Mere Mortals Conversations AI Futurism Meets Medieval History | The Million Dollar X402 Wall
Jan 19, 2026
01:25:37
We're destressing and just going over all the non-goal related things swirling around in the current moment.
In Episode #510 of 'Meanderings', Juan & I discuss: the old million dollar homepage and the new x402 version, experimenting with a cheeky one‑pixel squatting strategy to test rent‑seeking dynamics, why some value‑for‑value/Lightning initiatives plateau despite strong early communities, advertising economics from retro web banners to F1 liveries, if energy could become the unit of exchange in agent‑to‑agent worlds and whether the current moment has the most amount of historical rate of change.
Huge thanks to Cole for the support!
Stan Link: https://stan.store/meremortals
Timeline:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:00:49) Remembering the Million Dollar Homepage and link rot
(00:03:07) Hype cycles and the modern x402 Wall revival
(00:06:44) Domain‑squatting pixels: ethics and ROI debate
(00:12:45) Advertising realities: from F1 liveries to failed walls
(00:15:04) Old web ads versus brands and what’s obsolete now
(00:19:10) Micropayments vision: beyond subscriptions
(00:23:56) Index decentralisation, AI spam, and niche podcasts
(00:28:20) Ads, ethics, and why ‘wall squatting’ targets advertisers
(00:32:03) Boom–bust build‑outs, block space, and critics
(00:36:54) Agents, moats, and access to compute
(00:39:02) Boostagram Lounge and community shout‑outs
(00:45:34) Agents doing business end‑to‑end: Truth Terminal case
(00:50:07) Beyond attention? Energy, agency, and ‘currency’
(00:56:36) Speculating on rights for uploaded minds and AI
(01:00:24) Short‑term goals, schooling, and planning in fast change
(01:05:03) Is today’s change really faster? Moore’s Law debate
(01:10:26) Exponential feels: compressing change into months
(01:16:22) Falling out of the loop: TikTok, crypto, and pace
(01:19:35) Can AI replace governments? Companies vs states
(01:23:46) Wrap‑up, shout‑outs, and value‑for‑value support
In Episode #510 of 'Meanderings', Juan & I discuss: the old million dollar homepage and the new x402 version, experimenting with a cheeky one‑pixel squatting strategy to test rent‑seeking dynamics, why some value‑for‑value/Lightning initiatives plateau despite strong early communities, advertising economics from retro web banners to F1 liveries, if energy could become the unit of exchange in agent‑to‑agent worlds and whether the current moment has the most amount of historical rate of change.
Huge thanks to Cole for the support!
Stan Link: https://stan.store/meremortals
Timeline:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:00:49) Remembering the Million Dollar Homepage and link rot
(00:03:07) Hype cycles and the modern x402 Wall revival
(00:06:44) Domain‑squatting pixels: ethics and ROI debate
(00:12:45) Advertising realities: from F1 liveries to failed walls
(00:15:04) Old web ads versus brands and what’s obsolete now
(00:19:10) Micropayments vision: beyond subscriptions
(00:23:56) Index decentralisation, AI spam, and niche podcasts
(00:28:20) Ads, ethics, and why ‘wall squatting’ targets advertisers
(00:32:03) Boom–bust build‑outs, block space, and critics
(00:36:54) Agents, moats, and access to compute
(00:39:02) Boostagram Lounge and community shout‑outs
(00:45:34) Agents doing business end‑to‑end: Truth Terminal case
(00:50:07) Beyond attention? Energy, agency, and ‘currency’
(00:56:36) Speculating on rights for uploaded minds and AI
(01:00:24) Short‑term goals, schooling, and planning in fast change
(01:05:03) Is today’s change really faster? Moore’s Law debate
(01:10:26) Exponential feels: compressing change into months
(01:16:22) Falling out of the loop: TikTok, crypto, and pace
(01:19:35) Can AI replace governments? Companies vs states
(01:23:46) Wrap‑up, shout‑outs, and value‑for‑value support
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