Nick Szabo (@NickSzabo4) is a polymath. The breadth and depth of his interests and knowledge are truly astounding.

He’s a computer scientist, legal scholar, and cryptographer best known for his pioneering research in digital contracts and cryptocurrency.

The phrase and concept of “smart contracts” were developed by Nick with the goal of bringing what he calls the “highly evolved” practices of contract law and practice for the design of electronic commerce protocols between strangers on the Internet. Nick also designed Bit Gold, which many consider the precursor to Bitcoin.

This wide-ranging conversation is co-hosted by Naval Ravikant, a mutual friend and one of the most successful investors in Silicon Valley, who also happens to be one of Nick’s biggest admirers.

Connect with Nick Szabo:
Follow Nick Szabo on Twitter:   / nickszabo4  

The Quiet Master of Cryptocurrency — Nick Szabo
Show Notes: https://tim.blog/2017/06/04/nick-szabo/

Start [00:00]
How Nick and Naval met. [08:05]
What is cryptocurrency? [10:47]
Nick’s early interest in cryptocurrencies [11:48]
What is cryptography? [12:56]
Benefits of cryptocurrency [15:44]
Why it's important [17:13]
What is a blockchain? [17:43]
A brief history of currency. [18:51]
What makes money valuable? [23:59]
Bitcoin is to computers what quantum mechanics is to physics [26:53]
What is a smart contract? [30:45]
“Wet” versus “dry” code [31:44]
The vending machine as a smart contract [33:36]
Multisig transactions [35:57]
What are Initial Coin Offerings? [41:56]
Inevitable market bubbles [43:00]
Common cryptocurrency misconceptions [45:40]
What makes Bitcoin unique? [49:50]
The innovation of BitGold [51:20]
What is proof of work? [53:42]
Computational inefficiency, social scalability. [1:00:04]
Regulating cryptocurrencies out of existence [1:05:02]
How do people accidentally lose their Bitcoins? [1:10:35]
What is Ethereum? [1:12:53]
Cultural disconnects [1:17:28]
Traditional finance [1:19:05]
Learning more about cryptocurrencies [1:20:40]
On the possibility of widespread use of Bitcoin [1:23:05]
On charlatans [1:28:54]
Common cryptocurrency problems [1:37:00]
"Unenumerated” and the Ninth Amendment [1:46:23]
What is quantum thought? [1:49:24]
Practicing quantum thought [1:50:52]
Pascal’s scams and Nassim Taleb’s Black Swan [1:54:54]
Preparing for The Singularity” [1:58:06]
On what to worry about [2:00:55]
Privacy leaks [2:03:29]
What makes certain cryptocurrencies appreciate? [2:04:50]
Why Singularity and Simulation hypotheses are mutually exclusive [2:12:31]
On focus [2:14:40]
Why future generations will probably handle social media better than we do today. [2:17:08]
Favorite books? [2:20:42]
What high school class would Nick teach? [2:22:41]
What does Nick plan on writing about in the near future? [2:24:42]
What would Nick’s billboard say? [2:26:47]
Parting thoughts. [2:27:15]

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About Tim Ferriss:
Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. He is also the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors. The Observer and other media have named him “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 200 million downloads and been selected for “Best of iTunes” three years running.

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