We must not give away the printing press of our time.

In this powerful conversation, host Lily Dash sits down with Michael Casey—author, blockchain pioneer, and Chairman of the Advanced AI Society—to explore one of the most critical questions of our era:

What happens when the most powerful technology in history becomes concentrated in the hands of a few?

Michael traces his journey from covering Argentina's currency crises as a Wall Street Journal bureau chief to becoming one of blockchain's most influential thinkers. That experience taught him a fundamental truth: when trust breaks down between people and institutions, the system fails. Bitcoin offered an alternative—trust in math, not politicians.

But now, as AI emerges as potentially the most transformative force humanity has ever created, Michael sees us standing at a fork in the road:
Utopia or totalitarianism.

This conversation unpacks:
• Why concentrating AI power in a few Silicon Valley companies is a fast-track to totalitarianism
• How "proof of control" could give us ownership over our data and our future
• Why the printing press revolution offers the perfect analogy for what's at stake
• How confidential computing and zero-knowledge proofs protect your data while still enabling AI
• Why self-sovereign identity and proof of personhood will be critical in the age of AI agents
• The property rights revolution happening right now—and why it's bigger than any in history
• How tokenizing compute and data can break up monopolies and unlock innovation
• Why blockchain's "velocity of capital" is the key to democratizing the AI economy
• Real-world applications: from Proper's blockchain-powered real estate revolution to Indigenous Australian communities tokenizing renewable energy for AI compute

Michael doesn't sugarcoat it: \"The amount of power caught up in technology and money is a fast-track to totalitarianism.\" When a handful of companies control $20+ trillion in market cap and own both the data and the models that will run our future economy, democracy itself is at risk.

But there's another path. Just as the printing press broke the Church's monopoly on information and sparked the Renaissance, decentralized AI could trigger the greatest property rights revolution in history. Imagine unlocking sensitive health data to cure cancer—without ever exposing that data. Imagine AI agents executing on your behalf—but only with your cryptographic proof of control. Imagine earning royalties when your data trains models, just like musicians earn from streams.

This isn't about choosing between progress and privacy. It's about who controls the future—and whether we'll hand the printing press back to the church or spread it to everyone.

📌 If you care about AI, freedom, decentralization, or the future of democracy, this conversation is essential.

👉 What role do you think blockchain should play in keeping AI decentralized and human-centered?
Share your thoughts in the comments—this conversation shapes the future we're building together.

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