#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:
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EPISODE LINKS:
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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