DeepSummary
In this episode, Saifedean Ammous discusses the nature of money, its history, and the role it plays in civilization. He explains how money serves as a medium of exchange and store of value, with harder forms of money like gold being better at holding value over time. Ammous argues that the shift from the gold standard to fiat currency enabled governments to finance wars through inflation and devaluation of money.
Ammous compares and contrasts Austrian and Keynesian economics, criticizing the latter as essentially propaganda for inflationism. He advocates for free markets and limited government intervention, seeing coercion as unethical. The discussion then turns to bitcoin, which Ammous views as the hardest and most advanced form of money, resistant to inflation and outside government control.
Ammous addresses potential criticisms of bitcoin, defending its decentralized nature and proof-of-work consensus mechanism. He speculates on bitcoin's potential to gradually replace government-issued currencies and facilitate a peaceful transition away from the fiat system. The conversation also touches on personal topics like Ammous's Palestinian heritage and his views on mortality.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Money serves as a medium of exchange and store of value, with harder forms like gold being better at holding value over time.
- The shift from the gold standard to fiat currency enabled inflationary financing of wars by governments.
- Ammous advocates for free markets and limited government intervention from an Austrian economics perspective.
- Bitcoin is viewed as the hardest and most advanced form of money resistant to inflation.
- Bitcoin could facilitate a peaceful transition away from the inflationary fiat system.
- Ammous is critical of Keynesian economics, viewing it as propaganda justifying inflation.
- He encourages saving and investing in bitcoin as a way to protect against devaluation of fiat currencies.
- Ammous shares personal perspectives on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the importance of using one's limited time wisely.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Money is a medium of exchange. The thing that defines money is that it is a good that you don't buy for its own sake because you want to consume it itself or because you want to employ it in the production of other goods, which is what capital goods are.“ by Saifedean Ammous
- “Bitcoin is the most advanced form of money ever invented. And the reason for that comes from two properties that this network has. The first one is that the currency is the hardest money ever invented. It's the money whose supply is the most resistant to inflation. It's the first monetary asset that we've ever invented that is guaranteed to be fixed in its supply, that cannot be increased beyond a certain number.“ by Saifedean Ammous
- “Every time you go, the settlements are just growing in an astonishing way. It's not just housing units that are going up. It's an entire attempt to build, to basically suffocate palestinian areas and force Palestinians to leave or keep them living in horrific conditions.“ by Saifedean Ammous
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Episode Information
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
5/11/22
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EPISODE LINKS:
Saifedean's Twitter: https://twitter.com/saifedean
Saifedean's Website: https://saifedean.com
The Bitcoin Standard podcast: https://saifedean.com/podcast
Books & resources mentioned:
The Fiat Standard (book): https://amzn.to/3FmNfsy
The Bitcoin Standard (book): https://amzn.to/3LRrcwA
The Blocksize War (book): https://amzn.to/3LORQ9o
The Theory of Money and Credit (book): https://amzn.to/3ykreZT
Human Action (book): https://amzn.to/3w9LzP4
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OUTLINE:
Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) - Introduction
(07:53) - Money
(20:58) - Gold standard
(34:09) - Collective hallucination
(39:59) - Austrian vs Keynesian economics
(1:12:20) - Free market
(1:28:49) - Monarchy
(1:34:23) - Fiat money
(2:21:13) - SWIFT system
(2:34:03) - Bitcoin
(2:40:20) - Satoshi Nakamoto
(2:48:04) - Criticisms of Bitcoin
(3:03:16) - Football/soccer
(3:06:58) - Criticisms of Bitcoin continued
(3:17:17) - Bitcoin Maximalism
(3:29:40) - Proof of stake
(3:46:46) - Central bank digital currency
(3:57:59) - Michael Malice
(4:00:12) - Advice for young people
(4:06:21) - Palestine
(4:18:00) - Mortality