A conversation with the founder of Idea Markets, Mike Elias—
After traveling to Europe in October & November to film some projects and record a few podcasts (Ronni Abergel, Vinay Gupta, George Por, & Yogos Krassakopoulos), I am back in LA for the foreseeable future.
Last month, I sat down with Mike Elias of Idea Markets. The subject matter we discussed hits close to home with my journalism background, and should be deeply important for anyone who values democratic values & access to information. Sadly, this is not a new story, but a very old one.
Mike & Idea Markets are trying to help solve the problem of trust, credibility, and narrative rigor that is objectively missing in media today. As well as, countering the incalculable harm of the “Tobacco Strategy” that still plagues our societal discourse anywhere narratives take root in the public’s psyche.
Enjoy & Ad Astra!
What is an idea market?
“Idea markets use investment to establish credibility for ideas and narratives without trusting a centralized third party by changing the incentive landscape for creating common knowledge. Success is achieved not when lies disappear forever, but when the trend reverses from a competition to exploit, terrorize, and divide the public to a competition to serve, inspire, and unite it.”
--
Timestamps
- How Mike’s influences have changed over time (05:07)
- What he does day to day other than Idea Markets (12:53)
- His experience with cryptocurrencies (18:59)
- Beginning of part two with an explanation of the Hegelian Dialectic (27:23)
- What are fiat narratives, and examples of how media corporations create them (36:36)
- The effectiveness of the “Tobacco Strategy” & Edward Bernays lasting influence on us all (47:31)
- Beginning of part three with how we are in an epistemic crisis (51:41)
- Our public media apparatus is inadequate in dealing with the problems of today (55:53)
- What does Idea Markets do differently? (58:36)
- How Idea Markets runs on the Ethereum blockchain (We talked to Vinay Gupta who helped launch Ethereum in a previous episode) (01:04:12)
- Idea Markets have Skin in the Game principles (01:08:59)
- Idea Markets browser extension launches March 1st, 2020! (01:14:13)
--
More on Mike Elias:
Idea Markets Website: https://ideamarkets.org/
Idea Markets White Paper: https://github.com/harmonylion/ideamarkets/wiki/Whitepaper-v1
Idea Markets Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ideamarkets_
Mike’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/harmonylion1