All Models Are Wrong

Latest Episodes:

What Erik Voorhees and Other Crypto-Libertarians Get Wrong Jun 21, 2020

Show notes

This week I decided to do something a little bit different and go solo. For this episode I wanted to analyze the mindset and beliefs in a lot of the mainstream cryptocurrency discourse. In order to do that I wanted to use someone who is a popular figure and thought leader in the space, Erik Voorhees. Erik is the CEO of ShapeShift, an pseudo-anonymous cryptocurrency exchange turned definitely-not-anonymous cryptocurrency exchange in order to comply to new regulations. Before that he also started several bitcoin-ventures including bitcoin gambling site Satoshi Dice and was known for being one of the first people to go "full-crypto".
What probably won't be surprising is that Erik is also very openly libertarian, of the pro-capitalist variety and a lot of people in Crypto World like to listen Erik's opinions. Erik was recently in an interview for Consensus, hosted by Coindesk, one of the biggest online publications for cryptocurrency news, about the Future of Wealth and I think it provided a great window to understand the libertarian mindset a little more. Therefore I thought he would be a good case study for understanding the mind of the average crypto-libertarian.
Keep in mind that this isn't the belief of everyone, but it is for a prominent segment of the mainstream. It's important that we understand where they come from in order to create an alternative.
Sources Used
ShapeShift site
Totally not apolitical cryptocurrency book recommendations for noobies from ShapeShift
Down the Rabbit Hole Trailer
Down the Rabbit Hole Interview with Erik
Consensus Interview with Erik
If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you want to see more content like this, please consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. At the moment I've spent more on this 9-month old project than I've ever made so any amount helps. Also, sign up for the Newsletter, follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist), and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit to continue the discussion and give your thoughts.

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Musicians of the World Unite and Decolonize the Music Industry feat. Rich Jensen from Resonate Jun 14, 2020

Show notes

This week I spoke with Rich Jensen (@richjensen), Co-op Executive of Resonate (@ResonateCoop). Resonate is a cooperatively owned music streaming platform aiming to give more power to artists rather than corporate record labels and VC-funded tech companies.On average their model gives a larger payout to artists as compared to other music streaming platforms like Spotify. Rich has had a long career in the music industry of starting ventures and has a passion for decolonization.
During the interview we spoke about the recent history of music culture creation, it's commodification, and how the music industry was affected by P2P platforms like Napster. We discuss how blockchain could be used to help in making sure artists receive the value of their work rather than being exploited by companies or otherwise. We then connect how this model could be used to help in efforts to decolonize the oppressed including indigenous and black communities. Since Rich is based in Seattle, we also talked about his recent experience in the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (#CHAZ) and the legacy of Kurt Cobain.
If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you want to see more content like this, please consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. At the moment I've spent more on this 9-month old project than I've ever made so any amount helps. Also, sign up for the Newsletter, follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist), and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit to continue the discussion and give your thoughts.

Support the show

Subscribe on Substack - https://allmodelsarewrong.online/

Buy my book - https://linktr.ee/blockchainradicals

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From Feudalism to Capitalism to (Hopefully) Beyond feat. Dr. Joel Garrod (Part 2) May 20, 2020

Show notes

This is Part 2 of my interview with Dr. Joel Z Garrod, a sociologist based in Canada and author of a recently published article, “On the property of blockchains: comments on an emerging literature.” The paper focuses on blockchain and property relations in connection to global property relations and the evolution of capitalism.

For this part of the interview we speak about our thoughts on a recent DeFi Summit seminar on Human Rights (unsurprisingly, they use a very limited liberal conception of human rights), the evolution of property during the transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, and what lessons we can take from that for building something else.

In the last interview we spoke about utopian capitalism, whether blockchain is a neoliberal project, and the history of contracts. The interview itself went pretty long so I’ve split it into two parts. It's not necessary to listen to the first part if you've found this part first but you can find Part 1 here.

If you’d like to get a copy of the article you join the Crypto Leftists Discord group here where I posted a copy of the article since online it’s under a paywall.

If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you want to see more content like this, please consider donating to my Patreon. I will never have ads to keep independence. If you want to receive irregular updates, sign up for the Newsletter, follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist), and / or join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit to continue the discussion and give your thoughts.

Support the show

Subscribe on Substack - https://allmodelsarewrong.online/

Buy my book - https://linktr.ee/blockchainradicals

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Property Relation on the Blockchain feat. Dr. Joel Garrod (Part 1) May 16, 2020

Show notes

This week I sat with Dr. Joel Z Garrod, a sociologist based in Canada and author of a recently published article, "On the property of blockchains: comments on an emerging literature." The paper focuses on blockchain and property relations in connection to global property relations and the evolution of capitalism.
I really enjoyed the article because it really succinctly brings up the point that most current analyses of blockchain don't go deep enough and don’t seem to ask the right questions because they focus too much on what "could be" and not what is currently happening in the space. This leads to a lot of wrong conclusions, particularly from people who I’d probably agree with for the most part on other things. In his paper, Dr. Garrod takes a more materialistic approach when analyzing blockchain and it's potential to either be co-opted by neoliberalism or create something completely different.
During the interview we spoke about utopian capitalism, whether blockchain is a neoliberal project, and the history of contracts. The interview itself went pretty long so I've split it into two parts. You can expect part two to be published next week.

If you'd like to get a copy of the article you join the Crypto Leftists Discord group here where I posted a copy of the article since online it's under a paywall.
If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you want to see more content like this, please consider donating to my Patreon. I will never have ads to keep independence. If you want to receive irregular updates, sign up for the Newsletter, follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist), and / or join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit to continue the discussion and give your thoughts.

Support the show

Subscribe on Substack - https://allmodelsarewrong.online/

Buy my book - https://linktr.ee/blockchainradicals

Get full access to All Models Are Wrong at allmodelsarewrong.online/subscribe

Own the Value of your Labor with DAOs feat. Daniel Kronovet from Colony Apr 26, 2020

Show notes

This week I interviewed Daniel Kronovet (@kronosapiens) at Colony, “An Operating System for Organizations”. The Colony Network is a suite of smart contracts, running on Ethereum. It provides a general purpose framework for the essential functions organizations require, such as ownership, structure, authority, and financial management. Along the way, we talk about organizations and society as systems of information processing, the relationships of models to reality, and some classic (and modern) political economic thought.

Colony Discord -> discord.gg/erRD8gb

More Information -> www.reddit.com/r/cryptoleftists/…ine_live_session/

Newsletter: theblockchainsocialist.com/sign-up-for…newsletter/

Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.com/e/blockchain-10…m_term=fullLink

Crypto Leftists Discord: discord.gg/Hs78cVM
Mentioned Articles in the Episode

AI is an Ideology (Jaron Lanier and Glen Weyl) -> www.wired.com/story/opinion-ai-i…-not-a-technology/

Designing Freedom (Stafford Beer) -> monoskop.org/images/e/e3/Beer_S…igning_Freedom.pdf

The Use of Knowledge in Society (Friedrich Hayek) -> www.econlib.org/library/Essays/hykKnw.html

Reputation Systems: Promise and Peril (Daniel Kronovet) -> kronosapiens.github.io/blog/2018/06/…se-peril.html

The Great Transformation (Karl Polanyi) -> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_T…sformation_(book)
If you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you want to see more content like this, please consider donating to my Patreon. I will never have ads to keep independence. Also, please sign up for the Newsletter, follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist), and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit to continue the discussion and give your thoughts.

Support the show

Subscribe on Substack - https://allmodelsarewrong.online/

Buy my book - https://linktr.ee/blockchainradicals

Get full access to All Models Are Wrong at allmodelsarewrong.online/subscribe

Why the Left Should Care About Identity and Quadratic Voting feat. Paula Berman from Democracy Earth Apr 19, 2020

Show notes

This week I spoke with Paula Berman (@_paulaberman), researcher at the Democracy Earth Foundation (@DemocracyEarth) which is a tech non-profit that aims to create platforms for decentralized and incorruptible online governance. Their projects have largely been based on Ethereum.

In the interview we discuss the identity problem for decentralized platforms like blockchain, the advantages of quadratic voting as opposed to current systems, and why the Left should care about all these things.

Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.com/e/blockchain-10…m_term=fullLink
Newsletter: theblockchainsocialist.com/sign-up-for…newsletter/

Discord: discord.gg/Hs78cVM

Want to stay in touch?

Check the site -> theblockchainsocialist.com/

Join the community -> www.reddit.com/r/cryptoleftists/

Contribute to the project -> www.patreon.com/theblockchainsocialist

Other Platforms:

Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3geORcile9E…hURsSBlErXnihh9A

iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-…st/id1501607045

Soundcloud: @theblockchainsocialist

Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-blockchain-socialist

Podcast Addict: podplayer.net/?podId=2598359

Deezer: www.deezer.com/us/show/961422

Podchaser: www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-blo…ocialist-1034109

iHeart Radio: www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-b…cialist-59432216/

Support the show

Subscribe on Substack - https://allmodelsarewrong.online/

Buy my book - https://linktr.ee/blockchainradicals

Get full access to All Models Are Wrong at allmodelsarewrong.online/subscribe

Fighting Uber with blockchain cooperatives feat. Dardan Isufi from Eva Coop Apr 05, 2020

Show notes

This week I spoke with Dardan Isufi (@DardanIsufi), COO of the Eva Coop (@Eva_coop) which is a cooperative ride-sharing application based on blockchain started in Montreal and expanding to other cities. We discuss taking on Uber while trying to build a democratic and non-exploitative alternative like Eva.
Want to stay in touch?

Check the site -> theblockchainsocialist.com

Join the community -> www.reddit.com/r/cryptoleftists/

Contribute to the project -> www.patreon.com/theblockchainsocialist

You can also find the podcast and future episodes on the major podcast platforms below.

Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3geORcile9E…hURsSBlErXnihh9A

iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-…st/id1501607045

Soundcloud: @theblockchainsocialist

Stitcher: www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-blockchain-socialist

Podcast Addict: podplayer.net/?podId=2598359

Deezer: www.deezer.com/us/show/961422

Podchaser: www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-blo…ocialist-1034109

iHeart Radio: www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-b…cialist-59432216/

Support the show

Subscribe on Substack - https://allmodelsarewrong.online/

Buy my book - https://linktr.ee/blockchainradicals

Get full access to All Models Are Wrong at allmodelsarewrong.online/subscribe

Teaser: Interview with Ben Arc (@BTCSocialist) [Deleted Scenes] Mar 30, 2020

Show notes

What I’ve done is taken some of the audio left over from the interview I did with Ben Arc or also known as BTCSocialist on Twitter released a couple weeks ago and mashed it together since some of the good stuff wasn’t able to make into the interview. I hope you enjoy the extra content and if you want full access then consider becoming a patron on Patreon.
Some of the things we spoke about include:

Secret lefties in the hacker community
Fake right wing anarchists
Post-capitalist blockchain projects trying to reinvent the wheel when there's socialism
Right wing philosophers' obsessions with eugenics and skull size

Check the site -> theblockchainsocialist.com/

Join the community -> www.reddit.com/r/cryptoleftists/

Contribute to the project -> www.patreon.com/theblockchainsocialist

Support the show

Subscribe on Substack - https://allmodelsarewrong.online/

Buy my book - https://linktr.ee/blockchainradicals

Get full access to All Models Are Wrong at allmodelsarewrong.online/subscribe

Crypto Commie Circlejerk: Interview with Ben Arc (@BTCSocialist) Mar 15, 2020

Show notes

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak with Ben Arc (@BTCSocialist), one of the first openly leftist guy in bitcoin and significant contributor to the bitcoin FOSS space. In this episode we discuss what it was like for him to be one of the only people loudly represent the Left, and, his bitcoin-IoT projects. You can find his github for all of his projects here: https://github.com/arcbtc
You can also find the podcast and future episodes on the major platforms below.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3geORcile9E1EyPyFiAHhM?si=x7fjsFhURsSBlErXnihh9A

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-blockchain-socialist/id1501607045

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/theblockchainsocialist

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-blockchain-socialist

Podcast Addict: https://podplayer.net/?podId=2598359
If you haven’t seen it, I’ve also republished another article on Medium titled, Won’t the State just Destroy the Blockchain?that you can check out or share with your other Lefty or even Libertarian friends.
Check the site -> theblockchainsocialist.com/

Join the community -> www.reddit.com/r/cryptoleftists/

Contribute to the project -> www.patreon.com/theblockchainsocialist

Support the show

Subscribe on Substack - https://allmodelsarewrong.online/

Buy my book - https://linktr.ee/blockchainradicals

Get full access to All Models Are Wrong at allmodelsarewrong.online/subscribe

The Blockchain Socialist Introduction Feb 29, 2020

Show notes

A short introduction to the TBS Podcast where I will be doing interviews and expanding on the concepts I explore on my site integrating blockchain and the Left.

Check the site -> theblockchainsocialist.com/

Join the community -> www.reddit.com/r/cryptoleftists/

Contribute to the project -> www.patreon.com/theblockchainsocialist

First article on Medium -> medium.com/@idmsbftmod/cocaine…ralism-da7b9968c4f9

Support the show

Subscribe on Substack - https://allmodelsarewrong.online/

Buy my book - https://linktr.ee/blockchainradicals

Get full access to All Models Are Wrong at allmodelsarewrong.online/subscribe