Crazy Wisdom

Harry McKay Roper, founder of Imaginary Space and innovator at the crossroads of AI, crypto, and space mining, discusses groundbreaking ideas. He dives into the potential of asteroid mining and how it might disrupt terrestrial markets. The conversation shifts to Argentina, exploring its cultural resilience and startup dynamism. Harry also highlights how AI models like Claude 4.5 are revolutionizing software development, and he shares his vision for blockchain-based dispute resolution, challenging traditional justice systems.

Discover Argentina's rise as a hub for AI and crypto innovation amid its unique challenges. The discussion highlights space ambitions and how jurisdiction might extend into the cosmos. Dive into Argentina's currency controls and the role of crypto in economic resilience. Explore Milei's libertarian reforms and experimental communities shaping a new governance model. The conversation blends geopolitics, technology, and culture, revealing how past crises could pave the way to a more abundant future.

Eli Lopian, author of AICracy and founder of aicracy.ai, discusses revolutionary ideas on AI-guided governance. He critiques traditional democracy and proposes using an 'abundance measure' for lawmaking. The conversation covers the balance of power among AI systems, accountability in governance, and the potential of prediction markets in verifying truth. Lopian emphasizes the importance of human connection in an AI-driven future and suggests an abundance economy reshaping work and societal values. His vision advocates for governance that adapts organically like cities.

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, host Stewart Alsop talks with Richard Easton, co-author of GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones, about the remarkable history behind the Global Positioning System and its ripple effects on technology, secrecy, and innovation. They trace the story from Roger Easton’s early work on time navigation and atomic clocks to the 1973 approval of the GPS program, the Cold War’s influence on satellite development, and how civilian and military interests shaped its evolution. The conversation also explores selective availability, the Gulf War, and how GPS paved the way for modern mapping tools like Google Maps and Waze, as well as broader questions about information, transparency, and the future of scientific innovation. Learn more about Richard Easton’s work and explore early GPS documents at gpsdeclassified.com, or pick up his book GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 – Stewart Alsop introduces Richard Easton, who explains the origins of GPS, its 12-hour satellite orbits, and his father Roger Easton’s early time navigation work.05:00 – Discussion on atomic clocks, the hydrogen maser, and how technological skepticism drove innovation toward the modern GPS system.10:00 – Miniaturization of receivers, the rise of smartphones as GPS devices, and early mapping tools like Google Maps and Waze.15:00 – The Apollo missions’ computer systems and precision landings lead back to GPS development and the 1973 approval of the joint program office.20:00 – The Gulf War’s use of GPS, selective availability, and how civilian receivers became vital for soldiers and surveyors.25:00 – Secrecy in satellite programs, from GRAB and POPPY to Eisenhower’s caution after the U-2 incident, and the link between intelligence and innovation.30:00 – The myth of the Korean airliner sparking civilian GPS, Reagan’s policy, and the importance of declassified documents.35:00 – Cold War espionage stories like Gordievsky’s defection, the rise of surveillance, and early countermeasures to GPS jamming.40:00 – Selective availability ends in 2000, sparking geocaching and civilian boom, with GPS enabling agriculture and transport.45:00 – Conversation shifts to AI, deepfakes, and the reliability of digital history.50:00 – Reflections on big science, decentralization, and innovation funding from John Foster to SpaceX and Starlink.55:00 – Universities’ bureaucratic bloat, the future of research education, and Richard’s praise for the University of Chicago’s BASIC program.Key InsightsGPS was born from competing visions within the U.S. military. Richard Easton explains that the Navy and Air Force each had different ideas for navigation satellites in the 1960s. The Navy wanted mid-Earth orbits with autonomous atomic clocks, while the Air Force preferred ground-controlled repeaters in geostationary orbit. The eventual compromise in 1973 created the modern GPS structure—24 satellites in six constellations—which balanced accuracy, independence, and resilience.Atomic clocks made global navigation possible. Roger Easton’s early insight was that improving atomic clock precision would one day enable real-time positioning. The hydrogen maser, developed in 1960, became the breakthrough technology that made GPS feasible. This innovation turned a theoretical idea into a working global system and also advanced timekeeping for scientific and financial applications.Civilian access to GPS was always intended. Contrary to popular belief, GPS wasn’t a military secret turned public after the Korean airliner tragedy in 1983. Civilian receivers, such as TI’s 4100 model, were already available in 1981. Reagan’s 1983 announcement merely reaffirmed an existing policy that GPS would serve both military and civilian users.The Gulf War proved GPS’s strategic value. During the 1991 conflict, U.S. and coalition forces used mostly civilian receivers after the Pentagon lifted “selective availability,” which intentionally degraded accuracy. GPS allowed troops to coordinate movement and strikes even during sandstorms, changing modern warfare.Secrecy and innovation were deeply intertwined. Easton recounts how classified projects like GRAB and POPPY—satellites disguised as scientific missions—laid technical groundwork for navigation systems. The crossover between secret defense projects and public science fueled breakthroughs but also obscured credit and understanding.Ending selective availability unleashed global applications. When the distortion feature was turned off in May 2000, GPS accuracy improved instantly, leading to new industries—geocaching, precision agriculture, logistics, and smartphone navigation. This marked GPS’s shift from a defense tool to an everyday utility.Innovation’s future may rely on decentralization. Reflecting on his father’s era and today’s landscape, Easton argues that bureaucratic “big science” has grown sluggish. He sees promise in smaller, independent innovators—helped by AI, cheaper satellites, and private space ventures like SpaceX—continuing the cycle of technological transformation that GPS began.

On this episode of Crazy Wisdom, Stewart Alsop sits down with Leo Guinan to talk about the Manhattan Project for Human Potential, his vision of AI as a tool for personal agency, and the Bottega model inspired by the Medici workshops as a way to reimagine networks, mastery, and transformation. The conversation moves through themes of exponential versus linear growth in the economy, the decline of manufacturing in Ohio, China’s rise through complexity and control of supply chains, the dangers of time violence and information asymmetry, and the potential of prediction markets to reshape politics and business. Leo also shares his creative project Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Future, which he’s building as a group art experiment on Substack — you can find it at hitchhikertothefuture.substack.com.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:05 Stewart introduces Leo Guinan and they discuss the Manhattan Project for Human Potential, personal agency revolution, and the Bottega model rooted in Medici workshops.00:10 Leo reflects on networks vs. individuals, the genius–insanity line, and how exponential growth clashes with linear wages in Silicon Valley.00:15 They explore economic tension, the decline of wages, mastery in Bottegas, and the vision of decentralized innovation hubs.00:20 Conversation turns to Argentina, decentralization, and Leo’s Ohio roots, tying local manufacturing decline, Anchor Hocking, and drug addiction to global shifts.00:25 Leo shares his frustration with student debt, the fakeness of the economy, and neuroses encoded into AI models like Gemini.00:30 They examine China’s manufacturing dominance, mercantilism, complexity inflation, and the concept of time violence.00:35 Leo explains infinite predictors, cooperation, and consciousness as network awareness, citing Creator HQ as conscious technology.00:40 Discussion moves to rigorous mysticism, deterministic transformation, probabilistic futures, and the monkey and the pedestal metaphor.00:45 They analyze 1971 as a break between linear and exponential growth, compute access, surveillance states, and the power of human spite.00:50 Leo imagines algorithm manipulation, local AI, and prediction markets, referencing futarchy and political false choices.00:55 They close with Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Future, Leo’s group art project on Substack, and the rediscovery of ancient wisdom.Key InsightsThe heart of Leo Guinan’s work is what he calls the Manhattan Project for Human Potential, a recognition that artificial intelligence isn’t just about technology but about a personal agency revolution. He frames AI as a mirror that reveals how networks of people, rather than isolated individuals, drive intelligence and creativity.The Bottega model, inspired by the Medici workshops, is central to Leo’s vision. By gathering diverse minds in tight-knit communities where mastery and exploration thrive, Bottegas become nodes of transformation — miniature Silicon Valleys where reality is fluid and imagination creates exponential value.A recurring theme is the structural flaw of modern economies: wages grow linearly while technology and capital compound exponentially. This creates systemic inequality, leaving most people crushed by rising costs while the top flourishes, a dynamic Leo witnessed firsthand in both Silicon Valley and his Ohio hometown.Leo introduces complexity inflation and time violence as hidden forces of the system. Complexity is rewarded over simplicity, making technology harder for everyday people, while time violence lets some actors leverage others’ time to their own advantage, turning the economy into an arms race of asymmetries.Consciousness, for Leo, is about networks that are aware of themselves. He praises simple, embodied tools like Creator HQ that respect users’ lived reality and contrasts them with AI systems unmoored from the real world. True mastery, he argues, is embodied, consistent, and grounded in human transformation rather than probabilistic shortcuts.Prediction markets emerge as a future-facing tool, offering a way to test decisions, hedge uncertainty, and surface blind spots. Leo envisions organizations running internal prediction markets and even rethinking politics by holding leaders accountable to explicit promises rather than vague partisan change.At the personal level, Leo is experimenting with transformation through his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Future project on Substack, a group art process that forces him out of his engineering comfort zone. He ties this back to ancient wisdom — from Buddha to Renaissance workshops — showing that the process of transformation has always been a deeply human practice we must continually rediscover.

In this conversation, Jacob Hall, co-founder of Agingo, delves into the transformative power of volumetric blockchain technology. He discusses how this evolution shifts from linear ledgers to decentralized systems that enhance sovereignty and auditability. Jacob also explores the philosophical implications, comparing blockchain to alchemy in creating value. He highlights the necessity of immutability in the age of AI and presents tokenization as a pathway to practical applications in real-world assets. Tune in for intriguing insights on trust and future governance!

Rob Meyerson, co-founder of Interlune and former president of Blue Origin, dives into the exciting realm of lunar resource commercialization. He discusses the potential of mining Helium-3 on the Moon, its applications in quantum computing and fusion reactors, and how lunar regolith stores solar wind gases. Rob also shares insights from his experiences at Blue Origin, emphasizing the importance of knowledge management in scaling innovative aerospace ventures. Finally, he highlights the promising partnerships and technologies paving the way for a lunar economy.

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, host Stewart Alsop sits down with Sam Barber for a wide-ranging conversation about faith, truth, and the nature of consciousness. Together they explore the difference between faith and belief, the limits of language in describing spiritual experience, and how frameworks like David Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness help us understand vibration, energy, and love as the core of reality. The discussion touches on Christianity, Buddhism, the demiurge, non-duality, demons, AI, death, and what it means to wake up from the illusion of separation. Sam also shares personal stories of transformation, intuitive experience, and his reflections on A Course in Miracles. Links mentioned: Map of Consciousness – David R. Hawkins, A Course in Miracles.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 Stewart Alsop and Sam Barber open with reflections on faith vs belief, truth, and how knowing feels beyond words. 05:00 They explore contextualizing God, religious dogma, and demons through the lens of vibration and David Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness. 10:00 Sam contrasts science and spirituality, the left and right brain, and how language limits spiritual understanding. 15:00 They discuss AI as a mirror for consciousness, scriptures, and how truth transcends religion. 20:00 The talk moves to oneness, the Son of God, and the illusion of separation described in A Course in Miracles. 25:00 Sam shares insights on mind, dimensions, and free will, linking astral and mental realms. 30:00 He recounts a vivid spiritual crisis and exorcism-like experience, exploring fear and release. 35:00 The dialogue shifts to the demonic, secularism, and how psychology reframes spirit. 40:00 They discuss the demiurge, energy farming, and vibrational control through fear. 45:00 Questions of death, reincarnation, and simulation arise, touching angelic evolution. 50:00 Stewart and Sam close with non-duality, love, and consciousness as unity, returning to truth beyond form.Key InsightsFaith and belief are not the same. Stewart and Sam open by exploring how belief is a mental structure shaped by conditioning, while faith is a direct inner knowing that transcends logic. Faith is felt, not argued — it’s the vibration of truth beyond words or doctrine.God is not a concept but a living presence. Both reflect on the limits of religion in capturing what “God” truly means. Sam describes feeling uneasy with the word because it’s been misused, while Stewart connects with Christianity not through dogma but through the experiential sense of divine love that Jesus embodied.Vibration determines reality. Drawing from David Hawkins’ Map of Consciousness, Sam explains how emotional frequency shapes perception. Living below the threshold of 200 keeps one trapped in fear and materialism, while frequencies of love and peace open access to higher awareness and spiritual freedom.Scientism is not science. Stewart critiques the modern tendency to worship rationality, calling scientism a new religion that denies subjective truth. Both agree that true science and true spirituality are complementary — one explores the outer world, the other the inner.The illusion of separation sustains suffering. The pair discuss how identifying with the mind creates an illusion of division between self and source. Sam describes separation as forgetting spirit and mistaking thoughts for identity, while Stewart links reconnection to the experience of unity consciousness.Darkness, demons, and the demiurge reflect inverted consciousness. Sam shares a personal account of what felt like an exorcism, using it to explore how low-frequency energies or “demonic processes” can influence humans. They connect this to the Gnostic idea of the demiurge — a false creator that feeds on fear and ignorance.We are in a training ground for higher realms. The episode closes with the idea that human life is a kind of spiritual simulation — an “angelic apprenticeship.” Through cycles of suffering, awakening, and remembrance, consciousness learns to return to love, which both see as the highest frequency and the true nature of God.

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, host Stewart Alsop speaks with Paul Sztorc, CEO of Layer2 Labs, about Bitcoin’s evolution, the limitations of the Lightning Network, and how his ideas for drivechains and merge-mined sidechains could transform scalability and privacy on the Bitcoin network. They cover everything from Zcash’s zero-knowledge proofs and “moon math” to the block size wars, sound money, and the economic realities behind crypto hype cycles. Paul also explains his projects like Zside and Thunder, which aim to bring features like Zcash-style privacy and high-speed transactions to Bitcoin. Listeners can try Layer2 Labs’ software or learn more at layer2labs.com/download.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 Stewart Alsop opens with Paul Sztorc from Layer2 Labs, discussing the connection between Bitcoin and Zcash and how privacy could be added through zero-knowledge proofs.05:00 Paul critiques early Layer 2s like Rootstock and Lightning, calling many “not real” or custodial, and compares the current scene to the .com bubble.10:00 They explore media hype, Silicon Valley culture, and crypto’s cycles of optimism and collapse, mentioning Theranos, FTX, and fake-it-till-you-make-it culture.15:00 Conversation shifts to sound money, government spending, and how Bitcoin could improve fiscal responsibility, referencing Milton Friedman’s ideas.20:00 Paul questions Bitcoin treasury companies like MicroStrategy, explaining flawed incentives and better direct ownership logic.25:00 They move into geopolitics and The Sovereign Individual, discussing borders, state control, and the future of digital sovereignty.30:00 Paul explains zero-knowledge proofs, Zcash’s “moon math,” and the evolution from sapling to Halo 2 for better privacy.35:00 The topic turns to drivechains, BIP300, and Layer2 Labs’ projects like Zside and Thunder, built for real Bitcoin scalability.40:00 Paul explains why Lightning fails, liquidity limits, and why true scaling requires optional L2s with large block capacity.45:00 They discuss the block size war, merge mining, and how miners and nodes interact in Bitcoin’s structure.50:00 Paul breaks down the Merkle tree, block headers, and SHA-256 puzzles miners race to solve for proof-of-work.55:00 The episode closes with how L1–L2 coordination works, the mechanics of slow withdrawals, and secondary markets in drivechains.Key InsightsBitcoin’s privacy gap and Zcash’s influence: Paul Sztorc begins by explaining how Bitcoin lacks true privacy since senders, receivers, and amounts are visible on-chain. He describes Zcash as a model for achieving anonymity through zero-knowledge proofs and explains how Layer2 Labs aims to bring that same level of privacy to Bitcoin without introducing a new altcoin or token.The failure of current Layer 2 solutions: Paul argues that existing Bitcoin Layer 2s like Lightning and Rootstock are flawed—either custodial, inefficient, or deceptive. He compares today’s crypto landscape to the dot-com bubble, full of overhyped projects and scams that will collapse before the genuine solutions survive.Sound money and political accountability: The discussion expands beyond technology to economics, as Paul highlights how unsustainable government debt and spending distort incentives. He believes Bitcoin could restore discipline to fiscal systems by forcing real accounting and limiting the political capacity to inflate or borrow endlessly.Corporate Bitcoin strategies are often misguided: Paul criticizes companies like MicroStrategy for treating Bitcoin as a speculative treasury asset instead of using it for real utility. He argues that investors should just buy Bitcoin directly rather than buy shares in companies that hold it, since intermediaries introduce unnecessary risk, fees, and opacity.Drivechains as Bitcoin’s missing scalability link: Sztorc presents drivechains, outlined in his proposal BIP300, as the practical way to scale Bitcoin. Drivechains allow multiple Layer 2s to exist simultaneously, each optimized for specific features like privacy, larger blocks, or smart contracts, all while using the same 21 million BTC.Lightning Network’s structural limitations: Paul dismantles Lightning’s core assumptions, pointing out that it cannot scale globally because each channel requires on-chain transactions and constant liquidity maintenance. He calls Lightning a “Theranos of Bitcoin,” arguing that it distracts the community from genuine, scalable innovation.Merge mining and the path to Bitcoin’s future: The episode concludes with Paul describing merge mining as the mechanism that unites L1 and L2 securely, letting miners earn more revenue without extra work. He envisions a Bitcoin ecosystem where optional, diverse L2s provide privacy, speed, and flexibility—anchored by a lean, reliable L1 base.

Jared Zoneraich, CEO of PromptLayer, delves into the evolving art of AI engineering. He discusses how PromptLayer serves as a workbench for testing LLM products and the tension between implicit and explicit knowledge in AI. The conversation explores the complexities of prompt evaluation, distinguishing between deterministic and probabilistic systems. They also touch on 'vibe coding', which emphasizes the influence of syntax and tone on AI outputs, and how this approach could reshape coding education and practices.