The Network State Podcast

By ns.comTechnology

The Network State Podcast episodes

January 28, 2024 #8 - The Solana Phone
Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, joins Balaji to talk about the new Solana Phone (https://solanamobile.com). The idea of the crypto phone is one where balances, encryption, privacy, and property rights are built into the very fabric of the operating system. Anatoly talks about how they did it.
OUTLINE
0:06 - The Solana Phone
2:08 - Anatoly's Origin Story
6:03 - Solana Proof-of-History Algorithm
12:10 - Hardware Scales Global Consensus
16:13 - Different Chains Do Different Things
19:55 - A Self-Custody Phone
30:38 - Instant Bank Accounts
38:20 - Any OEM Can Make a Solana Phone
43:26 - Solana Phone Takes on Google and Apple
54:22 - 1% Share Changes the World
57:39 - Protocols Give Initial Userbase
1:01:18 - Starting Small Counterintuitive For Phone Companies
1:07:27 - PKI Interactions Become Routine
1:19:04 - What Anatoly's New Country Would Look Like

VIDEO
YouTube: https://youtu.be/QIoXKWl4c4s
SOCIAL
https://solanamobile.com
https://thenetworkstate.com/podcast
https://twitter.com/solana
https://twitter.com/balajis
1 hr 31 min
January 28, 2024 #7 - Bryan Johnson's Blueprint for Longevity
Bryan Johnson founded Braintree and sold it for $800M. Then he plowed the proceeds into eternal life. He turned himself into the world's most measured man, got completely jacked, wrote a book, and just launched the Blueprint store (https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com) for the world to copy what he's done. Now Balaji and Bryan talk about how we can extend lifespans through better technology.
OUTLINE
0:00 - Bryan Doesn't Skip Leg Day
5:46 - Witnessing Brain Surgery
9:31 - Measuring the Brain
18:26 - How Bryan Got Into Longevity
22:27 - Bryan's Algorithm for Health
27:21 - Every Calorie Had to Fight for Its Life
32:16 - Measuring Intervention
37:26 - Blueprint for Nutrition
42:11 - Don't Die
48:55 - No One Paid Attention Till Proof of Workout
52:05 - The Five Stages
1:03:53 - What Do Ideologies Have to Offer
1:14:12 - Spoilers for Bryan's Book "Don't Die"

VIDEO
YouTube: https://youtu.be/YvSX0rLyERs
SOCIAL
https://protocol.bryanjohnson.com/
https://linktr.ee/bryanjohnson__
https://www.amazon.com/DONT-DIE-Zero-ebook/dp/B0CNDDHR79
https://thenetworkstate.com/podcast
https://twitter.com/bryan_johnson
https://twitter.com/balajis
1 hr 20 min
January 28, 2024 #6 - Chris Dixon on Read Write Own
Read Write Own (readwriteown.com) is a new book by Chris Dixon, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and founder of the largest crypto fund in the world. It's an important work that is simultaneously the best crypto tutorial for newcomers and an accessible reference for experts. Balaji and Chris are long-time friends and worked together at a16z for years. Here they discuss Read Write Own and the state of crypto in 2024.
OUTLINE
00:20 - Chris Introduces Read Write Own
05:04 - Why Books Are Harder than Essays
11:43 - Overview of Read Write Own
18:01 - The 2000s: Open RSS vs Proprietary Social
25:36 - Every Protocol Now Gets Global State
31:29 - Web3 Versions of Web2 Apps
35:10 - Proprietary Networks Are Locking Down
38:30 - Crypto Subsidizes Creatives
42:34 - Virtual Goods and Online Status
43:56 - Own Usernames Like Domain Names
47:35 - What Digital Ownership Means
48:32 - Tech Giants' Power and User Leverage.
58:08 - Collaborative Storytelling
01:01:07 - Digital Identity and Work with Web3
01:09:16 - Conclusion

VIDEO
YouTube: https://youtu.be/_nIQztk5KWY
SOCIAL
https://readwriteown.com
https://thenetworkstate.com/podcast
https://twitter.com/cdixon
https://twitter.com/balajis
1 hr 14 min
June 30, 2023 #5 - India's Largest Exit
The $16B acquisition of Flipkart was the largest in Indian tech history. Balaji speaks with Flipkart founder/CEO Binny Bansal on how he built the company from scratch when Indian startups weren't even a thing — and how Flipkart's rise parallels the rise of India itself.
2 hr 42 min
June 22, 2023 #4 - The Winklevoss Twins and Balaji
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss talk with Balaji about how Washington, DC is losing crypto, while other countries like the UAE and Japan are winning web3.
OUTLINE
0:00 - I'm 6'5", 220, and there's two of me!
0:58 - Crypto flippening from America to Asia
7:15 - Crypto-friendly jurisdictions in the US: Wyoming, Tennessee
8:10 - The SEC is a failed regulator
18:45 - Crypto-friendly jurisdictions worldwide: Japan, Hong Kong, Dubai, El Salvador
27:31 - Winklevosses expanding in India
33:25 - What comes out of crypto?
35:45 - Flashback to 2013 TechCrunch Disrupt
37:01 - Crypto and AI, without the buzzword bingo
44:14 - The Winklevoss city
LINKS
1) Gemini: https://www.gemini.com/careers
2) Wyoming DAO law: https://legalnodes.com/article/wyoming-dao-llc
3) Tennessee DAO law: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/beyond-reasonable-daoubt-tennessee-s-limited-liability-statute-decentralized
4) UAE Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA): https://www.vara.ae/en
5) Japan Web3 support: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/04/06/japan-releases-web3-white-paper-to-promote-industry-growth-in-the-country
6) 2013 TechCrunch with Balaji, Naval, Winklevosses: https://techcrunch.com/2013/09/10/disrupt-sf-13-bitcoin-panel
VIDEO
YouTube: https://youtu.be/STbYujxjk1E
SOCIAL
https://twitter.com/cameron
https://twitter.com/tyler
https://twitter.com/balajis
https://thenetworkstate.com
51 min
February 24, 2023 #3 - The President of Palau
The President of Palau and Balaji discuss how the tiny island country is becoming a digital leader, experimenting with everything from on-chain identity to drone delivery.
Despite having less than 20,000 citizens, Palau is a full UN member state. Its path to diplomatic recognition holds many lessons for aspiring founders of new communities. Joining Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. in this chat is William Wang, founder of rns.id, the Palaun government’s crypto identity partner.

OUTLINE
0:00 - Intro
2:03 - The Republic of Palau
6:18 - Palau's path to sovereignty
8:35 - How Palau is using crypto
10:40 - The President's background
16:51 - Returning to Palau
18:42 - What is RNS.ID?
25:08 - Palau's government structure
27:23 - Partnerships in Palau
34:15 - Diplomatic relations
36:29 - The advantages of small countries
42:00 - Palau's developing technologies
45:04 - Gaining diplomatic recognition
48:59 - Outro

VIDEO
YouTube: https://youtu.be/3FuQvG2dmM4

CREDITS
Editing: twitter.com/DholakiaJaydeep
Images: twitter.com/elijah10t

SOCIAL
twitter.com/Surangeljr
rns.id
twitter.com/balajis
thenetworkstate.com/podcast
52 min
February 15, 2023 #2 - Tobi Lütke & Kaz Nejatian on Shopify's Country-Sized Economy
Tobi Lütke (Shopify Founder & CEO), Kaz Nejatian (Shopify COO), and Balaji review how Shopify rose from tiny startup to $180B+ global economy, with an annual GMV on par with the GDP of New Zealand. In the process they touch on Hayek, the Hanseatic League, merchant cavemen, the history of the corporation, and the optimal level of platform decentralization.
OUTLINE
00:00 - Introduction
02:39 - Shopify has the scale of a small country
08:49 - Lifestyle businesses take up your whole life
20:52 - SMBs can be harder than startups
27:13 - Shopify could invest in its merchants
32:23 - Shopify's economy is on par with Greece or New Zealand
38:40 - Money, time, risk, attention
39:55 - Is all retail a form of arbitrage?
47:14 - The history of the corporation informs the development of smart contracts
56:57 - Founders start as lead engineer, end up as chief psychiatrist
1:00:27 - Shopify is not just technology but community
1:06:26 - The concept of computational context
1:14:34 - Shopify as a dashboard for the global economy
1:22:48 - Atoms are so much more complex than bits
1:28:41 - Balancing centralized vs decentralized at Shopify
1:43:26 - If they could start a new country, what would Tobi and Kaz build?
2:03:28 - Kaz on working at Shopify
2:04:31 - Tobi's parting thoughts
LINKS
1) 100 true fans: kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/
2) Gobekli Tepe: smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665
3) Shopify active merchant: github.com/activemerchant/active_merchant
4) Fall of Civilizations: youtube.com/@FallofCivilizations
5) Founding vs Inheriting: thenetworkstate.com/founding-vs-inheriting
6) Shopify careers: shopify.com/careers
VIDEO
YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=DfrhCGpRCPI
CREDITS
Editing: twitter.com/DholakiaJaydeep
Images: twitter.com/elijah10T
SOCIAL
twitter.com/tobi
twitter.com/CanadaKaz
twitter.com/balajis
thenetworkstate.com
2 hr 8 min
February 07, 2023 #1 - Vitalik Buterin on Starting New Countries, Upgrading Ethereum, and Improving Yourself
A discussion between Vitalik Buterin and Balaji Srinivasan on starting new countries, improving yourself, and upgrading Ethereum.
OUTLINE
00:00 - Introduction
01:27 - A brief history of Ethereum
16:54 - The DAO hack
20:32 - The Devcon 2 attack
33:24 - The Merge
35:52 - Ethereum Roadmap
47:41 - The de-OFACization of Ethereum?
1:06:18 - Starting new countries
1:22:20 - Svalbard
1:27:29 - Network effects
1:33:12 - Regulation as a bounding box
1:35:42 - What new country would Vitalik start?
1:39:39 - Network states and social networks
1:43:19 - Advice on leveling up
1:51:17 - How Vitalik learned Chinese
1:55:14 - Learning by doing
LINKS
1) Ethereum Average Block Time: https://ycharts.com/indicators/ethereum_average_block_time
2) What is EIP-1559: https://consensys.net/blog/quorum/what-is-eip-1559-how-will-it-change-ethereum
3) Quadratic Hash problem: https://bitcoinclassic.com/devel/Quadratic%20Hashing.html
4) The merge: https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/merge
5) MEV watch: https://www.mevwatch.info
6) Sousveillance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance
7) Best weather cities to live in the US: https://wired.com/2014/02/see-u-s-cities-get-least-days-pleasant-weather
8) Global passport ranking: https://passportindex.org/byRank.php?ccode=cn
9) Longyearbyen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longyearbyen
10) Demography of the Roman Empire: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_Roman_Empire
VIDEO
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xhPqZZYJSE
CREDITS
Editing: twitter.com/DholakiaJaydeep
Images: twitter.com/elijah10t
SOCIAL
thenetworkstate.com
twitter.com/VitalikButerin
twitter.com/balajis
1 hr 58 min

About The Network State Podcast

From the publisher's feed

What comes after Google, Facebook, Bitcoin, and Ethereum? Perhaps it's the startup country — the network state. Balaji interviews tech founders and policymakers from around the world on managing…