Arjun Khemani Podcast

Arjun Khemani
  • 5.0 (4)
  • PHILOSOPHY

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

  1. Sean Bowe and Jack Grigg: Encrypted Money at Planetary Scale

    OCT 11

    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

    1h 41m

  2. JUL 11

    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

    59 min

  3. JUN 3

    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

    1h 34m

  4. MAR 15

    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

    53 min

  5. FEB 26

    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

    1h 16m

  6. JAN 22

    Zooko, Nate Wilcox, and Sean Bowe: Zcash

    My conversation with Zooko, Nate Wilcox, and Sean Bowe about the Zcash protocol. Zooko is a cypherpunk who co-founded Zcash along with his brother, Nate Wilcox, and others. Sean Bowe is a cryptographer and engineer who has played a crucial role in the development of Zcash and has made significant contributions to advancements in zero-knowledge proofs, particularly zk-SNARKs, which underpin Zcash’s privacy features. 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 - Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn 0:04 - Writing the first blog post on Bitcoin ever 6:21 - Bitcoin’s fundamental privacy flaw 9:40 - Unstoppable private money 12:19 - Will Zcash compete with Bitcoin as a store of value? 14:24 - How many people are using Zcash? 16:18 - Good security is good usability 20:10 - Social credit systems and ubiquitous surveillance 23:43 - Why Monero’s privacy tech can’t work 35:21 - Integrating ZKPs into other blockchains 39:51 - Privacy comes from money at rest, not from money in flight 47:42 - Why did the price of ZEC fall so drastically in the beginning? 51:49 - Zcash stablecoins? 55:50 - Quantum threats to Zcash 1:02:50 - Encrypted love notes in the blockchain' 1:07:07 - Privacy enabled cultural trends 1:12:43 - Nate Wilcox 1:14:38 - Why do you need privacy if you have nothing to hide? 1:16:16 - A brief history of Zcash 1:22:42 - Why does Zcash have opt-in privacy? 1:26:55 - Does Zcash still rely on a trusted setup? 1:30:49 - Upgrading the Zcash protocol to Hybrid PoW/PoS 1:40:50 - A bug that almost killed Zcash 1:52:40 - Zcash’s funding model 2:09:09 - Why can’t privacy be added as an L2? 2:14:35 - Scaling Zcash and making it more interoperable 2:23:16 - Shielded Labs 2:24:39 - Nate’s vision for Zcash 2:27:53 - Sean Bowe 2:32:53 - Censorship resistance is a spectrum 2:35:26 - Will privacy coins be banned? 2:37:49 - Privacy and scalability 2:41:47 - Programmable money 2:43:31 - Summary of Sean’s contributions to the field of cryptography 2:55:17 - Zcash might get privacy against quantum adversaries for free 3:00:14 - Halo 3:05:34 - What Sean’s working on right now 3:11:54 - What has influenced Sean’s thinking in cryptography the most? 3:13:36 - Being a high school dropout working in crypto 3:15:08 - Zcash is just getting started Follow me on X. Follow Zooko on X. Follow Nate on X. Follow Sean 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

    3h 21m

  7. 12/18/2024

    Naval Ravikant: The Beginning of Infinity

    My conversation with Naval Ravikant. Enjoy! Watch on YouTube or X. Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Click here to support my work. Timestamps 0:00 - The Theory of Everything 4:48 - How do you know what’s true? 7:51 - Groups search for consensus, individuals search for truth 13:07 - We have never run out of a single resource 15:25 - Are we destroying the Earth? 17:48 - Marxism denies wealth creation 21:28 - Regulation kills innovation 27:05 - Degrowth and the fall of Western universities 33:31 - Why the West is best 35:47 - Federalism 38:10 - Everyone wants to live forever 41:44 - Humans are universal explainers 43:25 - Collectivism vs. individualism 50:44 - You cannot explain the universe without explaining humans 55:02 - How David Deutsch’s ideas have changed Naval’s life 1:02:31 - The scientific method isn’t possible 1:05:07 - The low-hanging fruit theory is a bad explanation 1:08:19 - The biggest threats to Western civilization Follow me on X. Follow Naval 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

    1h 14m

  8. 11/11/2024

    David Deutsch: The Era of Man, Popper, and Western Civilization

    I had the pleasure of sitting down with David Deutsch in his lovely garden in Oxford a few months ago. Here’s our conversation. 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 1:01 - A tragic view of human history 7:04 - Why did it take so long for civilization to arise? 13:31 - Fallibilism 21:32 - Cultural relativism denies improvement 24:03 - Richard Dawkins and indigenous ways of knowing 26:49 - Chemical scum that dream of distant quasars 31:38 - The era of man 37:55 - People are unlike any other force of nature 42:51 - The dangers of regulating AI 48:09 - Are we running out of resources? 54:21 - Everything in existing educational theory is wrong 1:11:30 - When David met Richard Feynman 1:17:33 - Everyone is a Popperian 1:20:16 - Only progress is sustainable 1:26:00 - The biggest threat to Western civilization Follow me on X. Follow David 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

    1h 29m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

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

Information

  • Creator
    Arjun Khemani
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    43
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Arjun Khemani
  • Show Website
    Arjun Khemani Podcast

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