The Internet's Impact on Authoritarian Capital Allocation
The internet and big data have significantly improved authoritarian states' ability to allocate capital.
In the past, authoritarian states might have been only 20% as effective as market economies in capital allocation.
Now, with access to vast amounts of data, they could potentially be 60% as effective.
This reduction in disadvantage might allow other strengths of authoritarian states to become more prominent.
While market economies may still be superior, the gap has narrowed enough to be concerning.
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Transcript
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What if the information anarchy of the internet spells the downfall of liberalism?
Economist Noah Smith and Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin join us for a fascinating discussion on why Authoritarianism might be the answer to the current information warfare. Yes, you heard that right.
We start the episode by defining liberalism, how it has brought excessive polarization and why totalitarianism might be the only solution left. We then steelman the case against this same argument and how blockchains and crypto could play a role in all this.
0:00 Intro 8:53 Defining Liberalism 21:50 Information Warfare 42:17 Summarizing the Argument 55:09 Could the Thesis be Wrong? 1:11:12 Information Leviathans 1:34:13 The Role of Blockchains 1:38:22 Closing & Disclaimers