I talked with Patrick McKenzie (known online as patio11) about how a small team he ran over a Discord server got vaccines into Americans' arms: A story of broken incentives, outrageous incompetence, and how a few individuals with high agency saved 1000s of lives.
Enjoy!
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) – Why hackers on Discord had to save thousands of lives
(00:17:26) – How politics crippled vaccine distribution
(00:38:19) – Fundraising for VaccinateCA
(00:51:09) – Why tech needs to understand how government works
(00:58:58) – What is crypto good for?
(01:13:07) – How the US government leverages big tech to violate rights
(01:24:36) – Can the US have nice things like Japan?
(01:26:41) – Financial plumbing & money laundering: a how-not-to guide
(01:37:42) – Maximizing your value: why some people negotiate better
(01:42:14) – Are young people too busy playing Factorio to found startups?
(01:57:30) – The need for a post-mortem
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