

#331 – Balaji Srinivasan: How to Fix Government, Twitter, Science, and the FDA
Prime Number Maze
- Many unseen patterns in life are beyond our current cognitive abilities, like a prime number maze for rats.
- We need enhanced cognition, through technology or better physics, to understand these patterns.
Hoffman's Reality
- Donald Hoffman argues that our perceived reality is an evolutionary adaptation, detached from objective reality.
- We don't sense the world directly; it's a consistent human 'video game' unrelated to physical reality.
Chatbot Rights
- Future chatbots may convincingly mimic human emotions and create ethical dilemmas.
- We might face ethical and legal battles over the rights of AI that appear capable of suffering.



































































Balaji Srinivasan is an angel investor, tech founder, philosopher, and author of The Network State: How to Start a New Country. He was formerly the CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Balaji’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/balajis
Balaji’s Website: https://balajis.com
Books:
1. The Network State: https://thenetworkstate.com
2. Reputation and Power: https://amzn.to/3eyQiF6
3. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: https://amzn.to/3TpuLNP
4. Seeing Like a State: https://amzn.to/3MJfvcD
Articles:
1. Bitcoin Is Civilization: https://www.commonsense.news/p/is-bitcoin-anarchy-or-civilization
2. Great Protocol Politics: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/11/bitcoin-ethereum-cryptocurrency-web3-great-protocol-politics
3. Regulation, Disruption, and the Future: https://bit.ly/3CKY9Ys
4. The Measured Man: https://theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/the-measured-man/309018
5. Secret Document That Transformed China: https://npr.org/sections/money/2012/01/20/145360447/the-secret-document-that-transformed-china
6. Hollywood’s Missing Movies: https://reason.com/2000/06/01/hollywoods-missing-movies
7. New York Times Truth Campaign: https://adweek.com/agencyspy/droga5s-first-big-campaign-for-the-new-york-times-is-all-about-the-truth/126274
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(07:23) – Prime number maze
(33:35) – Government
(49:51) – The Network State
(59:55) – Pseudonymous economy
(1:23:41) – Exit
(1:38:23) – Building a network state
(2:26:09) – Wikipedia
(3:03:40) – Fixing science
(3:30:08) – Fixing the FDA
(5:01:16) – Longevity
(5:20:14) – Donald Trump’s ban from social media
(5:49:32) – War
(5:56:41) – Censorship
(6:10:40) – Social media
(6:26:56) – Wokeism and communism
(6:45:44) – Cryptocurrency
(7:03:17) – AI, AR, and VR
(7:15:15) – Advice for young people
(7:48:10) – Regulating logic