My conversation with Zooko, Nate Wilcox, and Sean Bowe about the Zcash protocol.

Zooko is a cypherpunk who co-founded Zcash along with his brother, Nate Wilcox, and others. Sean Bowe is a cryptographer and engineer who has played a crucial role in the development of Zcash and has made significant contributions to advancements in zero-knowledge proofs, particularly zk-SNARKs, which underpin Zcash’s privacy features.

Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below.

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Timestamps

0:00 - Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn

0:04 - Writing the first blog post on Bitcoin ever

6:21 - Bitcoin’s fundamental privacy flaw

9:40 - Unstoppable private money

12:19 - Will Zcash compete with Bitcoin as a store of value?

14:24 - How many people are using Zcash?

16:18 - Good security is good usability

20:10 - Social credit systems and ubiquitous surveillance

23:43 - Why Monero’s privacy tech can’t work

35:21 - Integrating ZKPs into other blockchains

39:51 - Privacy comes from money at rest, not from money in flight

47:42 - Why did the price of ZEC fall so drastically in the beginning?

51:49 - Zcash stablecoins?

55:50 - Quantum threats to Zcash

1:02:50 - Encrypted love notes in the blockchain'

1:07:07 - Privacy enabled cultural trends

1:12:43 - Nate Wilcox

1:14:38 - Why do you need privacy if you have nothing to hide?

1:16:16 - A brief history of Zcash

1:22:42 - Why does Zcash have opt-in privacy?

1:26:55 - Does Zcash still rely on a trusted setup?

1:30:49 - Upgrading the Zcash protocol to Hybrid PoW/PoS

1:40:50 - A bug that almost killed Zcash

1:52:40 - Zcash’s funding model

2:09:09 - Why can’t privacy be added as an L2?

2:14:35 - Scaling Zcash and making it more interoperable

2:23:16 - Shielded Labs

2:24:39 - Nate’s vision for Zcash

2:27:53 - Sean Bowe

2:32:53 - Censorship resistance is a spectrum

2:35:26 - Will privacy coins be banned?

2:37:49 - Privacy and scalability

2:41:47 - Programmable money

2:43:31 - Summary of Sean’s contributions to the field of cryptography

2:55:17 - Zcash might get privacy against quantum adversaries for free

3:00:14 - Halo

3:05:34 - What Sean’s working on right now

3:11:54 - What has influenced Sean’s thinking in cryptography the most?

3:13:36 - Being a high school dropout working in crypto

3:15:08 - Zcash is just getting started

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My conversation with Naval Ravikant. Enjoy!

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Timestamps

0:00 - The Theory of Everything

4:48 - How do you know what’s true?

7:51 - Groups search for consensus, individuals search for truth

13:07 - We have never run out of a single resource

15:25 - Are we destroying the Earth?

17:48 - Marxism denies wealth creation

21:28 - Regulation kills innovation

27:05 - Degrowth and the fall of Western universities

33:31 - Why the West is best

35:47 - Federalism

38:10 - Everyone wants to live forever

41:44 - Humans are universal explainers

43:25 - Collectivism vs. individualism

50:44 - You cannot explain the universe without explaining humans

55:02 - How David Deutsch’s ideas have changed Naval’s life

1:02:31 - The scientific method isn’t possible

1:05:07 - The low-hanging fruit theory is a bad explanation

1:08:19 - The biggest threats to Western civilization

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

I had the pleasure of sitting down with David Deutsch in his lovely garden in Oxford a few months ago. Here’s our conversation.

Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below.

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Timestamps

1:01 - A tragic view of human history

7:04 - Why did it take so long for civilization to arise?

13:31 - Fallibilism

21:32 - Cultural relativism denies improvement

24:03 - Richard Dawkins and indigenous ways of knowing

26:49 - Chemical scum that dream of distant quasars

31:38 - The era of man

37:55 - People are unlike any other force of nature

42:51 - The dangers of regulating AI

48:09 - Are we running out of resources?

54:21 - Everything in existing educational theory is wrong

1:11:30 - When David met Richard Feynman

1:17:33 - Everyone is a Popperian

1:20:16 - Only progress is sustainable

1:26:00 - The biggest threat to Western civilization

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Julian Barbour is a renowned physicist known for his groundbreaking work on the nature of time. In his influential books, The End of Time and The Janus Point he explores the concept of a timeless universe, challenging traditional views.

Samuel Kuypers is a theoretical physicist, currently located in Montréal, who is interested in the foundations of quantum theory and time.

Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below.

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Timestamps

1:10 - The instant is not in time, time is in the instant

6:27 - Time capsules and evidence of time passing

9:22 - Newton’s view of absolute time and space

18:46 - Shape dynamics

24:33 - Mathematics of variety

37:51 - Newton’s theory as a theory of creation

56:23 - How shape dynamics relates to general relativity

1:06:50 - Entropy and heat death of the universe

1:28:13 - Free will and determinism

1:33:22 - Carpe diem

1:34:13 - Julian’s interest in Shakespeare

1:40:54 - Question from David Deutsch about quantum theory

1:48:56 - Question from Brett Hall about general relativity and QT

1:51:51 - Final remarks

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Nat Eliason is a writer and crypto insider with a wildly popular newsletter and podcast. He is the author of the book Crypto Confidential: Winning and Losing Millions in the New Frontier of Finance.

Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below.

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Timestamps

0:49 - Ayn Rand

6:40 - The transition from writing online to writing a book

12:26 - Marketing Crypto Confidential

16:43 - Writing for the modern world

21:20 - Come for the money, stay for the tech

26:49 - Decentralized social media

30:19 - Don’t be someone’s exit liquidity!

34:39 - The value of authenticity

36:39 - The advantages of being pseudonymous

39:19 - Constraints can help us be creative

42:53 - Is note-taking valuable?

46:02 - The future of work

50:11 - Strava for writing

53:49 - What idea sounds crazy today but will be mainstream in 5-10 years?

1:01:00 - Why Nat doesn’t use shampoo and other conventional health products

Follow Nat on X: http://x.com/nateliason

Get Nat’s book Crypto Confidential: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593714040

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

Johan Norberg is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a writer who focuses on globalization, human progress and intellectual history. He is the author of In Defense of Global Capitalism, Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future, and The Capitalist Manifesto: Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World.

Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it!

Watch on YouTube or X. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Follow me on X for updates on future episodes.

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Timestamps

0:50 - How Johan changed his mind about human progress

3:50 - Pro-human flourishing cannot be anti-environment

5:33 - Alternative words to describe capitalism

8:30 - Why is there so much economic illiteracy?

12:36 - Despise poverty, not wealth or inequality

16:41 - We are taxing what we want more of

18:46 - Degrowth and the fall of western education

25:21 - The concept of “needs” is often abused

29:27 - How to have infinite growth on a finite planet

33:08 - Elon Musk

34:43 - Javier Milei and Argentina

39:34 - Privatizing law and justice systems

43:52 - Child labor

49:52 - Advice for young people

Follow Johan on X: http://x.com/johanknorberg

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

Riva Tez is a philosopher, writer, and venture capitalist. She’s the author of the blog Hard to Write.

Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it!

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Timestamps

0:52 - Does crypto make anarcho-capitalism pragmatic?

11:56 - Crypto is both technologically and morally superior

20:08 - Ayn Rand’s ideal world

26:00 - Children are humans in their purest form

30:03 - Having integrity in your beliefs

33:17 - Creating a TV show of Atlas Shrugged

36:33 - COVID radicalized a lot of people

41:48 - Riva’s toy store and philosophy class for kids

44:37 - Epistemological anarchism

46:49 - Objective beauty

50:57 - AI, AGI, and AI safety

57:25 - Distractions in the longevity movement

1:04:30 - Why care about longevity (and hate the state)

1:08:07 - Riva’s childhood

1:12:42 - There is more opportunity out there than anyone wants you to believe

Follow Riva on X: http://x.com/rivatez

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

Nicole Behnam is a founder and journalist. She is the creator of Beyond The Interview where she’s interviewed people like Chris Voss, Konstantin Kisin, and Robert Greene.

Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below.

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Timestamps

0:00 - Nicole’s relationship with her parents and books

4:45 - On being a red carpet host

9:57 - Clubhouse

14:34 - How Naval spoke at one of Nicole’s events

18:03 - Leverage social media

19:45 - NFTs

26:32 - Cults, communities, and influencing people

30:51 - Ray Peat

34:36 - What would your Oscar’s speech be?

Follow Nicole on X: http://x.com/NicoleBehnam

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

Niklas Anzinger is the founder of Infinita VC and Vitalia. He is also the host of the Stranded Technologies Podcast.

Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below.

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Timestamps

0:32 - Building Vitalia and Infinita VC

6:05 - The parallels between longevity and crypto

17:35 - How to convince people that living longer is a worthy goal

22:54 - Network societies

30:35 - Curating your early community

35:22 - The benefits of making organ trade legal

39:23 - Master of Business Creation

43:46 - The madness of air travel regulation

48:51 - Privatizing the base layer of society + closing remarks

Follow Niklas on X: http://x.com/NiklasAnzinger

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com

Ashley St. Clair is the Operations Manager at Babylon Bee and author of the children’s book Elephants Are Not Birds. This interview was recorded on Airchat.

Topics we discuss are well captured by the timestamps below.

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Timestamps

0:19 - The immigration crisis in the US

11:08 - DEI and Mark Cuban

14:29 - Anti-humanism and Gen Z

18:17 - The rise of Christian nationalism

22:32 - Elon freeing the bird

27:47 - What the birth control pill represents

33:07 - Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom

35:16 - Should you go to college?

38:37 - Elephants Are Not Birds

Follow Ashley on X: http://x.com/stclairashley

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.arjunkhemani.com