Bitcoin Audible

"Imagine the Stanford marshmallow experiment in reverse. Instead of getting a second marshmallow for waiting, the children are told that every fifteen minutes they wait, the marshmallow in front of them will shrink one tiny bite at a time, until nothing remains. Naturally, they eat their marshmallow immediately, not out of impatience or hunger, but common sense. That's exactly how our money works today."

~ Connor Dolan

What if the real cost of our broken money isn't just inflation – but the slow erosion of your ability to even imagine a future worth building toward?

This episode explores the surprising connection between Bitcoin, Stoicism, and the question we're all really asking: how should I be spending my time? From the marshmallow experiment in reverse to debt as invisible strings, we dig into why sound money might be the ultimate productivity hack – and why fiat is designed to keep you dependent, distracted, and disconnected from the life you actually want.

Check out the original article: Bitcoin, Stoicism, and Our Relationship With Time (Link: https://x.com/conhodlan/status/2011485978037203351)

References from the episode

The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous – the book that opened Connor's eyes (and mine) to what money actually is (Link: https://saifedean.com/tbs)

The Daily Stoic podcast by Ryan Holiday – short, digestible episodes on Stoic philosophy (Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily-stoic/id1430315931)

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius – the classic starting point if you want to dive into Stoicism (Link: https://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.html)

Alex Gladstein's piece Structural Adjustment – a deep look at how the IMF and World Bank use debt as a tool of control (Link: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/imf-world-bank-repress-poor-countries)

Host Links

⁠Guy on Nostr ⁠(Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ney)

⁠Guy on X ⁠(Link: https://twitter.com/theguyswann)

Guy on Instagram (Link: https://www.instagram.com/theguyswann)

Guy on TikTok (Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@theguyswann)

Guy on YouTube (Link: https://www.youtube.com/@theguyswann)

⁠Bitcoin Audible on X⁠ (Link: https://twitter.com/BitcoinAudible)

The Guy Swann Network Broadcast Room on Keet (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3na6v839)

Check out our awesome sponsors!

HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit...

"Of course, central banking, fiat money is bad, but nevertheless, maybe AI and robotics and this productivity is going to be really beneficial to the global economy, not just the U.S. economy.

We're going to start to see the liquidity, the whole U.S. PMI go up, and that's going to cause Bitcoin NGU. That's kind of how I'm seeing this next year or two.

I think we're going to see a lot of AI, productivity and extra liquidity coming in. So I am very bullish on this coming year."

~ Stephan Livera

The Bitcoin landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years, leading many to ask: is the cypherpunk ethos fading away?

I sit down with the legendary podcaster Stephan Livera to explore the tension between ideological purity and the pragmatic reality of global adoption. We dive deep into the "Power Law" of Bitcoin's growth, why our timeframes might be all wrong, and the controversial role of stablecoins as a stepping stone. From the mechanics of Spark and Ark to the arbitrage strategies of treasury companies, we cover how the ecosystem is evolving to meet the world where it is. Are we losing our way, or simply maturing into the financial system of the future?

Check out our awesome sponsors!

HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter)

OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/)

Guest Links

Stephan on X (Link: https://twitter.com/stephanlivera)

Stephan's Podcast (Link: https://www.youtube.com/c/StephanLivera)

Stephan's Website (Link: https://stephanlivera.com/)

Host Links

⁠Guy on Nostr ⁠(Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ney)

⁠Guy on X ⁠(Link: https://twitter.com/theguyswann)

Guy on Instagram (Link: https://www.instagram.com/theguyswann)

Guy on TikTok (Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@theguyswann)

Guy on YouTube (Link: https://www.youtube.com/@theguyswann)

⁠Bitcoin Audible on X⁠ (Link: https://twitter.com/BitcoinAudible)

The Guy Swann Network Broadcast Room on Keet (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3na6v839)

"The end of mankind wouldn't even be biological in such an instance. It would be neurological."

~ Copernican

What if AI's biggest flaw - training on its own recycled data - isn't just a tech glitch, but a universal law unraveling societies, economies, and even mouse utopias?

Dive into this mind-bending theory that ties neural networks to human decadence, explores why socialism collapses like a bad map, and questions if superintelligence is doomed to diminishing returns - could this be the hidden force behind our cultural breakdown?

Check out the original article: Urban Bugmen and AI Model Collapse: A Unified Theory (Link: https://alwaysthehorizon.substack.com/p/urban-bugmen-and-ai-model-collapse)

References from the episode

Previous AI Unchained episodes, especially The Scam of OpenAI (Link: https://fountain.fm/episode/rD2MQlPCU8TDclQcHJmb) and Google "We Have No Moat..." (Link: https://fountain.fm/episode/7eFcXC9SsIRee9ZEHE3N)

The piece we covered on superintelligence theories - Situational Awareness (Link: https://fountain.fm/episode/pJxqSUeb99092QKn9A9H)

Host Links

⁠Guy on Nostr ⁠(Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ney)

⁠Guy on X ⁠(Link: https://twitter.com/theguyswann)

Guy on Instagram (Link: https://www.instagram.com/theguyswann)

Guy on TikTok (Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@theguyswann)

Guy on YouTube (Link: https://www.youtube.com/@theguyswann)

⁠Bitcoin Audible on X⁠ (Link: https://twitter.com/BitcoinAudible)

The Guy Swann Network Broadcast Room on Keet (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3na6v839)

Check out our awesome sponsors!

HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter)

OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/)

"To describe what’s coming as “impossibly borked” is charitable. This is going to be an unholy mess of indiscernible media, messaging, photography, and fakery. ... “reality fade” into fractal digital fog will stress even the highest trust networks."

~ El Gato Malo

What happens when anything and everything can be faked at essentially zero cost? When the line between parody and reality completely dissolves?

In this episode, I explore El Gato Malo's brilliant piece on the coming "reality fracture" - but here's the twist: what if this digital apocalypse is actually the best thing that could happen to humanity? What if the only escape from the infinite noise is a return to something we've lost - real trust, local connection, and the ancient art of asking why instead of obsessing over what?

Check out the original article by El Gato Malo on Substack: Poe's Law Comes Into Full Flower (Link: https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/poes-law-comes-into-full-flower)

References from the episode

In Praise of The Debt Ceiling Fight: A previous piece by El Gato Malo about the COVID-era debt (Link: https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/in-praise-of-the-debt-ceiling-fight)

Brian Roemmele and his "thousand questions" concept for saving family wisdom. (Link: https://savewisdom.org/)

Aleks Svetski for his work on connecting people through real-world events with Satlantis. (Link: https://www.satlantis.io/)

Nunchuk and Miniscript for programmable Bitcoin features like time-decaying transactions. (Link: https://nunchuk.io/)

The NPM hack episode I referenced - that's a great one to revisit if you missed it. (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IepZPo3CqVM)

Host Links

⁠Guy on Nostr ⁠(Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ney)

⁠Guy on X ⁠(Link: https://twitter.com/theguyswann)

Guy on Instagram (Link: https://www.instagram.com/theguyswann)

Guy on TikTok (Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@theguyswann)

Guy on YouTube (Link: https://www.youtube.com/@theguyswann)

⁠Bitcoin Audible on X⁠ (Link: https://twitter.com/BitcoinAudible)

The Guy Swann Network Broadcast Room on Keet (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3na6v839)

Check out our awesome sponsors!

HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Li...

"If you are not paying for it, you are the product. And if it is a political system, the product that they are buying is control over you."

What if a "free" digital currency from the government sounds like a sweet deal - but hides total surveillance and control? Dive into the UAE's CBDC rollout, parallels to sneaky inflation tactics, and real stories of financial repression from Iran, all while exploring how Bitcoin and open-source tools let us fight back. Will we fall for the trap, or build our own freedom?

References from the episode

Read HRF’s latest Financial Freedom Report #104 (Link: https://hrf.org/latest/hrfs-weekly-financial-freedom-report-104/)

Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today for more on financial liberties repression. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter/)

Dive into Alex Gladstein's book Check Your Financial Privilege, or its (my) audiobook version if you prefer listening. (Link: https://archive.hrf.org/hrfs-alex-gladstein-publishes-new-book/)

Listen to my Chat with Roy Sheinfeld about Breez, Spark and state chains, a game-changer for Bitcoin tools. (Link: https://fountain.fm/episode/EpG58Rgz9cWjjLckHhD6)

Catch the year-end special with Matt Hill, Francis Pouilot, and BTC Sessions for more on vibe coding and building in Bitcoin. (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4vBET46jRs)

Check out the original report Weekly Financial Freedom Report #104 by HRF. (Link: https://hrf.org/latest/hrfs-weekly-financial-freedom-report-104/)

Check out our awesome sponsors!

HRF: The Human Rights Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. Subscribe to HRF's Financial Freedom Newsletter today. (Link: https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter)

OFF: The Oslo Freedom Forum is a global human rights event by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), uniting voices from activism, journalism, tech, and beyond. Through powerful stories and collaboration, OFF advances freedom and human potential worldwide. Join us next June. (Link: https://oslofreedomforum.com/)

Pubky: Pubky is building the next web, a decentralized system designed to put control back in your hands. Escape censorship, algorithmic manipulation, and walled gardens by owning your identity and data. Explore the Pubky web and become the algorithm today. Don't forget to find me on my Pubky ID here: pk:5d7thwzkxx5mz6gk1f19wfyykr6nrwzaxri3io7ahejg1z74qngo. (Link: https://pubky.org)

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