The Blockchain Socialist (@theblockchainsocialist) • Hey

I explore the intersection of blockchain and left politics.

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🚨 China is a Process (Podcast) I spoke to Afra Wang, a Chinese diaspora journalist and organizer of ZuConnect. We discussed the tumultuous history of crypto in China and how the diaspora builds differently. https://theblockchainsocialist.com/china-is-a-process-understanding-the-chinese-crypto-diaspora-community/
I just signed up for the Yup Mobile Waitlist! #lens #web3 https://mobile.yup.io via @Yup_io
BLOCKCHAIN RADICALS: HOW CAPITALISM RUINED CRYPTO AND HOW TO FIX IT Very excited to officially announce that I have a book coming out with Repeater Books on August 8th, 2023! For the past almost two years I’ve been stealth writing a book about, no surprise, blockchains through a left political framework based on the past few years I've spent in the space. Learn more in the official announcement on my site 🙂 https://theblockchainsocialist.com/blockchain-radicals-book-announcement/
On-Chain Socialism
DAOs are the Trojan Horse for Worker Ownership | The Blockchain Socialist Highlights This is a highlight from Inside the Cybernetic Forest: Terra0's Vision for Nature to Own Itself https://theblockchainsocialist.com/inside-the-cybernetic-forest-terra0s-vision-for-nature-to-own-itself/
Inside the Cybernetic Forest: Terra0’s Vision for Nature to Own Itself In this episode I spoke with Paul Seidler (@brachlandberlin), a member of the Terra0 artist collective. Terra0 has been around since 2016 when it released a whitepaper outlining how a technologically enhanced forest combine with blockchain could own itself and exert autonomy. Since then the collective has organized several exhibitions exploring this theme including Flowertokens, an experiment with tokenization and verification of natural commodities, and an early attempt at creating a combined crypto-collectible physical asset in 2018. During the interview we talk about how Paul’s thinking has evolved with Terra0’s experience with various art installations, dystopian sci-fi, and Regenerative Finance. We also discuss how DAOs could be a trojan horse for introducing employee ownership into the economy.
OTNS: How to Optimize for Reality Michael Zargham (@mZargham), the CEO of Block Science comes back on the show to help us continue to overthrow the ontological framework of network states from the perspective of complex systems engineering. During the discussion we talk about how network states don't optimize for reality, not confusing the map with the territory, and how an alternative to network states should handle infrastructures. Overthrowing the Network State (OTNS) is a series in collaboration with Blockchaingov where we critique The Network State by Balaji Srinivasan while also pulling out the salvageable parts and concepts in discussion with a variety of guests. We are overall critical of Balaji’s specific ideas in the book, but we want to discuss it with intellectual honesty and highlight the larger concepts around how these technologies are and could subvert state structures. You can find the first episode of OTNS where we give our initial criticisms and alternatives here. Blockchaingov is a 5-year long, transdisciplinary research effort aimed at restoring trust in institutions at the community and global levels, by promoting better on chain and off chain distributed governance practices. Throughout the series, each discussion will include me and a member of Blockchaingov with either a new guest each episode or just a discussion between us to tackle various topics from the book.
OTNS: How to Optimize for Reality Michael Zargham, the CEO of Block Science comes back on the show to help us continue to overthrow the ontological framework of network states from the perspective of complex systems engineering. During the discussion we talk about how network states don’t optimize for reality, not confusing the map with the territory, and how an alternative to network states should handle infrastructures. https://theblockchainsocialist.com/otns-how-to-optimize-for-reality/
Honored to already have 9 of the 10 available NFTs minted from my interview with @stani.lens ! Just one more left is available for just 3 WMATIC. https://lenstube.xyz/watch/0x01b70a-0x0d
Honored to already have 9 of the 10 available NFTs minted from my interview with @stani.lens ! Just one more left is available for just 3 WMATIC. https://lenstube.xyz/watch/0x01b70a-0x0d
Honored to already have 9 of the 10 available NFTs minted from my interview with @stani.lens ! Just one more left is available for just 3 WMATIC. https://lenstube.xyz/watch/0x01b70a-0x0d
I just signed the Glass Manifesto and got early access to claim The Glass Pass. See you on @glassxyz.lens : https://glass.xyz/manifesto
Just learned that @theblockchainsocialist.lens is finally arrived @lensprotocol. Have gotta admit I wait for this moment for so long! Follow him and begin your intellectual journey >> https://www.lensfrens.xyz/theblockchainsocialist.lens
@lensprotocol: Creating a Web3 Social Ecosystem with @stani We all know that the current social media landscape isn't ideal. Lens is a new attempt at creating decentralized social media using blockchain as a social graph. During the interview we discussed the issues with social media today, the implications of creating a social graph on a blockchain that anyone can build on top of, and platform risk. You can find me on Lens as well and collect this interview as an NFT (very cheap and only 10) on Lenstube. https://lenstube.xyz/watch/0x01b70a-0x0d
Lens Protocol: Creating a Web3 Social Ecosystem with Stani Kulechov
Hey I wrote a book review of the network state for @outland_art focused on Balaji's weird misunderstandings of the role of land in statecraft and how it's not like a codebase you can fork. ...and its under my real name! https://outland.art/network-state-review-balaji-srinivasan/ It's the first time I'm associating my IRL and online identities so I'm pretty nervous but losing my anon status was necessary for another big announcement that you might find referenced at the bottom of the article. More to come on that soon!
Exlls - Dreaming About You (Official Music Video) by @millionrecords.lens #Lenstube https://lenstube.xyz/watch/0xf1b1-0x0235
Exlls - Dreaming About You (Official Music Video) STREAM : https://millionrecords.fanlink.to/Exlls #Lenstube
Exlls - Dreaming About You (Official Music Video) STREAM : https://millionrecords.fanlink.to/Exlls #Lenstube
Does the CIA know who Satoshi is? Annie Jacobsen explains! #bytes
Overthrowing The Network State: Forming New Publics and Pluralism with Glen Weyl In the second episode of OTNS, Primavera (@yaoeo) and I are speaking to Glen Weyl (@glenweyl), the founder of RadicalxChange and a co-author of Vitalik Buterin's article on Decentralized Society. During the discussion we spoke about Balaji's oversimplifications in the book, how TNS was not written for human beings, and Glen's alternative for a Networked Society differs. Overthrowing the Network State (OTNS) is a series in collaboration with Blockchaingov where we critique The Network State by Balaji Srinivasan while also pulling out the salvageable parts and concepts in discussion with a variety of guests. We are overall critical of Balaji’s specific ideas in the book, but we want to discuss it with intellectual honesty and highlight the larger concepts around how these technologies are and could subvert state structures. You can find the first episode of OTNS where we give our initial criticisms and alternatives here. Blockchaingov is a 5-year long, transdisciplinary research effort aimed at restoring trust in institutions at the community and global levels, by promoting better on chain and off chain distributed governance practices. Throughout the series, each discussion will include me and a member of Blockchaingov with either a new guest each episode or just a discussion between us to tackle various topics from the book. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: https://theblockchainsocialist.com/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3geORci... iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Podcast Addict: https://podplayer.net/?podId=2598359 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TBSocialist Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theblockchain... Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/cryptoleftists/
Overthrowing The Network State: An Initial Critique and Alternatives NEW SERIES: Overthrowing the Network State in collaboration with Blockchaingov In the first episode of our series ‘Overthrowing The Network State’ (OTNS), we dive into the world of Balaji Srinivasan’s recent book The Network State. The purpose of this series is to critique The Network State while also pulling out the salvageable parts and concepts in discussion with a variety of guests. We are overall critical of Balaji’s specific ideas in the book, but we want to discuss it with intellectual honesty and highlight the larger concepts around how these technologies are and could subvert state structures. For this episode I’m joined by Primavera De Filippi (@yaoeo), a long time researcher on blockchain and the director of Blockchaingov as a co-host. We give a brief overview of who Balaji Srinivasan is, some of the main concepts in his book, our initial criticisms, and some alternative book recommendations. By OTNS we don’t want to only provide critique, but we want to provide a very different conceptual framework that answers why people people seem to be tapping into the book. For us this is about exit-based governance (lack of politics with an idealistic view of autonomy ) vs. commons-based governance (which recognizes the inherent ‘interdependence’ of the world and global society). Blockchaingov is a 5-year long, transdisciplinary research effort aimed at restoring trust in institutions at the community and global levels, by promoting better on chain and off chain distributed governance practices. Throughout the series, each discussion will include me and a member of Blockchaingov with either a new guest each episode or just a discussion between us to tackle various topics from the book. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: https://theblockchainsocialist.com/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3geORci... iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Podcast Addict: https://podplayer.net/?podId=2598359 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TBSocialist Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theblockchain... Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/cryptoleftists/
Overthrowing The Network State: Untangling Balaji's Helical Theory of History For this episode, I'm joined by Kelsie Nabben from Blockchaingov to speak to Quinn DuPont (@quinndupont), a historian of technology who recently gave a talk about his criticisms of TNS at the Commons Stack Unconference. He also recently published an article titled A Progressive Web3: From Social Coproduction to Digital Polycentric Governance. During the episode we interrogate Balaji's misunderstandings of history and proposing the commons as an alternative framework for what is already happening in some parts of web3. Overthrowing the Network State (OTNS) is a series in collaboration with Blockchaingov where we critique The Network State by Balaji Srinivasan while also pulling out the salvageable parts and concepts in discussion with a variety of guests. We are overall critical of Balaji’s specific ideas in the book, but we want to discuss it with intellectual honesty and highlight the larger concepts around how these technologies are and could subvert state structures. You can find the first episode of OTNS where we give our initial criticisms and alternatives here. Blockchaingov is a 5-year long, transdisciplinary research effort aimed at restoring trust in institutions at the community and global levels, by promoting better on chain and off chain distributed governance practices. Throughout the series, each discussion will include me and a member of Blockchaingov with either a new guest each episode or just a discussion between us to tackle various topics from the book. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Website: https://theblockchainsocialist.com/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3geORci... iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Podcast Addict: https://podplayer.net/?podId=2598359 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TBSocialist Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theblockchain... Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/cryptoleftists/
Talking Politics with Vitalik Buterin I interviewed Vitalik Buterin about his thoughts on the political aspects of crypto. It was a candid discussion about his book “Proof of Stake“, the evolution of Ethereum, and the dangers of the far right. 0:00 Introduction 2:00 Bitcoin vs Ethereum 7:30 Is ether money? 15:56 Proof of Stake the book 20:00 Will post-merge Ethereum become qualitatively different than pre-merge Ethereum? 21:30 Vitalik's biggest evolution 31:50 Collective Action Use Cases 35:25 My favorite blockchain application 38:45 Vitalik on the far right 52:00 The Great Divergence 58:20 Buterinism 1:12:32 Why is meat associated with the far right? 1:15:34 The influence of The DAO hack 1:19:15 The Right is stuck in strict definitions 1:21:53 Radical Left philosophers that influence Vitalik 1:24:50 Side effects of the right wing embrace of crypto 1:28:57 Vitalik's critique of the Left 1:34:16 Political mass adoption event 1:37:55 Left wing use cases 1:53:22 Decentralized Society 2:12:42 Social and community recovery wallets 2:16:10 Gamer guilds, market socialism, and David Graeber 2:24:23 What does a successful Ethereum ecosystem look like in a decade?
Overthrowing the Network State: Survival of the RIchest For this episode, Primavera and I speak with Douglas Rushkoff (@rushkoff). Named one of the “world’s ten most influential intellectuals” by MIT, Rushkoff is an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy in a digital age. His twenty books include the just-published Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires, which we found to be relevant for understanding The Network State. Overthrowing the Network State (OTNS) is a series in collaboration with Blockchaingov where we critique The Network State by Balaji Srinivasan while also pulling out the salvageable parts and concepts in discussion with a variety of guests. We are overall critical of Balaji’s specific ideas in the book, but we want to discuss it with intellectual honesty and highlight the larger concepts around how these technologies are and could subvert state structures. You can find the first episode of OTNS where we give our initial criticisms and alternatives here. Blockchaingov is a 5-year long, transdisciplinary research effort aimed at restoring trust in institutions at the community and global levels, by promoting better on chain and off chain distributed governance practices. Throughout the series, each discussion will include me and a member of Blockchaingov with either a new guest each episode or just a discussion between us to tackle various topics from the book.