Episode description

What if the information anarchy of the internet spells the downfall of liberalism?

Economist Noah Smith and Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin join us for a fascinating discussion on why Authoritarianism might be the answer to the current information warfare. Yes, you heard that right.

We start the episode by defining liberalism, how it has brought excessive polarization and why totalitarianism might be the only solution left. We then steelman the case against this same argument and how blockchains and crypto could play a role in all this.

------
✨ Mint the episode on Zora ✨
https://zora.co/collect/zora:0x0c294913a7596b427add7dcbd6d7bbfc7338d53f/20?referrer=0x077Fe9e96Aa9b20Bd36F1C6290f54F8717C5674E 

------
📣STAKEWISE | LIQUID SOLO STAKING
https://bankless.cc/Pod_StakeWise  

------
BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE
https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2    ⁠ 

🌐 TRANSPORTER | CROSS CHAINS WITH CONFIDENCE
https://transporter.io/ 

🔗CELO | CEL2 COMING SOON
https://bankless.cc/Celo 

🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK
https://bankless.cc/Mantle 

⚡️ CARTESI | LINUX-POWERED ROLLUPS
https://bankless.cc/CartesiGovernance 
 
⚖️ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM
⁠https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 

------
TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro
8:53 Defining Liberalism
21:50 Information Warfare
42:17 Summarizing the Argument
55:09 Could the Thesis be Wrong?
1:11:12 Information Leviathans
1:34:13 The Role of Blockchains
1:38:22 Closing & Disclaimers

------
RESOURCES

Vitalik Buterin
https://x.com/VitalikButerin  

Noah Smith
https://x.com/Noahpinion  

Noahpinion Blog
https://www.noahpinion.blog/  

------
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures ⁠