s why it was called an overreaction later. 01:09:23 “It’s a bit like prepping: no matter how bad it gets, you want to be overreacting in retrospect, otherwise, you didn’t prep enough. And, you’re not gonna hit exactly on target, so you wanna err on the side of overreaction.” 01:10:01 Control theory (robotics): accuracy vs. speed. Respirators and Masks 01:12:30 “You don’t have them [the respirators] until you have them in your hand” … “It’s like cash”. 01:13:10 Only stock up on masks if you intend to not avoid people. 01:14:23 Ukrainian border confiscated protective gear when trying to cross border to Poland (export is forbidden). 01:15:21 Idea that you don’t need respirators: “You don’t know how to properly use them!” “Doctors need them.” 01:15:50 Why didn’t hospitals stock up in January? True: Doctors need respirators more. 01:16:30 How can wearing a mask not help? If everyone wears a mask, that means every infected person wears a mask, and this decreases chances of transmission. (Hongkong) 01:17:25 “Wearing a respirator makes it less likely you’re getting infected yourself, … and wearing a surgical mask … helps not infecting other people, so it makes total sense that everyone wears at least surgical masks”. 01:18:40 Men’s issue: shaving gel and razors (beards and masks don’t go well together). Prepping 01:20:40 People tend to be dismissive of people with health problems, who might need medication or health care, and the elderly (“It kills only old people!"). 01:22:02 Ukrainian health care system is monopolized by state (surgeries, child birth, vaccine). “A public hospital is the last place I want to go [in the Ukraine]". 01:22:22 Contingency planning differs on country. 01:23:25 “The real carnage is going to be in third-world countries, just like it was in 1918”. (USA: 675.000 vs. India: 2 Million, Spanish Flu) 01:24:20 Lviv Infecitous Diseases Hospital messaged it would be well-prepared with 20 isolation beds (and plans to expand to 300), 4 ventilators, 0 ECMO, 10.000 surgical masks and respirators. Medical supplies 01:25:40 No difficulty to buy antibiotics in Ukraine, whereas in other countries it’s highly regulated (prescription vs. over the counter). 01:26:37 Chloroquine is promising in treatment of COVID-19 (malaria drug). 01:27:39 Paracetamol is not easy to buy in bulk. India also has restricted export (Indians source precursors from China, too). Location 01:28:40 Arto’s housing situation: countryside Western Ukraine, foothills of Carpathians. Frank: Berlin suburbs. Location cannot be changed later. Time is a constraint. Economy is going down. “If you wanna prep now, and you don’t already have a place to go… I don’t see why you should go there now”. Consider threat model: main risk for both is electricity going down. Social Distancing 01:32:51 Where do you stay put, and with whom? Acquire resources to stay put: food and drinking water, some personal protection for supply runs. Nitrile gloves Any mask will be useful, at least you won’t touch your face. Disinfectant: WHO guide how to make your own, primers might still be available. Goggles: Construction glasses or swim goggles. Scenario 01:36:30 Think about your scenario: staying inside apartment for a long time. food, water, protective gear what could go wrong- how do I deal with it? If electricty goes down: gasoline cooker, cheap carbohydrates (no freezer/ storage), pressure canning (no freezer, conserving meat). 01:40:30 Most likely scenario: you stay indoors, everything works (electricity, water, internet) first, get prepared for this scenario. 01:41:00 If electricity goes down for extended periods, water goes down. The big problem is not drinking water, but sanitation. Off-the-grid bucket loo with trash bags and wood shavings as absorbant, and wet wipes to clean. (BranQ portable toilet) 01:43:00 Water filter Micropur Forte Katadyn Filter Foodgrade Canisters for tap water and disinfect with Micropur Forte. 01:44:06 “I tried to focus on stuff that I normally eat anyway, … I just got a lot more, so it doesn’t go to waste. Other things like rice bags, I got as an insurance, but the rest I would eat anyway.” Threat model: Electricity, Water, Internet going down 01:44:50 Threat model and scenario. Social distancing might help burn the pandemic out. Viral shedding after recovery can be up to 37 days. Countries will handle situation differently. 01:47:10 “… if the situation gets particulary bad, which it might over here [in Ukraine] at least, I would expect some more outages, for the internet connectivity, there’s multiple options for that, so I expect at least one of them working.” 01:47:44 A lot of people getting sick means a lot of people not working, especially in grid systems workers might not be able to fix things in time. 01:48:24 “For the internet, we will see how well that works if everybody’s sitting at home watching netflix, or porn in full HD.” 01:48:59 Mobile internet. 01:49:17 Mitigate risk for short downtimes. 01:50:40 Wuhan pictures from people queuing for water. 01:51:11 Mitigate risk of having to go to the store a lot. not because of food shortages, but it’s a risk for virus exposure. 01:51:48 Going out for walks, just don’t meet anybody (countryside). avoid contact, don’t touch anything droplets in common areas that you pass on the way out (hallway, elevator). Prepping and timing 01:53:25 “Although I’m now pretty well prepared compared to most people, it kinda caught me cold-handed… because I was always interested in prepping, and I was always planning on prepping more for when SHTF, but I never really executed that much. But when I started six weeks ago, I realized how much harder… it was than I imagined, and also how much harder it was because… of such a short notice, and it was getting harder to get things, for example the respirators. It would have been so easy to stock up on all of this stuff. For example, the ridiculous situation that you had to ship me antibiotics from Ukraine although I was in Ukraine in January, I should have just bought all the prescription medicine a prepper needs.” 01:55:37 Early Infections in Italy, Seattle, etc. happened in January/Feburary. COVID-19 death in Spain 2 weeks before the first confirmed case there. (Lack of indicator) Food and Cans 01:56:56 Cheap carbohydrates, easy to store. (“Insurance”) Potatoes, rice, buckwheat. 01:57:10 Newly acquired freezer to stock up on meat. Canned meat as backup. Pressure Canning, if you have time, or already own a pressure canner. 01:58:15 Add variety, if you switch to carbohydrates. Canned veggies and canned fruit. Salt, Pepper, Spices. Deliveries 01:59:18 Deliveries still working. Disinfecting parcels. All delayed (surge of deliveries, momentarily overwhelmed). Fat 02:01:05 Freeze butter, or make Ghee. Olive oil might be adulterated with industry/ vegetable oils. Timescale 02:02:55 “Right now, people in the last week or two stopped laughing… and stopped repeating this mindless It’s Just The Flu, Bro… in any case, they’re still expecting this will be over soon. … And authorities are still telling them it will be over soon, prepare for a few weeks.” even emergency measures expire in about a month (bars and club are closed only until April, etc.) People stay at home close to 50 days. (Wuhan) China is looked upon as having “beaten the virus”. 02:04:57 “It’s always better if you’re dealing with a foreign virus, than with a domestic virus”. In Iran: Zionist conspiracy. “Virus doesn’t care!” 02:05:40 Once China resumes work, and life, there will be another wave. re-imports to China (from Italy for example) fully stopping virus is not so easy. virus will become endemic. multiple waves. Dystopian future vs. helpful tracking and tracing 02:07:26 Countries which deal well with it: outbreak, containment measures, a lot of testing, tracking, and contact tracing -> situation under control, problem: reintroduction from other countries. China is currently trying to automate contact tracing. Location tracking. Surveillance cameras with face recognition. Helpful scaling of tracking vs. dystopian nightmare. 02:10:10 The Virus can travel up to 4,5m, passenger infected others through a long-distance bus ride. video camera in bus. position of citizens is known at all times. re-engineering passenger’s travel was possible. 02:12:20 Controlling coming waves, keeping the country in lockdown is not a solution unless we transition to a permanentely remote economy. 02:12:30 Appeal from engineer perspective. Social Scoring system is already established. put people on specific quarantines if they were in contact with an infected person. government AI tells you if you should leave your apartment today, or get a test. scaling without the disruptions from now would be possible. 02:14:04 Germany outruled events with more than 50 people, but if you do an event with less people, you need to create a list of all attendees. (old school approach) pressure into direction of more surveillance. pushing ban on cash forward as well. China destroyed cash on basis of contamination questions. some chains in Germany went cashless because of the virus. Acceptance pipeline 02:16:39 “Acceptance pipeline”, dealing with grief: it won’t be over soon. 02:17:10 Pipe dream: Many place hope on vaccine development. vaccines are for healthy populations. vaccine is far away: more than 12 months, at least. might not be easy to develop (7 different coronaviruses, 15 years of development but currently no vaccine for either). not so effective: 20-60% for common flu vaccine. high mutation rate. 02:20:30 Accepting that there’s no easy fix. what are you going to do to plan for it? avoid infection as long as possible (6 months). look at vaccine development like a lottery win. by the time the vaccine is developed (18 months), whatever will happen has already happened. 02:23:12 It’s hard to plan to stay in apartment for 18 months. instead, plan for a world with Coronavirus, and a lot of lockdowns, and a lot of infections. Learning from past pandemics 02:23:35 Learn from past pandemics (1918 Spanish flu, 3 waves). 02:24:04 Spanish flu: passed through ships, first cases (first wave) very mild, less than influenza, less than COVID-19. Second wave, 5 months of carnage. Worse than COVID-19, at least currently. Third wave, somewhere in between. future waves might be more lethal. or become endemic, less lethal. it would be prudent to plan on a worst-case scenario where it takes a couple of years. “something worth paying attention to is going on.” Economic changes 02:27:50 Practical preparations for 6 months is difficult (economically). savings rates in Western countries are shit. people are out of jobs already (events cancelled, tourism breaks down). bankruptcy. no more fundraising tours. airlines discharge employees. 02:29:29 Good thing: remote work will be more accepted. Prepping List 02:30:00 Supply run gear for securing supplies goggles (and anti-fog spray), respirator (or surgical mask), rain poncho (or whole body protection suit), gloves (most important). 02:32:20 Surfaces: virus can be contangious on surfaces a few days (up to 9 days). Buttons, handrails, etc. (disposable gloves). 02:33:38 Coming from outside to inside. Shoes (rain boots can be easily disinfected). 02:34:10 Sourcing is already hard, will become more difficult. switching to local production. repurposing existing production facilities. 02:34:50 Power issues. solar panels, butane, propane, camping stove, space heaters on butane. fuel: gasoline, diesel, firewood. prepare for next winter. 02:36:00 Sanitation TP!!! plumber might not be available: be prepared to unplug it on your own. 02:37:05 Disinfectant Alcohol-based wet wipes since disinfectant is nearly everywhere sold out, switch to local production and DIY. 02:37:45 Medical The Prepared List/ Medical Broad-band Antibiotics: prevent secondary infections (pneumonia, 50-60% CFR). Doxycycline, Bactrim, Zithromax. India is restricting 26 medicines& pharmaceuticals, including paracetamol. China is restricting personal protective equipment (PPE) export since a month, maybe also medicine. If you take any prescription medicine, stock up for a few months at least. Stock up on painkillers (Ibuprofen and other non-steroids like aspirin, might be a risk factor for COVID-19). Prepare to treat yourself. 02:43:13 Pregnancies. Prepare for home birth. Access to healthcare resources will be restricted (Check-ups). Sourcing books. Remote consultation with midwives. Might be a common situation this year. 02:44:45 Chronic diseases and cancer patients. Might be unable to receive treatment. 02:46:34 Hygiene and Sanitary Items. Condoms. Tampons, Pads. can also be tradeables 02:47:05 Tradeables. see above, and: Alcohol. Cigarettes. Lighters. Wrap-up 02:48:05 Send us your questions! 02:48:32 Expert: Jon Stokes, ThePrepared.com. Founder of Ars Technica. 02:49:20 Book Recommendation: Barry, John M. (2004): The Great Influenza. The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. Arto’s Twitter thread with quotes from the book 02:51:15 Book Recommendation: Hatfill, Steven; Coullahan, Robert; Walsh, John (2019): Three Seconds To Midnight. US-specific, but general sections are great. 02:51:50 “Bottom line here is: People underestimated this systematically. … Systemic error of thinking, they underestimated it, and they continue to underestimate it, even though they are no longer laughing, they continue to underestimate it. … This is something that has not happened in any of our lifetimes, there’s no listener who has seen anything that has been on the order of this, and it would be very good to get out of our normalcy bias.” recognizing a lethal situation as a lethal situation. go through the acceptance pipeline. err on the side of overreaction. it’s not about calculating the odds, we have no way to know which scenario will play out, so prepare for a few. it’s not just about us, it’s also about other people (keep granny around!), that also depends on your actions. Donation Report 02:55:11 Donation Report and Minimum Wage Calculation. Reading Recommendations Barry, John M. (2004): The Great Influenza. The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. Goodreads Hatfill, Steven; Coullahan, Robert; Walsh, John (2019): Three Seconds To Midnight Goodreads Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2020): Systemic Risk of Pandemic via Novel Pathogens - Coronavirus: A Note Taleb, Nassim Nicholas: How to react to Pandemics N.N. Taleb on paranoia Homer: Iliad (Cassandra Myth) Gates, Bill (2015): The most predictable disaster in the history of the human race Gates, Bill (2015): The next outbreak? We’re not ready. TED2015 Gates, Bill (2020): Responding to Covid-19 — A Once-in-a-Century Pandemic? Bill Gates on pandemics Camus, Albert (1947): La Peste. (The Plague) Arto’s Coronavirus reading list Arto’s thread of The Great Influenza quotes Max Brooks’ quote of World War Z fame B.S. Srinivasan on post-headline people “Naïve” Case Fatality Rate (CFR) The Virus can travel up to 4,5m Centers, Josh: The Prepared List/ General Rader, Tom: The Prepared List/ Medical Desinfectant antiviral Handrub: WHO Guide to Local Production Discuss We’re on bbs.anarplex.net with our own board to discuss! Hosts Smuggler (Twitter) Frank Braun (Twitter) Guest Arto (Twitter) Contact Email: bitstream@taz0.org PGP fingerprint: 1C4A EFDB 8783 6614 C54D E230 2500 7933 D85F 2119 (key) Snail mail Bitstream Scanbox #06965 Ehrenbergstr. 16a 10245 Berlin Germany Please send us feedback letters, postcards, and interesting books. You can also send us your dirty fiat by cash in the mail! We take all currencies. Support Please support Cypherpunk Bitstream by donating to: Bitcoin: 38mzCtXHjgq6RusYQsFy2TQiLvLK7vN5JF Bitcoin Cash: qrpwhtsag0u4rnuam9a5vwmqnly96znas5f5txjc35 Decred: Dsi9j7SdwZrHtCfUmxTNgpVGx2YAboZc7ve Monero: 87UPx5sBS6g6wTvyRqqSMfFM6DzfHCPtFE25VC62vfohZVv4RRNcwif1XAPWTF27U1BKZEsrEXzDr6bMnGoTcThATvamE73 Zcash: t1ewcXqQ9Uog5gMYjeeV46WiWB5j2SwD9Sv

On this week's episode, Amir prepares to beat all odds in order to get a new iPhone (and he tells you how you can too). Also, we got food puns.  This week's Five Favorites:  1. How to preorder an iPhone X the right way [Cult of Mac] 2. AMC is launching its own VR app with a 360-degree scene from The Walking Dead [The Verge] 3. The BBC is turning to AI to improve its programming [Engadget] 4. How big is Twitter Moments? [Balaji S. Srinivasan] 5. (Hot Topic) Service Industries and Creative Social Honorable Mention(s) Snap is selling a dancing hot dog costume on Amazon [TechCrunch] DISHonorable Mention(s) LinkedIn May Consider Developing Original Shows [The Information] Five Favorites' Tweet(s) of The Week  @KarenVaites Use the hashtag #FiveFavorites to share YOUR favorite stories each and every week - and YOU may be included on the show (including our new tweet of the week feature). 

Our regulatory expert Siân Jones joined us to discuss her work on a regulatory framework for distributed ledger technology (DLT) for Gibraltar. We discuss how the framework differs from other efforts and aims to attract rather than curtail blockchain businesses. We also covered why the rapid changes require the flexibility of a principle-based approach to regulation. Finally, we discussed current trends around ICOs and how they could be impacted by regulation. Topics covered in this episode: How the Gibraltar DLT Regulatory Framework came about How Gibraltar’s approach differs from others like BitLicense Why a principle-based approach is preferable for technology regulation Why the framework focuses on custodial services, not decentralized protocols The path from proposal to regulation Recent trends in how ICOs are conducted Why principle-based regulation could improve the ICO market Episode links: Proposals for a DLT Regulatory Framework Want To Hold An ICO? CoinList Makes It Easy -- And Legal Thoughts on Tokens by Balaji S. Srinivasan Tezos COINsult This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/186