WiM001 - The Saylor Series | Episode 1 | The Rise of Man through The Stone and Iron Ages
The "What is Money?" Show
Engineering the Roads, Engineering the Aqueducts
The romans understood the importance of hydraulics, and they took it to a new level. They actually had crated aqueducts that would bring water from up to 70 miles away to a given city. The natural economic density is really a function of the amount of water per year. And so engineering the roads, engineering the Aqueducts was on which the entire iron age civilization was built.
Michael Saylor joins me to discuss anthropology, energy, and technology from first principles as we build an intellectual foundation for grasping the significance of Bitcoin in the grand arc of history.
00:00:00 - Episode Trailer
00:01:03 - Robert's Intro
00:07:43 - Stone Age Technology
00:07:50 - The Digital Transformation of 2020: Currency & Covid Wars
00:13:08 - The rise of man against the brutality of nature
00:17:23 - Requirements for Survival in a Hostile Universe
00:19:12 - Significance of Fire: channeling chemical energy to evolve
00:21:28 - Foolishness of Heroics & Need to Channel Energy
00:23:48 - Modern arrogance & Paleolithic wisdom
00:25:48 - Energy efficient strategy critical for survival
00:26:44 - “Playing with Fire” is unique to humanity
00:27:17 - Spiritual significance of fire to civilization
00:28:59 - Significance of Missiles – channeling kinetic energy for survival
00:30:06 - Effectiveness of Slings & Arrows in the Ancient World
00:33:38 - Roman Slingers vs. Gaulic Tribes (Second Punic War)
00:34:31 - “Death from Above” :
On the Romantic ineffectiveness of close quarters weapons like swords & spears
00:37:10 - Survival Strategy with Missiles
00:38:54 - Dominant Technologies deliver force harder, faster, stronger, smarter
Superiority of Digital Gold vs. Physical Gold
00:40:36 - Significance of Hydraulics- channeling gravitational energy via water
00:41:51 - MIT’s Mascot – The Beaver “Nature’s Engineer” channeling water
00:44:05 - Significance of Water to Humanity – Water is Wealth
00:44:46 - Challenges of Life in the Desert – Water is Elemental to Life
00:47:26 - Hunter/Gatherer Myths – a better survival strategy based on channeling water
00:49:54 - Water for food, drink, protection, farming lobsters
00:52:36 - “Nature tends to pursue the most energy efficient strategy”
00:53:15 - Building the pyramids by channeling gravitational energy
00:55:06 - Water for Sanitation – Critical to Civilization - Santorini Epiphany
00:57:40 - Limits of Animal Power – Design of Ancient Cities
00:58:57 - Significance of the Roman Equestrian Class – Ancient Clean Energy
00:59:59 - Mediterranean as the Cradle of Civilization, Ancient Empires
01:03:22 - Agriculture – Orchards & Ponds
01:04:36 - Human Adaptation to Natural Requirements to Survive
01:06:28 - “3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 months without food”
01:08:20 - Roman Superiority in the Ancient World –“Most Organized Society in Ancient World”
01:08:43 - Roman Politics & Natural Life Cycle “The Ides of March”
Elections, Religion, Celebration, Taxation, Training, Campaigning
01:12:02 - Roman Roles, Consensus Rules & Balance of Power, Antifragility
01:13:26 - Annual Patterns, Natural Life Cycles, Replenishment & Revitalization
01:14:26 - Virtues of Equity & Opportunity, Perils of Centralized Power, Corruption
Romans are Antifragile
01:16:01 - Benefits of Term Limits & Wisdom of Military Career System
(Darwinian Progression)
01:18:08 - Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Management Wisdom
01:21:04 - “Everyone needs their turn” - inspiring hope and devotion
01:22:19 - Benefits of Decentralization & equal opportunity
“Graveyards are full of tombstones of indispensable men”
01:24:09 - Roman Dignity, Pride, & Honor -Citizenship & Submission to Nature
01:24:45 - Romans suffered no Kings – Accountability
Roman System bred Harder, Stronger, Faster, Smarter Individuals
01:27:43 - Roman Army “There was never such thing as a fair fight”
Standard tools, techniques – the most organized ancient army
01:30:33 - Roman Military Industrial Complex – Creation of the Roman Navy
01:32:42 - War has a way of quickening innovation & activity – Stealing good ideas
01:33:44 - Roman Roads & Standardized Logistics
01:37:27 - Darwinian & Competitive Advantages of Standardized Protocols
01:39:26 - Roman Aqueducts & Roman Engineering
Credo of the Engineer “Construct a better world”
01:41:21 - The Bridge at Alcantara “This bridge will stand for all time”
01:42:49 - Breakdown of the Political & Monetary Protocols & Decline of Rome
01:44:42 - The importance of weights, measures, & truth (Taleb)
Importance of respect for natural law to societal health
01:45:29 - Consequences of breaking the laws of nature
01:46:57 - Perils of growth in the political & legal apparatus
01:47:42 - The virtues of pain, dangers of attempting to suppress signal (Taleb)
Law of Gravity cannot be Suspended
01:49:42 - Robert's outro
02:20:57 - The End
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