Creativity, Innovation, and the Limitations of Central Planning

This episode was recorded on September 8th 2021.

Saifedean Ammous is an expert on Bitcoin with a PhD from Columbia University. He joins Dr. Peterson to discuss decentralization, different schools of economics, the Fiat vs. Bitcoin standards, and much more.

Dr. Ammous is the author of The Bitcoin Standard, widely considered the essential book on the economics of Bitcoin. He also hosts a podcast of the same name. His new book, The Fiat Standard, should be out in November.

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Find Saifedean here: https://twitter.com/saifedean

Saifedean’s online learning platform: http://saifedean.com

(20% off by using the code “Peterson”)

The Bitcoin Standard: http://saifedean.com/thebitcoinstandard

The Fiat Standard: http://saifedean.com/thefiatstandard

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[00:18] Intro

[02:34] What are hard monetary assets?

[06:13] The argument for bitcoin being the best hard money ever created

[09:11] "Bitcoin only has users... no admins. There is nobody with a master key" - Saifedean Ammous

[10:36] How the Bitcoin network functions using "consensus parameters"

[15:49] "The way that Bitcoin came about seems... virtually impossible to believe" - Jordan Peterson

[18:27] Other schools of economics (Austrian) vs. the most common today (Keynesian)

[20:46] "So the Austrian school of economics... tilts you more towards an appreciation of non-centrally controlled, distributed networks, and emphasis on the individual actor" - JP

[23:25] Paul Samuelson and communist economic expectations of centralized planning post-WW2

[25:27] Dr. Ammous' academic background

[27:14] Climate change. The push towards central planning, implying certain people or groups know the exact consequences and solutions to future economic developments

[29:41] "I've been struck by the problem of unintended consequences and the irreducible complexity of things. We can talk about the problem of climate change, but those words are incredibly deceiving" - JP

[34:16] Highlighting the crucial role of the entrepreneur in Austrian economics

[40:46] Saifedean reflects on the views held by the central bank, governments, and mainstream economists on money—as opposed to Bitcoin's structuring and the Austrian school of thought

[41:43] "From the Austrian perspective, money is a product of the market and not the invention of the state. The state's meddling in money... is irrational and cannot succeed for the same reasons central planning does not succeed" - SA

[45:50] Overview of Dr. Ammous' book The Fiat Standard

[54:40] Current inflation in Western democracies. The devastating effect of hyperinflation on the average person

[58:15] "Money is an incredible technology for lowering our time preference" - SA

[58:59] "The 20th century was a global trainwreck of watching the money preference rise. Generation after generation... witnessed their money devalue" - SA

[01:02:32] Why some efforts in energy production are misguided

[01:06:39] The Fiat Standard

[01:10:29] Why are we allowing people to mine bitcoin?

[01:12:46] The genius that went into the production of the Bitcoin code

[01:23:14] The crazy reality of decision-making at climate change panels

[01:26:36] Fiat-based currency jobs and the Zoom warriors disconnected from the physical world

[01:31:09] "A lot of the problems of the 20th century, in my opinion, have their roots in highly inflationary fiat currency" - SA

[01:31:18] Covering some of the common objections against Bitcoin

[01:39:45] "We are always going to find more reasons to print money" - SA

[01:41:43] Ammous’ online learning platform

[01:48:29] The growth of Saifedeen.com and the parameters attributed to its success

[01:50:05] The possibility of decentralizing societal accreditation

[01:50:21] "I've talked to seriously wise academics who know that there is almost zero financial knowledge in universities [today]... There is tremendous residual value, however, in the accreditation" - JP

[01:56:18] Wrapping up

#Crypto #FiatStandard #Bitcoin #JordanPeterson #Decentralization