The Blockchain Socialist

In this conversation, Suji Yan, the CEO and founder of Mask Network, shares his fascinating journey from journalism to the world of decentralized social media. He discusses the innovative use of an open-sourced browser extension that merges traditional and blockchain-based platforms. Topics include the non-financial applications of crypto, the importance of interoperability in social networks, and strategies for balancing nonprofit and for-profit initiatives in the blockchain ecosystem. Yan also highlights how decentralized tech empowers activism, especially in oppressive environments.

Note that this interview was done in Spanish, you can find the youtube video with english subtitles if you need here.This episode is part of a subseries where I've partnered with my comrade Giulio Quarta from the Crypto Commons Association and their initiative called the Commons Economy Roadmap (CER) where we will be interviewing some of the projects listed as part of the CER. In this interview we spoke to Neri Ortiz and Lucía Ruiz who both live in Mexico. Neri is a coffee farmer and Lucia works at the financial cooperative that services his community. They’ve both been working together with EthicHub, a project that has been providing loans to coffee farmers in Latin America at much better rates than you would otherwise get locally thanks to crypto.During the discussion we talk about the economic situation of coffee farmers in Mexico and the exploitative loan agreements they are often forced into, how EthicHub has helped their situation, and what they've learned so far.You can find a transcription of the interview on the CER website here.The CER is a knowledge base and promotion protocol to highlight and empower what we consider to be among the most relevant 20 projects in the current economic juncture: companies and ecosystems that are building open infrastructures to regenerate society, to support the struggle of citizens, farmers, activists, scientists, tech experts and entrepreneurs on the ground at the dawn of global collapse.The Crypto Commons Association is also a project within Breadchain, an organization I co-founded for building blockchain apps from a left-wing political POV.If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you find content like this important consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. It takes quite a lot of my time and resources so any amount helps. Follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist) or Mastodon (@theblockchainsocialist@social.coop) and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit and Discord to join the discussion.Send me your questions or comments about the show and I'll read them out sometime. Support the showICYMI I've written a book about, no surprise, blockchains through a left political framework! The title is Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix It and is being published through Repeater Books, the publishing house started by Mark Fisher who’s work influenced me a lot in my thinking. The book is officially published and you use this linktree to find where you can purchase the book based on your region / country.

For this episode I spoke to Nick Susi, Executive Director of Strategy at dotdotdash who recently wrote a really interesting article on his Substack titled magic, online!. The article goes into the history of magical thinking that accompanied many of the past's technological achievements like phones that let you talk to the dead or fairies that appeared in some of the first photographs and how today we again see magical thinking accompany AI's proliferation.During the interview we talk about how magical thinking acts as a coping mechanism for uncertain times, AI doomers vs hypemen, and why content creators are illusionists.You can also find the interview in video form on YouTube here.If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you find content like this important consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. It takes quite a lot of my time and resources so any amount helps. Follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist) or Mastodon (@theblockchainsocialist@social.coop) and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit and Discord to join the discussion.Send me your questions or comments about the show and I'll read them out sometime. Support the showICYMI I've written a book about, no surprise, blockchains through a left political framework! The title is Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix It and is being published through Repeater Books, the publishing house started by Mark Fisher who’s work influenced me a lot in my thinking. The book is officially published and you use this linktree to find where you can purchase the book based on your region / country.

Andrea Leiter, Co-founder of Sovereign Nature Initiative, talks about using blockchain for ecological data to fund conservation efforts. They discuss DEEP protocol, ethical challenges, and the potential of blockchain for environmental stewardship.

Graham Jones, author of Red Enlightenment, advocates for a materialist spirituality that merges socialist principles with scientific insights. He discusses how socialism and spirituality can coexist against the stereotype of socialists being anti-religion. The conversation touches on the overlaps between the tech industry and spiritual practices, as well as Alexander Bogdanov's contributions to systems theory. Jones emphasizes the need for a renaissance of socialist values to foster community and collective action, bridging gaps with spiritual communities.

Dr. Hannes Gerhardt, a geography professor, discusses his concept of compeerism as an alternative to capitalism. Topics include distributed ledgers, limits of capitalism on tech, and transitioning to a commons-oriented economy with blockchain.

Christopher Goes, Co-founder of Anoma, discusses intent-centric architecture, redefining money, and socio-political implications of blockchain. They explore worker cooperatives, governance in tech, and peer review revolution with Anoma Research Topics.

Author Nathan Schneider discusses how the internet can be a democratic medium by learning from governance legacies of the past. Topics include implicit feudalism in online communities, the need for platforms supporting accountability, digital power dynamics, blockchain in shared governance, and critical analysis of the crypto space.

Guest Sara Horowitz, founder of Freelancers Union, discusses building mutualistic organizations, the history of workers' movements, and how crypto can promote solidarity. The podcast explores the shift towards mutualism, the impact of technology on social interactions, and the use of blockchain for resource sharing and collaboration. It also highlights the importance of community building, democratic technology, and fostering change through supportive networks.

Gianmarco Cristofari and the host discuss platforms as markets within markets, socialist history of cybernetics, platforms vs. protocols in web3, Extinction Rebellion's tech relationship. They delve into platform studies, cybernetics, technological sovereignty, code governance challenges, sortition, citizen assemblies, radical movements, and the future of platformization and crypto integration.