The Bitcoin Standard Podcast

In this episode Saifedean talks about popular misconceptions regarding scientific progress, focusing on aviation as a case study. He describes how the Wright brothers invented the first airplane in 1903 despite claims from scientific authorities of the time that human flight was impossible, and how commercial aircraft capabilities started to decline after the 1970s. Drawing on insights from the work of Terence Kealey, Saifedean describes how many other historical inventions – such as those of Thomas Newcomen and James Watt – were the result of tinkering and practitioner trial and error rather academic study. The podcast ends with a discussion of why the initial treatment of the Wright brothers has parallels with the treatment of bitcoiners today.Related links:Graphs showing trends since the US went off the gold standard in 1971Encyclopedia Britannica article on ConcordeSaifedean’s thread on trusting “the science” and technological decline in aviationSaifedean’s paper “Slowdown: Aviation and Modernity’s Lost Dynamism”Paul Graham on TwitterGraphic showing technologies invented under a non-inflationary gold standardThe Economic Laws of Scientific Research by Terence Kealey. The discussion of Thomas Newcomen starts from page 63 and on saifedean.com in ArabicThe Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science by Robert K. Murton and Elinor BarberEnjoyed this episode? You can take part in podcast seminars, access Saifedean’s courses and read chapters of his forthcoming books by becoming a Saifedean.com member. Find out more here.THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT/SPONSORSNYDIG - https://nydig.comCyphersafe - https://cyphersafe.io/ OKCoin - https://okcoin.com/Nodl - https://www.nodl.it/Coldcard - https://coldcardwallet.com/CoinBits App - https://coinbitsapp.com/

In this episode Saifedean talks to software developer and author Gigi. They start by talking about Gigi’s book 21 Lessons: What I've Learned from Falling Down the Bitcoin Rabbit Hole, and why Gigi’s most important lesson is “you will not change bitcoin, but bitcoin will change you”. They move on to discuss the relationship between bitcoin and time. They cover how bitcoin solved the problem of reaching decentralized agreement on time and how bitcoin, as an unparalleled savings technology, serves to lower human time preference. The Q&A touches on topics such as the mind-boggling security of the SHA256 cryptographic hash function and threats to bitcoin’s future.Related links:Gigi’s book, 21 Lessons: What I’ve Learned from Falling Down the Bitcoin Rabbit HoleBitcoin is Time“Bitcoin derangement syndrome” explained by Urban DictionaryFor more discussion on Nassim Taleb see Episode #53: Allen Farrington’s Adventures with Fiat IntellectualsVideo recommended by Gigi on how hard SHA256 would be to crackGigi’s personal websiteGigi’s article: “Dear Family, Dear Friends, A letter to all of you who still have no bitcoin” on Medium, and on saifedean.com in ArabicLudwig von Mises’ discussion of how the expensiveness of gold production is “the minor evil” compared to the inflations caused by easy moneyFollow Gigi on Twitter Enjoyed this episode? You can take part in podcast seminars, access Saifedean’s courses and read chapters of his forthcoming books by becoming a Saifedean.com member. Find out more here.THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT/SPONSORSNYDIG - https://nydig.comCyphersafe - https://cyphersafe.io/ OKCoin - https://okcoin.com/Nodl - https://www.nodl.it/Coldcard - https://coldcardwallet.com/CoinBits App - https://coinbitsapp.com/

Saifedean appearance on The Human Action podcast, hosted by Jeff Deist, President of Mises Institute. Quoted from the original description:Saifedean Ammous, famous for The Bitcoin Standard, has a remarkable new book detailing the effects of fiat money on virtually every aspect of society. In the tradition of Guido Hülsmann's The Ethics of Money Production, Ammous returns with The Fiat Standard. From a framework of Austrian economics, this book explains the sordid history of central banks severing currencies from gold redemption—both to finance war and enjoy the political benefits of default. But it also considers the far-ranging effects of inflation on civilization: as time preference increases, everything gets worse.  Education, food, architecture, family, and science all suffer, as inflation makes us live today at the expense of tomorrow.On the 50th anniversary of Nixon's gold shock, The Fiat Standard is an amazing explication of how the West fell to its current state. You don't want to miss this show, especially Saifedean's epic takedown of fiat academia at the end!THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT/SPONSORSNYDIG - https://nydig.comCyphersafe - https://cyphersafe.io/ OKCoin - https://okcoin.com/Nodl - https://www.nodl.it/Coldcard - https://coldcardwallet.com/CoinBits App - https://coinbitsapp.com/

In this episode Saifedean talks to bitcoin developer and author Jimmy Song about programming and Jimmy’s new book Thank God for Bitcoin, which explores bitcoin from a Christian perspective. They discuss how Jimmy’s Python coding skills helped him to get a job at a bitcoin company in 2013, and what benefits learning to code can bring to bitcoiners. In their discussion of Thank God for Bitcoin they cover how money affects our morality and time preference. They tackle questions such as whether it is ethical to go into debt, whether Western civilisation started to decline after going off the gold standard, and whether Karl Marx was inspired by the character of the devil in Goethe’s Faust.Related links:The Little Bitcoin BookMises Institute article on Nicole OresmeThe Ethics of Money Production by Guido Holsman. Reference to “reverse transubstantiation” is made on pages 162-164The Bitcoin Standard Podcast episode with Harris IrfanFiat Fuels chapter of The Fiat Standard, passage on per capita energy consumptionWebsite with metrics on economic and social changes that have taken place since the Nixon shockSaifedean Ammous’ 2017 paper on technological regression in the aviation industry including, Federation Aeronautique Internationale world flight speed recordsJeffery Tucker: article on dishwasherEdward Gibbon: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire including the five signs of civilizational decayThe Fate of Empires and Search for Survival by Sir John Bagot GlubbThe Devil and Karl Marx: Communism’s Long March of Death, Deception, and InfiltrationEnjoyed this episode? You can take part in podcast seminars, access Saifedean’s courses and read chapters of his forthcoming books by becoming a Saifedean.com member. Find out more here.THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT/SPONSORSNYDIG - https://nydig.comCyphersafe - https://cyphersafe.io/ OKCoin - https://okcoin.com/Nodl - https://www.nodl.it/Coldcard - https://coldcardwallet.com/CoinBits App - https://coinbitsapp.com/

Saifedean's interview on Power Hour, hosted by Alex Epstein, author of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, about how systematic government control--"fiat"--wreaks havoc in the realms, not just of currency, but of science, education, and energy.They cover:- How government control in the realm of ideas is treated as benign but is in fact incredibly dangerous.- The myth that leading universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Stanford are "private."- What freedom of scientific inquiry looks like, and how it gave birth to the modern world.- Why much of today's "modeling" would not exist in a free market.- How the moral case for fossil fuels is taking hold in the Bitcoin community.THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT/SPONSORSNYDIG - https://nydig.comCyphersafe - https://cyphersafe.io/ OKCoin - https://okcoin.com/Nodl - https://www.nodl.it/Coldcard - https://coldcardwallet.com/CoinBits App - https://coinbitsapp.com/

In this episode we host author Nina Teicholz to discuss healthy eating and the sorry state of fiat nutrition science. We begin with the corrupt scientific establishment’s treatment of Mary Enig, John Yudkin, and other great scholars who went against the dogma promoted by industrial food manufacturers. We further discuss dietary guidelines, why they came about, and how disastrously effective they have been at getting people the world over to abandon the foods of their ancestors in favor of the heavily-marketed highly-profitable industrial waste. We discuss the work of Ancel Keys, nutrition’s equivalent of John Maynard Keynes, who disfigured nutrition science for decades, popularized a fictitious Mediterranean diet, and strengthened the crusade against meat, eggs, animal fat, and cholesterol. As the nutrition science establishment has remained wedded to the nonsensical diet-heart hypothesis even after decades of contrary evidence, we discuss how fiat funding disfigures the scientific process and prevents it from self-correcting, and why bitcoin can fix this, too. We conclude with discussing Nina’s Nutrition Coalition and the commendable work they are doing to counter establishment nutrition science, and we convince her to start accepting bitcoin donations!Related links:The Big Fat Surprise: why butter, meat, and cheese belong in a healthy dietThe Nutrition Coalition websiteNina on TwitterMary Enig Wikipedia pageWeston Price FoundationThe Great Inflation by Robert SamuelsonJohn Yudkin’s book Pure, White and Deadly: How Sugar Is Killing Us and What We Can Do to Stop ItEnjoyed this episode? You can take part in podcast seminars, access Saifedean’s courses and read chapters of his forthcoming books by becoming a Saifedean.com member. Find out more here.THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT/SPONSORSNYDIG - https://nydig.comCyphersafe - https://cyphersafe.io/ OKCoin - https://okcoin.com/Nodl - https://www.nodl.it/Coldcard - https://coldcardwallet.com/CoinBits App - https://coinbitsapp.com/

In this episode Saifedean talks to Ben Gagnon, Chief Mining Officer at Bifarms, a Canadian bitcoin mining company that accounts for 1-2% of global hash power. Ben tells the story of how he became involved in bitcoin after missing an opportunity to buy 100 bitcoin for $70 in 2010. He and Saifedean discuss when it makes sense for people and companies to mine bitcoin, whether it’s a good idea to invest in bitcoin mining companies, and how events such as China’s recent mining clampdown will affect the future of the industry.Links referenced:Bitfarms WebsiteThe Blocksize War by Jonathan BierBitvo interview with Ben discussion bitcoin miningThe following links relate to Ben’s comments about bitcoin regulation in China leading to a pump in Ethereum’s price during early 2017:Jan 6, 2017 – PBOC issues warning and asks for bitcoin withdrawals to stopFeb 9, 2017 – Bitcoin exchanges stop allowing bitcoin and Litecoin withdrawalsFeb 16, 2017 – The 3 biggest exchanges all stop bitcoin withdrawalsHistorical price here (Ethereum had remained flat, trading around $10 for almost a year, within days it started trending up and hit an ATH just a few weeks later, rocketing to over $400.)Enjoyed this episode? You can take part in podcast seminars, access Saifedean’s courses and read chapters of his forthcoming books by becoming a Saifedean.com member. Find out more here.THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT/SPONSORSNYDIG - https://nydig.comCyphersafe - https://cyphersafe.io/ OKCoin - https://okcoin.com/Nodl - https://www.nodl.it/Coldcard - https://coldcardwallet.com/CoinBits App - https://coinbitsapp.com/

In this episode Saifedean talks to regular seminar attendees about why bitcoin operates like a machine. They discuss why – like a washing machine – bitcoin continues to serve people who use it regardless of whether they understand the mechanics of how it works, why bitcoin’s critics are analogous to luddites, and why money should be understood as a private market good, rather than a public good.Links referenced:@s2fmultiple on TwitterFor Ludwig von Mises’ definition of money as a medium of exchange, see “Media of Exchange and Money”, Chapter XVII, in Human ActionFor Murray Rothbard’s explanation of the nature of money see: The Emergence of Indirect Exchange, Chapter 3-The Pattern of indirect exchange in Man, Economy and StateThis passage from Mises’ The Theory of Money and Credit provides an explanation and refutation of the state theory of moneyEnjoyed this episode? You can take part in podcast seminars, access Saifedean’s courses and read chapters of his forthcoming books by becoming a Saifedean.com member. Find out more here.THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT/SPONSORSNYDIG - https://nydig.comCyphersafe - https://cyphersafe.io/ OKCoin - https://okcoin.com/Nodl - https://www.nodl.it/Coldcard - https://coldcardwallet.com/CoinBits App - https://coinbitsapp.com/

Saifedean's seminar is joined by Neil Woodfine, Head of Marketing at Unchained Capital, who lived and worked in the bitcoin industry in China since 2014. Neil talks about his experience navigating the unpredictable Chinese regulatory environment, how he views China’s recent ban on bitcoin mining in light of previous Chinese bitcoin policy, the implications for the bitcoin network, how Chinese miners adapt to these bans, and the state of bitcoin trading and payments in China in general.Links referenced:Unchained Capital websiteOkcoin websiteNeil’s Twitter accountNeil’s articleEnjoyed this episode? You can take part in podcast seminars, access Saifedean’s courses and read chapters of his forthcoming books by becoming a Saifedean.com member. Find out more here.THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT/SPONSORSNYDIG - https://nydig.comCyphersafe - https://cyphersafe.io/ OKCoin - https://okcoin.com/Nodl - https://www.nodl.it/Coldcard - https://coldcardwallet.com/CoinBits App - https://coinbitsapp.com/

In this episode Saifedean talks to Greenpeace co-founder and “drop out” Dr Patrick Moore about the misperceptions and hysteria surrounding climate change. They discuss the anti-human philosophy of modern environmentalist movements, the limitations of computer modelling as a means of making long-term climate forecasts and why there’s a case for actually increasing rather than decreasing human CO2 emissions. Saifedean and Patrick also touch on broader topics covered in Patrick’s book Fake Invisible Catastrophes and Threats of Doom including ocean plastic, ocean acidification and endangered polar bears.Links referenced:Patrick’s book “Fake Invisible Catastrophes”Patrick’s book “Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout”Wikipedia article on the Simon–Ehrlich wagerJulian Simon’s book “The Ultimate Resource 2”Enjoyed this episode? You can take part in podcast seminars, access Saifedean’s courses and read chapters of his forthcoming books by becoming a Saifedean.com member. Find out more here.THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT/SPONSORSNYDIG - https://nydig.comCyphersafe - https://cyphersafe.io/ OKCoin - https://okcoin.com/Nodl - https://www.nodl.it/Coldcard - https://coldcardwallet.com/CoinBits App - https://coinbitsapp.com/