Arjun Khemani Podcast

Arjun Khemani
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Philosophy

A podcast about progress, philosophy, science, education, and the unconstrained human condition. www.arjunkhemani.com

  1. Aug 8

    Karl Pfleger: The Road to Solving Aging

    Karl Pfleger is the founder of agingbiotech.info and an investor in several rejuvenation startups. Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below. Watch on YouTube or X. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Follow me on X for updates on future episodes. Timestamps 0:00 - Why lifespan is the wrong metric for aging progress 7:28 - Is the hallmarks of aging expanding a problem? 11:36 - Structures vs. processes: the key distinction in aging targets 16:14 - Why Karl favors divide-and-conquer rejuvenation over slowing aging 22:07 - Whole-body replacement and organ/cell-level rejuvenation 26:56 - Is partial epigenetic reprogramming the kill-shot for aging? 35:24 - CMLase and reversing crosslink damage 40:57 - Can AI just solve aging automatically? 46:57 - Funding misallocation and the case for more aging biotech companies/VC 57:28 - Objections to eliminating aging — and why none hold up 1:01:27 - Karl critiques Bryan Johnson’s “Don’t Die” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

  2. Jul 1

    David D. Friedman: Death, Taxes, and Other Solvable Problems

    David D. Friedman is an anarcho-capitalist economist. He is the author of The Machinery of Freedom, Future Imperfect, and several other books. Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below. Watch on YouTube or X. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Follow me on X for updates on future episodes. Timestamps 0:00 – The economics of longevity 8:05 – Epigenetic reprogramming 12:37 – Overpopulation and the “ultimate resource” 16:33 – Fluid vs. crystallized intelligence, aging and political power 20:46 – Cryonics 24:35 – AI, open source, and the surveillance state 28:29 – Zcash, privacy, and cryptocurrency 41:12 – Taxes, government, and money supply 50:27 – A poem about tyranny and benevolence 56:42 – Education and its resistance to change 1:05:42 – Argentina, Milei, and planning for an uncertain future This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

    David D. Friedman: Death, Taxes, and Other Solvable Problems

  3. Apr 4

    Sean Bowe and Dev Ojha: Architecture of Freedom

    Sean Bowe is a core cryptographer and engineer who played a major role in building Zcash’s technology. Dev Ojha, also a cryptographer, is the founder of Osmosis. He is now working on helping Zcash scale and go post quantum. Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below. Watch on YouTube or X. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Follow me on X for updates on future episodes. Timestamps 0:00 - Why Dev’s working on Zcash 12:24 - AI is surveillance’s ultimate weapon 13:33 - Encrypted money must scale 15:49 - Compliant “privacy” is an oxymoron 19:25 - PIR for scaling Zcash 36:35 - How Tachyon and PIR work hand in hand 43:47 - Quantum recoverability 47:18 - Is quantum the last cryptography problem? 51:41 - Easier coinholder voting process 1:03:15 - Zcash roadmap 1:17:34 - What Zcash looks like at scale This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

    Sean Bowe and Dev Ojha: Architecture of Freedom

  4. 10/11/2025

    Sean Bowe and Jack Grigg: Encrypted Money at Planetary Scale

    Sean Bowe and Jack Grigg aka str4d are both cryptographic engineers working on the Zcash protocol. Sean’s latest project is Tachyon, intended to bring encrypted money into the hands of 8 billion people. Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below. Watch on YouTube or X. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Follow me on X for updates on future episodes. Timestamps 0:00 - Project Tachyon 10:20 - Privacy can’t be an afterthought for a protocol 15:24 - Encrypted Bitcoin 22:11 - Soundness bug in original sprout pool 30:15 - Sapling 33:00 - A decade of progress 39:04 - Zcash’s anonymity set 51:29 - Using private money as a passthrough doesn’t work 56:04 - The importance of ledger indistinguishability 58:30 - The ultimate privacy stack 1:05:58 - Tachyon removes all cryptographic bottlenecks of encrypted money 1:08:16 - What’s next after Tachyon? 1:15:25 - Weightless blockchains? 1:18:24 - Ragu 1:19:44 - What the next 12 months look like for Jack and Sean 1:31:22 - “Everything worth doing is worth doing on ambitious timelines.” — Sean 1:32:16 - Sean’s advice for young engineers 1:34:18 - What got Sean and Jack into Zcash? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

    Sean Bowe and Jack Grigg: Encrypted Money at Planetary Scale

  5. 07/11/2025

    Samo Burja: Building an Immortal Society

    My conversation with Samo Burja, founder of Bismarck Analysis. He chairs the editorial board of Palladium Magazine. Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below. Watch on YouTube or X. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Follow me on X for updates on future episodes. Click here to support my work. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 1:18 - Live players 5:41 - Great Founder Theory 11:20 - Our material technology rests on our social interactions 14:23 - Optimism, pessimism, and human agency 23:21 - Operationalized knowledge 25:22 - Lost and dead traditions of knowledge 27:34 - Tradition of criticism 29:36 - The most important piece of knowledge to preserve 32:27 - Common features of declining societies 39:18 - Are the Spartan warriors overrated and just had very good PR? 42:07 - DOGE and bureaucracy in America 45:28 - The machinery of freedom 47:43 - Tech Samo is most excited about over the next 5 years 50:10 - Curtis Yarvin and the orbital authority 55:01 - Samo’s advice for young people Follow me on X. Follow Samo on X. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

  6. 06/03/2025

    Zooko Wilcox and Josh Swihart: Unstoppable Private Money

    My conversation with Zooko Wilcox and Josh Swihart on unstoppable private money. Zooko Wilcox is a legendary cypherpunk and one of the founders of Zcash—private, digital money. Josh Swihart is the CEO of Electric Coin Company, the team behind the Zcash protocol and the Zashi wallet app. Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below. Watch on YouTube or X. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Follow me on X for updates on future episodes. Timestamps 0:00 - Maya Protocol integrates with Zcash 3:52 - Coinbase social engineering attack 7:43 - Private money negates capital controls 14:13 - Privacy comes from money at rest 18:24 - The Zashi effect and future roadmap 25:11 - Project Tachyon 39:10 - Zcash’s anonymity set doesn’t depend on the number of its users 45:37 - Turnstiles in Zcash and the 2018 inflation bug 57:28 - “ZK” has become a marketing stunt among crypto projects 59:48 - On Binance delisting ZEC 1:01:35 - A transition toward using crypto as it was originally intended 1:04:52 - Should exchanges use transparent addresses? 1:17:38 - Coin holder voting in Zcash 1:23:38 - Sci-fi influence 1:28:37 - Gary Gensler 1:29:40 - Why I like Zcash Follow Zooko on X. Follow Josh on X. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

  7. 03/15/2025

    Ethan Thornton: The Future of Warfare

    My conversation with Ethan Thornton, founder of Mach Industries. Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below. Watch on YouTube or X. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Follow me on X for updates on future episodes. Click here to support my work. Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 1:07 - Why Mach needs to exist 3:16 - Early experiments 5:07 - Dropping out of MIT 8:36 - Raising $85 million at 19 years old 11:20 - Decentralized vertical supply chains 13:54 - The most important domain of the next century 15:55 - Betting on hydrogen 18:11 - Overview of Viper and Glide 21:06 - Building feedback loops across teams 25:29 - Facing regulatory hurdles 28:19 - Knowing when to be risk tolerant 29:54 - Time until China invades Taiwan 31:45 - The future of warfare 42:29 - Takeaways from the (unmanned) war in Ukraine 48:23 - Biggest influences on Ethan’s life 49:37 - Mach’s long-term plan Follow me on X. Follow Ethan on X. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

  8. 02/26/2025

    Peter Boghossian: Moral Relativism and The Future of The West

    My conversation with philosopher and author Peter Boghossian. Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below. Watch on YouTube or X. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Follow me on X for updates on future episodes. Click here to support my work. Timestamps 0:00 - The enlightenment 5:51 - The dangers of moral relativism 21:28 - Modern education is failing us 31:14 - What’s worth preserving in the West 37:00 - Is wokeism filling the void left by atheism? 38:04 - The spread of Islamism 45:49 - Speech is not violence 49:11 - Derangements of science 52:48 - The myth of the framework 56:34 - Why you should learn epistemology 58:05 - The instinct to belong trumps what’s true 1:02:44 - Chasing likes versus pursuing truth 1:05:08 - What is Peter most optimistic and most pessimistic about Follow me on X. Follow Peter on X. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

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About

A podcast about progress, philosophy, science, education, and the unconstrained human condition. www.arjunkhemani.com

Information

  • Creator
    Arjun Khemani
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    46
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Arjun Khemani
  • Show Website
    Arjun Khemani Podcast