Why money matters | Alex Gladstein and Lex Fridman

Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: • Alex Gladstein: Bitcoi...
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
- Stripe: stripe.com
- Paperspace: gradient.run/lex to get $15 credit
- Codecademy: codecademy.com and use code LEX to get 15% off
- NI: www.ni.com/per...
- Eight Sleep: www.eightsleep... and use code LEX to get special savings
GUEST BIO:
Alex Gladstein is the Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation and the Oslo Freedom Forum.
PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: lexfridman.com...
Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: lexfridman.com...
Full episodes playlist: • Lex Fridman Podcast
Clips playlist: • Lex Fridman Podcast Clips
SOCIAL:
- Twitter: / lexfridman
- LinkedIn: / lexfridman
- Facebook: / lexfridman
- Instagram: / lexfridman
- Medium: / lexfridman
- Reddit: / lexfridman
- Support on Patreon: / lexfridman

[@mypugisajedi9577]

The amount of time the word money is used in the first minute of this video had me really worried a crab was about to get fucked up and I’d hear a little kid screaming in my ear.

[@Col-T-Invest]

Alex Gladstein is superb.

[@davidga1962]

Very interesting

[@giorgialeksandria6665]

money is a Power.

[@mosyd8973]

Why is Novak Djokovic talking about money?

[@Rainy_Day12234]

Institutional constraints to credit insurance and central banking policies must be implemented because civil bureaucrats and politicians can’t not act if they can.

[@mylesanthony8672]

Like in Switzerland

[@hermes_logios]

Money is a claim for reciprocation for goods or services that one side has already provided. It's a marker for a debt -- an exchange that hasn't been fully completed. Of course, most reciprocal relationships don't require money. Everyone just pitches in to a common purpose. Money is used between people who don't plan to have an ongoing reciprocal relationship. Money is a way of terminating mutual obligation.

[@Doushibag]

That's what currency is, money has an actual tangible value to it. The Dollar is a fiat currency that represents debt, but it started as a currency stand in for money when it could be traded for a fixed value of gold, because getting paid in gold is something that has value you can then give to someone else for some service or other good. They got people to use dollars instead of money to then hoodwink them by turning it into a fiat currency and then they could devalue and counterfeit it at will stealing from everyone who already had dollars. Only way to reduce the value of something like gold is to mine and produce more of it increasing the supply and thus the value of it in relation to other goods potentially, but that requires more effort and there is only so much available.

[@hermes_logios]

@@Doushibag Yes, money was co-opted by the State, which declared that only its form of money was valid. That does not change the basic character of money -- an interrupted exchange. One side of a transaction has given something of value, and the other side has given money (as a proxy for real goods). The manipulation of money (via interest, aka usury, central banking, FOREX, etc.) came later.

[@Energine1]

@@hermes_logios I partner with the fed to print USD (bank loans) and buy real world cashflow assets with it... its a broken market.

[@hermes_logios]

@@123abracadabra6 As it turns out, your version of school-kid history is false. Before the monetary economy developed, goods were exchanged directly, but on credit, not barter. In a pre-capitalist setting, people had something called "community," i.e., long-term relationships. The various obligations that keep a group interconnected tend to, on balance, largely cancel each other out. Non-monetary economies would typically have a periodic "reckoning" event, in which people would sort out who was over-providing and who was over-taking, and the matter would be settled by deciding that (on balance) A owed B a couple of chickens or something. I recommend "Debt" by David Graeber. It's a simple, readable introduction to the topic, and might help you update your 6th-grade level of knowledge.

[@hermes_logios]

@@123abracadabra6 All trade is a matter of exchanging stuff for stuff. Money (coins, bills, or whatever) has no real value. It's simply a marker for debt (an incomplete trade). But debt can be measured without a marker, or even a record. The idea that money arose because barter is too difficult is simply false. Money arose to trade with people you do not trust to complete the trade later (e.g., foreigners). Credit does not need to be a time-based debt. That's interest, which only exists in a monetary context, since every traditional, agrarian society and religion banned the practice (until the 16th century, in Europe).

[@francistembo650]

Wow the Evan thing caught me off guard.

[@davidhuns7545]

Countries that don’t follow along will no longer be able to exchange currency

[@alanwayne5948]

rich stay rich by spending like the poor and investing without stopping then the poor stay poor by spending like the rich yet not investing like the rich.

[@joebilly7164]

Exactly, nice words Stocks are good but crypto is better!

[@allisoncastro6119]

No doubts Investing in Crypto now is very cool now especially with the current rise in the market now, crypto has become a profitable and lucrative way of making money this is the future I wanted.

[@stockupwithlarryjones1201]

@@allisoncastro6119 I always wanted to trade huge on crypto but got confused by the fluctuations in prices

[@allisoncastro6119]

@@stockupwithlarryjones1201 well, That won't bother you if you trade with a professional like Expert Robert Farrington of Rady school of business.

[@allisoncastro6119]

Yeah my first Investment with Expert Robert Farrington has earned me profits of over $38,320 US dollars and ever since then he has Been delivering

[@carefulcarpenter]

Historically, the basic economic exchange is between a man and a women. Meat exchanged for sex. As a tradesman, I am a wealth creator. I bring happiness, etc. to the domicile. In 2008 a customer showed me how I made him a million dollars richer in two years. I laughed and thanked him. He hired me for 5 more years to do more improvements. I know how I made his house go up in value but 99.99% of the local population is clueless. You can't sell people wealth creation when they have been indoctrinated by false principles. Luckily this client understood without me selling him anything.

[@omaryohan7694]

Read Capital Marx talks about money very clearly.

[@Random_dudebro]

"money" is the lifeblood of both capital markets and labour markets. I don't see these activists making the distinction, so it's hard for me to take them seriously when I can't tell if they've really studied the evolution of the monetary system over the last 500 years. Also I can't take crypto people seriously when they discuss hyperinflation while they're buying tulip bulbs.

[@mylesanthony8672]

fair reply

[@jdschannel7216]

Crypto is indeed a highly questionable venture. But I hope that you get the difference between Bitcoin and cryptos. There is a huge difference between the two.

[@Col-T-Invest]

He was talking about Bitcoin not 'crypto'. There is a huge difference since the later term includes a lot of projects that are decentralized in name (and marketing strategy) only. With respect, you sound under-researched in the topic.

[@Gazzapa57]

People who devote themselves to human rights see money as the opposite of what they are about - it's like if you have ever spent time with 'spiritual' folks - they hate to bring up money. But it's what you avoid that ultimately rules you.

[@jonathanjollimore4794]

I always Fur on my brow when people say late stage capitalism. People need to crack some history books. Money is very old and it's been many different things over the search millennia. Whatever it is agreed upon has value can be money

[@davidhuns7545]

We need to devalue old money and make new money every 5-7 years… to clean this country…

[@Thedeepseanomad]

A billionaire and a refugee are the same in the eyes of the protocol... the only difference is that the billionaire have billions in bitcoin and the refugee have perhaps none... But they are both meatbags though and that is all that matters...

[@Thedeepseanomad]

@@TripleVR Yes. It is just physics really. You need to spend resources to transform them from less useful to more useful. I agree that cryptos does have some neat features that might constitute a superior value for some a significant number of users compared to fiat or even gold. But the main problem with bitcoin and other cryptos as they are currently used, is that it does not an account(ment) of sustainable production capacity which could be the big thing in an age of automation and AI.

[@lctrace2989]

Is this guy the lost twin of Novak Djokovic?

[@Milestonemonger]

Breaking Bad is the only series we binged watched 3 times

[@Energine1]

He doesn't even know who made bitcoin and why...

[@ehsanaltamimi1219]

That the point????!

[@Energine1]

@@ehsanaltamimi1219 when the creator has a controlling share in it and you don't even know who or what they are...

[@ehsanaltamimi1219]

@@Energine1 would you rather use money with someone’s face on it and give them power ???? !

[@Energine1]

@@ehsanaltamimi1219 No I advise storing equity in tangible cash flowing assets. Others are just gambling imo.

[@Energine1]

@@ehsanaltamimi1219 The "face" money is a powerful tool if you know what it is for... and storage of wealth is not it... but instead leveraging your wealth for greater opportunity is. One man uses $200,000 to buy a manufactured home that will cost him money. Another uses his $200,000 as a down payment on a million dollar apartment building... for instance.

[@samueltorres7140]

Said a whole lot of nothing

[@arnabjoy6097]

Shib is the only currency 💎👐

[@Doushibag]

Bitcoin only serves its function so long as it stays decentralized. If that ever changes, it gets taken over. The thing about bitcoin though is that it isn't a true money, it's a currency and represents debt with no base value. It doesn't directly translate into anything of worth.

[@ColeHallman]

I’m invested in precious metals and crypto I can see 20 years down the line looking at BTC/GOLD pairs

[@ColeHallman]

@@TripleVR u asking us to lie to you? 40% of dollar in circulation were printed in the last 365 days and the fed said a week ago that will increase by 8% in the next few months WHAT A SCAMDEMIC

[@iestynne]

any currency builds "real" value by connecting people in a network of mutually beneficial transactions that grows over time... I don't think we should expect any currency to be grounded or permanent, that just locks us in to whatever problems the current network develops... we should rather expect (and prepare) for new currencies such as BTC to gradually displace old ones when the new network incentivizes healthier transactions than the old one

[@Milestonemonger]

Lex seems dark, depressed and angry.