The book is a firsthand account of the experiences of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, a group of psychedelic enthusiasts who traveled across the United States in a painted school bus called Furthur. The narrative, written in the New Journalism style, later referred to as Gonzo Journalism, details their use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs, their 'Acid Tests' parties, and interactions with notable figures of the 1960s counterculture, including the Grateful Dead, Hells Angels, and Allen Ginsberg. The book also explores Kesey's exile to Mexico, his arrests, and his impact on the counterculture movement of the 1960s.
In this book, Francis Fukuyama argues that the level of trust within a society is a crucial factor in its economic success. He contends that societies with high levels of trust, such as Germany, Japan, and the United States, are more likely to create flexible and large-scale business organizations necessary for competing in the global economy. Fukuyama examines various national cultures to identify the underlying principles that foster social and economic prosperity, emphasizing the importance of social capital and the interconnectedness of economic and cultural life. He challenges both neoclassical and state-centered economic theories by highlighting the role of trust and social virtues in economic development[1][2][4].
Summary
This week Anna and Nico chat with Arnaud Schenk, one of the original co-founders of Aztec and creator of the Polaris Fellowship. They discuss Arnaud’s recent blog post ‘On Trust Infrastructure’, exploring the down sides of a trustless system, the need to make online community building more possible and how programmable cryptography may play a role in these solutions. They explore the history of computer culture, the rejection of institutions by mid-90s internet culture and how the seeds for this were set by the 60s counterculture.
Here’s some additional links for this episode:
05:09 * Episode 75: Exploring Aztec with Zac Williamson
05:09 * Episode 176: Zk-zk-rollup & zk.money with Zac and Joe from Aztec
05:09 * Episode 273: History of Plonk, Noir, and the building of Aztec 3
07:38 * Episode 237: Exploring ZK Research with Jens Groth
20:01 * Into the deep end: making sense of PLONK - Zac Williamson (CTO, Aztec Protocol)
23:55 * Collaborative Circles: Friendship Dynamics and Creative Work by Michael P. Farrell
27:05 * No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior by Joshua Meyrowitz
29:33 * On Trust Infrastructure by Arnaud Schenk
39:28 * Crypto's Three Body Problem by Lotti, Shorin, Hart
48:13 * Plurality philosophy in an incredibly oversized nutshell by Vitalik Buterin
52:21 * From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism by Fred Turner
52:21 * The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
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