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

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: – Stripe: https://stripe.com – Paperspace: https://gradient.run/lex to get $15 credit – Codecademy: https://codecademy.com and use code LEX to get 15% off – NI: https://www.ni.com/perspectives – Eight Sleep: https://www.eightsleep.com/lex and use code LEX to get special savings EPISODE LINKS: Alex’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/gladstein The Little Bitcoin Book: https://littlebitcoinbook.com/ Human Rights Foundation: https://hrf.org/ PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman 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