
77 episodes

The Blockchain Socialist The Blockchain Socialist
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- Technology
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4.6 • 18 Ratings
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A podcast by The Blockchain Socialist (@TBSocialist) giving a platform for those at the intersection of blockchain and Left politics.
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CCG Chronicles #8 - Token Engineering and Holochain
This episode is a continuation of the CCG Chronicles series which is a collection of interviews conducted during the Crypto Commons Gathering (CCG) in Austria back in August 2021. The interviews were also filmed to potentially be a part of a documentary I'm making with a few others.
During the CCG I interviewed Scott Morris (@CS_Morris) and Moritz Bierling (@bierlingm) about how to design a new currency system, blockchain vs. holochain, and memes. Scott is a currency design consultant working in both crypto and non-crypto based currencies focused on cooperative finance. We talked a bit about a TedX talk he gave titled "Putting people and the planet before paper wealth". Moritz works a lot in the Holochain ecosystem and has his own newsletter here.
If you want to financially support our efforts in making the documentary, you can donate so far with bitcoin, ethereum (any layer), or NEAR at the addresses listed on the website. We’re still unsure when exactly anything will be published, but we’re hoping within the next year although that will depend on the amount of support we can get from the community.
If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you find content like this important consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. It takes quite a lot of my time and resources so any amount helps. Follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist) and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit and Discord to join the discussion.
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Are we a Psyop to left-wash crypto?
For this episode I interviewed Danny O'Brien (@mala) , current senior fellow at the Filecoin Foundation and special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Danny worked with the EFF for a very long time and has a podcast called How to Fix the Internet.
During the interview we talked about his experience of the early internet and what it was like to see it develop without significant influence from the left, his pub hangouts with cypherpunks before it ended, and the importance of taking part in technological spaces in the early days to political influence. Our first contact with one another contained a little bit of drama on Twitter as well which we discussed a bit. From our point of view, the importance of taking part in the crypto space at this moment trumps the accusations of being a psyop or of left-washing.
If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you find content like this important consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. It takes quite a lot of my time and resources so any amount helps. Follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist) and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit and Discord to join the discussion.
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Crypto hackers don't care about your libertarian ideology
For this episode I spoke to Jaya Klara Brekke (@jayapapaya), an academic researcher on crypto and Head of Strategy at NYM who recently gave the keynote speech for the Haus Der Kunst DAO Summit.
During the interview we spoke about her skepticism and cautious optimism she mentioned in the keynote speech, the contradictory feelings on the market as someone who was raised in traditional leftist spaces mentioned in her article in the Agorism in the 21st Century Journal, and how many critics tend to fall short. We also discussed her paper on a new protagonist in the economy she calls "hacker-engineers" and how they are not as ideological as critics want to believe as well as her criticisms of Hayekian thought.
More publications by Jaya
I saw the Blockchain at the End of The World, turned around, and walked back
Cryptoeconomics
Digital Scarcity
If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you find content like this important consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. It takes quite a lot of my time and resources so any amount helps. Follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist) and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit and Discord to join the discussion.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/theblockchainsocialist) -
CCG Chronicles #7 - Sovereignty for the Commons
This episode is a continuation of the CCG Chronicles series which is a collection of interviews conducted during the Crypto Commons Gathering (CCG) in Austria back in August 2021. The interviews were also filmed to potentially be a part of a documentary I'm making with a few others.
I interviewed Dr. Sarah Manski who I had on the podcast previously about why the left needs to care about value accounting. We both physically attended the CCG to catch up and speak more about her research. During the interview we talk about the main differences she sees between standard technologists and those interested in the commons, the complex relations between different spaces of sovereignty, and how to talk to billionaires.
If you want to financially support our efforts in making the documentary, you can donate so far with bitcoin, ethereum (any layer), or NEAR at the addresses listed on the website. We’re still unsure when exactly anything will be published, but we’re hoping within the next year although that will depend on the amount of support we can get from the community.
If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you find content like this important consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. It takes quite a lot of my time and resources so any amount helps. Follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist) and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit and Discord to join the discussion.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/theblockchainsocialist) -
CCG Chronicles #6 - How to Metagame the Labor Market
This episode is a continuation of the CCG Chronicles series which is a collection of interviews conducted during the Crypto Commons Gathering (CCG) in Austria back in August 2021. The interviews were also filmed to potentially be a part of a documentary I'm making with a few others.
I interviewed Peth (@Petheth), founder of Metagame, a very interesting project that has been running for a couple of years at this point to help people who are interested in working on web3 / crypto projects.
“Metagame is any approach to a game that transcends or operates outside of the prescribed rules of the game, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game.” - From Wikipedia
If you want to financially support our efforts in making the documentary, you can donate so far with bitcoin, ethereum (any layer), or NEAR at the addresses listed on the website. We’re still unsure when exactly anything will be published, but we’re hoping within the next year although that will depend on the amount of support we can get from the community.
If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you find content like this important consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. It takes quite a lot of my time and resources so any amount helps. Follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist) and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit and Discord to join the discussion.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/theblockchainsocialist) -
Lunarpunk, Black Markets, and Agorism in the 21st Century
For this interview I spoke to Dr. Paul Dylan-Ennis (@polarpunklabs), professor at University College Dublin, and Rose O'Leary (@lunarmining), previous writer at CoinDesk and now a programmer for DarkFi. They are both also the editors for a new philosophy journal called Agorism in the 21st Century which recently published its first issue. Agorism is a heterodox libertarian political tendency that prioritizes taking part in "counter-economic" activity like grey and black markets for political change described by Samuel Konkin III that has influenced many figures who played crucial roles in the development in cryptocurrency.
The first issue of the journal includes articles written by Harry Halpin, Jaya Klara Brekke, and even Nick Land among others. During the interview we talk about the journal and why they started it, Agorism as a philosophy, and the importance of having spaces for political inquiry without too much concern for the political spectrum. Since Rose is also one of the signers of the multi-sig wallet, we also talked about AssangeDAO, the DAO raising money for freeing Julian Assange, and its current status.
Sources Mentioned
First issue of the journal
Rose's piece on Lunarpunk
My interview with Amir Taaki on DarkFi
My interview with Harry Halpin on NYM
If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you find content like this important consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. It takes quite a lot of my time and resources so any amount helps. Follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist) and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit and Discord to join the discussion.
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/theblockchainsocialist)
Customer Reviews
blockchain socialist is a great podcast
Very good intrviews and I learned alot about crypto for socialist and criticism of Austrian conomics.