#231 – Alex Gladstein: Bitcoin, Authoritarianism, and Human Rights

October 16, 2021 Brian Satis 272 Views

Alex Gladstein is the Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation and the Oslo Freedom Forum. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Alex’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/gladstein
The Little Bitcoin Book: https://littlebitcoinbook.com/
Human Rights Foundation: https://hrf.org/

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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
(08:36) – Universal human rights
(22:35) – Authoritarianism
(32:46) – AIs impact on civil liberties
(44:09) – Edward Snowden and government surveillance
(47:48) – Money
(52:01) – Bitcoin
(1:07:48) – Government response to Bitcoin
(1:18:19) – The blockchain
(1:23:42) – Can Bitcoin fail?
(1:26:33) – Bitcoin scams
(1:30:17) – Patriotism
(1:32:41) – Human Rights Foundation
(1:37:15) – Conflict with China
(1:40:05) – Corporate accountability
(1:55:27) – Garry Kasparov and the HRF
(2:00:36) – Journalism, conversations, and truth
(2:07:50) – Alex’s book recommendations
(2:15:56) – Attacks on Bitcoin
(2:17:35) – The future of humanity
(2:21:57) – Advice for young people
(2:33:13) – Meaning of life