#284 – Saifedean Ammous: Bitcoin, Anarchy, and Austrian Economics

Lex Fridman Podcast

Saifedean Ammous is an Austrian economist and author of The Bitcoin Standard and The Fiat Standard. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Saifedean’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/saifedean
Saifedean’s Website: https://saifedean.com
The Bitcoin Standard podcast: https://saifedean.com/podcast
Books & resources mentioned:
The Fiat Standard (book): https://amzn.to/3FmNfsy
The Bitcoin Standard (book): https://amzn.to/3LRrcwA
The Blocksize War (book): https://amzn.to/3LORQ9o
The Theory of Money and Credit (book): https://amzn.to/3ykreZT
Human Action (book): https://amzn.to/3w9LzP4

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YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips

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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
(07:53) – Money
(20:58) – Gold standard
(34:09) – Collective hallucination
(39:59) – Austrian vs Keynesian economics
(1:12:20) – Free market
(1:28:49) – Monarchy
(1:34:23) – Fiat money
(2:21:13) – SWIFT system
(2:34:03) – Bitcoin
(2:40:20) – Satoshi Nakamoto
(2:48:04) – Criticisms of Bitcoin
(3:03:16) – Football/soccer
(3:06:58) – Criticisms of Bitcoin continued
(3:17:17) – Bitcoin Maximalism
(3:29:40) – Proof of stake
(3:46:46) – Central bank digital currency
(3:57:59) – Michael Malice
(4:00:12) – Advice for young people
(4:06:21) – Palestine
(4:18:00) – Mortality