Stranded Technologies Podcast

If you’re not excited *yet* about insurance regulation, this episode is for you!Matthew Queen and I uncover the often underestimated impact of insurance regulation on the global economy. In this podcast, we learn the importance of the legal structures of societies, and what SEZs like Próspera can do to improve them.Insurance is a peculiar product. It’s purely digital. It’s math about risks & probabilities.It is an important backbone of the global economy, not only for people to have a fallback when they’re experiencing misfortune, but also for businesses to manage risk.Risks abound for businesses, in a changing world. However, no external firm can assess your risk better than yourself - which is where captive insurance comes in: you can insure your risk yourself.Captive insurance is a sophisticated financial risk instrument for companies.Matthew Queen provides insights into the regulatory barriers for captive insurance, and how different jurisdictions are currently enabling the formation of captive insurance companies. The regulatory dynamics offer potential for small, nimble and digital jurisdictions like Próspera to offer efficient alternatives. There is a balance between regulation and innovation in the insurance market - it’s a market not naturally attuned to small companies to disrupt easily because of large capital requirements. This episode is a valuable resource not only for insurance entrepreneurs navigating industry complexities, but for any entrepreneurs with the ambition to build multinational companies to whom captive insurance can be a powerful tool.More about Matthew’s work:* Book: Modern Captive Insurance* Twitter* LinkedIn This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Magatte Wade is an entrepreneur, author and promoter for African entrepreneurship. Magatte shares her impactful personal journey of migration, education, and entrepreneurship and calls attention to the economic difficulties in African countries. She discusses her book "Heart of a Cheetah", where she explores the misrepresentations of African poverty and how startup cities can help unleash entrepreneurship for Africa's development. She shares anecdotes from her entrepreneurial journey, highlighting bureaucratic hindrances she has encountered in Africa versus the U.S. and advocating for the establishment of startup cities in Africa as a radical, immediate solution to alleviate poverty and drive economic growth. Magatte previously appeared on Lex Fridman and Jordan Peterson. She recently interviewed Vitalik Buterin on her own video series.More about Magatte's work: * MagatteWade.com* SkinIsSkin.com - Magatte's company* Twitter* Instagram* YouTube* Facebook* LinkedIn* TikTok This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Richard Hanania is the founder and president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology, and author the books “The Origins of Woke” and “Public Choice Theory and the Illusion of Grand Strategy”.This is a far-ranging conversation with an emerging star public intellectual.In this episode we discuss:* Political theory: Nietzschean Liberalism, the worldview that greatness is a higher value than equality coupled with the insight that the liberal institutions of markets & democracy are the best delivery mechanism for greatness* The influence of law on society: it's a recurring topic of this podcast how legal systems influence economic growth. Hanania argues that even culture such as "wokeism" is downstream of key US legal decisions made in the 1960s* Public choice in International Relations (IR): many IR theorists assume states are rational actors. Richard debunks this theory, arguing that collective guilt and responsibility of a "people" is morally not the right lens to view the world This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Andrew Côté is a nuclear fusion engineer at Stellerator Systems and a scout at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). He has a Substack called "Ulysses".Right in time with the release of Marc Andreessen's "The Techno-Optimist Manifesto", this episode has good news: nuclear fusion has a real shot.There are engineering challenges, but the science has paved the way for some promising methods to achieve energy superabundance from nuclear fusion.Is fusion even necessary? Isn't nuclear fission enough? What's great about fusion is that it doesn't start with a regulatory uphill battle. Instead the US Department of Energy (DOE) decided fusion is regulated like particle accelerators, not like nuclear power plants are under the NRC.This is fantastic news. There is no real anti-fusion political movement, so there's a chance a rapidly accelerating near-permissionless industry can develop.In this episode, we relish in the major upside for humanity. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Janine Leger and Niklas discuss the concept of Zuzalu-inspired network societies, with a focus on Vitalia. They explore the role of governance models in accelerating technological progress and the higher standard of living in Vitalia. They also highlight the values and principles of Zuzalu, including radical tolerance and experimental innovation. The episode invites listeners to join the community and learn about their ambitious venture.

This is a two-part episode - in the first part Janine Leger, one of the driving forces behind Zuzalu talks about community development and Zuzalu's future.In the second part, Niklas introduces Vitalia - a Zuzalu-inspired network society that aims to radically accelerate the development of life extension technologies.Engage with Zuzalu here: https://zuzalu.city/Engage with Vitalia here: https://vitalia.city/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Jim Pethokoukis is a policy analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, and writes the Faster, Please! newsletter on Substack.The subject of this conversation is Jim's new book "The Conservative Futurist - How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised."Ray Kurtzweil said in 1999:“The twenty-first century will be different. The human species, along with the computational technology it created, will be able to solve age-old problems of need, if not desire, and will be in a position to change the nature of mortality in a post-biological future.…The result will be far greater transformations in the first two decades of the twenty-first century than we saw in the entire twentieth century.” However, this future seems distant and progress towards it too slow. The covid-19 pandemic that took place against a backdrop of scarcity: "too little housing, too few immigrants, too few entrepreneurs, not enough clean energy, not enough slots at top colleges, and not enough high-quality infrastructure."This conversation is about how to counter The Great Stagnation, an "Upwing" vs. a "Downwing" culture and the "Three Tailwinds" that could accelerate Upwing such as a revival nuclear power or productivity boost due to artificial intelligence (AI).One idea to nurture that culture is the "Genesis Clock" as opposed to the famous "Doomsday Clock" from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Jim suggests the Genesis Clock to tell humanity how close or distant it might be to a period so different from modern life that it would qualify as a new beginning for our civilisation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Bob is the world’s greatest expert on special economic zones or "opportunity zones" as he likes to call them, having worked in setting them up in 174 countries.Max Borders said about Bob: “I would argue no living human being is responsible for helping lift more people out of poverty than Bob Haywood:”Bob is notoriously low-key about his work.This podcast episode together with Max' written 2-part series (part 1, part 2) is a rare look behind the scenes of a trend little understood or noticed in the developed world, but enormously important in the developing world to lift billions out of poverty.In this episode you'll learn that ...- Zone developers and governments need to start by defining the problem - why are we not getting the investment we want right now?- You need a young, energetic local lawyer who knows existing regulations in a country and deeply understands the "code base" to find elegant solutions- You need to build a coalition of local "second-tier" elites, i.e. not the ones that already are on top who benefit from the existing order- The keys to a successful zone are predictability, productivity and profitability (3 P's)- International multilaterals are a problem more than a solution This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Sam Peltzman is professor emeritus at the University of Chicago.Sam is was a graduate student to Milton Friedman and a contemporary to George Stigler, the famous economist who coined the term "regulatory capture".Regulatory capture is an important concept. AI and crypto is under fire by regulators.The legendary venture capitalist Bill Gurley gave a talk at the All-In Summit 2023 that went viral. He quoted Stigler's adage that "as a rule regulation is acquired by the industry and is designed and operated primarily for its benefit."The problem is that it's not true.Stigler asked the right question, but didn't give the correct answer.Sam Peltzman has thought and written extensively about this question for 50+ years since Stigler's famous article. The truth is simpler, but more sinister.In fact, we learn in this episode that it's not industry that seeks to be regulated. Even the pharma industry did not proactively lobby for more regulations - they resisted the landmark Kefeuver-Harris amendments (1963) that shaped the modern FDA.It's regulators who seek to regulate for their benefit.Bill Gurley might be on the right track commenting on Elizabeth Warren's behaviour towards tech: "You attack 'em they have to come to you.” This is a very nuanced episode on what might be the most important but least understood problem for greater progress in technology.Sam Peltzman's legacy helps us to understand what's coming at us.Yet his message is deeply optimistic: technology is still unstoppable. It can only be temporarily slowed down, not eliminated. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.infinitacitytimes.com

Sebastian Brunemeier and Robin Hanson discuss the disappointing outcomes of the healthcare market and the hidden motives behind it. They explore the misallocation of capital in the pharma-industrial complex and regulatory monopoly. The podcast also highlights the potential of special jurisdictions and medical tourism. They propose implementing groundbreaking ideas such as life insurance coupled with healthcare. The chapters cover topics like the limitations of medicine, misaligned incentives in healthcare, trust in doctors, starting a new insurance company, putting control in the hands of the patient, and advancements in society, healthcare, and longevity biotech.