Are we a Psyop to left-wash crypto?
05/08/22 • 70 min
For this episode I interviewed Danny O'Brien (@mala) , current senior fellow at the Filecoin Foundation and special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Danny worked with the EFF for a very long time and has a podcast called How to Fix the Internet.
During the interview we talked about his experience of the early internet and what it was like to see it develop without significant influence from the left, his pub hangouts with cypherpunks before it ended, and the importance of taking part in technological spaces in the early days to political influence. Our first contact with one another contained a little bit of drama on Twitter as well which we discussed a bit. From our point of view, the importance of taking part in the crypto space at this moment trumps the accusations of being a psyop or of left-washing.
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) 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.
ICYMI 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 interviewed Danny O'Brien (@mala) , current senior fellow at the Filecoin Foundation and special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Danny worked with the EFF for a very long time and has a podcast called How to Fix the Internet.
During the interview we talked about his experience of the early internet and what it was like to see it develop without significant influence from the left, his pub hangouts with cypherpunks before it ended, and the importance of taking part in technological spaces in the early days to political influence. Our first contact with one another contained a little bit of drama on Twitter as well which we discussed a bit. From our point of view, the importance of taking part in the crypto space at this moment trumps the accusations of being a psyop or of left-washing.
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) 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.
ICYMI 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.
Previous Episode
Crypto hackers don't care about your libertarian ideology
For this episode I spoke to Jaya Klara Brekke (@jayapapaya), an academic researcher on crypto and Head of Strategy at NYM who recently gave the keynote speech for the Haus Der Kunst DAO Summit.
During the interview we spoke about her skepticism and cautious optimism she mentioned in the keynote speech, the contradictory feelings on the market as someone who was raised in traditional leftist spaces mentioned in her article in the Agorism in the 21st Century Journal, and how many critics tend to fall short. We also discussed her paper on a new protagonist in the economy she calls "hacker-engineers" and how they are not as ideological as critics want to believe as well as her criticisms of Hayekian thought.
More publications by Jaya
I saw the Blockchain at the End of The World, turned around, and walked back
Cryptoeconomics
Digital Scarcity
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) 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.
ICYMI 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.
Next Episode
CCG Chronicles #8 - Token Engineering and Holochain
This episode is a continuation of the CCG Chronicles series which is a collection of interviews conducted during the Crypto Commons Gathering (CCG) in Austria back in August 2021. The interviews were also filmed to potentially be a part of a documentary I'm making with a few others.
During the CCG I interviewed Scott Morris (@CS_Morris) and Moritz Bierling (@bierlingm) about how to design a new currency system, blockchain vs. holochain, and memes. Scott is a currency design consultant working in both crypto and non-crypto based currencies focused on cooperative finance. We talked a bit about a TedX talk he gave titled "Putting people and the planet before paper wealth". Moritz works a lot in the Holochain ecosystem and has his own newsletter here.
If you want to financially support our efforts in making the documentary, you can donate so far with bitcoin, ethereum (any layer), or NEAR at the addresses listed on the website. We’re still unsure when exactly anything will be published, but we’re hoping within the next year although that will depend on the amount of support we can get from the community.
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) 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.
ICYMI 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.
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