At the intersection of programming, economics, cryptography, distributed systems, information theory, and math, you will find Vitalik Buterin, who has managed to synthesize insights across those fields into successful, real-world applications like Ethereum, which aims to decentralize the Internet.

Tyler sat down with Vitalik to discuss the many things he's thinking about and working on, including the nascent field of cryptoeconomics, the best analogy for understanding the blockchain, his desire for more social science fiction, why belief in progress is our most useful delusion, best places to visit in time and space, how he picks up languages, why centralization's not all bad, the best ways to value crypto assets, whether P = NP, and much more.

Do you have a world-changing idea like Vitalik? The Mercatus Center is launching a new fellowship and grant program called Emergent Ventures to support transformational thinkers and doers.

Listen to Tyler talk about the new project on the latest Mercatus Policy Download.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded June 25th, 2018 Other ways to connect

• Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
• Follow Tyler on Twitter 
• Follow Vitalik on Twitter
• Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
• Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.