History 102 with WhatifAltHist's Rudyard Lynch and Austin Padgett Explaining the History of Trade (feat. Ryan Petersen of Flexport)
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Nov 7, 2025 
Ryan Petersen, the visionary founder and CEO of Flexport, dives into the rich history of trade and its monumental impact on societies throughout the ages. He explores how the shipping container revolution drastically reduced transport costs and led to modern globalization. Petersen elaborates on the intricate links of ancient monetary systems and their role in fostering early trade. The discussion also touches on technological breakthroughs driving trade expansion, the rivalry between free trade and protectionism, and the delicate balance of power seen throughout history.
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Exponential Growth Masks Deep Continuity
- Global trade and GDP growth over the last century, especially post-Cold War, is unprecedented in scale.
- Rudyard Lynch emphasizes exponential growth hides deeper continuities with long pre-modern trends.
Containerization's Global Breakthrough
- The 1960s shipping container cut global shipping costs by ~90% and enabled modern globalization.
- Ryan Petersen says containerization and decades-long exponential growth transformed trade scale and complexity.
Grandfather The Longshoreman
- Rudyard Lynch recounts his grandfather working as a longshoreman before WWII in Jersey City.
- He uses this to show containerization erased many visible labor traditions while making society dependent on invisible logistics.
